The Knightly Orders
It is the goal of most of the Empire’s warlike nobleman to become a member of one the great Knightly Orders of the Empire. Some are motivated out of religious conviction and are drawn to one of the many Templar Orders, serving their chosen god through both martial and spiritual means. The vast majority are drawn to the Empire’s many secular orders which often grants them prestige, glory, and a place in one of the most exclusive societies of the realm. There is no set size for a Knightly Order as some number a handful of knights while others boast hundreds. The majority of Knightly Orders are small and often recruited from a single province.
Major Empire Based Templar Orders
Most of the large Knightly Orders of the Empire are Templar Orders. Religious convictions are less confining than political boundaries and suitable candidates for these Orders can be drawn from any part of the Empire and sometimes beyond. In addition most Templar Orders are in part bank rolled by the Cult of their patron deity or at least can rely on the generous donations from pious benefactors.
Selection for Knights to join a Templar order is far more rigorous than that of a secular one. Young noblemen with some service in the Pistol Korps should have no expectation to ever being accepted directly as a brother knight in a Templar Order and in fact such service might often preclude an aspirant knight entry. Joining a Templar Order requires years of training both in martial and religious instruction and is for the most part started when the youth is in their early teens. Methods vary from order to order but many still require a long period of apprenticeship as a squire in order to be eligible for elevation to full Knighthood. Veteran Knights subject to some sort of religious experience are generally also not immediately accepted as brother knights either unless suitable religious education is conducted. Exceptions do happen however and particularly in cases for those that have been part of important holy miracles.
Knights of the Everlasting Light
Religious Affiliation: Verena
Headquarters: Essen (Ostermark)
Largest Chapter House: Altdorf
Grandmaster: Sigismund Drak
Livery: Dark Blue, Yellow, and White
Heraldic Designs: Candles
Verena is not an indigenous deity to the Empire. Common folk in the remote regions of the Empire have little dealings with the Cult of Verena for they are in little need of scholarship and can often do without the meddling of judges and lawyers. Nobles and burghers have time for the abstract ideas to which Verena is a patron and the following of the cult has mainly been limited to the major cities of the Empire. Here Verenian Clergy endorse learning and culture as well as codify and moderate the sometimes esoteric laws of the Empire. It is the latter aspect, Goddess of Justice, that Verena attracted the more militant members of her Cult to form the Knights of the Everlasting Flame. The great ballads of the Old World are filled with tales virtuous knights who go about the world punishing those that would break or bend the law to their own gain and defending the righteous. Such idealism has little place in the real world but to youthful nobles it is a powerful force.
The Knights of the Everlasting Light are the largest Order of Verenian Templars in the Empire. Every province of the Empire has some tale that involves the Order, often fighting at impossible odds, to preserve one community or another from the injustices the world is wont to lay upon them. These stories contribute to prestige and mystique of the Order and while a peasant may have little use for the Goddess herself, her Templars are thought of fondly. Their fame and idyllic cause attracts a large number of recruits eager to make a name and perhaps a ballad for themselves. Unfortunately for many of these aspirant Knights, the Order is cursed.
Knights of the Blazing Sun
Religious Affiliation: Myrimadia
Headquarters: Carroburg (Middenland)
Largest Chapter House: Talabheim
Grandmaster: Seigfried Trappenfeld
Livery: Black and Yellow
Heraldic Designs: Suns
Not the largest organization of Myrimidian Templars, the Knights of the Blazing Sun are by far the most wealthy and famous. When the crusades began, the Order was just another secular order of knights among the multitude that answered the call to aid Estalia against the Arabian invasion. The knights played a key role in the siege of the city of Magritta and found divine inspiration when a great statue of Myrimadia crushed Arabian forces poised to overrun the Knights position. Since that day the order has been fervent Myrimadians, offering praise to the southern war goddess above all northern gods. The wealth of the Order does not lie in their piety but their pledge to provide pilgrims free passage from the Empire to Estalia and Tilea.
