Death Knight

Life is nothing but a futile spark, struggling against the darkness but ultimately doomed to failure. I represent the darkness that lies at the end of all. So how can you expect to stop me?

— Baron Lightstalker, devourer of the 13^th Soul

  A grim and silent orders of knights, deathknights are conduits of the negative energy plane. Having sworn their lives in the pursuit of death and undead, they wander the lands looking for chances to increase the power of death and the dead. Deathknights are a rare sight, as not many have the devotion and are not attuned enough to the negative energy plane to become deathknights. The first deathknight was made in a pact between a powerful lich and a bitter ex-paladin. The ex-paladin swore his life to death and the undead and in return received profane powers from the lich. Deathknights can be found wandering the land solitary or leading a pack of undead. They could be found working as a lieutenant of a powerful lich or necromancer, or even as a warlord intent on conquering. All deathknights follow the code made by the first deathknight, and some even add to it. They hold honor in great reverence, saying a man without honor is not worthy to live, and shun those who break agreements. Some embrace undeath and become ghouls, death knights, wights, vampires or swordwraiths.   The Death Knight, unlike the Black-Guard follows a Code of Conduct, such as:  

Albirni Code of Conduct

1. The First Allegiance is to Death, not Life. The Blackguard forsakes everything that binds him to Life, his desires, his feelings, his loved ones. He exists only to serve death. He must protect sites where the dead are laid to rest, and he must ensure that all slain allies and enemies receive proper rites for their passage to the afterlife. Only death itself decides when to take a life, and it is not for mortals to question this decision. Only divine mandate should dictate if the Blackguard should live past his/her due time. (The first Allegiance is not valid anymore, since Death knights have been changed over time).
2. The Second Allegiance is to Death, not Undeath. The Undead try to cheat the natural cycle of life, and the Blackguard must use every available means to stop them and restore natural order.
3. The Third Allegiance is to Honor for all of Eternity. The third allegiance demands that a Blackguard be honorable. In this, his word is his bond, once sworn he shall uphold it so long as his trust is not broken. His word is to stand forever, like death itself. Death Knights are expected to repay kindness with kindness and insult with vengeance.

 

Amerosi Code of Conduct

1. The First Allegiance is to Death, not Life. The first allegiance demands that the Deathknight show no mercy in combat. He strikes to kill, always. The first allegiance also demands that the Deathknight take no special care to stave off the death of others. A fallen comrade is considered weak, thus useless to the group and party. Incidentally, these, together, make it very hard to take prisoners. Deathknights often will make a point of murdering those who they've "only" incapacitated, though this is not always a rule.
2. The Second Allegiance is to Undeath, and its Glory. The second allegiance demands that a deathknight further the cause of undeath. If the undead are rampaging, he takes command. Deathknights do not oppose the undead without due reason (i.e. the undead being itself is opposing death and undeath, or harming the cause of death and undeath).
3. The Third Allegiance is to Honor, as it lasts for all of Eternity. The third allegiance demands that a deathknight be honorable. In this, his word is his bond, once sworn he shall uphold it so long as his trust is not broken, even against his convenience. After all, the undead live forever. An additional ramification is that many deathknights contract themselves to limited durations, aware of the possibility of rising as undead themselves and being still sworn to their bond. Deathknights also are very keen to exact vengeance for slights against them, or return favors for previous kindnesses. Honor demands it.

 

Londian Code of Condut

1. The First Allegiance is to Death, not Finality. A death knight of Bane serves until nothing of them remains; while most would consider this to be death, to the knights this is meant in the most literal sense. Londian knights, like all Londians, are reanimated after their death and expected to continue serving until their reanimation is no longer possible. Prior to the reanimation, the knight is spoken to by deathspeaking inside a zone of truth, and asked if they wish to return as an undead. The unwilling are reanimated as ghouls.
2. The Second Allegiance is to Hatred, and Ambition. Death knights of Bane are a dark reflection of the paladin. As much as paladins are expected to smite any death knight they can, so are the Londian knights expected to slay any paladin they can. In the same fashion, as much as paladins are expected to desire nothing, Londian knights are expected to seek power. And as much as paladins are expected to uphold the laws of the land, so are Londian knights expected to be paragons of law and adhere to local customs.
3. The Third Allegiance is to the Prince Tyrant, for He Is the First of Bane.