> [!infobox|right] > #### ORDER OF THE LUCKY BLADES > ![[5E_LUCKYBLADESCREST.png]] > > ##### Basic Information > | | | > |---|---| > | ![[ICON - bookmark-etch-solid-full.svg]] **Type**: | Knightly Order | > | ![[ICON - crystal-ball-solid-full.svg]] **Deity**: | [[Tymora]] | > | ![[ICON - eclipse-solid-full.svg]] **Alignment**: | Neutral - Good | > | ![[ICON - eclipse-solid-full.svg]] **Leadership**: | [[Vaela Sunsong]] | > | ![[ICON - chess-rook-piece-sharp-solid-full.svg]] **Seat**: | [[The Crimson Coinhall]],<br>[[Silvercross]] | > | ![[ICON - chess-rook-piece-sharp-solid-full.svg]] **Sites**: | [[The Sunleaf Quarters]],<br>[[The Openfield Grounds]],<br>[[The Ironpost Barracks]],<br>[[The Restful Step House]] | > | ![[ICON - person-limbs-wide-solid-full.svg]] **Members**: | ~140 | > | ![[ICON - sparkle-solid-full.svg]] **Influence**: | [[Silvercross]],<br>[[Cormyr]] | <a href="https://dioctionary.net/THE+DIOCTIONARY/HOME/Home" class="dioctionary-ribbon-2"> HOME </a> <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">A Brief History</div> - The [[Order of the Lucky Blades]] was part of my life before I was old enough to understand what an order even was. I grew up in [[Silvercross]], slept above [[The Silver Flagon]], watched knights and squires move through town every day, and had a mother, father, friends, mentors, and half an extended family tied to the Order in one way or another. Joining never felt like choosing a path. It felt like eventually growing old enough to walk the one that had always been in front of me. - The Order was founded around 1249 around the story of the "Five of Fortune", five figures whose names were either lost, deliberately forgotten, or never written down in the first place. According to the version I grew up hearing, they stood together against a threat on the hill where the [[The Crimson Coinhall]] now stands, called upon [[Tymora]], and the earth split with golden light. From that moment came [[Wa'Gera]], a blade tied to Tymora's favor that was sealed beneath the hill. How much of that story is literal history and how much has improved after two centuries of retelling is difficult to know. The Order certainly believes enough of it to have built itself around what the Five represented. - The idea at the center of everything is simple: "Fortune Favors the Bold". The Lucky Blades do not teach that luck means standing still and waiting for Tymora to rescue you. You prepare, you choose, and when the moment comes, you take the step. Luck may meet you there. It may not. The point is that you moved. - By the time I began formal training in 1480, the Order had become one of the defining institutions of Silvercross. The Coinhall, the [[The Openfield Grounds|Openfield Grounds]], the [[The Ironpost Barracks|Ironpost Barracks]], the [[The Sunleaf Quarters|Sunleaf Quarters]], it was simply part of the town's rhythm. Roughly one hundred and forty people belong to it now, but its reach through Silvercross is much larger than that number suggests. - [[Olivia Halcrest]] trained me, [[Kaelen Droswynn]], and [[Lira Morningvale]] through some of the most important years of our lives. My mother, [[Therona Eldwynair]], commanded the Luckwardens. [[Vaela Sunsong]] led the Order, [[Saelar Quinnlight]] shaped much of its faith, and people like [[Aeris Coinflare]], [[Thorrin Embergaunt]], [[Lyselle Dawnsworn]], and [[Sir Zavian Brannock]] each carried their own part of keeping the whole thing functioning. For a long time, I expected I would spend my entire life among them. - Then came [[Eveningstar]]. Olivia died at the [[Cathedral of Lathander]], and I was the one whose sword killed her. Some people blamed me, some avoided me, some did not know what to say, and a few never treated me differently at all. The Order did not become one single thing afterward, even if that was how it felt to me at the time. - In the life I am living now, none of that happened where anyone else could see it. I never returned from Eveningstar at all, and as far as the Order knows, Dio Eldwynair died there with Olivia. - I call myself a former Lucky Blade because I do not know what else to call it. I broke my oath. I turned away from Tymora. I left Silvercross, even if in this life I did it by simply never coming home. But more than a century of running has not managed to remove the Order from me. It taught me how to fight, how to stand beside someone when things become ugly, how to take the first step when every sensible instinct says not to, and, for better or worse, how to believe that one person moving forward can matter. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">Founding Era</div> ### 1208-1250 DR - The earliest history of the Order is tangled badly enough with legend that I would be suspicious of anyone claiming to know exactly what happened. - The story begins with five wanderers remembered only as the Five of Fortune. Their actual names are not part of the history I was taught. - They came together when the settlement that would eventually become [[Silvercross]] was still small and vulnerable, little more than a stopping point along the roads. - Their defining battle took place on the hill where the Coinhall stands today. The story says the Five called upon [[Tymora]] as they made their stand, golden light split the ground beneath them, and [[Wa'Gera]] was revealed or created in the aftermath. - Wa'Gera was sealed beneath the hill, and the Five left behind the oath and principles that became the foundation of the Order. