The Birth of EvilIt was the 11th century, a time of knights and knighthood. As the system decayed, monarchies began to weaken as local feudal lords grew in power. The knights became their sworn protectors, the defenders of the land and those brave enough to give their lives for the lords they served. However, there remained a lack of any real order; as the chaos spread, rival families continued to contend for control, in bloody fashion, at the expense of the knights who wished only to protect them. It was one thing to defend their masters' land--it was quite another to battle against rival families' independent armies who were looking for nothing more than political gain. The disorder would ultimately call for change: The increasing power of the Catholic Church soon brought forth the Gregorian Reforms of the 11th Century; it was during this period of religious constitution that the knights were elevated to the role of "protectors of the peace and the Church." These knights valued courage and honor, and they proudly fought against heretics and heathens in the name of God. Some knights formed brotherhoods, sects that would fight together with a sacred trust bonding them. In this age, one such company of knights was said to be invincible; it was these two men, Leon Belmont and Mathias Cronqvist, who would unwittingly bring about a new order.
