Hail. Warm summer tidings to you.


Unlike my predecessors, I am less-inclined to see merit in responding to every complaint with the assumption of good faith. But it is out of respect for this tradition that I now speak.

You have spoken at length on your many assumptions. But it is strange that one placing so high a value on curiosity would have spent so little effort inquiring as to why the man has found no success in his quest for knighthood prior to now. I can excuse hubris, Doctor, but I struggle to suffer hypocrisy.

I will not speak at length on the reasons for this lack of success here; unless he has invoked you as her interlocutor - a confusing decision, if so - then these remain matters for him to resolve and for him to demonstrate his mettle in the face of those who doubt his ability to do so.

But I will speak plainly to your assertion that the Guild of Knights is doing anything but what knights of the realm have always done in demanding high, exacting standards; Riahn is not the victim of conspiracy by Thurisaz or by a new practice levied against his person, he is just the latest in a long line of mortals who will have a difficult trail to walk towards knighthood as a result of their choices.

It has been standard practice, going back longer than my own lifetime for knightly chapters - or houses, or guilds, depending on how far we wish to trace these roots back - to demand that those who depart in poor standing from one chapter resolve their status with that chapter before another knightly chapter agrees to take them on.

This is a sacred consideration with practical benefits. Training knights requires a tremendous investment of effort, steel, gold, blood, and time. As such, and misspent or wasted effort is nonetheless very costly, and so knights have always tended towards caution when vetting their prospective wards; after all, there are a great many more people who want the title and perception of prestige that comes with our path than there are people actually capable of consistently walking that path in deed and action.

Exceptions existed in the long distant past where talent and determination suggested it may be warranted. But that world is dead. A new world flourishes in its place, and in this world, knights understand full well that our survival is threatened when even one chapter begins to slacken their standards or withdraw from the sacred paths toward accountability that must exist for every knight.

If you would speak on Riahn's behalf, if you would seek to support his quest for knighthood, then do not seek to dissuade us from cheapening our traditions and standards for the sake of ensuring that more may achieve them.

The Guild of Knights has learned our lesson in the stories of yore: we are never making that foul bargain again.


In strength,

Sir Aodfionn Wintermourne
The Knight Arbiter

Penned by my hand on the 1st of Phaestian, in the year 999 AF.