Knight
In Akerlan a knight is a professional man-at-arms who has been ceremonially dubbed after serving as a page and squire. The dignity is personal and non-hereditary: it may be held by commoners of exceptional talent or by cadets of noble families who have not yet earned, or never will inherit, higher rank. Almost every active knight belongs to one of three chivalric brotherhoods—the Silver Order of Silver Valley, the Iron Order of Iron Hill, or the Copper Order of The copper fields—which regulate discipline, standards of equipment, and the moral code of chevalrie. Knights rank below Lord-Knights, above the urban militia officers, and constitute the backbone of the kingdom’s heavy cavalry.
Duties
Military Service – Knights must appear at any royal, ducal, or comital muster with horse, arms, and a squire, liable for forty days of campaign each year (extended at the Crown’s wage). They function as shock cavalry, vanguard scouts, or, when dismounted, elite line infantry.
Garrison & Patrol – Between wars they rotate through order chapterhouses, border forts, and royal highways, policing brigandage, escorting tax convoys, and drilling local levies.
Order Obligations – Each brotherhood enforces a code requiring defence of the weak, respect for clergy, truthful speech, and obedience to licit authority. Knights attend quarterly chapter meetings for confessional review and tactical exercises.
Ceremonial Roles – Provide guards of honour at coronations, ducal weddings, and state funerals; adjudicate tourneys; witness charters requiring martial endorsement.
Training & Mentorship – Senior knights take on squires, teaching horsemanship, arms, and the chivalric virtues, and must present candidates for dubbing to an order master.
Garrison & Patrol – Between wars they rotate through order chapterhouses, border forts, and royal highways, policing brigandage, escorting tax convoys, and drilling local levies.
Order Obligations – Each brotherhood enforces a code requiring defence of the weak, respect for clergy, truthful speech, and obedience to licit authority. Knights attend quarterly chapter meetings for confessional review and tactical exercises.
Ceremonial Roles – Provide guards of honour at coronations, ducal weddings, and state funerals; adjudicate tourneys; witness charters requiring martial endorsement.
Training & Mentorship – Senior knights take on squires, teaching horsemanship, arms, and the chivalric virtues, and must present candidates for dubbing to an order master.
Benefits
Stipend & Plunder – Draw a fixed retainer (60–90 silver crowns yearly) from their order, plus campaign pay and a legal right to one share of captured war-spoil.
Hospitium – Entitled to free lodging, fodder, and two days’ provisions at any castle, abbey, or chapterhouse bearing their order’s badge.
Legal Privilege – Tried only in noble courts; corporal punishment is replaced by fine, exile, or degradation from knighthood.
Tax Relief – Exempt from bridge tolls and market stall fees when travelling on recognised military business.
Social Precedence – Sit below baronets but above town guildmasters at feasts; granted floor speech in county assizes on matters of defence.
Path of Advancement – Eligible for elevation to banneret, Lord-Knight, or, by special warrant of the Crown, Chevalier.
Hospitium – Entitled to free lodging, fodder, and two days’ provisions at any castle, abbey, or chapterhouse bearing their order’s badge.
Legal Privilege – Tried only in noble courts; corporal punishment is replaced by fine, exile, or degradation from knighthood.
Tax Relief – Exempt from bridge tolls and market stall fees when travelling on recognised military business.
Social Precedence – Sit below baronets but above town guildmasters at feasts; granted floor speech in county assizes on matters of defence.
Path of Advancement – Eligible for elevation to banneret, Lord-Knight, or, by special warrant of the Crown, Chevalier.
Accoutrements & Equipment
Order Livery & Badge Armour & Spur Colour Banner
Silver Order of Silver Valley: White surcoat trimmed in silver-grey; circular badge showing a silver stag before three peaked mountains. Bright-polished plate with silver-grey cloisonné highlights; silver spurs. Rectangular white field bearing a silver stag and mountain silhouette.
Iron Order of Iron Hill: Black surcoat with red piping; iron raptor’s talon clutching a hill in badge form. Dark-blued half-plate, reinforced at elbows and knees; blackened iron spurs. Swallow-tailed black banner emblazoned with a red talon.
Copper Order of The copper fields: Verdant green surcoat edged in copper thread; badge of crossed copper hammers over wheat. Mail hauberk under copper-edged brigandine; copper-hued spurs. Triangular green pennon displaying copper hammers and sheaves of wheat.
Common to all: Knight’s Harness – Helmet (typically bascinet or visored sallet), kite shield painted with personal arms differenced by the order badge, lance with matching pennon, and a war-horse caparisoned in order colours. Sword of Dubbing – Carried at all formal gatherings; pommel engraved with the initials of the dubbing sovereign or Duke. Signet Ring – Iron or brass, bearing the combined personal crest and order emblem, used to seal military warrants and expense ledgers. Field Pack – Bed-roll, mess kit, and repair tools lashed behind the saddle, kept to strict order specifications so that any knight can borrow from another in emergencies.
Silver Order of Silver Valley: White surcoat trimmed in silver-grey; circular badge showing a silver stag before three peaked mountains. Bright-polished plate with silver-grey cloisonné highlights; silver spurs. Rectangular white field bearing a silver stag and mountain silhouette.
Iron Order of Iron Hill: Black surcoat with red piping; iron raptor’s talon clutching a hill in badge form. Dark-blued half-plate, reinforced at elbows and knees; blackened iron spurs. Swallow-tailed black banner emblazoned with a red talon.
Copper Order of The copper fields: Verdant green surcoat edged in copper thread; badge of crossed copper hammers over wheat. Mail hauberk under copper-edged brigandine; copper-hued spurs. Triangular green pennon displaying copper hammers and sheaves of wheat.
Common to all: Knight’s Harness – Helmet (typically bascinet or visored sallet), kite shield painted with personal arms differenced by the order badge, lance with matching pennon, and a war-horse caparisoned in order colours. Sword of Dubbing – Carried at all formal gatherings; pommel engraved with the initials of the dubbing sovereign or Duke. Signet Ring – Iron or brass, bearing the combined personal crest and order emblem, used to seal military warrants and expense ledgers. Field Pack – Bed-roll, mess kit, and repair tools lashed behind the saddle, kept to strict order specifications so that any knight can borrow from another in emergencies.
Type
Civic, Military, Not Commissioned
Form of Address
Direct: “Sir [Given Name]” / “Dame [Given Name]”
Written: Sir/Dame N. N., Knight
Third person: “Sir/Dame N. N.”
Written: Sir/Dame N. N., Knight
Third person: “Sir/Dame N. N.”
Related Organizations
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