The Order of the Silver Rose

The Order of the Silver Rose was a religious order of Knights in an AD&D campaign that I ran. The campaign was set in The Forgotten Realms and was based around the FRE1-3 scenario packs.

The Order of the Silver Rose

The order of the Silver Rose is a religious order of Knights devoted to worship of the demigod Torm. The order was formed around thirty years ago by Sir Giriath of Iriaebor a dedicated Knight of Torm who, single-handed, slew the Great Dragon, Dyldarin the Red.

Dyldarin the Red had been terrorising the land around the Far Hills for years, and many a brave Knight had died trying to slay him. Giriath had ridden out to where the Dragon roosted and, after a brief period of prayer, attacked the great beast. Dyldarin had entered the battle over-confident and had initially toyed with Giriath, contemptuously gutting his loyal charger with a flick of a claw and incinerating both his pack mules for fun. Giriath, however, was more of a challenge than the Dragon had expected and the battle had raged throughout the day and late into the night. By the end of the battle, Giriath was exhausted. He stumbled and was unable to avoid a blast of Dragon-Fire which bathed him, injuring him horribly and reducing his sword to a molten pool. Dyldarin, thinking the Knight to be beaten, came in close for the kill. As the Dragon reached for him with its jaws Giriath gathered the last of his energy and raised and grounded his broken lance, ramming the shaft through the Dragon’s eye and up into its brain. Dyldarin thrashed once and died.

That night, as Giriath had rested, exhausted from the battle, without food and almost out of drinking water, a vision of Torm came to him. Torm told him to return to the lair of Dyldarin the Red at midnight and to go into the foul cavern that the Dragon had called home and search carefully. There, beneath a natural chimney in the rock, he would find a small rose bush, struggling to survive. He should give the plant the last of his drinking water. Giriath was confused by his god’s command, but obeyed and returned to the scene of the battle. Upon entering the foul smelling cavern he located the tiny plant in an out of the way corner of the vast cavern. Muttering a prayer to his god, he opened his water skin and emptied it onto the roots of the rose bush, knowing that he would have to walk long and hard to find more. As he watched the plant, clouds parted and the moon shone down through the rock chimney illuminating the rose in a soft silvery light. By the light of the moon Giriath could clearly see that the water that he had poured onto the rose was trickling down the rock wall and vanishing as if it were going through the wall. Intrigued, Giriath reached out his hand to where the water vanished and found that the rock wall beside the rose was merely an illusion. Stepping through the wall, Giriath discovered Dyldarin’s ancient hoard. Gold, silver and gems beyond his wildest imagining.

Emerging from the cavern Giriath dropped to his knees and prayed for guidance. Torm instructed him to use the treasure to construct a temple above Dyldarin’s cavern, and to gather a body of brave and true warriors about him. Giriath fell into a deep sleep and was woken the following morning by a golden haired Knight, Darius Dawnglow. Darius told Giriath that he had been travelling overland to Scornubel when an old hermit had come to him. The hermit told Darius that a sword-brother was in need, and that he should ride south-east, high into the Far Hills and he would come across a great Knight worthy of his service. Intrigued, Darius had done as he was bidden and had come across the battered form of Giriath.

Darius tended Giriath’s wounds and they journeyed together to Scornubel. Whilst travelling, Giriath told Darius of his battle with Dyldarin and the visions he had received. Darius agreed to help Giriath to construct the temple and gather a force of Knights to further the worship of Torm.

With the Dragon hoard Giriath employed local craftsmen and magicians to construct a great keep. Whilst the keep was under construction Giriath and Darius travelled far and wide in search of brave men and women of true heart and pure souls. Slowly and carefully they selected the bravest warriors and the most devout worshippers of Torm and gathered them together at the site of the keep in the Far Hills.

When the keep was completed and the chapel consecrated, Giriath led Darius and the others in prayer to their Lord. A shimmering apparition in shining purple armour appeared before them and blessed them and their temple and instructed them to be true to the faith. As the prayers ended the apparition faded and they noticed that the stones of the keep had taken on the subtle purple hue of Torm’s armour.

From that day, the temple was known as the Purple Keep. Giriath decided that his followers needed a name, and Darius suggested that they name the order after the moonlit rose that had led to its founding. Thus was the order of the Silver Rose formed.