From the ancient times of Anaias comes the legends of the Highlords, especially well known is the story of Kerei Akír and the Time of the Shattering. Others of the Highlords were blessings and curses of their lands. One of those great blessings was the Lady of the Flighted Spirit, Tha Lenue, who was a humble servant, spiritual advisor, and wandering healer of the peoples of Urngor.

Although the altruistic individual Highlords were credited in legend as being above worldly things, they were actually subject to the same yearnings as any mortal. Tha Lenue wished to create a holy order that would carry on her works and teachings through successive generations, a testament to her efforts and trials. In 422 AS, she founded the holy order, Ut Copiosa Cor, alongside the most dedicated clerics and paladins in her service. Of these paladins, she came to fall in love with the noble Lionsa Naoise, a devotee of the Refracted Eye having sworn the Oath of Eternal Harmony. They married in 426 AS, continuing their good works and building a large family until the time of Naoise's passing in 491 AS. While Tha Lenue remained timeless in appearance, her heart could not withstand the loss of her greatest friend, partner in the growth of the Order, and partner as head of their great family. She chose not to continue in service of the Order, but to return to the wandering service that had been her calling in the four centuries since she came into being.

She would wander the lands of Urngor, sharing her light and working in silent altruism to aid individuals and communities in need. Nearly a century later, in 586 AS, she simply disappeared from the lands, leaving her great Mace of Order in the care of the Lightbringer of Banville with a promise of eventual return. Her sacred armor, the Bands of Neta's Will, had been delivered to the Ut Copiosa Cor with a message to the leaders of her intentions and a request to quietly watch over her descendants. While no one knew of where she had gone, the First Echelons of the Order assured their followers and communities that while she was not present, she was always near.

In 1033 AS, Tha Lenue returned to the now ancient hold of the Ut Copiosa Cor to inspect the order and resume her duties as, assuming the title Dominus Pax, where she would direct the entirety of the order to become a secret society. She revealed that she had been in a lengthy communion with the Refracted Eye, watching over the order and discussing the nature of their works with the greater being, not unlike an apprentice and their great master. While the Echelons had worked tirelessly to maintain their structure and their traditions, their overall perspective had become too worldly, their goals too concerned with the admiration of the secular aristocracies of the lands in which they operated. She would fold the membership of the order into a society immersed in seclusion, secrecy, and vows of silence and service. It would continue this way through the centuries until the Time of the Shattering, the Dominus Pax remaining in office, teaching the ways of altruism and healing.

In 2905 AS, at the behest of Lord Librasulus, Tha Lenue committed the bulk of her forces throughout the lands of Urngor to join an assault on the Learning Steps, passing the title of Dominus Pax to her lieutenant and descendant, Erin Naoise. Such was the ferocity of the battle against the monstrosities raised by Lord Ataxis in defense of his keep that only two or three dozen survivors escaped from their original force of seven thousand paladins and soldiers. Those that were able to return to the Order told of their harrowing experience, but none knew of the fate of their mighty leader.

Tha Lenue had entered the Knowing Depths with a troupe of thirty-three of her strongest paladins. Despite their great strength and holy power, most were struck down in reaching the domain of Lord Ataxis. It was there that Lord Ataxis, wielding the powers of darkness, chaos, and destruction, laid waste to Tha Lenue's mortal companions. In their final exchange, Tha Lenue, having suffered great wounds, was unable to offer much contention to the power of Lord Ataxis. In her last moments, Lord Ataxis scolded her for her hubris in attempting to bring down a fellow Highlord, grasping her with his clawed hands, siphoning the last of her life essence, taking it into his own and consuming her memories. Throwing back his horned head, Lord Ataxis breathed horrid laughter into the ether, echoing in the hearts and minds of the Echelons of the Ut Copiosa Cor, daring them to avenge her loss.

Those Echelons that did not immediately fall to madness and death pressed for their Order to retreat from the theaters of battle and withdraw from the communities they served. Those of the Order that obeyed were cursed and insulted by those they abandoned, hunted and slain by the armies they served for their perceived cowardice and dereliction. The surviving Echelons ordered that the remaining members of the Order should become as the wind, a bitter memory of a felled beauty, keeping their traditions and numbers a guarded secret.

In the three centuries since the dawn of the Second Age, the name of the Ut Copiosa Cor became little more than words spoken with historic contempt; the family name of the Dominus Pax and First Echelon, Naoise, had become lost. The leaders of the remains of the Order took the title of the Hidden Echelon; they were charged with continuing to teach the traditions of the Order and maintaining watch of the sacred bloodline of the First Echelon. Through the generations, an occasional descendant would demonstrate their distant Highlord heritage. These descendants would be found and brought before the Hidden Echelons, examined, and asked if they would take up the mantle of their ancestor in leading as the First Echelon. The last successful descendant was found in 121 DD and was subsequently assassinated. A descendant had not been seen until the birth of a young woman, Aerel Lyth, in 292 DD.

Aerel was a simple young woman from a moderate family of landowners and farmers. She had no genuine interest in land management or agriculture, preferring to study the ways of healing and purity found in the holy orders of Vi. The clerics of Viborg took to Aerel without reservation, her pure spirit and compassionate heart could not be denied in the service of the clergy. An elder of the Alus Soeh, Teu Kacha, became her teacher and foster parent in the clergy, he found her to be strong and spirited but worthy of the vestments she wore. On a chilly winter's night in the month of Shiftwind, 312 DD, Teu received a mysterious letter that detailed to him the lineage of Aerel Lyth, their desire to have her brought before the Hidden Echelons, the importance of absolute secrecy in the matter, and sealed with the sigil of the Ut Copiosa Cor.

Teu summoned his student to his study where he told her of a difficult journey they would need to undertake so she could take her rightful place in the world. While she did not understand, she knew better than to question her superior. They set out on their journey, only one of them knowing the dangers they faced.