Knights Regnum

The Knights Regnum or Regnum Caelestis is a fraternity of knights sworn to fight the Burning Legion and enlighten those who seek knowledge.

History
The Regnum Caelestis was founded not long after the crash of the Exodar. The traditional date of its founding is December 12, nine days before the winter solstice. The original creators of the Order were Sir Knights Ivstinus Wistun and Monte Eulvantidres. The name at that time was Exaltis Apocalyvise, which did not catch on so well with the masses. Rethinking their design, the order was renamed the Regnum Caelestis, and the Knighthood was founded of the first three. In the months after the founding of the order, the connections to ancient and mysterious truths of all planar worlds, including the material plane of Azeroth, were shared by the Grand Master. This marked the beginning of the esoteric teachings and the "secret" history of the Knights Regnum. This tale is safely guarded by the Knights of the Order, and may not be shared with non-knights.

The Knighthood, however, does trace its lineage back to the guilds of stonemasons in Stormwind, and the Order of the Craft, re-founded two years prior to the Regnum's creation. As with many Knighthoods, the nature and factuality of where they trace their lineage is less important than the symbol the history represents.

Goals
The goals of the order are very easily seen in their battlecries: "For the Living! As One!" These tend to lend the idea that they do not accept undead, but they do, in fact, accept freewilled undead (such as Death Knights), as can be seen by the line of Praetorian members who have been Death Knights (Mullach, Taliezen Stormbrink, etc.) The universal goal of the Regnum is "Enlightenment." This means bringing Righteousness, and knowledge of Eternity. To do this, the regnum position themselves against demonkind and scourge undead.

Organization
The original founding order of the Regnum being a Knighthood, and the model of the Knighthood being a Militant Fraternity, the Regnum tends to follow the structure and command format of an ancient military. At the top of the order is the Grand Master, who is assisted by the Royal Master of the Council and the Legatian of the Legion. Command ranks beneath this include the Knight-Champions of the Alliance and Horde, followed by the Knight-Commanders, Knight-Captains and Knight-Lieutenants of the Knighthood.

The Council's System
The Council of the Regnum Caelestis is very much an esoteric mystery order. To advance in status, a member must undergo study of the rites and philosophies of the order, questioning them and proving them for the member's own sake. The 'degrees' of the council, or 'ranks', are structured without regard to combat training, and only to the spiritual study of the soul progressing in them. In order to have a vote in the Order of the Regnum Caelestis, a member must attain the third degree, or Master's Degree. Beyond Master are special elected degrees that serve certain purposes for the order. The Secret Masters serve as a planning and organizing committee. Only one new Secret Master is chosen per month. The Perfect Masters are selected by other Perfect Masters, with the assistance of the Royal Master. Perfect Masters are those who carry out the plans of the Secret Masters, and lead organization events. Above this is the Royal Master, which is a Perfect Master who has been elected by all Masters of the Regnum to become the presiding officer over the Council and personal ritual assistant to the Grand Master.

The Council Degrees are how any Regnum may become a voting member of the Order. Any Legion member may become a voting member by requesting the council degrees. Upon joining the Council, a member loses privilege in combat of the Legion, such as command rank, or even participation to an extent.

The Legion's System
The Legion of the Regnum Caelestis is the military arm and power of the order that strikes at all who would oppose righteousness and freedom--especially demonkind. The Legion has no commanding officers, as the order mantains that only Knights (who have given up all evil methods) may become commanding officers. Rank in the Legion is based upon mounted capability, and combat skill. Therefore, Footsoldiers are unmounted, Cavalry are the mounted combatants (only epic mounts are allowed in combat, so level 40 is a requirement for Cavalry), and Elites are flying combatants. Beyond this there are combat tested Praetorians. To become a Praetorian, an Elite must compete against other Elites in arena combat to prove themselves worthy, or prove themselves in the dark and scary places of the world (raid dungeons). In the case of a crossfaction victory, it is not uncommon for a Horde Praetorian to protect an Alliance Commander. The Best of the Best are chosen for Praetorian, regardless of faction.The highest rank is the Legatian, which is an appointed position by the Grand Master as a personal assistant for organizing combat events and assaults. The appointment is approved by the voting Knights of the Knighthood.

