The Order of St. Cavallius 

The Order was founded 800 years ago by a Viridian knight named Cavallius, who was deemed blessed after his death.  At one point they must have been the Viridian emperor's personal bodyguards, for their title ("paladin" or "palatinus" in Old Viridian) means "palace guard."  These days the Emperor is warded by the Praetorian Guards instead.

Paladins roam the countryside looking for wrongs to right.  They generally travel alone or with one other paladin.  Every paladin is an imperial knight, and enjoys a knight's privileges in all the baronies of Viridia.  (A regular knight, by comparison, only holds these privileges in his own baron's realm.)

When a wandering paladin spies a young boy of strong moral character, he may take him as a squire.  A squire attends his knight for 5-8 years, learning sword-play, basic theology, and the code of the Order.  He is also instructed in elvish and lillendi, the language of the Gods' angelic messengers, a tongue that only paladins are taught.  When the paladin judges that the boy's training is complete, he takes him to the Holy Mounds, five sacred hills in the barony of Sulis (in Viridia).  The squire prays and fasts upon these mounds for a full day;  if the Gods find him worthy, he descends blessed with a paladin's gifts.  After that he is free to go his own way, and may take a squire of his own.

Paladins follow a code divided into two parts:  the Rules and the Precepts.  The Rules are the laws given to Cavallius by the Gods.  A paladin must follow them, or risk falling.

The Rules of the Order

1. Destroy that which is nefas.

2. Protect the weak and the innocent.

3. Commit no evil act.

4. Bear yourself with honor and nobility.

5. Honor those above you in station;  show grace to those below you.

6. Do not give in to despair.

7. Give due worship to the Pentad.

The Gods are not cruel or arbitrary.  Normally a paladin will feel a twinge of conscience if he is about to do something that would break the Rules.  None of the Rules are intended to force a paladin into foolish or suicidal actions.  A weak orc is not to be protected, for instance, and sometimes the best way for a young knight to protect a village from a ravaging monster is to ride fast to find a more powerful paladin who can kill the beast.  "Acting with honor" includes not using poison and not breaking your word once you've given it.  "Giving in to despair" is generally interpreted as committing suicide.  Paladins are beacons of hope.  No matter how dire the circumstances, no matter how terrible the torments they endure, they may not kill themselves.

The Precepts are guidelines that Cavallius recommended all knights follow.  They are suggestions, things the Order believes make a man holier.  A paladin who ignores the Precepts is still a paladin, but his brothers in the Order may be scathingly disapproving.

The Precepts of the Order

1. Do nothing to bring ill-repute on the Order.

2. Show no favor to your family.  [Most paladins teach their squires to have no contact with their family after they become paladins.]

3. Hold yourself celibate.  [This Precept gets broken on a fairly regular basis.  Paladins usually forgive it, unless the offender is blatant about his weakness.]

4. Be generous to the poor and to your brothers.  [Most paladins own no more than they can carry, giving anything they don't need to other paladins and to the poor or the churches of the Pentad.  However they understand the importance of good gear and are not expected to run around in crappy armor!  This Precept basically forbids greed.]

5. Love your brothers.  [Feuding and dueling amongst the Order is strongly forbidden.]

In the past, being a paladin was a glorious, blessed calling.  But as of late a shadow has fallen over the Order.

There are fewer paladins with each passing year.  Perhaps half of all young knights are killed in their first year on their own.  Ancient records speak of 2,000 paladins attending the Emperor.  These days, there are less than 100 in all of Viridia.  Once paladins were welcomed wherever they went.  Today, the noble families are less open, less pleased to guest a visiting paladin.  The common folk still rejoice to see them;  paladins are often their only protection against the monsters brought by the Witch Lights.  But there are rumors in Rostilla that some paladins are spies who carry information on Rostillan troops and defenses back to the Viridian Emperor.  Some counsellors urge King Roster to ban paladins from Rostilla entirely.

Within the Order, there's a growing sense that something is desperately wrong.  Young knights are abandoning their oaths.  Older knights take fewer and fewer squires.  A distressing custom has become common:  many elderly knights choose to ride into the Fallen Lands when they feel that they have become feeble.  Critics say that this is suicide, and strictly forbidden.  Proponents insist that it's not suicide to die fighting a great foe. The eldest of paladins say that things used to be different, a century ago.  Once the Order had a Grand Master who governed them, and chapter houses throughout the Empire where a paladin might rest and recover from his wounds.  These days every man is on his own.

Perhaps the clearest sign of the Order's decline is the fact that four of the five Council Blades have been lost.  The Council Blades are greatswords, given by the elves to St. Cavallius.  They house lillendi, angelic spirits, and are holy artifacts.  Throughout history they have been wielded by the Order's greatest warriors.  Latona was lost in the time of Cavallius himself, in the realm of the slaad lord Oromanthus.  Puella lies beneath the red wyrm Metropolex in the ruins of Ered Bardane, the old southern kingdom of the dwarves.  Theodosius, the Order's last Grand Master, took Severillia with him when he rode into the Fallen Lands.  And no one can say what became of Camilla;  she vanished about 100 years ago.  The last remaining blade is Ancilla, the sword of Cavallius himself, which is wielded by Sir Lucellus.