Hellknights

## History

### Founding of the Hellknights

The Hellknights were a cult of Rakta turned organization and eventual worldly balance

The cult of the same name had created their giant tube of a base within the first age as a headquarters for world leaders and tyrants to congregate, after however they become much more religious and fanatical adopting the teachings of Rakta, Boodskapper, and devils into their order.

## Philosophy

Regardless of their severity, Hellknights are not an inherently evil group; they are wholly unconcerned with morality. Although there are numerous evil members—particularly among their upper echelons—the majority of the orders are impartial arbiters and enforcers of order and justice. They see the study of Hell's tenets and even the summoning of devils as tools meant to intimidate and strengthen the individual resolve of the orders' members. Hellknights are taught to replace emotion with steely discipline, and are not interested in methods: only the end results matter.

While Hellknights are widely feared and respected, the common Hellknight joins out of a sense of duty and a wish to be a part of something greater, seeing a world ruled by laws and free of rampaging beasts and cheating thieves as a future well-worth striving toward, even at the sacrifice of freedom. Countries and rulers sometimes invite Hellknights into their lands, leaving the dirty business of harsh law enforcement to an already loathed third party, although convincing Hellknights to leave once they have been welcomed sometimes proves problematic for more freedom-loving societies.

## Training

Hellknights face barbazus as part of their Hellknight test initiation.

They train with summoned devils, the signifers of their orders coaxing the ingenuity of diabolical tactics from infernal tongues, while the rank and file members spar against the very denizens of Hell—making nearly any future conflict a far less daunting prospect. They learn that sacrifices must often be made for the greater good, obey draconian regimens of military conduct, commit to encyclopaedic memorization of the laws of their orders and local governing bodies, and undergo constant drills to train their bodies and minds.

## Appearance

A Hellknight in Hellknight plate.

Every order of Hellknights has a distinctive, intimidating style of full plate armor that distinguishes them from the others that is only allowed to be worn after the individual Hellknight has defeated a devil in combat. All Hellknights wear the armor of their order as a matter of pride and are rarely seen without it. The Order of the Nail's armor, for example, features a horned helm and demon-faced breastplate.

## Organization and orders

Hellknights are ruled by not a single individual but rather a representative of each order who is the ruler of their particular area of expertise and geographical location.

### Organization

The leader of a Hellknight order is known as the lictor, while a leader whose training is more scholarly and less martial is known as a vicarius. Beneath him are an order's master or mistress of blades (field commanders) and paravicar (leader of the order's arcane/religious forces). Beneath them, paralictors (Hellknight officers), signifers (Hellknight spellcasters), rank and file Hellknights, and armigers (Hellknights in training) flesh out the ranks.

### Major orders

There are numerous orders of Hellknights. All orders have a homebase within one or multiple layers of the Darklands, while there is a place for every order within the surface and 1st layer it may not be as strong or dedicated as if it were within the "home" layer.

###### Order of the Chain

* Members of the Order of the Chain are skilled at hunting down and capturing criminals, especially those who dare flee from justice.
* Surface, 1st layer, and 2nd layers, most common in Cyril.

###### Order of the Gate

* The Hellknight signifers of the Order of the Gate seek to prevent lawlessness of all types through the use of their considerable spellcasting prowess and command of fiendish outsiders.
* 5th and 6th layer, the most dangerous, maddening, soul suffocating layers of the Darklands where even many of the natural inhabitants dare not even think to come to this layer however the Hellknights believe it to hold untold secrets among its many dangerous inhabitants.

###### Order of the Godclaw

* The Order of the Godclaw’s Hellknights see their cause as a holy mandate from the Godclaw. They seek to punish criminals with a zeal rarely matched by others who enforce the law.
* 1st layer of the Darklands shared with the chain, common for criminals and races such as drow and duegar to be in.

###### Order of the Nail

* Members of the Order of the Nail see civilized society as an ideal and seek to unite all people within their cultural baseline. They also seek to destroy anyone who does not accept Lawful culture along with the wild beasts that threaten the safety of civilization.
* All Layers, they are extremely necessary assets and valued above all other's, but are not known for exceeding expectations.

###### Order of the Pyre

* The Order of the Pyre is dedicated to eliminating those faiths and beliefs they consider to be a threat to Cyril. They are particularly keen on stamping out dangerous cults.
* 1th and 2nd layer, though many fear the insanities wrought from being so far down that they remain in the surface till they are prepared

###### Order of the Rack

* Members of the Order of the Rack seek to eliminate wastefulness throughout Cyril. They seek to quash pointless dreams, quell rebellions, and destroy dangerous inventions.
* Surface and 1st layer only, uncommon in general but exist nonetheless.

###### Order of the Scourge

* Hellknights of the Order of the Scourge hunt those who pervert the law for their own selfish ends. They seek to destroy corruption and those who hide behind unjust laws and bureaucracy.
* Surface layer, common among other societies seeking 3rd party help--occasionally they go to the 1st layer.