Military Orders in Cornicae

Didone Knights in 1812

The military orders in Cornicae were heavily armed, mounted military units with broad judicial powers and law enforcement responsibilities that were formed in the Cathartic Empire and still persist across western Gaia. There are also sometimes called the Torporine Orders after the common nickname "aplicadores entorpecidos" (numb enforcers) and because of the similarity of the name with the reigning Tordo Dynasty. They were formed to act as law enforcement officials who could cross between different political jurisdictions. Vitor's predecessors had created a police in Cambra in the late 17th century, but due to a lack of funds, the most common punishment they dispensed was expulsion from the city walls. After Vitor came to power in 1800, one of his first objectives was to purge the capital of political dissenters, which was achieved within a few weeks of his coronation. This had the unfortunate effect of pollinating the countryside around Cambra with insurrectionists. In 1809, Vitor formed the Brethren of Arms of the Didone Crown to repeat his purge in the countryside, which was successful, but again mostly caused his political opponents to flee. In 1812, Vitor formed a new body, the Anointed Brethren of Arms of the Didone Crown who had the same mission as his first order, but encompassed the entire nation.

Unlike purely military organizations, the Torpors received a commission from the High King personally and with that came Ditanist privileges as well. Compared to knights of the realm, who had many privileges such as bearing arms and owning land, these new knights were expressly agents of Ditanery and therefore held a higher status than both other knights and members of the nobility. They were given the power of audition which allowed them to interfere in the hearing of petitions; if an Adelthon wrote a petition to their local lord asking for protections from a Torpor, for example, the Torpor could legally intercept and dismiss their petition.

Organizations

There were nine orders formed in Cornicae that ascribed to the Torporine model (ie had judicial powers), but the four largest orders received the most funding and played the most prominent role in public life. The big four also survived from their formation until the 1943 dissolution of the empire, whereas other orders went extinct or had to be reformed several times.

Anointed Brethren of Arms of the Didone Crown

Arms of the Didone Knights

The largest and most important of the orders were the Knights of Didonia, who were formed in 1812 by High King Vitor when his first order, the original Knights of Didonia who became the Knights of Brachlon, proved insufficient to fulfill the King's objectives. They operated from Castelo de Didonia, one of the King's former residences in Cambra, from which they took their name. After the events of the Treason of the Burguês, they also were called the Bloody Knights and Bloodspurs. They received the land of nobles who they arrested and executed and established a network of supporters which allowed them to survive several attempts by later High Kings to disband their order.

Defenders of the Sepulchral Cairn of St. Aoric

In 1823 the Cairn of St. Aoric, a moraine near Boisbelle, was desecrated with goat carcasses. Blame was placed on a village of Marists nearby, although they did not own goats, and Vitor II used the event as an excuse to kill or relocate the Marists in southern Cornicae. Initially the work was carried out by regular members of the royal army, but the Marists often fought back through petitions and other legal channels. With the support of Lord Cassinza, who had been promised any lands occupied by Marists, Vitor II formed a new Torpor order to continue the clearances. Cassinza was killed in 1825 by a Marist whose land he was appropriating and instead Vitor II granted the lands to the Episcopate of Boisbelle. The Knights of the Cairn, also called the Graveshields and Ghostgaurds, became the public guardians of many of the empire's religious sites in addition to taking part in additional ethnic cleansing operations against the Fritergic peoples and the Marists.

Meager Servants of the Holy Temple at Amaurdo

The Temple at Amaurdo is the Gaidourankatho Cathartic Temple, directly west of Belamar and part of the Episcopate of Nardia. One of the important activities of the Temple at Amaurdo was maintaining the segregation of Ditanists and Dísitrú from Hallania. This was especially important for tax purposes, since Dísitrú villages had a special morality tax levied on them by the Episcopate, but Ditanist villages only owed taxes to the secular authorities and paid voluntary tithes to the Episcopate. In 1835, however, Episcopate Fetiro introduced a new tax on communities with a mixed population and, at the same time, greatly reduced their enforcement of religious segregation by accepting more and more petitions for exceptions. Pedro VII formed a new military order to prevent the Episcopate from gaining more power in Nardia by aiding the Temple at Amaurdo in their work. Unlike previous orders, who funded their operations by taking ownership of lands they cleared of traitors or religious minorities, most of the land the Knights of Amaurdo operated in could not be so easily appropriated. In addition to enforcing religious segregation, therefore, the Knights of Amaurdo undertook commercial contracts to fund their other activities. As a result, they were often called Giltswords, Knights of Coin, and even Golden Beggars.

Vigilant Order of the Illuminations of the White Chancel

Vitor's successor, Vitor II, believed that the Orders had too much power, especially in his father's later years they had become a very important faction at court. To limit the powers of the orders, Adalberto formed a new order with the authority to aid the other orders and to investigate their activities. Rather than giving them a fortress to operate from, he orders them to carry out their meetings at the Chancel in his Palace on Colofion Hill, which was nicknamed the White Chancel. To fill the ranks of the Knights of Illuminations, Adalberto drew upon the other orders for knights he viewed as loyal and members of the clergy. Ultimately, the Knights of Illumination were not an effective check on the Torporine Orders and even protected the orders from criticism. Because of their apparent blindness to abuses by the orders, they were sometimes called "White Eyes". They also gained the more common name of "Paleponies" because their horses wore white caparisons.

Other Orders

Elder Brethren of Arms of the Didone Crown, Militant Fraternity of the Faithful Servants of the Second Temple, Reverent Order of the Great Commission, Faithful Arms of the High Durnland.