I Want To Know About Paladins/Knights

[Jpec07]

So I'm in the midst of composing a blog post about FFXIV Paladins (Knights), and while I have played through the storyline to 60 (and gone back and read transcripts of the scenes and watched the cutscenes a couple times in the inn), I realize that I actually don't have a lot of knowledge about Paladin lore in general.

And so I wanted to ask the lore hounds: what do we know about Paladin/Knight lore? Are there any good resources to learn more?

[Anonymoose]

And so I wanted to ask the lore hounds: what do we know about Paladin/Knight lore?

[EDIT] Okay, I'm back. As far as I can tell, I was correct in my assumption: lore specific to the Paladins isn't spread very thin at all. Virtually all of it comes specifically from the job quests, which should radically narrow your study materials for your blog post.

The things that the quests might not go into very deeply are as follows:

The Sultansworn were founded by the first sultan of Ul'dah (Sasagan Ul Sisigan) right around the city's founding, when it and its sister nation Sil'dih were formed from the splitting of the progenitor nation Belah'dia after twin inheritors to the crown both claimed succession and split the kingdom. This was about 600 years ago, and Sil'dih was destroyed by Ul'dah 200 years later. The history is kind of murky on who was alive when, but if I'm reading it right, Sasagan Ul Sisigan's contemporary rival was Lalawefu Sil Tatawefu, and after Lalawefu died, Sasagin invaded in an attempt to control their water supplies, sparking a 200 year war in which I assume the Sultansworn took some part. Ul'dahn history says that Sil'dih, their army failing, resorted to the despicable tactic of using a powder known as the Traders' Spurn to turn anyone dead, dying, or weak into zombies that would fight their war, but that it backfired and spread through their own city. In truth, Ul'dah developed the powder and destroyed their city with it; history is written by the victors.

A potent symbol of the sultansworn is the sword Oathkeeper (the driving force of the PLD story arc), which was forged along with three copies, one for each of the First Three Paladins (Curtana, wielded by Jhal Tristram the True, Durandal and Joyeuse). The Paladin arts have been honed ever since, but the order itself has been eroded by the Monetarists of the Syndicate; their honor and skill are barely better than the Brass Blades when you first get involved.

Two small, interesting things:

Sultansworn can retire to a position that has nothing to do with the order. Papashan is a humble stationmaster, for instance.

When the Sultansworn were first formed, white lions were brought from the Near East (Thavnair) to serve as their battle mounts, but they were deemed unbreakable and sent to the Coliseum or released into the wilds of Thanalan.

Other than that, if you stick studying the job quests, as far as I know, you've got it all!

[JeniLinsky]

While the Sultansworn may be the only source of the arts labeled under the category "Paladin," it is clear that other knightly orders have similar skills. The sword-and-board knights in Ishgard, for instance, use many of the techniques we associate with Paladins, and clearly have a different history from Ul'dah's Sultansworn.

There's room in the lore, therefore, for whatever other order of knightly defenders you like to posit. My character is inheritor of the tradition of her tribe, the Sentinels of the Pard, for instance.

[Morningstar1337]

While the Sultansworn may be the only source of the arts labeled under the category "Paladin," it is clear that other knightly orders have similar skills. The sword-and-board knights in Ishgard, for instance, use many of the techniques we associate with Paladins, and clearly have a different history from Ul'dah's Sultansworn.

There's room in the lore, therefore, for whatever other order of knightly defenders you like to posit. My character is inheritor of the tradition of her tribe, the Sentinels of the Pard, for instance.

It;s worth noticing that one of PLD's skills is called rage of Halone

[Enkidoh]

Rage of Halone is not a PLD skill though - it's a default skill learned by GLA. In fact, back in version 1.0, Lulutsu, the receptionist at the GLA's Guild revealed that Rage of Halone was actually a 'lost blade technique' which had been the signature 'finishing move' of Greinfarr the Great, a roegadyn GLA whom was deeply connected to the 1.0 GLA class quests and the original Ul'dah storyline (much like how the ARR GLA quested skill 'Shield Swipe' was Aldis's finishing move).

Either way, the name has nothing to do with PLDs or knights, from what I remember from a much earlier thread on the subject another player revealed the ability description for 1.0 mentioned that "The Fury was guiding your arm" when the attack was executed. So if this was the case, the name is more just a case of GLAs being fancy and not meant to be taken literally.