>>76690(Continued)
What suits remain in the world is all that's left, I'm thinking there is around 4,000 discoved suits. There is no known way to replicate the technique needed to forge the soul-based energy source used to power the suit. Thus making them all the more precious to an army.
Only certain people with a unique bloodline are capable of bonding with the souls contained at the suits core. As this is special, the nobility of my world has done their best to keep such individuals in noble circles and families. Peasantry or commoners discovered with the bloodline automatically become some form of noble and either watched or sent off to training.
Most of these wielders begin their training at a young age, typically five ot six, beginning with the rank of page, progressing to squire, then ending when they obtain the rank of Paladin. Whereas most women could never become a normal knight or fight as a soldier in a war, gender matters very little if young girls are discovered to have the bloodline- they will still be trained.
Smaller kingdoms have a single school where these individuals are brought up and trained, while larger kingdoms or empires might have two or even three. As customs varry between kingdoms, the terminology may be the same but the techniques used in training may differ in some ways.
(I'm a tad torn on whether I want to call them Paladins or Sentinels.)
Paladins are knighted and thus knights, but they are above any non-bloodline knights and only answer to the upper-elite aristocracy (Dukes and Earls). Unlike the common knight the Paladin can be summoned for war, by their king, for an indefinite amount of time.
They are required to get special permission if they want to leave the kingdom for any reason, often tracked and monitored by hawks or falcons during their outing. Such individuals are required to have at least two children to continue their lineage and pass the bloodline.
