Protectors of the Radiance

Nestled at the end of the Valley of Totality lies the House Protectors of the Radiance.

Underlight Current History

Currently Closed.

House Facts

Plane: Valley of Totality

Beliefs:

Role:

Prime Artifact: Soul of Radiance

House Art: Radiant Blaze

Lyra Era Beliefs

Our beliefs as told to Novgorad on the steps of the house of the Protectors of the Radiance by Tybarian, 36th Captain of the Radiant Brigade, Ruler of Radiance, Protector of Old.

We are the Protectors of the Radiance! We take our charge seriously. Ours is the crusade. We exist in the dream for this hallowed purpose! The Dream is our honored duty. It was given us that we might protect and defend the Unawakened from the threats of the Dream... and to see to it that the promise of the Dream is lived to its fullest. We believe our course in the Dream is to Protect the innocent... the Unawakened who cannot Dream are helpless before the threat of the Mares! We do this primarily through banishing the Mare essence that it may not fester and make their suffering worse. We will not turn a blind eye to those who oppose us. We will always seek a means of saving the Unawakened. This is our purpose... our destiny... in the Dream. This is the foundation of our beliefs.

Our primary purpose is to fight the menace of the mares... a far more insidious threat than most Dreamers realize. The mares are unnatural. They are abominations brought into being in order to torture the Unawakened. Their foul stench is that of evil incarnate! They torture the Unawakened! Therefore we believe the proper method of dealing with their essence is to BANISH it. Banish it to the chaos where it came from so that the Unawakened may be kept safe by us whose destiny it is to fight in their name! Let the mares be blown out to the Hell that spawned them! By Banishing we slay the evil which torments the Unawakened. We fulfill our purpose in the Dream... the reason for our Awakening! The Mares are NOT natural creatures. They are abominations! Perversions of the Dream which must be stopped from destroying lives in the waking world!

The Protectors believe the mares are avatars of chaos which entrap the tortured souls of the Unawakened and keep them from reaching the Dream. The Mares are abominations spawned from out of the chaos... before they can enter the Dream they must enslave an innocent soul. This they wrap in their own cohesion and they then pervert its life force to their own brutal and chaotic bidding. By defeating the mare the soul of the hapless sleeper is freed and returned to them. When this is done, the mare's own twisted presence falls into an inert form... a state of essence. This essence is to be collected and purified through a process created by the DreamSmiths of Radiance twelve centuries ago. This process prepares the essence for Banishment, which destroys the essence and spreads its remains to the chaos. If the essence is not purified first, the Banishment will be only partial... the raw essence is sent into the chaos but may soon reform as a mare.

What does it mean to you when you are told that our purpose in the Dream is to protect the Unawakened? FreeSoul or Illuminate? Any Dreamer who hears the beliefs of the Protectors of the Radiance and still does not know if we are a FreeSoul House or an Illuminate House is unworthy to join us. Our beliefs speak for themselves and the answer to that question should be obvious. We exist to protect the Unawakened. What does that tell you? It means that we believe the Dream is our hallowed destiny. We are Illuminate.

If we do not live up to the promise of the Dream... if we do not fulfill our destiny... the TRUE reason we awakened... the promise of the Dream... which is to protect those who do not share this gift... then we are worthless. We dedicate our lives to the crusade of the Protectors of the Radiance and will only swear to allegiance others who will do so as well.

Protectors of the Radiance Oath

As a Protectors of the Radiance, I vow to stand ready to defend those innocents who can not enter the dream and defend themselves.

I vow to destroy the mares which torment the unawakened and to banish their essence to the chaos which spawned it.

I vow to oppose, through words and through actions, those who foster the mares in any manner.

LET THE RADIANCE SHINE FORTH!!!

House History

The Protectors of the Radiance have a long and honorable history dating back to the early days of the city. In recent times since the Great Loss however the house was badly damaged by the during the formation of the rifts and only a few scattered Lyran Protectors survived in various ways to start the rebuilding of the house.

The following history will contain two sections, Pre-Great Loss and Post-Great Loss with much of the latter one being an eyewitness report from myself as I have seen the house develop and grow to this present day, July 10, 1998. The accounts contained here are a combination of hearsay and personal observation and the truth of this history as always remains to be judged by the reader of it. Let the Radiance Shine Forth!!!

