A time long ago, at least long enough ago that most exact details have been
forgotten or twisted by countless retellings, but not long enough ago for the
major part of the story to be lost completely (probably), a group of warriors
of noble (we guess, but it sounds more epic for them to have been) heritage,
no-one knows if the word 'knight' was already used for them or even did exist
back then, was on the prowl to hunt down the evil sorcerer Nieh that plagued
the land.
Besides being evil, the sorcerer was also cunning, a combination most
uncomfortable for the good people of the land - which caused the knights
(let’s call them so for the sake of simplicity) to fall for his cleverly
laid trap. They were baited into a pentagram, back then another word for a
pentangle consisting of five points, created from six (historical sources
are sure of that!) pebbles hidden beneath the grass of a rolling plain, when
the sorcerer triggered a prepared spell and trapped the knights inside the
boundary created by the pebbles.
To add insult to injury, he taunted them from outside the magical barrier, by
telling them they would only need to place a hawkbit on a certain spot inside
the pentagram (some say this was the reason for the sixth pebble of the
pentacle) to dispel the spell - the plain was dotted with hawkbits (except
inside the five to six pebbles as you should have expected), but of course
the knights were not able to cross the magical barrier or even reach through
it! So they were trapped in a most wicked way within arms reach of their
botanical salvation! Cackling, the sorcerer Nieh went his way to conduct
further mischief, now unmolested by any righteous pursuers.
The poor knights were trapped inside the pentagram for a long time, no-one
exactly remembers how long, probably a bit longer than one would expect, but
not nearly as long as one might image in one‘s worst nightmares - anyway, it
was short enough for them to survive, but long enough for them to go a bit
nuts - not that they ate any nuts during that time, being trapped and all,
but somehow they still acquired that trait.
For what happened next, there are countless versions, the most commonly told
one goes like:
Knights Hey you there, travelling merchants!
Merchants Who are you?
Knights We are here on the scheme of... Nieh!
Which of course was true, but perhaps a bit misleading for the merchants,
seeing a group of hard, armed men, with the latest crimes of Nieh still
large in the news - which would have been travelling and singing bards
during that time...
Merchants (horrified) No! Not on the scheme of the evil sorceror Nieh?!
Knights The very same!
Merchants among themselves Those who meet the
henchmen of Nieh seldom live to tell the tale!
Knights That is absolutely correct, we saw too many of those
massacres! By the way, we need you to do something for us.
Merchants Well, what is it you want?
Knights We want... A HAWKBIT!!!
Merchants A *WHAT*?
Knights Nieh! Nieh!! Nieh!!! Nieh!!!!
This desperate cry of the knights, if they were indeed called as such, was
meant to express their dire desire to stop the miscreant, but in their
nutty and exhausted state they were not able to express it more clearly,
and instead seemed to emphasise their allegiance towards Nieh...
Merchants No! No! Please, please, don't call the evil sorcerer
upon us! We will find you a hawkbit!
Knights You must return here with a hawkbit... or
else you will never pass through this plain... alive.
The knight‘s meaning of course was, that without their help the merchants
would be at the mercy of the evil sorceror, but the merchants probably
understood it more like a threat, again...
Merchants O Knights of Nieh, you are just and fair, and we will
return with a hawkbit.
Knights One that looks nice.
Merchants Of course!
Knights And not *too* expensive.
Merchants Yes!
Knights Noowwwww.... GO!
A merchant stooped down and plucked a hawkbit.
Merchants O Knights of Nieh. We have brought you your hawkbit. May
we go now?
Knights Yes, it is a good hawkbit. I like the petals particularly.
The merchants were able to pass the hawkbit through the magical barrier
from the outside, but then their arms were trapped as well, and could
not be retracted. The Knights placed the hawkbit where the sorcereor
Nieh told them to, most probably on the surplus pebble of the five
needed to form the pentacle. A glimmer went up around the outline
(probably not including the sixth pebble) of the pentagram or some
other spectacular effect, sources scintillate on the specific one, and
the knights and merchant arms were free again - well, physically that
is. Only the knights minds were not as before any more, due to all
that isolation, not present legumes and so on.
Knights But there is one small problem...
Merchants What is that?
Knights We are now no longer the Knights of Nieh - we actually
never were. We never said so anyway! We are from this point on the
Knights of the Hawkbit, eternally sworn enemies of the sorceror Nieh and
any evil doers like him! Therefore, we must give you a test to ascertain
you are free of all evil!
Merchants What is this test, oh Knights of the Hawkbit?
Knights Firstly, you must find us... ANOTHER HAWKBIT!!!
Merchants mocking but this was probably lost to the knights Oh no,
not another hawkbit!
Knights Indeed! Then, when you have found the other hawkbit, you must
place it here, beside this first hawkbit, only slightly higher, so we get a
terraced effect with a little path running down the middle. Then, in your
capacity as merchants, you must supply us with material to build a castle!
This will be our cosy strongpoint from which we will set out to destroy
all evil, Nieh first of all!
Thus the story of the founding of the Knights of the Hawkbit is told. The
castle still stands today, or at least the n-th renovated version of it, the
knightly order strong as ever, scouring the land for evil doers, chaos
worshippers and monsters, defeating them for the good of the common man - and
their pride and history of their order. The center of the castle still
proudly displays the terraced hawkbits (the original ones, it goes without
saying!), framed by the six pebbles the pentagram was created from, tended
to by a score of five acolytes - the same acolytes whose task it is to
extinguish all signs of hawkbits around the castle, for miles, kilometres or
any other arbitrary length of measurement; otherwise the two hawkbits inside
the castle would not be antyhing special now, would they?
One word of warning: There were those who called the mighty Knights of the
glorious and manly Hawkbit in a jokey or snidely way the Knights of the
Daisy, oftentimes picturing them in a pink coat of arms at the same time -
those did not live long or happily after (if at all) when this became known
to a Knight of the Hawkbit... How can anyone confuse deep, masculine yellow
with light, womenish white petals anyway?!
Any similarity to a Programm Snake are fully intentional and no allowance
to use their intellectual property was asked for.
Been doing them like this for years... decades... never thought anyone would do them differently...
