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"Hear me, my peace-drunk brethren! You are being led astray by your weak and frail leader Queenchief Nuria. She colludes with the ponies to declaw you, to dull your fangs! Long ago the Kirin struck fear into any country touching the sea! We were rulers of bloodied coin and had respect! but now, now the ponies, the weak cowardly ponies try to take away your culture! They deny us our heritage! Join me! join me and I'll show you the true path to power! Through blood! Carnage and gold! I defeated your 'queen' in single battle... She has failed you and grown soft with her 'peace.' a lapdog for her Equestrian masters! It is time for the Kirin to return to the forefront, through fire and blood!"- The Warlord Ashwrath gave this recuitment speech in the kirin city of Aeros with a retinue of strange uniform looking kirin. Many are worried of the violence to come and are already petitioning Equestria to intervene.
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Prance: The Land of Chivalry
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Topic Started: Dec 15 2017, 01:23 PM (71 Views)
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Aether Polemeios
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Dec 15 2017, 01:23 PM
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Introduction Tales of the gallant knight, the great crusader, armored heroes who charge into the thick of battle with lance and sword have been on the tongues of Equestrians for generations. Evidence that these ponies existed at all is held in Equestria’s own knighthood, the Knights of The Rising Sun. but what if they never disappeared at all?
Prance is a land in which legend comes alive. A feudal kingdom with an entrenched culture of its gentle born: The path of knighthood. To hold land means to take up lance and sword against Prance’s enemies and evil doers everywhere.
Prance’s population are split into two groups, the noble knights and the land bound serfs. A serf’s life is simple; They til the land, provide for their lord and when called upon join the ranks of the army to defend Prance from invaders. A curious quirk of the progeny is: the entirety of the population of Prance are Pegasus and Earth ponies. Unicorns are only born rarely and always of female gender. These unicorns hold immense connection to the land of Prance itself and are always given to the Fay enchantress to train. These ‘Damsels’ are so connected to Prance that they can call upon the will of the land itself and the heavens above to smite the wicked by falling thunderbolt or rigourous weather.
The life of a noble in contrast is one of chivalry. The culture of Prance is one in which selfless service and chivalrous deeds are paramount. The nobility is expected to protect their serfs, to treat all justly, to keep themselves in top physical condition if Prance ever has need of their lance, and to root out evil and corruption wherever it grows. Because of this focus on martial prowess, Prance’s army is considered the most disciplined and highest of quality throughout Terra, even more so than Equestria. Their army is small in comparison, their recruitment conditions extremely stringent.
Religion Unlike Equestria, which is mostly secular, Prance’s religious practices form the core morals of their nobility. The Cult of the Lady. The Lady of the Lake is a being shrouded in myth and mystery. She appears before those of pure heart and courageous spirit, guiding them to people in need of protection or a monster in need of slaying. Depicted as a white unicorn holding a golden Grail the Lady of the Lake is the romanticized ideal of womanhood. The kind of lady a knight would love and serve without any doubt or hesitation. Within the hearts and minds of many nobles the Lady is the very heart and soul of Prance. Her spirit dwells within sacred groves and healing pools, protected by her sworn Grail Knights. No base creature or evildoer must ever be permitted to stain her holiest of places, an oath that all knights of Prance adhere to with zealous defense bordering on fanaticism.
The orders of chivalry are inextricably linked to the Lady of the Lake for it is she who doles out the rewards for purity and generous action. A knight who sups from the grail she carries at all times is filled with holy power and clarity of purpose, along with a rejuvenated body and steelclad spirit. The Grail knights are not the only protectors of the lady however. There exists one fearsome knight clothed in a green mantle and silver armor, his body made up of green mist. This so called ‘Green Knight’ is the champion of the Lady of the Lake. and only appears before those questing knights as a final test. A knight who can wound the Green Knight will find the Grail eventually. Other times the Green Knight appears before evildoers who would defile a holy site of the Lady to wreak terrible vengeance upon them.
The Zeal of Prance’s nobility is so great that in times of immense darkness the King, along with the Fey Enchantress may call a Crusade. All nobles within Prance are beckoned to take up holy arms and march across far lands to attack and free beleaguered peoples of tyrants and immense evil monsters. The last Crusade was called several millennia ago, at the rise of Nightmare Moon
Knighthood Every pony in Prance who calls themselves ‘nobility’ are knights. The prerequisite to owning land is to be a knight, with a single exception. The path of knighthood starts at an early age. A knight’s son is expected to learn the ways of the knight and upon their 15th birthday are given the armaments and equipment needed to become a knight. All knights are expected and held to the tenets of their faith and chivalry. A breach of this contract is tantamount to treason.
Knighthood in Prance comes in a few stages.
Knights Errant: The most junior of knights, these warriors travel Prance in search of wrongs to write, disputes to settle and tournaments to win. Equipped with simple but effective armor and weapons, including a spear a shield and sword. It is not uncommon to see squads of knights errant traveling together on their way to the next tournament in the next scheduled duchy.
Knights of the realm: Once an errant receives enough honor in tournaments and has demonstrated an understanding of their faith’s tenets and what it means to be chivalrous, they are given a mantle in their family’s colors and livery and a lance, the symbol of their station. Their family gives the new knight an estate of land to lord over and protect. The knights of the realm make up the majority of the landowning nobility and the bulk of Prance’s elite corp of knightly troops.
