Knightly Orders of Ganneoux
A feudal country ruled by nobles and tended by the peasantry, the history of Ganneoux has shown throughout the ages that, just as much as mages and the machinations of politics have changed the course of events, so to have the conflicts and struggles for control between armies. At the heart of such conflicts, the various knightly orders of the Ganneoux military, repeatedly swaying the outcome of battles and campaigns wherever they appear and cementing their deeds, heroic and villainous, in the annals of history.
Perhaps greatest amongst these orders is the first great founding force that rallied behind Grandain Obel, first king of what would go on to become the empire of Ganneoux. Surrounding himself with the finest warriors and horsemen, Grandain and his 'Sons of Obelon' tore through the various other tribes of the Ventsafin, using the might of horse and lance to subjugate and consequently integrate these tribes into the fold of the budding empire. What made them particularly effective at mounted combat was the newfound practice of specific formations such as wedges which could be altered on the fly due to the discipline displayed by these knights.
Some time later, after the new house system was put into effect for the Ganneoux nobility, many new orders of knights rose to prominence in concordance with these changes, each house usually having one or more orders comprised of their members. Among the first few were the Paligrous Thunderers. Loyal to House Lastille and responsible for many victories over the clans of the regions of inner Ganneoux, two of which would later become the noble Houses Fal and Tal.
Similar in tactics to the Sons of Obelon, the Paligrous Thunderers were a heavy cavalry unit who excelled at smashing through infantry formations and favored the lance. They took their strategies further by incorporating special enchanted horseshoes, used to amplify the sounds of their mount's steps and give the impression of a cacophony of thunderclaps, which served to demoralize enemies and startle other opposing war-beasts. This effect was used at several points during early campaigns, to misguide enemy forces into thinking there was a larger cavalry presence than there was in reality, thereby prompting panic in the enemy ranks.
Of course various regiments throughout the history of Ganneoux utilized magic in some shape or form, but none so effectively as the Gales of Lundason. Hailing from the hilly regions bordering the south of the Ventsafic sea, the use of horses would at first appear highly inefficient in these places. Indeed, the Lundite tribe located here was perhaps one of the greatest foes to oppose the early expansion of the Ganneoux empire, whose cavalry was rendered useless in the steep terrain. When the Lundites did eventually succumb to superior military numbers, they were offered an unusually lenient proposal, in that they could still act semi-autonomously as long as they adhered to certain cultural standards, swore fealty to the high king and supplied conscripts for war efforts. This resulted in the Lundites taking on many new approaches to combat, including the use of cavalry by certain high ranking members of the tribe, who were formally trained by seasoned military officers. Of course realizing that their home terrain proved difficult for such a thing, several Lundite knights commissioned a selection of mages to find a work around for their mounts.
Of the solutions proposed, the most cost-efficient and popular was using enchanted horseshoes, much like the Paligrous Thunderers. However, the runes and enchantments imparted on these had a far more potent effect, projecting a force underneath the hooves of the horse which could keep the animal steady and allowed the traversal over poor terrain as if it as flat ground.
Steep hills, marshlands and craggy surfaces could now be bypassed with ease, leading to the formation of the Gales of Lundason, the premier light cavalry unit of the Ganneoux empire, who could capture positions in a third of the time it would take for their competition. So successful was their new innovation that many other orders attempted to emulate this magic effect, but none could match the speed achieved by the order now under command of the newest noble house, House Lund.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, The Black Boars of House Golo are perhaps the most hardy unit found in the Ganneoux military to date. As the city of Golothon is located in the heavily wooded region of the Carrion forest which is surrounded by the Black Marshes, even magically enhanced cavalry is too much a burden on a cities arcane-smiths to upkeep, hence the Boars are one of the few orders of knights to prioritize infantry tactics above all else.
By the time of their formation, metallurgy had progressed significantly, allowing for plate armor types to rise in prominence, and the Black Boars took to this new development without delay. As Golothon is near the Frynnish mountains, high value ores were easy to acquire, enabling House Golo to create some of the most advanced armor variants at the time. The Black Boars of course received the greatest boons of this endeavor, their signature blackened steel equipment striking an imposing figure amongst the various lines of peasant infantry.
