Guardians of the Grail

The Guardians of the Holy Grail were an elite force of twelve Templar knights who formed the core staff of Aeternis. Tasked with protecting the Grail from harm, they were sealed beneath the ground after the fall of the order in 1307 and the unsuccessful attempt at the Grail made that same year by the Priory.

Overview
Initially, there were twelve knights, the same who retrieved the Grail from Jerusalem in 1146 and brought it to Paris in 1148. They were natural candidates for the Aeternis project and were dispatched to Scotland to scout the area and then oversee its construction. When selecting the leader of the expedition, the Templar High Command was divided between Tobias de Treece and Edgar the Axe, ultimately choosing the latter. The second in command was Malik, a foreign-born knight pressed into Templar service.

Alliances
Extended isolation and the toll it took on the Guardians' minds, complete with the apparent madness of Tobias resulted in the once united brotherhood fracturing and splitting into factions. The principal opponent of Tobias' rule was, of course, Malik.