My friends and I are playing through the GPC and we've started up a knightly organization. I'm looking for some input from the community at large.

We're currently 1/2 way through 489, and we all have manors in Salisbury. We are a mix of British Christian (2) Roman Christian (1) and pagan (3). So far the order is small, consisting of just those knights who went on the Adventure of Sword Lake to safeguard Merlin while he recovered Excalibur. We've based our name off of that event and decided on the name: The Knights of the Blade. Our purpose, for now, is to ensure mutual protection, and to support the wielder of the blade Excalibur.

We have been given the ruined manor house near where we fought the three eyed giant to repair and use as a base of operations. We also have decided on a symbol for our group, we've had twenty identical swords created, and each member has been given one. We don't have to use the swords, and we can personalize them (mine has a lock of hair from a lion that nearly killed me attached to the pommel), but they are all recognizable and we must at least keep them on our person, even if we do not use them (I do! ;D).

We only have a few rules as of now:

1.) Do not bear arms against a fellow Blade

2.) Do not speak ill of a fellow Blade (this one is mostly to help out Sir Delroth ::))

3.) We meet once a year to induct new members (this is the only time when we allow new members into the order), and to discuss any situations that may have arisen over the year.

We try to meet in winter to avoid other engagements, and we change the week from year to year to confuse any enemies we may have made.

I'm looking for any input from your games where the Player Knights have formed an order. Why did you do it? How did you manage to find middle ground when there are disagreements? What rules did you lay down? What benefits did members receive? What goals did your group have?

About the manor house we're reconstructing: Should we build it into just a fortified position, or should we actually populate the lands around it? Should we appoint someone to oversee the place, or should we take turns living there for a year (or is there a better option we haven't thought of)? Is the ruined manor in the Adventure of Sword Lake already named? Are there laws for renaming a manor?

Currently, we've decided that any money we can make from this manor house will go to improving itself, but there is the chance that eventually it will start making money on it's own. We're considering using that money to help out any PK's that are in need of extra cash, does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle that?

Anyways, I'm excited to hear from you guys, and I'll post our final decisions after we've heard your ideas and sat down to talk about them again.

Thanks in advance!

That sounds like a fun campaign development.

I think the brotherhood passion in Pendragon is used mostly for ad-hoc fellowships, informal groupinjgs of knights who shared similar formative events, rather than actual incorporated (for want of a better word) knightly orders. I would think the various knights' lords would have something to say about them forming their own little power bloc, separate from the traditional power structure.

Bear in mind an order of 20 knights isn't small - it's a group that could take on a baron and depose him. Such groupings would tend to be viewed quite suspciously, though having the blessing of a powerful lord like an earl would mitigate that (as long as their lord is that earl!).

So, I'd be looking at this from the point of view of what challenges it will present, as various lords try to seduce and/or force the order to align with them, and if they refuse, find ways to discredit and destroy them. Lots of fun political manoeuvring and intrigue, in other words.

I cant give an advice on the questions you've asked, since my players have never created that kind of order.

Except... You've asked about how the land should be managed. The knights presumably already have their own obligations, so they'll definitely need to appoint a steward. The land should have at least a knight on station to protect it, and you could rotate this, vassal knights have enough freedom that part of the membership requirements could be to devote a season to that duty every few years. Maybe new members are permanently stationed there, as the knights of the order's household, if the order gets wealthy enough to be able to knight its own members.

You can happily rename a manor to whatever you want, especially if it's a ruin. Does it have villages around it to support it, or is it just a unpopulated area? If the latter, it wont generate income on its own and all money will have to come from the member knights.

One condition of membership could be to devote a librum each year towards the upkeep of the order's seat.