Creating knights....

Our realm is young so maybe this is not the time for discussing this, but I read this on the Bel board and found it interesting, though I don't think its for me personally.

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2) Squire to the realm. This has been done by several realms to include Wolfpack and Rhun. If this is what you want to do, I would suggest gathering up your populous and brainstorming as to what requirements/expectations they would have of their knights. Remember, that whether intentionally or not, knights are representatives of your realm. Use those requirements and expectations as the starting point for your knighthood. In Wolfpack, after the squires had completed their requirements, they were brought up for a vote of confidence from the populous, i.e., everyone had to vote if the person was ready to be knighted.

I sum it up as "Be a positive force for Belegarth." but here are a few ideas about people's expectations of their knights:

1) Bad-* fighter. Self-explanatory but I would keep in mind that this person is also a representative of both your realm, unit, and knighthood in general; the best fighters may not necessarily make the best knights if you want your knights to accomplish things other than in fighting.

2) Presence on the field. I don't necessarily equate being a bad-* fighter and having presence on the field. You can, by your influence and leadership, inspire others to accomplish great things on the field even if you're not the best fighter out there. Of course, being a really good fighter helps.

3) Serve the realm and serve Dagorhir/belegarth. There are any number of ways that a knight can serve a realm from planning and running events to running practices to serving in realm leadership positions.

4) Be technically capable. What I mean by this is that the knight should be able to build safe weapons and be able to teach others to do so.

5) Be able to do something other than just fight. I like to make garb and so do my squires. I've been really working on developing my leatherworking skills and one of my squires plays a pretty mean guitar. The point is that, in my opinion, a knight should be well-rounded and not just focused on fighting.

My main philosophy in developing my squire trials was to give a knight the skills and experience to either start a new realm or help his or her current realm in any capacity.

If you want to develop your fighting ability quickly, I think I can sum it up in one word: "travel". Travel to as many practices and events as you can. Seek out the best fighters and spar with them. Do cross-over fighting like the SCA and Amtgard.

One of the things my squires do is to do 500 fights. Basically, they seek out 50 different fighters and fight ten fights with each. They record the results in a notebook and seek feedback about the things they did, the things the other fighter did, etc.

Once you see your skill level increase, don't "keep all the secrets to yourself". Train others. Raise their bar and then you'll have to raise yours to keep up. This increases the skill level across the board.

If you're interested, you can see some my squire tasks here:

http://www.geddon.org/index.php/Squire_Tasks

Konradr

i'm actually kind of against a national knighthood. from what i've seen its led to an elitist group of people who just think they are better than the rest of the fighters. i'm not saying this applies to everyone so don't flame me. however if some started this tradition in our realm i wouldn't stop it. whatever makes you feel like your learning and helps make you a better fighter. more power to you! as far as the royal army i think the highest rank is a equal to or better than the training of a lot of "knights". again not saying all knights.

Our only Knight is Smithy. First Knight of the Desert Rats. <_<

Yeah, this is a cool idea, but I'd never go for it. What's a rogue like me going to do with a fancy title like that?

i think yo should tell if you have improved by fighting who you can't beat then beat them and continue to do it

I honestly don't care about knights being better than other fighters, if you really need to become a knight or kill some dragon in order to prove to others and yourself you are a good fighter then there is something wrong, but if more people do it to demonstrate knights being better sports and more helpful and honorable than others, then its a good thing. They should be rolemodels who inspire others to have good sportsmanship and fight with honor and the like... skill systems and ranks are for egotistical purposes only if you ask me.

I think there should be a great deal of individuality in the realms but we don't want to be so individual and stuck in our own ways that we stand out in events and other realms because of our unwillingness to adapt to national standards "too much". If a national standard benefits the realm's recognition in a world aspect then its a good thing, but if its a national standard to give individual recognition then thats something people are better off achieving at events, not in Barad'Dun.

Dag has no national standard except the rules. I think this was for our realm in particular but I may be off base. It isn't really my cup of tea because we all already compliment and recognize each others accomplishments. We have competitions when we feel like to see is better that day with what they have been doing. When someone helps me out I have tried to soak it in and be thankful for their knowledge so putting in a ranking system would be a waste of time.

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Yeah, this is a cool idea, but I'd never go for it. What's a rogue like me going to do with a fancy title like that?

Sell it to the highest bidder.

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rolemodels

THAT word again! Well, at least I finally saw the movie.

Konradr

Knighthood is a real tricky thing in Bel. Its not always the same between a Knight and Squire and the same goes for Squires to a Realm. The actual title of "Knight" is irrelevant, its the journey, the path that one takes to get there. If this is something you guys really wish to pursue, few things you need to take into account. Surt mentioned it, Knighthood (at least in Bel) is national. If you are a Knight you are a Knight of the sport, not of your realm. "Squireships" generally last on average 2 years, some longer, (most i think i have seen was 7 years), and some are shorter (shortest i have heard was 6 months.) Like the title the timeframe is irrelevant, its the actual path taken that matters. If this is something you want to go with, i strongly suggest you make Chaos and speak to any knight there. Some Knights see it as fighting mostly, others see it on the service side, it really depends on who you talk to.

Surt is right, most Knights take Knighthood as a way of saying they are more badass than everyone else, and demand everyones respect regardless of whether or not they have earned it. I can only hope i am not that way now, nor will i be that way if i manage to get through my squireship. But again Surt said it right again (thats three in a row! [can you name that movie quote]) not all Knights are like that.

Knighthood (in Bel) is not designed to be a small thing, its a big undertaking. People look to Knights for guidance, knowledge and someone to look up to, and its not for everybody.

I am available to any questions you guys might have (i may not have all the answers, but im willing to get them for you) or any gripes, complaints, flames, etc.

We are too stuck in our old fashioned ways for such trickery and blasphemy as this. "BUUURN HIM!!...." jk jk jk jk

I think it sounds really interesting and though I don't know any knights personally I have a few people in Barad'Dun who I look up to and I guess i'd think of them as Knights/Squires if we recognized such a ranking system. I think as we grow and travel we'll see more knights and start to realize the true nature of the gesture and hopefully decide if its something we want to partake in. Even if individuals in the realm want to do it outside the realm's rankings that would be really honorable in my eyes and I'd respect them just as much for going out and doing something to better themselves and help others do the same.