Knightly Order

**Knightly Orders** is a term to describe nobility in freelance service that came together to form an order of knights. Knightly orders are commonly associated with sellswords as they often sell their services to kingdoms and cities, sometimes for menial tasks like driving out local banditry, and usually for warfare against other kingdoms. Although initially starting as small bands of anointed knights seeking coin for service, knightly orders have grossly evolved to the point where multiple knightly orders could easily accompany a full formation of mounted knights as well as double the number of retainers who could be just as equally armoured. Many knightly orders are used in battle, but sometimes may also be used to train militias and take command of entire armies if there are no suitable commanders present.

## Origins and History

### The High Middle Period

Knightly Orders began to appear in the High Middle Period following the Great Hunger in the 6th century as powerful nobles and far-reaching feudal kingdoms were forced to cut ties with lesser nobles due to their excess with little return, and as the famine was at an all time high for many feudal kingdoms, many landless knights soon found themselves with no liege and no titles to make money from, leading many to become hedge knights, robber knights and some banding together to create knightly orders. The Bold Legion was the first of these knightly orders after a generous Lord Ralph of Hewton Castle, gave the Bold Legion his coastal castle after accepting a hefty bribe to live in the nearby city of Bluzeil.

The introduction of knightly orders in Clamund meant that many lords were able to easily raise a band of knights just by allowing the construction of a castle to house their order. Many knightly orders were established in this fashion as it gave destitute lords with lots of land the ability to have a formation of knights called into their army for a selected period of time while also allowing knightly orders to sell their swords when not in their lord's service. This low-obligation feudal contract gave enough flexibility for both the liege lord and the order to profit from the deal, thus allowing the knightly orders to thrive.

### The Early Medieval Period

The early medieval period is what many consider the golden age of mercenaries due to the rise of conflicts between nations and kingdoms. These hard times were perfect for knightly orders as well. Some were even granted property and their own castles as rewards for their dedicated service and ferocity. Despite this golden period of conflict, many mercenary companies including a few knightly orders were reduced to rely on banditry and robbery in order to survive, these sorts of knightly orders will eventually branch off of one another and be labelled as robber knights.

At this point mostly every trace of feudal knights in a lords service have been abolished. All but a very few kingdoms in Clamund still upheld this ancient oath, but the need and payback is very limited. Almost every knight that has been apart of a battle in this era were knights hired from a Knightly Order. Not only was this more cost-effective, but lords that favoured the fight in a landless order can construct castles within their lands to "gift" them territory in exchange for military service, creating a weird distortion of the earlier feudal system.

Despite the title of knightly order shared between several well established orders, only a scant few actually contain anointed knights. This is common throughout the early medieval period as the rise in the need for mercenaries brought many popular sellswords to riches and fame which allowed them to be equipped as well if not better than a common knight. With the ways of knighthood and chivalry disappearing among these orders and across the realm as well, and the need for sellswords in Clamund has injured and killed many knights in total, knightly orders would instead recruit rich and famous sellswords into their ranks to fill gaps in their ranks. These recruits would not only bolster numbers, but many knightly orders were content as many of these recruits already came with their equipment and training, forgoing the slow and tedious process of training and anointing another knight entirely.

## Known Orders

Currently, there are over dozens of known knightly orders that are established in Clamund as well as dozens of ones not officially recognized by the realm either because they turned to banditry or were abolished. The following are the most notable orders that are operating in Clamund.

* The Knights of the Wood
* The Order of the Hen
* The Bannered Knights
* The Guardians of the River
* Knights of Garung
* The Bold Legion
* The Shields of Peace
* Knights of the East
* The Knights of the Ale