Church of the Red Knight

The Church of the Red Knight was a small organization based primarily in the west of Faerûn, devoted to the Red Knight.

Beliefs
Faithful of the Red Knight believed that tactical thinking, winning strategies and dreams of battles were bestowed by their goddess, and didn't come from their own skillfulness. As a result, they never claimed credit for brilliant strategies and tactics, but thanked their deity instead.

History
The church of the Red Knight was not a distinct entity from the church of Tempus until the end of the Time of Troubles. At that point, a small organization of priests and monks split off from their parent church, apparently encouraged by Tempus himself. For decades afterward, many still believed the Red Knight to merely be an aspect of Tempus and Tempurans only barely tolerated their god's dissemination of power, ensuring the church remained relatively small. The Red Knight's heroics, however, ensured a dedicated following in southwest Faerûn. The faith began to come into its own in 1361 DR, after the Horde War of the previous year.

The mercenary paladin Kendera Steeldice also helped spread the faith in the Old Empires thanks to her aid in Mulhorand's conquest of Unther.

Clergy
The clergy of the Red Knight was also known as the Red Fellowship, and consisted of clerics, crusaders, monks and specialty priests styled as "holy strategists". Members of the Red Fellowship serve in militaries across Faerûn, often as elite commanders, quartermasters and instructors in war colleges. Most paladins of the faith were members of the Order of the Red Falcon.

The clerics of the faith often penned tomes on military strategy. One such book, Master Tactician, was used as a teaching tool, both in the art of war and the Red Knight's secret magic. Holy clerics of the Red Knight could gauge the strengths and weaknesses of their enemies using the analyze opponent spell.

Regardless of class, priests of the Red Knight were regimented into a hierarchy with corresponding titles. In ascending order of rank these were: Gendered titles like Lord Knight were altered for female incumbents and higher-ranking priests preceded their title with their relative rank within the Knight's faith. So the High Priestess of the faith, High Lady Bloodhawk, would have been titled First Lady Knight of the Red Standard. The practice of numerical ranking was abandoned as the clergy grew, however the rank system itself was maintained. .
 * 1) Page
 * 2) Squire
 * 3) Knight
 * 4) Knight Quartermaster
 * 5) Knight Commander
 * 6) Knight Captain
 * 7) Lord Knight
 * 8) Lord Knight Commandant
 * 9) Lord Knight of the Red Standard

When not on duty, the priests were known for their love of gaming. They disdained games of chance that would be the purview of Tymora, and instead preferred games of strategy that sharpened their minds and their ability to read an opponent. Lanceboard, chess and go, a game imported from Kara-Tur, were favored and were even included in the Queens Gambit festival.

Holy strategists' interactions with priests of other faiths mostly mirrored their deity's own with other gods. Clerics of the Red Knight were popular with priests of Torm and Tyr, due to their shared devotion to discipline and a structured, military lifestyle and they would often jointly oversee naval battles with priests of Valkur. Most of the clergy harbored a certain distaste for clerics of Garagos and almost universally despised Cyricists. Priests of Tempus and those of the Red Knight often found themselves at odds, since many Tempurans disdained planning, and preferred to rush into battle. However despite this, the two clergies remained closely allied.

Vestments
For ceremonial functions, holy strategists wore red enameled half or full plate, often complementing them with ornate, full face helmets when they wished to convey a grand impression. Over the plate, a snow white tabard embroidered with the Red Knights holy symbol was worn.

For less formal occasions, flowing robes of red accented were preferred. The shade of red denoted the rank of the wearer - starting at almost black at lower ranks to brilliant crimson at the higher ones.

A holy strategists holy symbol is usually carved from semiprecious red gemstone, but was comparable in most way to silver holy symbols of other faiths.

Adventuring holy strategists were not expected to wear red enameled armor, but simply to wear the highest quality armor they can afford. While not a requirement to keep their armor spotless, almost all did so as a point of pride.

