The Knights Custodian

The Knights Custodian are by some margin the largest of the knightly orders on Elthos, at least outside of the Realm of Westelth. The mission of the Custodians is ancient. Its members vow is to ward against the perils of the Abyss and all fell beings that emanate thence and to safeguard the helpless from all inhuman dangers. The order pre-dates the Empire of Adana and it has chapters across the continent. Most put its founding to the era of the Second Greytide, but nobody knows for sure; no reliable records survive from that time.

In the modern day, six centuries after the Third Greytide, the Knights Custodian find themselves facing goblins, trolls, dragonspawn and various beasts, as well as creatures from the Terror. The presence of a Custodian chapterhouse in a region is virtually always welcome. Besides fighting monsters, Custodians will stand in defence of anyone they have guaranteed the safety of, though such guarantees are given only in certain circumstances. They might guarantee the safety of a group of travellers, at which point it is sheer folly for the average brigand to attack them. They have also been known to offer shelter in their chapterhouses to non-combatants if a war should come close - but they will not involve themselves in conflicts between humans beyond that.

The Custodians are not a religious order, despite the similarity of its mission to that of the Church of Siegfried's Light, and members are allowed to worship who they will. Adherents of the Cult of the First King and the Church of Siegfried's Light are common in the order.

The order is funded primarily through donations. Even cynical nobles may do so, because it is a cost-effective way to secure their lands against certain external threats - individual Custodians require far less money than other professional soldiers of the same calibre.