Knight Commander

Leading one of the Thirteen Stratos or Knightly Orders of the The Church of Saint Nora, a Knight Commander is the highest rank one can achieve within this organization. A knight commander has decades of experience being a soldier and a leader and are well respected by all members of their order. They are tasked with making the tough decisions and ensuring that their Order is following their original charter and carrying out the duties given to them by the Church.

A knight commander comes into power when the previous one either dies or steps down. When this happens, a council of the Order's grandmasters starts to vote on the next Knight Commander. Any grandmaster of the Order may submit their name. It could take a day or weeks to deliberate the merits of each knight before a vote is called. After a Vote selecting the new knight commander, the Archon, the leader of the Church must be notified and final approval for the new knight commander comes from them.

After being promoted, the new Knight Commander is given the Order Sword from the previous commander if they are still alive. If the previous commander is not, then usually the leader of the country the Order HQ is located in or the Archon themselves will perform the ceremony.

Ranks of Knights

Grand Commander
Knight Commander
Grandmaster
Master
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Corporal
Knight
Squire

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A Selection of Knight Commanders

Grand Commander Alvin

Alvin became the commander of the Order of Light at the age of 25, an unbelievably young age for anyone to take charge of this kind of military organization. Three years later, during the Council of Knights of 2990 I.A., he was elected to be the Grand Commander of all 13 Stratos, which is also unheard of.

Most of Alvin's fame came from a military campaign in Irellith in the year 2983 I.A., when the Holy City of Semmitra was under attack by the Iruakin Empire. Alvin is credited with riding a Drake into the skies above the city and taking out all of the Irakin's airships. It is said that he even strategically destroyed the ships in a way that the wreckage wouldn't fall on the city.

Due to his age, everyone was expecting Alvin to be a brash individual when he took command, but he is actually quite cool headed in almost any situation.

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Phoenix Commander Moore

Moore came to Vreathe about three decades ago as a mercenary from the Centaur Lands, escorting merchants through the The Olimian wastes. He rather liked the calm lands of the North so decided to stay. He ended up joining the Order of the Phoenix. He became the Commander of the order about a decade ago in the year 2980 I.A. at the age of 55. A decade later, he's already getting up there in years as a military commander. He has considered stepping down, but to Moore, most Grandmasters of the Order are pitiful candidates to become the new Commander. He's waiting for someone else to rise in the ranks and take control someday.

Moore sees ability, temperment, and moral character as the deciding factors in who becomes knights, and is quite tolerant of Half-Elves and in one case a Full-Elf joining the Order. Between attacks from vengeful gods, dragan spawn, and more terrible outside horrors, Vreathe has too many issues to be worrying about petty strife between humans and elves.

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Leviathan Commander Aqua

A second child of the Prestigious Aquarius Family and a descendant of the Water Goddess Ibora, she was never going to inherit anything, not even a name. Aqua instead put her energy into training for knighthood. She quickly completed her training and entered the Order of Leviathan when she was 15. She became the Commander about two decades later at 35 in the year 2985 I.A. The fact that she is Ibora's descendant contributed to that.

Aqua is shrewd and unforgiving, demanding loyalty and a commitment to the Order's goals. She takes the Leviathan Knights job of defending the shores of Vreathe from Terrors of the Deep quite seriously, but it is difficult for her to care about other issue plaguing the world. When other Orders put out a call for knights to help with any particular problem that needs a show of force, Aqua almost always ignores them.

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Abyss Commander Gils

At 80 years old and with four decades as a Knight Commander, Gils is the oldest knight of any Order. He still goes on military campaigns when required and is also a General in the army of the Kingdom of Galleska. A competent Calvary man, Gills has ridden over a dozen different horses, an elephant, a donkey, a drake, and several different large birds into battle. He has used almost every weapon imaginable against almost every opponent imaginable. Gils has served in over a dozen wars and his expertise is such that other Knight Commanders contact him for advice when an issue arises that they can't figure out how to solve themselves.

The Order of the Void is charged with defending Vreathe from threats from other worlds, especially those that appear in Void Tears, small gaps in reality that occasionally open up. Under Gils's command, there has never been a successful Void incursion from the invading creatures.

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Wolf Commander Herzhelm

At 70 yeard old, Herhelm is the second oldest knight of any Order and has been Commander of the Order of the Wolf for about 35 years. Wolf Knights are as fiercly independent as their animal symbol is. They tend to wander the land by themselves, usually in the Kingdoms of Galleska and Rinea, solving issues as they arise. This makes Wolf Knights very popular among the people, but there isn't actually much for Herzhelm to be in command of for the majority of the time. He handles promotions and that's about it.

Then every so often an issue arises that requires the Wolf Knights to come together. This is where Herzhelm comes in. It's his job to rally the knights behind him so they all join together in taking down whatever the problem is. Usually this is fighting off an invading army or taking down a particularly large Dragon Spawn. Then once this battle is won, the knights have a night of feasting and celebrating before they break apart and become lone knights once again.