Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Krevente]

Most knightly orders and individual knights select their own virtues. There are historical records of a myriad of different combinations and systems for following them.

SSR has our own series of virtues and a whole system for knighthood. Our knightly order is the Ordo d'Argento (Silver Order) and we have a code of chivalry that consists of 7 virtues. Anyone else have their own?

The Seven Knightly Virtues are:

Faith

A knight possesses Faith in heavenly and temporal lords. A knight celebrates the trials and tribulations laid before them as an opportunity to demonstrate their faith. Unwavering loyalty is given to the knight’s liege to bind all together through demonstrations of this faith.

Strength

A knight must possess the virtue of strength in body, mind and soul. Not only must a knight display strength in combat, but also in conviction to uphold the earthly and heavenly laws of the realm. Through strength a knight will stand fast in the other virtues of chivalry.

Nobility

A knight must be Noble providing charity and largesse to those around them. A knight is granted privileged social status so that they may serve as a beacon of what it means to be a noble creature.

Mercy

A knight must know when to show Mercy to friends and enemies alike. In the pursuit of justice and victory there is a time for relenting to show strength through forgiveness. A truly strong individual shows strength in mercy because they will be able to overcome an adversary should they attempt to take advantage of one who is merciful.

Justice

A knight must uphold Justice and seek to achieve the peace in all actions. No creature is above the laws of heaven and a knight will seek satisfaction of the law as it requires regardless of personal opinions or emotions. The law has no bias; only those who sit unfairly in judgment to apply the law harden their hearts to its true purpose.

Hope

A knight must serve as the rallying point when all else is thought to be lost. Despise the words of those who despair and lift them up through actions of courage, bravery and righteous example. When all others falter it is the knight who takes up the banner and leads the charge towards victory.

Prowess

A knight must possess Prowess in all knightly activities whether in war or in peace. All enterprises undertaken by the knight must be seen to their conclusion and to the best of their abilities. Master the sword, spear, dagger as well as the arts and science of the making of war. In peace master the hunt, tournament and affairs of the state.

A knight takes on a squire to teach them the ways of chivalry. A squire should be someone who already displays the makings of a knight and the natural character of the virtues. There is no required timeline for a squire to become a knight. The knight who squires someone should know that the squire is a reflection of them. Only when a squire acts as a knight should they be granted the knighthood reflecting upon the virtues of chivalry of their mentor. Should the squire fail to attain the standard expected of them, there are ways to sever the knight-squire relationship.

[Proximo]

Knights should be able to kill people.

[Fawkes]

This idealistic stuff .. loyalty. This is important. Respect as well.
Trust in your comrades.
Trust in your superiors and your subordinates. This is how true strength is born.

[Krevente]

Knights should be able to kill people.

That would fall under several of those categories. People often mistake today's carebearish values with more brutally realistic values of security that still take precedence in large portions of the world. A good portion of the gaming world is pretty naive to the brutal realities of war and conflict.

[Protunia]

http://www.lordsandladies.org/knights-c ... ivalry.htm


The Knights Code of Chivalry described in the Song of Roland and an excellent representation of the Knights Codes of Chivalry are as follows:

To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the liege lord in valour and faith
To protect the weak and defenceless
To give succour to widows and orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
To live by honour and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honour of fellow knights
To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
To respect the honour of women
Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
Never to turn the back upon a foe

The chivalric virtues of the Knights Code of Chivalry were described in the 14th Century by the Duke of Burgandy. The words he chose to use to describe the virtues that should be exhibited in the Knights Code of Chivalry were as follows:

Faith
Charity
Justice
Sagacity
Prudence
Temperance
Resolution
Truth
Liberality
Diligence
Hope
Valour

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivalry

Gautier's "commandments" are:
Believe the Church's teachings and observe all the Church's directions.
Defend the Church.
Respect and defend all weaknesses.
Love your country.
Show no mercy to the Infidel. Do not hesitate to make war with them.
Perform all your feudal duties as long as they do not conflict with the laws of God.
Never lie or go back on one's word.
Be generous to everyone.
Always and everywhere be right and good against evil and injustice.

When examining medieval literature, chivalry can be classified into three basic but overlapping areas:

Duties to countrymen and fellow Christians: this contains virtues such as mercy, courage, valor, fairness, protection of the weak and the poor, and in the servant-hood of the knight to his lord. This also brings with it the idea of being willing to give one’s life for another’s; whether he would be giving his life for a poor man or his lord.

Duties to God: this would contain being faithful to God, protecting the innocent, being faithful to the church, being the champion of good against evil, being generous and obeying God above the feudal lord.

