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<blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 4361873" data-attributes="member: 3448">Hmmm.&nbsp; &quot;Knights&quot; is the word that leaps to mind, and knighthood meant something rather different in the medieval period than in the early modern or modern period-- it was more of a functional title and less of an honor.&nbsp; But, since you don't want to use that... how about &quot;men-at-arms&quot; or guards?&nbsp; You could also use karl, which sometimes has a feeling of men-at-arms, although it is sometimes a more menial title.&nbsp; Those are martial, of course, and I don't have a good gender-neutral equivalent for men-at-arms if you care about that.&quot;Reeve&quot; is a great term, but I tend to think of it as more someone who has responsibility for an area (as in the shire-reeve example).&nbsp; &quot;Bailiff&quot; has the same problem, implying responsibility over a bailiwick.You could use jurors-- a jury originally was a body of respected local people with responsibility for investigating and dealing with legal problems.&nbsp; But that will feel fairly unnatural to most players.&nbsp; (I have thought that empaneling the PCs as a jury would make a great hook for some mystery oriented adventures--it's sorta like drafting them to work as the local constabulary and magistrate for a couple of months.&nbsp; But that's an aside.)I'd probably declare them &quot;members of the Baron's Guard&quot; and let them use that as authority, or just call them retainers of the Baron without any additional title.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cerebral Paladin, post: 4361873, member: 3448"] Hmmm. "Knights" is the word that leaps to mind, and knighthood meant something rather different in the medieval period than in the early modern or modern period-- it was more of a functional title and less of an honor. But, since you don't want to use that... how about "men-at-arms" or guards? You could also use karl, which sometimes has a feeling of men-at-arms, although it is sometimes a more menial title. Those are martial, of course, and I don't have a good gender-neutral equivalent for men-at-arms if you care about that. "Reeve" is a great term, but I tend to think of it as more someone who has responsibility for an area (as in the shire-reeve example). "Bailiff" has the same problem, implying responsibility over a bailiwick. You could use jurors-- a jury originally was a body of respected local people with responsibility for investigating and dealing with legal problems. But that will feel fairly unnatural to most players. (I have thought that empaneling the PCs as a jury would make a great hook for some mystery oriented adventures--it's sorta like drafting them to work as the local constabulary and magistrate for a couple of months. But that's an aside.) I'd probably declare them "members of the Baron's Guard" and let them use that as authority, or just call them retainers of the Baron without any additional title. [/QUOTE]

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