At first, the Boars used great-swords and halberds primarily, as the first enemies they faced were usually lowly armored tribes located around the Marshes, or the more common peasant revolts. This changed when the first War of the Houses broke out, with the issue of choosing the next high-king between Estienne Obel and Guiscard Glaivee boiling into a conflict which spanned several decades. House Golo sided with House Obel, hence the Black Boars were pitted against the various orders who sided with Glaivee. While halberds were well and good for countering cavalry charges, the Boars soon found a new appreciation for blunt weapons such as war-hammers and their most recent innovation, the grand flail, a weapon which featured a long shaft which held a dense metal ball and chain at the end which could contract and extend its length depending on the desired range. With these, the Black Boars were the most feared regiment on the battlefield, able to crush even the most highly armored targets with ease and shake off some of the harshest damage a knight could sustain, instrumental in the victory of House Obel and the subsequent dissolution of House Glaivee.
To conclude this article, no mention of the knightly orders of Ganneoux would be complete without addressing the most notorious of them all, the legendary Wyvern Princes. As the name suggests, these knights are of the upper echelons of the nobility, and as such have been granted the distinction of being borne aloft in battle atop a mighty Imperial Wyvern, the greatest weapon of the Ganneoux military, besides mages. Not exclusive to any one house, Wyvern Princes are utilized by most great houses and are seen as a symbol of status.
That being said, one house in particular takes the use of these animals to a new level of mastery, being House Cendre. This is possible thanks to the location of House Cendre's major power base, The Wyvern's Hold, a fortress city situated on a plateau in the central mountains of The Parched-Lands. This place is a natural hot spot for Imperial wyverns to make their nests, hence why once the practice of taming them became widespread and this area became the ideal grounds, for both breeding and training superior mounts. As the tactics of aerial combat became more advanced, House Cendre became the ascendant power throughout the land, prompting several high-kings of Ganneoux to hail from this house.
This aside, the Wyvern Princes were so effective due to most opposing forces lacking an answer to such overwhelming air superiority, the country of Gurn forced on the back foot after centuries of warring between the two powers, indirectly leading to the events of the Battle of Blackened Hearts, a catastrophic event for both Ganneoux and Gurn that is still felt today. Capable of capturing control-points regular cavalry could never hope to, unleashing short bursts of flame without any use of magic and posing an immediate physical threat to even heavily enchanted, armoured units, there is no room for debate that the Wyvern Princes are the pinnacle of the Ganneoux military, some even debating if they are the greatest military unit on Az.
The Sons of Obelon
Perhaps greatest amongst these orders is the first great founding force that rallied behind Grandain Obel, first king of what would go on to become the empire of Ganneoux. Surrounding himself with the finest warriors and horsemen, Grandain and his 'Sons of Obelon' tore through the various other tribes of the Ventsafin, using the might of horse and lance to subjugate and consequently integrate these tribes into the fold of the budding empire. What made them particularly effective at mounted combat was the newfound practice of specific formations such as wedges which could be altered on the fly due to the discipline displayed by these knights.
The Paligrous Thunderers
Some time later, after the new house system was put into effect for the Ganneoux nobility, many new orders of knights rose to prominence in concordance with these changes, each house usually having one or more orders comprised of their members. Among the first few were the Paligrous Thunderers. Loyal to House Lastille and responsible for many victories over the clans of the regions of inner Ganneoux, two of which would later become the noble Houses Fal and Tal.
Similar in tactics to the Sons of Obelon, the Paligrous Thunderers were a heavy cavalry unit who excelled at smashing through infantry formations and favored the lance. They took their strategies further by incorporating special enchanted horseshoes, used to amplify the sounds of their mount's steps and give the impression of a cacophony of thunderclaps, which served to demoralize enemies and startle other opposing war-beasts. This effect was used at several points during early campaigns, to misguide enemy forces into thinking there was a larger cavalry presence than there was in reality, thereby prompting panic in the enemy ranks.
The Gales of Lundason
Of course various regiments throughout the history of Ganneoux utilized magic in some shape or form, but none so effectively as the Gales of Lundason. Hailing from the hilly regions bordering the south of the Ventsafic sea, the use of horses would at first appear highly inefficient in these places. Indeed, the Lundite tribe located here was perhaps one of the greatest foes to oppose the early expansion of the Ganneoux empire, whose cavalry was rendered useless in the steep terrain. When the Lundites did eventually succumb to superior military numbers, they were offered an unusually lenient proposal, in that they could still act semi-autonomously as long as they adhered to certain cultural standards, swore fealty to the high king and supplied conscripts for war efforts. This resulted in the Lundites taking on many new approaches to combat, including the use of cavalry by certain high ranking members of the tribe, who were formally trained by seasoned military officers. Of course realizing that their home terrain proved difficult for such a thing, several Lundite knights commissioned a selection of mages to find a work around for their mounts.
