The Order of the Griffon was established prior to the founding of Pendor; this prestigious order of knights was the royal guards of the line of Cavalas. The plague of 198 wiped out a large number of the Order knights as well as the royal family.
After the plague, they put aside their differences and worked with the Order of the Lion to maintain order in the land. In the 203rd year after the founding of Pendor, in the forests of Laria, it is said the order made its last stand against a small army of the Jatu who were assaulting the Larian farmlands. While successful in defending Laria from being plundered by the Jatu, not a single knight of this once proud order survived. The great hall of the Griffon Knights in Sarleon stood empty for many years until being converted into an abbey. Canonically, the Order of the Griffon should be the player's first choice for a knighthood order, assuming they wish to follow the path of the old kings of Pendor.
Canonically, as the official order of the Old Pendorian Kingdom, they are one of the most well-equipped knights. Their plate armor is tough. They utilize Griffon warhorse mounts, powerful steeds that can ram down hostile infantry. They fight with lances (Long Knight Lance), morningstars and Ebony Knight Swords whilst riding their Griffon Steed. They show admirable skill and fight valiantly against the enemies of Pendor, they can easily tear their enemies into pieces with ebony swords in close melee. Now on a crusade to bring peace to Pendor, they fight for the new king of Pendor. They excel as heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, and are excellent on the field and in sieges.
The sergeants are very alike the Knights, but with less combat skill and overall, slightly worse performance. Equipped with Great Lances ebony dueling swords and Silvered Longswords, they will charge along the knights fearlessly.
Do bear in mind that as newly-refounded order, they lack the experience and skill of their Sarleon brethren, the Knights of the Lion. Nevertheless, they are still powerful medieval tanks, but should not be committed to an attack if the odds are stacked heavily against them.
Game info
Joining the Order of the Griffon requires 20 honor, 500 renown and positive relations with the order. It's the only order that will never start with a chapter, so to join them, a chapter of the order must be founded.
You must fulfill one of these three presquisite before founding a chapter:
- Have Sir Darlion of Pendor in your party
- Choose "a letter that changed your life" during character creation
- Found a kingdom belonging to the Pendor Culture and have a Qualis gem to create a chapter
As well as 25,000 denars, 20 or more honor and wary (-10) or better relation with the order. Creating a chapter of this order will lower by 20 relations with Adventurer Companies and Heretics (rivals, also for the bounty order quest).
As of 3.9.5, joining this order and rising in rank within it eventually grants you guaranteed access to two new sets of armor - Griffon Captain Armor and Griffon Grandmaster Armor - that are quite good. The Order of the Griffon is the only such Knighthood Order in the game that has elite armors not worn by its regular units.
Knights of the Griffon are trained from Pendor Knights. Griffon Retainers act as squires and a reserve cavalry force for the Griffon Knights, usually defending the Pendorian nobles in a last stand should the Knights fall in battle, and are trained from Pendor Mtd. Man-At-Arms.
They start being friendly to the player (20 relation).
They are allies of The Kingdom of Pendor (once founded). They are in odds with the 5 Factional Orders, especially with the Order of the Lion. They are also enemies with the Order of the Scorpion Assassins and the Hateful factions.
Equipment
Knight
Griffon Knights can be equipped by the following equipment
- Ebony Knight Sword
- Long Knight Lance
- Lance
- Morningstar
- Riveted Great Helm
- Griffon Plate Harness
- Supreme Steel Gauntlets
- Steel Greaves
- Griffon Heater Shield
- Griffon Steed
Sergeant
Griffon Retainers can be equipped by the following equipment
- Ebony Dueling Sword
- Silvered Longsword
- Great Lance
- Griffon Bascinet
- Griffon Surcoat on Mail
- Black Steel Mittens
- Heavy Iron Greaves
- Griffon Warhorse
- Griffonsword Heater Shield
Changes from 3.8.4
Order
- Price to create a chapter of the order raised from 20,000 to 25,000
- They have now a traveling knight, thus a knight may be seen in taverns and asked about their story. Can also be asked if in party
- The requirements to found the order were widened from "Must have Sir Darion OR Must select 'Letter that changed your life' in character selection" to also "OR Must have Pendor Culture and a Qualis Gem"
- Honor required to make their chapter raised from 10 to 20
- Now other monarchs will never create this order (before they could)
Knight
- Level raised from 40 to 47
- Prestige cost raised by x1.1
- Steel Gauntlets changed to Supreme Steel Gauntlets
- Gryphon Warhorse changed to Griffon Steed
- Great Helm changed to Riveted Great Helm (9 of these were added)
- Added Griffon Helm
- Added Helm & Yellow Hood
- Silvered Longsword removed (will remain with Morningstar, Ebony Knight Sword, lance and Long Knight Lance)
Sergeant
- Level raised from 35 to 36
- Melee proficiencies raised from 280 to 290
- Skills template was changed from 6-5-5-5 to 7-6-6-6
- Prestige cost raised by x1.4
- War Spear changed to Great Lance
- Mail Boots changed to Heavy Iron Greaves
- Bastard Sword changed to Silvered Longsword (5 of these) and Ebony Dueling Sword (2 of these)
- Helmet with Cap changed to Griffon Bascinet
- Heater Shield - White Griffon on Green Shield changed to Griffonsword Heater Shield
- Hunter was removed, now will always have Griffon Warhorse
Tavern conversation
Note: the order must be founded by the player in order to see these guys in taverns.
