All About The Order
Everything you didn’t know you needed to know about the Order of the Mushroom Knights
Garden Defence School
The Garden Defence School was created in Kingstown in 2650 and the structure adjoins the main garrison building. Originally, the school offered basic training for Mushroom Knights to teach proper weapon use and how to lower accidentally hitting a fellow gnome in group combat.
2856 saw a more ordered ranking system implemented into the Mushroom Knight order and additional training to match. In 3129, the ranking system currently in use by the Order was introduced and new levels of training implemented. Now there are four levels of Garden Defence Training and one level of Garden Offence Training.
First Year Garden Defence Training is a twelve-month course that runs every other year, with two-week breaks during the two national Garden Break holidays. First year training teaches weapon theory followed by basic weapon handling and basic battle formations. Near the end, recruits learn a few advanced techniques. Upon graduating recruits who have passed become full fledged Mushroom Knights.
Second Year Garden Defence Training is also a twelve-month course running every two years with two-week breaks for the two Garden Break holidays. It exposes Mushroom Knights to much more rigorous training with advanced fighting techniques and unit formations. They are also introduced to two-handed weapons as well as crossbows.
Third Year Garden Defence Training is the most rigorous training a Mushroom Knight can take. It hardens them into the toughest of Knights. The course runs every five years and is twelve months long with the standard Garden Break holidays. During Third Year Garden Defence Training, Knights are also taught basic leadership and are promoted to sergeants at the end, giving them the ability to command a squad of Mushroom Knights.
Fourth Year Garden Defence Training is a six-month course running every five years that focuses on developing leadership skills. The Knights are taught when to implement various battle formations, and how to coordinate squads to work together. Knights completing the course are promoted to Lieutenant giving them the ability to command up to four squads of Mushroom Knights officially called a Quarter Section, but usually just called a Quarter or a Section. The written entrance exam is very difficult and only a handful of applicants are admitted to the course.
Garden Offence Training is a six-month course running every fifth year that further teaches leadership. Knights are taught advanced command, field deployment, and how to coordinate squads and sections to work together as well as offensive strategy. A Mushroom Knight completing Garden Offence Training is promoted to Captain and given the ability to command up to sixteen squads of Mushroom Knights or four quarters, called a company.
Arms, Armour and Arsenal
Weapons
Standard issue weapons to Mushroom Knights are a spear and a shield with either a sword, axe or mace depending on each Knight’s preference and weapon availability. During the first year of garden defence training, recruits learn the basic techniques of fighting with each weapon and their advantages and disadvantages against various types of threats.
Spears are great weapons in defensive formations and a good thrust can pierce most large bug shells. They are also good for keeping one’s distance from deadly fangs and mandibles, or the very sticky hides of the Great Mollusks, minimizing the risk of knights becoming glued to the slimy creatures. Spears are effective at driving away deer and other crop nibblers or dispatching them if they become repeat offenders.
The standard Mushroom Knight shield is sturdy, triangular in shape and nearly half the height of a gnome and bear the Order’s mushroom insignia. Typically made of stout wood overlaid with iron or sometimes bronze, they are quite heavy. They are a Mushroom Knight’s first line of defence against, mandibles, stings, claws, hooves, antlers, teeth, paws, axes, swords, clubs, arrows, branches, thorns and roots. Very few knights in the order fight without a shield.
Swords are versatile weapons and are excellent against squishy bugs and when fighting lightly armoured bandits and Cobbies. They are a less effective weapon against the hard shells of most bugs and insects and dense plants such as trees and the user needs a good understanding of the foe’s weaknesses to get the best result. However, they are the most desired side weapon as they are deemed more noble and sophisticated. Swords make most gnomes feel like proper knights, but as they are the most costly and time consuming to make, they aren’t widely available for the lower Mushroom Knight ranks.
Axes are much better than swords at punching through a tough bug shell and excel in plant-based warfare as during the Great Thorn Uprising. A well-landed blow can even penetrate a Furgol’s thick armour. However, axes leave one more exposed after a strike and aren’t great for parrying when facing armed opponents. Being the cheapest weapon to make and needing the least skill to wield, axes are the most common side weapon, especially among the lower-ranking knights.
Maces are great at cracking bug shells, especially if the mace is spiked, or for stunning a creature. They work quite well for banging up heavily-armoured opponents and cracking shins and knees of taller foes. The main drawback is that they are tiring to wield, not generally lethal with a single strike and have the same parrying disadvantages as axes. A deer smacked with a mace might think twice about nibbling the same garden and a bunny doesn’t stand a chance. Maces are the least-used weapon in the Mushroom Knight arsenal, except in the Pebbly Plain, which is often troubled by Furgols.
