Prologue: Getting the Story Straight

A subversive group, Knights Iron are not well-known in the city, and the group’s influence is very limited. This is not helped by their image which is marred by the obvious wealth of their members (thinly veiled at best by their outward charity).
 
The Knights Iron are led by a triumvirate of the Bronze Lord, the Black Templar, and the Liaison of White. They together keep order within the Knights Iron, who (though of middling-size) function as a well-knit group. As Lady Giriali prescribes, the order seeks to preserve balance in the world, largely by opposing evil.
 
Unfortunately, recent actions by the Knights have thrown unfavorable light on the group -- when they stood in opposition to public opinion -- garnering more enemies than the group may normally face. (At least one other religious order or church is at odds with the Knights Iron, and may have spies in the ranks -- just as the Knights have contacts in other groups).
 
Luckily, their decisive choice has also earned the group more allies to counter those newfound foes. The younger crowd has been particularly riled up, and the Knights have enjoyed many new recruits in their ranks, as well as the order sung from many a bard’s lips in recent time.
 
The Knights Iron tend to operate sufficiently with what they have. The group’s vaults and archives are well-stocked with both magical and mundane items, to sell or use, but the order’s real worth lies in the blackmail they have collected on their enemies. Coin spent loosens lips in Ferrabula, it would seem.
 
Based out of one of Ferrabula’s districts close to the city’s center, the Knights Iron do claim a connection to one of the noble families, however loose.
 
Currently, though the Knights have an influx of new members to bolster the already-established order of paladins, cooperation across the order is low; it is mentioned between pints of ale that a Knight keeps what he earns. The ten White Knights who organize the rabble tend to have their hands full.
 
Those who have entered the sanctuary of the Knights Iron would see the rich opulence and majesty within. Their halls reflect the luxury of the divine, it is said, with gothic (cathedral) ceilings that rise overhead and seem larger inside than without.
 
From those that work with the Knights Iron, most agree that their paladins are better at gambling their wealth away than they are with a sword, though crossing a knight is a dangerous endeavor few return to speak of. Joining the knights is another matter; no information outside the order is known about their initiation (the Knights Iron recruit personally, and have no special initiation).
 
Keeping with their secretive nature, one knight can recognize another by the bronze chevron pointing upwards on a black background, usually in a shield’s heraldry or marked on a pauldron.