An Angel Called Eternity

Lore Chapter: Arms and Armour

Hello, and good morning to you all. I see Master Ela is driving you hard? Good; good work Ser. Many of you know me already as Ser Romanos, Grandmaster of the Order of the Violet. From this day until your training is completed, I am to be your chief trainer alongside Master Ela here.

Here's how we start. I take it you're all fans of jousting, of charging at your opponent with lance in hand atop your steed? Yes?

Well, forget it. You won't be learning how to joust here.

Yes, I know jousting is seen as a knight's sport and an honourable pastime. No, you will not be learning to joust over the course of your education. You will practice charges with your comrades, but you will not be jousting. Times are changing, and across most of the world knights have been unwilling to change with them. Not here. You'll learn to fight, to kill, and to win. You will learn to do so honourably where possible, but you will learn to kill nonetheless.

Of course, there are other aspects to your education. Your other tutors will see to them. In my classes, your mind should be focused on nothing more and nothing less than learning how to kill the man who's trying to kill you and your comrades. The increase in numbers and versatility in battle for the armsmen as a fighting force across these last few decades means that now, more than ever before, we need to prove that there is still worth in being a knight.

See, when the Black Grave first rolled around in eight-hundred and twenty, it killed off a goodly number of knights across the continent since they were gathered in large war camps in preparation for a crusade against the Al-Alema. When they died en-masse, lords and kings needed a way to regrow the ranks of professionals in their armies. They turned to the previously small detachments known as armsmen.

When the kings and lords realised how effective they could be it was the first time people like us had any competition. We hadn't changed in nine centuries, but we will now. That's why I'm not going to be teaching you about courtly love and chivalry, nor will I teach you how to sit pretty in a saddle and ride at your friends until one of you falls off your horse. I'm going to teach you how to be a soldier. I'm going to teach you discipline without stifling your free thought. I'm going to teach you how to follow orders whilst still being able to act in the moment and respond to developing situations. I'm going to teach you to fight not for glory or for gold, but because that is what is expected of you. I'm going to mould you into the greatest force of heavy cavalry this world has ever seen, because despite the prowess of the armsmen on foot it is the knight who rules the field from horseback. That is what you will become.

You will learn to emulate the stamina of Ser Titos, the Enduring. You will strive to reach the same prowess with your sword as Ser Dimitrios, the Ashen Lion. Most of all, you will learn to give yourself fully over to your duty, just as the Wandering Fox did centuries ago. Ser Akakios is the most important of our forebearers that you must learn from, for when the Wandering Fox heard duty's call he would never leave it unanswered. That is the most important part of being a knight.

Such tasks and standards may seem daunting, and they are. Luckily, the knight has a series of tools to help him throughout his endeavours. Your arms and armour will be your truest allies across your decades of fighting, so make sure you treat them well; you will clean them and see to their maintenance just as a priest might see to his flock, or a healer might see to the sick. You will do this because, as you may have guessed, when they falter so to will you. A knight must ensure that the tools with which he plies his trade are always kept in pristine quality; weapons, armour, barding, shields, your horse, all of it must be maintained to a high standard of quality.

By the time you are initiated into our ranks you'll understand that fact very well.

Let's start with armour. The armour you squires are wearing as of right now will consist of a gambeson and a full suit of mail. I know some of you will be disappointed that you won't be given a full set of plate right away, but this is an important intermediary step. You need to learn to keep your mail and gambeson well maintained before the task of doing the same for plate is thrust upon you. Besides, the mail you'll be wearing is already better protection than the vast majority of men fighting on the battlefield will have.