Knights of the Splintered Oak

The Knights of the Splintered Oak or simply the Rust Knights for short are a chivalric order of wandering knights, champions, and paladins. The Knights are both denigrated and respected for being a call back to a bygone age in their hand-me-down armor and chivalric code. Those that belittle them find their oath of selflessness and poverty to be... naive and the stuff of children's tales not real life. But to many of the common folk, the knights represent a kind of folk hero who wanders the world helping others. In truth, many tales have been written about a Rust Knight showing up to save a shard village from raiders or some hungry beast.
The Knights are recognizable for their ancient armor (yes, often with rust patches) and shields with the blazon of a black oak splintered down the middle. Some Knights add a slight embellishment (a single apple hanging from a branch, a wolf-hound sleeping beneath the tree, etc) as a way to help their fellow knights identify them. And while not a strict rule, many knights have taken to not removing their helmets in public. These Knights belief that they are not a single knight but simply a representative of the greater Order.

Base of Operation

The Knights of the Splintered Oak claim the shard of Oakshold as their home base. This simple shard contains their chantry as well as several farms, smithy, and other essential facilities. Besides the Knight-Captain, the Chantry will house a handful of senior knights, their squires, and several orphans that have been taken in by the Knights. Most of the order are wanderers, going where they are needed.

Recruitment & Training

There is no formal recruitment process for a prospective knight. Often they are orphans or young men/women that a Knight encounters on their travels who show the right combination of skill and honor. The Knight will then invite them to travel with them to gauge if they would make a good member of the order. If things work out, the Knight will have them swear the first Oath of the Oak and taken them on formally as their squire. It is now that knight's responsibility to train and prepare that squire. Once the Knight believes the squire ready, they will be taken to Oakshold to swear the Second Oath of the Oak and choose their arms and armor. The later is a mini-quest on its own as the knight to be travels into the Armory where they are tested by the Oak itself and a suitable weapon and armor presented to them.

Type

Civilian, Knightly Order