Widower Knights
Cursed are the living to march on at the will of we, the deathless!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?
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.
Composition
Manpower
Our Lady - your Queen - deserves the best of the best. Prove yourselves to her, or you know what will happen!
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.
Equipment
They must be useful. Keep them useful. We'll need them if the other nations get any ridiculous ideas.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.
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.
Type
Security
Founding
5626
Overall training Level
Professional
Assumed Veterancy
Veteran
Used by
Ranks & Titles
Poor widower knights. What a harrowing life that must be.
I think part of the reason they try to exist with it is because the alternative worries them more :( If they die, will they actually get to die - or will their souls be turned into servants, too...?
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