Imperial Knights

## Knights of the Empire

The **Imperial Knights**, officially the **Knights of the Empire**, are an order of force-users that are loyal to the Emperor of the Fel Dynasty. Established by the Empress Jaina Solo Fel, wife of the first Emperor Jagged Fel, they have remained as the royal guards and agents for his descendants since 50 ABY.

Imperial Knights are fully trained in the ways of the Force but, unlike previous Imperial Force-user organizations, they reject turning to the Dark Side. However, neither are they strict follow the Light Side. They are viewed as Gray practitioners, ones that draw from both sides of the Force. Ever since the formation of the Galactic Federation Triumvirate, the Imperial Knights and the New Jedi Order have become much closer, with some considering it a sect of the Jedi Order loyal to the Emperor rather than the Grandmaster. It is possible for a Jedi to join the Imperial Knights or vice-versa, though the latter is not as common as Knights wield the Dark Side which goes against the Jedi code.

## Philosophy

The Imperial Knights follow a different code than the Jedi and the Sith. It rejects the dogmatic beliefs of both orders in relation to the nature of the Force. They do not believe in the binary definitions of Light and Dark and instead draw from both sides of the Force, while controlling their temptations to submit to either side. Unlike the Jedi, who cast aside their emotions in order to avoid falling to the Dark Side, or the Sith who freely gave into their emotions, the Imperial Knights believe in controlling their emotions to bring themselves into balance with the Force. It is through this control that they gain mastery in the Force. They summarize their philosophy with the concept of Order above all else. Order is what keeps them from falling to the Dark Side, but allows them to tap into the immense powers that emotion can bring. They do this all for the purpose of serving their Emperor, whom they must protect and watch over. This is because the Imperial Knights believe that the Emperor is the physical manifestation of the Will of the Force within the galaxy. The Emperor's mandate is *divine* as his Will is the Will of the Force. As such to serve the Emperor is the serve the Force.

## Structure

The Imperial Knights have been led by the current Emperor of the Fel Dynasty since the order's creation by Empress Jaina Solo Fel. The Emperor is the only leader which they obey, as such there is no Grandmaster of the Imperial Knights like there is for the New Jedi Order. It is the Emperor that makes all decisions in relation to the Knights' order, however there are exceptions, such as in the case of the Emperor falling to the dark side. It then falls onto the Masters within the Imperial Knights to lead. These Masters all hold the same rank within the order regardless of seniority. They make up the **Circle of Masters**, which meets at the Bastion headquarters of the order. There are always 12 Masters that make up the Circle, with the Emperor holding the 13th seat. An Imperial Knight can only obtain the title of **Imperial Master** directly from the Emperor. The Emperor only gives the title to those Knights that he trusts beyond a doubt and who have proven themselves in his service.

The first step of Knighthood is being recruited by the Imperial Knights. Recruits can be drawn from the New Jedi Order, an Imperial organization - like the Imperial Military, Imperial Mission or Imperial Intelligence -, one of the *Knightly Families* or found by an Imperial Knight during a mission somewhere in the galaxy. When drawn from the Jedi Order, even if the recruit was previously a Jedi Knight or even a Jedi Master, they are expected to study in order to learn the tenants and duties of an Imperial Knight. Upon recruitment, the individual is given the title of **Imperial Page** and is sent to the Imperial Knights Training Facility on Bastion. There they are taught the use of the Force and the Imperial Knight Code by the Facility's **Master Prefect**, a Master of the Knights tasked with training Pages. Once the Pages had passed their initial training they are sent to a Master to become their apprentice.

Imperial Knight apprentices are known as **Imperial Squires**. Squires have no set amount of training required, but are expected to stay at least a few years under the tutelage of an **Imperial Master** until they are deemed ready to be knighted. The Squire is meant to accompany his Master as he performs his duty, learning the teamwork and unity that is central to the tenants of the Order. This continues until the Squire is deemed ready for knighting.

Once their training period is concluded, the individual gains the title of **Imperial Knight**. Imperial Knights operate in pairs so they might still remain with their master as their pair until the Master is required to train another Squire. When that happens the Knight is placed as the partner of another Knight. After years of loyal service, the Knight can be given the rank of **Imperial Master** by the Emperor.

Other than the ranks of Pages, Squires, Knights and Masters, the order possesses specialist ranks for its Masters:

* **Master Armorer** - a Master specialized in creating and maintaining and up-keeping the order's armor and suits, as well as crafting special equipment such as specialized suits of life-preserving armor for Knights who had been severely injured.
* **Master Alchemist** - a Master specialized in creating the artificial crystals used by the Imperial Knights for their lightsabers. They are the ones that guards the secrets of the Sith Alchemy used to make the artificial silver crystals.
* **Master Prefect** - a Master tasked with the training of Imperial Pages on Bastion, being the one in charge of the Imperial Knights Training Facility.

