Lord Daquarius

Lord Daquarius Rennard is the current Lord of the Kinshra, an organisation more commonly referred to as the Black Knights. In his mid-thirties, he was elected as the leader of the Kinshra, making him the youngest to ever gain leadership. He worked his way up the ranks fairly quickly, becoming Lord fairly soon - he had only been a commander for a few years.

He can be found in southwestern-most room of the Black Knight's Headquarters in Taverley Dungeon.

Personality and Abilities
Daquarius, as leader of the Kinshra, is a Zamorakian, a religion based around chaos as opposed to that of the Saradominists, which is based around order (neither are inherently good nor evil). However, Daquarius has proven time and time again his difference from past Kinshra Lords, risking his own life to save his fellow men. Undeniably noble, he is well-liked amongst his men and respected by his enemies. Despite his religious beliefs, even Saradominists admit that he is fair and honourable. The forces of Falador have commented that they are glad he is the current Lord of the Kinshra, being less radical than past ones. Daquarius will also form alliances with enemies to defeat a common foe, albeit uneasily. He does not look kindly upon betrayal.

Daquarius is a skilled swordsman, although he has not been involved in any major battles since the year 164, during the White and Black Knight conflicts. He is not experienced with menial work, having had trouble mining the simplest of rocks away.

Early History
Daquarius was born in the Asgarnian city of Falador in the year 135. His distinguished skill in combat and noble nature eventually led to his acceptance by the Kinshra, who, at the time, were a powerful political force in protecting Falador, although they had largely left the city and taken up residence in their Fortress due to anti-Zamorakian social pressure following the burning of the Wizards' Tower in Year 70. Although accepted within Asgarnia, the Kinshra's long-standing rivalry with their grudging allies, the White Knights, meant that Asgarnia was in a state of constant political unrest. Daquarius seems to have taken this grudge to heart, and soon gained a strong dislike of the White Knights.

The Edgeville Incident
Daquarius's distinguished service soon gained him a heightened rank within the Kinshra. He took under his wing a large division of knights, who apparently were very loyal to him.

At some point around the year 162, the infamous "Murder Mage" Solus Dellagar became involved with Lord Shadwell, the leader of the Kinshra at the time. Whilst performing an unknown operation in the then-unincorporated town of Edgeville in Misthalin, Solus betrayed the Kinshra, needlessly slaughtering over 800 civilians against the orders of Daquarius and other important Kinshra. The Kinshra, White Knights, and Temple Knights all attempted to intervene, but failed; hundreds of knights fell at Solus' hands. Lieutenant Daquarius is likely to have attempted to protect his troops from Solus' wrath due to his noble nature, although his exact involvement in the incident is unknown. Amongst those killed was Lord Shadwell, the Kinshra's leader. Although Solus was eventually apprehended by the Temple Knights, he would later prove an enemy of Daquarius. Shadwell's successor, Lord Milton, immediately proved hugely unsuccessful, and was strongly disliked by Daquarius.

In the year 162, Asgarnia's ruler, King Vallance, fell ill and was deemed unable to perform his duties. Seizing this opportunity, the White Knights increased their political might to finally outweigh that of the Kinshra, perhaps using the Edgeville Incident as part of their campaign. Crown Prince Anlaf, Vallance's son who had become lord of Burthorpe in a lesson of ruling, was denied his inherent right to the throne, prompting Burthorpe to declare itself independent, while still holding off the invading trolls that would otherwise overrun the kingdom. The Knights' leader, Sir Amik Varze, was instated as for Vallance, effectively ruling Asgarnia. Using their new-found power, the White Knights declared the Kinshra to have no political influence in Asgarnia in 163, angering the Zamorakians immensely.

Attack on Falador
Daquarius, now an established commander within the Kinshra's ranks, responded to the Kinshra's banishment by leading a large contingent of men to Falador, where they openly declared themselves enemies of the White Knights and the State of Asgarnia. Milton apparently had little to do with the invasion, with most of its planning and execution being credited to Daquarius.

