Order of the Gold Lion

The Knights of the Gold Lion are a Secular Order and are unusual in that they were founded in Araby during the Crusades. A group of disenchanted Knights had fled to a backwater Arabian village after their army had suffered a crushing defeat. There, these Knights began to despair of ever returning home. One Knight, Erich von Strommer, took it upon himself to restore their resolve.

To prove the truth of their cause, he set out into the savanna to take the head of a man-eating lion. He claimed that should he succeed in this impossible task, it would be a sure sign of Sigmar's favor. Days passed, but return he did, near delirious, bearing the head of a massive lion. The Knights were filled with courage, renamed themselves in honor of the feat, forged out into the desert, and eventually met up with allies. Since then, the Order of the Gold Lion has served the Empire as one of its most loyal Knightly Orders.

Sources

• Warhammer Armies: Empire (7th Edition) -- p. 40 - 42
• Warhammer Armies: Empire (6th Edition) -- p. 12
• Warhammer Armies: Empire (5th Edition) -- p. 52