Mood music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfHnzYEHAow

Paladins both sit on and kneel before the throne of creation. A Paladin is a being of holiness, yet this power is dependent on serving the cause of holiness. A Paladin cannot resolve this paradox with their soul intact... though a few people throughout history have decided that's a small enough price for escape.

The holiness of a Paladin is inherent in the sanctified soul, which in the simplest terms is the human(-equivalent) soul that has been ignited with divine energy and purpose. It is important to understand that we are still discussing an individual's soul, not some sort of deity or extraplanar monster. A Paladin is their own divine engine, though it is fair to say there are certain costs attached.

It's also important to put a Paladin's relationship with the Immortals into perspective. Once again, the source of their holiness and power is their own soul and its continued sanctity. They are not, strictly speaking, warriors of the gods -- they are divine warriors infused with a specific purpose. A Paladin can claim to serve Rutilor or Botolf with equal ardor, but they will still gain or suffer based on the needs of their soul. The Paladin Guild pays homage to many Light and Neutral aspects, most especially Chadatru, but the Paladin is not beholden to any of them to exercise their holy powers.

Yet again we stumble upon this notion of divine purpose and the soul's needs. What is going on? The Paladin Guild is not an especially scholarly institution, and those who know the most about the sanctified soul are mystics rather than sages. Still, certain features have been gleaned:

The sanctified soul is imbued with a rigid ethic. No one claims to know exactly why, but when a new Paladin accepts sanctification they are subject to a shared ethical standard. Deviance from it is possible (it's the soul's calling, not mind control), but it literally hurts and debases the Paladin's soul to do so.

The sanctified soul is imbued with a purpose. This is slightly more baffling, because still no one has vocalized what, precisely, that is. Presumably the Paladin Council has an idea, but they promote worship of Chadatru and following his example as the ideal Paladin. Certain actions -- such as destruction of the undead -- regardless of intention or actual moral worth, cleanse and strengthen the sanctified soul.

The sanctified soul is somehow imperfect. Even the purest Paladin detects the hint of something flawed in their holiness. Most Paladins ascribe this to the foibles of human weakness, but some wonder.

Paladins describe their connection to their own soul as their Conviction. This, like a Cleric's Devotion, is a specific thing: a Cleric can have all the devotion in the world to an Albarian deity and not draw down their power, while a Paladin can hold a strong, but wrong, conviction and be led astray. A Paladin's Conviction is their own practiced ability to spiritually and psychologically align themselves with the sanctified soul's needs. It is, to put it another way, conviction in the before-mentioned ethics and purpose of being a Paladin.

There are two major approaches to being a Paladin in response to all of this. The most popular is the Paladin Guild, which holds to the Chadatru ideal. They advocate spiritual purity above all else, again using Chadatru as a template for said purity. Their members tend to be forthright, ethical individuals and because of this the Paladin Guild has cultivated considerable prestige and cachet within society.

Then there are the "Dark Paladins," who come together in a small collective known as the House of the Desperate. They are not fallen Paladins (who have no ideal or organization), but rather Paladins who find it expedient or necessary to sacrifice portions of their personal holiness to achieve a greater good. They are named both after the desperation that often accompanies such a choice, and the lowborn, desperate members of society that they've taken as their chief responsibility to protect.

And still, the mysteries of the soul calls. The extent of the hardwired ethics of sanctification are unknown, as is the true nature of their purpose. Chadatru serves well enough, but some Paladins find the more holy they become the more their soul demands holiness. Rather than apotheosis or spiritual reward, they find at the end of a life of sacrifice... a call to even greater sacrifice.

But sacrifice is a big topic, and something we will discuss in detail later.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino