Yadran Knighthoods and the Cavalry of Dukes

The Yadran Knighthoods and the Cavalry of Dukes are a set of

## **Yadran Knighthooods**

Stories from Yadrani depict the cold ascetics and knightly valor that conquer the minds of Yadran children. In fact, is the dream of most peasantry even today, long after the advent of FTL travel, that they can one day have the chance to become knights. They hope to one day shout the famous words of the ancient legacy the peoples have, words they are taught growing up but which cannot be spoken in public except by a Knight or Duke:

”Vey Vicktori! Sey Vitktora! Empiha! GORHMULHA!”

> *- The chant of the Yadran Knighthoods.*
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## **History**

Kartheman society has always used knighthoods as far back as their relatively short written history goes. Rough archaeological evidence from their homeworld suggests they started their use almost five hundred or so years before the Exodus took humanity from its birth world of earth. In the stonework of King Vicktori and his husband and court ‘mage’ Viktora, their founding of the orders of knights and dukes is portrayed in the same works that show the two of them founding the fatherly kingdom that eventually encompassed the entirety of what is considered now to be the “Northwest Commonwealth”. Stories from Yadran oral tradition depict Yadran star ships almost a hundred years before the time of the Commonwealth’s founding speech.

Then, the plague came, and all that vanished.

Not even the Yadran dukes knew what exactly happened, but the story goes that when Viktora died, Vicktori went mad and murdered his sons to the families extinction. Thus, without an emperor (or Empiha in their own language) succession was, for the first time in the empire’s existence, unclear. Thus, came the founding and breaking off of the knightly orders who were forced to, for reasons unknown, kill their society on all planets other than their homeworld.

The dukes, who eventually went out of their way to elect an emperor, are reputed to be guilty of this, and were called the ‘plague on their own houses,’ but the reason to wipe away their chances of a quick galactic dominion were unclear, as doing such a thing seems odd by the standards of even the most clever and unorthodox Ciphers.

## **Yadran Knighthoods and their purpose**

In the end, they failed, and thus a great dark age struck the planet that left it behind Ortus and the Commonwealth technologically. Knights, which were once a noble class, became like the knights from earth, ‘Gallant Dragon slayers’, who ‘fought for the people’ and whose ashes were thrown in the Witches Pot to have their name kept through the ages.

Again, like that ‘plague’ was all a farce, and only the dukes and Empiha knew that they are playing a power play that intended to create a strong class of, ‘Knightly Wizards’. That would make them unbeatable in combat.

Then the Biluan's came, and killed the divides that would make them so.

Then the Biluan's came, and murdered the Dually elected family of royals down to cousins and one very sickly old man who ruled until the, “Great Southeastern war.” This crisis, wouldn’t be adverted by a simple dark age, by the time the Biluans capital was conquered back by the Commonwealth, the empire was doomed, its icons smashed, and its country and kingdoms and dual lineages brought to heel in but two wars.

Whats knights to do, but try to make themselves king!

By the time Ortus had gotten over the shock of having all their allies coalition against one another, the myriad kingdoms where embroiled into multistage civil wars and brutish onslaughts and rapes that look as though they are taking place in a middle age, not a enlightened one with Ortan Plasmktark Revolvers and Yadran Flash lances. Yet, it was, and was arguably the only reason the, ‘No Mans Land’, became such a symbol of propaganda in the home front.

The most famous knighthoods where those that succeed and ended up actually fortifying a very particular world called K’tanab.

There, they found the last great knightly order, and one which united all the remaining knighthoods under one banner known adequately as, ‘The knights Of Viktori’, and later the, ‘Knights of Victory’

This children‘s rhyme said it best:

“Heard did ya‘ the duke‘s cousin Freece, rider of the end times made mad sad with his mother disgrace. Stony faced, living disgrace, bedded his own daughter and named himself chaste!”

No matter the brutality, the character depicted was fairly accurate, Freece Ar’ Macktie was the most despicable creature that the Commonwealth had to duel with as of the modern period. He dueled in the front line, was addicted to building in depth fortifications on the fly, and was responsible for turning Ka’tanab into the most brutal dance during the, “Great Southeastern War”.

He did this, thanks to his surprisingly efficient and Cipher-esk strategy of putting the problem in front of all, and asking all to deal with it their own way.

\*Knights of Gaul‘Ankr where unmounted, thus they need not leave the trenches and castles and act as storm troopers when needed.

\*Knights of Pebblebottom where aquatic focused, and thus they kept the navy at arms length from battles unless they knew they would win.

\*Knights of The burning Dragon set themselves on fire to....really no effect other than causing them to be the second knightly order of Ka’tanab to go extinct (the only reason it wasn't the first one was due to the orbital bombardment of the entire navy Freece controlled on the first day of invasion).

No matter the case, the story ended like it was, Freece, thinking he could stop the advance of the hoards by holding himself inside a mountain fortress, which the Commonwealth promptly blew up killing him and the last knightly orders of Yadran origin.