Knights Hospitaller

Knights Hospitaller

"Tuitio Vitae et Obsequium Pauperum"
Connection	3
Type	Humanitarian Organization
Player May Join	Yes
Health	Maintaining
Area of Operation	Worldwide

Faction Information

Summary

The Knights Hospitaller are registered as two legal entities. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) is recognized as a nation under international and Corporate Court law, though its only claimed soil is in the form of embassies. The Order of Knights Hospitaller (OHK), or simply the Knights Hospitaller, is an A-rated corporation based in the nation.

The Knights Hospitaller operate as a combined paramilitary and pharmaceutical company focused on humanitarian aid over profit.

For their paramilitary end, the OHK works as a mercenary company, which both lets them secure funding as well as be officially invited into areas in conflict. They do not officially accept contracts that would be immoral or taking sides between major players - keeping order in war-torn regions, giving security to scientific expeditions, and reclaiming land from dangerous paracritters makes up a great deal of their operations.

For their pharmaceutical end, they fund and operate medicine R&D and production. Their production allows for a steady flow of medical supplies and a source of stable funding between contracts, while their research focuses on wide-scale or severe issues with poor existing solutions. Examples of this are VITAS, HMHVV, and SURGE, for which they work on developing treatments or solutions focused on quality of life and societal integration. The quality of their research is distinctly higher than their number of facilities would suggest - a quirk mostly born of their reputation. Being known for valuing all life and their lack of discrimination, the OHK finds many subjects to study in the form of willing volunteers, themselves receiving payment and treatment in the exchange.

The SMOM has the authority to issue national SINs and does so to fully inducted and committed members of the Order. While their SINs are not available to others, the SMOM has vastly less legal restrictions on SINless activity. SINless who can demonstrate qualifications or notable value can be hired as temporary contractors or long-term employees, depending on the circumstances. The Order also does not discriminate against SINless for providing aid or local services.

Major Locations

Name	Archetype	Owner	Metroplex	Neighborhood	Background Count	Noise
New Rhodes	Mobile Arcology	Knights Hospitaller			0 (or by area)	0 (or by area)

Background

Originally the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, the 'Knights Hospitaller' is a continuity of organization first founded in 1099 that has lasted through to the current day. While originally Catholic, the gradual secularization of the world and demilitarization of the Church led them to settle into a general humanitarian organization.

This divide between religion and the organization came to a head during the Awakening and Pope John-Paul IV's denouncement of metahumanity in 2012, and resulted in them officially splitting from the greater Catholic Church. While the issuing of the Imago Dei began mending the rifts the Vatican created, the Knights Hospitaller are unlikely to return. In the current day, the Christian faith is separate from the organization save for imagery related to their legacy; all faiths are given equal treatment.

Their unusual status as a nation was, essentially, grandfathered into current international and corporate law. Even prior to the Awakening, they were recognized as a sovereign entity with embassies in over a hundred nations across the world. This grants them an odd legal status as being able to exercise extraterritoriality as a corporation without having corporate extraterritoriality; land given to the nation is used by the corporation, which is functionally also that nation. Unlike megacorporate extraterritorial privileges, however, this only applies to land specifically ceded to them as a form of embassy.

Much of their ability to operate in the realities of the modern, corporate-controlled world comes from simply being more valuable let alone than not. Their widely-known focus on humanitarian aid independent of allegiance would make seizing their assets a damaging PR move. Meanwhile, their active focus on stabilizing regions without laying any claim to them means they raise the value of territory corporations and nations might want without cost to them. This also makes them an excellent source of 'philanthropy' PR - donations publicly made to them are understood to help the poor and vulnerable, while also returning less obvious territory and research value in the long term.

Current Status

Health Summary

Sustaining

Members

Contacts

Name	Connection	Archetype	Profession
Angélica Cabral	4	Fixer
Coleman Kennedy	6	Networking	Political Representative
Killa Quispe	5	Custom(K,G,A,N)	Medical Researcher
Makhmud Kadyrov	5	Custom(G,A,N,K)	Auxiliary Forces Liaison

PCs

Name	Position	Faction Rep
Peace	New Hire	6
Zan Zan	Trusted Contractor	9

Narrative Significant Runs

Name	GM	Metaplot	Date of Run
Green Gold in the Ashes	LHOG		15 August 2085