Of the solutions proposed, the most cost-efficient and popular was using enchanted horseshoes, much like the Paligrous Thunderers. However, the runes and enchantments imparted on these had a far more potent effect, projecting a force underneath the hooves of the horse which could keep the animal steady and allowed the traversal over poor terrain as if it as flat ground.
Steep hills, marshlands and craggy surfaces could now be bypassed with ease, leading to the formation of the Gales of Lundason, the premier light cavalry unit of the Ganneoux empire, who could capture positions in a third of the time it would take for their competition. So successful was their new innovation that many other orders attempted to emulate this magic effect, but none could match the speed achieved by the order now under command of the newest noble house, House Lund.
The Black Boars
On the opposite side of the spectrum, The Black Boars of House Golo are perhaps the most hardy unit found in the Ganneoux military to date. As the city of Golothon is located in the heavily wooded region of the Carrion forest which is surrounded by the Black Marshes, even magically enhanced cavalry is too much a burden on a cities arcane-smiths to upkeep, hence the Boars are one of the few orders of knights to prioritize infantry tactics above all else.
By the time of their formation, metallurgy had progressed significantly, allowing for plate armor types to rise in prominence, and the Black Boars took to this new development without delay. As Golothon is near the Frynnish mountains, high value ores were easy to acquire, enabling House Golo to create some of the most advanced armor variants at the time. The Black Boars of course received the greatest boons of this endeavor, their signature blackened steel equipment striking an imposing figure amongst the various lines of peasant infantry.
At first, the Boars used great-swords and halberds primarily, as the first enemies they faced were usually lowly armored tribes located around the Marshes, or the more common peasant revolts. This changed when the first War of the Houses broke out, with the issue of choosing the next high-king between Estienne Obel and Guiscard Glaivee boiling into a conflict which spanned several decades. House Golo sided with House Obel, hence the Black Boars were pitted against the various orders who sided with Glaivee. While halberds were well and good for countering cavalry charges, the Boars soon found a new appreciation for blunt weapons such as war-hammers and their most recent innovation, the grand flail, a weapon which featured a long shaft which held a dense metal ball and chain at the end which could contract and extend its length depending on the desired range. With these, the Black Boars were the most feared regiment on the battlefield, able to crush even the most highly armored targets with ease and shake off some of the harshest damage a knight could sustain, instrumental in the victory of House Obel and the subsequent dissolution of House Glaivee.
Wyvern Princes
To conclude this article, no mention of the knightly orders of Ganneoux would be complete without addressing the most notorious of them all, the legendary Wyvern Princes. As the name suggests, these knights are of the upper echelons of the nobility, and as such have been granted the distinction of being borne aloft in battle atop a mighty Imperial Wyvern, the greatest weapon of the Ganneoux military, besides mages. Not exclusive to any one house, Wyvern Princes are utilized by most great houses and are seen as a symbol of status.
That being said, one house in particular takes the use of these animals to a new level of mastery, being House Cendre. This is possible thanks to the location of House Cendre's major power base, The Wyvern's Hold, a fortress city situated on a plateau in the central mountains of The Parched-Lands. This place is a natural hot spot for Imperial wyverns to make their nests, hence why once the practice of taming them became widespread and this area became the ideal grounds, for both breeding and training superior mounts. As the tactics of aerial combat became more advanced, House Cendre became the ascendant power throughout the land, prompting several high-kings of Ganneoux to hail from this house.
This aside, the Wyvern Princes were so effective due to most opposing forces lacking an answer to such overwhelming air superiority, the country of Gurn forced on the back foot after centuries of warring between the two powers, indirectly leading to the events of the Battle of Blackened Hearts, a catastrophic event for both Ganneoux and Gurn that is still felt today. Capable of capturing control-points regular cavalry could never hope to, unleashing short bursts of flame without any use of magic and posing an immediate physical threat to even heavily enchanted, armoured units, there is no room for debate that the Wyvern Princes are the pinnacle of the Ganneoux military, some even debating if they are the greatest military unit on Az.
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