During the reign of the would-be-emperor Burdock Brown, an underground resistance movement formed in the Land of Een known as the Knights of Winter. Based in the secret tunnels that ran beneath the town of Faun’s End, the group’s purpose was to combat Burdock’s tyrannical rule, and especially his enslavement of Een animals. The group took its name from the sorceress Winter Woodsong, who had long been a friend to the animals of Een.

Prominent members of the Knights of Winter included Timmons Thunderclaws the badger, Mercy Moonwing the hummingbird, Paipo Plumpuddle the rabbit, and Joymus Jinglehoot the squirrel.