This sparked the Battle of North Falador, during which the Kinshra tried and failed to defeat the White Knights and claim the capital as their own. The two sides proved too evenly matched, and the inability of either to gain land led to heavy casualties on both sides. Eventually the two orders reluctantly retreated to their respective fortresses, where they began to formulate new plans for victory. Daquarius's failure evidently was not held against him by his fellow knights, and as 164 wore on, he remained one of the Kinshra's most influential leaders.

Exile and Service under Lord Sulla
For one year, under what many deemed a weak successor to Lord Shadwell, the Kinshra would exhaust any diplomatic means of regaining their strength. Lord Milton would prove unable to make any progress with Asgarnia's government, failing to gain the sympathies of not only neighbouring nations but also King Vallance and his heir, Crown Prince Anlaf. Any attempts to gain power through violence would also prove futile, the Kinshra numbers and resources too low to overcome the strength of their enemies.

In 164, a high-ranking Kinshra officer named Sulla managed to seize considerable power within the order, gaining the support of many influential members. Sulla managed to assassinate Milton by forcing his lover and slave to poison and execute him before slaying herself. Sulla would then gain the throne of the Kinshra unchallenged. Under this new lord, Asgarnia entered a year of constant battle with great losses on both sides, a gruesome series of events that would become known as the War of 164.

Despite his past successes and general popularity, Daquarius was, to an extent, disliked by Sulla. Sulla's love of violence and general disregard for chivalry, as evidenced by his cruel raiding of villages on Ice Mountain, put him at odds with Daquarius in a variety of fields. Regardless, Daquarius would be one of Sulla's key political and military advisors in the coming war, helping to secure many allies as well as being a major planner in the Battle of the Monastery, the Taverley Massacre, the Battle of the Glacier, and the Siege of Falador. Daquarius's most important role, though, would be in the Battle of Burthorpe, an event that took place prior to Falador's siege.

Meanwhile, Burthorpe's leader, Prince Anlaf, had been the target of a witch named The Sybil for several months. The Sybil, under the instruction of Sulla, would use her Zamorakian magicks to instill twisted visions and dreams in Anlaf's mind over the course of several months. These pro-Zamorakian dreams would leave Anlaf indecisive in the War of 164, leading him to declare himself neutral rather than aiding Falador.

Daquarius would lead a small cavalry charge upon Burthorpe, a small independent city in northern Asgarnia. Daquarius's soldiers would go unchallenged, the bulk of the Burthorpe Imperial Guard stationed near Ice Mountain and the remaining troops instructed to stand down by the corrupted prince. Daquarius led his men to Burthorpe Castle, where Anlaf's elderly advisor Lord Amthyst was falsely accused by the Kinshra of slowly poisoning Anlaf. Uncharacteristically, Daquarius immediately demanded Amthyst be executed, his body being cut to pieces and the remains scattered in the courtyard.

Daquarius and his men approached Prince Anlaf in his chambers, where they explained the fabricated story of Amthyst's efforts to poison him. Anlaf, despite being emotionally strained by this information, revealed a hidden altar to Zamorak he had secretly constructed in a tunnel beneath the palace. Daquarius, deciding the prince had fully converted to Zamorakian religion, asked Anlaf to support them in the Siege of Falador, to which he willingly complied. Despite Anlaf's orders, 600 Imperial Guards would rebel and support Falador under their commander, Lord Radebaugh. Daquarius would remain stationed in Burthorpe for the remainder of the Siege.

