Bibliography:

In the composition of this sourcebook, apart from the gaming resources, I have availed myself of a vast amount of sources concerning middle ages and knighthood in Europe; here I will enlist only the most important and auctoritative of these sources, i.e. those that have provided me with the most sensible and important pieces of information or inspiration for this particular work. By no means this list is complete, though: dozens and dozens of titles are, for brevity's sake, omitted.

Some Notes:

The Order of Battle: The structure of the Solamnic Army I devised may seem too "heavy", and its size too large. After all, the historical Templar Knights had a military force of 300 knights and 1000 sergeants in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, plus other 100-300 knights, let's say, and 500-1000 sergeants in castle garrisons throughout Holy Land, and some more 300-1000 knights and 1000-5000 sergeants, I guess, all around Europe (most of them of old age or wounded). The Knights of St. John and the Teutonic Knights should have been the same size (or slightly lesser in numbers) so, why the Knights of Solamnia are so many? I myself have been greatly puzzled on this problem. Still, I have modelled my reconstruction after the Army of the Knights of Thakhisis, (as described in the appendix of "Next Generation"), which supposedly should be similar to the Solamnic Knighthood. Such Army has a similar hierarchy, and it's composed by 45.000 Knights! This is indeed a great number, given the fact that they do not posses a land the size of Solamnia, and they've been around for no more than twenty years. Conversely, the Knights of Solamnia have a 2.000 years old tradition, a vast home land, and they can't be outnumbered by far by the Dark Knights, not after the War of the Lance has more or less undone the effects of the Peasants' Revolt. In my Order of Battle, the Solamnic Army is composed by about 42.000 knights: too many, it may seem, and still less than the Knights of Thakhisis. In my opinion, this is the best solution, and the most equilibrated. Still, any suggestion or comment is welcomed.

Credits:

This web sourcebook concerning the Knights of Solamnia is a small tribute paid to the wonderful world of Krynn and to the DragonLance game setting. I first entered the magic world of Krynn when I was thirteen, through the pages of "Dragons of Spring Dawning", and after ten years this setting hasn't lost any of his charms.

I wish therefore to thank all the people involved in DragonLance and its ideation, creation, development, as well as the authors of the game manuals, supplements, and also the artists of the amazing pictures and the authors of the books, novels, short stories, that made Dragonlace famous all over the world, and made so many people, incuding myself, dream.

I expecially thank, among the others: Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis, Doug Niles, Harold Johnson, Jeff Grubb,Michael Williams,Gali Sanchez, Gary Spiegle, Bruce Nesmith, Mike Breault, Roger Moore, Laura Hickman, Linda Bakk, Michael Dobson, Richard Knaak, Carl Smith, David Cook, Terry Phillips, Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, Jeff Easley, Keith Parkinson, Jeff Butler, Robin Wood, Colin McComb, John Terra, J. Robert King, Jean Rabe, and the list could keep on.

The conception of this small work of mine derives from some debate on the official DragonLance mailing list (I wish to thank all the people on the ML, for many suggestions, ideas, confrontation, and even some fruitful flames!). I expecially wish to thank Mr. Adam J. Dembroski, who actually inspired this work with a letter posted on the ML, in which he depicted the Knights of Solamnnia as a crossbreed between the heroes of the Arthurian Cycle and the Poor Knights of the Temple of Sholomon in Jerusalem.

Last but not least, I must mention the friends who were members of my various AD&D gaming groups all over the years, and particularly Gian, Andrea, Garga, Rudy, Alby, Dado, AleVai, Kama, and many others. And, finally, all the friends who, like me, were part of the staff of the convention "Itinerari Fantastici" and of the "Lords of Dragon" roleplaying association of Turin, expecially "l'Amato Leader", "CAS", Valentino, Pierandrea, Dante, Mauro, "PD", "Azathot", and some more. May the O.D.S. watch over you, now and ever (who doubts??)  ;-)

Disclaimers

"DragonLance", "Knights of Solamnia", and most of the names quoted in all these pages are trademarks or copyright owned by TSR, Inc. - Wizards of the Coast. All Rights Reserved.

This sourcebook is an unofficial, private and amatorial work, and by no means it substitutes any official TSR - WotC product.

The version and interpretation of the DL world is my own, and - let's say it another time - it's not official at all, so you can discard all you don't like or which doesn't fit your own personal view. I myself have always ignored (in my campaigns) the whole Fifth Age: even if it's a very good work per se, I prefer the "old Krynn", and in my personal Iconochronus the Chaos never changed Krynn and the gods never left.

I've tried to write these pages in an English as good as my modest proficiency in it allowed me: still, English is not my first language, so there will probably be many errors and many faults in style: please mail me, and I will operate the correction needed!

I've tried to use only freeware pictures and cliparts, and most pictures I composed myself. Still, if you feel I violated your own copyright, please MAIL ME and I'll remove it at once!

All the contents of this pages, apart from what I already disclaimed, is conversely my own copyright, and you should ask for permission if you intend to use it, or include it in any work, both in digital form and on paper.

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