Questing Knights: When a knight of the realm decides that they must serve a higher purpose they divest themselves of all landed titles and possessions and return their lance to their forebear or elder. Taking only their sword their armor, a pittance of currency and s few provisions the Questing knight embarks on a possibly life ending journey. Travelling far beyond Prance’s borders to slay monsters, right wrongs, defend the weak all in pursuit of the highest honor a knight can achieve, to sup from the grail itself. Once the oath of questing is taken a knight may not return to Prance unless in times of war. They may not stay in one location for more than two nights and to never yield in their search so long as they draw breath. All the while the questing knight is guided in dreams by their lady. A miniscule few questing knights ever succeed in finding the Grail but if they do to sup from the Grail is to earn great power and leads to the last and final stage of a knight.
The Brotherhood of the Grail: Otherwise known as ‘Grail knights’ these paragons of virtue return to Prance with a greatly extended lifespan, a stronger body and a deep seated holy power within. Their culture deems them living saints, lauded as heroes. Grail knights have two paths before them. They may return to their old estate and reclaim it to govern, build a shrine in the wilderness of Prance to the Lady of the Lake to live out their lives in solitude or join the King of Prance’s court if such an office is available.
Grail knights are famous across all of Terra for their martial prowess and Tactical brilliance. When wielded their weapons glow aflame with golden fire, and every blow a titanic result. All this is thanks to the empowerment of their holy patron, the Lady of the Lake.
So rare are the Grail knights that only 40 currently live.
No matter the stage every knight follows a strict code of conduct called the seven commandments:
To serve the Lady of the Lake. To defend the domains entrusted to him To protect the weak and fight for the right. Always to fight the enemies of virtue and order. Never to give up the fight until the foe be defeated. Never to break faith with a friend or ally. Always to display honor and courtesy.
Additionally there are other tenets a knight must follow. Ingrained in their culture, these date back to their country’s founding and the very origins of their knightly tradition. These rules are what set apart the knights of Prance from that of other realms.
A Knight may only fight hoof-to-hoof, with sword or lance he may not use a missile weapon. A Knight shall always accept a challenge towards personal combat. A Knight shall not draw sword against his fellow Prench Knight, except in trial by combat or within a tournament. A Knight shall not allow himself to be captured alive. A Knight shall not flee from the enemy, nor retreat without proper tactical cause.
Feudal Hierarchy At the top of Prance’s nobility is the Royarch, or King. The Royarch is chosen from among the Grail knights at the time of death of the previous king at a conclave held at the nation’s capital city of L’anguille. Below the King are the Dukes, each Duke given a swath of land to govern by way of naming counts and counts to name Barons.
Outside of this Hierarchy is the Fey Enchantress. The Fey Enchantress is the oldest ‘Damsel’ and acts as the Lady of the Lake’s voice upon Prance and as such is somewhere in between the king and the dukes when it comes to authority.. She seeks out the rare born unicorns of Prance to train into Damsel’s so they might support the nobility’s wartime efforts as well as administer the religious sermons in the Grail temples of most major cities.
In rare cases, Damsel’s show competence in the arts of warfare and are given the opportunity to train to become knights themselves. These rare and terrible powerhouses of might and magic are called ‘Knight-enchantress.’
Lower Classes The lower classes of Prance are separated into two groups, the peasants and the freepony. Peasants make up the bulk of Prance’s population, they work the fields and generally make up the backbone of Prance’s economy as well as the front line troops of their army. They are by and large uneducated and usually poor but their livelihoods protected by their lord.
The Freeponies are a newish phenomena, having only appeared in Prance in the last 500 years. These peasants learned to read and write by new monasteries and these now learned commoners taught their progeny and so on. This new burgeoning middle class are allowed the freedom of movement peasants lack and while the peasants make up the menial labor such as growing food the freepony make up the artisans, the artists shop owners, tailors and blacksmiths and more. In exchange for this freedom of movement they are levied a slightly higher tax than peasants, this gold filling the royal coffers for use in public projects such as the maintenance of roads.
Tournaments The tourney’s of Prance are legendary, half of the year is devoted to these sacred and honorable contests of arms. Each of the six duchies holds a grand tournament a month at a time, nobles from all over visit these contests to test their mettle and to show their worthiness of becoming landed knights. Prizes are provided by the host duchy whether it be money or equipment. This all culminates in a final tournament held in the crown duchy’s capital. The Tournament of the Realm is a massive festival celebrating Prance’s culture and wealth, and is the only time of year where peasants may travel to watch the proceedings.
The Duchies
The Kingdom of Prance is separated into 6 duchies. The Dukes are Grail Knights all as the dukedom is an appointed office of the King. Each duchy has a multitude of counts below them followed by barons below those. Each ‘rank’ of ruler may only appoint titles to the rank of title below them. Kings appoint dukes,counts and barons. Dukes appoint counts and barons and counts can appoint barons. Each appointment uses a division of land from the appointer and those are just landed titles reserved for knights of the realm.
The Duchy the King currently holds is referenced as the ‘crowned duchy.’ The six duchies are as follows.
L’anguille: The current crowned Duchy held by King Leon L’anguille. L’anguille is at the center of Prance and holds huge swaths of rolling flat farmland and carefully pruned forests, trees evenly spaced and brachens far above the ground so as to not impede the knights that so often travel through the duchy. The most famous Prench wine comes from L’anguille.

