The Knights Templar - Other Mercenary
CO: Colonel Sir Benedict di Milo
New Page 1
Classed as mercenaries, as nothing else seems to fit, the Knights Templar is a semi-secret society that follows a code of conduct that is over 2,000-years old:
“A Knight is sworn to valour.
His heart knows only virtue.
His blade defends the helpless.
His might upholds the weak.
His word speaks only truth.
His wrath undoes the wicked.”
Their nearly religious devotion to this code has seen the Knights completely eliminated on two separate occasions, only to be rebuilt from scratch by support personnel and cadets from their self-contained academy. All members refer to themselves and each other by the title of ‘Sir’, rarely using rank unless dealing with outsiders. It should be noted that female members use title ‘Lady’ rather than ‘Sir’.
Unit history:
No one outside the Knights is sure just when the order was formed: they claim to be able to trace their history back to the original Knights Templar, founded on Terra in 1118. This is almost certainly false, but there are other, older organisations in existence, so the claim should not be totally discredited.
Records do show the Knights operating in and around the area of space that now forms the Outer Colonies during the time of the Reunification Wars. The order remained completely neutral during the years of conflict, offering humanitarian and medical aid to both sides without preference. After several disastrous attempts to attack hospitals and aid stations operated by the Knights, both the SLDF and their Periphery opponents agreed to respect their neutrality, often going out of their way to accommodate their relief efforts.
To this day, no one knows how many lives the Knights saved by refusing to allow military units to position themselves in and around civilian centres.
The years after the Reunification Wars saw much hardship in the deep Periphery, with the Knights doing everything they could to help the civilian populations survive. More than one hostile government or pirate king was overthrown by the Knights as they continued their self appointed task of guarding civilian life.
Many of those who have benefited from the help of the Knights have made donations over the years. Some give little, often more than they can truly afford, but many large business and influential individuals have made large donations, including the organisations two Star Lord class JumpShips, the Siege Perilous and the newly acquired Green Knight.
With the fall of the Star League and the start of the Succession Wars, the Knights came to the conclusion that they could better serve humanity by remaining in the deep Periphery, and set about fortifying their base of operations, eventually surpassing even SLDF specifications.
With the birth of the Outer Colonies, the Knights agreed to accept the new government, but demanded full autonomy for themselves and those living on the land they controlled. The Council of Eleven readily agreed to this, signing over almost a fifth of the world of Last Post to the Knights, ensuring them a secure future.
To this day, the Knights Templar operated as a literal law unto themselves, only interacting with the Council of Eleven when necessary.
The Knight’s distinctive unit emblem is a medieval knight in full armour, leaning on a broadsword. The knight’s livery is white with a large red cross in the centre. All uniforms are bone-white torsos with blue arms and legs. Each Knight has their own personal coat-of-arms that is displayed over their right breast. Dress uniforms have a cloak adorned with the individual’s coat-of-arms.
Base of operation:
The Knights operate out of the fortified city of New Constantinople on the desolate world of Last Post, and allow no visitors in their inner sanctum, the hudge fortress known only as The Citadel. Attempts have been made of the years to sneak an agent inside, but the security systems appear to be experimental SLDF sensors and active countermeasures not normally found outside of a maximum security R&D centre.
This has given rise to the widely held theory that there is a lost Castle Brian under the Citadel, even though no such complex exists on the records for that time.
The city of New Constantinople is a Mecca for artists and philosophers, and is home to the most highly respected university in the entire Outer Colonies: not even the prestigious New Jamaica Institute of Advanced Science can boast a more famous list of past students. All students are accepted based on ability, with the Knights providing full scholarships for anyone who cannot afford the fees.
Unit Structure:
The Knights military arm is organised as a reinforced regiment, with four full battalions.
First Battalion contains three companies of predominately heavy BattleMech’s, with an independent extended Command Lance of six BattleMech’s. This includes two bodyguard Mech’s for the Colonel, currently Sir Benedict di Milo.
Second Battalion contains the units armour assets, mainly medium tanks and fire support units. They are often deployed on the flanks and as a reserve should first battalion need assistance. Many of their vehicles are of Star League vintage, adding extra weight to the Castle Brian theory.
Third Battalion is the units infantry support, with one company of mechanised, one company of air-mobile and one company of foot infantry equipped with Power Armour akin to that used by ComStar and Word of Blake. The mechanised company normally operates in support of the second battalion, while the air-mobile company is normally deployed as scouts ahead of the other units. The Power Armour company acts as jack-of-all-trades and as a rapid-response unit.
The Fourth Battalion is the support unit, including techs, medics, a dedicated MASH team and the Knights air-support unit, Alpha Flight. Fourth battalion is normally kept away from the fighting, operating out of either a secured centre of operations or grounded DropShips.
The transport section is headed up by the Star Lord Class JumpShip Siege Perilous. Attached to this are the DropShips Constantine (Overlord addapted to carry the 42 BattleMechs of First Battlaion at the expense of its Aerospace fighters and some cargo space), Bors & Gaheris (Gazelle’s assigned to Second Battalion), Tristan (Condor assigned to Third Battalion), Merlin (modified Fortress assigned to Fourth Battalion) and Bedivere (Leopard-CV, carries the remainder of the Knights Aerospace fighters).
As already stated, the Knights have a second Star Lord Class JumpShip, the Green Knight, but they mainly use this to carry supplies and to move units around when Siege Perilous is otherwise engaged.
Current Status:
The Knights
are between contacts, rebuilding after a long and bloody anti-pirate campaign
rim-ward of the Outer Colonies. As such, they are to be found on Last Post,
tending their land hold around New Constantinople.
User Reviews2/28/2006
Not a bad unit, I would like to see more about that unit.
By the way, the logo is not displayed as it is hosted by Angelfire, which has some troubles with sharing their pictures with others. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Regimental Command Lance (The Knights Pendragon)
1st Battalion (The Sword and the Shield)
2nd Battalion (Rolling Thunder)
3rd Battalion (The Hoplites)
WizKids LLC has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Classic BattleTech. WizKids, LLC has granted permission to Solaris7.com to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any written materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with, Solaris7.com in any official capacity whatsoever.