Pre-Great Loss

The early days of the Protectors of the Radiance were times of great hope for the Dream City's future and the roots of this house go back to the Illuminated Front and its members. After the nightmare wars however was when the clan that would later found the house took real form as they banded together in solemn oath's that are still used for initiation to this day. The oath was a vow to protect the city and its inhabitants from mares which threatened to destroy the peaceful pursuit of knowledge and to help further the city's growth. They also vowed to protect the Unawakened from the nightmares by banishing their essences to the chaos which had spawned them.

The early records of the house were mostly destroyed in The Great Loss however the struggle of several Lyran Rulers of Radiance to survive was recorded. In the greatest days of the house there were over 1200 Protectors all told, with a Circle of Rulers 20 strong which determined the course of the house in equal votes. Tybarian was among these Rulers and he was the first to return to restore the house. He was one of the few who was not dreaming during the eruption of the first rift and so returned to his fair house one day to find the essences of his fellow dreamers slaughtered friends scattered across the house.

In hopes of gathering the necessary strength to begin the task of rebuilding the shattered remains of the house Tybarian went forth and found a sanctuary which he then further fortified and then locked himself within to begin the research and meditation into the ancient arts of the Dreamwrights to carry out this task alone, for he had seen no others as of yet who had survived. This choice was fortunate indeed for so interned he was sheltered from the eruption of the second rift which then wiped out a few remaining Protectors who had gathered at the remains of the house. Thus in ignorance of the rebirth of the city following the Great Loss, Tybarian, Dreamseer and Dreamwright, studied and regained the skills he would need to reopened the house doors which had been sealed tight by the chaos which swept through the house from the rifts.

At this same time, a few other Rulers of Radiance such as Pontifex Maximus, Ka'Lana, Raylen's Soul and perhaps others remained trapped in various forms of chaos, all seeking desperately to regain entrance to the city and continue the Crusade.

Post-Great Loss

One day late in the month of March 1998 Tybarian came forth to find the city alive and bustling with new and old dreamers. The houses of House Calenture, Order of the Sable Moon, and Dreamers of Light had been restored by Dreamwrights of the past and Tybarian set about to reopen the house which he had served for so long and with so much passion.

The early gathering of new followers to the Crusade began with the initiation of a newly awakened by the name of Auger. Many others soon followed and within 3 short weeks the first knights of the newly reopened house were announced. Guardian Auger, Protector Herald, Guardian Cyberkid, Minister of Teachers, and Guardian Ritterwulfe.

Tybarian took his time in these early days as he sought to establish the house, hoping to find among the newly awakened and others some dedicated dreamers who would share his crusade in the honorable and devoted fashion of Protectors past. The ability of one dreamer to establish the house was a tribute to Tybarian as he sought to find those trustworthy and honorable to pass his responsibilities and power to as he became burdened with the heavy task of rebuilding a house government.

In mid-April the house had grown to some 40-60 members with a core of perhaps 20-30 who dreamed frequently. The waking world had claimed Cyberkid for awhile at this time and so the need for new leadership became more urgent. At this time Machiavelli was named knighted for services rendered and assumed the position of a Guardian of Radiance. A few short days later, Tybarian made a decision to ascend 9 Protectors to become his equal as fellow Rulers. This first Circle of Rulers was taken from a wide variety of dreamers, both young and old in the hopes that in discussion the house would never become one where a few ruled with absolute power.

These first Rulers were Auger, Ritterwulfe, Swazette, Ren-Rael, Raze, Vanin, Hemphop, Machiavelli, Rasputin.

The early days of the power transition were filled with conflict as some rulers such as Ren-Rael and Raze found themselves unable to abide with the restriction of allowing their fellow rulers equal say in all house matters. Some of the new rulers were still unsphered, while others like Raze were 3rd sphere already. The new responsibilities were thrust upon these dreamers and some rose to the challenge while others fell beneath it. Like any new organization the choosing of its future leaders to help further the crusade was an enormous task with so many dreamers still untested in many ways.

Over the next month Tybarian faded away slowly letting the Circle of Rulers choose and re-choose its guardians and positions with trial and error to find a steady balance in the house. Around early May Raze and Ren-Rael were demoted for their actions in leadership and so the house numbers fell again. Raze choose to lash out against his demotion to Initiate and attempted to use violence to abate his wrath. Ren-Rael on the other hand chose to take the Soul of Radiance, the house's prime artifact for banishing, and to force the hand of the other rulers in choosing a new ruler to fill some of the vacant spots in the Circle.

