Knighthood
Entries
Question: What is the full list of people and places guarded by the King's Own? Even if it's only the Royal Family and the Palace, that's three shifts a day, seven days a week. With 100 knights. Even just for the King, that's 39 knights per day, and how many knights would be required to secure the whole Palace? How does the math work? Are there other Palace guards?
Answer: The Iron Guard are the bulk of forces arrayed throughout Arx, including in the Palace. There would be typically several hundred Iron Guardsmen throughout the Ward of the Crown at least, and a regular shift of likely at least a hundred in the Palace itself, if not more. The King's Own are the ultra elite and are deployed at the discretion of the Lord Commander and the crown, with typically their duties based around guarding the royal person and their family members. Iron Guardsmen assigned to the palace would follow the directives of the Lord Commander of the King's Own, but typically -any- member of the King's Own could expect to have Iron Guardsmen follow instructions with the expectation it is flowing down from the Crown.
Answer: Q: What are the King's Own?
A: The King's Own are the royal guard of the 'Crownbearer' of the day. At present that is King Alaric Grayson IV. They are famed to be among the best knights in all of Arvum and are reputed to have the greatest score of accomplishments across all military organizations across the continent. The knights therein typically hail from noble families, but it is not unheard of for some particularly talented commoner(s) who attain knighthood to be invited into the One Hundred by either the King/Queen or the Lord Commander.
Q: Where do the King's Own call home?
A: Crownguard Tower within Guardian Square of the Ward of the Crown. It is a formidable place that due to the Thraxian Treason of 713 AR, is almost as famous as the King's Own itself. It has a storied history and has been witness to many, many acts of heroism throughout known history. Their duties naturally extend to the palace, where they function as the main source of security(sometimes backed by the Iron Guard) for the palace and the royal occupant(s) within.
Q: Who do the King's Own owe their loyalty and allegiance?
A: The King or Queen of the time. The King's Own swear themselves in an oath of loyalty to only the Crownbearer. This does not mean that the King's Own are unable to have acquaintances, friends, contact their families which they (theoretically) give up, or even a lover or lovers. They must remain loyal solely to the Crown. Naturally the King's Own will report to others as a matter of professional courtesy, such as the Ministry of Defense or the Regent/Voice of the day. As much to cooperate with those beyond the king/queen as to limit the burden of their constant attentions being hefted onto the Crown. There is a chain of command, but the King's Own are very fluid among it, and if they feel an order poses some manner of risk to their liege, they may very well summarily ignore it. When it is all said and done however, the King's Own, the Lord Commander in particular, reports to one entity within Arx: The King or Queen.
Q: What happens if the Sovereign is in a coma? What do the King's Own do then?
A: They ensure the safety of the Crown. Historically this has been a fairly mundane role of babysitting a potato. There is currently an IC movement within the King's Own to grant them some forward momentum as far as becoming involved with matters beyond guarding an individual that doesn't get out much and is the Arx Staring Contest Champion for at least the past years. It is my belief that the King's Own has plenty of NPCs that are able and willing to protect the King At Rest. As a result the PCs should be more protagonist than background flavor. The King's Own are very professional, but they take their duties very seriously, so their becoming more proactive in matters related to the safety of the Crown is not beyond the realm of reason. It is something which I hope to bring to the forefront for the King's Own, that they are more than a static background piece and are the most loyal protectors of the Crown; sometimes protection means more than standing in one place and watching a spud grow.
Q: What are the legal boundaries the King's Own are restricted by/to, both within and beyond the palace?
A: Due to their reputation as the defenders of the Crown and being among the greatest knights across Arvum, their word alone often does carry with it some measure of weight. While they may not have full authority within the Ward of the Compact or the Ward of the Crown, they are at least regarded with respect and their opinion on a matter can carry some weight or generally influence the common citizenry. The King's Own largely have autonomy as far as their jurisdiction and power within and surrounding the palace is concerned. Were a scuffle to break out within the palace, the King's Own could toss that individual or individuals into the palace dungeons until one or all parties involved learn to 'use their words' or those same parties could be handed over to the Iron Guard. The palace, it's safety, and the king/queen that resides within it are the priority of the King's Own, so their word is often the first and last pertaining to it. Beyond the palace that same authority is often encapsulated when in the presence of the king/queen; for example if the King's Own order someone to step back at the Judgement Green, it's at that individual's own risk that one would ignore the order and attempt to come closer.
Q: Is becoming a knight of the King's Own a lifelong obligation?
