"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children." - David Bower
I've been thinking for a while about knightly orders, superhero societies, and the like. Some of this is likely due to the
Order of the Engineer, which we can join as part of our graduation, but it's more than that. I've been trying to think of a, not exactly oath, definitely not a "mission statement" or any of that kind of thing. More what a mission statement or "statement of principles" wants to be, before the marketers and consultants drained all the vitality out of the idea. So maybe it really would be more like an oath, then.
And yes, I know knights were mostly just some aristocrat who had the money to afford a horse and some pikemen to go in the armies of the Crowns, and were mostly NOT the "knight in shining" armor cliche. But it's that image I'm trying to tap into, the symbolism of what the knights tried to present themselves.
The hard part is trying to write one that'd be specific enough to mean something, but broad enough to allow people of goodwill to all get behind it. Which is part of the Death by Committee that happens to Mission Statements. But even so, it's something I'm trying to make.