Q+A Kathalia 1 (Kelch Torret)

asked: Was Kathalia a Paladin of a particular or specific deity or more like a paladin in the General sense of the word?

Artist's Notes:
Kathalia's past is a bit of a sore spot for her and she doesn't like talking about it.  It reminds her of her personal failings and fall from grace.  Originally, she was part of an order called Urzh Kroashent (Knights of the Crossroads), a group dedicated to protecting travelers crossing the dangerous roadways of world from otherworldy threats.  While the order was at one time great and held much power, a series of defeats and betrayals all but destroyed the group, scattering its members.  Kathalia herself once served as a proud member of the group, but feels responsible for the fate of many of her comrades.  Her time in the Faewyldes (Dark, untamed portions of the Faerie realm) added to these feelings, leaving her with deep mental and emotional scars.

The symbol of the group was a cross (the titular crossroad) within a circle (the protection of the knights).  Kathalia broke the circle on her own regalia as a symbol of her past failings and a rejection of what she once stood for.  Her moniker is Kelch Torret (broken circle) among those who use such things. 

The Knights are based (fairly directly) on the actual knights Templar, who protected pilgrims along crusade routes and amassed great power before jealous rivals betrayed them and branded them heretics, destroying the order almost overnight.  (Think Order 66 from Revenge of the Sith, but somehow more brutal and without the benefit of a clone army and near-instant communications to pull it off).  There are a few differences based on the world (not least of which is a woman being allowed to take up arms in the order), but the general idea is largely the same.  On the issue of religion, while the themes of faith and religion play a large role in the story, I haven't actually decided on many of the specifics of deities in Kroashent.  There is a definite presence of the Celtic Pantheons, both Irish and Continental (Gwae is a member of the Tuatha De Danaan, and Lugh, the Morrigan and Cernunnos, among others, play significant roles).  There is a lot of Christian imagery that shows up, and the power structure of the Medieval Church and the Islamic Caliphates is very much present in the world, but whether or not these follow the doctrines of their real world counterparts remains to be seen.  Kathalia herself was largely driven as a paladin out of an underlying sense of justice than by any specific creed, but others in her order were more in line with the monastic aspects of the Templars.