Guardians Before Human Knights

Angela’s recovered records describe the Vanguard as protectors created when Palad and Nemes still shared the first Homeland. Their purpose was unusually broad: they were meant to defend the brothers from outside attack and from one another.

Their forms resemble the chess pieces later associated with living knights, suggesting that the magical roles existed as guardian archetypes before family members began carrying the same pattern into human institutions.

Light and Dark Guardians

The first Homeland contains lighter stone guardians associated with Palad and darker guardians associated with Nemes. Temperance’s conquest disrupts that original division because her power can seize control of both.

The Same Powers as Human Knights

Angela confirms that Vanguard pieces possess the same kinds of powers later displayed by human chess roles.

This makes them more than animated statues. A Vanguard rook, bishop, knight, queen, or other piece can embody the supernatural logic of that role without being a mortal member of either order.

An Army, Not a Handful of Statues

The surviving records do not provide an exact total, but Angela warns the Paladins that there are thousands of each kind. The Vanguard therefore represent a military force on a scale far beyond the small groups Rich usually fights.

Answerable to the Sovereigns

The Vanguard answer only to the three Sovereigns. That loyalty becomes dangerous when the balance of Sovereign power changes.

With Palad and Nemes weakened, Temperance has the strongest practical claim on the ancient guardians. She can reactivate a system designed for shared protection and redirect it toward conquest.

Nadia’s Vanguard Sword

Nadia carries an ancient weapon specifically capable of fighting the Vanguard. Temperance recognizes it immediately and notes that such swords were originally forged for that purpose.

The detail shows that Vanguard warfare is itself ancient. Earlier generations encountered enough danger from these guardians to create specialized weapons against them.

Military Backbone of the Gray Regime

Temperance intends to use the Vanguard as the main striking force against both modern knightly orders. She orders Nadia to lead the army first against the Paladin Sanctuary and then against the Nemesis Stronghold.

The result is a historical inversion: creatures created to stop the first family from destroying itself become tools for a third sibling’s attempt to dominate every surviving branch.

Why the Vanguard Matters

• They show that chess-based powers predate modern human knightly ranks.
• They connect the first Homeland directly to the final war.
• They reveal the scale of Temperance’s military advantage.
• They make Sovereign authority concrete: the stones do not merely grant personal power but command ancient systems.
• They turn the family’s original protective architecture into one of its greatest later threats.

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