During the second year of garden defence training, Knights are introduced to fighting with two-handed axes and hammers, as well as crossbows. Only sergeants and above are permitted to abandon spear and shield for two-handed weapons, unless assigned to a crossbow squad (commonly called bolters). The two-handed hammer is very effective at squashing most bugs nearly flat and a mighty swing from a two-handed axe can bite deep into the toughest plant or cleave clean through a large bug’s shell.
Gnomes with the rank of Sergeant or higher are given the freedom to wield whatever kind of weapon they so choose, even ones not among the standard gnome arsenal. Usually these are acquired from outside the gnomish kingdom and custom forged. Sergeant are also permitted to personalize the insignia on their shields if they so desire.
Armour
Mushroom Knight armour has changed over the centuries, from homemade padded cloth to light leather to Gnomescale and hardened leather, bronze and now iron is being incorporated. The current standard armour consists of a mix of metal, leather and still occasionally gnomescale elements.
The current standard-issue Mushroom Knight helmet is typically bronze or iron which is tall and pointed like a proper gnome hat. Most have enclosed face guards while a few are open faced. The typical Mushroom Knight wears a thick leather breastplate worn over a light leather or padded cloth knee length shirt for comfort and extra protection. Shoulders are protected with hard leather or sometimes metal pauldrons. Thick leather gauntlets protect the hands and half of the forearm. Boots are made of sturdy leather, and often have metal plates on them. Also found in the ranks is a uniquely gnomish armour, it is a durable material made from chitin and resin that the gnomes invented long ago. This material, known as Gnomescale, was fashioned into an armour of overlapping rectangles and became the armour of choice in the early days of the Order. This armour is seldom made anymore due to its lengthy production time and process, but is still found within the ranks of the knights as it is quite practical, traditional and has great longevity.
As with weapons, knights with the rank of Sergeant and higher are permitted to wear customized armour, which is usually acquired from experts outside the kingdom. It is typical to see higher ranking knights with mail and plate components to their armour set.
Machines of War
The Order’s T&T division have created and attempted to create weapons and machines to help give them an advantage in battle against hostile creatures or any invading armies. Some have been useful. Most are just gnomish variants of time tested machines given new names.
Gnomish Chariot
Early in the days of the Order, a goat-drawn cart akin to a chariot was created but the only land it was effectively able to be driven on in the gnomes wild and hilly country, were roads. It was also difficult to get the goats to run for more than short stretches. Charging chariots could easily be avoided by stepping off the road and letting it pass by. The chariots were also slow to turn around for another charge. Eventually one chariot had a comfy seat installed and was given to the king for him to tour around Kingstown. The rest were given to the gnomish postal service for express mail delivery.
Gnomish Bolt Tosser
Pretty much just a large crossbow that has been designed for smaller folk to use. They typically come in two sizes, a large one that throws six-foot javelins typically found on the towers of larger keeps and more recently on the newly created Wheel Ships, and a smaller field deployable one, either mounted on a battle wagon or with wheels pulled by a team of goats that fires three-foot bolts. The field-sized version is run by two gnome teams and can fire at an average rate of once every thirty seconds if need be while the larger one is run by four gnome teams and can be fired once every minute. A shoulder-mounted version was tried but it proved more trouble that it was worth and the tall gnome helmets would interfere with the string and bolt path. Many beards were also injured.
Battle Wagon
The battle wagon was created primarily as a troop transport. It’s second function was to be an elevated platform the Mushroom Knights could fight from which would put them at equal height to men-sized bandits. The first versions of the battle wagons didn’t have any protective roof and they didn’t give the Mushroom Knights much of an advantage as they now had to be careful they didn’t fall off the wagon, which many of them did. The second generation of Battle Wagons had lightly-armoured roofs providing some protection from overhead strikes, but also prevented the gnomes from making overhead swings with swords and axes, and so spears became the most practical weapon when fighting from a battle wagon. The third generation battle wagons were heavily-armoured fortresses covered in spikes with small openings for thrusting spears outwards or shooting crossbows often sporting a small bolt tosser on top. The wagon could hold up to eight fully-armed Mushroom Knights. The biggest drawback of these Battle Wagons, was that they were slow and heavy, requiring a team of twelve goats to pull. It was faster for a Mushroom Knight to walk than to use the heavy wagon as a transport. The latest version of the Battle wagon has seen it shed some weight and armour for mobility and a smaller goat team making it more useful for transport while still offering adequate protection. Most of the new Battle Wagons are still outfitted with a smaller, mounted Bolt Tossers. Another drawback of the Battle Wagon is that like the chariot the wagons are most useful on the road and can just be walked around—if enemies don’t want to dull their swords hacking at it while dodging spears—which most have opted to do. However, they are great for blockades and setting up small defensive positions as long as the terrain permits.
