u/good_ho0onter

When it comes to cultural relevance the first image of a knight that comes to mind is an idealised version of the “knight in shining armor” that draws from late medieval central European culture, which doesn't necessarily reflect the actual medieval European knight accurately, let alone the rest of the world's equivalent to the knightly class.

• Here I would like to shine the spotlight on an underappreciated culture from west Asia and it’s knightly tradition for both historical education as well as artistic inspiration for anyone interested in fantasy writing or table top roleplay, to help spice up your fantasy with a something rooted in real Georgian history and culture.

Who were they and what did they do?

• The Georgian knights or “raindebi” were an elite warrior class, they of were elevated social status, often noble land owners, which meant that they collected taxes from their domains, benefiting from the peasant population’s labor. In exchange they were tasked with the responsibility of being the first line of defense should there be an invasion of any kind, these warriors spent their entire lives honing their bodies and skill to make them as effective as possible for their role in society. The activities they partook in included wrestling, originating from the Hellenic world, dancing, which even today is considered a sign of manhood and skill, hunting, most often on horseback, indeed outside of that activity horses held a unique spot in the medieval Georgian military, unlike in the west the majority of a Georgian army (lashqari) consisted of cavalry, showing the influence of eastern military cultures in the region, most notably the Scythians. The association and status of riding was so respected in fact that if you were convicted of a crime you'd be immediately stripped of the right to ride into battle on horseback, being demoted to infantry. War and battle was far more than just a responsibility to these nobles, it was their very identity, the very thing they believed they were created to fulfil, something compromising their ability to do so wasn't just a matter of dishonor, but a moral injury that put into question their very reason for living.

What sort of equipment did they use?

• The Caucasus being situated between the two proverbial “eyes of the world”, those being Persia and Byzantium, of course meant taking many aspects of their military culture and technology.
• The most effective type of protection in the Caucasus for those capable of affording it, was of course metal armor, which came in many shapes. Chainmail was the most prominent,  a shirt consisting of tiny interlocked riveted rings, protecting effectively from slashing and chopping attacks while being comparatively more vulnerable to piercing and bludgeoning attacks, the phrase "a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link" simply does not apply here due to each link being held by several others by all sides and thus would require several breaks to cause significant structural damage. Thus to help overcome these weaknesses warriors would wear several layers both under and over the chainmail shirt, the final layer most often being the iconic “chokha” which came into the Caucasus from the Persian world.
• Other armor types include: scale armor, consisting of small metal plates sewn or glued onto a flexible textile, resembling the scales of a fish or reptile. Lamellar armor, consisting of metal plates held together parallelly using leather laces. Betgar armor, or plate mail a combination of lamellar and chainmail. 
• The Georgian cavalry used weapons best suited for mounted warfare, those being, maces, single edged curved swords, spears, lances and in later periods firearms.
• As for their sidearms these most often consisted of arming swords such as the “orpiri” or short swords such as the “satevari”
• The image depicted is a Khevsuri warrior from the 20th century