The forces of good really should do something against this hellknight problem ...
The forces of good really should do something against this hellknight problem ...
Iomedae? Order up!
The forces of good really should do something against this hellknight problem ...You mean like capitulation ? Excellent !
Evil will never prevail - ever! When last foe has perished the multiverse will bath in the bliss that is goodness.
I'm curious how much an inspiration for the Hellknights was drawn from the Planescape Mercykillers, especially Vhailor.
Maybe subconsciously, as I am a huge Planescape fan, but my direct influences were a little different. Largely, I always thought there should be paladins for every alignment, especially as that relates to the lawful neutral alignment, an alignment that might attract characters who look past the morality of an act to the necessity of a cause. The are definitely shades of fascism and about a dozen literary and fantasy judges and inspectors rolled into this group.
As for the Hell side of things, Hell in fantasy RPGs is a really interesting place. Drawing strongly from Dante, Hell is just as lawful as it is evil, and everything has a place and a time and reason, all of which is perpetual and from which there is no recourse. I think at some point everyone - even against their better judgment - has wished the law would be omnipresent and merciless. Whether its wishing a cop would appear to ticket the guy on the motorcycle blows by you on the curb, or wishing a swift execution upon the obviously guilty dancing amid the red tape of the judicial system. The appeal is there, though the underlying morality is highly suspect. The Hellknights are what happen if that twinge of guilt and morality is ripped away. Like Hell, they care not for the apologies and prostrations of the would-be innocent, the law is the law and for every infraction a punishment must be meted out decisively. If such "justice" proves heartless, such is the cost of an ordered society, and if one occasionally (and accidentally) faces unrightful pain or hardship in the pursuit of an ordered, peaceful existence, such is acceptable for the greater good.
That's my favorite thing about these guys. These warriors are a total foil to your typical, devil may care adventuring group, but try to smite evil on 9 out of 10 of them and it's simply not going to work. It's all about shades of gray, and these guys are the grayest. (Actually, this just made me realize that I dipped my toe into this water already with the Gray Guard in Complete Scoundrel. Huh.)
That's the awesome, misunderstood thing, the Hellknights, as an organization, are not evil. Sure, there are evil members, and as you get into the final, teen levels of the prestige class certain powers granted along the Path of the Hellion even tempt one toward evil acts (simulating the subversive nature of Hell), but your rank and file Hellknight is typically LN, and just as likely to be LG as LE. Yes, there can and are lawful good Hellknights, though they might find themselves just as at odds with the strictures and requisites of the order as lawful evil knights, with both likely facing confession and reckoning more often than a typical lawful neutral member.
The forces of good really should do something against this hellknight problem ...
I'd actually expect Iomedae to - while not endorse the Hellknights - see them as a misguided but ultimately useful human venture. There are Iomedae worshipers among the Hellknights. In fact, among the pantheistic Order of the Godclaw, Iomedae is actively revered and, perhaps even supports the signifers of that devout order.
So it's not that easy. Sure, there could be a crusade that wipes the various separate Hellknight orders out, but in so doing, many goodly souls would be lost, several regions (like Varisia) patrolled by Hellknight guardians would face encroachment by dangerous creatures, and criminal ventures in numerous orderly cities would explode. Hellknights aren't a necessary evil, by and large they're not evil at all, but they don't care about you, your family, or your fruit stand, they're here to make sure the trains run on time, that lawlessness is stomped out, and that humanity adopts the discipline to survive itself.
The forces of good really should do something against this hellknight problem ...
Too bad they suck too much to accomplish anything.
Ha, after all that Wes said there is hope. Maybe we only have to show them the light, and they will emerge as glorious paladins sworn to the cause of law and god. And again hell will be repelled.
