"Codex: Paladin Orders of Azeroth
The first Paladin Orders in Azeroth were founded shortly before the First Great War, mainly in the Kingdom of Lordaeron, the Kingdom of Stormwind, and the Fire Nation. This mainly stemmed from the several devout subjects of the Fire Nation's branch of the Church of the Holy Light under Bishop Jin.
The concept of using the Holy Light for offensive purposes wasn't really known, aside from a few and High Elves of Quel'Thalas. But the Fire Nation, as a militaristic nation they were, started experimenting with using the Holy Light for different purposes than healing.
After some initial experiments, the Fire Nation invited the Archbishop of the Church of the Holy Light, Alonsus Faol, to participate in the research, which then led to the Convention in Lordaeron, the headquarters of the Church of the Holy Light in the Cathedral of Light.
After the Convention in Lordaeron, three years before the First Great War, Archbishop Alonsus Faol established a new branch of the Church of the Holy Light, the Order of the Knights of the Silver Hand or, shortly referred to as Silver Hand. Shortly after, the Bishop of the Fire Nation's Church of the Holy Light created the Holy Order of the Templar Knights of Secret Fire.
What is interesting is the fact that due to the positive foreign policies of the Phoenix King Aenarion Septim, he managed to attract a lot of people from Lordaeron or Stormwind who had a great aptitude for the Holy Light and became the founding members of the Holy Order of Templar Knights of Secret Fire.
The most notable being the first Hierarch of the Order, Alexandros Mograine or High Inquisitor Sally Whitemane, who later became one of the Phoenix King's wives. Of course, many of the active Fire Nationers also became Paladins, the most notable being the Swordmaster Sasaki Kojiro or Uesugi Kenshin.
Currently, the most prominent Paladin Orders are the Knights of the Silver Hand, the Templar Order, and the Hand of Argus. While the Paladin Order of Silver Hand and Hand of Argus are directly affiliated to the Alliance, the Templar Order is a direct part of the Sacred Phoenix Empire but to a very close relationship with the Empire, which absorbed many remnants of the fallen nations of Eastern Kingdoms and Alliance, many said that they were good as one.
Thus, it is not uncommon to see Templar Knights fighting alongside the Alliance Soldiers or Paladins of the Hand of Argus or Silver Hand. Though one of the most distinctive features of the Templar Order is their ability to create and manipulate the Holy Flame. This is mainly attributed to the presence of Fire Bender among the Paladins, who are able to fuse their Holy Light and Fire Bending together, creating the Holy Flames.
This ability was crucial during the Third Great War, especially when the Scourge was infesting entire lands of Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas. The Holy Flames have been proven to be a most crucial weapon for cleaning the Scourge from the Lordaeron Continent and the expansion of the Sacred Phoenix Empire.
It was also noted that the techniques of the Holy Flames have been taught, albeit in vastly inferior versions to the Paladins of the Silver Hand and Hand of Argus as means of combatting the Scourge and Demons of the Burning Legion, even though only the most powerful of the Paladins are able to create Holy Flames without the Fire Bending."
- Introduction to the Paladin Orders of the Azeroth, 1st Edition, by Bishop Benedictus of the Church of the Holy Light of Sacred Phoenix Empire, Year 23 ADP
***
Imperial Capital Wei-Jin, Fire Nation, Fire Islands - Two Months Later
Two months had passed since the strange phenomena that transported the entire Fire Islands and Fire Nation to somewhere that was most probably a wholly different world, and it was also the start of endless worries for Aenarion.
It was morning in the Fire Nation, and Aenarion was observing the city from the balcony of the Royal Palace, with tall, beautiful, young, slender woman with long, light blue hair and blue eyes standing behind him.
She also wore dark grey military uniform apparel with long sleeves with buttons on the upper arms, a blue scarf on her neck and, high-heeled boots, and a peaked hat that had the crest of his clan on the front. She also has a tattoo on her chest, which is the sign of her inborn mutation of Icebending.
Icebending was rather a peculiar mutation of Waterbending, and from the all Water Tribes, only the Partas Tribe could boast a huge number of the Ice Benders as they were focusing on cultivating the Ice Benders above everything else.
