Founded in Sun Cycle 109, The Order was – prior to their Charter – already the largest religious organization on Urth. Every city held a church or chapel dedicated to the Order, with one or more priests, and ever more frequently bishops, to herd each flock.
Dav charged the Order en masse with beginning an Inquisition into the Heresy of Magic, naming the Cardinal of Lithmore “Grand Inquisitor” and giving him exclusive right to select worthy priests to bear the Inquisitorial ring – and hence authority. One year later, he dedicated his champion, the Seneschal, into service to the Holy Order as the Earl Marshall. With the might of the king’s best arms and the righteousness in their hearts, the hierarchs of the Order – from the Cardinal to the lowest of clergymen – rightly recognized in Dav the ability to put the Order, once and for all, above other religions. All it would cost them is their freedom, as Dav declared himself the Patriarch of the church, above all Cardinals, and the High Synod itself.
Orderites took their new charge with gusto, and soon sermons sounded across the land deriding the use of magic, and backing their words with the pious steel of Dav’s knights. Pulpits named those who used magic as heretics and threats to the True Faith. Those known to use magic were taken immediately, and cruelly tortured before inducing them to renounce their abilities publicly – then hanged, or burned at the stake.
Today’s Order, while more sedate, still very much remains a creature of its creation. There remains a branch, answerable only to the Grand Inquisitor, which is tasked with the inquest to magic use. An Inquisitor is feared by all – from highborn to lowly peasant, for with their word alone they can bring the mighty arm of the Order – and the Knights of the Chalice – upon a chosen victim.
Although Inquisitors are still an active part of the Order, the majority of its people are common priests and priestesses. In recent times, the Knights of the Chalice have been separated from the Order guild and combined with one branch of the Reeves. People interested in the Knights should now seek information regarding the Knights Lithmorran. The Order is also known for teaching the nobility and paying populous members, in turn raising their education and prestige.
Members of the Order are easily identifiable by their skullcap (males) or wimple (females) denoting their affiliation. Upon taking vows, they dedicate their lives to the Lord of the Springs and swear to never marry.