Player: Royal Knight of the Kingdom of Old Pendor, what brings you here?
Griffon: Greetings. I am glad you noticed my orders ancient sigil, The Griffon. With our new resurrection since times of old and repression, us knights make it our duty to travel and get to know the people of Pendor. Thus here I am in a place where you can know someone's entire life story in one evening.
Player: What can you tell me about your newly created order, what do you hope to achieve?
Griffon: We plan on supporting the leader of our new Kingdom. With their leadership, The Knights of the Griffon will help pave the new era into prosperity and peace. After the Red Plague and the decimation of the Royal Family we ended up falling into disarray. Our order was fractured by the various wars raging for power and with the successful bid of the Lions and the false King they supported, we lost all credibility. Most of the order went into hiding, mercenary work, other trades or the members were killed. Our records, except for the documents taken by our ancestral knights, are all but extinguished from this world. But our original charter has made it clear that our purpose is to solely unify Pendor under new leadership if we we're ever to be reformed form a time of crisis. Descendants of our old order have been showing up almost everyday, ready to put our steel to the test and to follow through where our predecessors failed.
Player: Your order seems extremely chivalrous and devoted to the cause of justice and order. What more can you share?
Griffon: We indeed are and we are glad to have been reformed by someone with similar values and hopes for a united Pendor. We are now going to give our sister order, The Knights of the Lion, a piece of their traitorous medicine if we ever meet them in combat. They spat on all good that we stood for and claim to be the oldest and strongest of orders in Pendor. Well, sadly, we will be glad to inform them that is not the case anymore. The Order of the Griffon dons the colors of heraldry that the Royal Family issued for their kingdom in the past and we wear them proudly. The time for a united Pendor is now upon us. Let us hope that you have chosen the right side in this glorious era.
Player: Thank you grand knight, may you redeem your honor and bring Pendor to a lasting peace.
Trivia
- Sir Darlion of Pendor: "I have the royal signet which is only activated by the blood of the royal line of Pendor. As you can clearly see, this ring glows with the sign of the Griffon, the signet of the line of Cavalas."
- They have a great rivalry with the Order of the Lion, due their really dark past with the order, and these being a reason of the Griffons being now so weak.
- “I will share with you the sad story of the young Sir Azrael, The Herold of Truth, a wandering Knight of the Griffons. He grew up into abbey`s smithy as an apprentice and left it after he killed a Knight of the Lion who asked his father`s regalia of Master of the Lore to be given to him and then kill his mother. He slew the noble cur, killer of unarmed widow and hanged his body from the abbey`s gate so everybody could see the Lion`s true dark essence. Since then he travels all over Pendor, proclaiming the truth about the indecent Lions, unworthy to be called “knights” and trying to receive justice for their wrongdoings against the Order of the Griffon and to himself. While most of the time his words fell into the deaf ears of people, too frightened to speak against trusted servants of a king, Sir Azrael swore that only the death will stop him from spreading the truth.” - V. the Scribe
- “I learned something about the presumably extinct Order of the Griffon. Many young nobles following the example of Sir Azrael, a wandering Knight of the Griffon, who swore sacred oath always to speak truth, to defend the weak, and to seek justice for the crimes against his order from the corrupted Knights of the Lion. The youngsters leaving their father`s estates with their warhorses and fine armors, looking for the Herald of Truth to be signed as his Retainers. While young they are good riders and skilled with both their silvered long swords and lances. Sir Azrael is famous as a formidable warrior and fully capable to turns the young Retainers into power to be reckoned with. I won’t be surprised if they name him their new Grandmaster of the Order of the Griffon and then all villains, even the Lions, will tremble is fear.” - V. the Scribe
- "There is a new story about the noble Sir Azrael, a young knight who wears the insignia of the extinct Order of the Griffon. According to Tanim from Balanhi a band of robbers tried to loot his village. Sir Azrael, who accidentally moved through the village to purchase food organized the peasants and led them in fight, in which they managed to neutralize almost a third from the brigands and to capture the rest, at the cost of many dead villagers. But when the angry villagers were ready to torn the bandits on little pieces, Sir Azrael stand against them and with an effusive speech he taught them that bloody rampages of revenge accomplishes nothing and left the world worse off than it was before. The words of the charismatic young knight were so powerful, that the angry peasants decided not to take the law into their own hands and handed the villains to the king`s sheriff. Sir Azrael even refused the reward from the sheriff but insisted that the coins must be shared among the families of the deceased locals and then left on his way." - V. the Scribe, talking of Sir Azrael, a renowned Griffon knight