Knights of the Bull/The Red Knights – The most active order against the external enemies of Parigi, they recruit from all over Parigi, especially the youth, but their membership is mostly made up of the more recently founded Houses in the north. While knights can stay within the order for longer periods of time, many members are relatively transient and leave the order to either return to their House or join other orders. These knights love a good charge, preferably on horseback and are not shy about their enjoyment of conflict. They tend to wield heavier weapons and forgo shields. They are unique in that common folk can join the order as Sergeants, not only as serfs.
Major Houses: De Feoderati, De Cabelleri, House of Sanguine
The main distinction of the major houses of northern Parigi is that none of them are historical houses, and none of their lines stretch back further than a few generations. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, they are some of the largest and most fruitful if the houses, and their knights are known for being boisterous, caring, and noble unto a fault. It is easy to get a knight sired in the north to fight you blade to blade, and it is just as easy to have him drink and sing to your bravery afterwards, provided you survive.
The Shadow Legion/The Knights of Nyx – An order of knights pledged to Nivaris. They maintain order along the roads and waterways of the Parigi coast, while also manning and keeping lighthouses alight. Eschewing the heavier armors of their more terrestrial brother and sister orders, they prefer to fight in the older Korinthian manner, with long spears as the main weapon and a short sword as a back-up. They are also relatively unique among the knights of Parigi in that many of their order are themselves classed in the mystic arts and are able to cast spells.
Major Houses: De Naxos, House of Melos, Spartacids, Korkyracids
The main distinction of the major houses of the coasts of Parigi is that they are, all of them, of Korinthian blood, either directly or through intermarriage. They have also have a natural affinity and love for the seas that surround Parigi, and it as often as not that scions of these houses reject martial endeavors and instead focus on more vulgar pursuits, including trade and commerce. Because of this, the knight houses of the coast tend towards smaller numbers of obscenely well-equipped and gauche warriors.
The Wardens of Beldan/Knights of the Cycle – Likely the oldest order of knights within Parigi. Unlike other orders, the Wardens recruit almost exclusively within their own region, likely because of the fact their headquarters lies wholly within the Barony of Beldan. Those within the Barony are known to tithe their own children to the Wardens. While the knowledge that their offspring may become great knights of renown may comfort some, it is the knowledge that their children will not want for food or shelter that motivates most. The Wardens are not an overtly religious order of knights, but they pay respects to Reeve, both in their oaths and in their attire. Rarely seen on the battlefield, simply because of the insular nature of the interior of Parigi, they are equipped in the heaviest plate, wielding warhammers, maces, and flails, with or without shields, all black as pitch. Every member of the order is an ordained cleric as well. Most serve Reeves, but large minorities offer Xarian and Ares worship as well.
Major Houses: House of Beldan, De Morea, De Lucca, The Argenti
The main distinction of the major houses of the east is their intransigence. The one house that breaks this mold, the Argenti, are themselves almost considered outsiders. They tend to be arrogant and look down on others, even those technically their equals or betters. That being said, their arrogance is not born of idle self-worship, but of centuries of conflict. In stark contrast to the relatively peaceful heartlands and the idyllic coasts of Parigi, the interior and the highlands sit in the shadow of the mountain. A thousand deadly beasts usher forth from the mountains every day, including monsters from beyond the mortal veil. And almost all of them have ended their existence at the lance of a knight from the east. The few that slip by become legend making monstrosities for those in the heartlands; a thousand such legendary encounters go unheard of every year in the east.
The Knights of the Watch – The newest order in Parigi, and perhaps its most controversial. The Knights of the Watch are both an order of knights, and the city guard for Parigi proper. They are also the only ones allowed arms within the cities’ limits. This makes them a pariah to many of the noble knights and order knights that often find themselves in the city for whatever reason. They are also a more transparently political knight order in their service to the Captain of the Guard and the Duke himself. Despite the suspicion in which they are held by their fellow knights, they have acquitted themselves well in the few conflicts they have been a party to. Perhaps feeling they must show themselves to be more knightly than all others, they prefer to fight on horseback, with lance and shield in the classic style.
Major Houses: De Parigi, De Capet, De Argonne, House of Faustian, The Crimson Rose
The main distinction of the major houses of the heartlands is their political power and prominence within the myth of Parigi itself. The house of Parigi lent the city its name, a reward for the valiant sacrifice of Antonio (Antoine) De Parigi at the bloody baptism of the city during the Siege of Parigi, the Capet have given their name to the central ruling complex, and the Code of Argonne, named for the eponymous house, is the code by which the city is run. The heartland houses tend to exemplify the chivalric code to which all knights if Parigi pay at least lip service to, and this shows in their treatment of others, both their superiors and their lesser. Other knights of Parigi may be greater warriors, or more advanced spellcasters, or more adept strategists, but the knights of the heartland can have their nobility contested by no one; and those who can contest any of the rest are in short supply.