Editing Bretonnia (section)

==Knightly Hierarchy==
*'''Knights Errant:''' You thought you started your career as being a squire? Nope. Nobles who are old enough to wear their armour and sit on a horse are designated as Knights Errant and told to go off and earn glory however they can. Usually by dying. Of course, a few Knights Errant manage to survive, which earns them the rank of...
*'''Knights of the Realm:''' Your basic knight. Someone who's gotten some combat experience and respect already, they're given a bit of land to look after and some peasants to work it. This is often as far as anyone will go, unless they're obscenely rich or lucky, in which case they become...
**'''Pegasus Knights''': Though not technically higher in rank than Knights of the Realm, these guys are fuck-off rich/batshit crazy enough to afford/find and tame a giant, bloodthirsty flying horse instead of your garden variety land-bound kind. Bretonnians are not known to be exactly healthy when it comes to their love of horses, but it gets really insane with the winged ones: peasants can't even touch the animals, and one of the dukes actually killed any peasant that looked at his steed. Ferrari's owner bullshit all around, gentlemen! 
*'''Questing Knights:''' For any number of reasons, a knight may give up all his lands and titles (like a [[Slayer]]), lay down his lance, vow to seek honour and greatness above all else (like a [[Slayer]]), and become a Questing Knight. These guys spend the next 10 years or so wandering around the world (like a [[Slayer]]), looking for the Lady of the Lake while slaying big, nasty stuff along the way (like a [[Slayer]]). Most die. Horribly, alone, and far from home (like a [[Slayer]]). Fortunately, they all carry giant weapons, mostly greatswords, so their death is guaranteed to have a minimum amount of win (like a [[Slayer]]). But, if they are skilled, heroic, and lucky enough, they can succeed in their quest (''unlike'' a [[Slayer]]); they find the correct Lake and meet the Green Knight. If they manage to defeat him (okay, he's holding back a lot), they get to see the Lady, drink some Powerthirst from the grail, and if they genuinely believe in the knightly ideals they claim to follow (drinking kills you otherwise), become...
*'''Grail Knights:''' The living gods of Bretonnia, they get to live for several hundred years and kick all kinds of ass. All kings have to drink from the grail, which means that unlike in '''other nations''' there is ''always'' a badass in charge. In fluff Grail knights can have all sorts of awesome powers, from killing evil creatures with a touch to healing wounds almost instantly, but on the table, all they get is magical attacks (except for the king, he also gets regeneration). Apparently, even their rotten and dried out corpses keeps some sort of magical powers and divine protection, considering that grail reliquae are a thing.

Questing Knights and Grail Knights are technically outside the usual hierarchy (with the exception of the Grail Knights who decide to regain all their titles after completing their quest, as all kings do) but, especially in the case of the latter, their word carries great weight, because they are closer to the Lady of the Lake than all others (with the exception of damsels and prophetesses of the lady, the magic-users of Bretonnia). Knights also tend to have a superiority complex that would put most high elves to shame, which means that no Questing Knight would allow himself to be directly led by a Knight of the Realm and Grail Knights only accept other Grail Knights as leaders (usually the king or a duke). Knights that actually deign to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with peasants are so rare they are considered exemplars of empathy.
 
Incidentally, there's only one restriction on being a Duke or lord of Bretonnia: you have to have proved yourself first. That is, you have to be at least a Knight of the Realm, but after that, it really doesn't matter. It's worth mentioning, too, that you don't inherit solely based on your parentage. If you're at least slightly capable, you'll inherit, but if a lord's son is a complete pussy, someone else will take over. This at least prevents the similar issues faced by planetary lords in the Imperium in 40k then, as this acts to weed out at least the worst of the worst (if not all the worst).