The Night Guard is an ancient and secretive clan of monster hunters featured in Killer Instinct (2013). They were originally based solely in South America, but branched out over time. It is their self-proclaimed duty to hunt down, destroy or capture any supernatural horrors endangering our world.
Background[]
History[]
The Night Guard was founded in South America at an unknown date, however it's certain that the group dates back a great many centuries. Its members at first hunted down Latin America's monsters of folklore and legend across the ages, becoming a cabal that was comprised of the continent's greatest warriors and huntsmen.
Around 1475 BC, the evil Babylonian sorcerer Kan-Ra journeyed to South America through mystical means to escape the wrath of his nemesis, the golem Aganos. On this new continent he continued to study the forbidden arts in solitude, and brought with him from ancient Egypt the magic golden blades called "Temperance & Vengeance". Kan-Ra subjugated some of the indigenous tribes, who had believed him to be a mummified ancestor returned to life; and the dark magician ruled over them in tyranny, forcing them to build a great temple complex for him. However, Aganos would eventually find Kan-Ra.
The two archenemies battled each other when the Night Guard, in its first major accomplishment, managed to trap and capture both of them. Unable to destroy either, they confiscated Temperance & Vengeance, burned Kan-Ra to ashes and somehow deactivated Aganos. The Night Guard freed the tribes folk Kan-Ra had enslaved and set up a permanent base at the temple site, which came to be known as the City of Dawn. The twin blades, Kan-Ra's ash and the golem were then sealed away in the depths of the nearby temples.
The Night Guard thereafter continued its mission, but they remained mostly isolated in their traditional ways for centuries. As technology advanced however, some among the order began to travel the wider world in secret, and would even venture to places as far as Eurasia. There they tracked down dangerous artifacts and cursed relics, bringing them back to the Andes to seal them in the City of Dawn; as their predecessors did with Temperance & Vengeance, the ash of Kan-Ra and Aganos. In Germany, members of the Night Guard would form a partnership with the von Sabrewulf family, who were a renowned lineage of knights and monster slayers in the times of medieval Europe.
Present Day[]
In the late 20th century, the fraternal twin sisters Maya and Mira were born into the Night Guard as daughters to one of the order's most esteemed hunters. On one fateful mission, while slaying vampires of the Coven deep beneath the Ural Mountains in Siberia, a prepared trap separated the two and Mira was believed to have died in the incident. The loss of her sister had a profound impact on Maya, who, unable to fully overcome her grief, became more reckless in her actions.
In 2015, the megacorporation Ultratech detected the power radiating from the magical artifacts sealed in the City of Dawn, and sent its sinister agents to investigate. They attacked the Night Guard's temples in a brutal raid, their numbers and advanced technology soon overpowering the order's comparatively simplistic defenses. Having regained some of their strength over the centuries, Kan-Ra and Aganos managed to awaken and escape amidst the chaos. Maya, in a rush of panic, took up the powerful but cursed blades Temperance & Vengeance and barely survived Ultratech's onslaught. The rest of her clan was not that fortunate, and every last member was killed by Cinder's raiding party. Determined to carry on the Night Guard's legacy, Maya set out to destroy all monsters set loose, reclaim the looted artifacts, and then reform the ancient order.
...and for the first time in thousands of years the sorcerer feels fear
During a second confrontation with Ultratech's forces, Maya and her newfound allies - Orchid, Jago and TJ Combo - were caught in a pincer attack by the corporation's agents while regrouping in the now deserted City of Dawn. Their fate seemed uncertain, but the artificial intelligence behind Ultratech, ARIA, suddenly called off the Fulgore and Riptor legions under Cinder's command, and proposed an "Alliance" with Maya to combat the apocalyptic threat posed by Gargos and Eyedol; both of whom had been unleashed upon the Earth once again by Kan-Ra's mad sorcery.
Organization[]
Branches[]
- South American branch
- European branch
- The von Sabrewulf family (formerly)
Associates & Alliances[]
An end... and a new beginning
- The Guardians: Tusk, the Watchman of the Gods; Kim Wu, the Dragon's Chosen; (Shin) Hisako, the Gatekeeper.
- Orchid and the Disavowed: The Black Orchid and her global paramilitary resistance force engaging Ultratech.
- Glacius: A powerful extraterrestrial law enforcer aiding humanity in its last stand against Gargos.
- Ultratech: Very reluctantly, as part of the "Alliance" offered by ARIA, Ultratech's CEO, during the events of Shadow Lords.
Trivia[]
- Cinematics from Maya's story mode in Season Two revealed that the City of Dawn is located in the westmost region of Brazil's Amazonas state, and is hidden in the highlands that border the Peruvian Amazon, on the east slopes of the Andes Mountains.