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">The Early Era</div> ### 1250-1300 DR - After the Five were gone, the Order had to become something more useful than a good story. - A shrine to Tymora was raised on the hill, followed by early barracks and regular patrols around the surrounding roads. - The earliest Lucky Blades protected caravans, travelers, and the growing settlement while also ranging farther out against threats that ordinary guards were poorly equipped to handle. - Hunts into the [[Storm Horn Mountains]] and the lands surrounding early Silvercross helped establish the reputation that followed the Order afterward: if something dangerous was making everyone else reconsider their travel plans, a Lucky Blade would eventually decide that sounded like a reason to go there. - The Order remained so small during those years, with only a few dozen sworn members at most, but the stories traveled farther than they did. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">The Stone Era</div> ### 1300-1380 DR - This is when the Order began looking more like the one I eventually knew. - The old shrine gave way to the first stone version of the Coinhall, and facilities such as the early [[The Ironpost Barracks|Ironpost Barracks]] gave the Order a permanent structure inside the growing town. - Ranks and responsibilities became more formal, including positions such as Highblade, Captain, Knight, and Squire. - [[House Blackfen]] entered the Order during this period and, because apparently my mother's family cannot participate in anything casually, eventually became deeply tied to its martial traditions. - Pilgrims devoted to Tymora increasingly traveled to Silvercross, while Wa'Gera remained sealed beneath the Coinhall as the physical center of the Order's oldest story. - By the end of the era, the Order had grown from a small collection of warriors into a recognized institution within [[Cormyr]]. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">The Crimson Era</div> ### 1380-1450 DR - The Order's modern appearance and much of its current structure took shape during the Crimson Era. - Crimson became the Order's defining color alongside silvered armor; instead of the traditional blue commonly seen within the Church of Tymora, creating the look most people now recognize immediately as belonging to a Lucky Blade. - Specialized responsibilities became more formal, including the Luckwardens and the foundations of the later wing structure. - The Order fought threats around the [[Hullack Forest]], the surrounding roads, and farther into the region, earning a reputation for handling problems larger than the town guard or local militias could reasonably manage. - [[Silvercross]] grew alongside it. Safer roads brought merchants, pilgrims, craftsmen, and permanent families, and the Order became increasingly difficult to separate from the town's history even though the two were never the same institution. - By the end of the era, being a Lucky Blade meant belonging to something people across Cormyr had actually heard of. I am certain that did wonders for the humility of everyone involved. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">The Modern Era</div> ### 1450-1493 DR - This is the Order I knew. - [[Vaela Sunsong]] stands at its head, with the Order divided among captains, specialized duties, clergy, knights, squires, and the staff required to keep a hundred armed people from discovering that courage does not prepare meals or maintain buildings. - My grandfather, [[Quincy Blackfen II]], helped define the modern Luckwardens before eventually choosing my mother, [[Therona Eldwynair]], as his successor. That decision tied my immediate family even more closely to the Order than it already was. - [[Saelar Quinnlight]] remained one of the spiritual anchors of the Order, teaching a version of Tymoran faith that treated luck as neither blind gambling nor something that could be forced into obedience. - [[Olivia Halcrest]] became Captain of Training & Discipline and changed the way my generation was taught. She expected more than competence. She wanted us to understand why we fought, who we were protecting, and what kind of people we intended to become once nobody was standing over us correcting our stance. - I began formal training in 1480 alongside [[Kaelen Droswynn]] and [[Lira Morningvale]], with Olivia becoming first my mentor and eventually the person I trusted more than anyone. - Other figures including [[Aeris Coinflare]], [[Thorrin Embergaunt]], [[Lyselle Dawnsworn]], and [[Sir Zavian Brannock]] became part of the leadership and daily structure of the modern Order, each in ways that suited them very differently. - The events at the [[Cathedral of Lathander]] in 1486 took Olivia from the Order and changed everyone who returned from [[Eveningstar]]. I cannot pretend to know what the Order as a whole became afterward. I was too busy trying to survive being part of what had happened. - Today, the Order remains around one hundred and forty members strong and continues protecting Silvercross, its roads, its pilgrims, and whatever unlucky creature wanders close enough to town to become somebody's heroic assignment. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">Faith & Philosophy</div> - **Fortune Favors the Bold** This is the sentence everything else circles around. Luck is not an excuse to be reckless, but neither is preparation an excuse to remain still forever. At some point you choose and move. - **The Bold Step** Growing up in Silvercross meant hearing the same idea expressed a hundred different ways: fortune favors movement. The town itself eventually became known as the **Town of the Bold Step**, and the Order embodies that principle more than anything else within it. - **Tymora** [[Tymora]] is not merely the Order's patron in name. Her faith runs through its rituals, traditions, oaths, festivals, and understanding of what courage means. I once believed in her completely. My feelings on that subject have become less cooperative. - **Wa'Gera** [[Wa'Gera]] is the blade sealed beneath the Coinhall, tied to the founding story of the Five of Fortune. I grew up knowing it as proof that something extraordinary happened on that hill, even if I cannot tell you exactly where history ends and faith begins.