Order of the Axe and Cross

The Axe and the Cross.

The Order of the Axe and Cross is an organization that features in The Last Witch Hunter.

History

The Order of the Axe and Cross was an organization that was formed in the world to keep the balance between witches and ordinary humans. Their origins were traced to the Dark Ages when populations grew and civilizations fell which was when six Witch Lords rose to power to reclaim the lands that they believed man had destroyed. They consisted of three sisters and three brothers who divided the earth into their personal fiefdoms to rule and take power from the lands themselves. These Witches were opposed to man and sought to wipe them out with a great apocalypse. This resulted in the founding of this ancient brotherhood in AD1211 in the lands that became Skopje, Macedonia with it originally consisting of an irregular army of priests, warriors and farmers that had turned into fighters. All of these individuals swore an oath to crush the threat that was posed by Witches. Despite being few in number, they were noted to had fought with conviction with Pope Innocent III issuing them a secret sigil and instructed them to deny any existence of the order. This meant that the witches never could discover the forces that had assembled in opposition to them. In 1231, this secret order marched to oppose the threat of the Black Plague which was a scourge perpetrated by Witches with them gathering to raise their weapons to strike against the Witch-Queen. The Witch-Queen had created the disease with the intention of wiping out humanity and returning the world to a more natural state. To accomplish this, she used her magic to grow a tree that was gestating the plague flies which were to kill the humans. However, a band of warriors managed to enter her stronghold with the intention of killing her. Many of their number were slain but a lone warrior named Kaulder succeeded in catching her off-guard. Before dying, she came to curse Kaulder with immortality which she planted in his body. Unknown to Kaulder, the Witch-Queen's heart remained as it sustained his immortality. The warriors decided not to destroy it as they believed Kaulder had a task to aid them in hunting witches and thus the secret of his immortality became a closely guarded secret of the order.

For the next 800 years, Kaulder served as the primary weapon of the Axe and the Cross in their war against witches. In that time, they came to support him where one of their order named the Dolan was assigned to provide for his needs. All this time, they kept their own secret from him as they knew Kaulder had long desired to die following the death of the Witch-Queen. This continued for centuries until a tentative peace was established with the Witches Council to end any further hostilities. Since then, the Axe and the Cross worked with the Witches Council to apprehend rogue witches that were to be brought before the council who then imprisoned the criminal in stone.

Overview

In appearance, the Axe and the Cross was a secret organization composed of humans that fought against the threat posed by witches. The brotherhood saw themselves as the cure for the curses perpetuated on man by witches. A chant used by members of this order was "By Iron and Fire".

By the modern era, they maintained a peace with the witches and simply hunted those that were rogue. In this time, they no longer actively killed witches but rather hunted them and brought them before the Witches Council who had the offending member of their kind imprisoned in stone.

The greatest asset of the Axe and the Cross was the immortal warrior Kaulder. His immortality and experience over the years made him a skilled hunter of witches. Thus, all attempts were made to support him in his endeavours as he performed the orders goals. A position within the order was that of the Dolan which was named after the first companion of 'the Weapon'. They were to provide support for Kaulder and gave him someone to talk to whilst he performed his duties. Each Dolan was given a number to indicate their generation where they took over following the previous ones retirement.

The Order of the Axe and Cross were aware of the hexes and curses caused by Witches. Among them, they were aware of the Sarcophaga Samanos curse fly whose wings carried hexes with a single one being able to kill a man whilst swarms could bring doom.

They typically had fought only with unaided blades against their foes.

Their modern day headquarters was the St. Chrysostom's church with them being based in the hidden catacombs below which was home to their council chambers and also served as the world's largest witch prison.

Members

• Kaulder : a male warrior born over 800 years ago where he joined the Axe and the Cross to hunt down the Witch-Queen following the death of his wife and daughter. He was the one that dealt the killing blow to the Witch-Queen who cursed Kaulder with immortality and to never know peace. Since then, he served as the primary asset of the Axe and the Cross who came to refer to him as 'the Weapon'.
• Dolan :
• 36th Dolan :
• 37th Dolan :

Notes

• The Axe and the Cross was created by Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless where they featured in the setting of The Last Witch Hunter universe.
• Much of the background for the Order was provided on the viral website

Appearances

• The Last Witch Hunter:

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