Ranks and Positions of the Knights

Pages and Apprentices
Squires and Journeymen
Masters

Guildmaster
Council of Knights
Patrolmaster
Bowmaster
Nacirons
Muits
Missilemasters
Asams
Cirons
Evamiuts

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

The progression from novice to expert progresses based on faction:

Knights, soldiers and guards: Page to Squire to Master
Archers and Patrollers: Apprentice to Journeyman to Master

The ranking and organization in the Knights' Guild goes like this:

Pages and Apprentices: Upon entering the guild and swearing affirmation to the Knight's Code, a pledge is declared a page if within the big three guilds, and an apprentice if within the archers or Patrol. Guard pages and Patrol apprentices, due to the lack of organization in those factions, are assigned to a single master, and will often run missions and jobs together. Page knights and soldiers are sometimes trained en masse if there is a large number inducted at once, but more often they are assigned into existing miuts. Apprentice archers are usually inducted into existing asams and adopted by several masters, or lacking masters, senior journeymen. A rare page knight and soldier may be inducted in this way as well; sometimes new recruits are "adopted" by master knights and soldiers. Pages and apprentices are first launched into the basics of fighting, trained on whatever weapon(s) are appropriate, and also taught the organization, history and structure of the Knight's Guild and their particular faction. Young evamiuts are often restricted to training only and are rarely sent on missions unless there is a scarcity of fighting men. There is no set test for a page or apprentice to be promoted to the next level; the judgement usually comes from their superiors. Young evamiuts are sometimes judged at once by a panel of masters. This process usually takes five to eight years; it tends to be on the shorter side for Patrollers and guards, average for archers, and on the high side for knights and soldiers. A pledge who switches factions who has taken a few years of training in another Knight faction or has ranks in another faction may trim one or two years off this time, but not much as the training tends to differ greatly between factions outside basic fighting skills and generic Guild history.

Squires and Journeymen: The entry to the next level of Knighthood is marked by a short and informal ceremony, in which the pledges reaffirm the Code. Pages become squires and apprentices become journeymen. In this stage of their training, their fighting skills are honed (as well as other basic skills needed) and they are pumped with the detail of work within their guild. Guards and Patrollers gain some degree of independance from their masters at this stage, performing missions and jobs on their own. Archers are trusted with more responsibility within their asam, and are gradually integrated into the ranks of their former mentors as a peer. Young evamiuts are given more independance and are sent on (usually) their first missions. For a new ciron, their training becomes even more intense as they are groomed for leadership roles, especially among the knights. The final judgement from this stage to the prestigious master is made by masters within that faction; evamiuts are judged by a general consensus of master-rank evamiuts within and outside their miut. A squire, journeyman, or evamiut who fails the test cannot reapply for mastery for two years, although in times of scarcity this may be cut short. The test varies between factions; Patrollers may be sent on a difficult mission, whereas Knights have a standardized test consisting of a written test on law, a strategy question, and a mock duel, and of course the approval of their superior. This time of honing skills and focusing on average lasts for anywhere from ten to thirty years. Again, Patrollers get the short end of the scale. In fact, intelligent, gifted Patrollers may shave up to half the time off their teaching; the life of a Patroller is hard, fast, and often burns out quickly. Most Patrollers are still within the prime of their adulthood. On the other hand, the intense study of law and perfectionist honing of skills lengthens the time especially for Knights; most masters are well into middle age.

Masters: Even after passing the final hurdle within their faction, masters have more to learn and farther to go. Masters no longer need to train things like fighting skills or guild knowledge (though practice is a given), but instead begin hands-on training in leadership and politics. They also study the practices and knowledge of the other factions; some masters, often soldiers or guards, at this point may return to pagehood to gain a second mastery, usually as a knight. Any master is eligible for a seat on the Council of Knights or even the rank of Guildmaster, and their are high positions for masters in any faction; the Patrolmaster opens in the Patrol, the Bowmaster is available for the Archers, cirons may become naicrons, and guards all aspire to become bodyguards for the royal council.

Guildmaster: The guildmaster directly leads the knights, soldiers, and guards and is responsible for the Knight's Guild as a whole. He or she is the political and ethical base for the Knights, and their skill as fighters is a given. They are chosen by a general guild-wide election, and are checked in power by the Council of Knights. The guildmaster has direct control over all factions in wartime and is responsible, in conjunction with the royals, for war strategy.

Council of Knights: The Council in conjunction with the Guildmaster lead the guild and set policy, and often have tasks delegated to them by the Guildmaster. They are a group of seven master Knights. One spot is guaranteed to the Patrolmaster, one to the Bowmaster, and the rest are elected by popular vote from the masters of the other three factions. They are often cirons from the knight faction or unranked masters in elite miuts; nacirons aren't unheard of, but many find it difficult to balance a miut and Council work. There is usually at least one soldier on the Council, and recently a guard surprisingly got the vote as well. These elections are held on an irregular basis (namely, whenever the majority of master Knights are dissatisfied with the Council.)

Patrolmaster: The leader of the Patrol, the Patrolmaster is usually a veteran Patroller, sometimes an original Dralker. While they do have authority over all Patrollers, the structure of the faction lends to less direct leadership than the other factions. The Patrolmaster is guaranteed a spot on the Council of Knights, and is the only one immune to being voted out.

Bowmaster: The leader of the archers, the Bowmaster is elected from within the archer's faction for his skill, but moreso for his knowledge. He is guaranteed a position on the Council of Knights, but he can be removed by a general election among the archers.

Naciron: The leader of a muit. His position is indicated by the gold cuffs he wears. He is typically not placed in any evamiut, and is always a master. Nacirons are often assigned to miuts by their peers or the Council, and tend to be very stable; nacirons losing rank is rare, although some willingly give it up to become CouncilKnights or for other reasons.

Miut: The central division for the knights and soldiers. A muit is made of five evamuits and totals a hundred people (this number may vary by unit due to deaths and retirements). Muits are organized by spheres and given names, usually of creatures within that sphere. They also have numbers which indicates the order of their founding. Miuts are often exclusively filled with soldiers or knights, but some miuts are filled with soldiers and led by knights (usually ones that have been pieced together from surviving units in destroyed miuts.) There's about ten miuts per sphere per faction.

Missilemaster: The leader of an asam. Like nacirons, a missilemaster wears gold cuffs. They are usually elected from within the asams and may change often.

Asam: A fifty-person unit of archers, which tend to be more closely tied within the group than a muit, but not quite as tightly as an evamiut. Asams are the central division for archers; unlike miuts, they do not have smaller divisions. Asams are also divided by sphere and given names and numbers; several share names and numbers with miuts among the soldiers and knights. An asam often works on joint missions with one particular miut; again, usually the one that shares their name and number. The Archer's Guild is much smaller than any of the big three; there's only about fifteen asams.

Ciron: The leader of an evamiut. His position is indicated by silver cuffs. He is usually chosen as a page to lead his evamiut and is picked by a senior ciron or the naciron. Cirons almost never change within an evamiut; the few changes of leadership that do occur are most often due to the death of a ciron or a rise in rank to naciron or Councilknight.

Evamiut: The subdivision of a miut, there are five of these within a miut. They are made up of twenty men, usually who have been raised, trained, and schooled together. Their integration is second to none and their teamwork is excellent. They have numbers within the miut, but unlike the miut numbers, which indicate when a miut was founded, the numbers of an evamiut indicate how well the miut performs in comparision to the others. These evaluations are done by an outside naciron once a year.