Template:Wh main unit long text brt knights of the realm

Once a Knight Errant has proved himself worthy of his station, he is confirmed as a Knight of the Realm. Knights of the Realm make up the bulk of the nobility of Bretonnia and command great respect both for their station and for the deeds they have performed to reach it. Upon his investiture, a Knight is given the responsibility of administrating a domain – generally a few acres of land, a village and a castle. As the common folk in the domain are bound to his service, to work his land and pay their taxes, so too does the Knight swear fealty to the higher orders of nobility. A Knight of the Realm is duty-bound to defend his people and his land until death. As a noble trained in the arts of battle, he is expected to defend himself and his domain against minor threats without assistance from others. If the situation is more desperate, the Knight may either marshal the peasants of the village to fight with him, or instead shelter the commoners in his castle until help arrives from neighbouring domains. Above all, he is required to maintain the standards of Knightly honour, obeying the strict tenets of Bretonnian chivalry. Amongst the most important of these is to respond to the call to war, when a Knight will fight alongside his peers, not as a rite of passage, but as duty required by his station. There is no greater shame than to fail in these responsibilities, thus betraying the chivalric code. If he does so, he may be stripped of all titles and rights, and be banished from the realm until he can prove himself once more.