After many weeks spent in the mountainous wilderness around Palanthas, Solamnus sailed to Sancrist Isle. Upon his landfall, he forged into the forested wilderness west of Mount Nevermind. In time, he found a glade where a black stone of granite, twice as tall as a man, stood as though thrust into the ground by great force. He instantly sensed there was something special about, so he fasted and prayed to the gods of Good.
After three days and three nights, Paladine, Kiri-Jolith, and
Habbakuk revealed themselves to him. As their constellations shone brightly
in the sky overhead, ethereal music filled Solamnus’s head—Paladine’s grand
justice represented by well-ordered chords, Kiri-Jolith’s courage by enduring
themes, and Habbakuk’s temperance in balanced counterpoint. With the music
came visions and wisdom—the framework within which Solamnus could create
a knighthood that would carry forward not only his own legacy of truth
and honor but would uphold the high ideals of the three gods for generations
to come.
In a flash, Solamnus knew that three orders would be established,
and that they would embody honor and live it day by day. The highest order
would be devoted to Paladine, championing justice. The second would uphold
the high standards of courage and self-sacrifice embodied by Kiri-Jolith.
The third would be devoted to Habbakuk, forever-personifying loyalty and
obedience.
As Solamnus’s vision ended, the heavens blazed with a divine light
so strong it blinded him. When his vision cleared, the black rock had transformed
into a gracefully twisting pillar of white crystal so brilliant it appeared
as if a piece of a star had fallen from the heavens and lodged itself in
the ground on Sancrist.
Solamnus returned to the mainland and founded the Solamnic Knighthood,
penning the original Measure—the standards to which all Solamnic Knights
hold themselves—and the Oath. “My Honor is My Life” are the words they
continue to live by.
As the orders grew in size, settlements were established in the wilds of Sancrist. Whitestone Glade served for centuries as the place where the heads of the Orders would meet to discuss changes to Measure and pass judgement on Knights who had committed gross infractions against the Oath and the Measure. The Uth Wistan family was charged with protecting the island and the sacred glade. Over the centuries, the Whitestone came to hold meaning for the rest of the peoples of Ansalon, becoming a symbol around which the forces of Good could rally. One of the first Kingpriests of Istar even offered a blessing at the stone, declaring it sacred to the gods and forbidding mortals to touch it.
The Knights of Solamnia have stood proudly against Evil for over 2,600 years. Although the spiritual center of the Orders fell victim to corruption in the years following the First Cataclysm, they have been revitalized by the efforts of two exceptional Grand Masters within the past century, Gunthar uth Wistan and Liam Ehrling. The Knights remain a strong force for Good in present-day Ansalon . . . a union of men and women willing to sacrifice their lives in battle for truth and justice if called upon to do so.
However, there are those who say that these are final days of the Knighthood, despite the resurgence they have enjoyed in recent decades, and such doomsayers seem to have more evidence for such predictions than they had even during the darkest times following the First Cataclysm. This evidence is found in Whitestone Glade.
One of the more powerful legends that surround the Whitestone is that it is a symbol of the divine support and blessing for the Knighthood. The nature of the stone and the glade seemed to bear this out. Regardless of the time of year, the climate in the glade was one of late spring . . . always mild and pleasant, even while the rest of the surrounding forest was baking in summer heat or shivering in the depths of winter frost. However, during the War of the Lance, the stone was split in two when the blacksmith Theros Ironfeld threw a dragonlance into it. Despite the fact that the Knights of Solamnia were instrumental in defeating the Dark Queen’s forces during the War of the Lance, some philosophers took the destruction of the Whitestone to mean that, despite the fact the gods were once again bestowing their gift of priestly magic to their followers, they had withdrawn their blessing from the Knighthoods.
For a time following the War of the Lance, the Knights of Solamnia
appeared to prosper, but then the Knights of Takhisis swept across the
continent in an unstoppable wave during the Summer of Chaos. The Knights
of Solamnia were virtually wiped out and even the mighty High Clerist’s
Tower fell to the forces of Evil. Further, when all magic ceased to function
in the wake of the Summer of Chaos, the glade’s pleasant weather ceased
to be. Although fragments of the Whitestone remained in the Glade, still
as white as the stars in the heavens, its magic—and the blessings of the
gods—appeared to have departed entirely.
