Order of the Knights of Death

The Knights of Death are an order of Death Knights based in the Republic of Keldorn.

History
The order was founded in 525 by Worgand the Feared, who began the organization by collecting Fallen Knights to employ them as bodyguards, and to lesser extent as apprentices, as those who feared him were unwilling to attack him. Afterwards, Worgand began teaching them different kinds of fighting techniques and Dark Magic. Worgand was very lucky in his timing, as merely 9 years after he founded the order, the Knights of the Blood Red Light suffered from a major scandal that led to many members embracing the Dark Side and defecting - defecting to Worgand's new organization, that is. This was an incredible blessing to him.

Later, then Worgand became powerful enough and had many followers, he marched on Nex Mucro, broke into the council's headquarters, and demanded to be given a fortress, where they can train their members. Impressed or frightened by Worgand's power, the council gave in, and allowed Worgand to have a fortress. The order became stronger and stronger, both in the number of members and in the knowledge and average strength of said members. However, the council didn't like the fact that this rogue order's members were constantly strolling around the streets and growing in numbers. One day, they orchestrated the assassination of Worgand. Unfortunately, it was a success, and Worgand suffered his final death. After this, the council appointed a puppet-leader to the order, and started using it as its own army. The order became a property of the council.

This has been going on for years, and the order started dying out, many leaving, others hoping that they'd die in battle. But after this came a young and ambitious vampire named Burcas Hordung. He used his army to assault he council, and his followers were powerful to defeat the council's army and corner the council. Burcas left them alive with the condition that he becomes the leader the order and he gets a seat at the council. The order once again become prominent and powerful, now having access to the government's resources, being free to expand their franchise all over Keldorn.

Ranks
Each member - including the leader - of the order has two ranks: a hierarchial and a functional one. The first one determines their standing with the order and how much authority they have, the second one is their job.


 * Hierarchial ranks:
 * Feared One: The one and only leader of the order. Anyone is capable of becoming the Feared One, so long as they are strong enough to kill the currently reigning one.
 * Deathbringer: The most skilled death knights in the order. Most them are not humans, but rather vampires, theriantropes or highly skilled elves or orcs - very few of them are humans. At most there can be 25 of them - just like the Feared One, they too get their rank and promotion via killing.
 * Death Knight: The majority of members of the order are this. One can be promoted to this after standing through certain trials.
 * Fallen Knight: An ex-Knight who hasn't been fully accepted into the order yet, and is yet to complete his/her trials to become a Death Knight.
 * Functional ranks:
 * Killer: Those who focus on training with melee weapons. They are supposed to live within the headquarters. The Feared One cannot be a Killer, since he is supposed to be the best of the best at fighting.
 * Dark Fighter: Those who prefer Dark Magic and Destructive Magic. They are too supposed to live within the headquarters. The Feared One cannot be a Dark Fighter, since he is supposed to be the best of the best at dark magic.
 * Ranger of Death: They do not live in the headquarters, but instead occasionally return there. Their job is to recruit new members and bring money to the order. All of them must report to the order at least once a month. The Feared One can be also a Ranger of Death, but he must return to the headquarters much more frequently in that case.