Vigilant

In darkness, and in light.

The motto of the Vigilant

The Vigilant
Major Species	Revenant, Vasacar, Human, Ashderian, numerous other sapient species
Homeplanet	Operates from a series of void-borne fortresses inside the Veil of Webs
Year Founded	Unknown
Leaders	The Midnight Council, Alaric
Status	Active
Notable Allies	Alarian Splinter, Ashderian Regime, Empire of Namine
Notable Enemies	Grand Order of Avalon, Arbiters of Kiron
Other Affiliations	One of the Syndicate powers

The Vigilant are a secretive ancient order of space-faring warriors who utilize Kirone technology to further their own agenda within the Milky Way Galaxy. They are comprised of three sub-factions: the Umbra, the Radia, and the Aurora.

History

Origin

The Vigilant began as a expansion fleet of the Grand Order of Avalon, sent to conquer critical territory within the Great Divide. During this takeover, they would suffer many casualties, forcing them to recruit new members from foreign populations. Over a process of decades, the cultural blending began to erode the values of the order, and in this subversion, new leaders rose.

Chief among these newly-appointed officers was Alaric, an Ambir whose ambition and knowledge of the enemy saw him soar through the ranks of the Avalonian command structure. After rising to the position of second-in-command and becoming the trusted advisor of the Director of the fleet, Alaric convinced him to personally lead an assault on the world of Castellum that, while risky, would cripple the enemy war effort and ensure victory.

Betrayal

During the battle, the Director and those loyal to him were found in dire need of support, as their position, which was previously cleared as safe, was overrun by an unknown force sporting Kirone technology. His distress calls were met with silence, as this betrayal was orchestrated from the beginning. Alaric had conspired with one of the major houses belonging to the Arbiters of Kiron to assassinate the Director in exchange for the founding of a union that would free the house from their fading position in Arbiter politics. With the inducted house hailing him as their new king, and the rebellious GOA forces organizing a new council of governance, the foundation of their alliance had been forged.

Flight

Taking leave of the conflict, the new organization would travel through Cybil's River to the Milky Way Galaxy in its attempt to evade the ancient powers of its home territory. In doing so, they caught the attention of the Enlightened Ones, who were currently immersed in a ongoing rebellion against the Currai Imperium. Seeing this as a route to establish themselves, the union allied with the rebels, suffering even more losses in an attempt to carve a better future for their society.

Revelation

It was in this critical state that the faction would make a shocking discovery: an inactive Kirone vessel being cracked open and studied by the Imperium. Staging what many would equate to a suicide mission, the dwindling force liberated the ship from Currai control at the expense of King Alaric's life. Demoralized and nearly broken, they utilized forgotten knowledge kept by the rogue house to reactivate the remarkably well-preserved craft. In doing so, they discovered the truth about its origins from the vessel's on-board artificial intelligence. It revealed that the Kirone had not settled for conquering just Andromeda, but had actively sent out expeditions to terraform dead worlds within the Milky Way. These vessels, whose progress had long ago been halted by a mysterious lack of support from their parent civilization, were forced to enter a state of hibernation and now remained dormant throughout the galaxy as priceless vaults of arcane technology.

Transformation

When further questioned about the its own nature, the AI expressed that his name was Vigil and that he, like his companions wired into other exploratory ships, was actually a Kirone himself, who had taken a different path of ascension. He was once responsible for overseeing the entirety of the terraforming affair, and remarked with hatred that while most of his companions remained lost, some had found their way into the hands of those that would abuse them. With his original mission now an abject failure and his home evidently gone, he proposed an agreement to the remaining council and those loyal to them: Vigil would help them endure and thrive in the Milky Way if they liberated his brother and sister vessels from foreign control. The council agreed, but on the condition that they would be equals, not servants. The union was once slaved to an AI, and had no intentions of repeating history. Thus was the union given new life under the name of the Vigilant.

Retribution

Years passed, and the Vigilant, armed with the knowledge of those long gone, renewed their contribution to the War of Deliverance tenfold. King Alaric rose once more as the first Revenant at the head of a vast crusade of warrior automata and piloted war machines known as Aegis. The aforementioned pre-Vigilant governance council formed from the GOA rebellion forces following Alaric, now known as the Midnight Council, lead a host of covert operations across the span of the Imperium, utilizing their technological advantage to cripple its military infrastructure and assassinate key leadership positions. Through immense effort and equal support from the Enlightened Ones, the Imperium's dominion over the Milky Way was broken, and the Vigilant secured their existence for ages to come.

Establishment

In the years after the War of Deliverance, the Vigilant would claim enclaves of stars within the Milky Way. Utilizing the recovered Kirone exploratory vessels as mobile fortresses, they would continue to bolster their order by stripping many systems of their natural resources with machine labor. Whilst having an immense stockpile was a useful asset, not having enough manpower to utilize it to its fullest extent proved problematic.

Though the Vigilant could recruit from the wide mass of sapient alien life present in the Milky Way at that time, this idea was not without its own issues. The primary concern was that mass recruitment of foreigners would water down the Vigilant's long standing traditions; as such, the Vigilant mostly avoided recruiting aliens for some time.

During their general moratorium on alien recruitment, the Vigilant would discover ancient Humanity and become intrigued with their dark age societies, watching them from afar. Unbeknownst to themselves, mankind possessed Kirone heritage, though in a manner unlike most Vasacar. Rather being a regressed evolutionary branch of the defunct Kirone Empire, Humans were unique in that they were the product of the Kirone's failed colonization efforts in the Milky Way.

Even Vigil himself was surprised with Humanity's existence, comparing it to an unexpected bearing of fruit in an otherwise ruined garden. By utilizing pre-industrial Earth as a wide recruitment pool, they could uplift warriors they found potential in while keeping the Vigilant's traditions from becoming too diffused. This was the beginning of the modern-day Vigilant's process of recruitment.

Flag

The flag of the Vigilant has a simplistic and an ornate form. The simplistic form of the Vigilant flag is divided vertically into two colors, with the left side colored black and right side colored white. A circle, likewise divided, is placed in the center with the colors of its two halves being inverted from the main body of the flag.

The ornate form of the flag is an illustration of two figures stylistically drawn back-to-back, separated by an ornate spear that divides the flag down the center and is wrapped in a thin trailing banner. The figures are encompassed by a set of wings from below.

The left half of the flag is black; set upon this half is a hooded agent, illustrated in white, whose dagger is held in reverse grip, ready to plunge into the back of an unseen target. The blank space of the upper left hand corner reads "In darkness,".

The right half of the flag is white; set upon this half is a knight, illustrated in black, whose sword is held in a hanging right stance, ready to duel an unseen opponent. The blank space of the upper right hand corner reads "and in light.".