Truax,

Let me be clear: I will neither deceive nor dishonour you in this post.

I have no interest in dogpiling or defending you or anyone else. A Knight is willing to stand alone, and it is an honour that I grant to you, Ser Aerek, and the ostensible Page Farrah.

It is plain to see, from your perplexed reaction to Ser Aerek's missive, that you appreciate candour over diplomatic niceties. I will dismiss with them.

Knighthood is built upon fraternal correction, from within and without. You negotitated for a Knighthood that you wished to be a part of, so I shall take, on good faith, your critcism of the Guild and its Knighthood in this vein. Therefore, I honour this by responding to you in absolute candour, as Knight to prospective Page, and it is my desire that you receive it as such.

Ever since the ill-received (and, frankly, abortive) attempts at rearranging of the internal structure of the many polities of the world, the timeless ideals of Knighthood have been in various states of suppression, abuse, condemnation, ridicule, and abandonment.

It had to be this way, lest the world be tempted by the allure of the traditions and history of which it was robbed:

(1) The modern tree of Knighthood first sprung up in the East with the Templar Knights. The forge of Paladin Knights, the hope of the Innocent, and fierce defenders of the Light, they were reduced to a remnant that was ultimately stripped of its rights to pass on its traditions -- a sacrifice upon the altar of the axioms that chopped at their roots.

(2) The Wardens of the Spire, bearers of the rugged Chivalry of the Mountain and the city that it cradles. The host of the Runewarden legacy was not found wanting for courage and honour. Without a House of their own to call home, they eventually persisted their tradition within a clan.

Alone, this font of honour maintained their lineage to this day as the Order of Thurisaz.

(3) Finally, the Maldaathi Knights of Mhaldor.

Just the name itself carries the weight of the tradition that was handed down to it by the ancient Infernals, the first to bear His power. Suppressed by Ashtan and defiant even in exile, they sacrificed themselves to free our Master, and were rewarded for their faith with a fortress on the Isle that once held Him hostage, and with a new Guild - the Maldaathi Knights, the pride of Knighthood.

With the destruction of the great Houses of Mhaldor, Knighthood fell victim to the new realities of the situation around it and, eventually, went dormant.

In the aftermath of all of this, what was there to make of this new reality?

Wanting more than just to restore Knighthood for my Master and His City with the Infernal Rite -- and inspired by Ser Aerek's Council of Knighthood effort -- I proposed the refounding of the Guild of Knights to Dame Mayapple and Sir Baldazar of Thurisaz, who put both their personal honour, as well as the honour of Thurisaz, on the line for this cause.

We rallied every single Knight we could find from all over the world. This band of Knights hammered out a charter. We agreed, upon our honour, to defend Knighthood itself and see its persistence and resurrection in the realm.

Dame Mayapple and Ser Aerek nobly carried the banner forward for the Guild, when, with great fortune, divine favour fell upon us, and the events surrounding Aster Keep blessed us with both a real and spiritual home for Knighthood. What was once a pair of clans is now the restored beacon for Knights that hosted Lord Kephry himself.

Throughout history, all of the fighting, the scrapping, the arguing, the apologetics, the missives, the doubts of friends and colleagues, and the bloody sacrifices of my ancestors has been in the name of these two words and all they entail:

HONOUR and CHIVALRY

Every attempt at changing and riffing on these foundational principles sounds innovative at first. History is littered with the corpses of institutions that were sure that they could outlast, improve upon, or destroy the core ideals of Knighthood.

They are gone. We remain.

I gave you this history lesson, page, that you may know this to be true:

The Gaian Knights, as per the proposal put forth by you, were antithetical to these very traditions under which we and our ancestors, on all sides, fought and died.

No number of appeals to 'savagery' can ever justify, for a Knight, desertion of the field of battle, unwillingness to engage in the face of certain death, duplicity, disrespecting another Knight's station, lack of decorum, playing fast and loose with the accepted definitions of 'honour' and 'chivalry', or any number of bizarre and confusing missteps that found their way into the proposal.

The Guild was not buying it. Ser Aerek engaged because that, frustratingly, is his nature. Despite the reservations, he did so in good faith.

Ultimately, I neither know, nor care, whose (or Whose) idea it was to attempt the introduction of a Knighthood order that goes against every tenet we have defended for centuries. I also do not care if the latest attempts out of Eleusis are in earnest. Truthfully, I trust the character of no one named in this ordeal on that side of the fence, with perhaps one person being the exception, and I am sure they know who they are.

This Guild is where all of the threads of Knighthood meet, right back where our modern traditions began. We intend to defend them, even as we fight against one another on the battlefield and in the public square.

If that means a smaller Guild, so be it. I will not one day face my Infernal brothers and sisters in death and let them know that I let our traditions die.


Signed,

Sir Batista Wintercross
Knight of Mhaldor


Penned by my hand on the 13th of Lupar, in the year 893 AF.