Category:Knights of the Seal

Tradition Origins: It took the combined powers of Daeus, Animus, and Maugrim to renew the Great Seal upon the Void. When Taara struck down Animus, certain souls began to suspect that such an effort, should the Void ever threaten the world again, might not be repeatable and that the threat of the Void must therefore become their primary focus.

When Taara slew Animus (by proxy, it is said, as such direct actions were forbidden by Divine Law), the threat of the Void became a greater reality. Taking inspiration from the cavalier movement across Ea, warriors and scholars both combined to create the first Order of the Seal. The order at first focused on preserving a number of artifacts from Taara's grasp, once Animus fell, and to seek out and preserive any knowledge or artifacts that might be of assistant in preserving Gaea in the face of the Void. This is the last time the order would be whole--it quickly splintered into several groups.

The various orders of the seal have since scattered themselves among civilisation, and its original name has come to be associated with various orders of knights who are charged with the protection of important or dangerous objects or sacred areas.

These orders maintain a focus on anything to do with the Void, be it cultists or the actions of dark powers and deities who's actions may weaken the Seal. They safeguard faiths, relics, ancient sites, and traditions who are allies in this struggle. It is their hope that the spirit of men being strong will help keep the Seal strong.

That the original order has so fractured is only tradition. It took more than one force to craft the Seal and should it fail, it would do so again.

While the knights of the seal recall the Void, they know that it may not be guarded by a single force, but must instead by many.

Tradition Edicts: The cavalier must guard his sworn charge with all he has: his health, his honor, and his very life. If his charge is a place, he must keep intruders out. If it is a thing, he must keep it safe from thieves—and restore the item to its rightful place if taken. See the description above for our updated version of this Edict.

Challenge: An order of the seal cavalier can make a free bull rush or trip combat maneuver anytime he takes the full-attack action against the target of his challenge. This free combat maneuver does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Skills: An order of the seal cavalier adds Disable Device (Dex) and Linguistics (Int) to his list of class skills. Whenever the cavalier uses Bluff to conceal information about his sworn charge, he receives a competence bonus equal to 1/2 his cavalier level (minimum +1).

Order Abilities:

Keeper (Ex): At 2nd level, once per day the cavalier must select a location, or a secret that he has sworn to protect. If he chooses a location, he gains a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls when directly defending his charge. If he chooses a secret, he gains a +2 morale bonus on saving throws and opposed checks to resist revealing information about his charge. He gains these bonuses until he picks a new object, location, or secret to protect.

I Shall Not be Moved (Ex): At 8th level, the cavalier can draw on his dedication to overcome physical weakness. Whenever the cavalier does not move more than a 5-foot step, he receives a +2 dodge bonus to his CMD to resist bull rush, overrun, reposition, and trip combat maneuvers until his next turn.

Staggering Assault (Ex): At 15th level, the cavalier can drive opponents back without giving ground. As a full-round action, the cavalier can make a single attack at his highest attack bonus. If the attack hits, the attack does damage as normal, and the cavalier may attempt a bull rush against the target. The cavalier gains a bonus on the bull rush combat maneuver check equal to half the amount of damage dealt on the initial attack.