While in the field, strategists were expected to carry a banner or shield with a distinguishing design to serve as a rallying point for their allies. Some chose to simply use the Red Knight's holy symbol for this, but as many others used personal coats of arms or insignias. Despite this requirement, holy strategists were not prohibited from removing or concealing their symbols if it would provide some tactical advantage.

Unlike Tempuran priests, followers of the Red Knight were not forbidden to conceal their faces with their helmets.

Rituals
"Armor blooded to remind us of our faults and defeats, but eyes bright to make us mindful ever of unquenchable spirit and battle-mastery of fields to come."

- Extract from a formal priestly prayer

Prayers
Prayers to the Red Knight usually started with expressions such as "Oh, Lady of clear calm" or "Great Lady of Armor Blood-Red", while formal priestly prayers often referred to the deity as the "Lady whose armor is drenched in blood for us". Prayers to the Red Knight were pleas for insight into the thinking of foes, or requests for inspiration. .

The Red Lady sometimes granted her oldest worshipers with a secret name which they would use during their prayers. Those names were different for every followers, and were believed to be an acknowledgement of the faithful's devotion. Typical examples of such names were "Divine Arlanna" and "Divine Elmrara".

Offerings
Typical offerings from the faithful were coins won from playing games relying on skills (but never relying on chance). Strategy games personally designed by the supplicant (boards, pieces and rules) were considered the greatest offerings of all, if they were well-designed. Offerings to the Lady of Strategy were usually left on temple altars, where they were collected by the clergy.

When performing an offering in the open, or at unmanned shrines, faithful would bury the items alongside a symbol of the goddess. It was usual for traveling believers to carry red horse-headed lanceboard pieces with them to use for this purpose, but it was also acceptable to use cruder tokens such as a piece of bark or stone engraved with the deity's holy symbol. The earth in which the offering was buried had to be consecrated by the blood of the supplicant&mdash;as much as a single drop was enough.

Whenever a priest of the Red Lady was traveling with laypeople, it was customary for the priest to collect their offerings and handle the proper ritual services afterwards.

Penance
After suffering defeat, being outwitted by their opponents, or overlooking their stratagems, a faithful of the Red Lady would go through a ritualistic penance to "square their standing" with the goddess. During this ritual the supplicant wounded themselves with a shard of armor, which they left on an altar. They would them recite a prayer with the wound still gashing&mdash;it was to be bound or healed only once the prayer was over.

The shards of armor used during this self-punishment had to come from good-quality battle armor. It was common practice amongst the faithful to collect appropriate armor pieces from defeated foes and shatter them, keeping a supply of metal shards ready for the next time they would need it.

Churches
Temples of the Red Knight were dominated with images of chess pieces and the floors were inlaid with a giant lanceboard in white and either black or red and polished to a brilliant gleam by the priests. They were typically guarded by blood red and bone white stone guardians, carved in the shape of various, enormous chess pieces.
 * The Citadel of Strategic Militancy
 * Located northeast of Baldur's Gate, the Citadel of Strategic Militancy was a noble estate belonging to the Bloodhawk clan that was pillaged during the Time of Troubles. Rebuilt by the Bloodhawk scion, Lady Kaitlin, she transformed it into a bastion of her faith and home to the Red War College, with miles of surrounding farmland.


 * The House of Strategy: The House of Strategy was based in Ankhapur. The Red Knight was formerly the patron of Ankhapur's royal family and was that city's state religion for a couple of decades. When Janol Famisso became king, he had the state religion changed to that of Lathander, causing the Red Knight's clergy to suffer a marked loss of influence.
 * Temple of the Red Knight: A small temple in Cimbar, built in 1359.

Notable Clergy

 * High Lady Kaitlin Tindall Bloodhawk, High Priestess of the Faith and head of The Citadel of Strategic Militancy
 * Justicale, Hierarch of the House of Strategy in Ankhapur.
 * Nicos Nathos, War Hero of Chessenta and Author of Master Tactician.
 * Knight Artula Porolos, Cimbarran Cleric of the Red Knight and self-styled "Red Dragon", theocratic leader of the Border Kingdoms

Appearances

 * Video Games
 * Icewind Dale
 * Icewind Dale