Near the end of the War, Sulla charged at Falador with a massive about of Kinshra infantry, cavalry as well as allied goblin tribes, Wilderness Mercenaries and chaos dwarves. The battle was one of, if not the greatest, in Asgarnian history. Sir Amik and many other White Knights that were not killed received terrible wounds. Following the pyrrhic Asgarnian victory at the gory siege, Daquarius and his men fled Burthorpe and returned to the Black Knights' Fortress. Sulla, wounded, disgraced, and in the care of the werewolf Jerrod, would not attempt to retain his power. He fled to Port Sarim, planning on escaping by ship, but was assassinated. Upon arriving to the Kinshra's base, Daquarius ordered the execution of The Sybil. Knowing that a manner of execution had not been proposed by Daquarius, several Kinshra assaulted her in her chamber before boiling her alive.

Rise to Lordship
Daquarius was unanimously elected as the leader of the Kinshra following the exile and death of Sulla. At age 29, Daquarius was the youngest leader the Kinshra had ever had. The Temple Knights, who had already been monitoring him since the Edgeville Incident, began to keep a very close eye on him, documenting his actions within their archive and placing spies in the Kinshra ranks. Likewise, Kinshra spies infiltrated the Temple Knights' ranks.

Daquarius was very well received as leader, making considerable progress without the use of open force. His care for his men, which had already been one of the deciding factors in his election, proved more effective than the extremist views of Shadwell and Sulla. Daquarius would eventually locate his base of operations to the Kinshra' secret base in Taverley Dungeon, where he was safer than in the Black Knights' Fortress. He left the governing of the fortress to the cruel Captain Dulcin. Although Daquarius strongly disliked Dulcin's personality, he gave him such high a post due to him being the last descendant of Shadwell.

Tutelage of Iban and the Dawn Ascent
Iban, a nobleman-turned-warrior within the ranks of the Kinshra, is said to have been trained by Daquarius himself in the book History of Iban. An ambitious man, Iban slayed hundreds of White Knights in his continual effort to gain power. His dark aspirations even reached controlling the darkness in the hearts of his fellow men and corrupting them into a soulless army of evil. But, seemingly before he could share his plan or gain magical power to carry it out, an military operations known as the White Knights' Dawn Ascent was launched to deal with Iban.

The battle reminded of the Edgeville Incident in how Iban slaughtered many White Knights by himself. Eventually, a young knight known as Sir Owen Sonde, left his brethren and assassinated Iban from the top of a hill, firing an arrow through the back of his head. Instead of being lauded for bringing the Ascent to a success, he was criticised by the White Knights for his supposed act of dishonour and cowardice, but he was subsequently recruited into the Temple Knights. Due to few manuscripts on the matter, it is unknown how the other Black Knights (and by extension, Daquarius) were involved in the Dawn Ascent.

Later, Iban was resurrected by a witch named Kardia and he took over the Underground Pass (going through the Galarpos Mountains) in 168, preventing access to or from Tirannwn. He also cursed the Well of Voyage, turning it into the Well of the Damned. Iban had no further ties to the Kinshra after his revival and was permanently slain in 169 by an adventurer, who threw his soul into the well.

Attempted Murder
Some time later, in 169, Solus Dellagar escaped from prison although he was unaware that he was being monitored by the Temple Knights, who, with the agreement of Sir Tiffy Cashien and Sir Vey Lance, would be used in order to have a new recruit abuse a loophole in the recruitment system and join the Temple Knights by defeating Solus. Free from custody, he infiltrated the Kinshra Headquarters beneath Taverley.

Solus confronted Daquarius in his chambers. Daquarius demanded he left the Kinshra's base, citing his disobedience and cruelty at the Edgeville Incident. Solus, after being threatened by Daquarius, used ice barrage to kill two knights and seriously wound Daquarius. He then left, apparently satisfied that Daquarius's fear of him would only grow, which, ironically, helped lead to Solus's apprehension.

Daquarius recovered, and is visited by a new Temple Knight initiate and adventurer during the quest. When they mention to be working for the Temple Knights, Daquarius orders them to leave. However, they then kill some of the Black Knights, to which Daquarius begs them to stop. He then gives information on Solus, which allows the adventurer to begin tracking him.

