Knights of the Blood Red Light

The Knights of the Blood Red Light is a Titanist military order of Knights, currently the most powerful and influential military order in Etrand. The order has close ties to the royal court, runs several orphanages throughout Etrand and is known for recruiting among orphans who are taken in by the order, as well as noble bastards and second sons.

History
This knighthood has the longest history of them all.

Since the High Elven invasion of Etrand during Fathred's reign, Humans always had the idea of organizing heavily armoured cavalry like the one High Elves have. But it didn't happen until the Orcish Invasion of Etrand.

After the establishment of the Kingdom of Etrand, the King created a new army that included Heavy Cavalry like that of Froturn. During the Orcish Invasion, a count named Sepelius Miles had in mind that simple heavy cavalry might not be enough. He had an idea of organizing a heavy cavalry out of soldiers who are trained in swordsmanship from early childhood. Unfortunately Sepelius couldn't live up to see his dream coming true. His idea would become a reality only after his death: his son, count Ferrumius Miles, with the aid of archbishop Silentiumus Rolfrand created a religious military order: The Knights of the Golden Light.

The first members were actually monks who took horses and heavy armour. They dropped the traditional monk's clothes and the wooden sticks, adopting swords and heavy armour, but keeping the clerical magic. They were warrior monks who just happened to wear heavy armour and fight from horseback, but they still had all the rules and regulations that ordinary monks had - celibacy, among other things. This order had limited influence, after the initial rise of the members, it quickly started to first stagnate, than decline in numbers - sword-swinging warriors were not really interested in taking on celibacy and going by all the rules and regulations that monks had to endure. After the first necromancers showed up in 104 AEKE, a few knights betrayed the order and turned to the necromancers. Most members of the order were massacred, with only a minority escaping to keep the proto-Paladin traditions alive.

During the First Demonic Invasion of Artograch, general Repleus Victoria Tectum, - whose ancestors were members of the original order - rebuilt the order, and renamed it to Knights of the Blood-Red Light. He revived the original flag and coat of arms, but replaced yellow colour with red.

This knighthood had much more influence than its predecessor, and more nembers. Many nobles and priests also financially supported it. During the war, they trained many young boys - and even some girls - in the use of the sword, clerical magic and horse riding. After the war, they started to accept more and more children into training. One of the reasons for the success of the new order was the almost complete rebranding of it: they dropped dropped the monastic aspects, they did away with celibacy entirely, they embraced chivalric ideals of honour and romanticism, and they even changed their slogan: while the first order identified themselves as "Monks of War" and "Priests of War", the second order prefers the titles "Soldiers of the Church" and "Soldiers of the Faith" even to this day.

The knights also took place in the Etrandish-Hulran War.

Ranks

 * 1) Grand Master: The one and only leader of the order.
 * 2) Master: The members of the Council in the order. Although this rank is not tied to age, most masters are over the age of 35. If the Grand Master dies, the masters have a council and elect a volunteer. Any Crusader can become a Master if has successfully trained an Apprentice into a Paladin.
 * 3) Crusader: Crusaders can take an apprentice and teach the apprentice. If the crusader's apprentice gets promoted to the rank of Paladin, the Crusader gets promoted to the rank of Master.
 * 4) Paladin: A knight, who is now wholly consider part of the order. After completing the Trials of the Knight, a Paladin gets promoted to the rank of Crusader.
 * 5) Apprentice: A Youngling becomes an Apprentice when is old enough to start serious learning - mostly at the age of 14 or a bit earlier - and a Crusader has chosen one of them. After enough learning - mostly at the age of 18 or a bit later - Apprentices usually get promoted to the rank of Paladin.
 * 6) Youngling: Members of the order who are either under the age of 14 or simply joined the order after the age of 14 and still have much to learn.

Notable members

 * Stephánus Tavilrond
 * Julius William Etrix
 * Gaius Frostang
 * Princess Gina of Artaburro