Prior to the reestablishment of the Inquisitorious in 1001 ABY, the title of *Hand of the Emperor* was granted to Masters of the Knights who became agents of the Emperor instead of just his protectors. The Hands were sent off to carry out the Emperor's will across the galaxy and held near equal authority to him inside of the Empire. After the reestablishment of the Inquisitorious, however, the position of Hand was terminated and those that had been Hands were integrated into the new Inquisitorious.

### Knightly Families

The **Knightly Families** are a collection of force-sensitive families, either of the nobility or not - though all of them hold a high amount of prestige-, that are known for providing generations of members of the Imperial Knights. Members of the Imperial Knights have no restrictions on marriage or procreating, so some of these families were formed when Knights had children that inherit their gifts and continued their legacies. Other Knightly families were already force-sensitive families within the Empire that had existed for generations before starting to send members of join the Imperial Knights as a means of gaining favor from the Emperor or from a sense of duty to the Empire. The most notable out of all of these are the Fel Dynasty themselves, as every generation of the Fels is trained by the Imperial Knights though not many of them remain within the organization after initial training. Other Knightly families include:

* Cascol Family: A rather new Knightly family from the throne world of Bastion that has served the Fels for a couple hundred years.
* Dare Family: A Knightly family that has served the Fels loyally since before the Sith-Imperial War.
* House Chalk: A branch family of the Hapan Royal House, the main branch of which is currently the House of Solo, that has served the Fels since before the Sith-Imperial War with the marriage of Princess Elliah Chalk to Emperor Roan Fel.
* House Galfridian: Rulers of the planet Artorias and often also named Moffs of the Myto sector. The family's force-sensitivity has been recorded since at least the Yuuzhan Vong War. Once a prominent ally of the New Jedi Order under the leadership of Jedi King Finn Galfridian, their loyalties have since shifted to the Empire and the Fels but they still remain friendly with the Jedi.
* Krieg Family: A Knightly family that has served the Fels loyally since the Sith-Imperial War.
* Nihonite Clans: The noble clans of Nihon are all force-sensitive due to their planet being a Force Nexus. Because of this they have been able to provide the Empire with numerous Imperial Knights since the Nihonite Shogunate was annexed in 860 ABY. They provided so many Knight candidates that a sect called the *Imperial Auxilia* was formed to take up all these new members. Most notable of these clans is the Senshi clan, the planet's royal family, the Hato clan and the Geto clan.
* Sinde Family: A Knightly family that has served the Fels loyally since the reign of Emperor Jagged Fel II.
* Val Family: A Knightly family that has served the Fels loyally since the Second Imperial Civil War.
* Vetter Family: A Knightly family that has served the Fels loyally since the Sith-Imperial War.

### Imperial Auxilia

The **Imperial Auxilia**, officially the **Imperial Knights Auxilia** or colloquially known as the **Nihon Knights**, are a sect within Imperial Knights made from the force-sensitive natives of the world of Nihon. They act in a supporting role to the Imperial Knights and aid in their duties to defend the Fel Dynasty with their greater numbers. Unlike the Imperial Guard also utilised by the Imperial Knights as soldiers, the Auxilia are trained in the use of the Force. The Imperial Auxilia use the same rank structure as the other Imperial Knights, though the prefix *Auxiliar* is used instead of *Imperial*, and their members are generally referred to as Auxiliars.

This sect was created in 860 ABY by Empress Andriah Fel and her husband Emperor Ken Senshi II following the annexation of the Nihonite Imperium, which became the Nihonite Shogunate, into the Empire. The Nihonites are a force-sensitive race with a strong connection to the Force due to their homeworld being a Force Nexus. As such their annexation into the Empire gave the Knights a plethora of new potential recruits to draw from. This became a problem, however, because the Imperial Knights were not equipped to handle such a large influx of new recruits. Fear of the standard kept by the Imperial Knights diminishing led to a new group utilising the already present traditions of the Nihonites in addition to some Imperial Knight practices led to the founding of the Imperial Auxilia.

The Imperial Auxilia are equipped with a red flexible mesh-suit similar to that of the Imperial Knights, as well as red robes and partial red plastoid armor. Unlike the Imperial Knights, however, the Auxilia wear helmets of similar design to the former Royal Guard of Emperor Palpatine. Imperial Auxilia's main weapons are made of kandasia alloy - which has similar properties to beskar. Kandasian katanas and kandasian spears are their primary melee weapons, with kandasian kunais giving them a throwing support weapon.

