Night Sentinels

The Order of the Night Sentinels are minor, yet pivotal supporting heroes in Doom, mainly in Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. They are the elite warrior caste of the Argenta, an ancient order of knights sworn to protect both their people and the Wraiths, who trained and served alongside the legendary Doom Slayer himself during a war against Hell. However, after a betrayal caused by a corrupted priest deceiving one of their own, Argent D'Nur fell to control of demons and Maykrs, with some Night Sentinels turning on the Slayer and becoming the demonic Marauders. However, the loyal Night Sentinels would join the Slayer in one last battle to save their world and destroy Hell's power for good. Externally, Night Sentinels are identical to humans, but are always fully clad in white, technologically advanced armor resembling medieval armor, except for commanders such as Valen, the Doom Slayer, and the king, who wear very distinct armor. Night Sentinel apprentices, on the other hand, wear green armor resembling Celtic/Gaelic styles, with some Norse and Anglo-Saxon features, which is also utilized by the Argenta general infantry.
Aside from Novik, Valen, the Slayer, and Marauders, Night Sentinels were voiced by Matthew Waterson, Aleks Le, and AJ LoCascio, the latter of whom also voiced the intern.
== History ==
=== Foundation ===
In the ancient past, a world known as Argent D'Nur existed somewhere far from Earth. On Argent D'Nur, a mysterious race of beings known as Elemental Wraiths arrived on a ship known as the World Spear, and spawned life, eventually creating a sapient magic-sensitive humanoid species known as the Argenta. As the world was a harsh environment where massive monsters known as Ancestrals roamed, the Argenta were quickly molded into a warrior race to survive, destroying the Ancestrals, and creating a kingdom through wars of unification, where they worshipped the Wraiths as gods, who eventually went dormant. In this time, the first king of the Argenta, King Ormero the Father, formed the Order of the Night Sentinels to both protect their race and to guard the dormant Wraiths. For an untold amount of time, the Night Sentinels kept to their duties as protectors of Argent D'Nur, adopting the use of battle beasts such as Sentinel Wolves and Wintherins, the former of which are of unknown origin. Due to their war-torn history, kings of Argent D'Nur were selected from only the best Night Sentinel commanders, and the Night Sentinels were an exclusive organization who only recruited from the race's top warrior caste. Sentinel Energy, a form of energy given by the Wraiths, powered Argenta technology, especially the weaponry used by the Sentinels.
=== Maykr contact ===
At some point in the past, during a period known as the Time of Grief, under which King Etrex reigned, the Argenta were contacted by extradimensional beings known as Maykrs, who brought the Argenta great prosperity in exchange for their worship. Despite even the Deag Priests, the top clergymen of the Argenta, shifting their worship to the Maykrs, the Night Sentinels continued to dutifully guard the Wraiths. With technological advancements given by the Maykrs, the Night Sentinels constructed massive armadas and set out throughout the stars, seeking to bring the faith of the Maykrs throughout space, finding races locked in wars with each other or against oppressors, liberating many worlds while vassalizing them and setting up colonies, even establishing settlements on an ancient, habitable Mars and an early, dinosaur-populated Earth. The Martian colony was eventually abandoned as the planet turned uninhabitable, as did the Earth colony, and it is left unknown if the Argenta spawned humanity or otherwise had influence on them. Regardless, the Night Sentinels had spread across most of the Orion-Cygnus Arm as their civilization grew exponentially. However, during the reign of King Roan, the Khan Maykr, leader of the Maykrs, told Roan of the coming of a destroyer, one who would overthrow their civilization and come from within Sentinel ranks. As such, Roan sent his strongest warriors to the Maykrs to test for "impurities" using a device known as the Divinity Machine, although the destroyer would not come for many generations, and the idea eventually fell out of the public eye. Additionally, the Maykrs never knew where the visions of the destroyer truly came from, and Samur, the Khan Maykr's chancellor, began to believe that the Khan Maykr would drive them to ruin.