Mainly because Icebending was far more focused on Offensive and Defensive purposes compared to Waterbending. Even though Waterbending was a highly versatile Bending Art, its Offensive Capabilities were weaker than those of Icebending.
Esdeath Partas of the Partas Tribe, one of the most powerful Bender in the Fire Nation and General of the Khaos Brigade. Which was one of the most elite units of the Fire Nation and mainly consisted of the Hunters of the Partas Tribe.
"It seems that the barrier that is surrounding the territorial waters of the Fire Islands is gone..."
Aenarion heard her say as she closed the distance between the two of them and hugged him from behind. It had already been several days since the barrier that surrounded the Fire Islands and its territorial waters disappeared into nothingness, meaning that there was no barrier between the Fire Islands and the outside world.
He internally chuckled due to the behavior of his wives because both Azula and Esdeath were so distant, ruthless, and sometimes insane, but in private, they were like kittens starved for affection and sometimes very cuddly.
"We would finally find out what is behind the barrier and where the fuck we are."
He was already very nervous about the idea of which world they may have ended as he was constantly praying that they were transported into some weak-ass world that could be easily exploited by them.
Judging by the dense energy in the environment, most probably Mana, he was sure that it wouldn't be the case.
But as they were saying, the hope died as the last one.
Anearion was still skeptical, though, because the Mana or Magic in the environment was so dense that everything was saturated in it.
He had already ordered the Scholars of the Fire Nation to carry out research into it, and it wasn't that surprising that even if the people couldn't manipulate the energy in the environment actively, the passive effects on their bodies couldn't be forsaken at all.
During the past two months, everyone has been doing what they can to calm down the situation within the Fire Nation because the news that the Fire Nation has been transported to an entirely different environment or world has already spread.
The situation would have been worse if not for the declaration of martial law and the sending of the Imperial Army to patrol the entire Fire Islands. Fortunately, the Imperial Army, together with the Police Department and Onmitsukidō, managed to root out most of the criminal organizations and unsavory elements from the Fire Nation.
Onmitsukidō also carried out the executions on the Blacklist, so all of the Fire Clans that were hard-line supporters of the previous Fire Lord Ozai and Fire Lord Azulon were all rooted out with their entire bloodlines.
Aside from that, Grand Chancellor Iroh took care of the Nobility Reform, so right now, all Noble Titles within the Fire Nation needed to be earned, and they were no longer hereditary and worked entirely differently.
Previously, there were no differences between the Nobles, either that of the Fire Clans or the Nobles of the Earth Kingdom; the Fire Nation was right now divided into several ranks of the Nobility.
The lowest rank was Lord, above the Lord, was the High Lord rank, and above that was the Lord Magistrate, which was the highest rank of the new Nobility of the Fire Nation. All of these ranks needed to be earned by either military achievements, contributions to the Fire Nation, or any other feat.
For example, all powerful Benders who reached some level would also be awarded the title of Lord, but at the same time, they were not awarded territory. Obviously, after the Nobility Reform, nobles were no longer managing their territories personally, as was the case in the old regimes, because this often led to unsavory results.
Most of the nobles didn't know shit about administration and how to rule the territory, which led to bad decisions, underdeveloped parts of the Fire Nation, and overall, in the terrible state of the colonies.
Even though this changed a bit during the rule of Azulon, who was sending his administrators to oversee the development of the territories of the Fire Nation; unfortunately, many of the administrators were from the Fire Clans.
The Imperial Army also helped build houses for the population that appeared on the Fire Islands. This certainly helped the Imperial Army obtain a better public image in the eyes of the civilians, that was for sure.
"Hopefully, it won't be dangerous... even though the power of the Benders has grown considerably, we cannot be sure. With the improved training regime for the Military, we are implementing a lot of new ideas in the training, and the power of the Benders is..."
As Aenarion heard Esdeath talking, he knew what she was talking about because the power of the Bender had grown exponentially during these two months. After the Fire Islands were transported to the new world, Aenarion realized two things.
And it was the same conclusion that Elemental Sages came to after several hours of deliberation.
