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I've been reading up on Ronin in the forums and seen how there was a conflict on Ronin as being something undesirable and Ronin as something people wanted to willingly play.
I've been thinking about it and wondered why not make Ronin/Knight Errant a free archetype and replace the idea of an Order with something like a penalty called "Masterless", or "Dishonored" or something.
My idea is take the abilities the Ronin/Knight Errant get and add those to an archetype that has no ability cost BUT is limited on that you can not have both Ronin/Knight Errant and an Order. If you take an Order than you lose the archetype and if you take the archetype it can only be after you have lost the Order.
And in place of the Ronin/Knight Errant Order instead have a penalty that is based on how exactly you lost your Order. Examples could range from willingly left the Order or your liege due to character growth via story; to something like outliving the liege you swore fealty to because they died in combat without any heirs; to maybe some sort of natural event like a major river getting redirected due to a landslide or perhaps a new trade route opening up that diverts trade to a new area and thus makes the lands the character is attached to destitute and so the monarch strips the liege the character has sworn fealty to of their position and divides the land up among the surrounding neighbors; or perhaps the loss of title and land by the liege the character has sworn fealty to was purely political in nature or maybe the title holder did something like an attempted coup that failed and the character was either a knowing and willing participant, an unknowing one or they didn't even know what was happening because they were elsewhere on a task.
It just seems like if Ronin/Knight Errant is meant to be an undesirable choice it should reflect that in having some sort of actual penalties rather than just having fewer abilities than every other Order does. So making it an archetype that can stack with every archetype seems like the only way to allow people to play it without fighting over the historical accuracy.
This would expand the ability of characters as to be a Samurai/Cavalier you technically need to be of noble birth. Giving Ronin/Knight Errant the archetype treatment could reflect the character's common birth. Maybe they saw a bunch of Samurai/Knights fighting in battle and it awed the character; maybe a Samurai/Knight defended to village the character comes from; or maybe even a Samurai/Knight was a cruel monster and the character choses to become one to do good rather than harm or believes that might makes right and so they seek to become mightier. Either way the Ronin/Knight Errant archetype could allow the character to become a sort of unsanctioned Samurai/Knight, one who knows how to fight like one but doesn't have any official backing nor an fealty to anyone but themselves and those they trust.
The penalties could be as simple as losing all abilities as normal, to losing all the abilities plus also facing an unfriendly attitude when meeting anyone from your former Order to, at worst, actively being hunted and actually taking negatives on certain skills checks. Example: the character was willingly involved with their liege's attempt at a coup. The coup failed and while their liege was killed they survived but, depending on their Order, they were cast out and now not only don't have their Order abilities but are also actively hunted by the monarch they tried to overthrow and their former Order for dishonoring it. This would lead to wanted posters in every major settlement so they'd have to try disguising themselves to avoid being captured.
Anyway, this is just my way or trying to come up with a way that Ronin/Knight Errant could be a choice while there still being something that is undesirable to be. After all, a Samurai/Knight may look down on a Ronin/Knight Errant with contempt and perhaps even challenge them to a fight but there'd still be something below them.
As for how to get them that can be as simple as an atonement/retraining process. The same thing you do if you violate an Orders Edicts and lose their abilities. To join an Order from the archetype the character goes through the atonement process where they retrain themselves to forget everything the archetype would give them as they go from being a loner to becoming part of an organization and learning to rely on other people. And the reverse would work as well, retraining yourself to become self reliant as you can now no longer rely on anyone but yourself.
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An ex-archetype (like those classes with alignment restrictions have) could be fitting as well.