Eventually, a Night Sentinel named Novik rose to the rank of king, and during his reign, a mysterious human man, a marine from Earth, emerged on Argent D'Nur after crossing through time and space, rambling about demonic forces and impending doom when he was discovered. He was brought by Night Sentinels to Deag Priests Nilox and Ranak, who had him sent to a holy arena to fight for his freedom, as was done with criminals and off-worlders. Despite his severe injuries, the marine defeated all his opponents and was assigned to the general infantry, like all who win their freedom in the arena.
=== War against Hell ===
Soon afterwards, during an event known as the Black Star, the demons the marine spoke of invaded Argent D'Nur through rifts from Hell, quickly overrunning the Night Sentinels defending the mountains where the rifts first appeared. Night Sentinels quickly rallied in defense of their world, despite the incredible unrelenting onslaught of demons. While the Argenta were unable to find any weaknesses to the demons, King Novik saw how the marine survived every battle he was in, and knew exactly how to kill the demons. While some suspected him of being in league with the demons, Novik broke tradition by personally commissioning the marine to join the Night Sentinels, the first outsider to ever do so. He was assigned to Commander Valen, keeper of the keys to the Wraiths, who also had a son in the Sentinel army. While many Sentinels protested, the marine was trained nonetheless, and after accompanying the Sentinels into three battles that went through the rifts into Hell, he was accepted as a brother-in-arms, reciprocating their respect. With the marine, and with the Deag Priests, the top Argenta clergymen, discovering the source of the demons' power and reconstituting it into Argent Energy, a more potent substance that they could use to power Argenta weaponry, the Night Sentinels turned the tide of the war, Novik and his commanders leading more successful campaigns deeper into Hell. Argent Energy was also distributed to the general populace, turning them immortal and allowing them to enter an age of development never before seen, although no Sentinel, Novik included, ever took the energy. Some Sentinels wanted to protest, but said nothing, as they firmly believed they could not dictate the people's will, only protect it. At some point during the war, Sentinel marksmen protected the walled city of Illkana for ten days with nothing but their energy ballistae.
With Argent Energy, the Sentinels built more powerful war machines, such as the towering humanoid Atlan mechs, but sometime during the war, the demons launched a direct assault on Taras Nabad, Novik's palace, spearheaded by a colossal demon known as a Titan. The Titan, named The Dreadnought, was impervious to all Sentinel weaponry, but the Sentinels, including the marine, fought against it with all they had. However, during the battle, the marine was pulled aside by Samur, who believed the marine was the destroyer they had forseen, and used a polarity-reversed Divinity Machine to grant the marine superhuman power, making him the fearsome Doom Slayer. The Doom Slayer then took up a Crucible, a weapon only able to activate in the hands of a true Sentinel king, and single-handedly killed The Dreadnought. The Slayer was immediately promoted to a commander and named heir to Novik, and with his new power, the Night Sentinels ventured further into Hell than ever before, clearing demons out of great swaths of Hell land, seeking the Dark Lord of Hell to end the threat forever. However, unknown to the Sentinels or the Slayer, the Maykrs and Deag Priests had betrayed Argent D'Nur to the Dark Lord, exchanging the souls of Argenta for Argent Energy, which the Maykrs and their loyalists could use to be immortal, and secretly used Argenta slaves to build Argent-producing factories in the very patches of Hell land that the Sentinels had cleared.
Eventually, the Slayer and the Sentinels discovered the truth, but found that the populace was so intoxicated by Argent Energy that they refused to listen. The Sentinels still loyal to the Slayer, including Valen and Novik, turned their worship back to the Wraiths, and attempted to lead an uprising against the Maykrs, only for some Sentinels, later known as Marauders, to defect to the side of the Maykrs and start a long and bloody civil war. The Deag Priests, still hiding their true loyalty to the Maykrs, pretended to stay on the side of the Sentinels, and found out that the Sentinels had plans to both destroy the Argent plants and reawaken the Wraiths, knowing that seeing their creators active again would sway the people away from the Maykrs. Deag Grav, knowing Valen guarded the keys to the Wraiths, and knowing that Valen's son had fallen in battle at some point during the war against Hell, began sending him nightmares and visions of his son's soul in torment in Hell, driving Valen mad with grief. Confronting Valen in private, Grav then revealed himself as a Maykr loyalist, but rather than execute or imprison him, Valen begged him to resurrect his son. Grav agreed in exchange for the keys to the Wraiths, and in his desperation, Valen accepted, allowing Grav to trap the Wraiths in Hell.
