Order of the Sunspears

This article is about the organization. For the Path of Fire exotic weapon set, see Sunspear weapons. For the staff, see Sunspear (staff). For the spear, see Sunspear (spear).

Sunspear banner.

“

The Sunspears were born of a need to protect a nation. By joining this order, we declare our dedication to the people of Elona.

We will defend Elona from every threat, whether large or small, martial, mystical, or supernatural. We will strike down foes and lift up allies. A Sunspear never fights alone.

We will live in accordance with the eight virtues: valor, humility, honor, honesty, justice, compassion, sacrifice, and loyalty.

We respect all but answer only to our own. We are the unbreakable wall to shelter the innocent, the unstoppable arrow to pierce the enemy, the unsuppressed voice of support and resistance.

— The Sunspear Creed

The Order of the Sunspears is an elite militant organization that has defended Elona since its formation during the Primeval Dynasty by Queen Nadijeh. In modern days it has become a shadow of its former self, and the few remaining members are being hunted down by Palawa Joko's forces.

History

From guard to order

When Queen Nadijeh ruled, the nation of Elona was considered lawless and wild, full of warring tribes with no one to protect the innocents stuck in the middle of never-ending wars. Nadijeh rallied powerful warriors under her banner, among them famed heroes like Sogolon the Protector, and established the Sunspear Guard. Under her reign, the warring tribes were conquered and peace came to the land. Since then, the Sunspear Guard had protected the nation of Elona.

As the centuries went by, the Sunspear Guard grew from few to many, and the group renamed themselves the Order of the Sunspears. They survived the fall of the Primeval Kings, and through the bloodiest wars of the Shattered Dynasty. When the Scarab Plague struck the Isle of Istan, the Sunspears were the ones who evacuated the populace and quarantined the island to prevent the plague from spreading, and later helped to restore civilization to the island. As the united governance of Elona fell and formed into three provincial governments, the Sunspears remained independent from these governments, but protected the lands equally from all threats.

When Palawa Joko first rose to conquer Vabbi in 860 AE, the Order of the Sunspears stood against him and his Awakened army. Though they were devastated from the battles in Vabbi, they remained vigilant and aided Turai Ossa when he struck down the undead lich two years later in the Battle of Jahai. The Order of Whispers, formed around that time, helped seal the undying lich lord into a prison he would not escape from.

War for Elona

In 1075 AE, the Sunspears rallied against Warmarshal Varesh Ossa as she attempted to bring about Nightfall. The Sunspears first learned about Varesh's dark intentions through Tahlkora, a young runaway who had overheard Varesh and General Kahyet praising Abaddon and speaking of Nightfall. Upon confirming Tahlkora's accusations and killing Kahyet, the Sunspears prepared to launch an invasion against Gandara, the Moon Fortress. Though the siege had begun well, the Sunspears were overpowered and forced to flee in disarray once Varesh had summoned an army of demons to assist her. Spearmarshal Kormir, who led the assault, was blinded and captured.

The Sunspears recovered slowly, finding sanctuary in a deep cave system that had access to various points in Kourna, and garnered new allies in the form of the Veldrunner centaurs and the Order of Whispers. Acknowledging that they could not win the war alone, they rallied north to Vabbi, though they were followed closely by Varesh's army. Unable to stop the Warmarshal of Kourna from performing a new ritual that furthered Nightfall, the Sunspears chased Varesh towards the Desolation. They could not cross the sands, however, so they were forced to form an alliance with Palawa Joko who had recently been freed by upheavals caused by Nightfall.

In desperation, the Sunspears struck a deal with the undead lich: in return for the knowledge of how to cross the sulfuric wastelands, the Sunspears retook Joko's Bone Palace from Margonite control and helped restore enough order in his army so that he could use his forces to combat Abaddon's minions. The Sunspears tracked Varesh down to the Ruins of Morah, but were unable to kill her before she performed her third and final ritual, one that breached the barrier between Tyria and the Realm of Torment.

Forced into Abaddon's prison, the Sunspears and their allies sought to kill the God of Secrets himself. Given blessings by the Five Gods, and led by a blinded Kormir, the heroes traveled to Abaddon's Gate and slew the fallen god. Spearmarshal Kormir leaped into the magic unleashed by the dying god and ascended into godhood herself as the new Goddess of Truth, Order, and Spirit.

Fall of the Sunspears

The peace brought about by this victory did not last. Letting Palawa Joko remain free had ultimately proven the Sunspears' own undoing. In 1175 AE, after a hundred years since his release, the undead lord finished gathering his strength. Unable to control his ego, Joko grew to hate the Sunspears' rise in popularity for their deeds in confronting Abaddon and for the prestige of Kormir's rise to godhood. As revenge for this "slight", Joko sowed seeds of deception among their ranks. Promising power, wealth, prestige, and longevity, the lich fractured the Sunspears, gaining the allegiance of many in the Order. These traitors became the first of the Mordant Crescent, and hunted down their former brothers-in-arms.

