History of the Modern Order
"On this terrible day, in my final hour, I shall let truth triumph and declare, before heaven and all the saints, that I have committed the greatest of all crimes. But my crime is this: that I confessed to malicious charges made against an order that is innocent so that I could escape further torture. I shall not confirm a first lie with a second. I renounce life willingly. I have no use for days of sorrow earned only by lies."
Those were the defiant final words of Jacques de Molay, thought to be the last Master of the Knights Templar. For the past seven years, upwards of 5000 knights of the order had been arrested, all as part of a plan for King Philip the Fair to seize the Templars vast wealth. What the king, and the people of Paris did not know, was that many knights had gone into hiding once the persecution began. A handful of these survivors watched as Jacques de Molay and Geoffrey de Charney, old men who had long served the order, were burned at the stake. With their deaths, a secret only known to those within the order died. The secret? That certain members of the order had somehow been gifted with the ability to call upon the power of the divine. Those with the gift went into seclusion, taking with them what treasures had escaped from King Philip's grasp.
The next 700 years were spent trying to quietly rebuild the order. Much of those early decades were spent simply trying to restructure the order, to better hide the identities of the few members that remained, and to try to bring in fresh blood as quietly as possible. Safe-houses were established, a network of residences across Europe where members could carry out their work in secret. It wasn't until 1783 that the order found a new purpose, a new mission for its members: to protect the innocent from the dark workings of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. This shift in focus caused a split within the order, as some felt that their duty should only be to protect those of the Christian Faith. It is unclear what has happened to those that left, or if they continue to operate. Those that chose to stay became part of what is known to just a few in the supernatural community as the Modern Order of the Knights Templar.
From Orphan to Acolyte
Erin's parents died when she was barely a year old, and none of her extended family wanted to take on the burden of an additional mouth to feed. As a result, her early years were spent in a state-run orphanage in Manila. She could have faced a long hard life, probably winding up on the street, were it not for the intervention of Monsignor Mendoza. To everyone else in the neighborhood, he was just a man of the church who was famed to be able to say a prayer for someone and their ailments would disappear. In reality, he was a member of the Modern Order. He was paying a visit to Erin's orphanage, and felt that the child was different. He always trusted his intuition, and it had never led him astray before. The Monsignor made a few calls, and soon the child was taken out of the orphanage and into the care of the Order. Monsignor Mendoza became her legal guardian, caretaker, and mentor.
Erin found herself whisked away to Banda Aceh, Indonesia not long after, when the Monsignor was posted there. The child soaked up everything her mentor taught to her, and not just the lessons in how to use the power of the divine. When she wasn't in regular school, or in a training session, she was working alongside the Monsignor doing acts of charity, helping her fellow man. The two were present in 2004 when Banda Aceh was struck by the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Erin was separated from the Monsignor in all of the chaos, and barely managed to survive. It was days before the two were reunited. Aside from being scared out of her wits, Erin managed to only escape with minor injuries. The Monsignor, however, suffered quite a few injuries, and to this day carries a limp as a result.
The next six years were spent helping with the recovery efforts throughout the devastated regions in Indonesia, then after that, another four years were spent in Sri Lanka, until finally, the Monsignor received a posting in the US, in Vibora Bay. The next two years were spent in intense study and training, preparing for her 18th birthday, when she would be promoted from acolyte to a full-fledged member. She was presented with a sword, which she named Gratia.
Normally, once an acolyte becomes a full-fledged member of the Order, they would be trained in sword fighting, which would be done under the guidance of their mentor. Due to the Monsignor's physical condition, it was decided that Erin would be trained by another member of the Order. She was moved to Millennium City, where she met her new teacher, a brusque, opinionated woman named Jane Claymore. Erin also enrolled in her senior year at Grace Memorial High School. Early on, she decided to use her training and apply it to hero work, registered under the name Faith.
Life in Millenium City: Year One
Erin spent her first several months solo, working in Westside, primarily using her healing abilities to aid the underprivileged. It was only a matter of time before she would cross paths with the Progeny, a teen supergroup based out of the area. She had a brief brush with them when they came face to face with alligator men in the sewers beneath Westside, as she assisted hostages up to awaiting MCPD officials. She didn't get a chance to really work with them, however, until a volunteer event came about, where she and other members of the group were spending time with elderly superheroes. When the elders were targetted by a man known as Bloodshot, she worked alongside the Progeny to defend the retired heroes. Not long after, she was brought into the group proper. While the addition of a new member was considered a good thing by most, there were some who were not very eager about bringing in an outsider to an already tight-knit group.
