Hellknights

The Hellknights are a collection of knightly orders with a unique focus on the promulgation of law. They are interested less in the social goodness and charity typical of paladins, but rather in the foundation and stringent maintenance of order at all costs. In their iron-handed exaction of law—specifically, the laws of their various orders and their home country of Cheliax—Hellknights emulate the organized and effective armies of Hell. They are not concerned with morality or methods, only results. If people cannot be trusted to obey the law out of their own senses of civility and social righteousness, Hellknights provide the need to obey out of fear of a master’s stern hand.

River Kingdoms

The Order of the Chain’s support for slavery has led to its members being unable to operate openly throughout the River Kingdoms, whose legal traditions hold that “slavery is an abomination”. They are forbidden from holding office across the River Kingdoms.

History

They are law without exceptions, justice without mercy, punishment without recourse. They are the weapons of desperate times and soldiers with the force of will to do whatever must be done. They are intimidation, relentlessness, and unwavering conviction. They are the black-gauntleted fist of absolute order. They are the Hellknights.

Grim-armored law enforcers uninterested in social goodliness and exceptions to the rules, Hellknights exist to enforce and stringently maintain order. In their iron-handed exaction of law—specifically, the codes of their varied orders and that of their home country of Cheliax—Hellknights emulate the most organized and effective armies in all the planes: the legions of Hell. They are not concerned with morality. They are not concerned with methods. They are concerned with results. If people cannot be trusted to obey the law out of their own senses of civility and social righteousness, then they will be treated like beasts and taught to obey out of fear of a master’s stern hand.

Although severe, the Hellknights are not an evil group. There are certainly numerous evil members—particularly among the upper echelons of power—but the majority of members are lawful neutral, with members of all lawful alignments filling out the ranks of each order. To strengthen their resolve, Hellknights study the methods, laws, tactics, and atrocities of Hell. They train with summoned devils until battles with mortal foes seem like welcome dalliances. Through soul-shaking horror, they seek to purge themselves of emotion, replacing it with steely discipline. Thus, Hellknights learn to make sacrifices for the greater good, obey draconian regimens of military conduct, commit to encyclopedic memorization the laws of their orders and local governing bodies, and undergo constant drills to temper both body and mind.

Structure

The major Hellknight orders are listed below.

The Order of the Chain:

The backs of others are stepping- stones to power, or so believe the Hellknights of the Chain. Fugitive slaves, escaped convicts, and runaway indentured servants are their favored quarry, although freedom fighters, revolutionaries, and—on a more altruistic note— slave owners who keep their servants past a prearranged term also capture the chain-clad Hellknights’ attentions. Unlike many of its brethren, the Order of the Chain rarely executes those who offend its code, either returning its quarry to their proper bondage, reselling them as slaves, or permanently detaining them in the order’s prison- headquarters of Citadel Gheradesca on the cliffs outside Corentyn. Master of Blades Mardinus is the former slave of the order’s Osirion-born Lictor Uro Adom, and holds himself as an example of the heights one can attain through obedience to the social order.

The Order of the Gate:

From its redoubt Citadel Enferac in the western Menador Mountains, the secluded Order of the Gate deals and bargains with fiends in ways that give even the other Hellknight orders reason to dread. The crimson-cloaked signifers of the order outnumber the rank-and-file Hellknights three to one, and they claim to be granted otherworldy knowledge of egregious crimes before they are committed. While the signifers’ infernal servants wreak their will in the world beyond, the order’s actual members turn their efforts toward gleaning knowledge from the planes and the guardianship of some vague charge. The Hellknights of the Gate have no lictor, and are instead overseen by the ever-masked Vicarius Giordano Torchia.

The Order of the God Claw:

The pentomic Order of the God Claw extols variations and virtues of five lawful deities, distilling select tenets into a dogma far from any one god’s faith. Although the God Claw venerates aspects of Abadar, Asmodeus, Iomedae, Irori, and Torag, it is unclear from which of these gods it draws its power; indeed, it is possible that its own convictions grant it divine strength. Where other orders of Hellknights enforce their visions of law out of a sense of duty and grim necessity, the God Claw does so out of religious fervor and a belief that the world must forcibly be set upon a righteous path. The sharp-tongued Lictor Resarc Ountor preaches his order’s iron-shod doctrine from its fortress Citadel Dinyar at the headwaters of the River Iseld.

The Order of the Nail:

The only major order with headquarters outside of Cheliax, the Order of the Nail relocated to Citadel Vraid in the Mindspin Mountains near Korvosa 26 years ago. Tenacious hunters of brigands and crusaders against savagery, the order members’ interests often parallel those of local law enforcers. Lictor Severs “Boneclaw” DiViri—so nicknamed for the distinctive gauntlet he wears to cover his fire-withered left hand— commands the order and proves markedly open to requests for his Hellknights’ aid.

The Order of the Pyre:

The Hellknights of the Pyre view faith as the clearest window into the darkness of the heart. Seeking out cults of imaginary gods, crude shamans, and backwater witches, the order sees heathenish belief as an impediment to civilization and an excuse for lawlessness. Hunts for practitioners of godless faiths often lead the Hellknights far from their home in Citadel Krane outside the port of Ostenso—particularly into the depths of Garund. A strict atheist, Lictor Rouen Stought eyes the strange religions of Jalmeray with particular distaste, and while wise enough not to provoke the Vudrani on their island home, her followers frequently hound travelers from the Impossible Kingdom.

The Order of the Rack:

The Hellknights of the Rack contend that knowledge can wound as deeply as any blade. With this in mind, they seek out and cleanse dangerous knowledge wherever they find it. What qualifies as unlawful information varies, from the unholy texts of demonic cults, to revolutionary prints from Galt, to many of the more egalitarian philosophies of the ancient Azlanti. The order takes the rack, an example of dangerous learning, as its symbol, and often puts the rack to use to prove the danger of misguided invention. On the second Oathday of every month, Lictor Richemar Almansor hosts public burnings of confiscated texts in the shadow of Citadel Rivad near Westcrown.

The Order of the Scourge:

With anonymity and no threat of consequences, everyone is destined to become a criminal. The Order of the Scourge combats the lawless tendencies within mortal hearts through ever-present watchfulness and brutal reminders that no crime goes unpunished. It employs a vast network of informants, pays significant bounties for substantiated accusations, and publicly metes out grim punishments to perpetrators. Under the perfectionist Lictor Toulon Vidoc, the Hellknights frequently travel from Citadel Demain near Egorian to patrol crime-ridden slums and annihilate criminal organizations.

Lesser Orders:

Numerous lesser orders exist, although few are known outside the borders of Cheliax. For example, Egorian’s Order of the Scar stalks murderers and assassins, while the Whisperwood’s Order of the Pike hunts down monsters that flourish in civilized lands. These smaller orders are only slightly less feared than their better-known peers.