On Earth, the power of Benders was limited. When they bent the elements, it was like the world was limiting the amount they could Bend. But here, there were no such limitations, and the Benders could Bend as much as their bodies could withstand.
Another thing that the Elemental Sages noticed was that the Chi within the high-end Benders was getting stronger, and many of the very old Bending Masters were getting themselves rejuvenated and felt younger.
"At least something good came out of this entire ordeal... the stronger the Benders are, the better for the Fire Nation. Also, how is the process of the integration of the newly awakened Bender?"
Aenarion asked Esdeath, as she was one of the people responsible for the project.
After the Fire Nation was transported to this new world, many people who had Bender Lineage but couldn't Bend either from the lack of Chi or weak connection to their Elements found that they could Bend.
This left a lot of people spontaneously awakening their Bending Abilities, which were on one side good and on the other side bad. People who never had any Bending Abilities suddenly awakening their Bending Arts was rather catastrophic because most of them couldn't control their powers.
At the same time, the number of Benders within the Fire Nation increased exponentially, which was very good, because the Fire Nation was striving to cultivate as many Benders as possible.
In the end, having people with extraordinary powers was crucial.
"It's going well... we even managed to find a few people with Airbending abilities, albeit we would have rather a problem cultivating them in the short term because we lack any existing Air Benders in this aspect. Still, the Fire Nation had seized the entire library of the Air Temples when Fire Lord Sozin massacred the Air Nomads."
Aenarion was rather surprised that some people awakened Airbending because there were no Airbenders within the entire Fire Nation and perhaps in the Earth as a whole, if one didn't count future Avatar, Airbender Aang.
But it was logical that some people would have Lineage of the Air Benders in their blood, so when the people started mass awakening as Benders, they would also get awakened. People often mingled together, so it wasn't that surprising...
"Then we can finally have the equilibrium between the Elements."
Now that the Fire Nation obtained some Air Benders, they would finally achieve the equilibrium between the four elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air.
"Where are Azula and June?"
Aenarion asked because their chambers were rather quiet for the time; normally, early in the morning would be typically followed by Esdeath and Azula arguing about something, with June observing everything with a grin.
"June left to observe the initiation of the new recruits to the Onmitsukidō, and Azula has shifted to training the new awakeners."
Azula and Esdeath are some of the strongest Benders in the entire Fire Nations, and thus, Aenarion decided that it would do them good to teach newly awakened Benders.
It would also help them very well to mingle with rather ordinary people; both of them were rather arrogant to do so, so they were not really happy about this assignment, but in fact, there were not many people suitable for the task.
This would really help them in their attitude, which wasn't the best most of the time, something that Aenarion could attest to. Their aloof and arrogant attitude towards everyone whom they didn't acknowledge was rather problematic in the long run and it was something that Aenarion was attempting to hammer out of them.
"Whatever... soon enough, we would be creating an expedition to the outside world to scout the area where the Fire Islands are located. Now that the barrier of light disappeared already, we can start the exploration. For this task, you would be leading the expedition into the unknown and cooperating with the Sky Marshall Zhao Ming."
Aenarion planned to entrust this crucial task to the Khaos Brigade, which was under Esdeath's leadership because she was the General of the Khaos Brigade.
The particular skill set of the Khaos Brigade is one of the most elite units of the Fire Nation, with their abilities as hunters, killers, trackers, and many Benders among them, so there was no better choice.
"I shall be honored, dearest husband."
When both of them finished their morning banter, they went down from their quarters to have some royal breakfast. Even though all three of his wives had separate quarters in the Fire Nation Royal Palace, they were all sleeping together in his master bedroom.
The breakfasts as everything within the Fire Nation Royal Palace were extravagant and opulent, but it was also very much needed, because the warriors and Benders needed lot of calories each day.
Aenarion himself had rather a big appetite and ate a lot for each meal of the day, and because he was the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation, only the best dishes found their way onto the table of the Royal Family.
"They could have remained at the breakfast, though..."
He muttered as he took a bite of another sushi roll. Fortunately, whenever they were in these waters, there were still tunas and salmon everywhere, as well as other kinds of fish that were native to Earth of the Avatar World.
