The Knights Radiant - Capaloptocus/wordsofradiancemod GitHub Wiki

The Knights Radiant were ancient warriors who formed bonds with specific spren, called "sapient spren" due to their ability to think (unlike other spren, which are more like very simple animals). This bond gave the Radiants power, and each Radiant could access two Surges. There were ten orders of Knights Radiant, though the tenth, the Bondsmiths, were unique even among Radiants. Each order bonded their own kind of spren, made of the essence of Honour, or the mountains, or of light itself.

Millennia ago, the Knights Radiant collectively abandoned their oaths, and in doing so (according to Vorin theology) betrayed mankind. They left behind the Shardblades and Shardplate, mythic weapons and armour with incredible abilities. Each of these treasures is priceless, and countless men have died trying to win Shards on a battlefield or in a duelling arena. It turns out, that these mythical weapons are the corpses of dead spren who died when their knights betrayed their oaths. A Radiant who holds a dead Blade can hear its spren screaming in their mind, and doing so in the mod will make you nauseous.

The Knights increased in power by swearing oaths. Each order had 5 Ideals, the lines along which the Knight's oaths would follow. However, very few Radiants ever reached the fourth or fifth ideal - one was considered a full Radiant once they reached the third Ideal, and most never made it past that point. Part of the reason for this was that just saying the words wasn't enough - the Radiant's own journey toward finding and understanding the words was just as important.

For more information, see Orders.