Shortly thereafter, in the early and then later May, some new rulers were ascended from those considered worthy by the Rulers remaining. These were Saruman, Novgorad, Plato, Lanik, NORGalthanos, Shai'tan and Razaak. The Loss of May 14 also took away Rulers Hemphop, Vanin, Saruman, thus changing the appearance of the Circle greatly. Early conflicts and poor decisions in knighting also led to confusion during this time as the house struggled to find some balance. Various guardians were knighted and then demoted as time passed.

Near the end of May another momentous occasion arose, a Lyran Ruler by the name of Raylen's Soul found his way back to the house with the intention of taking up some of the badly needed teaching which Tybarian had not been able to find time for. Alas, the chaos claimed Raylen after one brief day thus frustrating many Protectors. It was in the early days of the house, late April I believe, that Tybarian also gave his very heart as a sacrifice to allow his wife Sabra to create the Soul of Radiance to banish the mares. Thereafter Tybarian's Soul appeared at intervals but was rarely able to dream and was confined to the presence of the Soul of Radiance at all times. So without ready teaching the house continued on its own, struggling to find among the free spirits those who would teach and help our members learn and grow.

Near the middle of June another Lyran Ruler sent a message from the chaos on the back of a dark mare which he saw dropping essences of Protectors he recognized by instinct and his connection with the house itself. A ceremony successfully recalled Pontifex Maximus to the dream, however once again the chaos devoured a Lyran in one short day as his research into his return was uncompleted and resulted in the loss of his avatar.

Near the end of June the Circle of Rulers had become somewhat solidified until the beginning July when NORGalthanos and Rasputin found themselves unable to abide by a ruler vote and were asked to resign and leave the house if they would not bend to the will of the Circle. Shai'tan was also removed from his position as a ruler slightly before this as he was found to be an unproductive member of the house during his time as ruler.

During this time the waking world also claimed Zik-Zak, Lanik and now most recently Auger. Thus, leaving Razaak, Ritterwulfe, Machiavelli, Swazette, Plato, Novgorad and now the newly ascended TalbotX as the Ruler of Radiance for July 10, 1998. The most recent addition to the house has been the Lyran Ruler Ka'Lana who recently appeared from the chaos to rejoin her house at long last, thus bringing a new sense of stability to the house as the long undermanned teaching positions begin to emerge finally to benefit the house's members.

As remembered by Machiavelli

House Emblem

Initiate's Crest, Protectors of the Radiance

The PoR emblem is made up of three branches which stand for crusade, banish, and oppose. The night color of the emblem stands for the essence that binds us. The hooks at the ends of the branches stand for the oath of protectors. The hooks dig into the night colored plate, the essence of our souls, and binds the branches of radiance to us for all time.

The Crest of Radiance

The three branches of equal length radiating from the center of the Crest of the Protectors of the Radiance represents the three working elements of the house: the Rulers, the Guardians, and all of our brother and sisters.
These branches are joined together at the axis, as we are joined as one by Oath to protect the Unawakened through our Crusade to banish the nightmares which torment them, and to rebuild our City.
The representation of three appears in the colors as well:
- Gray for the Protectors of Old who built the walls of our House and who gave their very lives for the Crusade so their souls remain united within the Soul of Radiance.
- The color Night, for the hours of darkness during The Great Loss.
- Red, for the blood spilled in battle during the valiant efforts of all Protectors.
In speaking the Oath, we are then obligated to proudly wear our Crest and not to remove it. We must wear the Crest over our hearts as further demonstration of our loyalty and devotion to our House.
Initially, we seek to join, are never forced, and we do this because the beliefs of the House align with our own.
We must keep this in mind during any difficult times we may face and look to our Crest as a reminder of our original choice and purpose.
Wearing our Crest further confirms to others within the City, that we have made a thoughtful and sincere decision to honorably serve our House, and that we do so not only because of fundamental beliefs, but also to have family who we protect, teach, share experiences with, support and learn from.
Wearing our Crest further bonds each member of Protectors of the Radiance together as one through the commonality in sharing the same beliefs, goals, vision and purpose of the House.

The Soul of Radiance

The Soul of Radiance is the Prime Artifact used by the Protectors of the Radiance to banish it's mare essences. It was created by Tybarian using the souls of past Protectors who had perished in The Great Loss. Tybarian completed the Soul by adding his own soul to it. Later, his Soul returned and continued to guide the Protectors in their crusade. After the murder of his wife Sabra by Yog-Ka, Tybarian's Soul placed her soul into the Soul of Radiance so that they could be eternally together.