begging literally anyone to play Crown Gambit

KENWAER THE KINGSLAYER

Relic: Scorpion

Loyalties: The Lanterns

AQUILON THE HONOURABLE

Relic: None

Loyalties: House Illioze, and Karv. However, he can be convinced to turn away from Karv as he does not agree with his harsh methods

NEANTIS THE CRUEL

Relic: None

Loyalties: Dedicated to her own power and that of House Thulder above all else, but fights for Gallenor's cause.

HAVROK THE INSURGENT

Relic: None

Loyalties: To himself, and to the commoners of Meodred.

KARMINE, THE TRENT'S PHALANXES MEDIUS

Relic: None

Loyalties: Havrok, cares deeply for the commoners of Meodred

AZERTOR THE ALL-FATHER

Relic: None, released from The Crown

Loyalties: Itself

AZERTOR, GOD INCARNATE

Relic: The Crown of Azertor

Loyalties: Itself, but was created by Noamored's desperation and loyalty to the people of Meodred.

LUTIG THE CANDLE

Relic: Koar

Loyalty: Humbert, leader of the Lanterns.

TRENK THE PURIFIER

Relic: Soul Purifier

Loyalty: Humbert

GWINBLEN THE WEATHERCOCK

Relic: Renerezh

Loyalty: Humbert initially, but he changes loyalties a few times. Afterwards he serves Gallenor for a bit, before ultimately standing on Havrok's side, joining his forces at Fort Jayant

ALPHONSE THE PROTECTOR

Relic: Luhez

Loyalty: The Lanterns, but seems coerced and desperate out of some misguided obsession to get his son back.

(No art for his relic offspring. Last of the Lanterns listed here)

JERAN OF THE RUNES

Relic: Naia

Loyalty: House Amaister, and thus his loyalty ultimately lies with Noamored

EDRICK the guy

Relic: who knows

Loyalty: ¯_(ツ)_/¯ He seems uncertain himself really, undecided.

(I enjoy his character and his dynamic with his brothers, but uhh yeah this guy has no battle art, no known relic, you do not fight him, he is just kinda around)

KEVESER THE DEATH-DEFYING

Relic: Sonroz's Hand

Loyalty: None, doesn't seem to have retained any semblance of his former life.

(He doesn't seem to have a character profile, and he is just a secret boss, but he was a paladin once, so I thought I would go ahead and include him)

YSTER THE ATONEER

Relic: Absolution

Loyalty: Karv, but will leave the battle to tend to Silence's wounds, prioritising her over the cause.

SILENCE THE BIRD MASTER

Relic: Blackbird

Loyalty: Karv

ALANN THE GUST

Relic: Cockade

Loyalty: Karv

CHILDERAC, THE CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH

Relic: Heureuse

Loyalty: Karv

PYGARE THE HORSEMAN

Relic: Gastraphete

Loyalty: Karv, through his service to House Illioze

YASSIM THE CORSAIR

Relic: The Anzou Mark

Loyalties: Havrok, however will leave the battle to tend to Karmine, prioritising her over the cause.

HUNAN THE ELECTRIC

Relic: Statiks

Loyalty: Havrok

OMERIC THE EXECUTIONER

Relic: She-Wolf of the Moor

Loyalty: Havrok, but formally served Karv.

TOULL THE UNCATCHABLE

Relic: Voidlash

Loyalty: Havrok

(Yes there is two guys with the "uncatchable" title, him and Lagadin)

SYLIR THE MIST

Relic: Censers

Loyalty: Havrok, but only because of his devotion to Roge.

DRAKNIR THE THORN

Relic: Roze

Loyalties: Gallenor. However, his father is leader of the Lanterns and he was aware of their plan to kill King Neptos II. He seems torn by his loyalty to his father.

(His character bio is bugged and shows him as a silhouette even if you have met him, hence the quick cut and paste job on it below)

VAENN THE BLOODTHIRSTY

Relic: Pareans

Loyalty: Gallenor, but respects Neris above all else.

KRYOMER THE FROST

Relic: Skorn

Loyalty: Gallenor

GWENDOR THE SPARKLING

Relic: Mirror

Loyalty: Gallenor, but has no actual attachment to her. Will happily abandon her forces and serve Noamored instead if informed of his father's true ambitions. His loyalty above all else is to his family.

LAGADIN THE UNCATCHABLE

Relic: Bulle

Loyalty: Gallenor, through his service to Erielle

TENVAL THE INTANGIBLE

Relic: Loenne

Loyalty: Gallenor, but his devotion seems a little flimsy, considering he will turn against Neantis.