Involvement with the Renegade Knights
That same year, Daquarius turned his attention away from the White Knights temporarily. He heard that King Arthur of Camelot, a monarch who had arrived from Britain in 132 and who supports the White Knights, was planning to obtain the holy grail, a very powerful artefact. As such, he sent one of the Kinshra's strongest knights, a titan, to the Realm of the Fisher King where the grail was located to prevent Arthur from obtaining it. However, the aforementioned adventurer slew the titan in Arthur's service and obtained the grail, bringing it to Arthur.

Sometime afterwards, Morgan Le Faye, Arthur's arch nemesis asked Daquarius to lend a few of his men so that she could overthrow Camelot. At first, Daquarius didn't seem very cooperative, but after Morgan offered to pay with some of the money of the rich Sinclair family, with whom she had formed an alliance to take down King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (established in Camelot at the time), he lent them his assistance, seeking vengeance for his champion's death. After his legion of Black Knights successfully laid siege to Camelot and defeated the Knights of the Round Table, Morgan asked Daquarius to keep King Arthur, whom she transformed into a granite statue, locked away in his fortress in the base of Ice Mountain, while she would imprison Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table under her keep southeast of Seers' Village. Daquarius obliged to this request.

Eventually, the same adventurer that had infiltrated the fortress to help the White Knights became involved in the situation. After being captured by Morgan while investigating the disappearance of King Arthur and the Sinclair family around Seer's Village, they cleverly helped Merlin and the Knights escape before once again infiltrating the fortress, finding King Arthur, returning him to normal (with the help of the wizard Cromperty) and helping him escape from the fortress disguised as a guard.

It is currently unknown if any ties still exist between him and Morgan. It is dubitable since Morgan has been defeated and is unlikely to attempt something again.

Alliance with Lucien and his Spy Network
Some time later, Daquarius forged an allaince with the leader of the Dagon'hai, Surok Magis, disguised as a dark squall, and the Mahjarrat Lucien], who was establishing a large web of spies and mercenaries at the time to keep him informed of events around the world and to assassinate anyone that might come in his way during his hunt for the [[Stone of Jas. A new base of operations for the Kinshra was put into use below the Black Knights' Fortress.

Inside these catacombs, the Kinshra had been training a new class of soldier, the elite black knight, along with training the Dark Warriors of the Dark Warriors' Fortress in the Wilderness to give rise to the elite dark warrior, elite dark mage and elite dark ranger. These new alliances have increased the Kinshra's military size and strength tenfold, and has also secured them a new stronghold in the mountains to the north, along with an army of undead trolls. Seeing that Surok was incarcerated soon afterwards and Lucien was killed during the eighteenth Ritual of Rejuvenation, it seems the alliance has shattered, while the Kinshra are still supplied with the elite troops.

It is currently unknown how this increase in military strength will affect the Kinshra's ongoing war with the White Knights of Falador, but it is likely to attract attention from the Temple Knights, the Guardians of Armadyl and Crux Eqal in their efforts to stop Lucien and, by extent, the Dragonkin, an even larger threat.

