The Knightly Orders

These Orders cater to the sons of nobility, providing training in the arts of warfare, and chivalry in general. There are a few women among them, mostly Caithness and the non-human knights. It is considered a badge of status to be a knight.

The lance, crossbow, broadsword, chain mail,  plate mail, and morningstar are all considered weapons only for those with noble blood. It is not at all uncommon for members of the church, to leave their vows to become knights. Most of these knights are sponsored by the church, but are not considered priests, and do not need to take any of the vows.


The three primary orders are the knights of Megalos, of the Stone, and of the Hospital representing the empire, the nobility, and the church... respectively.



The knights of the Stone are from northern caithness, and tend to be devoted more to the concept of chivalry than to religious doctrine... many Huguenots find sanctuary in this order. Women and non-humans can also be found in this order. The Inquisition is just itching to shut them down. The heraldic design is a thin cross with a circle forming a crosshair where the two lines meet.

The Knights Hospitaller are  the strongest in favor of another crusade. They have much of the wealth of the church on their side, and have great political power. They also tend to be intolerant, and strong rivals of the Order of the Stone. Their Heraldic emblem is a cross with split, curving edges.

The Knights of Megalos are a branch of the Emperors military, and recruited in recent years mainly from military ranks. Most of the other knights snigger at how many of these knights are not of noble birth. Even the Older Megalos knights are appalled at this. These knights also tend to be the most effective warriors.

Landed Knights There are many, many different orders of landed knights. Landed knights often swear allegiance to one of the other knightly orders, in addition to their own household. This is shown by the heraldic emblem of one of the three orders being inset into the primary design of the shield and tunic. A typical title might be: “Sir John Stein of House Stein, Knight of the Stone” To be landed means your family is nobility, and owns  land with serfs on it, and probably a manor house or castle.


Non Humans


In the history of Megalos, two orcs, seven goblins, four gargoyles, and several dozen halfings and gnomes have been granted knighthood by the empire or various noble houses. Each time they are considered exceptional and exemplary. Most of the nobility think this is wrong at all levels, and most of these non human knights have been dead for centuries.

There are two primary exceptions.

Elven Knights tend to be a follower of the way of the wood, and typically rides an Impenya. Knightly orders are a human construct and seen with amusement. However since humans hold such great stock on status, all Elves can and will claim nobility (being immortal, and few in number, nearly every elf can honestly claim to be a close relative to an Elvish king) Their weapons of choice are Clardinalla, bow, and light lance. They typically decorate their shield and tunics with an Oak tree.

Dwarven Knights do not like to ride steeds, and therefore have little love for mounted combat. But since you can’t seem to be able to talk to a human unless you’ve got a knighthood tucked into your belt, the Dwarves came up with “The Order of the Hammer” and bestow this title on the Dwarven kings, and the many sons of the kings. Now since Dwarves tend to go adventuring the most in that 40 year period before they become an Adult, most “Hammer Knights” tend to be young dwarves gathering wealth and tales of bravery to impress a Dwarven woman back home enough for her to marry him.

A Hammer knight tends to use a hammer or axe, wear full plate, and as a nod to human custom, decorate their shield and tunic with a Hammer design.