Sanguinary Knights

From the fortresses of Stronghold, the Sanguinary Knights rule over a domain of feudal worlds sworn to the service of the Fellowship, bound by oath to serve the Knights in their vision of a galaxy rid of the xenos, where Man holds total dominance. The planets of the Sanguinary Fellowship are banded together into a single state-structure, either directly ruled by Knight-Lords or by a loyal nobility, the freedom of the citizens and serfs kept secure as long as they remain faithful to their protectors.

Legend has it that the Sanguinary Knights were once an organization dedicated to genealogical research, their pursuits not martial but academic, trying to rid the galaxy of genetic diseases and maladies. However, over time their influence and wealth grew as governments paid large sums for them to eradicate various epidemics and localized gene-variations. With their new financial capabilities, the Sanguinary Fellowship acquired private armies to do their bidding and became part-bank, part-research establishment as the private military was used to force debtors to pay as well as forcibly shepherd or cull those afflicted by disease. As their power grew, the hubris of the once well-meaning scientists grew and they believed themselves placed above the laws and government of regular states and in time created their own splinter territory. Over the centuries the research aspect of their organization withered away and was replaced with a fervent militarism and a revival of chivalric codes, all the while the dream of genetically pure galaxy was morphed into a dream of Human ascendancy and entitlement. The Sanguinary Knights was formed eight centuries ago and has firmly entrenched themselves as a political and military power in the galaxy.

The Sanguinary Fellowship is strictly hierarchical.
At the very top is the leadership caste of the Sanguinary Knights. Led by the *High Lord of the Order*, an immensely powerful individual who must have come through the ranks, all the way from lowly squire to the very top, the High Lord holds total control over the entire Fellowship, both the Knights and the worlds under the Fellowship's control.
After the High Lord are the *Grand Master* and the *Lord Marshal*, the political and military second-in-commands respectively and they deal with the minutiae of running the state and military. The Lord Marshal is also the High Lord's premier lieutenant on the battlefield and often leads the armies of the Fellowship in person.
In addition to these are the eight *Dux*, one for each inhabited world in the Fellowship, as well as the *Constables*, military nobles dedicated to leading troops, and *Barons* nobles with both military responsibilities and holds land in the name of the Sanguinary Knights.

The Sanguinary Knights themselves are all warriors wholly devoted to the eternal war against the enemies of Humanity. They all start out as aspirants at a very young age before undergoing selection and becoming Squires. As Squires they follow a Knight-Brother for a number of years, all the while training relentlessly and assisting the Knight in war. If they survive, the Squires are then elevated to the position as Knight-Brother and is allowed to don the plate of a true knight. They will at this point have trained and fought for the better part of two decades, as well as undergoing various gene-therapies and surgeries to improve their strength, agility, coordination and reflexes. The Knights are more than men, despite the inherent hypocrisy this carries regarding their proclaimed quest, but they are deemed a necessary evil to fight the war on behalf of all the humans who are not able or incapable of defeating the xenos. The Knights are never very numerous in number, usually never more than 12,000, but when gathered in an army, supplemented by vassal forces, they are nigh unstoppable in conventional battle. Their adamantium-infused carbonite plate armour is impervious to nearly all types of small-arms fire and regular melee weapons, their adamantium blades can cut through carbonite-steel like paper and their incredible strength and skill is superior to most enemies.

However, most of the Fellowship is made up of regular humans, sworn to serve the Knights and their ideals, most of which swear this oath willingly. Human nobility control territories and cities on the Fellowship worlds, and ordinary men and women form the vast majority of the Fellowship's armies. There is also a class of indentured serfs who perform the menial tasks on the large farms across the Fellowship worlds, their servitude ensuring a steady stream of foodstuffs to feed the Knights' domain.