And that is where the story of the Restless would have ended; in the cold and the darkness and the desolation, if it had not been for a small group of mortals, Mediums and Psychics who did what the dead could not and raised their heads in the face of destruction. Calling themselves 'The Knights of the Black Dawn' after one of the final days of the crisis where the London sun never rose, the group found out about the Restless influencing and propagating the Skinlands turmoil, and fought back against Shadowshimmer and her army, eventually destroying their Risen bodies, and driving the Shadowlands Spectres out of the city, albeit temporarily. However, unsatisfied with just Shadowshimmer's army, or unable to tell the difference, the Knights of the Black Dawn were soon exterminating every Risen they could find and chasing down all Wraiths who dared to break the Shroud. It was only when the dead presence in living London subsided, that the Knights retreated back behind closed doors, and even now, that's not always where they remain.

Finally, around the year 2005, when the Knights of the Black Dawn had run their course, structure once again began to form out of the chaos of the Shadowlands. Up until then there were very few havens for the dead to hide in. But, in 2005, with the Skinlands of London beginning to echo the dead in its isolation, Shadowshimmer was destroyed, and those that had been hiding were finally able to step back into the open.

A powerful Renegade by the name of Joan Sutherland rose up to unite all those who would follow her in the single pursuit of protecting themselves against the still-swelling tide Oblivion. Once again, the Renegades and former members of the Hierarchy united against a common enemy, and 'The Confederacy of the Freewraiths of London' was formed.

Many of the remaining wraiths soon flocked under her banner and she began to organise her army, assigning each wraith to a task-dedicated unit or to an individual assignment, both tailored to suit the different skills of her followers. This acknowledgement of personal ability is the main reason that Joan remains in power to this day. But the damage had already been done, and with the disastrous chain of events already well underway, the taint of Oblivion in the Shadowlands became unstoppable. The Shroud thickened, and the Skinlands became a distant memory. An effort to perceive, and an even larger effort to affect. However, this, as with the wars that wracked the city in the 19th Century, proved to be a blessing in disguise for London's dead.