As they were eating breakfast, Aenarion heard some commotion from behind the door, as they were suddenly opened by one of the armored knights of the Phoenix Guard. What was surprising, though, was that he saw a man in the military who was wearing a uniform from the Scout Regiment, judging on the wings of freedom that the Scout Regiment or Survey Corps were using as their sigil.
Scout Regiment was part of the military, and its sole purpose was to carry out reconnaissance missions for the Imperial Military, Imperial Air Force, and Imperial Navy, as it consisted of the best personnel for the task.
He knew that if someone from the Scout Regiment barged into his place while he was having breakfast with his wife, something that Aenarion deeply hated being disrupted even slightly, he knew that something serious must have happened.
"Saluting to the Fire Lord! Private Daju of the 3rd Squad attached to the 1st Air Fleet under the command of Sky Marshal Zhao Ming. We made contact with the natives, My Lord."
Immediately, the entire room was overtaken by silence as both Aenarion and Esdeath stopped eating, and even the Phoenix Guards looked toward the scout from the Scout Regiment curiously when they heard that the Fire Nation had established contact with the natives.
No better proof was needed.
Out of nowhere, several purple flames appeared around Aenarion as they also disappeared instantly. From the moment they were transported into this new world, Aenarion had some minor problems controlling his power, as his powers grew exponentially, and Bendign was no longer facing resistance like on Avatar Earth.
Now, he could execute the most fearsome variation of the Firebeding, directly given to him by the Asuryan...
Hellblaze.
Phoenix Style: Hellblaze.
"And? What is the situation?"
Right now, the most important objective is to collect as much information about the world as possible and establish a good relationship with the natives. One thing that Aenarion learned was that they had basically a clean slate, someone without enemies or allies, without the reputation that the Fire Nation had in their previous world.
One could say that this was rather advantageous for them.
"The first contact went smoothly; Sky Marshall invited the envoys from the local powers called Ironforge and Quel'Thalas back to the Fire Islands. Right now, they are being escorted by the Air Fleet and Navy back to the Imperial City."
When Aenarion heard those words, at first, he sighed in relief that the initial introduction went well, but soon enough, his smile cracked because he very well recognized the names "Ironforge" and "Quel'Thalas".
'Dammed, dammed, dammed fucking warcraft... why it couldn't be something like A Song of Ice and Fire or even Dragon Age, but no... it must be World of Warcraft, that is filed with deathtraps on every single step... And who knows what timeline we ended up on? Though there was no mention of Alliance, so we should be before the First Great War...'
Soon enough, he calmed down, and after getting through his initial shock, he accepted the grim reality that they were right now on Azeroth.
The world has endless dangers, but also infinite possibilities.
Still, the fact that if they were truly before the First War, then it was highly possible that he could have enough time to prepare for many terrible things that were heading towards the Azeroth.
Of course, Aenarion planned to prevent some, to let some happen entirely, and for some to just be changed a little bit.
'Now that I think about this, it seems that somebody is also intervening with the Bronze Dragonflight, or we are not in the Prime Timeline, maybe even both of them. But there were not supposed to be any alternate timelines, damm... no point of thinking about it as long there are not Bronze Dragons flying over our heads.'
Aenarion then dispersed these thoughts as he focused on the matter at hand, which was more important right now.
"You can go."
The soldiers from the Scout Regiment gave him a bow before he disappeared.
"Change of plans, Esdeath, there would be no expedition as it seems."
His wife just nodded, hearing those words, because it seemed that the natives came to them rather fast.
"Immediately summon Grand Chancellor Iroh and my wife Azula."
When Aenarion heard that they were on Azeroth, he made up his mind to make a good relationship with the nations in the world. Due to the peculiar nature of the Fire Nation, there are only a few suitable nations to create a good diplomatic relationship.
Quel'Thalas, Dalaran, Wildhammer Clan, Ironforge, Gnomeregan and perhaps Stormwind.
Because the Fire Nation was essentially ruled by "Mages" or at least Benders would be same as Mages from the point of the nobility of the human kingdoms such as Lordaeron, Alterac, Gilneas, Kul Tiras, Stromgarde and Stormwind.
