Widower Knights

Cursed are the living to march on at the will of we, the deathless!

— Queen Valdis

The Widower Knights are the mortal servants of their deathless Queen Valdis, the new ruler of Naarim. Ostensibly her security, they are hand-picked guards and knights of significant strength who managed to survive her initial assault on Naarim.
Almost none of the Widower Knights joined their queen's forces willingly. When the queen took Naarim as her seat of power, she took pains to ensure Naarim's compliance with each and every one of her wishes by not only levelling half of Cihket, but by ordering the undead troops banded together under her command to take hostages from each and every community within the nation's borders.
Many of the Knights are formerly of the Vashai, or were once soldiers under the Kuiskaan of Naarim before the last Kuiskaan's death.

Function

Living soldiers? For an undead Queen? My, what a ridiculous joke! I must see these fools - do they perform on command?

— visiting vampire

Valdis's Pet, Unmasked by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Though the Widower Knights are a full-fledged army in their own right, their skill and usability pales in comparison to the strength of their new undead rulers. They are mortal, thus they must sleep, eat, and rest, lest they begin to lose effectiveness; the rest of Valdis's forces suffer no such disadvantage.
They are largely a contingency for attacks by mortal armies containing powerful divine mages and paladins, who have little issue with most undead. Moreso, they are a method of causing other groups of mortals to pause in launching their attacks. The Knights are largely innocent: most have qualms about killing innocents, even if they're otherwise soldiers.
Aside from this, they exist as entertainment and an experiment. Queen Valdis is intent on bending their wills to her own without the use of enchantment magic so that she shall have an utterly loyal mortal contingent, legitimising her rule. Similar techniques are being practiced with her pens of hostages, unbeknownst to the knights.

The squad Valdis keeps with her is deliberately chosen as a mixture of handsome men and beautiful women, as she wishes to be surrounded by beauty and competence. Her most favoured Knight at the moment is a former captain in Naarim's military, a raven-haired aasimar named Sinikka, who she keeps with her at all times - even in Sinikka's slumbering hours.

Composition

Manpower

Our Lady - your Queen - deserves the best of the best. Prove yourselves to her, or you know what will happen!

— cheery ghost

The ranks of the Widower Knights shift in number as mortal knights fall and are instead dragged to the Queen's undead forces. Mortal replacements are rare; the initial recruiting for the Knights was intense and eliminated many potentials as the Queen forced them to compete for her amusement.
Still, having been drawn from a land as large as Naarim, her Widower Knights are no small army - they number, at minimum, in the thousands.
To prevent her mortal slaves from having ideas of rising up against her, Valdis keeps her personal retinue of approximately ten knights close to her, and the rest are kept divided into units of ten to be guarded by double their number in undead. These units are spread through the country, and are kept in constant use to 'maintain them'.
When they fall sick or falter, they are either killed on the spot or restrained and sent to join the other hostages. Never are they permitted to return to their homes - they know too much.

Hostages of Naarim by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Equipment

They must be useful. Keep them useful. We'll need them if the other nations get any ridiculous ideas.

— Queen Valdis to her suppliers

The Widower Knights wear a uniform resembling that of the Vashai, who they replace. Heavy steel armour and shining silver masks still dominate their guise. Now, though, the armour is blackened with undeath's intentional corruption, and Valdis's blue sigil marks the front of each set of plate. Dark cloaks, usually ragged from use, hang from their pauldrons.

Weapons of the Damned by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

For those more specialised towards stealthy roles, they instead wear blackened masks and dark leather armour, dyed with a viscous ichor Valdis's undead servants create from fallen corpses.
Unarmoured mages are not welcome within the Knights. Valdis has other uses for mages, even if they don't yet know necromancy.
No signs of any good-aligned deity are welcome within the Knights, nor within Naarim in general under Valdis's new rules. Followers of neutral or evil deities are brought before Valdis or her assistants to determine their use, and if agreeable, their sigils are emblazoned on the Knight's gauntlets.
Naturally, followers of any deity that despises the undead are executed or bound as hostages. Any particularly skilled clerics or others possessing divine magic are often withdrawn from Knight consideration to be put to other use instead - as with more standard mages.

Aside from armour, each Knight is equipped with a standard pack of basics - rations, a blanket, and the like - and provisioned with a weapon of their preferred type. These sets of equipment have not changed from Naarim's military standards; the military supply chain has been maintained by Valdis's forces, albeit largely replaced with undead suppliers where possible.

Widower Knight by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Type

Security

Founding

5626

Overall training Level

Professional

Assumed Veterancy

Veteran

Used by

• Naarim

Ranks & Titles

• Kuiskaan of Naarim

Valdis's Sigil by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Misleads

The Widower Knights allow Valdis's forces to do something they could not otherwise manage: now, they can fool attackers by easily pretending to be mortal.
Naarim's masked culture has not been phased out by Valdis, who finds the masks useful. Indeed, the Widower Knights are masked as a default part of their uniform.
Because of this, undead can easily don the same masks and armour, and march alongside men as if they were still alive. Even the incorporeal can possess suits of armour and play at being men.
Naturally, this tactic is planned to be used on attackers to confuse them and waste the use of anti-undead abilities...

Undead Imitators by Hanhula (via Midjourney)