Centurion Knights and Squires
When a young Centurion man turns 12 he goes through a Coming of Age in which he must make a choice; he may choose to become a Squire and train to be a warrior, he may choose to become an Artisan and learn an important skill, or he may choose to be a Laborer and live to serve others. If he becomes a Squire he will eventually be promoted up to a Knight (if he proves worthy and most do). Squire training focuses on offensive tactics for defending farms and villages by destroying raiding parties in the field before they can destroy the farms and villages. They practice with shooting recurve bows from horseback as well as charging with lances and fighting face to face on horseback with swords and shields. Centurian Knights focus on speed since most of their adversaries travel faster with lighter equipment. Both Knights and Shieldmaidens put a high priority on seizing the initiative and both practice enemy specific tactics to gain an advantage in combat (how a knight would fight a Hungarian is completely different from how they would fight a Viking or a Moor). The knights fight primarily from horseback but often dismount to fight on foot when the situation calls for it.
A Knight's standard equipment includes a mail hauberk with an attached breastplate (shaped to his body), shoulder guards (because Hungarians like to slash down on the neck and shoulder region), and grieves to protect their shins. They carry a kite shield that provides better protection on horseback than the standard round shield in use by most warriors at this time. Centurion armor is considered to be very advanced compared to other chainmail armors in Europe at this time. A conical helmet with a noseguard completes the armor. Standard Centurion weapons would include a sword of some type (an arming sword or a langes messer being two popular choices), a longbow or a recurve composite bow, a long seax (a knife that is 18-24 inches long), and a spear or lance (at this time, spears and lances are interchangeable terms).
Centurions will go to great lengths to recover fallen comrades and their armor and weapons since Centurion steel is a closely guarded secret. It is an important part of their identity as an organization and they don't want any of it to fall into enemy hands if they can prevent it.
Structure
The Lord of the Castle is the senior Knight and as such he outranks everyone in the castle. His wife, the Dame of the castle ranks second, even over all the Centurions in the castle after her husband. There is a seniority system in place so that those who are senior outrank those who are junior even if that means a senior shieldmaiden pulls rank on a junior knight. Since the Order emphasizes how we are all equal in Christ this formal ranking system is only used during wartime. At other times the ideals of servant leadership and equality in applied.
Public Agenda
Same as the Order
Ethics
Very High
Priesthood
Retired Centurion Knights often become priests, there are few (if any) Centurion Priests who did not start off as Knights
Founding Date
Same as the Order
Type
Military, Knightly Order
Training Level
Elite
Veterancy Level
Veteran
Leader
Parent Organization
Location
Related Ethnicities
Comments