Sisterhood of the Crimson Shard
A once-powerful Sulaim faction first founded sometime in the Fifth Age; the Crimson Shard are so-named because of their knowledge of the Trenkytis and the ancient rites once used to control it. Even after the Sulaim exodus to Amethgare and the foundation of Nelonia, the Sisterhood retained strong links to the Crimson Isles - believing that someday the power of the Trenkytis would prove vital to the future of the Sulaim people.
As with most Sulaim the Crimson Shard eventually swore fealty to Sulansis, and at the end of the Sixth Age the Crimson Shard set a trap for the dragon Benethyarr, luring him to the Crimson Isles and then using Trenkytis to bind him into the form of two objects - the Dragonbone Spear and Dragonbone Keep. After giving the spear to their Goddess in order that she might use it to slay her sister Solandria, the order changed its name to the Sisters of the Barbed Claw.
The ways of dragons, however, are strange and complex; instead of meeting Solandria as she had planned Sulansis found that Mithrilanda had taken her sister's place and although the Goddess of Darkness was able to strike her down, the very fact of her 'death' caused the Goddess of Magic to be forgotten entirely. So it was that Sulansis believed her plan to have failed entirely, a failure that she chose to blame on the order who had previously been her favourites - the Sisters of the Barbed Claw.
Although the Barbed Claw were able to reclaim the Dragonclaw Spear and used its power, and that of Dragonbone Keep, to their considerable advantage in the years to come still they found that their rivals began to outstrip them - finding greater favour with Sulansis and growing ever more powerful. Eventually a combined assault by the Cult of the Blinded Eye and the Temple of Absolution destroyed the Barbed Claw's outpost on Treneth and with it the rituals required to control the Trenkytis. Still the Barbed Claw fought on, winning back some measure of standing with Sulansis in the process, but eventually in the Eighth Age they were ousted from their home state in Nelonia by the Blinded Eye and forced to fall back to Dragonbone Keep.
In 433 EA, always on the lookout for new sources of power, the leader of the Barbed Claw Anyssa Sor Rossaim attacked the Knights of the Silver Cross and stole Aesha Lehtranna's magical sword. The Silver Cross gave chase, and eventually followed her back to Dragonbone Keep's anchor-fortress in Daralt although there their luck gave out, and they were captured and imprisoned by the Barbed Claw.
Mantoni however proved fully aware of the value of the Silver Cross and dispatched several squads of elite troops to besiege the fortress - including the Knights of the Golden Flame and the Avatars Duncan Kaerano and Lady Faelenkeen. Anyssa, in response, was forced to call for aid from her hated rivals the Blinded Eye - and the Avatars of Sulansis Lanysria and Anassalla.
As the battle raged outside, Anyssa betrayed both her allies and her goddess - renouncing Sulansis and retreating from the fortress to the true, ethereal Dragonbone Keep - leaving the Blinded Eye troops to be slaughtered and hoping to keep her the members of her order alive despite all the odds. Sulansis is well versed in betrayal however and things did not go smoothly - eventually leading to Anyssa's death - but also to the release of Benethyarr and the awakening of Mithrilanda.
After the battle, with the Silver Cross and its allies victorious, Benethyarr revived Anyssa and she and her order swore loyalty to him. Since then they have been allies to the Silver Cross and Mantoni and proved a key element in the Victory of Light. The order has now returned to its original name and has taken up residence within the Citadel of the Trenkytis, where they hope to learn more of their origins and perhaps rediscover their ancient powers.