Sword Knights and Rose Knights who have traveled to the Whitestone Glade to follow in Vinas Solamnus’s footsteps, however, tell a different story. The most widely retold is that of Linsha Majere, the first non-Solamnian woman, and one of the youngest at that, to ever earn rank in the Order of the Rose. When, only days after her acceptance into the ranks of the Rose Knights, the Order asked her to become part of a clandestine Circle of Knights somewhere in east, she was deeply troubled. Wanting not only to live up to the examples set by her grandfather and father—the famous Caramon Majere and Palin Majere—but also to the grand traditions of the Order of the Rose, she feared such a mission was wrong and dishonorable. In 23SC Linsha embarked on her own Quest of Honor, hoping to find a resolution to the moral dilemma she faced.
Travelling to Whitestone Glade, she spent two days in prayer to the gods. On the third day, she used the mystic magic she had mastered as a girl at the Citadel of Light to reach out to any spirits that might be present in the Glade. By the end of the third day, she felt drained, both physically and spiritually, but as she looked to the heavens, no stars blazed at her—all she saw were clouds drifting in the pale light of the moon.
Suddenly, she was attacked. Another Knight, a member of the Order of the Sword named Wandyll, had followed her to Sancrist. He felt jealous of her accomplishments and that he had been ignored for advancement to Rose Knight in favor of her due to her family relations. Linsha fumbled for a weapon as the corrupt Knight attempted to strangle her. Her life was slipping away when her hand fell upon a rock. She felt energy surging through her as she used the fragment to strike the man’s skull. She struck him two more times and he tumbled aside, now shouting in pain instead of insane fury. Then, almost instinctively, she called upon the Powers of the Heart and commanded nearby vines to lash out and grab hold of him—where she had been spiritually drained, she now felt completely rejuvenated. She looked at the blood-smeared rock she had used to fight off her attacker. It was a fragment of the Whitestone, somehow missed by scavengers and relic hunters. But it shone with a soft white light that faded even as she noticed it.
The gods still watched over Krynn, Linsha decided, and then and there resolved to serve the Knights of Solamnia in whatever way the Grand Master saw fit. If she had been meant to die there, the magic of the Whitestone Glade would not have come to her assistance. Upon delivering her attacker to Castle Uth Wistan and the justice that the Measure demanded, she returned to her parents home in Solace and from there vanished into the obscurity of a clandestine Circle.
Recently, other Knights of the Rose and even mystics who are not part of the Orders have reported strange flashes of rejuvenation while in or near the Glade. Skeptics say that the so-called magic of the Glade is merely an illusion brought about by desperation or wishful thinking on the part of those who experience it.
Nonetheless, Whitestone Glade is gradually returning to importance
as a site that more and more Knights of Solamnia once again wish to visit.
The Grand Master of the Orders has made his position clear on the matter
by reinstating the honor guard in the Glade: If the power of the gods still
resides there despite any overt signs of it, he wishes that the Knighthood
keeps any minions of Evil from despoiling it.
SAGA rules: Heroes whose Natures are derived from cards with White
or Red auras from the Shield, Sword, or Crown suits receive additional
spell points while in Whitestone Glade. The points can be used to create
only spells of the alteration, animism, and channeling spheres. The number
of points received varies and is determined by drawing a card from the
Fate Deck and doubling the number on the card. Once used, the points do
not regenerate, but each time the hero returns to the Glade, he or she
can gain its benefit. (The extra points remain with the hero until they
are cast, even after he or she leaves the Glade.)
AD&D rules: Heroes of Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral alignments
and the ability to cast priest spells receive the curious ability to retain
spells in memory even after they have been cast. Whenever the priest casts
spells from the Animal, Plant, or Protection sphere while within one mile
of the Glade, he or she can roll a successful Wisdom check to retain the
spell in memory. For each additional casting beyond the first, a cumulative
+2 penalty is added to the roll.