A: Short answer? Yes. Long answer? The situations vary along a sliding scale of how dishonorable, if at all, it would appear to be. Have a love-child with a random lover and thus must request leave from the sworn vow in order to see to this newly birthed child? Clearly you hadn't taken your vow seriously and that is highly dishonorable. You've performed feats of valor and just don't have the energy to continue? It may not be dishonorable and would likely result in a dismissal from the vow, even if just a tiny bit reluctantly. You simply want out because you want out? No wise employer would maintain a bodyguard that doesn't want to protect them with their life. It is likely a highly dishonorable means of getting out of the King's Own, but just as likely not a foreign concept. As stated before the situations and reasoning are varied, with the level of their reception depending on the precise reasoning behind the knight's choice to request their leave.
For more questions, feel free to contact Rymarr, Lord Commander of the King's Own.
Question: What does a typical oath of knighthood look like? When someone is knighted for the first time I assume they swear an oath to the House or person that's knighting them?
Answer: This varies wildly by region, there's not a single unified way of doing so. It's usually expected one will ask the knight to show different chivalric virtues and serve faithfully on the field of battle, and then it is expected for the Knight to pledge their sword in service to those knighting them. This does mean that a knight must be formally granted permission to leave service (or kicked out of service, as the case may be) to not be considered an oathbreaker for most knightings, but any knight can knight another.
Knightings for a house are often done by the House Sword or by the lord, but neither of these are necessary, and really just how traditional they are feeling. A very formal vow, such as done in the Oathlands by the Sword of Sanctum for service to House Valardin, might go like:
"Do you swear your life, your sword and your sacred honor in service to Prince Edain Valardin, Prince of Sanctum and Highlord of the Oathlands?"
"Do you pledge to defend the gods and their church, protecting the Faith of the Pantheon?"
"Do you pledge to protect the weak and the defenseless, will you be a shield for those that need shelter, and a sword against those that would harm them?"
"Do you swear to act with courtesy and dignity, and bring no dishonor upon your sworn lord?"
"Do you swear to keep your word sacred, tell no lies, and take no oaths that would interfere with your service?"
"Do you swear to obey any lawfully given command, that would stain your honor?"
"Will you show valor in combat, and give no ground unless ordered to do so?"
"Do you swear to act fairly and kindly, to reflect the grace of the gods?"
"Then rise a knight."
Unsurprisingly, many houses clip out quite a few of those, and an 'Oathlands Knighting' is sometimes used as slang for excessively formal ones with way too many vows.
Question: Following the semi-historical paradigm, I am assuming that some (but certainly not all) future knights start out as squires? Would this work similar to fostering out a child (esp. in noble families) to strengthen ties to an individual or different family? I realized I have been making a lot of past background assumptions about Ouida by imagining she was squired/fostered out for training purposes (being the 2nd spare) when she was young. Is this an OK thing to do?
Answer: Yeah, it follows the page->squire->knight paradigm and it's fine to be fostered out, but with one core thematic difference- it's very frowned upon for those under 18 to be in battle, in so much that adults look irresponsible or cruel. It's considered dishonorable to have child soldiers, as a teaching of Gloria. Generally, characters below 18 that saw battle in their past would be considered as non-combatant observers or the like.
Question: Hello! After a fun talk on info and a chat about the various lore files on knighthood, an interesting thought occured: Alexis may knight someone on behalf of Wyrmguard (though it'd be terrible embarrassing if Dominique later said no), but can she create Hedge or Crownsworn Knights, by swearing them to the Gold Order? Or, asked more generally - while the Knights of Solace and the Templars essentially swears someone to the service of the faith as a knight, replacing the fealty they'd normally be sworn to, can the Grandmasters of Knightly Orders swear someone to their order (and by extension the King), but avoiding entanglement and bad feelings with their fealty?
Answer: Yes to all.
Answer: In the Compact, knighthood is tied very close to the concept of enfeoffment. In theory, any knight or noble has the ability to create another knight, taking their oaths. In practice, every knight also takes an oath of loyalty to serve, so if it was a non-noble knight that was knighting someone, they would be acting on a lord or institution's behalf in order to take their vow of fealty as well. An example of this would be a templar, which are almost all knights, and as godsworn they are technically commoners, but are taking the new templar's vow of fealty towards the Crown and the Pantheon. The Compact does not formally recognize a knighthood until it has been confirmed by a house lord (or their Voice), and their title reflects upon the demesne of their lord., often gained by tribute which is in effect purchasing the knighthood. This can cause slight nuance in terms, when a new knight may be called 'a knight of <this city>' to mean a knight of a specific house lord's demesne, versus 'a knight of the Lyceum' for one that has been recognized by the Grand Duchess of the Lyceum. Similarly, 'a knight of the Compact' should normally mean one formally recognized by his majesty, but in practice that would be one of the hundred swords of the King's Own, so it is often used sarcastically to describe any lordless knight that claims to be knighted under suspicious circumstances, such as a sellsword knighted before a battle into temporary service.