Quote Originally Posted by Cilia View Post
All of the Heavens' Ward are implicitly from the High Houses. It's noted early in 3.0 that Ser Grinnaux is from House Dzmael, and I don't read the web stories (deal with that enough with Magic) but based on Charibert's skintone I'm inclined to believe he is as well. They're high positions - just below the Archbishop himself - so it's highly probable the nobles kept such positions to themselves.
They are not. Paulecrain's profile, for example, reads
A man of humble origins, Ser Paulecrain rose from poverty by his skill with the lance alone.
He did serve the High Houses, yes, first Fortemps and then Dzemael, but he is not even a nobleman. Ser Charibert's family name, as we now know from the new short story, is
de Courcillan
, which is a noble name, but not one of the four high families. Right now, it looks like they all come from all societal classes and that nobility didn't matter in their election for the position. It was also stated that, yes, Thordan explicitely asked Zephirin to gather strong fighters as it says in Grinnaux' description:
However, in accordance with the archbishop’s desire to recruit knights solely for their combat prowess, Ser Grinnaux was welcomed into the Heavens’ Ward.
Personally, I just LOVE the sidestories since they expand the universe in a way that is impossible inside the game due to many factors, and I love when more than just one medium is used to tell a story or explore a universe.