ALIZA

Relic: Vermeil

Loyalties: Your choice (but connected to nobility and religion)

(No picture of offspring, so included her influenced form instead)

ROLLO

Relic: Jozmung's Bane

Loyalties: Your choice (but connected to commoners and nobility)

(No picture of offspring, so included his influenced form instead)

HAEL

Relic: Starshade

Loyalities: Your choice (but connected to religion and commoners)

(No picture of offspring, so included his influenced form instead)

HERMET THE PROPHET

Relic: Ismalvenn

Loyalties: Noamored

MARIAN THE CALAMITY

Relic: Valgeroz's Axe

Loyalties: Noamored

YOHAV THE SWORDSMAN

Relic: Almanach Sword, and a second relic which is unnamed

Loyalties: Noamored, but can become enthralled by Azertor's voice (included a pic below of this)

GAEBRIEL THE EXALTED

Relic: Netra

Loyalties: Noamored initially, but will betray him for Azertor

Some paladins received a little more love than others, such as Hermet, Alphonse, and the mentors. Gwendor, Yster, and Draknir also have a decent number of appearances, and are very fascinating characters with very fleshed out and interesting loyalties. But there are many paladins who barely got any screen-time at all, but their short appearances still left them ingrained in my mind, just because they are so damn intriguing.

First up, we have Sylir.

Now the thing about Sylir is that he is a mystery to himself as well, given his constant Relic-induced memory loss. As this screenshot below shows, all his knows is his loyalty to Roge Thulder, and he serves him with a very single-minded reverence.

But how did he come to being imployed to House Thulder? And why did he become so obsessed with Roge specifically? We know very little about his history or his desires, for he doesn't really know them either, however, we do know that he and Hael were acquainted at least, as this conversation below clearly shows.

Hael barely knows any of the other paladins, given how recently he joined the Corps, but he clearly knew Sylir, and he laments at the thought of having to fight him. Their relationship is not really explained any further, but I do find it interesting how similar Sylir's armour is to the armour that Hael dons if Karv is crowned.

They both wear a cloth with a metal mask fitted on the front, and both have flowing fabrics that drape off of them. It makes me wonder if Sylir was ever part of the church at some point, but simply forgot about his religion and his ties there. White hair seems to be a theme with some members of the church, this is shown with both Hael and Omeric, who clearly both had their hair dyed white at some point. You can see their true hair colour though in their regrowth. Sylir's, however, looks more natural, given there is no obvious regrowth and that his eyebrows are white as well, but he certainly looks like he would fit right in with the church.

Also interesting is the way that Sylir is very aware of his own memory loss, and seems to regret it at least somewhat. But still, his loyalty to Roge towers above all else, so he makes no steps to preventing his own memory loss, not when he probably feels that he needs his relic to protect his master.

I really wish we could have received some explanation on how he and Roge met, and what caused Sylir to become so infatuated with him. Was it a mere coincidence, that he was simply employed under Roge when his memories first started failing? Or was there something more to cause that devotion? It is also fascinating to me how his loyalty to Roge does not entirely equal obedience. For when Roge argues with his mother, and his mother insults him in turn, Sylir is quick to threaten Neantis, not backing down even when Roge tries to order him to.

Sylir is so obsessed with Roge that he is willing to ignore his commands if he deems it necessary to "protect" him, even going as far to threaten his lord's own mother for him. He is entirely blinded by his devotion, clinging to the one person who remains a constant, as the rest of his memories keep failing him.

And Roge cares about him too, he pleads with you to spare Sylir if you fight him on behalf of Neantis, saying how he wants to patch him up, and he expresses a shocked but reserved dismay if you decide to kill him.

These two make me feral, and I wanna know their deal so bad.

But, moving on! And I these ones will be shorter, lmao, I don't have as many screenshots pre-saved.

Next up, we got Silence.

So, like, I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually get properly confirmed, but I have no doubt that she is Yster's daughter. I wish I had a screenshot of the conversation, coz for some reason it has only happened on my first playthrough. But if you fight Silence and spare her, afterwards Yster can come to face you, furious, rambling about how you killed SIlence. Once corrected, he runs off after her, wanting to make sure that she is alright. You can also learn by snooping around the Illioze house that he had a secret bastard child, and that he had the mother killed to try and hide his disgrace. So, given his concern for her, and the fact we know he has a child, I am pretty sure they are father and daughter. Plus, they look realllll similar, just look.

Near identical eyes, similar noses and skin-tone, both scowling, both have dark hair.

