Imperial Orders of Knighthood

[AlHazred]

IMTU, I've tried to go into more detail on the Imperial Knightly Orders. In my older campaigns, I never really paid much attention, but it occurred to me in my current campaign that I was missing an avenue for rolplaying. In the Real World, knightly orders are social clubs, basically, for the upper crust -- they have balls and ceremonies and all the pomp and circumstance you would expect. That is actually a great way to introduce players to interesting NPCs, have complex situations where they can try to exert influence (or be influenced by a social superior), and so on. These groups will also have facilities on a few worlds where they host parties and maybe more: there are frequently pubs or restaurants in the headquarters (possibly run by a hired third party), trophy rooms where the Order can show off the trophies members have won, and possibly a small administrative office (because there's always paperwork in the Imperium). That's a fabulous setting for all kinds of the shenanigans and hijinks that PCs frequently get up to.

So, in my current playthrough, I tried to be more elaborate and put together enough details so I could run something off-the-cuff if it became necessary. I have the following list of Imperial Orders of Knighthood in my campaign (Sector Orders and Subsector Orders undoubtedly frequently exist, but there are too many for me to figure them out beforehand except in a few exceptional cases).

This is a list I've compiled in order of seniority. Orders in red are defunct. Orders with !!! at the end I'm still noodling with specifics; I believe all of the Orders are canonical, but some of them have very little canonical information provided. Orders that are indented are equivalent in seniority to each other; the three Orders of the Empire, the Third Imperium, and the Knights Imperial are considered "Knights Ordinary" and are the normal Orders that PCs would get to join when the reach SOC 10, but many nobles become members of multiple Orders to extend their influence as far as they can. Members sometimes have to fulfill requirements (the Order of Ashurgash is only open to Imperial Army and Marine officers of Vilani extraction) and it's always possible to be blackballed if you've made enemies of other members of the Order.

• Order of the Starship and Crown est. 17 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Honorable Order of the Emperor's Guard est. 52 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of the Arrow est. 62 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Ancient Order of Vland est. -2000 headquarters: Vland (Vland 1717)
• Ancient and Preeminent Order of Sylea est. -500 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of Gateway est. 76 headquarters: Annapabar (Ley 1936)
• Order of Ilelish est. 76 headquarters: Dlan (Ilelish 1021)
• Royal Order of Antares est. 76 headquarters: Antares (Antares 2421)
• Order of Solest. 1002 headquarters: Exeter (Diaspora 2729)
  • Order of Gvadakoung est. 642 headquarters: Antares (Antares 2421)
  • Order of Hlyuea est. 642 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of Muan Gwi est. 1005 headquarters: Muan Gwi (Solomani Rim 1717)
• Order of Wampallally est. 53 headquarters: Marhaban (Empty Quarter 0426)
• Order of Eerynaaia est. 317 headquarters: Daramm (Ley 0812)
• Order of the Tower and Sword est. 620 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of Ashurgash est. 0 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of The Cross of Arlea – !!! est. 0 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of the Iridium Throne est. -5 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of Distinguished Merit – !!! est. headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of Fusion – !!! est. headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of the Cube – !!! est. headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of the Plume – !!! est. headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of the Sword – !!! est. headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of the Victor– !!! est. headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
  • Order of the Empire est. 630 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
  • Order of the Knights Imperial est. 575 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
  • Order of the Third Imperium est. 47 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Order of Alpha Crucis – !!! est. headquarters: Wulfe (Alpha Crucis 0303)
• Order of Core – !!! est. headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of Corridor – !!! est. headquarters: Kaasu (Corridor 1209)
• Order of Dagudashaag – !!! est. headquarters: Medurma (Dagudashaag 2124)
• Order of Daibei – !!! est. headquarters: Warinir (Daibei 0507)
• Order of Delphi – !!! est. headquarters: Anaxias (Delphi 1724)
• Order of Diaspora – !!! est. headquarters: Libert (Diaspora 1109)
• Order of Fornast – !!! est. headquarters: Shumduur (Fornast 2334)
• Order of Gushemege – !!! est. headquarters: Usdiki (Gushemege 1015)
• Order of Ilelish Sector – !!! est. headquarters: Dlan (Ilelish 1021)
• Order of Ley – !!! est. headquarters: Dukh (Ley 1210)
• Order of Lishun – !!! est. headquarters: Tephany (Lishun 2719)
• Order of Massilia – !!! est. headquarters: Keum (Massilia 0815)
• Order of the Empty Quarter – !!! est. headquarters: Nulinad (Empty Quarter 0338)
• Order of the Old Expanses – !!! est. headquarters: Vaward (Old Expanses 1106)
• Order of the Reft – !!! est. headquarters: Cyril (Reft 2738)
• Order of the Solomani Rim – !!! est. headquarters: Dingir (Solomani Rim 1222)
• Order of the Spinward Marches – !!! est. headquarters: Mora (Spinward Marches 3124)
• Order of the Trojan Reach – !!! est. headquarters: Pax Rulin (Trojan Reach 2204)
• Order of the Verge – !!! est. headquarters: Tripolis (Verge 2612)
• Order of Zarushagar – !!! est. headquarters: Liasdi (Zarushagar 0928)
• -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Order of the Imperial Sunburst est. 0 dis. 17 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of the White Star est. 640 dis. 824 headquarters: Capital (Core 2118)
• Order of Deneb est. 589 headquarters: none (presumably Deneb (Deneb 1925), if the Order is ever activated)

How have you used Knightly Orders in your game? I did all of this prior to my current campaign, but for once, none of my players rolled a SOC 10; it figures...

 

[AlHazred]

What's extra confusing is, there are Imperial Orders for each of the Domains (where the Emperor is the "Sovereign of the Order" and in charge of the membership), and then Sector Orders for each sector (where a subsector duke is in "Sovereign of the Order"), but some of the Sectors share their names with the Domain they're in, leading to two Orders whose names are very close. In Real Life they modify the name a little, to make it clear which is which; for instance "Royal Order of Antares" versus the Sector Order of Antares. It's a built in easy source for rivalry between characters, if you have a PC whose a member of one but not the other...

 

[kilemall]

Court or country club pecking orders, the death of a thousand social slights. To be worth the effort, has to have consequences.

 

[kilemall]

Maybe we need SOC combat rules?

 

[AlHazred]

Court or country club pecking orders, the death of a thousand social slights. To be worth the effort, has to have consequences.

Oh, for PCs the consequences are definitely going to be financial. Who do you think is buying passages on their ship, or shipping their cargo? "Hey, you're a member of the Order of the Plume? So is the Director of the Archaeology Department here at the University of Giliim! We have to ship some equipment to Boughene for a dig, and the Order is on our list of 'preferred vendors.' What do you say? I'm authorized to throw in a bonus!"

Or, a member of the Order of the Third Imperium takes passage on the PCs' ship, and immediately begins a professional rivalry with the PC member of the Order of the Knights Imperial for the duration of the flight; does it remain friendly, or is the knight a vengeful sort?