Knightly Orders of Ravenloft

[Resonant Curse]

Sithicus could possibly have some elven orders too.

[The Lesser Evil]

You know it does make sense that there are relatively few mentioned knightly orders in Ravenloft because the Land of Mists lacks a lot of the infrastructure necessary for their creation and maintenance. In the real world their origins are often linked with religions, monarchs, or similar institutions. Much of the Land of Mists lacks the infrastructure that its counterparts in the real world would have, especially religion and the church. Institutions tend to either be on the decline or relatively new inventions (Even the preeminent Church of Ezra is less than a hundred years old.) In addition, many domains, such as Barovia, are generally irreligious or religious only when it suits them. Moreover, the cultural isolation and low populations of the domains means that a lot of the social exchange that would contribute to the creation of knightly orders might not take place.

So knightly orders are likely either 1) remnants of Pre-Ravenloft days or false history, possibly usurped and/or revived by current interests, or 2) are products of faction groups in the Land of Mists that serve the place of religions or other similar institutions in the real world. The Knights of the Shadows (if they can really be considered a knightly order) is one example of the former, a defunct order of paladin knights transformed into something more suitable for the cloak and dagger world for Ravenloft. Spoiler for Curse of Strahd:

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The Order of the Silver Dragon could represent an example of how a knightly order from long ago could linger on into the modern day through undeath.

So like something from Barovia would probably have been historically connected to the old Church of Andral but went belly up or underground when the Church became defunct in Barovia and Borca. It might've been later revived by other religious orders (Cult of the Morninglord, Church of Ezra) or secularized to serve other powers that be.

[ewancummins]

My take on it would be that in Ravenloft knighthood comes in three forms:

1) Chivalric warriors in armor, with lance and sword, the archetypal Medieval knight
These knights exist mainly in the pages of storybooks and old histories, but the Mists might bring one to the Land.

2)
Gentlemen from aristocratic families who have inherited a knightly title: ritter or chevalier.
The men probably know more about fox-hunting and playing cards than jousting or siege-craft. Some do live in castles; crumbly old things, hung with ivy. A few may get romantic notions and go adventuring.

3)
Men (and perhaps women, as dames) granted admission to an order or merit/honour in a domain whose ruler has established something of the sort.
I suppose Azalin might have done so, but perhaps not. Is one using the GH background developed for Azalin? GH has a number of chivalric orders.


Nova Vaasa, as somebody mentioned up-thread, has knights. What sort? I think midway between 1 and 2. IIRC the lasso and composite short bow are knightly arms in NV,alongside the lance, mace, and sword. I'm thinking of some Black Box Material.

[nothri]

One of the fun things about real world knightly orders is how much they can change over time. The Templars started out as an order of poor knights charged with keeping the roads between Europe and the East safe to travel on for crusaders. They came into wealth and influence after the crusades, so much so that they were branded as heretics by a church hoping to obtain that rumored wealth for themselves. The Teutonic Knights for a time essentially controlled their own empire before being disbanded.

Of course, the nature of a Gothic story implies that most knightly orders in Ravenloft will be a shadow of what they once were. And perhaps a hypocritical and corrupt version of the virtues they were founded upon.

On Nova Vaasa, I believe the Gaz mentions an elite unit working for Prince Othmar of a dozen knights. The only way to join is to challenge and kill an existing member. Also, Lord Ironhand was implied to be a knight or the head of an order of knights who were wiped out by the Black Duke. I believe the Gaz makes him into a member of one of the five families. We might assume each family has their own order of warriors charged with defending their interests and upholding their will.

[Manofevil]

The Don Quixote model should not be forgotten or ignored. Also, Knights of Solamnia would probably have been brought in while Lord Soth was around for the DPs to poke at him a little. They could easily inspire something.

[High Priest Mikhal]

I looked at my existing draft for the Shining Force and realized it's not up to snuff (for me). I'll still post a link to it when I can upload it to my archive site but it should be considered a first draft at best.