### Inquisitorius

The **Inquisitorius**, colloquially known as the **Black Knights**, is the revived **Imperial Inquisition** reformed in 1001 ABY after the awakening of Darth Magice and his Sith Dominion by Emperor Tragus Fel II. Formed from members of the Imperial Knights, the Inquisitorius' primary mission is to hunt down and purge the Sith, in contrast with Palpatine's Inquisitorius who hunted the Jedi. Inquisitors can also act as Force-user agents of the Emperor and sent on other tasks that he requires. Because of this, the Inquisitorious absorbed the duties and members of the *Hands of the Emperor*, terminating that position.

The Inquisitors are specialized in killing other force-users, with emphasis on countering Dark Side abilities. As a splinter faction of the Imperial Knights, they are small and only recruit from within the Knights and Masters of the order - those with proven skill and the willpower to kill their enemies without mercy.

The Inquisitors are equipped with the same equipment as their Imperial Knight brothers, though their armor is colored fully black instead of the red used by the rest of the Knights. They still wield silver lightsaber blades.

When an Imperial Knight becomes a member of the Inquisitorious they have given an additional title besides their Knightly rank. These are: **Grand Inquisitor**, given to the Master that leads the Inquisition; **High Inquisitor**, given to other Masters that join the Inquisition and lead teams of Inquisitors; **Inquisitor**, given to Knights who join the Inquisition..

## Equipment

The Imperial Knights, unlike the Jedi Order, have standardized equipment. When conducting their duty of protecting the Emperor and his family, they wear the same set of armor and wield very similar lightsabers. This standardization of their armor and weapon is symbolic of the order's unity. The armor of an Imperial Knight is made up of a set of crimson durasteel armor and a black flexible mesh-suit interwoven with phrik filaments to provide some defense against lightsaber attacks. The Imperial insignia is shown prominently on the left pauldron and right gauntlet. The bracer of the Knight's main hand, usually the right bracer, is made of pure cortosis to render any lightsaber that strikes it useless for several minutes. All Imperial Knights use lightsabers with similarly designed hilts that produce the same silver colored blade. Their lightsaber crystals are synthetic, similar to the Sith's red kyber crystals. They are created using Sith alchemical techniques that the Imperial Knights adopted from Darth Sidious' Book of Anger. Unlike the Jedi, the Imperial Knights do not put any significance in the construction of their lighsaber. To an Imperial Knight, a lightsaber was merely a tool.

The Inquisitors use the same standard lightsabers and equipment as the other Imperial Knights, but are equipped with pure black armor.

## Combat Styles

The Imperial Knights developed their own fighting styles, based on the first lightsaber styles of the New Jedi Order: the Strong, Medium and Fast Styles; that were created by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker before the order restored the practice of the original seven lightsaber forms. From these three styles, the Imperial Knights developed their *Praetoria Styles*.

Of these, the two most prominent used amount the Knights are *Praetoria Ishu* and *Praetoria Vonil*. Praetoria Vonil is an offensive style of lightsaber combat developed by the Imperial Knights that focused on moving quickly and striking hard with one's lightsaber, it adapted many moves from the Strong Style of the New Jedi Order but with placed greater emphasis on teamwork than on one's individual prowess. The same focus on teamwork applies to the Praetoria Ishu style, which is a defensive style of lightsaber combat designed to protect the allies of the lightsaber wielder so that they might find openings in an opponent's defenses. It borrowed some techniques from the Fast Style. From the Medium Style, *Praetoria Modus* was created. It is an intermediate form between Vonil and Ishu and was based on adapting to the movements of the enemy and the Knight's partner. It is the easiest form to teach to Squires. Due to its reactive nature, it is usually used in between Vonil and Ishu as a transitioning form.

To offer the Knights more flexibility while fighting alone a new style was created called *Praetoria Solum*. Unlike the three more common styles, the Solum style centers around individual prowess and was most commonly used by Hands of the Emperor as they often went on missions alone and could not rely on teamwork to overcome their opponents. It borrows much form the Modus style, making great use of its reactive focus. The Solum style's main movements could be grafted onto either the Vonil or the Ishu style, creating hybrid forms that could give the Knight better offense or defense respectively.

Another form called *Praetoria Kira* was developed based on the Vaapad style, a variation of Form VII first developed by Jedi Master Mace Windu. The Kira style had first developed during the final defeat of the Sith in 140 ABY. It was used primarily against Dark Side users of the force. It allowed the Knights to enter a state of mind that led through the penumbra of the dark side, accepting the fury of their opponent, and transforming them into one half of a superconducting loop, with the other half being the power of darkness inherent in the opponent. After the defeat of the last Sith, the form fell out of use, until the reestablishment of the Inquisitorious after the return of the Sith in 1001 ABY. This ancient form became the primary form of the new Inquisitors who were tasked with hunting down the Sith.