Erin's religious beliefs made things a bit awkward with many of the members. But her addition to the group garnered hostility from Kid Ballistic, who felt that they didn't need any new members... especially a magic user with "God powers." This all came to a head during when the Progeny were forced to participate in a game of truth or dare in order to escape their own hideout. After thoroughly embarrassing her, he realized that he was taking out his frustrations on someone who didn't deserve it. He later apologized. As the two got to know each other, a budding friendship formed. Erin found that while their upbringings were certainly different, they had a great deal in common. Over the next few months, their relationship changed to something more than friendship. One night, Erin escorted a very drunk Sid to her home so he could sleep it off on her couch. In a brief moment of clarity, the two confessed that their feelings for one another went beyond that of just a friendship. The two have been a couple ever since. Through all the challenges they faced - both alone, together, and as part of the Progeny - they have found that relationship growing stronger, at times bolstering one another at their lowest points.
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges Erin came across was losing her powers in the wake of a particularly gruesome series of events that saw the Progeny targeted by a woman named Salei. Possessed by an Aztec spider goddess, Salei sought to usher in a new age, with the Progeny as the inheritors of her new world: whether they liked it or not. The Protectors of the World became involved as the stakes and the odds quickly were stacked against the teens. The climax of Salei's plans saw Erin being left behind as many of her friends were kidnapped and sent into a pocket dimension. She wasn't able to rejoin their side until it was too late: Kl'vin and Heartbeat had been killed. While the Progeny managed to overcome Salei in the end, the loss of life hurt the group. In the wake of those losses, Erin found herself unable to reconcile the deaths of her friends, tail spinning into a crisis of faith. With that faith shaken, the young Templar found she couldn't access her powers.
Life went on, whether or not Erin had her powers. In the weeks that followed, Erin had the misfortune of coming face to face with
Dr. Kaufmann, leader of the Men in White. The master-assassin turned drug lord nearly killed her, and only outside interference from Zoe Loft and the Maniacs allowed her the chance to escape. After her recovery (aided by
Cait Sith), she soon found herself the target of a stalker with the ability to draw people into stories he wrote - or rather ripped off. Ross L. Meyer, who took to calling himself Herr Drosselmeyer, stalked Erin for weeks, on three occasions trapping members of the Progeny in stories based off of Tchaikovsky's ballets. His third and final attempt saw him tricking the group into believing he had trapped the young Templar with them in Drosselmeyer's twisted version of Swan Lake. Instead, a false Erin had been written into the role as Odile, while the real Erin was trapped on a boat outside of Millennium City with Ross. Despite her fear of the water and being surrounded on all sides by the lake, she managed to knock out her stalker and take possession of his book, his means of crafting his stories. She quickly wrote out a hasty ending, so that no one would have to die in the story, and her friends were able to retrieve her. Literally. Lash picked up the boat, with both Erin and Ross inside, and delivered it straight to Kid Ballistic's doorstep.
The greatest challenge was yet to come, however. The Progeny found themselves coming face to face with a group of young vampires calling themselves the Ghouls. Over the next several months, the group went from going head to head with the vampires to entering into an unsteady truce. During this time, Erin was named team leader, though she said that she would only stay in that position until the danger from the Ghouls - and whoever was behind them - was over. The shaky truce was broken, however, as the Progeny were lured into an ambush onboard the cargo ship Demeter. Believing that they were going to be facing the Ghouls, it came as a shock when it wasn't the young vampires onboard that ship. It was the Men in White. Elias - the leader of the Ghouls - arrived, furious that not only had this been a setup, but that hostages had been taken (and killed), and turned his back on his master to help the Progeny. In the end, the ship went down, and the Progeny barely managed to escape with the remaining hostages. After that, one by one, the Ghouls began to turn on their sire or were taken into custody. This inevitably earned the Progeny the ire of Kostadin the Black, the creature responsible for turning the Ghouls and being a overall thorn in his side. Things came to a head when the group of teens, after having to save Cait Sith from the last remaining Ghoul, came face to face with the monster. The Ghouls had been powerful in their own right, but their power didn't hold a candle to what Kostadin was capable of. The teens found themselves outclassed and outpowered, and subdued by the vampire's powers. As Kostadin turned his attention to Julian, the last Ghoul and who had just been convinced to turn away from Kostadin, and prepared to end him, Erin found she couldn't stand back and just watch it happen. She surged forward to sacrifice herself to save him, and in that moment, her powers returned. The burst of holy power weakened Kostadin, but the combined efforts of the team managed to defeat him.
A hero's work is never done, and the same holds true for Erin. Kostadin was able to escape. And the Men in White still have to answer for their part in the sinking of the Demeter and the deaths of hostages on board. Erin remains in charge of the Progeny, for the time being, but she's eager to step back from that role once Kostadin is put away once and for all. For now though? She and Kid Ballistic are systematically taking it to the gangs of Westside, causing as much problems for the Men in White as possible.
