Militant Order: Kaevarian Templar
(~15,000 fighters, paladins, and clerics)
A knightly order of the Kaevarian Church, the Templar are a relatively numerous, yet weak, militant order when compared to their contemporaries such as the Draconic Order or even the Dread Knights.
Generally members of the Kaevarian Templar are fighters (Cavaliers, Champions, Defenders, or Samurai in particular) or paladins (Devotion, Glory, or Heroism in particular). Some Kaevarian clerics will join the Templar, but usually as a means to further the aims of the Church rather than in the spirit of any particular zeal for justice.
The Templar are fiercely devoted to the aims and goals of the Kaevarian Church, and they put the orders of a ranking Church authority well higher than that of any secular authority around them. It is rumored that the Singularian Heresy is rooted somewhere within the Templar itself, resisting the various theological purges the Kaevarians undertake every so often to rid themselves of it. For this reason, many non-Kaevarians take the arrival of Templar less enthusiastically than they might other militant orders, particularly the Draconic Order.
Periodically, the Templar hold jousts and other competitions with the Draconic Order, usually with an eye towards trying to best the Draconic Knights and increase Templar honor at the expense of Draconic, but more often than not this goes poorly for the Templar, and only increases some of the resentment the Templar feel towards the Dragon Knights. Some Templar have even gone so far as to murmur that the Draconic Knights must be making use of evil magic, for how could the power of dragons be greater than that of Kaevar Himself, or His Chosen?
Progression
When interested individuals join the Templar (usually recruited very young), they surrender their last names in a ceremony in which they are dedicated to the Church. They are then assigned to a Templar who will take them on as squires, and train them in martial skills and provide room, board, and equipment in exchange for servitude. After a period of time, usually between 3 to 5 years, the Templar recommends the squire for promotion to Templar, during which time the squire becomes a full ranking member of the order, and takes the last name of the Templar they served. In this way, the original monikers of the Kaevarian Templare are always kept strong.
The Monikers
Some of the common Kaevarian Templar's last names:
- Brightsteel
- Sharpblade
- Strongheart
- Stonewall
- Keenshot
- Swiftshot
- Lightshield
- Hardshot
- Swiftmount
- Chargwall
- (others...)
The Pater of the Church is always able to add monikers to the rolls, or to ask a Templar to set aside their given moniker to take a new one, particularly done when the Templar is rewarded for heroism or dedication to the Church.