Jurisdiction
The Regnum Caelestis is a Crossfaction order. As such, the jurisdiction of the entire body is meant to be worldly. The order views itself as greater than the faction conflict, and will intervene in any situation where injustice is occuring. The order also teaches a multiplanar, and multiverse view, cosmology. In fact, the principle concept that makes the order work so well is the view of unity that does not stop at planar boundaries, nor city walls.

Command Posts
Presently the Legion of the Regnum Caelestis is stationed at Nethergarde Keep. At the current time there are no satellite outposts. If the Legion does open an outpost, a mandatory placement of at least ten Legionnaires is required before the location is claimed as a true Regnum outpost. In an attempt to keep things calm and peaceful between the Horde and Alliance, no Legion outpost may be within an area dedicated to the Horde, or where only a Horde village is to be found.

The Temple of Enlightenment
In the Degrees of the Council, the location of the degree is known as the Symbolic Temple of Enlightenment, or the Temple of the Regnum Caelestis. This Temple is similar to a symbolic Lodge. It is mobile, and it only exists where members gather. There are no permanent structures that can fathom the righteousness of the Temple, and therefore most places of degree work, in the higher degrees (ascending the Temple, symbolically), have no roof or ceiling.

Life as a 'Regnum'
To join the Regnum Caelestis, one must simply ask a member! The different branches have different requirements, but other than that: only the freewill to join, and a belief in righteousness are required of all Regnum.

Joining the Council
To join the Council as an Aspirant, you must be chosen by Masters of the order as ready to receive the degree. This sometimes requires new members to join the Legion, just to get in the 'guild system,' before being accepted into the Council. The degrees of the council are held and scheduled based on need. Only one aspirant at a time may be a candidate.

Joining the Legion
To join the Legion, simply ask any Legionaire to give you the oaths of membership. They are:
 * Swear to the Unity of the Order before personal advancement and goals.
 * Swear to never retreat and never surrender upon the field of battle.
 * Swear to a belief in righteousness and freedom.

Joining the Knighthood
Joining the Knighthood is a hard process that requires a member have been raised to the degree of Master and have successfully participated in three combat events of the Legion. To become an Initiate in the Knighting process, a member must give up all harmful shadow magic, curses, disease, fel-magic, or other evil methods as denoted in the Book of Exalted Deeds. To become a Knight, the process involves exactly seven days of dedicated work upon the Knighthood's mysteries of Initiation into the 'Greater Mysteries.'

Religious Affiliation
The Regnum Caelestis is NOT a religious organization, nor is it affiliated with any religious order. The Regnum accepts ALL faiths and religions, so long as they promote righteousness. The order does pray, often in public, for the purpose of spiritual and mental unity. Often times, the prayer is more of a speech to get the souls and minds of those participating in the event on the same page, and hyped up. The order prays before meetings, at the close of meetings, before combat, and at the close of combat for dismissal. These prayers are mandatory, and just like the Aldor and Shattrath Guardians who pray-- we answer "May it be so" in your most common (or orcish) language. Unity is the grand characteristic of the order. Personal prayers are for personal time, not when the rest of the Regnum are focusing together in Unity.

Events
Certain events are mandatory, depending on which guild a member is in. Social events are almost always marked as "meetings" on the calendar, and are mandatory for all Council Members. Combat events are almost always marked as "other" or "pvp" on the calendar, and are mandatory for all Legion Members. Knighthood members must attend all events, and in the case of conflict refer to a superior officer.

Mandatory: In the Regnum, this means that a player who is on their regnum character will show up to the event. Period. "Online is On Time." The guild does consider real life more important, however. REAL LIFE COMES FIRST!

Role Play Expectations
The Regnum Caelestis expects all characters to be In Character (IC) at all times (100%) while logged in the game, with little exception. The consideration for this is 80% OOC planning and agreement, 20% IC interaction. Global Channels, including Guild Chat, are out of character.

Combat: The Regnum's official policy on combat is to use the Game Mechanic. This means to drop a duel flag, or enter into a global combat arena. Emotes are not encouraged, as they promote God Moding, and do not take into consideration the combat expertise of a character (level), or the time and energy a player has taken to make his or her character more powerful. The Regnum considers Level a primary consideration for victory in combat, second only to Tactical Organization.

PVP: At no time may a Regnum take PVP action against another Regnum in anger or for the purpose of killing that Regnum. This rule has always been in effect.