Order of the Lost Guardians

The Lost guardians are a group of wandering knights who have taken a temporary vow of anonymity and servitude to the people of Terragard. They roam the land dressed in their ceremonial white armor, wielding white magical swords, performing acts of heroism and accomplishing great feats. They are sometimes known as The Lost, or the White Knights.

History
The Order of Lost Guardians started when a deity (believed to be Torm or Helm) saw the suffering of the people in Terragard during the hard times in history, presumably the blight, and bestowed a portion of his power upon his worshipers, making them champions of good. These guardians were stripped of their names and identities, and wear armored helmets to hide their identities. After the blight, the realm was returned to relative safety as the guardians swept across the land exterminating evil and threats to the common folk. This was known as the l|Lost Crusade, and was a great cleansing of all the evil and corruption in the land during and after The Blight.

After their goal of cleansing the land was accomplished, a great number of guardians were released from service and were given new names and identities or returned to their old identities. Some wished to remain as one of The Lost, and were allowed to continue their service, roaming the wilderness or patrol the major cities to eliminate crime and defend against any malefactors.

Ex-guardians are held in high esteem by the order, and they are allowed to keep their right gauntlet from their armor they possessed while serving in the order, and can call upon the Lost Guardians for assistance when needed. This performs a valuable service for the order, bringing the Lost guardians a steady stream of information and leads regarding potential threats and issues that would need investigating by the order regardless.

Life of a Guardian
The Lost Guardians are rigorously trained before acceptance into the order can be approved. They are tested for battle prowess as well as morality, and readiness to have their identities removed for a period of a several years. The training is designed to weed out immoral and the less dedicated fighters. Training is gruesome and they are often starved and sleep-deprived in order to condition them for their long treks into the wilderness seeking foes and threats deep in the forests and mountains. Survival skills are taught religiously.

Service last for 10 years on average, but some have returned in as few as 5. The order accepts recruits from all walks of life, some are looking to give up their lives and do something good, some are criminals looking to be exonerated from their sullied identities, others are just soldiers from war that struggled to adjust to civilian life. Ex-members report that while in service as one of the Lost, they are given a widely-defined task and once completed sufficiently, they are given the choice to be discharged.

The Guardians wear helmets as part of their ceremonial armor to protect their faces from being recognized, and its reported that not a single guardian has been recognized by anyone, even with their helms removed, which is a rare thing to see, as they are only removed when sleeping or bathing. The helms lower half can be removed when its otherwise necessary, such as when eating and drinking.

Guardians are granted powers similar to a paladin, and are granted white slender magical swords, simply referred to as 'Truth' by the guardians. These weapons are bound to them, and they can call their weapon to them similarly to how an eldritch knight can, but they exhibit such a strong bond that they can command their weapon to attack on its own, and it can be thrown and moved about similar to a mage hand spell that allows attacking with surprising speed and accuracy.

The Lost guardians are feared as an immortal police force, but their numbers are few. Rarely will you see more than one Guardian in a single place at a time. They are politically neutral, and consider all life sacred - they will not fight in wars, nor will they fight to stop them. If an aggressive faction is inherently evil, a war is likely not necessary, as the guardians are known to be able to march together and outright wipe out entire factions, and so subversive methods are often used to avoid direct confrontation.

At any given time there are 20-50 guardians in service, as well as 20-30 known ex-guardians, but those numbers are estimates at best as there is no ruling power to report their exact numbers, and ex-guardians are not open about their service. There is a small number of ex-guardians who are severed from the order if they perform any acts that would dishonor the name of the Lost, these few are known as The Fallen, after the first Guardian fell to corruption after the blight, others who follow this path usually become anti-paladins. Some of the Fallen however just resign and retire to a simpler life, while some willingly become fallen by making difficult choices for what they think is the 'greater good' overall. Becoming a Fallen means you lose your powers and spells, their armor and weapon becomes useless to them, but their helmets can never be removed, forever erasing their identities and marking them as a fallen guardian for the rest of their lives.

PCs as Lost Guardians
See Lost Guardian PC Template.

Structure
The order is supposedly led by a deity, who indirectly works through the Guardians themselves, but they have never identified themselves to any Guardian.

The Lost Guardians all share one rank, with none of them above the other. They never argue against one another and rarely need to speak with each other at all. (leading some to believe they can communicate telepathically or possess a form of hive mind while in service)

Below the Guardians proper are the trainees, who train with the guardians at the Spire. Its unknown if they always train under the same guardians or if each guardian trains them in turn, as they are indistinguishable from each other.

Goals
To preserve peace

To protect the innocent and poor

To fight against evil

Limits
May not perform any acts that are considered unjust, else the guardian will become one of the fallen.