Duties to women: this is probably the most familiar aspect of chivalry. This would contain what is often called courtly love, the idea that the knight is to serve a lady, and after her all other ladies. Most especially in this category is a general gentleness and graciousness to all women.

These three areas obviously overlap quite frequently in chivalry, and are often indistinguishable.


Different weight given to different areas produced different strands of chivalry:

warrior chivalry, in which a knight's chief duty is to his lord, as exemplified by Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

religious chivalry, in which a knight's chief duty is to protect the innocent and serve God, as exemplified by Sir Galahad or Sir Percival in the Grail legends.

courtly love chivalry, in which a knight's chief duty is to his own lady, and after her, all ladies, as exemplified by Sir Lancelot in his love for Queen Guinevere or Sir Tristan in his love for Iseult

[Proximo]

Ok so you basically just posted three versions of the same thing, I think Kreventes was sufficient.

[Krevente]

Yeah ... my point was that is our system. There's a whole wide variety of different takes on knighthood and the virtues. Some orders have crazy numbers like over 30 and some less than the 7 we chose.

I posted this to start a discussion on what your group might chose, not some effort to say that there's only one system or one acceptable answer.

I'm sure different guilds will have different takes on knighthood.

[Protunia]

Yeah pretty much I saw it was in the Lore Section and wanted to give some further info about Chivalry for others who may want to read about the Lore.

Anyhow each Kingdom has its own virtues and chooses them based on their principles.

It's actually kind of neat when you get into it and see what the different Kingdoms choose and their Codes.

[Engellus]

The 9 Virtues of those who adhere to the ways of the Old Gods. (As taken from The Nine Charges of the Odinic Rite set in the 1970s)

1.To maintain candour and fidelity in love and devotion to the tried friend: though he strike me I will do him no scathe.
2.Never to make wrongsome oath: for great and grim is the reward for the breaking of plighted troth.
3.To deal not hardly with the humble and the lowly.
4.To remember the respect that is due to great age.
5.To suffer no evil to go unremedied and to fight against the enemies of Faith, Folk and Family: my foes I will fight in the field, nor will I stay to be burnt in my house.
6.To succour the friendless but to put no faith in the pledged word of a stranger people.
7.If I hear the fool's word of a drunken man I will strive not: for many a grief and the very death groweth from out such things.
8.To give kind heed to dead people: straw dead, sea dead or sword dead.
9.To abide by the enactments of lawful authority and to bear with courage the decrees of the Norns.

Essentially, be good and faithful, do no wrong to those who are of your people. But ensure the death of every outsider who dares resist your authority. And especially seek to cause suffering to those who denounce the legitimacy of the Gods and their will.

(Looking to make a Norse Pagan/Viking Holy Order)

[SirWinston]

Bros before hoes seems to be the most important virtue an aspiring knight can cultivate.

[Krevente]

See. This shit is timeless.

[FortheLawls]

See. This shit .

Where is the lore? I see bro chest thumping

[SirWinston]

See. This shit .

Where is the lore? I see bro chest thumping

I am shocked and appalled good sir of your complete denial of the holy institution of brohood and its sacred rituals that trace back to the year 1386 when Lord McBrosinski coined the term.

[FortheLawls]

See. This shit .

Where is the lore? I see bro chest thumping

I am shocked and appalled good sir of your complete denial of the holy institution of brohood and its sacred rituals that trace back to the year 1386 when Lord McBrosinski coined the term.

Wasn't that good of a book i give it a -3

[Aheeia]

all kneel.... RISE A KNIGHT

[Beeskee]

all kneel.... RISE A KNIGHT

Woohoo!

-

I saw Virtues and immediately thought of Ultima:

Honesty
Compassion
Valor
Honor
Justice
Sacrifice
Spirituality
Humility


Historically the RL knightly virtues were basically in place to keep heavily-armed thugs, most with a holier-than-thou attitude and free pass from their ruler, somewhat in line. I imagine the in-game virtue systems that evolve will be somewhat similar, encouraging "knights" to avoid teabagging peasants' corpses and things like that.

It is going to be an evolutionary process, however.

[Wllstrt75]

You do realize that a so called code that you seem to think applied to real knights did not really exist and knights were really more like glorified raiders/bandits who raped and pillaged a lot especially in early periods?

[Nebun]

less talking, more raiding

are the only 2 virtues that will slaughter all valiant knights with their code in this game

[Chad34]

Going by a classic video game, the Ultime IV Virtues:

Honesty
Compassion
Valor
Justice
Sacrifice
Honor
Spirituality
Humility

I don't know how historically accurate that is, but it's something. I'm not sure how spiritual you can be in this game, but the others should be doable. Honestly I wouldn't mind dropping spirituality, since I'm not spiritual myself and trying to figure christianity out can make my head hurt.