Tahlkora, the last Spearmarshal of the Sunspears, rallied against Joko's new invasion of Vabbi, but there were too few Sunspears by then. Joko captured Tahlkora and, knowing he couldn't kill her without her becoming a martyr, instead cut out her tongue to silence her. But even without speech, she still worked against the undead lich with her writings, so Joko had his forces capture her once more, and took her eyes. Still, without speech or writing, Tahlkora was a symbol for rebellion against King Joko. The lich turned her into an Awakened, but found that he could not control her. In his last attempt to break her, Joko took back enough of what makes an Awakened so that Tahlkora could not move, but left her soul within her corpse. Then he tossed her immobile Awakened body on the Yahnur Plateau to rot.

On the other side of the Crystal Desert, Zehlon Ossa, the last of Turai Ossa's lineage, rallied Sunspears and defectors alike, aiding those who sought to flee Joko's domain. Joko's forces managed to capture and turn Zehlon and his allies into Awakened to serve his own forces. With this, the Sunspears no longer had a symbol to rally behind, and became more fractured.

When the Sunspear Order was effectively defeated, Palawa Joko had outlawed the use of spears to further crush and outcast any survivors by destroying their symbol. As such, some had turned to the use of daggers instead, becoming specialized as spellbreakers to fight Awakened magics and detect their spies. Daggers were chosen due to their precision, and the sentimental value from when broken off spearheads would be reforged as dagger.

Although a few Sunspears still remained after the fall of their order, the Mordant Crescent continued to hunt them down in the following years, occasionally converting and absorbing new traitorous Sunspears into their ranks.

Return of the Sunspears

The new Sunspear Sanctuary. With the fallen god Balthazar's return and Palawa Joko's mysterious disappearance, the nation of Elona was thrown into chaos from the Desolation down to Istan by 1330 AE. Some government officials had taken advantage of the situation to exploit the people further than before. The people of Istan were among the worst to suffer as the officials there prevented all trade of food to the people outside Palawadan. When Zaeim had learned of what was transpiring on Istan, he left his Sunspear mentor Kitur and Vabbi behind to rally the people of his birthplace. He inspired his Istani Sunspears to begin a full out revolt against Joko's forces, and in turn the converts, led by Hakima, proclaimed Zaeim as their new Spearmarshal. Meanwhile, the Sunspears in the Crystal Desert and Vabbi began working with locals in efforts against both the Awakened and Balthazar's Forged. The two Sunspear factions remained out of contact with each other in Elona's chaos, however. Despite being few in number, the Order of the Sunspears was one of the factions potentially offering their support to the Free City of Amnoon which was trying to decide its future while suffering from Forged raids in the surrounding countryside. When Balthazar died and the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik flew south out of Vabbi following the Battle of Kodash Bazaar, Tahlkora met the Pact Commander. With the aid of the griffons and what she believed was a blessing from Kormir, she had watched over the remaining Sunspears. Together, she and the Commander began to build a new Sunspear Sanctuary, recruiting the few remaining Sunspears scattered across northern Elona, gathering Tahlkora's writings, and taming griffons for future use by the Sunspears. Meanwhile, the Awakened forces had recovered with Palawa Joko's return from the Domain of the Lost. The Domain of Istan had begun to turn into an all-out warzone as the Awakened assaulted the freed town of Champion's Dawn while the Sunspears assaulted Palawadan and the Mordant Crescent Great Hall. In the turmoil, Zaeim had been captured but was subsequently freed by the Commander. After he was rescued, Zaeim continued the Sunspears' recruitment efforts, eventually amassing an army capable of helping the Commander defeat Palawa Joko and stop the Scarab Plague in the Battle of Gandara alongside the Olmakhan charr, the people of Amnoon and various other volunteers in 1331 AE. After Joko's defeat, however, the kingdom of Elona became divided and in need of leadership. To help ease tensions between the various Elonian factions, Zaeim hosted a summit in the Fortress of Jahai, which the Sunspears attended. They were joined by the famous Sunspear warrior, Koss Dejarin, who stopped a plot by Archon Iberu to assassinate the attending delegates and the Pact Commander. The summit was, however, interrupted by an attack from a Death-Branded Shatterer which eventually left the fortress in its search for the Commander's dragon companion Aurene. Setting their differences aside for the time being to face a common foe, the living and Awakened factions agreed to Zaeim's proposed treaty to form a temporary governing council consisting of each representing faction. To shelter themselves from the Dragonbrand and Kralkatorrik's encroaching Branded, as well as establish a new base of operations, the Sunspears relocated to the nearby old Sunspear Sanctuary, which was secured by Koss, his descendant Kossan Dejarin, Braham Eirsson, and the Commander. To symbolize a new beginning, the sanctuary was named "Sun's Refuge". Sunspears from across Elona, especially those who resided at the Sunspear Sanctuary in Vabbi, were united at last under Spearmarshal Zaeim, who was deemed worthy of the title by Tahlkora. The Commander helped Zaeim recruit more Sunspears for the cause by placing posters throughout Elona, Crystal Desert as well as Central Tyria. Although most of the recruits were humans of Elonian descent, some asura, charr, norn and sylvari also joined the ranks as Sunspear Cadets.

