Sage Andarta, Founder of the Crystal Seekers
The Noble Knights
Andarta enters the Order
When the wanderer from Balder awoke, the darksign branded upon his slowly rotting flesh and locked in the North Asylum, he did not feel fear of this strange, dark world for he knew what the land he had entered presented him; untold knowledge and the power only word of mouth could bring to the far away land of Balder, the sorcery of those who had died and formed sorcery of the past; of Vinheim and Oolacile.
Escaping from the clutches of the battered and broken prison, he took upon a pilgrimage to discover the magics he so greatly craved, and could only dream of whilst he was living in Balder. Having been raised in that land, a sense of honour and knighthood was bestowed upon him, though his interest was taken by magics, his keen sword arm aided his journey to discovery. Yet that very foundation would lead him to a brotherhood he couldn't possibly of imagined.
His magic grew stronger, his thirst for knowledge soared and his desire to aid others also strengthened. But after seeing his fallen brethren in the parish of an ancient church, he felt inclined to revisit a certain altar, that somehow made him feel welcome, at ease. There was a lone man standing, not solaire a friend he had seen on the way, but another, his name Oscar II.
Seeing potential in the Traveller, Oscar asked him if he had the resolve to put others before him, and could bring his search for knowledge and skills to the aid of lonely travellers on the edge of despair. As Andarta answered, he knelt at the altar of sunlight, and brought in a covenant entering him unto a great order of selfless heroes.
Thus ended the journey of a lone traveler from balder, and began the legend of the first Sage Knight of Balder, Andarta the Sage.
The Founding of the Seekers
It all began the day that Letos brought back the ember. The power and potential contained in the flame was something that Oscar could not resist exploiting, even though the crystals contained in the ember stemmed from the Primordial Crystal; the artefact that drove even Seath to insanity, the potential was too great.
He charged the Sage Knight Andarta with researching the ember and learning how to use its power to forge weapons for the order. Of course Andarta had leapt at the chance to research and gain more knowledge from the artefact, but he had no knowledge of crystals. He couldn’t have conceived how powerful and crucial they would one day be to the order.
To gain knowledge, he once again sought after the one who had taught him all he knew of sorcery, great hero and sorcerer of Vinheim, ‘Big Hat’ Logan. However, he had left for a place of far greater knowledge, to learn even more from the tomes of another. His search meant he must journey to the land of the Grandfather of Sorcery, Seath the Scaleless.
Andarta left the Anor Londo camp, making his way to the Duke’s Archives. With the entrance having been cleared by Letos’ expedition, he found it safe to enter. His progress was swift, as Seath was slow to replace the losses Aeter had caused to his forces. Eventually he found Logan, who was working in a secluded room, surrounded by books. To Andarta’s great surprise, what he was studying was none other than which he required to master. His study was focused on the use of crystals, which could be in turn used as part of magic. According to the archives, crystals were not just mere tools for use as a part of sorcery or to fuse with weapons. They were in essence linked to the root of sorcery; they were linked to the soul.
Logan and Andarta worked tirelessly, they first learned to use crystals as a part of sorcery, and fuse the power of crystals to the power of the soul and the sorcery that became of it. Powerful magics were formed, beyond anything ever before using the principles that Seath himself developed. He had used crystals to make his own self into a catalyst. This magic Logan found, would be the secret to unlocking the creation of crystalline weaponry and the most powerful catalyst of all, fused with the power of the soul and crystal; the crystallised catalyst.
Finally Andarta and Logan found the secret to the forging of these weapons using the crystal ember, weapons that had great power, but imperfect and brittle. Logan slowly perfected the technique until he finally crafted a single perfect creation from the flame; a tin, crystallised catalyst. At this time though, Logan had become secretive. He created another sorcery, his last sorcery. However, this final knowledge of crystals however drove Logan to anger and dismay, rejecting Andarta’s greetings. Without revealing the secrets of the flame, Logan fled away to further within the archives, researching about the Primordial Crystal itself.
Andarta, realising he could lose this knowledge of the ember hastily gave chase to Big Hat, and cornered him in a room laced with crystals. Logan had gone completely mad. He did not even recognise Andarta and attacked him with the sorcery they had created together. With regret Andarta plunged his sword through Logan’s chest and ended his life. He took the Big Hat and the crystal catalyst, and also a book in Logan’s own writing, which explained the steps to create a perfect crystalline object. Andarta upon returning to the room of Logan’s studies found the ember and all of Logan’s possessions including his great catalyst crafted from the Archtree inside.
With the knowledge he now possessed, Andarta forged a blade solemnly using the principles left behind by logan. His soul and crystals were poured into the blade, which he then tucked away before leaving, returning to Oscar with the knowledge he had sought. When he returned Oscar was shocked to see Andarta, he had changed, aged. His figure now instead of a Balder forged breastplate had the robes of a sage draped over him, and a large rimmed hat hiding his face. In one hand, he held the unmistakable catalyst of Logan and the other a crystallised sword from Andarta’s country of Balder.
As Andarta presented the sword to Oscar, the grandmaster caught a glimpse of the knight’s eyes. Where there was once the youthful look of inquisitive notion was now a cold gaze of wisdom. As Andarta told the grandmaster of the ember’s origin and danger, Oscar decided that only those who could be deemed worthy to withstand the power would wield the crystalline armaments.
Thus, the order of the Crystal Seekers were born, to harness and wield the power that drove Logan and Seath to madness and continue the search for higher knowledge and sorcery.