My friends call me D. You can call me Hunter...

I would like to bring to light a recent church conspiracy. Before I can adequately explain it, however, I have to explain just a little bit about myself, so bear with me.
I was inducted into the Templars at age fifteen, and in order to avoid having to participate in the rite of humility (See public post 114) accepted a post as an infiltrator in Ashtan. But since the Templars rarely attacked anyone in Ashtan, I didnt have a whole lot to do. I slew the occasional heretic, did a lot of spying, took a lot of scholastic pills. The real action in my career came when I was transferred into a group of elite vampire hunters, whereupon I was given the code name Vampire Hunter D. The name stuck.
We got more and more reckless, my battle-brothers and I, and bit off more then we could chew in a routine strike on a crypt in the far north. We went in expecting to slay a single vampire, but instead encountered two of them, along with hordes of their undead minions. I wont bore you with the details, but in the course of the ferocious battles fought over a period of three days in that damp crypt, every single one of my battle-brothers died fighting. Except for me. We managed to slay the two monstrosities, but I was seriously wounded in the process and escaped from the depths of the crypt alive only because my beloved brother sacrificed himself to save me.
Very badly hurt, I attempted to limp and then crawl from the crypt, which was collapsing without the magic of its masters to support it. I didnt make it out in time, and was buried alive, less the five feet from the surface. Hurt beyond all endurance, I then slipped into a coma, fully expecting to die... but I lived.
The gods must have favored me that day, because I awoke from my coma, not knowing when, or where, or even who I was. But my body was whole, and my mind was intact though nearly empty. After this, I proceeded to roam the land, having a few small adventures. My memories would eventually return to me, and after being trapped in a collapsed building in Hashan for awhile I suddenly remembered who and what I was. I rose up from the building, and attempted to bring forth to bear the righteous powers of bladefire against my assailants, but to my dismay I found that there was no energy to be found for bladefire anywhere in the land. That was another close call...
If you dont like long posts, then dont read this! But anyway, after regaining my memories I journeyed back to Shallam intent on rejoining the Templars. But when I arrived in Shallam and questioned the citizens about the Templars, I was greeted with shocked stares and stunned silence. People denied any knowledge of even knowing the Templars had ever existed, much less what they were doing now. This puzzled and worried me.
I approached the Basilica and found, to my amazement, that there were in fact no Templars left. They had all been replaced by Paladins. These Paladins were nothing more then pale imitations of the Templars, without any bladefire and mostly without honor. I found Isildur, who was still in charge of the Churchs militant wing, and he allowed me to join the ranks of the Paladins. I carefully asked him what had become of the Templars, but he could give me no satisfactory answer.
Though I was now a Paladin, I was on probation and I was also being carefully watched, though they tried to hide this fact. My every action was scrutinized, I was even attacked once by a fellow Paladin in the dungeons of Azdun. He talked his way out of it later. All of this did not sit well with me however, and when I could I used the considerable espionage skills I picked up in Ashtan to research the demise of the Templars. What I learned was truly horrific.
There was, for political reasons, an ecclesiastical culling of the Templars led by Isildur and a handful of traitorous Templars. They betrayed the main body of Templars, killing most of them and forcing the few survivors to flee the jewel of the east. These days the only Templars still alive are renegades, such as Thakren and Mesmer, traitors, such as Isildur and Warmaster, and myself. I must classify as a renegade by now.
I was enraged when I heard this, but there was little at the time that I could do. I showed my findings to a friend I had made in the Paladins, her name is Lillith, but she betrayed me to Warmaster and I had to flee. There was a small pursuit, but the Paladins obviously werent very worried about me and so with the help of some friends and creative use of my falcon I managed to escape back to Ashtan. I have now published my story to enlighten the populace about this latest Church atrocity.
But wait, theres more! A war is going to be starting soon. The Deathknights are forming, and Ive heard that their ranks will include many of the renegade Templars. My research has also told me that the Deathknights (no surprise here) are not going to be friendly towards the Paladins. I have also been told, by some very reliable sources, that the Paladins policy towards the Deathknights is going to be one of complete and utter extermination. And so there is going to be war.
The Church is a monstrosity, nothing more then an oppressive propaganda-spewing organization content to keep Shallam (and possibly someday Ashtan) gasping under its iron grip. You cannot walk more then a hundred yards in Shallam without bumping into a golden shrine, and these are used by the Church to control the populace, not because the serfs of Shallam love the church. You know, FORCE SERF TO BEND OVER and things like that.
This should be, in my opinion, the final straw. We must all band together and remove the Paladins and the Church once and for all! I am asking that the Kharon and the Occultists support the Deathknights, as well as the Sentinels and maybe the Druids, and of course the assassin guilds, though they will probably charge for it. But if we can bring the Paladins to their knees in some REAL humility, the world will be a much better place. Citizens of Ashtan, start building up your military! Strike before they do, because believe me, its only a matter of time.

Penned by my hand on the 17th of Phaestian, in the year 226 AF.