The keys to the Knights of Takhisis are order, discipline, and vision. Formed by the demigod Ariakan Ariakas, the order meant to right the wrongs of the Dragonarmies from the War of the Lance. Buy Knightly Orders of Ansalon: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/12401/Knightly-Orders-of-Ansalon-35?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
It was a vision that inspired the order, blessed by the Dark Queen. Her absence proved that the order itself was formidable enough to dominate Ansalon. Let’s talk about the Knights of Takhisis.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about the Knights of Takhisis. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. I am referencing the Knightly Orders of Ansalon Dragonlance Sourcebook primarily for this information. If you feel I have left anything out or would like to clarify any points, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
One can argue that were it not for the Code and the Measure, and the Knights of Solamnia’s insistence on following them, the Knights of Takhisis may never have formed. Until Ariakan’s imprisonment in the High Clerist’s Tower, and his education by the Knights of Solamnia about their orders, no denizen of the dark ever conceived of emulating the Knights’ rigid structure. But it is an order just as disciplined that is required to not only defeat the orders of good in the world, but to maintain order and control afterward. A lesson learned all too well in the War of the Lance with the Dragonarmies. It was a well known paradigm of evil in Krynn’s history that evil feeds upon itself, it is the law of balance that allows evil to never overthrow good, which is required in the campaign setting, but is exactly what happens, with the consent of all the Gods in the Summer of Chaos no less!
One may also argue that were it not for that godly consent to allow the Knights of Takhisis to dominate Krynn without objection, they would never have become the destructive order to all of Ansalon that they become in the Fifth Age and War of Souls; the other side of that coin being Chaos destroying all of Krynn, so perhaps we can just leave that train of thought alone for this episode.
After his imprisonment, and earning the respect of the Knights of Solamnia, Ariakan was released. The Knights genuinely expected Ariakan to petition to join their order, but instead, he sought to build his own knighthood that drew from the best aspects of the Knights of Solamnia, while cutting away their failings. Ariakan saw that the flaw in Takhisis’ minions was selfishness. They were more concerned with personal gain than Takhisis’ dominion, so Ariakan decided to use a vision to guide his orders. He was visited by an aspect of Takhisis in the form of a dark warrior who ultimately supported Ariakan’s vision. She commanded him to begin immediately in her name. Ariakan gathered the remaining forces of his father’s and called upon his mother, the goddess Zeboim to raise him a secret base in which to build his forces from. She raised an island in the North Sirrion Sea, and within a year, Storm’s Keep was built. It maintained its secrecy due to the crosswinds of warmer northern waters and the frigid southern polar waters colliding, surrounding it in a perpetual fog.
Not entirely unlike, yet still distinct from the Knights of Solamnia, the Knights of Takhiss are broken into three separate orders: The Knights of the Lily are the warrior caste of the Knighthood. They are trained to fight in single combat on foot, mounted on horse and even on dragon back! Their code is Independence breeds chaos. Submit and be strong. Knights of the Skull are the priestly order of the knighhood. They guide the knights through Takhisis’ vision, placing each soldier within and presenting them with their valuable place in the vision. Their code is Death is patient. It flows both from without and from within. Be vigilant in all and skeptical of all. Knights of the Thorn are the magical arm of the knighthood. They use magic and divination to support the conquest. Their code is One who follows the heart finds it will bleed. Feel nothing but victory. Together, the Dark Knights are formidable in combat. Ariakan knew his dark paladins would not be sufficient to crush his enemies, so he sailed past the blood sea isles and came upon Ithin’Carthia, and the Tarmak species–a massive, brutal people. Ariakan won their respect and they aligned with him to eventually invade Ansalon. Now with his Dark Knights, the Tarmak, the Minions of the Dark and an infantry of mercenaries, the Knights of Takhisis were unstoppable.
Within a single month, they had conquered more territory than the Dragonarmies had in the War of the Lance! Each new territory occupied, brought with it fresh recruits. The whole of Ansalon, save for Silvanesti, Northern Ergoth, Throbardin and small pockets of Khalkist dwarves, were under his command. And then the Summer of Chaos hit. The Dark Knights took the brunt of the attack of the Chaos minions, but they were augmented by every man, woman and child of fighting age, as all of Krynn was fighting for their very survival. Over three-fourths of the knighthood and large portions of the commanding staff were lost including Ariakan himself in the battle at the High Clerist’s tower. This would have been a fitting conclusion to the knighthood if it did in fact end there, as it was the birthplace of the order. But this was not to be the end. Far from it in fact, as Miriella Abrena took up the reins as the new Lord of Knight, the commanding office of the Knights of Takhisis. As a Knight of Takhisis was honored in the Tomb of the Last Heroes, Abrena in turn demanded land for their sacrifices. The knighthood no longer had their vision, and two of its orders were powerless with the absence of Krynns gods in the Fifth Age. As Khellendros, the Storm over Krynn attacked the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthus, the Dark Knights seized the opportunity to offer protection to Palanthus, which gave them a base of operations. They then made a deal with Khellendros to maintain control and collect tithing on his behalf.
Abrena moved the seat of power to Neraka, as Storms Keep was a prison for the Death Knight Lord Austric Krell. She made alliances with other dragon overlords, and even Gunthar Uth Wistan offered to unite the Solamnic and Takhisis Knights, which Abrena agreed with, then went against. All the while Takhisis was shifting influence in preparation of her return. Abrena had her knights learn Mysticism from the Citadel of Light and fabricated a new vision,a lie, but a necessary one. An aspect of Takhisis, the Shadow Sorcerer, taught the Knighthood primal sorcery, but as the decades passed, the members’ honor and belief in the vision waned. Morham Targonne assasinated Abrena and took over as Lord of the Knight, running it as a business more than a knighthood. He renamed them the Knights of Neraka, and moved the headquarters to Jelek. As he assaulted Sanction in an effort to collect its wealth from the Solamnic knighthood, Mina arrived in the wake of the Great Storm that swept across Krynn.
With the power of the One God behind her, she won the soldiers over by her faith and miracles in the name of the One God. She captured SIlvanesti, occupied Solanthus, Qualinesti, and Sanction. She defeated the dragon Overlord Malys at great cost, and as Takhisis was entering the world, the gods returned and the new mortal Takhisis was killed by Silvanoshei. Mina exacted revenge and disappeared, abandoning her knighthood. In the years that followed the knighthood splintered into warring factions and lost territory. Baltasar Reynnold claimed the title of Lord of the Night and began unifying the fractured Knighthood. Reynold moved the seat of the order back to Neraka and reintroduced Honor to the Knighthood as he was a student of Ariakan’s teachings. This meant a loss of knights, but a return to form. He maintains order with a secret police called Cabal of the Code, making those who speak out against him disappear. There is an Onyx Order that is focused on eliminating foreign enemies of the order, all in an attempt to unite the many factions of Knights spread all across Ansalon.
Outro
And that is all I have to say about the Knights of Takhisis. Do you think the order is evenly balanced against the Knights of Solamnia? Would it exist without the Solamnic Knights? And finally do you believe it has a future after the Dark Disciple trilogy in the Fifth Age? Leave a comment below.
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This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
Bring order to our followers, and they will accomplish. Discipline them, and they will achieve. Give them vision, and they will move forward toward a common goal.
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