Paladin Orders
Paladin Orders are the paramilitary branch of The Holy Church of the Saints of Order. These fervent holy warriors are able to respond rapidly to religious matters without the need for state-level intervention, and can often times be the first line of defense against demon-spawn incursions and heretical uprisings. Paladins can be known as a "swiss army knife" formation, as they train extensively and are equipped well to be able to take on a wide variety of operations in the name of the Saints.
Paladins are expected to be just as much healers and holy people as warriors though, and so Paladins assigned to defend a settlement or to escort a pilgrimage can quickly become the center of their communities.
Composition
Manpower
Paladin Orders range in size depending on the Order itself, and whether there have been recent casualties. Most Orders attempt to keep a force of approximately 5000 soldiers ready for battle at any given time, assuming that around 2500 are required to be deployed at any given time. Paladin Orders have evolved greatly since their founding as essentially fanatic mobs, and now focus on having a relatively small number of highly trained and heavily equipped soldiers, rather than a mass number of what used to be essentially peasants with pitchforks.
However, Paladins on the march are also commonly accompanied by squires, whose job it is to carry their additional equipment, cook their meals, and aid in donning the holy warrior's heavy armor. Squires will someday be allowed to join the ranks of the Paladins, and also train to be proficient in both combat and religious practice. Therefore, one should not underestimate the fighting ability of the squires, and they are even entrusted to guard with their lives the Paladin's camp while they are in battle. For every Paladin in a group, they are often accompanied by at least 2 squires, sometimes more if the Paladins are particularly high-status or famous.
Additionally, for every grouping of 8 Paladins, there is always at least one field smith who maintains their weapons and armour in mobile horse-drawn smithies.
Finally, every formation of Paladins is led by at least 1 priest, whose job is to lead them and give them their directions. The Priesthood is ultimately responsible for and in control of their Paladins, and so the priests play mostly a healing, leadership, and support role to the Paladins who accompany them. Priests who specialize on leading Paladins are sometimes referred to as Battle-Priests, or Clerics, as they can be seen wearing armor and carrying weapons. The most famous Battle-Priests come from the Order of Saint Alesia, as they see being a Battle-Priest as the ultimate manifestation of the teachings of their Patron Saint.
Equipment
Due to their heavy-infantry nature, Paladins often require weapon and armour maintenance in the field, which is provided by their accompanying smiths. Smiths are also in charge of bringing (and sometimes even producing) any additional equipment that a formation of Paladins might need. Need climbing equipment? their smith can make it. Need camping supplies? The smith is on it. In many cases it is considered a badge of honour for a smith to work alongside Paladins, as it is not only a holy service, but it also speaks to the skill and versatility of the smith who may need to be both a master steel-worker and a passable leather-tanner.
Weaponry
Paladin Orders generally focus on the use of heavy and reinforced armours, in combination with a variety of martial weapons. Most Paladins train to be proficient with numerous weapons, to enhance each Paladin's versatility. As such, Paladins can be seen wielding a wide manner of weapons from short swords and throwing axes, to massive tower shields and maces, to long two-handed halberds, pikes, Warhammers, and Zweihanders. This versatility means the Paladins are able to re-equip to meet the threat that is presented to them, in scenarios where they may not have the time to go back to a town or city to acquire new weaponry. What is universal for Paladins is that their equipment is often very heavy, and as such Paladins are a true juggernaut of a formation on a battlefield, and difficult to knock of their feet in even one-on-one combat.
Vehicles
Based on the above, it is unsurprising that Paladins of any formation are often accompanied by a significant amount of means to move all of them and their equipment. Paladins often ride on large war-horses with many saddle-bags to help carry whatever they need. In addition, squires will often be charged to ride draft horses to pull carts and wagons loaded down with equipment and supplies.
The mobile smithies of the Paladin smiths are also wagon-drawn, and are heavily engineered to be as light but as strong as possible to be both maneuverable on difficult terrain but strong enough to carry an anvil and portable forge.
Structure
Paladins can operate in groupings of anywhere from 8 to 8000, depending on the mission they need to complete, and what resources the Order has available at the time. Formations normally are formed in groups divisible by 8, as this is considered good luck because it is also the number of the Saints. The leader of a grouping of 8-80 is known as a "Chaplain", and the leader of a group from 81-8000 is known as a "High-Chaplain".
The Priesthood is ultimately responsible for and in control of their Paladins, and so the priests play mostly a healing, leadership, and support role to the Paladins who accompany them. Priests who specialize on leading Paladins are sometimes referred to as Battle-Priests, or Clerics, as they can be seen wearing armor and carrying weapons. The most famous Battle-Priests come from the Order of Saint Alesia, as they see being a Battle-Priest as the ultimate manifestation of the teachings of their Patron Saint.
Every formations head chaplain or High-Chaplain will be subsequently accompanied by their Church superior in the form of the Priest or High-Priest leading the formation. If necessary, the most senior priest will be in charge of the other priests leading the different elements of the formation.
