The Knights of Saint George

The Knights of St. George have a dual purpose. To those who do not possess psionic abilities, it is a crown sanctioned philanthropic arm of the Church of St. George, the Church that the Imperial monarchy prefers membership in, although it’s not required and there is no official church of the Kingdom. The monarchy does not know about the existence of the knights, although they have pledged themselves to the defense and well being of the Emperor and his family. They are autonomous and well funded.   The public knights are created when a member of the community (one doesn’t have to be a church member) is recognized for deeds to his fellow man. This can come in many ways, although it is usually for philanthropy from the more wealthy subjects of the realm. However, there is a small percentage who are knighted for deeds that do not require wealth (lifesaving, exemplary service to the community) and they are also used as “poster people” to show the breadth of knighthood membership.
The secret knights (or true knights) are those who possess psionic abilities and are trained by the church (which is the real reason the church exists). True knights are not recruited, so much as recognized at an early age and mentored. This mentoring allows them to become knighted first for some good deed or philanthropy, which then allows for no suspicion when they are working with the church in their secret capacity.
Psionic abilities are not learned, but are a genetic mutation that can occur regardless of genetic background. To date, no correlation has been made to any common backgrounds including genetic (family), location, medical, radiation, birth or living conditions, etc. It purely seems to be “fate” that one is born with psionic abilities. The main reason that the true knights maintain their secrecy is that, while it is known by the general public that some people have these abilities, they are generally regarded as unclean. In fact, there are laws in many areas of the cluster that require known psionics to register with the government and agree not to practice psionics on anyone in public or that does not agree. In practice, this means no truth reading (except by government law enforcement in approved circumstances).

Structure

The Knights are a rather loosely cell-based organization. Publicly there are some who hold positions of authority (deacons, bishops, and the like) but all in the Knights are psionic.

Culture

Members of the Knights believe that they have a moral obligation to protect the leadership and Imperium as a whole. They will generally use their skills and networks to thwart disruption of the lives of citizens. Sometimes it is as simple as helping an old person cross a busy street and sometimes it is using high levels of psionics to help guide military or law enforcement in preventing disruption or destruction.

Public Agenda

The public agenda of the Knights is to be good citizens and protect their fellow man. They each take an oath of loyalty to the crown and it's leaders, although most will not be in a position to directly counter a threat and those in power rarely know that the Knights are around to protect them.

Mens Rerum

Type

Secret, Brotherhood