The more traditional Huzman kingdoms that were either influenced by the prejudice against the Mages or teaching the Church of the Holy Light would hold the Fire Nation to the same degree of distrust as Dalaran.
For that, Aenarion planned to start with the Dwarves of Wildhmmer Clan and Ironforge Kingdom, and perhaps the Quel'Thalas. Dwarves were rather easy to get along with, especially if one offered them their geniue friendship, and the Fire Nation had a similar interest in technology like the Dwarves.
Aenarion was for the team of Alliance through and through, so he won't allow the Orcs to gain a foothold on Azeroth now that the Fire Nation has become part of this world at all. However, it also didn't mean he wouldn't become a fisherman.
Some things needed to happen...
"We need to prepare for the welcoming committee for the natives. This would be for the first after the century to finally create a good relationship with foreign nations... and when I am talking about it, it reminds me, we should cultivate some diplomats."
Since the Fire Lord Sozin started the Great War, there was no reason to have any diplomacy within the Fire Nation. Soon enough, all diplomatic personnel who were listed in the Fire Nation were transferred to other departments of administration or retired.
After that, the Fire Nation didn't seem to have a need to cultivate new diplomats or personnel to maintain foreign relationships. Basically, nobody within the modern Fire Nation was training to carry out diplomatic negotiations or anything even remotely similar.
When Aenarion ascended to the position of the Fire Nation, he also didn't give things like foreign relationships a second thought, as he was building the military and more important things.
Now it seemed that they would need to revisit some of their old practices and play nice with their neighbors. Which, in fact, wasn't actually that bad... if Aenarion had the chance, he would rather have a good relationship with the other nations of Azeroth.
For several reasons, obviously, most likely right now, even with everything that the Fire Nation had, some of them were more powerful than the Fire Nation, and he needed their help to master Magic and create an organization that would produce Mages loyal to the Fire Nation.
That was right now on the top of his priorities because they were on Azeroth, and now that this was clear, Aenarion could see what was passively strengthening the people of the Fire Nation.
He seriously doubted that if someone took humans from Azeroth, the humans of the Avatar World, or even the humans of 21st Century Earth and compared their DNA, they would be the same. It was evident that the high density of Magic in the environment passively strengthened the people.
For example, just two months later, even ordinary civilians were physically far more fit and at least twice as strong as before. This really sparked the question of how physically strong Orcs must be if they were around thrice as strong as Stormwind's soldiers...
Even though he was aware that he would need to expand the Fire Nation's territory a bit because the Islands would get cramped sooner or later, fortunately enough, there was a lot of space.
Be it the southern parts of the Eastern Kingdoms, where only Stormwind Kingdom and dwarves existed, though most of the continent was uninhabited. Or they could attack the Trolls and take their lands from them.
***
Somewhere near the Fire Islands, around the same time.
The Air Force Fleet and Navy of the Fire Nation were escorting the vessel of the Explorer's League to the homeland of the Fire Nation.
Both Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar of the Convocation of Silvermoon and Brann Bronzebeard of the Explorer's League were rather surprised when they saw the Airships of the foreigners, though it wasn't that unfamiliar, as Goblins had something similar, and even dwarves here and there were thinking with similar contraptions.
Still, it was clear that these people were even more militaristic of the Stormwind, and it seemed that they were taking their military very seriously, something not really seen in the Eastern Kingdoms.
In the entire Azeroth and Khaz-Modan subcontinent, the Kingdom of Stormwind reigned supreme, and even in the entire Eastern Kingdoms, even though the Stormwind was much smaller and had a lower population, its military might was bigger than that of the Kingdom of Lordaeron.
"We would be soon arriving at the Fire Islands, Grand Magister and Master Explorer."
While the language barrier was problematic but it wasn't something that Magic wouldn't solve, even though, at the start, it created some tension because some of the soldiers thought that the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar was going to attack them.
Right now, both High Elf and Dwarf are in the presence of Sky Marshall Zhao Ming, who met their vessel as the first one. Fortunately for all parties involved, the situation didn't evolve into a fight or anything, and right now, they were on their way to the capital of the new kingdom that appeared in the waters east of the Eastern Kingdoms, the Fire Nation.