Known bases and camps

Crystal Desert

• Domain of Istan
  • Istani Sunspear Base

• Domain of Vabbi
  • Sunspear Sanctuary

• Elon Riverlands
  • Olishar's Oasis Camp
  • Master Sergeant Shadi's Camp at Deadlock Sweep

• Jahai Bluffs
  • Riyid's Post
  • Sun's Refuge (Instance)

Members

See also: Category:Order of the Sunspears

• Assistant Medic
• Awakened Koss Dejarin
• Bashira
• Brainwashed Dervish
• Brainwashed Paragon
• Brainwashed Recruit
• Camp Guard
• Camp Lookout
• Charitable Soldier
• Chef
• Civilian Outreach Specialist
• Dunkoro
• Eladaar
• Elite Second Spear Binah
• Elite Sunspear Guard
• Elite Sunspear Sandbinder
• Eshal
• Eshe
• First Spear Dehvad
• First Spear Hakima
• First Spear Kitur
• Griffon Master
• Guard Idam
• Gulu
• Head Medic
• Helpful Sunspear Ghost
• Hisani
• Injured Sunspear
• Ishaq
• Jaynes
• Kormir
• Master Sergeant Shadi
• Nada
• Nadim
• Naja
• Obi
• Ouissal
• Priest Idrissa
• Primeval Sunspear Guard
• Quartermaster Yohana
• Quartermaster Zineb
• Queen Nadijeh
• Recruit Arif
• Recruit Asim
• Recruit Chaima
• Remains of the Last Spearmarshal
• Roa
• Sabra
• Sadira
• Scout Anisa
• Scout Yakuti
• Second Spear Koja
• Second Spear Nayrim
• Second Spear Nimani
• Second Spear Olishar
• Second Spear Riyid
• Spearmarshal Zaeim
• Sunspear
• Sunspear Alchemist Recruit
• Sunspear Archer
• Sunspear Beguiler
• Sunspear Cadet
• Sunspear Crusader
• Sunspear Dervish Recruit
• Sunspear Medic
• Sunspear Medic-in-Training
• Sunspear Paragon
• Sunspear Paragon Recruit
• Sunspear Priestess
• Sunspear Recruit
• Sunspear Representative
• Sunspear Trainer
• Supply Depot Guard
• Tamela Okar
• Trainer Atika
• Umi
• Veteran Sunspear Beguiler
• Veteran Sunspear Crusader
• Veteran Sunspear Defender
• Veteran Sunspear Warrior
• Warden Amala
• Wounded Soldier
• Wounded Sunspear

Gallery

• 

  A Sunspear banner as seen in the Free City of Amnoon.

Trivia

The Guild Wars Wiki has an article on Order of the Sunspears.

• The Eight Virtues of the Sunspear Code are nearly identical with the Eight Virtues of the Avatar from the Ultima series, introduced in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. The only difference is that the Avatar Virtue of Spirituality was replaced with the Sunspear Virtue of Loyalty.

See also

Associated items

• Mini Castellan Haimi
• Mini Dunkoro
• Mini First Spear Dehvad
• Mini Master Sergeant Shadi
• Mini Raidmarshal Sagal
• Mini Second Spear Nayrim
• Mini Shorewatcher Salomon
• Mini Spellbreaker Tamela Okar
• Mini Sunspear Abasi
• Mini Sunspear Darekh
• Mini Sunspear Dume
• Mini Sunspear Kina
• Mini Sunspear Kormir
• Mini Sunspear Nagozi
• Mini Sunspear Octavia
• Mini Sunspear Odurra
• Mini Sunspear Saita
• Mini Sunspear Sogolon
• Mini Sunspear Suti
• Mini Sunspear Tarik
• Mini Sunspear Timera
• Mini Sunspear Traphez