Sir Nicholas

The icy Winterlands that lie north of the continents of Peltas and Anhelt have been mostly uninhabited for more than a thousand years. The old Norr settlements from the Age of Hellfire have been buried by snow and ice since the people who built them were driven south by Demonspawn invasions. Some say that a Lightbringer lives there, a servant of Lumaya who watches the world from his great snowy hall, deep in the evergreen forests. Some call him a powerful warrior, who strides into battle with a holy sword and smites Demonspawn and Undead alike with righteous fury. Others call him a savior and rescuer, who brings food and warmth to any in Teleria trapped in cold mountains or harsh winters. Regardless of his titles, all of them know him by the same name: Sir Nicholas. Acts of charity and protection are repeated throughout all of the many tales of Sir Nicholas. Every culture of Teleria tells them, from the Shadowkin of Yakai in the east to the kingdom of Frostheim in the west, and in every tale he is beloved. Not every account is true, but that hardly matters to the man himself — so long as they are stories that keep hope alive in dark places, he is satisfied. Not everyone is so comfortable with such tales. The Sacred Order regards Sir Nicholas as a fantasy. They deny the accounts and evidence, and pass their disbelief down to the millions that must obey their edicts. One must ask, when faced with such ardent denial, why the Sacred Order draws such a hard line about a figure who would appear to be their ally. The answer? Shame. Sir Nicholas is real, and always has been. He was once a part of the Sacred Order, and known for being a jovial Lightbringer who had a tendency to leave gifts for those he met. But in the days leading up to the Red Crusade, as the Sacred Order prepared its rhetoric against the Skinwalkers, Sir Nicholas saw the writing on the wall. He could not condone the persecution and slaughter he was convinced was coming, and so, one night, he left. While Sir Nicholas might have been the first to leave, he would not be the last. The brutalities of the Red Crusade were too much for many of the faithful, and there was a grand exodus from the Order’s ranks. But, of all those who abandoned the Sacred Order, the scar left by Sir Nicholas’ disapproval cut deepest among the Order’s magistrates. He had been loved by everyone. Some thought him too soft to fight the war they were fighting, but none of them ever could claim that his kindness was wrong. And so guilt and shame drove them to erase his memory, to destroy his legacy as completely as they could. Sir Nicholas could not outshine the righteousness of the Sacred Order if he did not exist at all. Sir Nicholas outshone the Order regardless. He has never stopped seeking out those in need, even from the grand lodge he built for himself in the Winterlands. When he found too few to help in his icy home, he obtained an enchanted sleigh with which he could fly out over the rest of Teleria at night, searching for desperate folk in need of a savior. On Yuletide celebrations, he often visits the largest cities of Teleria, depositing bountiful gifts for those who deserve them. Stories of Sir Nicholas cannot help but remind people of the value of the smallest act of kindness. For all the treasures he gives, it is his kindness that makes people love and believe in Sir Nicholas. And it is that love and belief that inspires such jealousy in the modern Sacred Order – true adoration cannot be earned at swordpoint, but, without Sir Nicholas and those like him, swords are all the Order has left.