User:StarSword/Order of the Lanceboard

The Order of the Lanceboard is a religious order devoted to the Red Knight. Though its membership is fairly large, the members are scattered throughout Faerûn. It has gained a great deal of political power in the years following the Spellplague due to the fact that many of its members serve as high-ranking military officers in armies and navies of various nation-states. Headquartered in the town of Nehr'bak, located northeast of Waterdeep, it closely follows the traditions of the Red Fellowship, but with some differences.

History
Before the Time of Troubles the Red Knight was merely a little-known aspect of Tempus, but she was worshiped by Falcar Greycastle, a captain in the Waterdhavian army. Following his retirement, many of his former subordinates came to him for lessons in tactics. He instilled in them that they had a responsibility for righting wrongs. Eventually he came to realize that Faerûn was full of un-righted wrongs, and though there were many evildoers, there were fewer do-gooders. He gathered several of his lieutenants and formed a mercenary party called the Order of the Lanceboard.

The Order quickly ballooned into a full-fledged monastic/military order. Greycastle bought a crumbling stone abbey in the small town of Nehr'bak and had it refurbished into a training ground and battle-ready fortress.

Following the Time of Troubles and the elevation of the Red Knight to a full-fledged war goddess, the Order expanded its operations from the Sword Coast to major nations all across Faerûn.

Membership
The Order has approximately 200 full members and over 600 auxiliaries. The requirements are simple. Full members must be worshipers of the Red Knight, and cannot be of evil alignment. Auxiliary members can have any god as their patron, but must respect the Order's code, respect the Red Knight, be of any non-evil alignment, and cannot reach the highest leadership positions.

Members of the Order are most often paladins or clerics, but there is also a large number of fighters, monks, divine champions, and gray guards.

All members of the O

Esmerelle Patten (deceased)
Esmerelle Patten was the mother of Kalir Patten, and a hero of Waterdeep.

Saladin Dyferras
The current Grandmaster of the Order, Saladin Dyferras is a Chessentan, and a hero of the Tethyrian civil war. Formerly a member of the Order of the Red Falcon, another Red Knightist group, he left after a dispute with the Red Falcon leadership and entered the Order of the Lanceboard. He received some training from Esmerelle Patten before she left the Order, and worked his way to the rank of Grandmaster.

Goals
"Lancers," as the members of the Order are colloquially known, use their tactical knowledge and combat skills solely for good. This has two main interpretations: members who are good-aligned do good for its own sake, and members who are neutral on the good-evil axis do good partly in the hopes of future benefit for themselves. Neutral clerics turn rather than rebuke undead; non-free-willed undead are viewed as unfortunate abominations, but free-willed undead are judged by their actions.

A member of the Order of the Lanceboard is expected to honor the Red Knight, keep the peace, and fight for the greater good of Faerûn. This means that the Order, while still largely of lawful good alignment, is more chaotic than, say, the church of Torm: in one noteworthy instance, Kalir Patten made a minor deal with an archdevil to gather intelligence for a mission, something that would be anathema to most paladins.