Knights of Saint Ealdgyth

Paragons of virtue the Knights of Saint Ealdgyth seek to inspire by example. They strive to make honor the central aspect of their lives.

Structure

The order is headed by the Marshal General who is currently based in Azen in Ozudlim. Below the Marshal General are the knight generals, who each command all the knights in a kingdom. All the knights in a kingdom are divided into companies, each headed by a knight captain. Below the knight captains are the individual knights. Knights within a rank are ordered based on senority.

Public Agenda

The knighthood seeks to not only protect the common folk from the many dangers of the world, but to set a shining example for others to emulate. There are some who whisper however, that the order’s primary objective is to enrich itself. These rumors start because the order excepts primarily scions of noble houses, and children of the wealth who can afford to send their children to the expensive training academies. While the academies do offer scholarships to worthy but impoverished applicants, it does primarily seek those with wealth to pay their own way. This is one of the reasons this order has been the slowest to make its way into the Frontier lands.

Assets

Since attending the order’s academies is fairly expensive and members are normally wealthy and expected to tithe a fifth of their income to the order, the order is wealthy. However, contrary to the opinions of some, the order’s objective is not to make money. The leadership of the order draw small stipends, and the bulk of the money taken in by the order is anonymously donated to various charitable organizations. The remainder of the wealth taken in goes to running its academies and maintaining the fortresses the order has built throughout the New Kingdoms.

History

Ealdgyth was born into a high noble house in the Old Kingdoms. He was one of the last of a dying breed in the Old Kingdoms, a noble who saw his position, not as one of privilege, but as one of service. He abhorred the decadence that was infecting most noble houses in the Old Kingdoms, and when he could take no more, he left for the New Kingdoms. Upon arriving he set to work establishing a new duchy in the kingdom of Delonnah. However, he feared that once the continent was tamed, the same decadence that drove him from the Old Kingdoms would set in in the New Kingdoms. Ealdgyth decided it was his duty to set an example, by becoming a paragon of nobility. He soon found others who felt as he did and began to organize them into a knighthood. At first the knighthood accepted applicant only from the noble houses, but as the knighthood grew, Ealdgyth began to realize that nobility was not limited to those of aristocratic birth and began accepting commoners into the order.
[br[ In 119 he established the first academy in Pahuw for training youngsters in the knightly arts and the true meaning of honor. By 130 there were four academies with plans for three more in the works. Then careless adventurers awakened the great wyrm Xialracron, Destroyer of Life. Ealdgyth personally led ten of his best knights to face the creature. They succeeded in slaying the beast but in the battle Ealdgyth was mortally wounded. Spurred by his example of selfless sacrifice many noble sons (and no few noble daughters) flocked to his academies, determined to become heroes like him. The academies, true to Ealdgyth’s philosophy taught them that heroism and fame aren’t synonymous, and that honor was the hallmark of a true hero.

Since then the order has spread throughout the New Kingdoms, with every kingdom boasting at least one academy and every major city a company of knights. The knighthood has been slow to enter the Frontierlands, something that troubles the current Marshal General, who is looking for ways to rectify this. He is currently in negotiations with several of the larger Frontier land kingdoms to open academies in their lands.

My honor is my life.

Founding Date

119

Type

Military, Knightly Order

Training Level

Professional

Veterancy Level

Experienced

Demonym

Ealdgythans

Related Ethnicities

• Mangen