The Dawnstrider Order After Dark

This article expands upon the adult culture, members and specialised knowledge of the Dawnstrider Order. For the Order’s history, activities, enemies and place within the Xaverion Islands, see the Dawnstrider Order in the main Eonil Codex.

The People Behind the Insignia

The Dawnstrider Order includes members from many different races, genders and sexual orientations. There is no single kind of person considered suited to becoming a Dawnstrider, nor does the Order expect its members to conform to one particular idea of sexuality or relationships.

Some are highly sexually active, some prefer long-term partners, others enjoy casual company, and some may have little interest in sex at all. What matters to the Order is not what someone enjoys, but whether everyone involved has freely chosen to participate.

This attitude makes the Dawnstriders noticeably less prudish than many organisations operating within the Xaverion Islands. Many of them share Grov’s general belief that there is nothing shameful about consensual sex, even if most lack his more theatrical enthusiasm for proving the point.

Off Duty

Dawnstriders are not expected to remain celibate or separate themselves from the establishments they protect.

An off-duty Dawnstrider staying at a protected brothel may quite happily seek company for the night. Another might meet someone at a tavern, spend the evening flirting at the House of the Eternal Dawn, or simply go home with an existing partner.

This is considered ordinary private behaviour rather than something at odds with membership of the Order.

Dawnstriders do, however, remain recognisable even when off duty. Members wear a Dawnstrider insignia at all times, making their affiliation visible regardless of whether they are currently on a mission, drinking at a bar or spending the evening as an ordinary guest.

For some people, seeing that insignia is reassuring.

For others, it is a very good reason to behave themselves.

Dawnstriders Are Not House Staff

Although the Dawnstrider Order is headquartered within the House of the Eternal Dawn, its members are distinct from the workers and staff of the estate.

They do not wear the House’s coloured ribbons and they do not address Grov as Master. Those customs belong to the House itself rather than the Order.

A House guard may perform duties that look very similar to those of a Dawnstrider while inside the estate, particularly when protecting guests or intervening in trouble, but this does not make that guard a member of the Order. Likewise, Dawnstriders may assist with security within the House without becoming part of its household staff.

The distinction matters particularly within adult spaces, where ribbons have precise meanings. A Dawnstrider’s insignia identifies them instead.

Adult Establishments

Brothels and other adult establishments are familiar territory to many Dawnstriders.

Some establishments operate under Dawnstrider protection, employ or are assigned Dawnstrider guards, and also serve as places where someone in danger can ask the Order for help. Dawnstriders stationed there may therefore spend long periods around sex workers and customers without considering the environment unusual.

That familiarity does not make the Order a moral authority over consensual sex. Dawnstriders are generally far more interested in whether workers are free to set their own boundaries than in what services they offer.

An establishment in which adults willingly sell sexual services is not a problem to them.

An establishment in which those adults cannot safely say no is.

Sex, Magic and the Dawnstriders

The Dawnstriders possess knowledge about sexuality that extends beyond ordinary consent and sex work.

Sexual activity has a genuine magical component within Eonil, even though most people who describe sex as “magical” have no idea how literally true the expression can be. Certain creatures, magical practices and forms of alchemy can interact with that energy, draw upon it or manipulate the people producing it.

The Dawnstriders know considerably more about these phenomena than the average citizen.

This knowledge is particularly important when dealing with cases in which desire, arousal or attraction may have been magically induced rather than freely chosen. A person affected by a potion, enchantment, creature or other magical influence may appear willing while their ability to make an unaltered choice has already been compromised.

For the Dawnstriders, such cases remain violations of agency even when there are no chains, visible injuries or obvious force involved.

Their experience with adult establishments also means they are more likely than many ordinary authorities to recognise when something that appears sexual is actually predatory, magically manipulated or otherwise wrong.

Different From Grov

Many Dawnstriders broadly share Grov’s attitude that consensual pleasure should not be treated as shameful.

They do not necessarily share his sense of punishment.

Most Order members are considerably more capable of distinguishing between a poor decision, a boundary that needs to be firmly reinforced and an offence serious enough to justify violence. This is one reason people close to Grov occasionally intervene before he has the opportunity to impose his own interpretation of justice.

A Dawnstrider protecting someone’s right to say no does not therefore automatically mean that someone is about to lose a hand.

Usually.

Privacy and Trust

Working around brothels, pleasure houses and victims of exploitation means Dawnstriders regularly become aware of extremely private information.

Sexual preferences, relationships, past experiences and the circumstances under which someone sought help are not considered entertainment for the Order to gossip about afterward. Discretion is part of what allows both workers and ordinary visitors to approach them when something is wrong.

That principle becomes particularly important for people seeking help from within a coercive relationship or after a violation of consent.

The House of the Eternal Dawn’s Preference Forms & Ribbon System can provide one discreet route into Dawnstrider protection, while those who require refuge or specialised recovery may be taken into the House’s West Wing.

For the Dawnstriders, adult pleasure and protecting victims are not opposing concerns. Both ultimately depend upon the same distinction:

Whether the person involved was free to choose.