"Your level of technology is really impressive, Sky Marshall."
However, it was the Brann Bronzebeard who was most amazed by the achievements of the Fire Nation in this field because the dwarves themselves had started dabbling into steam technology and so on.
"Thank you, Lord Bronzebeard. I wouldn't call it impressive as the Fire Nation has only this technology in development for around a century, but till only around five years, there were almost no new inventions done and we only started improving it under the rule of Fire Lord Aenarion."
Both Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar and Master Brann Bronzebeard found the claims of this nation being "teleported" a bit far-fetched; it was iron-clad undeniable truth as it seemed.
Of course, the initial introduction and talk between the three of them cleared many things, and now they were en route to the capital city of the Fire Nation. Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar and Master Explorer Brann Bronzebeard learned that the entire Fire Nation was previously in an entirely different world where different races were non-existent.
The mentions of dwarves or elves were just fairy tales, so that explains why many of the soldiers from the Fire Nation looked at the inhabitants of the Exploration League with wonder, though they were not looking down on them or anything.
"Can you showcase us these Bending Abilities?"
From what they understood, within their world, Magic didn't exist, which probably sounded even more outlandish, but Mages of Dalaran and Magisters of Quel'Thalas long ago theorized about the existence of other worlds and worlds where Magic didn't exist at all.
However, instead of Magic, the people of the Fire Nation had Chi and Bending Abilities, which were rather similar to Magic, at least partially.
"Hmm... I can't give you a big show because I have awakened my Bending Ability only lately after the arrival of the Fire Nation to Azeroth."
As Sky Marshall Zhao Ming spoke, he showcased a small miniature tornado on his hand. Sky Marshall Zhao Ming was one of the very few Airbenders in the Fire Nation.
"The Bending is the ability to manipulate an element. Only a selected few would awaken as Benders, and one of the main requirements to become a Bender is to have conscious control over one's Chi and then to have a very strong affinity for the Elements. There are four main Bending Arts: Airbending, Firebending, Earthbending, and Waterbending, with each of the Bending Arts having its strengths and weaknesses."
Certainly, the Sky Marshall wasn't the best person around to explain the Bending Art, something that the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar had already noticed, but his explanations were more simplistic, something that could be expected from the soldier.
Still, for the Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar, it was reminiscent of some version of Shaman; the Bender could control the Elements, but compared to the Shamanism that he was familiar with from the Troll Wars and other conflicts with the Trolls, the Benders were utilizing the elements as their weapons.
There was no worship of the elements or anything like that; for them, the elements were what the Mana was for Mage.
A tool and object of research.
"If possible, I would be delighted to discuss the Bending Arts more profoundly with your Scholars."
In truth, Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar was rather curious about the Bending Arts because it was entirely new to the Azeroth and an entirely new approach to the usage of the Elements.
He could already see the Shamans of the Trolls screaming heresy at the Fire Nation, which was a very good thing in the Grand Magister's eyes as that would make the Fire Nation the sword enemy of the Trolls, especially the Amani Tribes that were life and death enemies of the High Elves.
"For that, you would need to talk with the Elemental Sages from the Temple of Elements; I bet that those old men would love to discuss about the Bending... epically if you can teach them something about Magic."
Grand Magister Belo'vir Salonar nodded his head as they talked about some things, mainly the Sky Marshall telling both him and Brann Bronzebeard about the Fire Nation and Fire Islands, while two of them were telling him about Azeroth.
Because they were using the Airship, the journey back to the Fire Islands was rather fast and would take only a few hours of flight, while the Explorator ship was being pulled by several ships from the Fire Nation's Navy that had steam engines, but even then it would arrive in two days.
Soon enough, the Airship that was being used by the Sky Marshal Zhao Ming arrived at the Imperial Capital of the Fire Nation, as everyone could see some sort of welcoming ceremony back there, mostly awaiting the delegation.
It was clear to the Azerothians that the Sky Marshall must have informed his homeland about them, and they prepared an entire ceremony to welcome them.