Hellknights

Hellknights aren't just order's enforcers; they're its executioners. Girded in dark armour emblazoned with emblems of menace, Hellknights uphold a simple mandate: to impose law. Yet theirs is a greater and more demanding path than that of sheriffs and soldiers. Through discipline and trial, Hellknights remove themselves from soft emotion and weak comfort, remaking themselves as dauntless paragons of order. Without mercy, they shear through compromise and bureaucracy, crushing lawlessness no matter what form it takes. Bandits, heretical cults, savage raiders, and thieves' guilds - all the enemies of law fall before these crusaders. Rarely must such criminals wait long for their sentences, as the only punishments appropriate for those who jeopardize order are swift and harsh.
Hellknights arm themselves for the battlefield, yet rarely do armies of these soldiers unite. They are the predators of those who prey upon the feeble, and the nightmares that assure the weak never stray. They answer only to the law, but not to the law of any one land. Their law, their vision of a glorious future, is theirs alone, a refinement of the greatest commandments of Idrea, fortified by the strictest principles of the most lawful society of the planes: Hell itself. While the efforts of Hellknights lacking in discipline easily slide toward cruelty, the members as a whole are not necessarily evil. For them, Hell is the multiverse's greatest forge, and those tempered by its flames emerge unbending and unbreakable, which a true paragon of order must be. So each willingly faces the horrors of Hell, and only those who survive may call themselves true Hellknights.
Across the Sea of Sails region, Hellknights seek to enforce the same discipline they impose upon themselves. No one is beyond suspicion, no one is beyond judgement, and in the final accounting, some innocents might be sacrificed. But when chaos is real and threatens the future of every mortal soul, mercy will end up destroying society.
So the Hellknights do what must be done.

HELLKNIGHTS AT A GLANCE

The Hellknights are affiliated knightly orders devoted to the swift, merciless enforcement of law. These crusaders of lawful neutral ideals care nothing for goodness, evil, or exceptions. Theirs is the path of unflinching obedience to the law, vicious defense of social order, and the tenacity to punish the servants of chaos.
The Hellknights and their vision of order owe allegiance to no single nation. While most of their grim citadels lie within the borders of Cornixia, they do not serve that nation and their sense of order is derived from a compilation of severe strictures known as the Measure and the Chain. In troops or alone, Hellknights travel across the Sea of Sails region hunting fugitives, solving crimes, and imposing order upon wilder lands. Rulers or law enforcers in need of aid - and who willingly pay to support the knights' battles - might also summon them to particular sites where lawlessness reigns.
In meting out sentences, Hellknights employ a range of deadly weapons, but they have honed none better than fear and intimidation. Every Hellknight seeks to be a questing enforcer who gives the lawless a reason to tremble and obey. Hellknights cloak themselves in dread, and their distinctive, menacing black armour embodies their reputation. Hellknights also employ summoned devils to terrorize their foes, as well as to ensure that those who join their ranks have the resolve to face Hell itself.
There are numerous orders of Hellknights, but seven major orders are the best known. These allied groups share the same fanaticism for realizing their vision of law, but their methods vary. The members of most orders are heavily armoured fugitive hunters and gang-crushing juggernauts. Others are mask-wearing spellcasters called signifers who use magic to smite criminals and coerce confessions. Yet members of any class may join the Hellknights, long as they have the resolve to be implacable weapons of order.

Structure

Hellknights divide themselves into orders that have more commonalities than differences. There are seven major Hellknight orders, as well as a smattering of lesser orders. Numerous ranks exist within the Hellknight orders, but the most pervasive - from highest in authority to lowest - are the following:
Lictor: A general of a Hellknight order.
Vicarius: A spellcasting leader of a Hellknight order (rarely used).
Master/Mistress of Blades: A colonel of a Hellknight order, equal in rank to a paravicar.
Paravicar: A leader of a Hellknight order's signifers, equal in rank to a Master of Blades.
Paralictor: A high-ranking Hellknight officer, similar to a major.
Maralictor: A mid-level Hellknight officer, similar to a lieutenant. Maralictors with titular concerns or duties - such as the common arms-maralictors, field-maralictors, and gate-maralictors - are of lesser rank.
Hellknight: Rank and file knights.
Signifers: A Hellknight arcane or divine spellcaster.
Armiger: A Hellknight in training; a Hellknight squire.

