Olympic Knights

> "*The Olympic Order exists as an ideal to aspire towards, as a glorious, near unattainable privilege and honour to drive our young swords to master themselves and their craft. And we exist less esoterically to protect the Compact, to defend our way of life." - Marcus au Saud, Hearth archKnight of the Olympic Order.*
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The Olympic Order is an organization tasked with upholding the Compact of the Society, comprised -until recently- of twelve of the best knights of the Sol system. With the reforms introduced by Nikolaos au Fabii, the number of ordained knights was increased to thirteen.

## The Order Reformed

At the beginning of the Rim Campaign, the Sword Armada took the asteroid of Troy. It's capital, Hektor, was the seat of a House fallen from glory, and both the city -renamed Lachesis- and the estate at its peak were remodelled into a fortress for the Order, and a forward post for the Society at the frontier with the Rim. In the time spent there, Nikolaos au Lahcen, then Truth Knight, proposed and saw through a series of reforms to the Order, intended not only to strengthen them, but also to distance them from the Sovereign and reinforce their neutrality in the public eye.

Chief among these reforms were the introduction of the thirteenth office, the Fate Knight -who was to preside over Lachesis, acting as its keeper and ruling authority-, and the Aspirant system. Under this system, the thirteen greatest Olympic training halls of Lachesis would remain open constantly, overseen by the Knight assigned to it when their duties allow. Once a year, each of the halls will hold its own internal Aspirant Tournament, the specifics of which will be decided by the Knight in charge. The winner of each Tournament will be accepted as an Aspirant, and ascend to the Olympic Oikos to live and train daily with other Aspirants. These Aspirants should provide the main body of soldiers for all Olympic special units, as well as serve as a source of apprentices for those looking for one. Once at the Oikos, the Aspirants should keep training, and familiarize themselves with the duties of the Olympics through study of the Compact and Society History. Should any Aspirant catch the eye of an Olympic, the Knight has the ability to enlist the Aspirant into their service, and thus the Aspirant would begin the last period of their learning: tailing the Olympic and witnessing first hand their handiwork. It should be noted that, while being an Aspirant is no guarantee that Olympic rank will be attained, it does offer the right to take on the Trials, as well as invaluable experience.

In the same way that Olympic Knights are recognised by their cloaks, Knight Aspirants are easily identifiable by a band worn on their arm. If the Aspirant is yet to be chosen by an Olympic, they will wear a white band with the emblem of the Order embroidered in gold. A chosen Aspirant will wear a band with the colors and emblem of their mentor, and will be formally addressed by referring to both their Aspirant status and their mentor (for example, an unchosen Aspirant will be addressed simply as "Knight Aspirant" or "Aspirant", whereas the Aspirant in service of the Rage Knight will be addressed as "Knight Aspirant Rage" or "Aspirant Rage").

Before the Fall of Luna, some of the other reforms (like the abolition of the figure of the archKnight and the institution of three domains and their triarchs) were repelled by the Sovereign Octavia au Lune. Furthermore, during the Society's conclave on Mercury, Nikolaos managed to convince the recently crowned Dictator, Cyrus au Grimmus, to reinstate him to an Olympic title -that of Curse, meant to replace Fate as a dark aspect of it now that the Oikos was out of their control, and thus the role of its overseer was not necessary.