The First Age

     Once upon a time there was a soldier in the service of the Solar Deliberative, who was nearing the end of his service as a Gunzosha.  The aged young man lead his troops into battle for what he expected to be the final time, against the onslaught of the unnamed Primordial who had returned for its vengence against Creation.  As his men fell valiantly about him, the soldier's heart began to break at the thought of the family and friends he had lost, and fought all the harder against the whirling combat souls of the Unnamed.

     When the battle had finished and the soldier finally had time to look around at the great field of dead Primordial Spawn about him, he realized that the other survivors were looking at him with awe as they picked themselves up.  He looked around, realizing there was an omnipresent glow on the wartorn plains, and saw that it was he that was glowing, blazing with the colors of a sunset.  The newly Exalted Copper Spider was quickly ushered into the presence of the Solar General named Seven Thunders Rising, and recognized as one of the newest Lawgivers, and was given the title 'Silver Knight' for being worthy of the Unconquered Sun's grace.

     Since then, it has been traditional for the recipient of that Solar shard to be named The Silver Knight, to signify the rebirth of a dedicated guardian of Creation.  The shard has been passed down seventeen times since the original Silver Knight passed into Lethe.  The shard bearer alive at the time of the Usurpation was noted for the loyalty of the Terrestrial Exalted under her command, her vassals weeping and bemoaning the necessity of what they did as they cut her down.

     The shard was elusive, and one of the few Solar essences that the Sidereals were unable to capture in the Jade Prison, and it remained at large throughout the Shogunate and the dawn of the Second Age...

The Second Age

     Once there was a boy born to the Tatamori family, who were slaves to House Cynis and had no hopeful future to pass onto their son.  When a cloaked stranger appeared to the Tatamoris and offered to take little Ryunosuke away for a better life than one of slavery.  Knowing that their son had no future as a Cynis slave, they accepted, and the Sidereal spirited young Ryunosuke away to Yu-Shan for training.

     Though Fate had ear-marked Ryunosuke for becoming a Sidereal, the Chosen of the Maidens had been known to make unadmittable mistakes.  Ryunosuke was to Exalt, but as a Solar Exalt rather than a Chosen of Secrets.  Not knowing what else to do, the Gold Faction hid the new Silver Knight and trained him in the East as a raksha hunter, disguising him as a Chosen of Secrets anyway.  He was assigned to the infamous post of Head of the Sub-Committee on The Management of Raksha in the East, since historically nobody has held the position for more than a few years before dying.  He performed admirably well, collecting allies among the Hounds of Autochthon along the way.

     Fate, being a cruel mistress, had other plans for the Silver Knight.  While disguised as a mere mortal named Gundrad Valis (whose story is recounted elsewhere), he used powerful sorcery to spin an Unshaped monster into a shaped form.  This Unshaped became the heartless fiend known as Alasha Darksun, the self-styled Raksha Queen.  Out of her boundless rage, she spat a curse upon the Solar, cursing him to be slowly petrified over a season.  But Ryunosuke, being the clever sort he is, cast a spell that created a shadow of himself to find the solution to the problem, and to return when it had.

     For years the Shadow Knight roamed the Scavenger Lands in search of a solution, having adventures as both Gundrad Valis and the Silver Knight.  It dawned upon the shadow one day as it searched for a sense of self; it in fact was the Silver Knight's memories and soul, cast away to be safe from the shaped curse.  In that moment of epiphany, the Shadow Knight blew away upon the wind as a flurry of golden light, rushing to the Sorcerer's Statue and unraveling the curse.  The Silver Knight was free again upon Creation.

     The pattern spiders, naturally, did not take kindly to this kind of mucking about with the Loom, and promptly bit Silver Knight's thread... twice.

Notes

- Completed a supernatural training text called the Manual of Enlightened Practices, which teaches mortals a sure-fire way to wield essence in a manner that will subtly improve their abilities. (Essence Awareness + Enlightened <Ability> Practices).

- Suffering from Divine Anesthetic and Resolve-Decaying Venom thanks to the pattern spider bites...

- Legend: The Colossus

- Legend: Eastern Fairy Tales

- Legend: Hyperion Keys

- Legend: The Yggdrasil Seed