The most elite arm of the Draco Republic's military. Drawn from the very best soldiers from the more traditional armed forces of the Republic. It is true that the members of the Republics nobility who enter the military tend to end up as officers. However, any new member of the Ordo must start at the bottom regardless of their previous rank. The training is tough in the extreme, only the fittest, smartest and most mentally stalwart can make it to the end.
They are equipped with the best full plate armour the Republic can manufacture or purchase. All knights within the Ordo train to fight with either a greatsword or a bastard sword and kite shield combo. A few knights, with the right talents, will be selected to be dragon riders. The pride of the Draco Republics military, and awesome mounts on the field of battle. The Ordo Draco train their knights to make the best use their abilities to alter battlefield situations to maximise the effectiveness of any dragon rider in their strike team.
Honour, loyalty and patriotism are the three guiding virtues of the Ordo. The Draco Senate imposes the organisational structure of the Ordo. While the current grandmaster of the Ordo can recommend recruitments, promotions and expulsions, any actual change in personnel must be ratified by the Senate. It's not uncommon for a single bill brought before the Senate for a vote to name fifty new recruits. Those men and women often the best and the brightest from the regular infantry finishing up their current tour of duty.
Specific missions and operational guidance come from the republics military command headquarters, who in turn, are given their strategic objectives by the Senate. The day to day assignments, running, mission duty and when required, punishments of the Ordo are at the sole discretion of the current grandmaster. Typically about a thousand soldiers serve in the Ordo Draco at any one time, and as many as a hundred of those are dragon riders.
In this video I go over the history of the Ordo Draco, how they came to be, what they are up to today and a little on their involvement in the conflict that is happening in Deneb today. If you want to check out more about the locations I mention in this video, take a look at the map
To learn more about the faction check out their page here
To watch the second part of this video that covers the gameplay of the Ordo Draco, check out the Beasts of War project entry here