Parravon: Parravon is a realm of mountains and small fields of farmland. The Duke and his subordinate counts live atop the rocky peaks in vast mountain fortresses and smithies. The Parravon bloodline is one of only Pegasus. Parravon make up the bulk of Prance’s Pegasus knight corp specializing in scouting and aerial outflanking.

Giseroux: The Duchy of Gioseroux is unique within Prance, while most duchies hold a singular people Giseroux serves as Prance’s melting pot. Though the southern reaches of the duchy are an untameable forest filled with vicious creatures that incur into the rest of Prance, the other lands consist of a great many different peoples, from the farmers of arable land one would see universally across the realm to a massive curated hunting grounds where expert hunters and trappers ply their trade. And finally Giseroux serves as the weaving capital of Prance, all of their finished clothing goods ships from this duchy.

Bordeleaux: Bordeleaux is the westernmost duchy that shares a border with Equestria. Its lands feature the iconic arable rolling farmland as well as a strong seafaring tradition, the great port of Bordeleaux sits on its eastern shore that serves as a primary trade stop between Equestria and Heliopolis.

Artois:The Duchy of Artois holds the kingdom’s largest stretch of boar hunting grounds, carefully taken care of by a sect of Damsel’s whose job it is to prevent over hunting. Ponies do not eat meat and the boars are hunted more for challenge and not food. The Kingdom preserves and ships the Boar meat at a premium to other meat eating nations. Prench boar meat being considered a delicacy plane wide.

Lyonesse: The Duchy of Lyonesse being comprised of only flat land makes the duchy uniquely situated to have a large part of their territory dedicated to tourney grounds. The knights of Lyon, as they prefer to be called, practice daily and hold contests between barons and counts almost as often. Because of this stringent regiment The Knights of Lyon are considered the best knights in all of Prance for their lion like bravery and ferocity.

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