Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Order Characters

Over its long history, the Grey Steel Order has seen the rise and fall of many prominent individuals within its ranks. Many died in battle, while others simply found themselves too old or too badly injured to contribute. By its very nature, the Order is perhaps the most diverse major power on Gaiaterra - Talon operatives have come from every walk of life and every nation imaginable, united first and foremost by the drive to eradicate the Herald. Beyond this, it's hard to generalize the Talon's leaders today. Former Guardians officers rub shoulders with Destroyer refugees, Coalition defectors, and even an renegade or two. Some are wild-eyed fanatics, others are kind and soft-spoken idealists, more than a few are filled with righteous fervor. It is ironic, then, that the larger world would deem them all misguided zealots... if the larger world had any inkling of just how far the Talon reaches.

Aperta Scriptum
"..."

-...

To the Order, he is their patron. He is the man, almost a saint, who gifted them with the weapons they needed to gain a great edge of the forces of the Herald. To the Herald, he is a monster. He sought to prevent the return of the Messiah, and gave the Enemy the machines to do so.

To himself, he was merely a creator.

Aperta Scriptum, as he is known, is a mystery even among the higher-ups in the order. Only a few know of his true origins, and only the triumvirate knows what his true name was (or even if he had one).

In the 1820s V.C., the Herald burned down a small village in Zemuria, killing all of its inhabitants before the Order could do anything. All of its inhabitants, that is, except one: a baby boy.

The knights who sifted through the wreckage of the village found him, almost dead from the cold and smoke, but still clinging to life. They took him in, and he was raised as in the Talon, knights, and monks his only family

He grew to be a curious youth. His lungs, ravaged by smoke as an infant, prevented him from becoming a knight or engaging in physical activity. While others played and trained, he constantly created sketches of mechanical contraptions in his spare time. One Order engineer said that his creativity was that of "God on the week of Creation". Desperate to protect their leading engineer, the Triumvirate ordered their best rogues to destroy any records of his origins. Aperta Scriptum became his only name, creation his stock and trade. Whether he chafed at this or was simply too focused on his creations no one knows because by then the Triumvirate had so heavily isolated their creator that by his passing, the lower ranked of the Order knew him as a near-mythical figure.

Aperta Scriptum lived until 1917, and by then a very old man. He had long ago lost the ability to walk without special clockwork mechanisms he had designed himself, and the cough that had plagued him all his life became nearly unbearable. On the day when the Michael, the first Master Crawler, was finished, it is said that he laid his hand on the side, said only "At last, it is complete", and died.

Not only did Aperta Scriptum create the crawler, he devised the massive walls of defenses surrounding Jerusalem. He created the concept of the Crawler cell. He revolutionized the Order with his designs for the walkers that now make the backbone of the Crusaders and their order. A single stained glass window remains in the Aperta Scriptum forges of their patron, shining the light of inspiration down upon the labourers who feverishly work to supply the Talon.

"Mysterion"
"..."

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