Duan
Underwater Protectors
The depths of the ocean that covers the majority of this world holds many secrets that often are profane enough to violate the laws of reality itself. While many of those dark artifacts have surfaced in unexpected places and brought plagues and disasters with them, an uncountable number of them still rest in the shrines to the dark gods deep under the surface.
Many scholars tried to understand those powers and use them for good, only to bring downfall on themselves and those around them. No one knows more about the ruinous powers and their unavoidable corruption than the native inhabitants of the sea and especially, the Paladins of the Silver Marlin.
Origins
The water dwellers have existed for far longer than any other naturally occurring species, even before the first dragons crawled out of the molten earth and spread their wings, there were communities of tritons, merfolk and sahuagin, who built brand new societies far of the coast of the still barren land. their prosperity did not last however, the dreadful Aboleth destroyed all grand cities and pushed back the water dwellers further and further back, until all they had left was a pitiful refuge in the shallow sea that surrounds the islands.
Whole civilizations have been wiped out in a matter of decades and little to no evidence of their existence remained. The previous king of Tritons has been slain in a last stand, fighting against a dozen of the vile beasts himself, but when he fell, the whole city was overrun and dismantled in search of any valuables that the Aboleth might offer as tribute in the matter of days.
Lady of the waves
After the Aboleth raids on the underwater kingdoms, all that was left was a handful of refugees that banded together to survive what was coming next. The eldritch influence on the deep waters has forced most of the large and powerful sea creatures to flee to the shallows, where they were picked out one by one and chased until they could not keep up anymore.
The refugees saw one such creature, a huge marlin, almost a hundred feet in length from the tip of it's blade to the end of it's tail. It was fleeing from a massive pack of the eldritch abominations and it was cornered by them right next to the refugee's camp. It
The marlin was surrounded and it could not escape, with it's tail fin against the cliff that separated the sea from the oceans, it dashed forward leaving behind itself waves of silver that sparked with divine energy. It speared one of the Aboleth, bisecting it in the same movement, it cleaved through another beast. Then it flailed it's tail stunning another of it's assailant's and breaking it's back. The pale beasts from the the depths clung onto the Marlin's flesh with their round, multi row teeth, but they were crushed when it pinned them between itself and the ground.
The marlin fell after a short but furious battle and it's bruised and punctured body floated into the shallows. The refugees approached carefully, to give their respects to the noble creature, only to find it barely alive, Guer'val - the only triton in the group, swam up to it compelled to do so by a mysterious presence. When he touched the head of the dying creature, he was granted a vision of his destiny as the first paladin of the Lady of the Tides.
From this day onward, Guer'val taught others about his new found faith and protected the refugees around him with the powers granted to him by the god of the seas. His reputation made him quite famous and soon, others joined his cause.
Creation of the city
The city of Duan was established in the same place, where the giant marlin found it's final resting spot. Many water dwellers gathered around it's corpse, drawn to the location by the promise of safety granted by the newly formed Paladins of the Silver Marlin.
Such a gathering of sentient life could not escape the gaze of the dreadful Aboleth and soon, the refugees had to face their enemy again, this time - thanks to the blessings of the Lady of the Tides - the attackers were pushed back, time and time again. This defiance angered the servants of the Outer Gods and led them to a massive attack, during which Guer'val and his students fought tooth and nail against a dozen of the grey beasts.
Despite the overwhelming force they were faced with, the Paladins stood bravely as a bulwark against the attackers and did not falter even when they were being decimated. The Order of the Silver Marlin accepted their fate and decided to fight to the last, like their namesake. In his last moments, Guer'val charged at the largest of the Aboleth and stuck his javelin into the beasts eyes, getting swallowed by it's brethren in the process. Just as all seemed lost, the tide turned and a bright blue aura filled the shallows, the beast that swallowed the first of the Paladins, died in spasms and burned away to reveal a glowing orb - the source of the aura.
With the help of the holy light, the attack was repelled and the beasts were banished into the depths, not to be seen again for a long time. The remaining paladins searched for any remains of their master, but all they could find was the orb and his trident - "Wave-caller", which they now consider, their most holy relicts.
During the First Age
After the Guer'val died, The Lady of the Tides chose a new champion - a water genasi called Galia Swiftfin who was one of the survivors of the battle. She, thanks to her natural affinity for magic quickly adapted to her new role and settled into the role of the second master of the order. Galia rebuilt the brotherhood from the brink of destruction and followed her predecessors example, leading from the front with the legendary trident on one hand and the Heart of the Sea (the glowing orb) in the other.
Under her watchful eye, the Order of the Marlin dealt massive blows to the Aboleth, even raiding and destroying a temple to the outer gods with the help of the fledgling dragons. Galia also established a patrol route along the coast, that would many years later save the life of Gazel Asferon and motivate him to perfect his art of geomancy.
With such strong opposition, the forces of the outer gods had no chance to return from the depths forcefully, so they resorted to other means. Through their ploys and otherworldly plans, they exploited the imperfections of the character of Dragons and shattered a dark artifact, so that it's shards could taint and tempt those without the will to resist.
During that time, much of the Paladin's culture has developed, their faith spread to most ocean dwellers and their code of conduct has been formalized.
During the Second Age
the first contact between the Paladins and the freshly liberated humans was, when Lieutenant Morrow (a merfolk Paladin of the Silver Marlin) lead a strike against a solitary Aboleth, to save a strange floating vessel that tried to cross the sea on the west side of the eastern mountain range (later to be known as Gazel Mountains). This interaction has lead to a diplomatic visit in Exodus, where Morrow and one of the mages he had saved formed a deep friendship.
Many years later, when the aforementioned friend achieved mastery over the art of shaping the earth itself and opened up the passage to the north for land dwellers, the two factions begun to readily cooperate. The heart of this mutual exchange of cultures had it's heart on an island just a few miles east of Duan.
There the two cultures traded and learned from each other, with the sea dwellers teaching humanity about sailing and humanity sharing their refined materials. From those acts that benefited both people, the islands became known as the Trade Islands.
Currently
Almost a thousand years have passed since Galia was chosen as the champion of the Lady of the Tides and her magically extended life was coming to a close. everyone expected the new champion to be chosen quickly, with the most likely candidate being Morrow, who has had an exemplary career and was the most pious of the Paladins.
Days passed after Galias death, but no new champion was chosen, more worryingly, the light from the Heart of the Sea has begun to dim.
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