At the same time, the other Deag Priests opened slipgates into Hell that they claimed led right to the Nekravol, the central Argent production plant, and Slayer assembled his most powerful and loyal soldiers, entering the gate with them. However, the gates instead scattered the Sentinels across Hell, where they were quickly attacked by demonic hordes, and with no reinforcements, all but the Slayer were killed. Wraith loyalists later found the bodies of Sentinels Lord Sash, Roan the Mighty, and Gor, seeing how they each slew several scores of demons long after their Atlans and weapons had failed. With the fall of the Slayer's men, Argent D'Nur fell to Maykrs and demons, with all remaining Wraith loyalists fleeing north as chunks of the planet were dragged into Hell. Novik himself later died, leaving the Argenta without a king, and all talk of the Slayer surviving was deemed heresy. Surviving Night Sentinels were forced to serve the Maykrs, but even long after the takeover, still held respect for the Slayer, and awaited his return. Valen, seeing what his actions had done, was cursed to be immortal, and exiled himself to Hell, branded as the Betrayer, and Novik's ghost lingered in the remains of the city of Exultia.
=== Doom (2016) ===
The Doom Slayer, after an eons-long rampage through Hell, eventually destroyed the central Argent Energy production plant of The Well, where the Wraiths were held, freeing their spirits. Throughout his journey, he was met with the ghosts of his old battalion, still trapped in Hell, who still held their loyalty to him, saluting him out of respect. It is unknown what became of them, but it is possible their souls were also freed with the Wraiths.
=== Doom Eternal ===
The Slayer eventually returned on his demon-slaying rampage after the Maykrs invaded Earth, which eventually led him back to Valen, who gave him a Celestial Locator to hunt down the Deag Priests, now known as Hell Priests. After killing Deag Nilox and Deag Ranak, the Slayer ventured to Argent D'Nur to kill Deag Grav, who had hid back in the arena. Upon arriving on Argent D'Nur, Night Sentinels met him, where they stood aside in respect and chanted "Rip and tear," the Slayer's war cry, notifying Grav of his arrival. Sentinels stood aside as the Slayer walked to the arena, where he battled the demonic Gladiator, a monster Grav used for executions. After killing it, the Slayer then shot Ranak's head off. Despite the Hell Priest's transgressions, it was against Sentinel Code to spill the blood of a Deag Priest, so the Maykr loyalist Sentinels turned on him and attempted to attack him, but the Slayer left the arena through a slipgate first.
=== DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 2 ===
After saving Earth by killing the Icon of Sin and the Khan Maykr, Valen's curse was lifted and Novik's soul was presumably put to rest. The Slayer then sought to permanently kill Davoth, the first Dark Lord of Hell, as it would depower Hell forever. On his way to Davoth's capital city, Immora, the Slayer returned to Argent D'Nur once more and lit the Torch of Kings, an ancient Sentinel monument used by those who sought the World Spear, allowed to do so by the Sentinels that guarded the spear. Its lighting made a beacon that was seen across the planet, seen by all remaining Wraith loyalist tribes, who recognized that a king had returned and the Maykrs had fallen. With that, the Sentinels once again pledged their loyalty to the Slayer, and Valen then returned to Argent D'Nur and was re-accepted into Sentinel ranks, where he rallied all Sentinels and Argenta infantry to join the Slayer in his campaign. When the Slayer arrived in Immora, Valen and the Sentinel army arrived through slipgates behind him, and charged against the armies of Hell, bringing down Titans and breaching the walls of Immora. The Slayer eventually reached Davoth and killed him after a fierce battle that crossed dimensions, and at once, Hell's power collapsed in on itself, all demons outside of Hell being instantly destroyed, including those imprisoned in the Argenta arena, witnessed by some remaining Sentinel guards. It is unknown if Valen survived the battle, but as the Slayer fell dormant and was entombed, the surviving Night Sentinels presumably returned home to rebuild their world, finally free of Hell.
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