Ten feet of enchanted stone, with a living soul inside.
The Palatine Knights are the reason every war on the frontier is fought the way it is. A common army — footmen, archers, light horse — is all but powerless against one. So it is the Knights, and the Knights alone, who decide nearly every conflict that matters. Kingdoms rise and fall on how many will answer their call, and on whose side.
The Bond
A Palatine Knight is not a warrior in armor. Each knight is bonded to a stone golem — a towering figure of enchanted rock, some ten feet tall, shaped and consecrated by the Tower Wizards of an Order.
The bonding is physical. Touching the golem and speaking a personal command phrase, the knight merges into the stone, their body subsumed into it for the length of the battle. They see through its eyes, hear through its ears, breathe through its mouth, and move as it moves. They do not raise the golem’s arm — they raise their arm. While merged they feel larger than life, and very nearly indestructible. When the battle ends, they speak the phrase again and step back out — if they have survived.
A knight cannot simply climb inside. The bond must be consecrated by a living wizard, which is why a Knight and their Order’s wizards are inseparable. No wizard, no bonding. No bonding, no knight.
Old Armor, Old Names
Most Palatine armors are old — passed down within a family for generations, each with a history and a name. They cannot easily be replaced: the deep magic of forging a new golem, and of binding it to a soul, is known to very few.
A golem can be captured, but rebinding it to a new owner is costlier still, and rarer. So a defeated Knight is seldom destroyed. More often they are ransomed, exchanged for a friendly captive, or offered an honorable place in the victor’s own army — armor and all.
Honor and Its Abuses
Honor is the law the Knights live by, and the lie they live behind. By long custom a Palatine Knight is held to be honorable and truthful — their word weighed above mere evidence, their challenges answered. And they are forbidden any landed title above Baron: the thrones of Rex Magnus, Rex, and Duke are closed to them, so that no Knight may rule in their own name.
In practice, both the honor and the law are abused with great ingenuity. A Knight may duel anyone who questions their honor, on any pretext, and the duel need not be fair. They are expected to stay neutral in politics — so their politicking is simply done behind closed doors. Many have quietly taken sides; many more have betrayed the side they took, having found a better offer and “new evidence” to justify it. The dread of being seen as dishonorable drives endless effort to appear honorable — and a rare few still try to be.
The Twelve Orders
The first Palatine Knights were twelve, sworn to the first emperor. As more armors were forged, each new knight joined one of twelve Orders, each founded by one of those original paladins, each with a favored virtue and a preferred weapon. When the empire splintered, so did the Orders — today there are knights of every Order in every successor kingdom.
The head of an Order, where one exists, bears the title “Knight of” its virtue. So the Order of Aleksandar is led by the Knight of Courage.
| Order | Virtue | Weapon |
|---|---|---|
| Aleksandar | Courage | Sword |
| Nikolas | Loyalty | Shield |
| Makeda | Leadership | Axe |
| Saatti | Honor | Spear & Lance |
| Gascon | Strength | Two-handed Axe |
| Musa | Wisdom | Fire |
| Arash | Vision | Archery |
| Agilaz | Justice | Lightning |
| Milica | Faith | Protection |
Three Orders have been lost. Many claim their names; none are widely accepted — and a “lost” Order is a convenient thing to revive when someone wishes to bind a new and useful magic to the empire.
Explore the encyclopedia
Field notes on individual knights and the histories of the Orders:
- Knights » — notable Palatine Knights of the frontier
- Orders » — the traditions, virtues, and rivalries of the Twelve
In the Game
In Wars of the Palatine your company is built around its Knights. You bring them to their Order Houses for finer arms and enchantments, raise squires toward full knighthood as their bonds deepen, and lead them through the savage hex-and-counter battles of the age. Lose a Knight and you may lose the armor for good — or win the chance to ransom them back.
Left of Center 