Defending innocence, no matter the cost.

Attributes: The Knight Protector is an Archetype straight out of myth and legend. The man in shining armour on his white stallion, coming to sweep the defenceless maiden off her feet and carry her away from danger to the protection of his castle. He is chaste, selfless and noble, dedicating his life to the protection of his Damsel, defending her innocence against all comers. He is the bodyguard who guards for love, not money; the duty of the Knight Protector goes beyond a job, beyond any laws of man or God. No matter what happens he will save his Damsel, and heaven help anyone who tries to violate her innocence.

However, much as the love of the Mother has a dark side, so does the duty of the Knight Protector. The Damsel has no say in whether or not she is protected, and if she isn’t so attached to her innocence, well, tough luck. Many a Knight Protector has locked his Damsel up in an Ivory Tower to protect her not just from the outside world, but from herself. A man who sees himself as a Knight Protector may appear to all others as a dragon, keeping his Damsel a prisoner of her own purity.

Taboos: The Knight Protector must have a Damsel; a figure he considers pure and innocent, and is sworn to protect. Note that while definitions of ‘innocent’ vary from Knight to Knight, they never go too far. The Damsel may not indulge any vice that the Knight Protector knows of, or at least not in a way he considers immoral; the love of a wife for her husband may be acceptable, possibly even to the point of consummation, but mere sexual desire is base and not to be countenanced. Note that the Knight Protector is always male, and the Damsel figure is always female; the feminine archetype of protection is The Mother.

The Knight Protector, having chosen his Damsel, must not allow her virtue to be sullied. Any slur upon her reputation must be answered, any attack on her virtue must be resisted, no matter what source it comes from. Nothing that would damage the Damsel in the Knight Protector’s eyes can be allowed to come to pass.

Note that the Damsel does not actually have to be innocent. The Knight Protector can be defending a drunken, drug-addled whore, as long as he never loses sight of his delusions and considers her the very model of virtue and propriety. Many manipulative Damsels have played Knight Protectors very skilfully to use them for their own ends.

Symbols: The sword and shield, raised in defence of another. The knight in shining armour. The guardian at the door to the Ivory Tower. The chastity belt, sealed for all eternity.

Masks: Pretty much any Knight of the Round Table at some point (with the possible exception of Lancelot, whose deeds have made him a controversial figure among clued-in Knights).

Channels:

01-50%: The Knight Protector is sworn to defend his Damsel; however, to do this it’s always useful to know when your services as a defender are required. With a successful roll against his Avatar skill, the Knight Protector can discern when his Damsel is in distress. The better the roll, the more detail about what sort of danger she is in and where this danger is taking place. Note that danger does not just include the threat of physical harm, although this is certainly covered; threats to the Damsel’s virtue also count.

51-70%: The better to defend his charge, The Knight Protector is adept at sensing virtue in others that he might protect his Damsel from impure influences. With a successful roll against his Avatar skill, the Knight Protector may instantly gauge a target’s ‘virtue’, relative to the scale by which he judges his Damsel. The judgement is always absolute – virtue is never judged by half measures – but may be qualified by a high roll, for example ‘Virtuous, but hasn’t really been tempted yet’ or ‘Not virtuous, but could be redeemed by the love of a good woman’. Note that the Knight Protector may never use this channel on himself or his Damsel – if he did somehow find a way to make it work on his Damsel he would immediately violate Taboo for choosing to doubt her virtue. Why test that which you know to be pure?

71-90%: The Knight Protector is strong and steadfast in defence of his Damsel’s honour. When called upon to fight in his Damsel’s name, any and all damage he takes is reduced to hand-to-hand damage. Blows from fists and weapons that already do hand-to-hand damage are unaffected. Note that this makes the Knight Protector immune to Cherries that would cause said blows to do firearms damage.

91%+: By this point, the Knight Protector can sacrifice his strength to save the life of his Damsel. Any time his Damsel is injured, the Knight Protector can simply lay his hands upon her and make a roll against his Avatar skill. If successful, he may heal the Damsel of the sum of the dice in wound points, provided – can you guess what’s coming? – he is prepared to suffer the same amount of damage himself. To all eyes, the wounds on the Damsel appear to close up and similar, not to say identical, wounds appear on the Knight Protector himself. On a matched success the Knight Protector may choose to instead transfer damage equal to the number rolled rather than the sum of the dice, although he is fully entitled not to if, for example, it would result in his death. On a 01, he may transfer every point of damage the Damsel has taken to himself, once again with the option of refusing to do so; a 01 may even bring the Damsel back to life, providing that she died less than three minutes and three seconds before the Knight Protector makes his attempt. In this case, he takes damage equal to the Damsel’s total Body stat. Note that as these wounds are not sustained in combat, the Knight Protector may not use his third channel ability to reduce them.