Elfborn: The Quest

Holy Knights

Frederik's eyes narrowed at the familiar voice as they scanned the crowd for its owner. There, in the white surcoat with the blue cross of the Militant Order of St. Michael: the burnished steel of Sir Hephestus, Lord Commander of the Order. The knight, a handsome jebusin who had sworn an oath to protect the Body of the Holy Church by force of arms, had his long blonde hair pulled back into a single tail, his temples touched with gray. Such a blending of military skill and religious dedication was often called a paladin knight, to separate them from knights sworn in service to a feudal lord.

"Sir Hephestus," he said, acknowledging the Michealine Lord Commander with a nod even as he fought against the urge to deepen the frown already on his face.

While the paladins had their uses, often their aggression, fueled by religious fervor, was at odds with the Germansic king's more earthly goals. Like the paladin of the Militant Order of St. Maria, the blessed Mother of His Lord, Joachin Hristus, more commonly known as the Teutonic Knights. In the name of religious fervor, they currently pressed Frederik's northern and eastern borders in their attempts to 'pacify' the Prussian pagans that lived there, preventing him from conquering them himself.

Ironically the paladins were also the reason he was here, at this particular questor camp out of the dozen he was financing. To make sure that fervor didn't turn against his other assets as it had with the Teutonics, before battle with the Manadim was joined!

"I see you. Are you proposing we turn to the old 'Justice of God' method of determining if a man's soul is consumed by the Adversary?"

"Yes, your Majesty," Hephestus replied strongly and the knight beside him, none other than Sir Samial, Lord Commander of the Militant Order of St. Gabrial, nodded his head in vigorous agreement.

Seeing Samial made Frederik fight to stop from grimacing in dismay. While generally the Militant Orders restricted their activities to the central nations of Evindel, as had the Teutonics and others, both the Michealines and the Gabrialites, along with several other smaller orders, had answered the Pade's call to ride to the Holy Land and to cleanse it of the Unwashed Manadim Infidel. Unfortunately for Frederik, they had also heard of Frederik's efforts to be the first of the three kings to sail or march to the Holy Land and they descended upon the Noran encampments in force.

The Militant Orders believed it was their sworn duty to uphold the religious edict that had been put forth by the Jebusin in declaring the Quest to the Holy Land. That, in itself, wasn't unusual. The Militant Orders, after all, were made up of consecrated Jebusin and wherever the Church told them to go, they went.

What was unusual was the solidarity that the two Lord Commanders were showing. Generally each Militant Order found itself upholding a specific doctrine from the Holy Book of Joachin and often that support found the Orders in conflict with each other over religious trivialities.

The Michealines believed aggression in battle, as was shown by Joachin when he cleansed the temple in Salem of the false priests by strength of arms, was paramount. They then took whatever means necessary to make sure they were prepared for that eventuality. That usually meant the accumulation of wealth, servants and the like, the Michealines sporting the best and newest armor and equipment in all the Militant Orders.

On the other hand, the Gabrialites eschewed poverty, as was exemplified by Hristus and his vow of poverty at the siege of Meggido when the heretic hordes of the Syrans overran Ebrahin, done to show his followers that the poor needed their food more than they did. And so, while their equipment was good and sturdy, they often took care of their own armor and horse without the aid of servants and got money enough for food and shelter from either the alms from the churches or through providing services in the towns they frequented. Their white surcoats had a green cross on the breast, the green symbolizing their humility while the Michealine blue symbolized the steel of their readiness.