The Red Knight

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Magonushi
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The Red Knight

Post by Magonushi »

Is anyone who graces this forum knowledgable about the Red Knight and her impact on the Forgotten Realms? I know the basics from the FRCS, but other than that I'm rather uninformed.
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Post by Audark »

I believe Heegz runs something on BG about the citadel fo strategic militancy and red knight followers, my suggestion would be asking him.
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Post by HEEGZ »

There is some info to get you started on the BG forum:

http://www.alandfaraway.org/phpbbforum/ ... p?p=352732

Also, there is the ALFA Players Wiki which has the info from Do's & Don'ts:

http://www.alandfaraway.org/docs/Player/RedKnight

If needed I can type up the info from the 2nd Edition sources as well. In particular, they go into more depth on clerics, etc.
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Post by Magonushi »

Hmm this should give me something to chew on for a bit, thanks.
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Re: The Red Knight

Post by Arianna »

Bits and Bobs about the Red Knight and her followers in the FR - not alot on this subject so going to compile it here . Above links are broken.
All info is subject to your DMs approval for use in any character creation

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Title(s) Lady of Strategy, Grandmaster of the Lanceboard, Crimson General, Red Lady
Power Level Demigod
Serves Tempus
Symbol(s) Red Knight chess piece with stars for eyes
Home Plane Warrior's Rest
Realm The Red Tower
Alignment Lawful Neutral
Portfolio Strategy, planning, tactics
Worshipers Fighters, Gamesters, Monks, Strategists, Tacticians
Domains Law, Nobility, Planning, Temperance, War
Favored weapon "Checkmate" (longsword)

Cleric Alignments LN, LG, LE,



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Calm and logical in demeanor, the Red Knight displays a great wealth of compassion, though she is unafraid to send her worshipers to their deaths when necessary to secure the objective of a plan. She rarely raises her voice and is said to love a good joke and have a throaty laugh. She dislikes flighty behavior, and looks unfavorably upon those who switch alliances often or capriciously.

The church of Red Knight, known as the Red Fellowship, is an offshoot of a monastic order within the hierarchy of the church of Tempus that concentrated on planning and strategy and has only emerged from the shadow of the temple of Tempus since the Time of Troubles. Members of the Red Fellowship serve in armies throughout Faerûn, often as high-ranking commanders of elite squads.

Others are well-respected instructors in war colleges. A few are quartermasters skilled at obtaining and managing supplies or establishing and maintaining supply lines over hostile territory. Quite a few clerics of the Red Knight have authored tomes on military strategy.

When not on duty, clerics of the Red Fellowship are known for their love of gaming. Although they avoid games of chance that require the smile of Lady Luck more than the brilliance of the Red Knight, clerics of the faith strive to constantly improve their skills in abstract games of all sorts to further challenge their development of parallel lines of thought and new strategems and to sharpen their ability to read an opponent's intentions.

Clerics of the Red Knight pray for their spells at night before going to sleep, preparing for the day to come. In addition to observing the holy days and important ceremonies of the church of Tempus, the clergy of the Red Night honor two important holy days.

The Retreat is an annual event held every Midwinter's day. During this solemn ceremony, the clergy of the Red Knight assemble for a daylong retrospective on the previous year's campaigns. Strategies are discussed, battles are analyzed, and the accumulated lore is integrated into the church's teachings.

The Queen's Gambit is celebrated on the first day of Tarsakh. During this festival, the clergy of the Red Knight unwinds with a day of feasting and gamesmanship. Daylong tournaments of chess (also known as lanceboard) are held, with the tournament victors receiving recognition, titles of merit, promotions, and, sometimes, a precious gift from the temple armory. Many clerics multiclass as divine champions, fighters, or monks.

History/Relationships

The Red Knight was elevated to divine status by Tempus as a natural counterbalance to Garagos. She loyally serves her patron, whom she regards as a father figure, and seeks to undermine both Garagos and Cyric. She works closely with Torm, who holds a similar disposition, and sees Valkur the Mighty as her best ally in naval combat, even if he is somewhat unreliable.

The Red Knight keeps her true name secret from all but the Lord of Battles, as she realizes that if any being, mortal or divine, were to gain any measure of control over her, they would be privy to all the plots and strategems of rulers throughout Faerûn and the deities throughout the planes.
Holy Strategists of the Red Knight

Holy Strategist is the name by which a cleric of the Red Knight is known, and is an apt title indeed. By devoting themselves to mastering military tactics and strategy, these militant clerics hone their minds and bodies into the deadliest weapons in Faerûn. So impressive is their reputation that armies outnumbering their foes three to one have been known to surrender upon learning that a holy strategist leads the opposing force.