Public Agenda

THE MEASURE AND THE CHAIN

The law and order the Hellknights live by and seek to impose are not the laws of any one nation. Rather, they are a set of strict philosophies known as the Measure and the Chain.
The Measure: A massive codex of duties, laws, and crimes, the Measure serves as a guide to a strict, ordered society. Based upon centuries of Cornxian legal codes, as well as passages from the strictures of Hell itself, this body of laws extols justness rather than justice.
The Chain: This philosophy encourages discipline through trial, whether such tests involve memorizing and meditating upon the Measure or exposing oneself to stress and pain that threaten to break the weak. At its more philosophical level, the Chain concerns itself with three virtues: order, discipline, and mercilessness. Each of these virtues is embodied by dual maxims.
Order teaches that Hellknights should strive to create a world that has no need for them and that every soul should punish those that hold back progress. It is embodied by the maxims "embrace obsolescence" and "every soul a tyrant". The former encourafes Hellknights to build a world of perfect, self-sustaining order, while the latter encourages every mortal - Hellknight or otherwise - to be a force for order.
Discipline teaches that no achievement occurs without loss and that emotions are a distraction and a vulnerability - this includes fear, which the Hellknights turn into a weapon against the weak. The maxim "emotion is weakness" encourages Hellknights to purge their minds of all tempestuous feelings and desires, be they fear and sorrow or love and pride. "Execution by flame" teaches that Hellknights must be ready to destroy all to accomplish their aims, and that only by casting off something may one become greater.
Mercilessness claims that all are guilty of something and that compassion is damaging to civilization. The lesson that "society cannot survive mercy" is one of the oldest philosophical tenets of the Hellknights, teaching that exceptions pave the path to anarchy and that a bleeding heart sickens all society. Tied in with this idea, the maxim "none are innocent" reminds Hellknights that everyone has transgressed and harbours unjust thoughts, and so none are truly deserving of mercy or exceptional treatment under the law.
Together, these three virtues and the six lessons they encompass are symbolized in the Hellknights' symbol, the Ennead Star.
In Action: Hellknights strive to live by the tenets of the Measure and the Chain. Among their peers (and to their victims), they regularly repeat favoured maxims from the Chain. Most at least occasionally fall short of their cold, emotionless philosophies, though. To police their own thoughts and deeds, Hellknights regularly perform reckonings. Those of insufficient will might eventually suffer mental breaks, leave the Hellknights, or worse - and this number includes some of those who have already demonstrated the courage and determination to endure the deadly Hellknight test. Upholding the Measure and the Chain is its own lifelong trial.

THE TEST

To become a Hellknight, one must literally face an immortal champion of Hell. The specifics of the test differ in minor ways between Hellknight orders, but for all of them, it is a somber, trial-like rite conducted at dawn twice per year. A higher-ranking officer - typically the order's lictor - oversees this test, which is administered by a signifer and witnessed by every available member of the order.
After a lengthy introduction, the armiger to be tested enters a clearly marked arena. Once the initiate signals readiness, the signifer summons a devil into the area. The armiger and fiend then fight to the death. If the armiger falls, he dies. If the armiger triumphs, he's allowed to recite a series of memorized vows, swearing to uphold the Measure and live by the Chain. If his performance is judged suitable, he receives the right to wear the armour of his order as a true Hellknight.
Not all tests are ceremonial spectacles. By the word of the Measure, any Hellknight can serve as witness for any worthy soldier who bests a mightier devil in single combat. If a Hellknight vouches for an individual and swears that the challenge conformed to the test's standards, the victor can join any Hellknight order that accepts him as a true Hellknight.

RECKONINGS

Similar to an ascetic's flagellations or a paladin's atonement, Hellknight reckonings are rites of mortification a Hellknight uses to focus her mind, excise unwanted thoughts, and bring herself closer to the champion of law her order idealizes. A reckoning is typically a personal matter, performed in private by a wiling, unarmoured Hellknight while she meditates on some aspect of the Measure and the Chain.
Hellknights are assumed to police their own thoughts and perform reckonings as necessary. If a Hellknight doesn't regularly perform reckonings as part of her scheduled meditations, she doesn't lose any abilities or suffer negative effects - however, she might be censured by her fellow Hellknights if they learn of this dereliction.

