A Wilderness Knight is a member of the Wilderness Knights within the Shangong Province. They are are an order of exploreres, scouts, rangers, and guides. Being a Wilderness Knight takes to all corners of the Shangong Province, and in some rare cases outside to jobs in other provinces. They specalize in exploring and suriving in the open country far from civilzation. They were the primary people who scouted out potential areas to settle for new villiages. While this is still one of their tasks today, the call for settlment locations is not as in high demand as it use to be. Now they act primarily as scouts for military groups, caravans, freelance information gathering for wilderness locations.
They are not actual Knights. That is to say within the guild they do get the Sir or Dame title based on membership. Whether they ahve it or not outside of the Knights is a different matter entirely. However with that being the case they are called Sir or Dame out of respect for what they do, along with the amount of training and dedication they pour into their profession. A Wilderness Knight is quite respected in most areas of Zhen Gho. There is some friendly rivalry with other exploratory guilds as well as actual Knightly Orders. More often than not a Wilderness Knight traveling through a city will get preferred treatment as if they were a Knight or even a Lord.
Career
Official qualifications are that the person applying to be a member of the guild, and therefore receive the title of Wilderness Knight, must have some background in the wilderness. They must be able to show they have done some scouting, have a connection to the natural world, or can be a benefit to those looking to brave the wilds. Most cases this is in the form of some scouting or ranging background. Also many druids are Wilderness Knights with their inherent connection to all living things.
For several years a new recruit will go through a apprenticeship. This is with a senior member of the guild who has been trained and shown to be a good mentor. Not everyone who is a good Wilderness Knight is good at training and bringing up new members. After they have completed their apprenticeship they are considered a journeyman/woman in the guild. From there the next attainable rank is master which not a lot of Knights get to. After master there are other titles but all equal in rank just different responsibilities. The mentor is one of them. Another example is a recruiter who's job it is to seek out and screen possibly new members. The last is the investigator; this is someone who looks for contracts and works with people, businesses, nobles, and higher to get the contract written out, someone assigned, and ultimately all the completion needs.
Wilderness Knights are paid per contract they complete. They work with a Investigator to get assigned to a contract, complete it, and then back to them to get their payment. There is a small stipend given to all members, depending on rank, for equipment, repair, and general needs during travel.
Perception
The main purpose of a Wilderness Knight is to explore and tame the outlands. They are there to locate new potential spots for cities to be founded. Along with that they are hired to protect those settlers to that location as well as in some cases startup for those settlers. More often than not the guild will try to keep the same Wilderness Knight(s) on a job that involves scouting and escorting to the location they scouted to build trust with the client. Primarily today they do a lot of escort missions through dangers natural territory as well as scouting for larger convoys moving through Zhen Gho.
Wilderness Knights are treated with great respect in most places. Like mentioned earlier, people do call them by that honorary title of Sir or Dame for the work they do and the level to which they complete it. The guild has good reputation among the people of Zhen Gho. They are considered in wealth and respect equal to the other Knightly Orders. It is these other orders that sometimes will try and remind a Wilderness Knight that they are in fact not an actual knight.
Operations
As a Wilderness Knight you are able to take shelter and use any resources at any guild hall for the Wilderness Knights. There they will usually have a blacksmith/armorer, sleeping quarters for use, food and beverages offered, and sometimes there is equipment or other materials that may be needed for a contract.
The biggest danger to being a Wilderness Knight is within that name, the wilderness. They are asked to go to very dangerous and unknown places. While usually operating alone this can prove to be quite perilous. But with great risk comes great reward. Everyone who is a Wilderness Knight knows what they are signing up for what it all involves. While casualties are not high among them, it would be false to say they never happened.
by MidJourney
A group of Wilderness Knights planning their contract
Alternative Names
Sir/Dame. Hedge Knights, Wannabe Knights
Type
Intelligence Gathering
Demand
Right now the demand for more Wilderness Knights is pretty high. Not a luxurious job, but a needed one, and one that pays well if you are good at what you do.
by MidJourney
Typical arsenal of a Wilderness Knight
by MidJourney
A Wilderness Knight returning from a successful contract
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