The holy strategists' devotion to discipline and a structured, military lifestyle makes them popular with priests of Torm and Tyr and clerics of the Red Knight often cooperate with priests of Valkur to jointly oversee naval battles. Most holy strategists harbor a certain distaste for clerics of Garagos and almost universally despise Cyricists. They get along well with most other characters who demonstrate an understanding of (or at least a healthy respect for) the use of tactics. Although they are closely allied, priests of the Red Knight and priests of Tempus often find themselves at odds, since many of the Lord of Battle's followers disdain planning, preferring to simply rush into battle.

The Clergy

Collectively, the clerics of the Red Knight are referred to as the Red Fellowship. Many members serve as high-ranking commanders in armies throughout Faerûn, often personally leading elite "special forces" units. Others who are not directly in the employ of the church serve as instructors at military academies or as quartermasters in charge of keeping the troops on the front line fed and supplied.

As benefits the clergy of such a militant goddess, holy strategists are ranked in a rigid hierarchy. Their titles of rank are almost always based on character level, but extraordinary events can earn a holy strategist a promotion or demotion that is not in accordance with level.

The titles used by the Red Fellowship are, in ascending order:

Page (1st-2nd)

Squire (3rd-4th)

Knight (5th-6th)

Knight Quartermaster (7th-8th)

Knight Commander (9th-10th)

Knight Captain (11th-12th)

Lord Knight (13th-14th)

Lord Knight Commandant (15th-16th)

Lord Knight of the Red Standard (17th level and higher)

Recently, as the clergy of the Red Knight has grown in size, the practice of preceding this title with a relative ranking has fallen out of favor. Not surprisingly, many holy strategists also have military ranks bestowed by whatever armies they serve in.

Affiliated Orders

Most paladins who serve the Red Knight are members of the Order of the Red Falcon. Although small in number, the knights of this order are master soldiers who have triumphed against overwhelming odds on numerous occasions.

The Order of the Red Falcon is based at the Citadel of Strategic Militancy, but many of its members travel throughout Faerûn, serving in various armies to teach intriguing battle tactics. Paladins of the Order of the Red Falcon may freely multiclass as Fighters or as clerics of the Red Knight.
Vestments

For ceremonial functions, a holy strategist wears a suit of half-plate or full-plate enameled in a blood red hue. Over this armor, she wears a snow-white tabard embroidered with the Red Knight's Holy symbol. For less formal occasions, holy strategists wear flowing robes of red accented with white. The shade of red depends on the individual's rank, ranging from almost black at lower ranks to brilliant crimson at higher ones. Unlike Tempuran priests, holy strategists are not forbidden to cover their faces with their helms, so they often wear ornate, full-face helmets when they wish to convey a grand impression. A holy strategist’s holy symbol is usually carved from some type of semiprecious red gemstone, but it is treated as a silver holy weapon for the purpose of determining price, weight, and hit points.

Adventuring holy strategists are expected to wear the highest-quality armor they can afford, although their regular armor is not usually red-enameled. The Red Fellowship does not expect its members to keep their armor spotless at all times, but almost all holy strategists do so anyway, as a point of pride. In the field, a holy strategist is expected to carry a banner or shield marked with an easily recognizable symbol (often the Red Knight's holy symbol, but just as frequently a personal coat of arms or insignia) to serve as a rallying point for her allies. Despite this requirement, however, holy strategists are not prohibited from removing or concealing their symbols should doing so provide some tactical advantage.

Places of Worship

The most important temple of the Red Knight is the Citadel of Strategic Militancy, which is located about 40 miles northeast of the City of Baldur's Gate. This massive keep was once the home of a minor noble family that served the goddess. During the Time of Troubles, the Red Knight possessed the last scion of that family, Kaitlin Bloodhawk, to serve as her avatar. Although the citadel was destroyed during that period, it was rebuilt later and now serves as the home of the Red War College, a new but already famous school for military officers.

The walls of the Citadel of Strategic Militancy are built of checkered red-and-white marble and a massive blood-red dome caps the central keep. The chapel is actually an enormous chessboard, where the priests play out ritualized human chess games during religious ceremonies. The first Lady Knight of the Red Standard, Kaitlin Bloodhawk, governs the citadel -- the same woman who served as the Red Knight's avatar during the Godswar.

