Dawn
Dawn is an NPC, who was introduced with the Lord Blackthorn's Revenge expansion. She was a great warrior and great follower of Virtue.
Dawn was a native of the City of Yew. Her parents died when she was young, and she was raised by an Uncle who schooled her in the arts of combat and in the ways of Virtue.
She fought in the wars against the Juka, who had been manipulated by Blackthorn into attacking Britannia. In a battle in Yew, she caught the attention of Dupre, who effectively recruited her into the "inner circle" that advised the leaders of the realm in the absence of Lord British, and became a "Royal Knight" (a new name for the Order of the Silver Serpent). (Presumably, these rulers were the same people who would later become known as the Royal Council). (Some state that she was named a "regent" of the realm at some point, but no links from UO's official site could be located to confirm that.)
Though Dawn was at first suspicious of the Meer, who followed the Juka through time to help us fight them, Blackthorn, and Exodus, she eventually became friends with the Meer girl Dasha. Dasha and Dawn shared the experience of losing their homes.
Dawn later had the distinct honor of landing the killing blow on Lord Blackthorn when he and his minions invaded Yew, shortly after the release of the Age of Shadows expansion. For her efforts she was rewarded with Dawn's Music Box.
For the most part, during her "first run," she can fairly be said to have never "caught on" with players, and most of the UO dev team seemed to be annoyed by her. Thus, her whereabouts were officially unknown for a long time following the Blackthorn attack, until a dev team member once commented off-handedly that she had married and retired quietly to Yew. And this, though perhaps unintended, became part of Dawn's lore.
Publish 59 saw Dawn emerging from her self-imposed retirement to help Britannians fight off the Shadowlords and depose Casca, the false king. (See Warriors of Destiny and The Last in Line.) She was played in-game by the Event Moderators of the various Shards. Along with Sherry the Mouse, she was one of the last links to the Lord British regime. Casca thus saw her as a threat, and attempted to kill her by burning her house down.
This incarnation of Dawn appeared to have more personality than the earlier incarnation, and can fairly be said to have acquired more of a following. Her personality change can, storyline-wise, be attributed to her increased age and growth as a person. Out-of-character-wise, her personality change can be attributed to the RolePlaying skills of the various Event Moderators, and that she had more on-stage time than the earlier incarnation.
Following the conclusion of the Warriors of Destiny event cycle, Dawn was crowned Queen of Britannia. She, or her staff, or both, appear to have considerable public administration skills, as reflected by the great speed with which they responded to the emergence of the Stygian Abyss.
BNN Articles that relate to Dawn include the following:
Thought not a BNN Article, it is worth noting that this page:
mentions Dawn as a "lady Knight of the Britannian Court" who "fought against Lord Blackthorn during the war and helped lead the people to victory."
Dawn was also the subject of a comic book that came with the Lord Blackthorn's Revenge box, from which much of the information about her background is derived.