In the long history of the Knights of Solamnia, rarely this structure has been currently applied, and mainly in the Age of Right, in the period ranging from the years 1700 P.C. to the beginning of the Third Dragon War. This for a number of good reasons: first of all, rarely the whole Knighthood (and even an entire Army) would be summoned, only in times of dire need; secondly, the size of the front very often forbids large-scale concentration of troops, and leads to a fragmentation of the Solamnic Knights in various Corps of Expedition, that usually contain at least one Battalion from each Order. This structure began to be applied after the Third Dragon War, probably the last time when the Classical Order of Battle was effectively applied. After the Cataclysm, up to the War of the Lance, the Knights were very scarce in numbers, and Sir Angriff Brightblade, High Justice of the Rose and Lord High Commander of the Knights of Solamnia (since at the time there was no quorum to elect him Grand Master, due to the scarce number of Knights survived after the Peasant's Revolt) used to say that without the complete control of the lands of Solamnia, and without the god's blessing, it would be impossible to organize the Armies in the way Vinas Solamnus had arranged it more than two thousand years before. The logistical problems, only, made it impossible, even if the holes in the ranks were eventually filled.

My good friend Sir Angriff, of course, was completely right. Furthermore, modern warfare needs flexibility and swift manoeuvres; moreover, even at the times of the Third Dragon War, the Knighthood began his lasting cooperation with the Good Dragons, and new tactics made obsolete this organization: the adjustment was that  in most brigades one or two squadrons began to be composed by airbone troops mounted on dragonback. This same accommodation I myself have applied, and with good results, but airbone troops are too mobile and too vital to be confined in the strictness of the Order of Battle, and I have sometimes deemed necessary to free them from the direct command of a Brigade. [...]

Another important factor is that, from the beginning of the Age of Might on, most high-ranking knights and feudal rulers began to surround themselves with personal troops, recruited also outside the ranks of the Knighthood (even if in many cases the best could be promoted); these troops, naturally part of their own home garrison, in time of general summoning of the Solamnic Army followed in a certain percentage their Lord in battle, and obviously took orders only from him, and not from any higher-ranking Knights to whom he would be in service. This led to some confusion, and the Grand Master Lord Holbert MarThasal eventually ordered, in 925 P.C., that all personal troops should be rightfully included as auxiliary troops in the Unit commanded by their liege lord, under his personal command, but subject nonetheless to the orders of higher-ranking knights; moreover, he recommended that said troops abode to the strict moral code of the Knights for the whole duration of the Campaign, and even in peace their liege lord was of course responsible of their behaviour [...].

Now, after the War of the Lance, most of the ancient rulers have regained their ancestral lands, and the Knights are reborn: our number is now comparable to that at the middle of the Age of Right, and there are no holes in the ranks of the three Orders. So, now that I have retired to spend the winter of my life in the ancient castle of my family, I bid you, High Knights, to continue the reform of the Measure I myself started, and to make our Order, and our fair Solamnia, more and more powerful and virtuous.

May Paladine bless you all, my sons.

The Lord of Knights, Gunthar UthWistan
Grand Master of the Knights of Solamnia
Duke of Sancrist