Third Attempt at Conquest and Alliance with Grayzag
Some time after these events, the Kinshra are revealed to be working alongside a Mysterious figure, a powerful individual, and enemy of the Void Knights, working to bring the Pest threat to mainland Gielinor. Eventually, the Kinshra came into possession of a Void leech, through the unwitting help of Jessika who had managed to separate the pest from the hive mind of the Pest queen, and subsequently released it as an act of sympathy. Exploiting the captured void leech, the Kinshra aimed to weaken Falador from the inside, utilising a life sapping 'foodgoo' excreted by the pest, and using a Kharidian salesman named Ali Tist to sell unopenable boxes full of the goo the Void leech leaves behind made out of Waxwood (a waterproof, ugly type of wood), to sell to unsuspecting customers. For this, Daquarius had set up a workshop where indentured workers were enslaved to produce the boxes, while tapping goo from the leech in a cage. In reality, the mysterious figure, psychopth wizard Melville Grayzag, had planned to rob the Kinshra of their boxes and use them to ensure his victory, but Daquarius was not aware of this. On a mission, the adventurer, Jessika and Captain Korasi infiltrate the workshop after the illness struck Falador. Eventually, the pest is either released or killed by the adventurer, although the Kinshra are still in possession of many boxes of goo, enough to seriously cripple Falador. To prevent this, Sir Tiffy Cashien and Korasi set the adventurer on a mission to find out more about the Kinshra, but they accidentally joined Captain Gilroy's party that was to check the storeroom where the boxes were kept. Grayzag had infiltrated the base though, to commence his plans, and sabotage all security, betraying the Kinshra. Eventually the party reach the storeroom, only to find that Grayzag had stolen everything and taken the goo with him through a portal to a strange place. Gilroy calls Daquarius, who removes the adventurer's disguise and is about to imprison them, when a delegacy of the Temple and Void Knights teleport in. They reveal how they found out Grayzag's plan (still oblivious to Grayzag's identity) and with great effort convince Daquarius to join his rivals and form the Knight Order Alliance of 169, although he was still reluctant. When a battalion of all knights gather, the commanders enter the portal, where it is revealed that the mysterious mage is Wizard Grayzag, who had been manipulating Daquarius and the Black Knights for his own purposes. The Black Knights have gathered the items Grayzag needed to summon the Pest Queen, which the unhinged wizard plans to unleash against his foes and anyone who opposes him. Grayzag summons a horde of pests to hold the knights back while he goes away to make the last preparations and they are forced to retreat into a side cave to avoid death. Tiffy contacts Savant who sends a pickaxe through, which Daquarius is forced to use to mine the cave-in away, which the pests had caused. After a specialised Void Knight squad defeats the pests, the group are liberated and pursue Grayzag. Grayzag uses the foodgoo to weaken the Valluta, a Guardian of Guthix whose task is to protect the world from invasions such as the pests', and summons the terrifying pest queen. Tiffy arrests him but Grayzag, his mind now crippled to insanity, escapes and Daquarius falls to the ground in an attempt to capture him. The alliance fights and kills the Pest Queen and then deals with the defeated Grayzag, Daquarius eager to torture and kill him. The alliance then separate after Grayzag is dealt with, with Daquarius warning the adventurer not to try to infiltrate the Black Knights again.

Battle of Lumbridge
Shortly after the assassination of Guthix later in 169, Zamorak began planning his return to Gielinor. From The Rift, he created a portal near Lumbridge and emerged a few weeks later from it, eager to claim the remnants of Guthix's divine energy for himself. The god of chaos was stopped by Saradomin however, and the two clashed, turning the forest west of the town in to a massive crater while at it. Saradomin quickly summoned his army of White Knights, seeing that he had made an agreement with Sir Amik Varze to supply them. In retaliation, Zamorak summoned an equal amount of Kinshra soldiers, making it likely that he, too, had visited Daquarius and made a deal. The two sides continue to fight to this day.

Current Standings
Daquarius remains the leader of the Kinshra today, and will likely remain so for many years unless killed. As a Zamorakian and Kinshra lord, he is actively hunted by the Asgarnian government for crimes against the state, and would be executed if captured.

The Temple Knights, however, have discovered that Daquarius's high value for his fellow Kinshra makes him an easily manipulated leader. Using this to their advantage, the Temple Knights believe he should be kept in place unless the opportunity for capture should present itself, as nearly all past Kinshra leaders have been dangerous Zamorakian extremists.

Trivia

 * Occasionally, while mining an obstruction during the Conquest-like game during The Void Stares Back, fireworks shown when levelling up come from Daquarius, and he shouts that he has advanced a mining level.
 * Daquarius was originally attackable until the release of the Wanted! quest, in which he plays a key role.