History

The Hellknights formed nearly 150 years ago, growing from seeds of despair and vigilantism to the forces of orders are today.
They called it the White Plague; an epidemic of murders and suicides Escellion, capital of The Cornixian Empire. Behind the deaths lay the Path of Grace, a cult of Sifkesh that hid its devotion to the demon lord of heresy and suicide behind the guise of devoted Iomedae worshipers. Two of the cult's victims were Lileia Ruel and, soon after, Eris Ruel, the wife and son of veteran soldier Daidian Ruel. A champion of the goddess Iomedae with an impressive record of national military service, Ruel was a commanding and well-liked, but little-known, veteran. After the loss of his family, Ruel renounced his faith in Iomedae and assembled a vigilante posse of allies - mostly comprising former soldiers and sympathetic constables. The group devoted itself to hunting down the Path of Grace. Ruel's methods proved highly effective, but trampled upon the jurisdiction of city law enforcement, leading to his imprisonment.
Against his will, Ruel's followers broke him out of jail and fled the city to the ruins known as Fort Rivad. Ruel soon returned, though, gaining an audience with Emperor Gaspodar to explain his plight. His impassioned speech, elucidating not only his case but his views on the responsibility of all citizens, became known as "Merciless" and is recorded as a foundation stone of the Hellknights' philosophy, the Measure and the Chain. Gaspodar pardoned Ruel on the condition that he form a new order of knights devoted to ending the White Plague. Ruel accepted, but refused traditional knightly consecration by Iomedae's church. The scorned church called the new order "Hellknights," a name the members quickly adopted. By the end of the following year, the Path of Grace was wiped out and the White Plague ended with the death of the false cleric Attromia. Impressed with the Hellknights' efforts, Emperor Gaspodar granted Ruel's order leave to continue its work and supported the creation of its first bastion, Citadel Rivad.

THE ORDERS

There are seven major orders of Hellknights:
The Nail: These knights at the vanguard of civilization bring order to frontier settlements and stamp out those who impedes society's march.
The Chain: These Hellknights serve as wardens and trackers devoted to hunting down the enemies of society and locking away dangerous criminals.
The Pyre: With spell and blade, this order seeks out superstition and witchcraft and destroys any chaotic cults that threaten the minds and souls of law-abiding citizens.
The Gate: Dominated by spellcasting signifers who employ magic in surveillance, manipulation, and execution, this order is known for predicting crimes and creating magical innovations.
The Rack: These Hellknights root out and quell subversive knowledge and destructive ideas they believe capable of impeding order's march.
The Godclaw: Crusaders in the service of a pantheon of five lawful deities, these Hellknights bring order wherever it needed, usually by force. Their unusual faith is understood by few,
The Scourge: Using their vast wealth and resources, these armoured sleuths work - sometimes undercover - to take down corrupt politicians, thieves' guilds, and bastions of organized crime.

There is also a smattering of lesser orders; these are often offshoots of the major orders, or founded for specific duties:
The Coil: These fringe, vengeance-seeking knights viciously destroy whole societies and protect colonialists using hit-and-run tactics as well as their tightly honed ability to fight in the wilderness.
The Scar: These peerless bodyguards and assassin-hunters are renowned for ferreting out trained killers and providing foolproof protection to those with targets on their backs.
The Crux: This band of executed false Hellknights has returned from the grave and begun waylaying travelers and conscripting the corpses into their mysterious, but undoubtedly heinous, cause.
The Torrent: These diligent Hellknights are experts skilled at negotiation, recovering the kidnapped, and tracking down and punishing abductors who believe themselves unassailable.
The Wall: Peerless protective nationalists, these knights are guardians of borders who are dedicated to thwarting smugglers and often incidentally impede travelers and refugees.
The Pike: Armed with immense knowledge about monsters and tactics to defeat them, these famed beast hunters are willing to go any lengths to defend innocents - even if it costs them their lives.

Society Cannot Survive Mercy.

Founding Date

4293 AU

Type

Military, Other

Subsidiary Organizations

• Order of the Gate

Girded in menacing armour, the Hellknights seek to stamp out chaos across Idrea. These merciless champions of order adhere to their own severe code of laws.