Regarding Wyrvardn and the "Knight" term
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:08 pm
(This seems to come up somewhat frequently, so I'm posting this right here in the Wyrvardn boards so it can be easily found and referenced in the future.)
Unofficially, anyone can call themselves a "knight" and most people will get what they mean: a warrior who gets all armored up and probably fights for some kind of honorable cause. It's a fairly common term at this point, both in our reality and in that of CLOK. As Noccy said, go ahead and use it for yourself if you wish: how you back up that claim is up to you.
Officially though, as an organization, Wyrvardn do not refer to their members specifically and intentionally as "knights". None of the five (re-)founders of the Wyrvardn use the title, nor bestow it upon anyone. The title they bear and bestow is that of "Wyrvardn". Wyrvardn are Wyrvardn, which was a similar title in Aetgard that commanded both awe and respect. Aetgard also had formally-titled Knights, which was a title in that kingdom that denoted near-nobility (as a social status, not as in an idividual's sense of virtue or anything), and was bestowed by lords upon warriors who in turn would serve and fight for said lords.
I think Morcant would be especially leery of using the title, due to his Viali roots. His thinking would likely be that the title must be bestowed by upper nobilty and comes with a vow of fealty to said noble - the Wyrvardn leaders require no such vows from their members. Morcant is neither upper nobility nor vassal to any lord, nor is he a landowner in the Lost Lands (as far as I'm aware) and therefore, based on his Viali roots, would feel he has no right to the title, let alone the ability to bestow it upon others.
Tangentially: It seems like a common misconception that Morcant is the de facto "leader" of the Wyrvardn. He is in fact only one of five leaders. While the intent was for the five founders to be equals in station, I'd say that if any were to be given the highest standing of the five, it'd be Semut, who was the one who got the ball rolling in the first place before he had even met any of the other four. I would consider him the "heart and soul" of the revivalist founders team, and the one that the others would look to in order to settle matters that the team was otherwise divided on.
TL;DR: Feel free to call yourselves knights on an individual basis, but the Wyrvardn as an organization do not make official use of the title/term.
Unofficially, anyone can call themselves a "knight" and most people will get what they mean: a warrior who gets all armored up and probably fights for some kind of honorable cause. It's a fairly common term at this point, both in our reality and in that of CLOK. As Noccy said, go ahead and use it for yourself if you wish: how you back up that claim is up to you.
Officially though, as an organization, Wyrvardn do not refer to their members specifically and intentionally as "knights". None of the five (re-)founders of the Wyrvardn use the title, nor bestow it upon anyone. The title they bear and bestow is that of "Wyrvardn". Wyrvardn are Wyrvardn, which was a similar title in Aetgard that commanded both awe and respect. Aetgard also had formally-titled Knights, which was a title in that kingdom that denoted near-nobility (as a social status, not as in an idividual's sense of virtue or anything), and was bestowed by lords upon warriors who in turn would serve and fight for said lords.
I think Morcant would be especially leery of using the title, due to his Viali roots. His thinking would likely be that the title must be bestowed by upper nobilty and comes with a vow of fealty to said noble - the Wyrvardn leaders require no such vows from their members. Morcant is neither upper nobility nor vassal to any lord, nor is he a landowner in the Lost Lands (as far as I'm aware) and therefore, based on his Viali roots, would feel he has no right to the title, let alone the ability to bestow it upon others.
Tangentially: It seems like a common misconception that Morcant is the de facto "leader" of the Wyrvardn. He is in fact only one of five leaders. While the intent was for the five founders to be equals in station, I'd say that if any were to be given the highest standing of the five, it'd be Semut, who was the one who got the ball rolling in the first place before he had even met any of the other four. I would consider him the "heart and soul" of the revivalist founders team, and the one that the others would look to in order to settle matters that the team was otherwise divided on.
TL;DR: Feel free to call yourselves knights on an individual basis, but the Wyrvardn as an organization do not make official use of the title/term.