"Knights of Oceanna"
315 AE - 325 AE
The well known adventuress Pandora wasn’t ready to retire, not completely anyway. She had spent years traveling with Black Arrow a century before, then she and Galleon had returned to Elvendar, worked for the elven military there and thought about starting a quieter life. Galleon did, Pandora didn’t. She was bored. She wanted adventure again, to relive the excitement she had felt while escaping the evil king’s clutches. And so she began looking for companions who would like a chance to join her for a trip from Elvendar to the mainland of Pallethas for some excitement and adventure. Two others joined with her, the superb fighter Lanthan, and the priest of Corellan Elbereth. They traveled to Falindar and then to the city of Churiz, where they met the human transmuter, Transon Lightfellow. The four of them quickly became immersed in the life of adventurers, traveling to destroy evil monsters and to find unique and valuable treasures. They traveled through crypts, caves, ruins and dungeons. They climbed mountains and waded through swamps, daring furious tropical storms and freezing blizzards. They had become quite well known through out southern Pallethas, and Pandora was no longer the only celebrity adventurer now. Then they heard rumor of ruins of an ancient shrine, and this adventure would change them forever.
The group searched out the shrine with their normal zeal, and when they found it, it didn’t live up to their hopes. It was ancient and decrepit, with no treasures left from all the other adventurers who had scrounged through here before. It was when they were ready to leave that Elbereth noticed that the shrine still had a very faint holy aura. Upon closer inspection, a soft glow was detected around an old engraving in the shrine, Elbereth reached out to touch the symbol…. And the entire glade they were standing in began to radiate light. Brighter and brighter the light grew, until all the group could see was white light, and then they were no longer standing by the shrine. Instead, standing in front of them was a beautiful, elegant, and slightly alien, woman. She stood seven feet tall, her hair an aqua green color, but looked as smooth as silk. Her skin a faint blue and her eyes a piercing sapphire in color. And her presence was enough to make the glade feel both calm as a sunny spring day and as turbulent as a winter storm over the ocean. The adventurers were overwhelmed and awed by her presence. None of the adventurers will say what happened then, or what was said, but they returned to Churiz changed.
Thus began the Knights of Oceanna, and after their experience with divinity they began to work for their patron deity. They worked both above and below the waves, apparently gifted with the ability to change into their aquatic equivalents. The elves; Pandora, Lanthan and Elbereth, could change into aquatic elves, and Transon could turn himself into a merman to better live under the sea. Elbereth gave his faith from Corellan to Oceanna, and the once near dead goddess was revived. After years of doing Oceanna’s work, balancing the oceans of the worlds, their goddess rewarded them with a home to work from.
Placed in an air pocket, in a salty layer of the water elemental plane, the knights made their stronghold on floating islands of rock and coral. They built a small town, complete with a church to their new goddess, and with many of their cohorts and allies, they moved to the other plane. Then, using Transon’s magics, the knights created portals from their realm to the oceans of the worlds they had worked on.
Three portals were opened to Thallen, in waters near their allies. One gate was placed near Elvendar, another near Falindar and the third near Solarist, a realm of locathah and merfolk. One gate went to Terran, near the Sea elves of Elverdein. Another eight gates were opened to other allies on other worlds. All twelve gates still exist today, though the one to Elverdein has been moved to Coral Cove in Elvaris, it’s magic upheld by the elves there through powerful magic of the Elvarin Spellweavers. (Magic is currently under great suppression on Terran due to the power of an ancient artifact. Only the Spellweavers of Elvaris and a few other powerful mages have able to maintain the use of magic on this world.)
The Knights of Oceanna still exist today as well, though their number has grown from the original four. Those four still preside over the knights though, and they are the chosen of Oceanna, capable of bestowing her gifts of dual species and growing new portals to other realms. The original knights have chosen a quieter lifestyle now, and even the overzealous Pandora seems to be happy in her semiretirement from the adventuring profession.