Better Know a Chapter - Knights of Glory: Rites and Rituals

KNIGHTHOOD

The Knights of Glory place a high value on nobility and station. As such, the transition from an unranked Squire to a Knight is a significant ordeal for any member of the Chapter. Occasionally a promotion will take place on the battlefield, but most knightings are held at the chapter's castle fortress on Avalon. For three days, the people of Avalon feast and celebrate, holding contests of skill and arms (though of course the Space Marines participate in separate events). The peasantry are granted a respite from their drudgery and merchants and minstrels awe the common folk on the land beneath the Rook while the nobility and gentry are invited to the floating fortress to witness the promotion.

The Knights of Glory are almost universally drawn from the noble families of Avalon, and so a Knighting ceremony is a chance for families to reunite with their superhuman relatives. For a scion of a noble family to be inducted into the chapter is a grand honour indeed. At Knightings, the various dukes and earls will strive to bring their children to the notice of the chapter, sometimes through feats of arms during the festivities and sometimes through generous gifts to the chapter's coffers or armoury. Once a child has been inducted into the chapter, his deeds influence the prestige of his family. Thousands of years ago, during the Age of Apostasy, a full Knightly Order opposed the will of the Council of Virtues and supported the tyrant Goge Vandire. They were slain to the last man and stricken from the Chapter records, and their families shamed and stripped of titles and lands. Just as a mighty hero or virtuous leader can bring great fame and wealth to his family, so can a traitor or a coward ruin the fortunes of his entire line.

For the Squire ascending to Knighthood, the ordeal is far more solemn. While the Chapter at large feasts, drinks, and tells tales, the Sqire spends three days in fasting, meditation, and prayer. At the end of that time, he is brought out by the Master of Deeds and presented to the Masters of the Knightly Orders. There, the Squire requests admittance into an order, in which case he must engage in a combat trial with the Order's champion. The Squire is not expected to win this fight; indeed, to date only seven Squires have ever won their admittance trial, and each of them rose to become a Grand Master of Virtues. No longer a Squire, the newly-minted Knight joins his Order and takes on all the responsibilities of a Knight. He takes a vow to defend the weak, defend Mankind, to behave with honour, to never abandon his duty, and slay the foes of the Emperor. Once the Master of the Order is satisfied, he presents the squire with his sword, steed, and a coat of arms. These things the Knight owns until the day he dies in battle.

Better Know a Chapter - Knights of Glory: Chapter Organization

So, having modeled some Knights of Glory models has helped me determine a chapter organization for them, or at least, has helped me refine the organization I already had.

I have decided that the Knightly Virtues must be something that transcend the Orders themselves - because every Order must exemplify each Virtue or else be seen as lacking in a critical aspect of knighthood, every Order must clearly have a Master of each Virtue. Therefore:

Every Knightly Order must become somewhat independent of the other Orders. They must be like a self-contained Company or Clan.

Every Order must have six Masters: One of Faith, Brethren, Deeds, Justice, Flesh and Iron
Each subdivision must have a Grandmaster that oversees his purview in each Knightly Order; all the Masters of Brethren must be supervised by a Grandmaster. The same with every Master of Deeds - there must be a chief librarian to oversee all the epistolaries, of course.

Knights of Glory - Modelus Motorbicus.

     So my big christmas present to myself was a Ravenwing battleforce and a Grey Knights Strike Squad box. Kitbashed together, they form the seven Grand Masters of the Knights of Glory. I already have a Grand Master of Faith, but he was made a while ago, and was originally a Steel Revenants character. Since I have changed the primogenitor of Knights of Glory from White Scars to Dark Angels, the Grand Master of Faith will need some retooling before he's ready to be showcased to the public. The others, however, are quite happy to strut their stuff.
     The seven Grand Masters sit at the Stone Table during meetings of the council, and make all decisions affecting the Knights of Glory as a whole. Though the Grand Master of Virtues technically has the right to enforce his word even against a quorum of the other masters, it is a power he rarely exercises. The rigid structure of peerage within the chapter places the seven grand masters nearly as social equals; it is a very unwise Grand Master who angers his entire inner circle

WARNING! MASSIVE PIC DUMP AFTER THE JUMP. WATCH YOUR STEP.
Sorry if some of the pics came out weird. I've never used a photobox before, so everything is TOO MANY BRIGHTS. I suppose the fact that they're all unpainted might also contribute to that...

Master of the Faith Lunatus Maximus: A Brief History (Part II)

Reclusiarch Lunatus Maximus has seen over three hundred years of service among the Knights of Glory. The monstrous roar of his bike's engine is a sound feared by many a chaos lord and warboss, and his mere presence on the battlefield is enough to invigorate the war-weary battle brothers over whom he has watch.  In any conflict where speed is key, Maximus is sure to be on the front lines, his cataphracti spearheading an armored assault, striking deep behind enemy lines, or smashing enemy advances against his shield.

Master of the Faith Lunatus Maximus: A Brief History (Part I)

I could not write anything new today because I was drunk and sang karaoke, which took all my time. Here is a repost of a thing I've already posted elsewhere, modified a little bit. This was originally about a Steel Revenants character, but now that I have three Chapters to work with, it makes much more sense for him to belong to the Knights of Glory, so he does.

    Reclusiarch Lunatus Maximus is a figure of uncounted legends among the Knights of Glory whose deeds fill volume upon volume in the Chapter archives.  He has witnessed the rise and fall of half a dozen Chapter Masters, each of whom he has fought alongside in hundreds of battles.  The old Chaplain's counsel is valued as highly as any living man.  Over the course of the years most of the Chaplain's flesh has been damaged beyond repair and replaced with bionics.  Some whisper that the Reclusiarch no longer possesses any flesh at all.

Better Know a Chapter - Knights of Glory: Questions

The same questions that helped refine the Steel Revenants now applied to the Knights of Glory.

Origins:

* When was your Chapter formed?
Late M34 ~ Early M35 (16th Founding)
* Why were they created?
One of three chapters founded to assist the conquest of the Aetherium star cluster and consolidate the Imperium's holdings in the remote regions of the Segmentum Pacificus.

Better Know a Chapter - Knights of Glory

Some RL news along with the fluff.
I have begun converting some marines with machiney bits, as befits a Mechanicus-loving Chapter such as the Revenants. Woooo! This includes a whole five-man squad of robo-Scouts. This is exciting for me.

The Knights of Glory

The Knights of Glory are a Dark Angels successor of the 16th Founding of Space Marines. They are one of the three Chapters sent into the Aetherium star cluster to take and hold the dozens of rediscovered planets in that region of space. They were vaguely inspired by the knights of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene.