The Knights of Ravens Bluff

To outlanders, it must seem from time to time that Ravens Bluff simply bristles with knights; they must clank into each other on every street comer, mutter “Sorry!” or draw steel, issue their challenges, and start hacking. The truth is a little less romantic.

Knighthoods and knightly honors are a way to honor a noble who “already has everything” for good deeds or to placate a resentful or wayward younger noble. Knighthoods have also traditionally been used by the ruling nobles as a way to keep the increasingly numerous adventurers who call Ravens Bluff home from openly and energetically becoming a law unto themselves.

There are a lot of adventurers—and so, yes, there are a lot of knights. All of them are overseen by the Knights Council (founded by Lady Lauren DeVillars), which governs the day-to-day activities of the knights of Ravens Bluff. Its members, all knights themselves, are responsible for swearing in squires who have accomplished the requirements for full knighthood, conducting hearings into valid complaints concerning the actions of knights of the city, and ruling on any expulsion or censure that may be warranted. While not an official governmental body, within its realm of influence its decisions are absolute. Each order holds a seat, and the current chair of the Council is Sir Uldred Deepaxe.

Knights may (and customarily do) use their titles in everyday converse; a knight who has belonged to various orders (and not been dishonorably expelled from them) may use them in any full, formal rendering of his or her title—for instance: “Sir Uldred Stonefist Deepaxe, Knight of the Pillars of the Realms, Knight of the Griffon.”

The Orders
All Ravenaar knights belong to one of the following various orders:

• Tier 1: Lords Knights (knighthoods sponsored by individual nobles)
• Tier 2: Knights of the Golden Rooster (initiate order)
• Tier 3: Knights of the Griffon, Knights of the Dove, Knights of the Hawk (secular orders)
• Tier 4: Pillars of the Realms, Right Hand of Tyr, Keepers of the Mystic Flame, Knights of the Phoenix (religious orders)
• Tier 5: Raven Knight

In brief, these orders can be described as follows:

Lords Knights: Those orders created by the city’s nobles, each to serve some specific ideal.
Golden Roosters: The lowest order of the city’s knighthoods, drawing its numbers from proud nobles and cocky adventurers deserving of some recognition for services to the city; concerned with the prestige, conduct, and appearance of the city and its champions.
Griffons: Knights who concentrate on martial skills, planning battles and campaigns against an enemy, famous for a willingness to prove themselves in battle.
Doves: Knights concerned with using brainpower over brawn to find solutions to problems, bringing evildoers to face civic justice.
Hawks: Hunters who scout an enemy and use all their skills and means to accomplish an assignment, eschewing the ceremony and sometimes hauteur of other orders.
Keepers of the Mystic Flame: Knights dedicated to maintaining the correct and responsible use of magic by all Ravenian practitioners.
Right Hand of Tyr: Knights who concentrate on the administration of justice and the opposition of all evil, no matter what its form.
Phoenix: Knights committed to keeping the city free of undead and extra-planar creatures.
Pillars of the Realms: A non-denominational order organized by the Clerical Circle to ensure that no faith accepted in Ravens Bluff is ridiculed, or its clergy oppressed, by any citizen, resident, or visitor.
Raven: The elite commanders and protectors of the city and her people, charting the future of Ravens Bluff and enforcing agreed-upon views of what life in the City of Ravens shall be.

More information about the Knightly Orders and their Code can be found in the Ravens Bluff PDF.

The Nobility

Ravens Bluff is a city dominated by bold, ambitious folk. Prestige, social standing, and respect depend on a person’s fame; it’s possible to receive fair or favorable treatment, or even aid or obedience, from total strangers because they’ve heard of you or recognize your name as that of someone they look up to and admire. Fame may come through a sudden stroke (the “luck of the gods”) or a slow accumulation of hard-earned reputation.

Good deeds can bring more than a smile or grateful thanks, and valorous deeds may even be recognized by a knighthood or civil investiture with the Order of the Raven; many civilian heroes of the war were recently given Raven medals at a ceremony in Raven Hall.

When recognized in the street, decorated folk command a certain automatic respect among Ravenians. However, the true height of society is the nobility. Most young and fast-growing cities lack entrenched upper classes, wherein birthright is all and wealth has little power to gain its possessor elevation in social rank. Ravens Bluff, however, does have its old noble families which are granted a level of respect not extended to the nouveau riche (much to the latter’s annoyance).

Many common Ravenians pretend not to care if they ever even see a noble or not, but underneath such casual manners waits a lurking excitement at the thought of consorting with nobles— in a hunt, perhaps, or being invited to a a revel—or even (if the gods lean down to kiss one) becoming a noble!

The Nobles
Nobility in the Bluff can be by birth or appointment. It falls into five ranks, given here in ascending order:

• Knight (addressed as “Sir”)/Ladyknight (addressed as “Maer”)
• Calagard (addressed as “High Sir”)/Calagrath (addressed as “High Maer”)
• Baron (addressed as “Urgrave”)/Baroness (addressed as “Urgrava”)
• Exalted (addressed as “Saer”)/Exalted (addressed as “Saeress”)
• Lord (addressed as “Lord”)/Lady (addressed as “Lady” or sometimes “Lady Lord,” a pedantic form favored only by a few of the oldest families— or by those pretending to be of the oldest families)

In daily usage and by those unsure of the rank of the personage they’re addressing, the catch-all terms “Lord” and “Lady” are employed. Nobles need not address each other by title at all (preferring “Goodsir” and “Goodlady”), but it’s considered an insult for a noble speaker to use a catch-all title when knowingly addressing someone of superior rank. More commonly, such nobles refer to each other by family name (thus Lord Transtible Norwood is usually called “Norwood” by his peers but “Lord Norwood” by those of lesser ranking).

In addition to the hereditary titles, many civic offices grant their current holder the title “Lord” (for example, Lord Chancellor, Lord Marshal, Lord Speaker). Titles can thus be acquired by winning office, and many have insisted on retaining the “courtesy title” long after they left office until it has become something of a Bluff tradition (as, for instance, in the case of “Ambassador” Carrague). In the past, sometimes the ambitious even bought titles outright by a donation of heroic proportions to the Exchequer, a practice discontinued by Charles Oliver O’Kane when he first became mayor.

More information about the benefits of nobility and the nobility of Ravens Bluff can be found in the PDF.