repeating Rock Chucker
The Repeating Rock Chucker is a fast firing artillery weapon capable of throwing large stones (five to ten pounds) great distances. The exact working of the machine are a well kept T&T secret. The device is powered by two large wheels each with a running gnome inside that quickly spins a chain in the centre of the machine. Attached to the chain has a hook, which grabs a bow string pulling tension into it. When the chain rounds the far gear the hook lets go of the string allowing it to catch and propel forwards a wooden paddle with the stone in it. The paddle follows a track making a quick turn down when it reaches the far end and the rock is launched into the air. The paddle follows the track down the underside of the machine joining a queue of paddles pushing the next one in place to be fired. The faster the gnomes run the more rapidly the machine fires so long as the stone loader can keep up. The machine typically has a four gnome team. Two runners, one loader and one aimer who also helps load during high firing rates. The Repeating Rock Chucker typically launches a rock every three to five seconds, but the record is one per second for 35 seconds at which point one of the runners tripped and was ejected from his running wheel.
Boulder Slinger
The Boulder Slinger is the gnomish name for their catapult that throws rather large rocks (fifty to one hundred pounds) or a bunch of smaller rocks at enemies. There are very few Boulder Slingers as the gnomes don’t typically engage in offensive siege warfare and have not had much need for them.
Wheel Ship
A relatively new invention, the Wheel Ship, sometimes called a Land Ship, is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is. The Wheel ship is an enclosed armed and armoured wooden structure that resembles a wooden ship, which can indeed float, only it rarely sees water. It sports a row of six or eight wheels running the length of it on either side that are powered by gnomes. Each wheel of the ship is attached to a wheel on the inside of the vessel that is attached to a large encircling wheel that turns by a gnome walking or running in it. With three gears to choose from, the impressive machine can reach speeds of up to twelve miles-per-hour on the flat over short distances with all gnomes at a full out run, though it averages around four. The gear system also allows it to climb hills more easily. The Wheel Ship was not initially designed for battle but to protect the gnomes most valuable items being sent along the dangerous southern trade routes, particularly beer, though it is exclusively operated by the Mushroom Knights.
Transporting Barrels of beer in and out of Gardonia, typically called “the beer run” is the most perilous task gnome traders can perform, due to bandits and highwaymen, the nature of the goods, and the beer-loving nature of bandits and highwaymen. After many lost barrels and lives the task was entrusted to the Mushroom Knights. Even still there were many armed clashes with robbers that resulted in beer and blood being senselessly spilled. And so the Wheel Ship was invented. The Wheel Ship is the largest mobile structure the gnomes have ever created. Some of the big folk refer to the Wheel ship as the Beer Wagon, which is entirely wrong, as a beer wagon is much smaller and pulled by a team of goats. The eight-wheeled Wheel Ship can transport over one hundred standard size barrels of beer.
The exclusively military version of the Wheel Ship acts as both a transport and mobile field fortress/command centre. Sporting a pivoting Repeating Rock Chucker and a large, castle sized gnomish bolt tosser on the top deck, as well as eight field sized gnomish bolt tossers on either side of the mid deck, it is very well armed. It also has reinforced metal plating on many sections of the hull. It can transport 100 fully-armed Mushroom Knights packed close together or 30 comfortably on longer journeys, besides the crew. To be 100% mobile with 100% of the weapons fully operational requires a 40 gnome crew, though it can minimally operate at low speed as a transport only with ten crew members.
Two Wheel Ships saw action in the Great Slug Invasion, The HMS Chuggernaught and the HMS Corkley but the Corkley was wrecked when it was driven into some rocks by a great wave of slugs led by a giant spike-shelled snail that cracked the hull and destroyed several wheels, sending it off course. After the Great Slug Invasion there were two lightly-armed, six-wheeled transport Wheel Ships and one heavily-armed, eight-wheeled military Land Ship in operation. A twelve-wheeled military ship, the HMS Dregnaught, has just been launched, bringing the fleet back up to four.
