Knightly Order

Knightly Orders is the name given to companies of mercenary knights that are free from their liege lords who sell themselves out to clients and kingdoms in times of conflict or mundane protection. Many people suggest that Knightly Orders are the "more expensive and noble" way to hire sellswords in Clamund. In many cases in this day and age, "Knightly Orders" are no more than rich mercenary guilds filled with successful and rich sellswords surrounded by a small amount of anointed knights, serving as battlefield commanders and overall leaders for the rest.

The High Middle Period
Knightly Orders came to rise during the late High Middle period when there was a Realm-wide need for mercenaries. Despite the excess of already well-known mercenary companies at the time, none stood out more than the Knightly Orders. These Orders immediately gained popularity among the richer clients such as nobles and even kings as they required armoured knights immediately instead of knighting and training their own to vary degrees.

A change in the feudal system as well as a deficit in many kingdom funds forced many lords and kings to "let go" of their knights by relinquishing their titles and reclaiming their land for more profitable gains. This decrease in nobility investing in knights and decreasing the amount they have allowed for landless knights to find profit in Knightly Orders, thus increasing the numbers of new orders all across Clamund.

The Early Medieval Period
The early medieval period is what many consider the golden age of mercenaries due to the rise of conflicts between nations and kingdoms. These hard times were perfect for knightly orders as well. Some were even granted property and their own castles as rewards for their dedicated service and ferocity. Despite this golden period of conflict, many mercenary companies including a few knightly orders were reduced to rely on banditry and robbery in order to survive, these sorts of knightly orders will eventually branch off of one another and be labelled as robber knights.

At this point mostly every trace of feudal knights in a lords service have been abolished. All but a very few kingdoms in Clamund still upheld this ancient oath, but the need and payback is very limited. Almost every knight that has been apart of a battle in this era were knights hired from a Knightly Order. Not only was this more cost-effective, but lords that favoured the fight in a landless order can construct castles within their lands to "gift" them territory in exchange for military service, creating a weird distortion of the earlier feudal system.

Despite the title of knightly order shared between several well established orders, only a scant few actually contain anointed knights. This is common throughout the early medieval period as the rise in the need for mercenaries brought many popular sellswords to riches and fame which allowed them to be equipped as well if not better than a common knight. With the ways of knighthood and chivalry disappearing among these orders and across the realm as well, and the need for sellswords in Clamund has injured and killed many knights in total, knightly orders would instead recruit rich and famous sellswords into their ranks to fill gaps in their ranks. These recruits would not only bolster numbers, but many knightly orders were content as many of these recruits already came with their equipment and training, forgoing the slow and tedious process of training and anointing another knight entirely.

Current Estimates
Currently, there are over dozens of known knightly orders that are established in Clamund as well as dozens of ones not officially recognized by the realm either because they turned to banditry or were abolished. The following are the most notable orders that are operating in Clamund.
 * The Knights of the Wood
 * The Order of the Hen
 * The Bannered Knights
 * The Guardians of the River
 * Knights of Garung
 * The Bold Legion
 * The Shields of Peace
 * Knights of the East
 * The Knights of the Ale