Imperial Knights-Brethren of the Holy Beacon Oriflame

The Imperial Knights-Brethren of the Holy Beacon Oriflame, more commonly called the Oriflame Knights or the Oriflame Order, are an ancient and quasi-sovereign chivalric martial order who control the territory of Baltusraal within the Helvandrian League. Whereas most of the League member states originated in the anarchic period after the Asgali Empire's collapse, the history of the Oriflame Knights stretches back much further, to the early days of the Empire itself. They (and their control of the area more or less corresponding to contemporary Baltusraal) thus pre-date the League by many centuries, and they regard their current membership in it as only a temporary arrangement to be tolerated for the time being. The grand master of the knighthood holds the rank of a League Elector, and he and his councils rule Baltusraal with the same rights, duties, and prerogatives as the other magnates of the League states. 
Although the Old Empire has been gone for centuries, and although they have accepted the political reality of the Helvandrian League, the knights retain an intense pride in their origins and still insist on all their traditional titles and honorifics. In their view, these were bestowed upon them by the Asgali emperor and can only be rescinded by his decree. The fact that there isn't currently an Asgali emperor, and hasn't been one for centuries, is no concern of theirs. Their ancient oaths bound them directly to the emperor, and since the Asgali collapse, they have (in principle) regarded themselves as obedient only to their own laws of martial virtue, League membership notwithstanding. 
The name of the order comes from their most cherished treasure, a wondrous banner or battle-standard said to have been gifted to the order's founder by the temmataiyu of Tefra. This forked, triple-tailed oriflame was made of pale yellow silk, marvelously worked and reputedly impossible to rip or tear, emblazoned with a rampant she-tiger (the sacred emblem of Tefra) worked in lustrous white and sky-blue silk thread. When flown in battle it was said to shine with a golden-white radiance, serving as a beacon of valor for the knights and a signal of doom for their enemies. The white tiger is consequently also a symbol of the knighthood, used in their heraldry and seals and so forth, and the order is also sometimes called the White Tiger Knighthood or White Tiger Order. The knights themselves may be called White Tigers or Tiger's Claws, the latter being something of a pejorative with connotations of rapaciousness and aggression towards common people.