Between the heights of the Grey Mountains
and the depths of the Great Ocean there lies the lands of Bretonnia. Compared to the other nations of man that
surround it, this realm might be seen as a backwater, an archaic land of lowly peasants
and antiquated ideals. The foolish might mock the gallantry of its
soldiers and the customs of its people, but the Old World has not yet advanced beyond
the need for men of courage. Against foul creatures, vile sorceries, and
the ruinous powers of Chaos itself, there is no sight more striking than the thundering
charge of the Knights of the Kingdom of Bretonnia. More so than any other nation, Bretonnia is
united under the high ideals of chivalry, nobility, and social birthright. The feudal society that exists within its
borders was once commonplace across the Old World, but has since been largely replaced
by more efficient methods of governance elsewhere. Bretonnia today is the last human nation that
follows this system, with no direct central government, overarching bureaucracy, or social
mobility. Instead, the foundation of the Kingdom is
a series of vows and oaths of loyalty, sworn between individuals across the nation’s
rigid hierarchy. Bretonnia can be broadly divided into two
distinct groups. The upper nobility and the common peasantry. The nobility is honor bound to protect and
provide for those under their charge, while the peasantry is expected to tend the land
granted to them, and muster to their liege lord in times of war. Lesser lords serve greater lords, bringing
with them all the lands and peasantry under their command. At the top of this pyramid is the King of
Bretonnia, known as the Royarch. Whoever acts in this role wields absolute
authority, able to pass any law or legislation, while bound to none. Beneath the Royarch serve the Dukes, nobles
who, in turn, preside over their respective dukedoms. While the King has the power to create as
many Dukes as he wishes, the title is meaningless without land, and in practice, only fourteen
such fiefdoms exist. A complex hierarchy of marquises, earls, viscounts,
barons, lords, and knights make up the remainder of Bretonnian nobility. Barons in particular enjoy a special place
in the Royal Court, making up the majority of the Royarch’s advisors and close servants. Why this system has survived in Bretonnia
while failing elsewhere in the world might be explained by the uniquely Bretonnian Code
of Chivalry. This custom governs the actions of the nobility
and serves as an informal set of laws by which they regulate their respective lands and peoples. At its core are a set of 7 commandments, which
over time have become integral within the Kingdom’s society and government. A noble must above all:
Serve the lady of the lake; Defend the domains entrusted to him;
Protect the weak and fight for the right; Always fight the enemies of virtue and order;
Never give up the fight until the foe has been defeated;
Never break faith with a friend or ally; And always display honor and integrity. What might be mere words to outsiders are,
within Bretonnia, held to the highest esteem. Different nobles might interpret these commandments
differently, but they are universally adhered to and respected. Such idealistic values define the entire Kingdom
but there exists a darker side of Bretonnian society within the ranks of its peasants. Its lands are notorious for the strict and
harsh treatment of its commoners, whose lives are lived in far worse conditions compared
to the lower classes of Sigmar’s Empire, Tilea, Estalia, or even Kislev. Most are kept illiterate and uneducated by
law, with few, if any, rights. While the exact nature of their tithe will
depend upon their lord, most peasants must surrender upwards of nine tenths of their
crops each harvest and therefore remain extremely poor throughout their lives. They are likewise restricted from leaving
their home estate without explicit permission and as a result, a certain degree of inbreeding
is common. Bretonnian justice is similarly harsh on the
peasantry and often ruled by superstition. It is not unheard of to be hanged for stealing
or poaching, while far harsher penalties are dealt to any commoner who attacks or harms
his social superiors. A small but growing class of professional
tradesmen and merchants has started to emerge between the historical division of Bretonnian
society. Without access to formal education, they are
for the most part, self taught or instructed through some private arrangement. These artisans, craftsmen, and skilled semi-professionals
live almost exclusively in the Kingdom’s few cities and larger towns. They are socially segregated from the bonded
peasants, expected to give fealty to their lord, but free to travel with few restrictions. In times of war, both the nobility and peasantry
are expected to muster, albeit in vastly different roles. Only the nobility is permitted to wear plate
armor and carry heavy weaponry, and it is from their numbers that the legendary Knights
of Bretonnia are mobilized. These Knights are exceptional warriors and
guardians, surpassing even the Knightly Orders of the Empire as the greatest armored cavalry
in the Old World and likely beyond. Bretonnian Knights are divided into four generalized
categories. The lowest of their order are the Knights