Other temples to the Red Knight are somewhat rare, although more are built every year. Each is dominated by a red-and-white chessboard floor, which the attendant priests keep polished to a brilliant gleam. Temples to the Red Knight in dangerous lands are often guarded by stone golems built of red or white marble and sculpted to look like enormous chess pieces. Smaller shrines, however, are common in fortresses and military barracks all across Faerûn. Such a shrine might consist of nothing more than a chess set placed in a special alcove where supplicants can go pray for the Lady of Strategy's guidance.

Dogma

War is won by those with the best planning, strategy, and tactics, regardless of the apparent odds. Any fool can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with fortune's aid. Only a master strategist can ensure lasting victory. War is a series of battles. Losing a battle does not necessarily indicate the war is lost. Seek out your opponent's weaknesses and recognize your own; avoid an opponent's strengths and play to your own.

Only by focusing one's own strengths on the opponent's vulnerabilities can triumph be ensured. In times of war prepare for peace; in times of peace prepare for war. Seek out your enemy's enemies as allies, and be prepared to comprimise. Life is an endless series of skirmishes with occasional outbreaks of war. Be ready - and have a contingency plan.


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(( from Faiths and Pantheons))
The Citadel of Strategic Militancy/Red War College

The Citadel of Strategic Militancy has arisen as the center of the Red Knight's faith outside of the aegis of the church of Tempus. Located at the juncture of the Coast Way and Thundar's Ride, approximately 40 miles northeast of Baldur's Gate, this small castle was the hold of the Bloodhawk clan, part of the minor, self-styled nobility scattered throughout the region encompassing the Fields of the Dead. The castle was built by Taric Bloodhawk over a century ago with money he plundered from an orc chieftain's secret horde during the battles of the Year of the Lost Lady (1241 DR).

During the night of the Fall of the Gods, Lady Kaitlin Tindall Bloodhawk, sole heir of Lord Ronlar Bloodhawk, was exploring the ruins enveloping the village of Tempus's Tears with the rest of her adventuring band, the Company of the Red Falcon. During the night, she was possessed by the Lady of Strategy to serve as her avatar host. The Red Knight forged the Company of the Red Falcon into a small, but powerful, mercenary company. She led the band south where the group was single-handedly responible for eradicating an army of monsters that swarmed out of the Forest of Tethir and threatened to overrun the northeastern quarter of beleaguered Tethyr. The strategic genius of the Red Knight enabled the Company to triumph against overwhelming odds and forever earned them a place in Tethyr's history.

When Lady Kaitlin returned to her ancestral home at the conclusion of the Godswar, however, she found the lands pillaged, the castle a smoking ruin, and all of the inhabitants put to the sword. Broken-hearted, she vowed revenge, but she could never discover the perpetrators of the foul deed. In her family's memory, she rebuilt the castle and dedicated it as a temple to the Red Knight.
Today the Citadel of Strategic Militancy is a bastion of military might and serves as the home of the newly founded Red War College. This school caters to military officers throughout the Realms who are sponsored by their lieges to study strategy and planning. The Citadel's walls are checkered with red and white marble, and a blood red dome tops the central keep. The central chapel is a giant lanceboard on which the priesthood engages in strategic battles during religious ceremonies. Farmlands in a 20-mile radius are worked by peasants who gladly embrace the Citadel's expanding hegemony. The havrested land serves as a training field in the cold winter months. High Lady Bloodhawk admnisters the burgeoning complex in the name of her liege, the Red Knight, and serves as First Lady Knight of the Red Standard (high priestess) of the faith.


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The House of Strategy
The House of Strategy was based in Ankhapur. The Red Knight was formerly the patron of Ankhapur's royal family and was that city's state religion for a couple of decades. When Janol Famisso became king, he had the state religion changed to that of Lathander, causing the Red Knight's clergy to suffer a marked loss of influence.
Temple of the Red Knight
A small temple in Cimbar, built in 1359.

Notable Clergy

High Lady Kaitlin Tindall Bloodhawk, High Priestess of the Faith and head of The Citadel of Strategic Militancy
Justicale, Hierarch of the House of Strategy in Ankhapur.
Nicos Nathos, War Hero of Chessenta and Author of Master Tactician.
Knight Artula Porolos, Cimbarran Cleric of the Red Knight and self-styled "Red Dragon", theocratic leader of the Border Kingdoms
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