Albidar
by Dave

Albidar's sect are wanderers, following where he may have gone. They are fairly few in number (compared to the other sects of the Light) and quite the hermetic ones too, accepting charity and eschewing most material possessions. They are also a bit fanatical about Set and his minions.

Albidar was turned away from the place of rest granted to Sagron and Elihu by Epimetreus after the Last Battle, as he had carried vengeance too far, and had sought glory over justice, and slaughter over honor. However, because of his unswerving fanaticism and devotion to the Light, he was sent out into the world as a penance, to be a light unto others, and to make amends for his errors. So his priests wander, help wayfarers, and are a source of strength and charity where they go. They are mystics indeed, as they will have no more worldly possessions than a cloak, staff, tunic, shoes and a wallet. They are of the Church, and in truth, they are the eyes and ears for her outside of Landsrue, since they will wander anywhere, and fearlessly. They are probably the sect that suffers the highest per-capita mortality rate as well. Those of evil intent who know them stay well away, fearing their staff (and moreso their fervor) while their gentle words and generous advice are always welcome to travellers on the high roads.

There are a few splinter sects of Albidar, the largest worships him at the height of his martial prowess, before he took the Vows of Absolution from Epimetreus. In that incarnation he is the warrior supreme, with the fire of a Just War in his heart, armored shoulder and thigh, wielding a dreadful Glaive against the countless foe. This sect brings the Light with the Sword, and is officially excluded from the Light by the Church in Landsrue. Their stories are elsewhere, like them.

From the Introduction to "The Chronography of Albidar", author unknown

"The battle isn't over until the air is filled with the lamentations of the enemy."

-- Albidar

Fragment of an unidentified manuscript

Swordmaster, The Lambent Eye, the King of Battles, the Needle, so is named the Lord Albidar, a king who gave everything he had into the service of Mithras. One of the first, most martial and also the most chaotic of Epimetreus' initial followers. A small, rather bowlegged man with pale skin and grey eyes, his exploits on horseback or with a sword would make grizzled veterans gape in awe, in a time when skilled riders and fighters were ten for a groat. Yet he only ever befriended one man, Epimetreus, and stood remote from anyone else. His soldiers followed him anywhere.

Albidar formerly ruled Vacri, largest of the Kingdoms on the Plains. His lands bordered the chain of mountains where Epimetreus first descended after the first of the Three Prophecies. As a warrior-king, philosopher and horse-breeder he was very much impressed by the oratory and fiery will of the young Epimetreus.

The young herder was guested into the court of the boy King, and soon his knowledge and unswerving determination began to alter the courtiers. After only a few months, he soon had converted a part of the court, and the young King to his radical seeming views.

"Once the young herder had turned his face to an idea, he consumed it utterly and dispassionately, and none could stand before his arguments."

-- Luerse, a court scribe

An Aristocracy of Discontent swiftly formed about the young King and his remarkable wise man, Epimetreus. Albidar began gathering the Army of a Thousand Sheaves from among his kingdom, and more significantly, those which bordered his.

Having brought the Light of Truth to the valley Kingdoms, Epimetreus was called again into the Mountain of Light by Mithras, leaving Albidar for a time. It was during his absence that the young King, feeling that the time was ripe, fell upon the Imperial outposts and reduced them, beginning the first of many battles to be fought in Mithra's name. Sadly, after initial gains against surprised auxiliary troops, the Four Kings were defeated by the Northern Chilead or Imperial Garrison the following spring. Fighting a heroic rearguard action against superior forces, Albidar and a handful of veterans retreated into the mountains under the aegis of Epimetreus, who had returned in the nick of time to seal the upper passes against the Sothron foe. Of the four Kings who rebelled, only Albidar survived. It would be a long time before he came out of the mountains.

Many of the Landsrue schools of tactics, battle philosophies, and manuals addressing the use of the sword, spear or bow can be traced to writings of Albidar's disciples during this time. While they were in the mountain's bosom, they trained. Under the tutelage of the Needle, and guided by the Light, the Armies that emerged from the mountains passes years later swept the Imperials before them in a bloody tide. None could stand before the prowess of Albidar, and his wisdom and cunning on the field was even greater than his swordsmanship. In a series of lightning campaigns, the Northern Chilead was cut off from supply, isolated and defeated in detail by the Armies of the Light. After the first imperial banner was taken in over a century by Albidar, the northern ingdoms came to Epimetreus in droves.

Yet always did Albidar need the guiding hand of his master, Epimetreus, for only under his aegis did he win. Some scholars tell that Albidar was so vengeful towards the southerners because he served the Light as a convert and zealot, others say he offered no mercies because the first army he defeated had been led by his youngest son, who had been made King after him.

It is his drive, the detached yet utterly focused concentration which forms the core philosophy of the only work attributed directly to Albidar, "The Light from the Sword" which is nearly surreal in its descriptions of how to attack, defend, engage or hold at bay an opponent armed with a variety of weapons or troops. It was dictated by Albidar to Sagron during the Refuge.

In a variety of scripts, books and legends from the time, a single tenet seems to emerge about the Albidar and the Last Days. Albidar, driven by revenge or religious fervor, did lead his troops in a massacre of epic proportions during the battles surrounding the fall of Python, which resulted in his spirit being set upon the paths of the world, there to learn the lessons necessary for his eventual reunion with Epimetreus, Sagron, Elihu and Mithras.