While uncommon among the Imperial Knights, there are those that utilize two lightsabers instead of a single saber. With two sabers it is harder to use the Ishu and Vonil styles effective and one needs to rely more on Solum. However, even Solum has movements that are hindered by the second saber so the Knights developed *Praetoria Duis*. It borrows much from the Jar'Kai Form and the Ataru Form used by the Jedi. Duis favors offensive movements, leaning on the belief that offense is the best defense.

## Members

* Emperor Tragus Fel II
* Princess Xarah Fel
* Prince Gallinus Fel
* Princess Andriah Fel
* Master Aen Vath (Male Muun), Master Prefect and member of the Circle
* Master Ohoda Hulis (Male Miralukan), Master Alchemist and member of the Circle
* Master Kamwar Had (Male Ithorian), Master Armorer and member of the Circle
* Master Boris Sazen (Male Zabrak), member of the Circle
* Master Leojos Westmayl, member of the Circle
* Master Madurrin Vaunk (Female Anx), member of the Circle
* Master Hanjade Chalk (Female Hapan) member of the Circle
* Master Alabea Krieg (Female Human), member of the Circle
* Master Divejis Sinde (Female Human), member of the Circle
* Master Kenn Gynt (Male Nautolan), member of the Circle
* Master Brock Warv (Male Ramoan), member of the Circle
* Master Sidkolt Dare (Male Human)
* Master Dalush Dan, bodyguard of Princess Dalia Kira Fel and Prince Lucius Fel
* Knight Aurein Fel, Imperial Prince
* Knight Fianna Galfridian (Female Human)
* Knight Kutu Kulka (Male Ho'Din)
* Knight Sanirr Culu (Female Miralukan)
* Knight Kirhale Tremayne (Female Human)
* Knight Aliska Darys (Female Human)
* Knight Uhvie Kerada-Pasiq, bodyguard of Princess Dalia Kira Fel and Prince Lucius Fel
* Knight Nessull Sirrah (Male Human)
* Knight Zarre Tesla (Male Human)
* Knight Aussid Venge (Male Human)
* Knight Threx Enisence (Male Skrilling)
* Knight Xohuna Tuum (Female Cathar)
* Knight Abby Cros (Female Nyriaanan)
* Knight Qyssek Rrogon (Male Kaleesh)
* Squire Yuliya Val (Female Human)
* Squire Mesro Yiaso (Female Zabrak)
* Squire Lucmal Torbin (Male Human)
* Squire Jaia Brandl (Female Human)
* Squire Irv Slosin (Male Entuuran)
* Squire Marjane Redge (Female Human)
* Squire Ean Chael (Male Human)
* Squire Dani Korlin (Female Human)
* Squire Zacthais Saar (Male Chev)
* Squire Ravra (Female Feeorin)
* Squire Taga Boru (Male Bosph)

### Inquisitorius Members

* Master Arka Kloth, Grand Inquisitor and member of the Circle
* Master Tjax Cascol, High Inquisitor
* Master Shella Nulve, High Inquisitor
* Master Xar Airre, High Inquisitor

### Former Members

* Empress Jaina Solo Fel
* Master Anakin Fel
* Master Mohrgan Fel
* Empress Elliah Chalk Fel
* Master Eshkar Niin
* Knight Rand Ko
* Master Elke Vetter
* Knight Jao Assam
* Master Treis Sinde
* Master Hogrum Chalk, Master Armorer
* Master Yalta Val, Prefect
* Master Sigel Dare
* Master Antares Draco, Consort of Empress Marasiah
* Master Azlyn Rae Krieg
* Master Ganner Krieg
* Empress Esther Krieg Fel
* Empress Kung'arne'tann "Garnet" Fel
* Master Roan Olin, Consort of Empress Lucima
* Empress Dwi Sinde Fel
* Empress Brigit Galfridian Fel
* Empress Ranika Solusar Fel
* Master Ostoni Sinde
* Master Shakal Chalk
* Empress Zoya Val Fel
* Master Yosyp Val
* Empress Inidae Horn Fel
* Master Troy Carrick, Consort of Empress Pitina
* Master Fergus Galfridian, Consort of Empress Andriah
* Empress Zeri Plo Fel
* Master Iuqaali Cascol, Prefect
* Empress Zuri Lsu Fel
* Princess Lucinta Fel
* Master Hilda Vetter (Female Human), Hand of the Emperor
* Master Chaall Suban (Female Chalactan), Hand of the Emperor

Former ruling Emperors & Empresses