So my question is, is SHE aware that Yster is her father?? Or has he been watching out for her from the shadows but keeping his distance? It is clear that them being related is not common knowledge, since no one is supposed to know that Yster has a child, but was she ever informed? Is she confused when Yster comes to tend to her wounds? Does she know that he killed her mother??

My presumption is that she is not aware, but I am definitely curious how she would react when she learns the truth.

Next up, Omeric.

I love this dude, but there is basically zero information about him in the game. I have not been able to find him in any earlier point of the game before Fort Jayant, so it seems he is entirely only there to fill Havrok's ranks a little more. But damn it, he intrigues me. His character profile specifically mentions him having previously been loyal to Karv, before changing loyalties to serve Havrok instead. So now I am left wondering, WHY did he betray Karv?? There is nothing in his dialogue that implies at all that he cares about Havrok's cause or protecting the people of Meodred. He is still a religious fanatic who worships The Anzou diligently, rambling on and on about the deity before you battle him. So then, why turn away from the church? If my theory about his and Hael's hair is correct, that they dye it white to show their loyalty to the church, then the fact that his regrowth has gotten so long seems significant.

It's also interesting that he and Hael seem to know each other, and that Hael seemed somewhat fond of him, looking upset about the idea of having to fight him.

I love the idea that they could have been friends if given the chance.

But back to the main point. There really isn't any reason given as to why Omeric would stop serving Karv. The protags do not question his motives, he does not express any dissatisfaction towards Karv's desire to rule. He kinda just shows up, rambles all ominously and flowery about death at you, and then you kill him. I would have loved some insight into his goals, but alas, he is barely in the game.

I still love him a bunch tho <3

Okayy and next, Yassim.

This one is a real quick question, just hey, what the hell was Alphonse's beef with him?? It was practically violence on sight, Alphonse got so damn furious lmao. I have to assume that Yassim had something to do with the death of Alphonse's family, because he definitely starts to recognize the old man as the battle comes to an end, but I have not been able to find any sort of confirmation or proper explanation as to what their history was. Yassim in general is a very fascinating character, he is one of the paladins who gets a pretty decent amount of screen-time, often appearing whenever Havrok does, but despite that the game is still incredibly vague on who he is. I really just wanna know what went down between him and Alphonse.

Alright last one coz I am getting sleepy, Hunan (with Alphonse returning again)

OK SO, this one is real wild coz I literally had to ask the devs to get part of this information. BUT FUN FACT, MARIAN IS HUNAN'S MOTHER. I ended up being super curious as to why she was listed as a related entry on his character page, so I asked the devs what their relationship was and they confirmed that Marian and Hunan are mother and son. (Well, to be more specific, one of the publishers said this, and a dev gave it a thumbs up). I'm too shy to keep bothering them tho lmao, so I didn't ask any follow up questions, but boy howdy did I have some.

Looks-wise, they certainly do not look similar, but I think Marian must have had blue eyes like his before they became hazed over like they are now.

But yeah I have a few questions about these two.

Firstly, similar to my question with Silence and Yster, but does Hunan know who his mother is?? He has a lot of anger towards the Bloodcrest family specifically, is that because he knows about how they screwed his mother over? I've not seen Marian ever mention or acknowledge him though, so I really have no idea what their connection is.

Secondly, where is this information in the game?? I know they are mother and son because of an outside source, but surely this can be learned in the game somewhere, otherwise why have their character profiles linked at all?? I've been trying to find ways to make them interact or something, but so far I have had no luck.

Thirdly and lastly, who is Hunan's father? It clearly is not Brestel, because Hunan gives no indication of being part of House Thulder, and no one else in the family acts like they know him. Currently, my best theory is that it is Alphonse, due to him talking fondly about Marian, and due to how easily Marian recognises him at the markets.

Alphonse was also mentor to Hunan for a while, and thus is also listed as a related entry on his character page. If challenged early on, he expresses dismay at the thought of the protags battling with Hunan, urging him to cease this violence, somewhat fond of him at least due to having trained him.

Unfortunately, while I did take screenshots of that whole interaction, for some reason they didn't save properly so all I have is the end of that conversation lmao.

There is not huge similarities between them really. Their skin tones are closer though, and they both have light-coloured hair, but there is not much else appearance-wise that clearly links them. Funnily enough though, they both have the same tear in their ear, which surely is not genetic, but it does seem a strange coincidence.

If not Alphonse though, then I have no idea who else could be Hunan's father. I suppose it could be some nameless nobody, but I feel like there has to be something more to this family situation.