Most Myrimadian holy sites lie in the south of the old world and Merchants are more than willing to donate to the order for escort service to go on ‘pilgrimages’ to visit these sites. In addition to military escort, the Knights of the Blazing Sun offer letters of credit to pilgrims seeking to go to southern holy sites. For a minimal payment of tribute, the investment of the would be pilgrim is insured by the Order that upon reaching their destination they will receive in full the desired amount left safe with the Orders holdings.
Sons of Manann
Religious Affiliation: Manann
Headquarters: Salzenmund
Grandmaster (Grand Admiral): Hrofil Halfdane
Livery: Light Blue and White
Heraldic Designs: Tridents and Manann’s Crown
The Sons of Manann represent one of the Empire’s most unorthodox Knightly Orders. Originally drawn from the nobility of coastal Nordland and Ostland, the Order has for centuries operated a number of fortress monasteries along the coast of the northern Empire. Before the advent of the Nordland (Imperial) Second Fleet, the Order was responsible for protecting much of the Empire’s northern coast from pirates, wreckers, and Norscan raiders. With Marienburg’s secession from the Empire a century ago, the Order was put in the difficult position of either supporting their Cult leaders in Marienburg or remaining true to the Empire. Ultimately the Order chose to back the Empire and has been diminishing since. Angry at their disloyalty, the Cult of Manaan expelled the Order from Marienburg and supplanted their position as the preeminent Order of Manaan’s Templars with the Knights Mariner. Separated from the wealth and prestige of the Cult, the Order soon found it harder to maintain the Order’s estates and find new squires. Once the Imperial Navy commissioned a second fleet to be stationed in Nordland new initiate numbers dropped even further. Today advancement in the Order is easy when compared to other Orders even among those of low birth. Provided the initiate exhibits a sincere and deep held piety, even the highest echelons of the Order are within reach, case in point, the Order’s current Grand Admiral, Hrofil Halfdane. A Norscan by birth, Hrofil joined the Order after a storied career as a mercenary. Shipwrecked in the midst of the Sea of Claws, Hrofil pledged himself to whatever deity would spare him the inglorious death of drowning. Days later, he washed up in front of one the Sons of Manaan’s Chapter Houses. Seeing it as a sign from his new patron, Hrofil promptly joined the Order. In the twenty years since, Hrofil has proven, through both his considerable martial talent and ardent faith in Manaan, himself worthy of election to the Order’s highest rank.
The Sons of Manann predominantly serve as marines aboard the vessels of the Order’s modest navy. In order to supplement their income, some Order ships have taken to attaching themselves to Imperial and take shares from any collected prize money or seized cargo. This concerns many of the older Knights in the order since such actions are at times more akin to piracy then the policing role to which the Order is dedicated. Close ties with the Count of Nordland also mean the Order is often called upon to aid the Count in various conflicts. When fighting on land, the Knights still carry cutlasses to represent their naval heritage and are mounted upon white horses in armor with strong sea motifs. The Knights strive to appear as the unbridled force of one of Manann’s great tidal waves an effect often not lost on opponents. In keeping with their Gods imagery, the Sons of Manann are known to alter their lances by adding trident heads in honor of Manann’s own mighty trident, Sea Reaper.
Other Notable Orders Present in the Empire by Faith
Taalite Templars
The Longshanks: More ranger than Knight, the members of this order are dedicated to preserving the wild places dedicated to Taal and are more adept with bows then they are with the lance.
Morrian Templars
Black Guard: Headquartered out of Luccini, these Knights are the silent guardians of sites sacred to the Death god. The Black Guard are also entrusted by the cult with the duty of pursuing and destroying any Priest of Morr that falls to heresy or necromancy. While it is the primary order of Templars for the Morrian Cult, the Order is not particularly popular as it is more aimed at defense of Cult sites and clergy. In the Empire the more militant Orders tend to attract the majority of those Knights wishing to enter the service of Morr.