Boomshroom
While not a machine of war, Boomshrooms are one of the most devastating inventions the T&T division has created. Boomshrooms are essentially mushroom-shaped grenades made from the Puffball Shroom. Puffball Shrooms are round mushrooms that release their spores into the air in dramatic puffs. When the fungi mature they begin to create a reactive substance and then wait for something to disturb them. When an animal kicks the mushroom or a strong wind shakes it, the reactive ingredient inside is agitated and the mushroom essentially explodes. Though the Puffball Shroom is moderately harmless in nature, the gnomes have been able to carefully harvest the reactive ingredient from the mature mushrooms and when several mushrooms worth are dried and compressed together the resulting explosion can be quite devastating. Boomshrooms work by having a small amount of the reactive ingredient stored loosely in the top acting as a primer and fuse, with a large amount packed tightly together in the main body. To use it, one simply hits the top of the Boomshroom, which sets off the slower fuse reaction giving a gnome time to throw or place the explosive and evacuate before the main charge detonates. The fuse reaction is approximately five seconds, give or take four seconds. Puffball Shrooms have become quite rare in the wild and so the T&T division has set up secret military farms to cultivate them. Because of the mushrooms long maturing times, there are very few Boomshrooms available to use. Therefore, the teaching of the proper handling and use of Boomshrooms is restricted to Third Year Garden Defence Training.
Ranks and Special Military Divisions
Mushroom Knight Ranks
Recruit
A recruit is a gnome who has signed up at the recruiting desk to join the Order of the Mushroom Knights but is continuing their civilian life until Garden Defence School starts. The students attending the school are also referred to as recruits. The minimum recruitment age is 75.
Squire
Squire is a very recent addition to the Mushroom Knight ranks. A squire is a gnome who is serving in the Mushroom Knight order while they are waiting to attend Garden Defence School. They are primarily housed in the Kingstown garrison and are tasked with dishes, laundry, dusting, scrubbing floors, making beds, fluffing pillows, fetching things, polishing door knobs and helping out with whatever else proper knights don’t want to do. Sometimes they are sent along to aid knights on an errand or quest or used as sparring partners if a training dummy breaks.
During times of emergency, recruits can be appointed straight to Mushroom Knight. They only receive very basic training, if any. Casualty rates among these appointed knights are usually very high. The survivors still have to finish school afterwards.
Mushroom Knight
The term Mushroom Knight umbrellas all the different ranks of knights and is the general term for a gnome soldier serving in the order.
First Year Knight
First Year Mushroom Knight is a gnome who has completed First Year Garden Defence School and become a full-fledged Mushroom Knight. Regardless of how long they have been in the order, they still carry the First Year title if they have only completed the first year of Garden Defence Training. Roughly twenty percent of the Mushroom Knights are First Year Knights.
Second Year Knight
Second Year Mushroom Knight is a gnome with some years of service under his belt and who has completed Second Year Garden Defence School. Second Year Garden Defence Training is much more rigorous than first year training. Most knights in the order are Second Year Mushroom Knights making up the bulk of the Mushroom Knight army, roughly sixty-five percent.
Sergeant
A sergeant is a tough and seasoned Mushroom Knight who has completed Third Year Garden Defence School. A minimum of twenty-five years of active service is required before Third Year school can be attended. Sergeants can be in command of a squad. Squads are typically made up of seven knights, including the sergeant.
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a Mushroom Knight who has completed Fourth Year Garden Defence School. A minimum of twenty-five years of active service as a sergeant is required before fourth year school can be attended. Lieutenants can command a squad or be in charge of up to four squads, called a quarter section, most commonly just called a section or sometimes a quarter.
Captain
A captain is a competent Mushroom Knight who has completed Garden Offence Training. To be selected for garden offence training, a minimum of twenty-five years of active service as a lieutenant is required as well as having shown great leadership. Captains can command a squad, a quarter section or be in charge of up to sixteen squads (or four quarter sections), called a company.
Grand Captain
A Grand Captain is an experienced Mushroom Knight captain who is good at math and has a mind for strategy. They are in charge of garrisons, outposts or keeps and command all the Mushroom Knights stationed therein and operating within its surrounding region. They plan offensives and defensives and get to play with the figures on the battle table. There is no minimum service time requirement to become a Grand Captain, though all current Grand Captains have over four hundred years of active service.
great Deeds
A Mushroom Knight of any rank who has been recognized for performing a great or outstanding deed can also be promoted to any rank up to Captain. Promotions through a great deed have no minimum service time requirement, though it is recommended that they still attend any missed Garden Defence and Garden Offence Training.
