Custodial Empire's Knight Pledge
Within the Custodial Empire exists a strong tradition of knights who master their swordsmanship and protect the realm, all in the name of the continents stability. That was at least the intention for the first century of the nation, until knights became part of nobility. Instead of using the knights pledge to raise honorable warriors and to ensure the preservation of the nations great fighting styles, it became a tool to raise the status of adventurer's and mercenaries by nobles to keep their perceived power in check with other nobles. A Custodial knight now holds the association of a warrior selected by nobility rather than a noble and skilled warrior.
A knight shall take an apprentice to teach, allowing their legacy to survive with the birth of a new knight. At the end of time, our history shall exist within their swordsmanship.Marcus Licinius Cerularius - First Emperor of the Custodial Empire
Execution
A knight's pledge is always done by at least three people, two knights and one apprentice, but the more knight present the greater the pledge is perceived. The apprentice shall enter onto or into any arena, the place shall be well defined but can be anything from a training stage to a field of flowers. The knight who brings the apprentice into knighthood shall enter afterwards to engage in a duel. The results of the duel are irrelevant and end when either party is unable to continue or the knight is satisfied. The second knight and potentially more will be surrounding the arena and judge the apprentice to see if they are worthy. The apprentice must ask if there is any knight who would question his skill and any of the surrounding knights can do so by stepping into the arena and duel the apprentice. This continues until there is no knight left that stands against the ceremony and the apprentice takes the pledge by swearing to uphold the virtues of knighthood.
The execution was slowly eroded as some of high nobility decided to make their own knights by their own authority which slowly tainted the validity of knights across the Custodial Empire. The ritual duel has turned into a show and there are often expectations that other knights do not interfere if a noble is sponsoring the apprentice.
