King Of Kings

Leadership and figures of authority tend to stack, and so in nature, we always find these systems of power within society. Kings, presidents, sultans, emperors, all of them exist as figures of power with systems of descending authority beneath them. However, first and foremost among all authorities is God, who is the chief king of all kings. Historically, most leaders have attempted to tie themselves to God somehow in order to legitimize their own authority. 
== Order of Kings: ==
"Heavy the head that wears the crown."
Kings are Adepts blessed with a combination of physical toughness and powerful mental capabilities.  The King Adept has enhanced physical strength, nothing on the level of a Champion, of course, but enough to keep their own in a brawl with Evil.  Secondly, Kings can maintain a mental link with team mates during a conflict.  But a King also has the powers of Command and Noble Presence.
Command allows a King to issue orders to someone which they feel powerfully compelled to obey.  This power is usually done through eye contact and verbalization.  The second power, Presence, makes the King out to be even more foreboding and noble looking than they really are.  Kings use that ability to appear strong and dignified to their 'subjects,' something any leader would surely want.
Kings can maintain a mental image of the battlefield, watching over their troops and analyzing events as they happen.  They can also maintain a mental link with their own men, issuing commands via their very thoughts.  Experienced Kings also have a sixth sense for judging the popularity of a certain opinion, allowing them to foresee beforehand what will be most popular with the masses and how to use it.
Finally, Kings posses a natural ability to just read people: a person's motivations, whether they're hiding something, their beliefs and origins and expectations...  Kings can usually figure these things out even only after spending a short amount of time with someone.  Sometimes, according to some Kings, the very answer literally appears in their minds seemingly sent by God Almighty?  Certainly the Kings penchant for leadership and command of so many Squads gives pause for wonder at these tales.
AKA: Children of the Lion, The Lion, Noble Ones, the Publicans.
King Degrees
Noble Heritage Lore
=== Facts: ===
-King Adepts are most often associated with Regents of Squads, of which they have in spades within their own ranks.
-Leaders should never lose their cool, Kings who let their emotions get the better of them (whether it is justified or not) are chided by older and higher ranking members of the Order. 
-Forces are Squads made of Adepts who are hand-picked by King Adepts for single-purpose missions. One Force may be designed to break through any enemy barrier in combat (probably consisting of Champions, Crusaders and Thrones). Another might be designed to spy on hostiles and gather intelligence (Philosophers, Assassins and Tricksters). These forces are equipped with the only best money can buy and through their King leaders, have access to networks of contacts and political clout.
-Because of their natural penchant for leadership and social command, King Adepts gravitate towards politics, military and business careers. The Order is quite wealthy thanks to centuries of investments and power-brokering. Also, the royal families of the world and the rich, upper-class groups tend to rub elbows with Kings more often then most Adepts would think.
-Retinue = Kings who have achieved Veteran status tend to form Retinues, they locate Adepts of singular capabilities and recruit them into an informal Squad bound to the King. In return for his patronage and working towards their individual goals, the members of the Retinue are duty bound to come to the King when he calls for their assistance and to take up missions he assigns to them.
-The Order of Kings is very formal and professional, when new members are located they often receive grants and scholarships to attend private schools, especially ones owned by the Order. There, they receive nothing but the best training, both within and without of the classroom.
-The King's Touch = In medieval times it was believed that the touch of a Christian King brought with it a blessing from God that would heal rare illnesses. Some King Adepts have claimed this worked for them on occasion.
-Spirits of Kings Past = Many King Adepts have reported receiving visions and epiphanies from the spirits of dead King Adepts. Many Kings who become Regent often experience dreams their first few nights where the previous Regent who died may return to them to give them the name of their 'greatest enemy.'
-Because of the stress of so much responsibility, history associates many kings with madness and dementia. Sadly, not a few members of the Order have experienced mental breakdowns as well. 
-Kings have a reputation as gossipers and rumor mongers. As social animals who are often found in the higher tiers of society, they find themselves surrounding by people who do likewise. To incorporate themselves into such high society the Kings must learn to tread the line between passing information and real gossip. 
-Kings often come to be all about the social scene: whose with who, whose in love with who, whose climbing up the social ladder (or falling down it). While knowing such things is a necessity for Kings, it is also a temptation for Kings to become more worried about their appearance and social standing that being the person who stands for what is right. 
-Kings are often attracted to social activism, their penchant for leadership and political activity makes them well suited to dealing with society's ills. 
-Kings are one of the few members in the Major Orders. 
-No one completely commands all of the Ruling Orders, but the Royal Order is clearly the flagship of those Orders who take upon themselves the reigns of leadership. The only other Ruling Order that can really stand up to the Kings in a political or cultural conflict of interests would have to be the Priest Adepts. This has already happened a number of times, which eventually gave birth to the modern policy of separation of church and state. 