Tactics
Paladins are well-versed in the tactics involved in dealing with other-planar beings who are often naturally stronger and faster than they are. As such, Paladins seek to pinpoint the weakness of whatever thing they are facing and exploit it. For example, when facing a horde of thousands Daemonlings, the Paladins will try and find natural or man-made funnels to reduce the frontage of the horde so that the Paladin's individual superiority can prevail. Conversely, Paladins will work to confuse and distract larger daemonic entities and work to attack them from multiple angles so that the monstrosities massive talons or limbs can't be brought to bear against the whole group.
Paladins also train to fight mortals, as mortal cultists are a common threat they face. Paladins will often form tight formations that can overcome any concerted attempt by small to medium sized groups of regular mortals. Large groupings (multiple thousands) of mortals though are not the Paladins' specialty, and they can sometimes struggle to adopt battle-line tactics so commonly used by state militaries, as it isn't suited by the Paladins' natural affinity to individualist initiative.
Training
Paladins live within their Orders' Fortress Monastery for much of their life, honing their trades and training in the martial arts. Paladins rarely take time off, as every minute of time wasted away from training could be the difference between living and perishing against a Daemonic entity.
As such, Paladins train relentlessly, under the direction of Paladin "Praetors". Praetors are veteran Paladins, sometimes with many decades or centuries of service, who dedicate their time to training the next generation of holy warriors.
Logistics
Auxilia
Squires act as the auxiliary force of an Paladin group. They outnumber the Paladins themselves, and also spend a significant amount of time training at the monasteries. As such, they are entrusted with supporting tasks like defending flanks, guarding camps, and conducting reconnaissance missions to gain information.
Squires are often equipped in a much more regular manner than the Paladins, mostly out of financial necessity. Some see this as a vulnerability, however this makes them more maneuverable and agile, making them ideal for certain applications to which Paladins themselves are unsuitable.
Squires will be raised to the status of Paladins based on their proven skills, and so many are eager to show their worth. Being raised to the level of Paladin gives the squire a significant boost in prestige, provided equipment, respect, and also better living quarters. In addition, only Paladins are permitted to attend the most exclusive of religious ceremonies and rituals of the Order, and so all squires are fighting to be entrusted with such knowledge beyond the ken of normal folk.
Upkeep
Despite the amount of resources and force brought to bear by Paladins in the field, they are simultaneously relatively cheap to field. They are mostly self funded through the following means:
- Paladins will work in numerous trades such as smiths, carpenters, stone-masons, enchanters, apothecaries, brewers, or even humble shoe-makers. They ply these trades in the localities they find themselves to make additional funds, which all go toward supplying their needs for weapons and armour.
- The fortress monasteries are usually funded by local governments, who are looking for the prestige and security provided by hosting such a powerful holy force near their town or city.
- Most work done by hangers-on, squires, and smiths is voluntary and for free, as it is seen as doing a holy service to the Saints. Some will be paid, but most volunteer for free in exchange for lodgings and the valuable training and experience the orders can give to ambitious folks.
- Paladins do their utmost to live off the land wherever they go, as spending money on luxuries or pre-produced goods is seen as wasteful and an over-reliance on other to the independent minded Paladins.
Recruitment
Paladin Order recruit from what they call "pilgrims", who travel to a fortress monastery for the purpose of joining the Paladin Order of their Saint of choice. These pilgrims will normally be accepted, and will be tested in large groups by the Praetors to determine their potential for someday being inducted into the Order. Sometimes pilgrims have to wait months or years before the next round of inductions will occur, in which time they are expected to provide manual labour to the Order to show their commitment to the cause.
As the number of Paladins and squires is controlled, only a certain number of them will be inducted as squires during each round of trials, and so trials can become fiercely competitive. However, to those who are inducted, they have a sense of glowing pride that, even as only a squire, they have already bested challenges that the normal person may view as impossible or extreme. In addition, some Pilgrims do perish during the trials, though this is more as a natural result of their difficulty rather than an intended outcome. Each order has their own series of trials, often based on their Saint of choice.
History
Paladins have been key to repelling many daemon incursions in the past, and have become a well-renowned organization. Due to their similar political neutrality as The Holy Church of the Saints of Order, they have provided protection to people from all across the continent regardless of state identity. As a result, many of the common people have a very high opinion of Paladins.
Paladin Orders, and even sub-formations are often adorned in elaborate heraldry, representing both their order, and the sub-formation within their Order. For example, a grouping of 80 Paladins assigned to defend a settlement from a horde of beasts spawned from the The Shadowfell may give themselves a name, and adorn themselves in custom heraldry. Should they be successful enough, the Order may even allow them to remain together as a unit and retain their heraldry. such units are referred to as "Crusades", and the oldest of the Crusades of the Orders even do their own recruitment, and have became famous across the continent of Calradia.
Historical loyalties
Paladin Orders have always been strictly loyal to The Holy Church of the Saints of Order. Some few examples exist in history of specific crusades attempting to break away from the commands of the priests and the church. Such breakaway groups were immediately viewed as having been tainted by dark powers in the execution of their duties, and having been infected with unholy levels of pride, as they began to view themselves as superior to those they protected.
Universally, such groups were systematically hunted down and eradicated, and the Orders of today are very active in working with the Priests to monitor their own members for signs of heresy or disobediance.
Type
Paramilitary
Overall training Level
Elite
Assumed Veterancy
Experienced
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