Titles
Veteran
A Veteran Knight is a Mushroom Knight who has served for two hundred or more years, or has fought in three or more battles. There are many Second Year Knights who have achieved veteran knight status. Any First Year Knight achieving Veteran status is grandfathered into a Second Year Knight. Veteran Second Year Knights can become squad leaders, essentially sergeants without the actual title.
Champion
A champion is a Mushroom Knight who has been recognized for performing a great deed in battle—defeating a mighty foe, facing great odds in battle, being instrumental in a victory or any other great achievement beyond a knights required duty. Usually they are given a promotion or two, but not always.
Medals
The Order of the Mushroom Knights has several medals awarded to Knights who have served notably.
Carrot of Valour for serving with valour—White
Carrot of Honour for serving with honour—Orange
Carrot of Distinction for serving with distinction—Green
Carrot of Courage for serving with courage—Blue
Carrot of Bravery for serving with bravery—Red
Carrot of Valiance for serving with valiance—Purple
Carrot of Glory for performing a glorious deed—Gold
Special Military Divisions
Ranged Division
Ranged weapons are the least type of weapon used by gnomes in combat and gnomes themselves are not typically known for being archers, in fact they are quite terrible with a bow and arrow. Mostly it is due to the fact that their beards and moustaches often get caught in the bow string or the arrow fletching. Crossbows solved the beard problem. However, gnomes generally still aren’t all that great a shot. The average knight’s individual hit score of a two foot by two foot target at twenty feet is four and a half per ten shots fired. Even though the gnomish sized crossbow is still decently powerful, most of the creatures living in the land of Gardonia have thick shells or hides and are quite large and the slow-firing crossbow is not usually the most effective weapon. They are good deterrents of deer, bunnies, Cobbies and lightly-armoured bandits or firing into groups of enemies, but it takes many bolts to take down a giant mantis or the heavily-armoured Furgol. As for normal nuisance bugs it is much easier to run up to the critter and hit it with a sword or axe. That being said, the Mushroom Knight Ranged Division is made up of a two dozen gnomish crossbow squads hand-picked from the best of the best with the weapon. To qualify as a member of the ranged division, a knight must have an average hit score of six for every ten shots on a two by two foot target at twenty feet and be able to reload a crossbow in under one minute. Maximum effective squad range is about forty feet and the maximum range where a single target will be hit once is about ninety feet, thought the weapon itself has a lethal range of around two-hundred feet and a maximum range of four-hundred feet. Besides the ranged division, roughly a third of the regular knight squads have one crossbow amongst their weaponry.
Mounted Division
There has been an attempt to create a mounted division within the Order for some time. Each attempt had gone very poorly and the initiative was put on the back burner as a suitable mount was proving difficult to find. The gnomes’ regular stock of goat proved too small to carry a knight in full gear, horses were far too large for a gnome to ride and ponies not suitable for war. Wolves proved to be more interested in eating the gnomes and ostriches too squeamish for the battlefield. Recently, the project has been revived when twenty individuals from a breed of heavy goat, able to carry a knight in full armour, were imported. Still the project is not going as well as had been hoped, as the goats are quite stubborn and most knights have not proven to be even moderate riders. Very recently an expert jouster from outside the kingdom has volunteered his service to help train the mounted division and so hopes are once again high for the division.
T&T Division
The Mushroom Knights Thinking and Tinkering division is a group who develop military technology. The T&T division’s main quarters are located in the basement of the Kingstown garrison and employs half a dozen of the brightest tinkers the gnomish kingdom has to offer for research and design and some forty more tinkers to help with the construction of the designs as well as help to oversee the operation of some of the more complicated and rarely used equipment such as the catapult. Outside of the Kingstown garrison, there is a super top-secret T&T facility hidden in the south within the only softwood forest in the kingdom. This facility is where the Land Ships are designed and built. There are also a few secret T&T farms scattered about the kingdom where contracted farmers with special secret clearance grow Puffball Shrooms, used in the creation of the Boomshroom grenade device.
Kings Guard
The King’s Guard are veteran soldiers who serve in the palace and make up the king’s personal guard. They wear white surcoats with a crowned carrot on it over their armour and have white shields that also bear a crowned carrot. Their helmets are golden in colour and very fancy.
Carrot Guard
The Carrot Guard is an elite force of Mushroom Knights entrusted with the protection of the Great Carrot. They wear a black surcoat with ivory coloured accents over their armour with black shields and ivory coloured helms. The surcoat and shield bear an ivory-coloured, winged carrot insignia on them, and the elaborate helms have tall wings resembling carrots on either side. Next to being a Champion, Carrot Guard is the most prestigious military title one can have.