-The Order of Kings favor the Desposyni and members of the Great Families can always find a listening ear among the Royals. 
=== Kings And Madness: ===
Leadership is never without stress and not a few minds have cracked under the pressure. The stereotype of the Mad King is well known in modern literature, going far back to the plays of Shakespeare featuring King Richard and even within the Bible itself in the form of paranoid Pontius Pilate, Nebuchadnezzar and King Herod. 
There are a few eccentric personalities within the Order of Kings for sure, but stories abound of 'mad kings' losing their proper faculties, normally after suffering a particularly devastating defeat. Rumors of a special unit operating within the Order that studies and examines Kings for signs of mental weakness are just that, rumors. 
Unless they're not, of course... 
=== Playing the Politician's Game: ===
Kings often get accused of acting like politicians, after years of rubbing elbows with those in power they know how to make subtle demands (or threats) and play the power game. They can make vague statements to cover their tracks politically and know how to give orders as requests. 
The Kings defend themselves by saying that somebody has to play the game of kings and queens, but it doesn't stop the other Orders from caricaturing them. 
Another thing the Kings are known for being good at is bluffing. Attempting to threaten or challenge a King publicly will probably result in them talking you down or outplaying you at the bluffing game. These guys can talk some serious stuff when the situation calls for it, and never bat an eye the entire time. 
=== Specters of Duty: ===
Members of the Orders of Kings have suffered from a supernatural malady that causes them to see the specters of those who died while serving under their command. Most Kings who experience this only suffer from it for awhile, but a few seem to be permanently stricken with the ghostly sight of deceased comrades. 
The specters never speak or move about, they simply stand a ways off, starring at the King not with anger or fear but with simple attention, like a soldier standing before a commanding officer. Kings who have witnessed the phenomena report a feeling of strange calm fall over them along with a sense of duty. 
Mystics within the Order of Kings say the malady is in fact a spiritual crucible given to the Kings by The Almighty, to prevent them from becoming too far removed from their subjects. Kings must always remember that they exist to serve their people even as the people serve them. 
Kings do not speak of the malady with outsiders, preferring (like with many of the Order's secrets) to keep it in house. Curiously, however, there seems to be a few cases where the malady was able to 'infect' non-King Adepts who held positions of leadership and importance. In these instances, someone else outside the Order was often taking instructions from a King Adept and soon enough found themselves witnessing the sight of fallen friends and comrades. 
Such cases usually don't last that long. 
=== United Kingdom: ===
The United Kingdom is historically important to the Order of Kings. It has long been a bastion of the Order, both for cultural as well as strategic reasons. Britain's placement in relation to Western Europe has made it the ideal staging ground for operations for hundreds of years, and the country's cultural emphasis on royalty and monarchy have produced many inductees into the Order. 
-http://www.visitbritain.com/en/US/ 
-http://www.britain-magazine.com/ 
-http://www.bbc.com/
=== Laws of Hospitality: ===
The Order of Kings practice the Biblical laws of hospitality, a tradition which while it has given the individual members occasional burdens, as a whole has made the Kings into a stable pillar of unity and teamwork. Adepts from other Orders know they can find help and refuge from a King, and in so doing the Order of Kings gains favor from their many subjects. 
-http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0009_0_09260.html
=== Ancient Kings: ===
The Order of Kings prides itself on its history and make a concerted attempt to collect and archive recordings and artifacts of past Kings, especially the oldest and most ancient of Kings. From the Pharaohs of Egypt to the Priest-Kings of the Mid-East, from Alexander the Great to Charlemagne, the stories of past kings serve to give form and substance to the modern day Order that bears their collective title. 
-List of Ancient Kings 
-http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/dynastiesandkingslists/a/rulers.htm 
-http://www.nobility-association.com/monarchyhistory.htm
=== The Investiture Controversy: ===
The Order of Kings has long had a love / hate relationship with the Order of Priests. Each Order has repeatedly tried to assert its full authority over the other, and in return the other has retaliated in kind. The historical truth of the matter is that the Kings wield earthly, political power, where else the Priests wield the power of belief, of holy mother church. 
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_Controversy
=== References: ===
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137462/
-http://agentsofshield.wikia.com/wiki/Phillip_%22Phil%22_Coulson
-http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Daisuke_Aramaki
-http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/leadersaf/g/072309KingDavid.htm
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1528100/
-http://www.goodreads.com/series/75742-children-of-the-lion
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0349683/
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055047/
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2245988/
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056907/
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1837576/
-http://thedailyshow.cc.com/
-http://denmark.dk/en/society/monarchy/
-http://www.pbs.org/opb/monarchy/
-http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/HistoryoftheMonarchy.aspx
-http://www.heritage.org/
-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192614/
Category:God
Category:King