Knights of the Black Rose: Morrian Templars that play the political game far too much for the cults leaders. They have been found in the service of the Electors of Talabecland and Stirland and their ultimate fealty, beyond Morr of course, is unknown.
Order of Raven Knights: Owners of a number of estates in eastern Stirland, including the entire village of Sigfriedhof and its famous Abbey of St. Aethelbert the Vigiliant, the Raven Knights are dedicated to containing and hopefully one day destroying the undead that still menace Sylvania. The Order has very good relations with any other order espousing similar aims, particularly Sigmarite Orders.
Myrimidia
Sigmarite Templars
Knights of Sigmar’s Blood: Famous hunters of Beastmen and Mutants, the Order has perhaps the most strict monastic vows of all Sigmarite Templar Orders.
Knights of the Hammer: Armed with cavalry hammers, the order is often derided by Ulircans as ersatz White Wolves.
Knights of the Jade Griffon: The order seeks a great deal of redemption after the defection of one of its Seneschals, Alkelod Hellbrass, to the service of Chaos
Knights of the Twin Tailed Orb: The Order wields Flails shaped like the comet of Sigmar in combat over lances or hammers
Ulrican Templars
Ragnarites: Jaded and hardened northerners, these Ulrican Templars emphasize the uncompromising nature of the Winter God. The Order has some following in the northern Empire but is largely based on a number of southern Norcan converts who are used to such harsh demands by their gods.
Major Secular Orders
By sheer number, secular Orders are more prevalent than that of Templar Orders in the Empire. Secular Orders however do not garner the same political clout or prestige of the religious counterparts and are for the most part relegated to at best regional interests. The exceptions to this are the great Orders from the crusades, mainly the Knights Panther but to a lesser extent the Knights of the Golden Lion and the Knights Jaguar as well. Steeped in centuries of tradition and appealing to the spirit of adventure in some of the nobility, these orders have managed to survive whilst others have disappeared or been relegated to little more than honorable drinking societies.
The Knights Panther
Headquarters: Carroburg
Largest Chapter House: Talabheim
Grandmaster: Baron Heinrich von Torlichhelm
Livery: Blue and Yellow
Heraldic Devices: Panthers of all sorts
Founded during the era of the Crusades, the Knights Panther are one of the most renowned Knightly Orders of the Empire and many Imperial youths dream of one day being a member. Having chapter houses spread throughout the Empire, the Knights Panther are most heavily concentrated in Middenland, Talabecland, and Reikland.
Though a secular Order, the Knights Panther have not been able to avoid the political wrangling of the Sigmarite and Ulrican Cults. The Order has long sent that most Chapter Houses offer shrines to Sigmar, Ulric, and even Myrimidia but tensions between brother knights of rival confessions have at times grown high. Baron von Torlichhelm, the Order’s current Grandmaster, was elected to the position by his peers not only for his martial skills but that he was a man well versed in soothing squabbles not only between brothers of the order but as liaison to the White Wolves in Middenheim.
The influence and political power of the Order have come at a price and in recent years the Knights have suffered a number of scandals. In truth only a handful of the scandals have ever been officially censured on the part of the Imperial government but there are rumblings as to what the Order manages to hide. The very public corruption scandal of the Light College of Magic has only added fuel to this fire what with the long standing relationship between the Knights Panther and the Hierophants of the White Order. Of late the Order has become increasingly active in aiding the militant branches of the various Imperial Cults in combating cultists, necromancers, mutants, and rogue magicians. In Middenheim additional squadrons of Knights Panther rotate through and serve alongside the White Wolves during purges of the beastmen of the Drakwald. It is even encourage by some Seneschals and Preceptors that these units, should they slay particularly fierce monsters to adorn their armor with these pelts as well as those of the more traditional panthers and other noble cats.