The Order of the Golden Chalice's origins lie far back in Westcrown history with the desire of the founders to
create an elite fighting force that could spearhead the army but also serve as a back up to the original Watch. The founders wished to model
this force on historical orders of paladins but did not want it to become under the wing of the
Church of Pelor as they felt this would give the Church too much secular power. They
therefore founded a 'religionless' order whose loyalty was to the State rather than the Church. In practice this concept was hard to maintain
and given their oaths to Westcrown many of the order found it natural to worship the God of Law and Cities,
Abadar.
When, in -963 Westcrown and its colonies officially became a kingdom the Order was rewarded for its service with a beautiful golden chalice and renamed
the Order of the Golden Chalice with Abadar being recognised as the Order's divine patron. The oaths of the order were not changed, however, meaning it was still possible for worshippers of other gods to join. Members of
Church of Asmodeus and
Church of Mammon are, however, not permitted to join the order although it is
thought that some members may worship these 'gods' in secret.
The order has a distinguished military history and has built itself a supposedly impregnable fortress at Rivad in the hills northwest of
Westcrown. Its role as 'peacekeepers' inside the city walls is, however, more controversial with many critics seeing its actions as entirely
biased towards protecting the nobility and rich merchants. These criticisms have intensified since the arrival of the
'Shadows' and 'The
Order' (as it is widely known in Westcrown) is not popular in many areas of the city. The Order is also not popular with the
Dottari who feel its actions frequently don't take into account the long term effects on the City.
Full members of the order wear platemail but in recent years the Order has had trouble recruiting from it traditional source of the upper
and middle classes and its has offered to train lower class recruits to supplement its numbers. These 'armigers' are less well armed and
armoured. Although their armour looks similar to the full plate of the knights it is in fact a combination of toughened leather plates and
chainmail. Only about 10% of the 'armigers' are ever accepted into the full order.
The current Grandmaster of the Order is Richemar Almansor who has a seat on the
Westcrown City Council and is an active player in Westcrown politics (while pretending to
always be neutral).