Errant, the young sons of noblemen who must work to prove themselves in battle. While untested, they have honed their martial
prowess through constant training and tournaments and might already be considered elite warriors
compared to their counterparts in other nations. Those who have proven their skill and valor
in combat are granted the title of Knight of the Realm. They are bestowed their own domain, typically
a few acres of land, and a village or castle over which they have absolute rule. While Knighthood is generally seen as the
path to achieve a higher station amongst the nobility, there are those who would reject
such rewards and responsibilities. The most ambitious or desperate might become
a Questing Knight, relinquishing all their worldly possessions, titles, domains, and
even family. They are forbidden to use the lance, the traditional
weapon of a knight, and instead must rely upon a sword, until such time as they have
earned their weapon back. They set forth across the land to win both
glory and the attention of the Lady of the Lake, the beneficent deity of all Bretonnia. Only by conquering the most dangerous challenges
- Orcs, Dragons, Chaos Knights, and worldly temptations - can a Questing Knight find entrance
to the hidden glade and behold the Lady of the Lake. If his heart is pure and virtuous, he is allowed
to drink from the ancient Grail and become infused with a part of the goddess’s own
power. In that moment he is transformed into a saint
amongst men and a warrior beyond compare. They ride into battle atop the finest steeds,
from armored warhorses to soaring pegasi and ferocious hippogryphs. By ancient tradition, only a Grail Knight
can serve as King of Bretonnia, selected by a conclave of such Knights upon the death
of the previous Royarch. When the Knights of Bretonnia muster, they
call to them their vassals who in turn conscript their sworn peasantry to serve as auxiliary
forces. Only commoners are permitted to wield ranged
weapons such as bows or trebuchets, as such things are seen by Knights as dishonorable
and cowardly. These men have drilled in only the most basic
forms of military training and possess no internal hierarchy. Their tactics are therefore typically simple
and homogeneous enough to function smoothly in most circumstances. The role of the peasants is to unleash volleys
of arrows and maintain a line of men-at-arms. Once battle has been joined, the true core
of the army, the Knights, are unleashed on the enemy’s flank or rear, tearing through
firestorms of lead, arrows, or magic to crush their foes in one overwhelming strike. Of all the forces to wage war in the name
of Bretonnia, there is none so dangerous or inexplicable as the Green Knight. This single warrior, feared throughout the
Old World as the “Soul Killer”, is a being of supernatural power, charging without warning
from behind rushing waterfalls or still lakes to wreck terrible vengeance against any who
would threaten the land. He has been known to appear to aspiring Grail
Knights as the last test they must overcome. The personal Champion of the Lady of the Lake. For every Knight is armored as much in steel
as in faith. Religion within Bretonnia is again divided
between class, with the nobility devoted to the Cult of the Lady. Revered throughout Bretonnia, the Lady of
the Lake is the Kingdom’s goddess of purity, nobility, and courage in the face of danger. She is the romanticized embodiment of chivalry,
a figure every knight aspires to serve without any hesitation or doubt. To some, she is the very heart and soul of
the country, an elemental incarnation of the land itself, and the guardian of all its people. A mysterious representative of the Lady, known
as the Fey Enchantress, walks the lands of Bretonnia, with even the King himself bowing
to her wise council. She exists outside the hierarchy of political
power in Bretonnia, appearing where she wills. Tales are told of the children she gathers
to her side, who are then taken to the enigmatic “Otherworld”. The girls taken occasionally return years
later as “Damsels of the Lady”, blessed in spirit and heart. Of the boys taken, nothing is ever heard again. While the Cult of the Lady has its adherents
within the peasantry, it is the Cult of Shallya that holds the most sway amongst the common
folk. Mutually respected by all the great human
nations of the Old World, Shallya’s promises of mercy and relief have enamoured the downtrodden
lower classes of Bretonnia. The teachings of the Lady and of Shallya might
at times contradict, however both religions are tolerated within the Kingdom and even
represented within Castle Couronne, the current home of the Royal Court. The divide between the nobility and peasants
is as ancient as the Kingdom itself, stretching back to its very founding. The earliest days of their history have been
lost to myth or legend, but the lands that would one day become Bretonnia were first
settled by the High Elves of Ulthuan. These colonies were eventually lost or abandoned
during the disastrous War of the Beard fought against the Dwarven Empire. In time, these ruins were found by nomadic
groups of humans, primitive tribes with little knowledge of metalwork or warfare. Successive migrations brought new waves of
human settlers, among them, the Bretonni, who eventually achieved a place of dominance. When the great Barbarian King Sigmar founded
