The Dragon Chronicles, Part 9

Every knight has his own personal gear...weapons and armour he has collected over the course of his adventures that mark him as unique. For some, the gear is perfectly matched, beautiful, cohesive, obviously designed to work together as a synchronous whole. For others, the gear is mis-matched and haphazard, pulled together coercively by need and happenstance rather than by design. For most, however, it is some combination of design and happenstance that brings the amalgamate collection together, the collecting being driven by the dynamics of still being on the journey and having distance yet to go as well as not having started off with enough resources to create a matching set initially. Resources for gear most often come only after the questing brings experience and measured success.

The real proof of the knight, however, is not in the gear, no matter how matched or mismatched that gear may be. The real proof is in the knight having to stand and face the trials of the quest stripped of all protection and weaponry, naked to the forces coming against him and only his cunning and brute strength to give him the edge to overcome. In that circumstance it is instantly obvious whether or not the knight has achieved the level of fitness and physical prowess to properly wield any gear effectively, let alone that which he has come to acquire. Muscle and sinew, strength and power, dexterity and agility, stamina and speed...all these elements are needed in quantity and perfect dynamic balance...or else all the gear in the world would not gain the knight the victory in the end. These elements are the foundation of the knight's power and the key to any victory he seeks to attain. His gear then simply becomes an enhancement to his true qualities...enabling him to extend his power and abilities to bring a swifter and more complete finality to the victories he is capable of achieving. They are literally extensions of himself and his abilities...undergirding and empowering the already developed skills of the master warrior.

But strength and power alone are not all that is needed for the knight to conquer in his battles. Stripped of any protection, the knight must also use great cunning to identify and exploit weakness and vulnerability in his foes and protect himself from having his enemies do the same to him and thereby gain the advantage. As is true with physical prowess, instinct and mental ability can only be enhanced, not replaced, by the addition of gear. Knowledge and experience, craftiness and cunning, foresight and discernment, calculation and determination...these are the mental, intellectual and spiritual foundations of the knight's power. Without them, gear is only so much metal and adornment, worthless in attaining victory at any level.

This is why effective training for the knight always begins with no gear...leaving him completely open and vulnerable to onslaught. Only after mastering his physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual core can the knight hope to succeed. Only after attaining that mastery...and not before...will gear become any kind of help to the knight in his questing. The victorious knight is therefore born in the wrestling pit...coming to know himself in the raw so to speak...and there he discovers his true worth and mettle.

"Know thyself, O knight, and thereby attain the mastery!"
--Romayo, Grand Master Rogue