the Empire of Man, he extended an invitation unto all the Bretonni warlords to join his
new confederation. He was rebuffed, with the Bretonni unwilling
to accept a foreigner as their king. For nearly a thousand years their tribes warred
against each other and the other threats of the world. It became tradition for the best and bravest
young man of each village to be armed and ready at all times. In return for his protection, he was granted
the finest food and drink by those he defended. Over the centuries these “Knights” as
they became known, grew physically superior to the peasants they were sworn to protect,
and their ramshackle watchtowers were replaced by domineering castles. The disparate villages of the land grew to
become petty kingdoms, each with their own ranks of nobility. Such paltry domains were no match for the
terrors of the Old World and the lands of Bretonnia were ravaged by the taint of undeath
and destructive greenskin hordes. Outnumbered and surrounded, the lords of Bretonnia
surrendered to despair, all save one. The legendary Gilles Le Breton, newly crowned
Duke of Bastonne rallied a grand army to his banner, but even his united force was hardly
a match for the Ork Waaagh that marched against them. The morning before the inevitable battle,
a true miracle unfolded as an ethereal and heavenly woman arose out of the mists of the
lake beside which their army had made camp. Inspired by some genius or desperate madness,
Gilles Le Breton asked the Lady of the Lake to bless their bloodstained and tattered banner. When it was lowered beneath the waters, it
then emerged completely restored and emblazoned with the sigil of the Grail. The Lady held forth the chalice itself and
Gilles and his two most loyal companions drank from it, becoming the first of the Grail Knights. In the battles that followed, these three
men did as much slaughter as the rest of their army combined and the lands of Bretonnia were
not only scoured of the Greenskin menace, but united under their first true Royarch. Gilles Le Breton formalized the Code of Honor
that now form the basis for chivalric knighthood, and all across Bretonnia, noble warriors gave
up their castles to embark on the paths of a Questing Knight. By the time Le Breton and his companions had
passed from the Earth, ever more knights succeeded in their own quest for the Grail, strengthening
and emboldening the Kingdom. With Bretonnia itself secure, the dukes looked
beyond their traditional borders. When the Southern realm of Estalia was invaded
by Jaffar, the hated tyrant of distant Araby, envoys pleaded with Bretonnia for aid. Bretonnia’s victory over Jaffar’s armies
and the treasure they seized from the deserts ushered in the first of the Crusades, Holy
Wars fought across the world in search of honor and riches. Crusades have taken the Knights of Bretonnia
far from home, even across the Great Ocean in the jungles of the New World. The greatest war, however, was fought within
the Kingdom itself and would decide the very fate of Bretonnia. In the wake of a terrible plague known as
the Red Pox, terrifying ratmen erupted from the earth across all the Bretonnian duchies. Nearly a third of the population had already
been devastated from the plague and it seemed that the Kingdom would fall to the verminous
hordes that now assailed it. Salvation arrived in Duke Merovech of Mousillon,
the greatest and richest duchy within the Kingdom. Together with his black-armoured Knights,
they lifted sieges and saved villages, routing the ratman in every encounter. The endless battles had begun to change the
Duke of Mousillon, who revelled in the slaughter and quickly repulsed the other Knights of
the Realm. The Royarch of Bretonnia, no longer able to
ignore the crimes of Duke Merovech, challenged him to single combat as punishment for his
disgraceful acts. When the two joined blades, the Duke tore
out the King’s throat, drinking his dead lord’s blood from his own chalice. Faced with the combined might of Bretonnia,
Merovech was eventually slain and the Dukedom of Mousillon reduced to a cursed, impoverished
land plagued by disease and the attention of the darker powers. Such wars have repeatedly threatened to destroy
Bretonnia, but through the chivalry of its guardians and the faith of its people, it
has endured. The Kingdom stands today as one of the great
human realms of the world, an unshakeable bulwark against the growing evils of Chaos
and the other monstrous creatures that threaten the continued existence of civilization. Under the rule of Louen Leoncoeur, the greatest
king in generations, Bretonnia has been mobilized, ready to stave off the visions of destruction
that have come to the Royarch from the Lady of the Lake. There is no end to the perils that must be
defeated if mankind is to live in peace, but if every morn brings a noble chance, every
chance brings out a noble knight. The Templin Institute investigates the factions,
nations, and organizations of alternate worlds. Join other Templin Institute personnel on
our Discord server where discussions are held daily on the elements of worldbuilding, spaceship
design, the best method of cooking rice, and other critical issues affecting alternate
worlds. You’ll find a link in the description.
