If you're not interested in delving into the details, skip to the "mission overview" section to see how useful each knight is in each mission.

If you are interested in the details, you're in for a treat, because there's a lot! I put way too much thought into this.

The Settlers Rise of an Empire is a game that I always come back to. I've played the main campaign many times, the Eastern Realm campaign a few times, and all of the custom games at least once. I've fairly equally chosen each and every knight to lead many missions, and I have a very good understanding of when their abilities are useful and when they are not.

I'm a nerd for in-depth statistics, so naturally I decided to create a guide ranking the usefulness of each knight's abilities in each of the main campaign's missions. I may do the same for the Eastern Realm campaign and/or the custom games in the future.

First, I used a point system to help me rank each knight's abilities. Then I made a list of the main campaign's missions and how useful each knight is in each mission, depending on their abilities and how particular features of missions affect their abilities. Example: If a mission doesn't have many woodlands, then Hakim's reduced building upgrade costs (which costs wood) will be very useful for that mission.

Now, let's delve in.

Passive abilities are always active.

All but Hakim's gain and/or save you gold (even Thordal's in a sense).

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Kestral's +20% tax: 20 points.

On normal tax levels, you can receive up to 300 gold a month, plus an additional 60 with Kestral.
On high tax levels, you can receive up to 600 gold a month, plus an additional 120 with Kestral.

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Hakim's -25% (approximation) building upgrade costs: 10 points; 50 points in a mission that has the classification "timber-deficient".

More on the classification "timber-deficient" in the summery section below.

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Alandra's +20% sermon collection: 10 points.

You can receive up to 300 gold from a sermon, plus an additional 60 with Alandra. On average, a sermon every other month is feasible.

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Elias' -20% buying prices and +20% selling prices: 10 points.

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Thordal's more spouses gained: 4 points.

There doesn't seem to be an exact percentage, but you'll gain a lot of spouses a lot faster.

This helps with gold in the sense that you won't have to pay for as many festivals to gain lots of spouses, but because festivals boost your reputation (and because they're fun), you'll probably pay for more than enough of them anyway. However, since spouses are helpful and this helps you quickly gain them rather than slowly over time, it does have some value.

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Marcus' -20% recruitment costs: 2 points (on average).

The score depends on:

Enemy forces
• None: 0 points.
  
• Small: 1 points.
  
• Moderate: 2 points.
  
• Large: 3 points.

Bandit tents
• Less than 8: 0 points.
  
• 8 or more: 1 point.

The more enemies you have to face, the more battalions you will need to recruit to replace losses, and the more gold this ability saves you (which isn't much).

The median value is 2 points; this is gained by adding up the enemy force and bandit tent scores from every mission, which adds up to 32, and dividing it by the total number of missions, which is 16; 32/16=2.

Marcus' ability is scored so low because it doesn't save you much gold, especially when compared to how much you can gain with Kestral's, Alandra's, or Elias'. The maximum soldier limit is 91 (the 1 is for a spy); that's enough for 15 battalions; 15 battalions cost 1350 gold; 20% of 1350 is 270. Marcus saves you 270 gold when recruiting an entire army consisting of 15 battalions; from that point on, you only need to replace losses, of which Marcus would save you 3 gold per soldier. Over the course of missions, these recruitment cost reductions won't add up to match anywhere near the amount of gold that other knights abilities can.

Active abilities have a cooldown before they can be activated again.

Hakim's is the only active ability that's often useful. Under certain conditions, Elias' and Alandra's can be very useful.

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Hakim's convert enemy soldier unit: 8 points.

Pointless against bandits, as you can't convert them. Pointless in a mission that doesn't have any enemy battalions.

In a mission that only has a small enemy force, this is useful in the sense that you are converting a large percentage of their army. In a mission that has a large enemy force, this is useful in the sense that you may get more opportunities to use this ability.

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Elias' food: 3 points; 20 points in a mission that has the classification "higher level knight".

You could potentially run into food problems in a "higher level knight" mission; other than that, providing food isn't difficult to do.

More on the classification "higher level knight" in the summery section below.

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Marcus' resupply torches: 2 points.

Pointless in a mission that doesn't have any enemy cities because it's only useful if you're torching an enemy's storehouse, castle, or cathedral, as they have a lot of hit points. It doesn't take many torches to capture outposts or destroy bandit camps.

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Alandra's medicine: 2 points; 30 points in a mission that has the classification "scripted sickness event".

Pointless in the first nine missions because your settlers can't get sick.

Unless affected by a "scripted sickness event", providing medicine isn't difficult to do because your settlers can only get sick when you have more than 150 settlers, and by that point, you should already have herb gatherers and apothecaries set up.

More on the classification "scripted sickness event" in the summery section below.

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Thordal's entertaining song: 2 points.

Providing entertainment isn't difficult to do, especially after you've unlocked the bathhouse. If you do run out of entertainment and your settlers are striking because of it, you can gain 10 beers by having a festival, which can help while you sort out your entertainment building chains.

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Kestral's plunder building: 1 point.

Pointless in a mission that doesn't have any enemy cities because there's no point in plundering your own buildings; just tax them. To plunder enemy buildings, you have to get past their defences and battalions, and since active abilities have a cooldown, you can only plunder one building before having to retreat. If you destroy their defences and battalions, you could very slowly (emphasis on the very) plunder all of their buildings, but by that point, you've basically won the game anyway.

Knight ranking in an average mission.

Includes their minimum and maximum potential scores, which depend on mission features (more on that in the "mission overview" section below).

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1st place: Kestral with 21 points.
Min: 20.
Max: 21.

2nd place: Hakim with 18 points.
Min: 10.
Max: 58. Highest potential score.

3rd place: Elias with 13 points.
Min: 13.
Max: 30.

4th place: Alandra with 12 points.
Min: 10.
Max: 40.

5th place: Thordal with 6 points.
Min: 6.
Max: 6.

6th place: Marcus with 4 points.
Min: 0. Lowest potential score.
Max: 6.

A score of less than 10 is insignificant; a score between 10 and 29 is okay; a score of 30 or more is useful. Hakim, Alandra, and Elias are the only knights who could potentially have a score of 30 or more. Thordal and Marcus will always have a score of less than 10.

With the highest average score being 21, you can see that it usually doesn't make a significant difference who you choose to lead a mission. But with the highest potential score being 58, you can see it sometimes does make a significant difference who you choose. Check the "mission overview" section below to see how useful each knight is in each mission.

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About the classification "timber-deficient"

Short version: This classification means that you're going to struggle with getting sufficient timber supplies.

Long version: If you don't have access* to enough woodlands for at least three fully upgraded woodcutter huts, then the mission will be classified as "timber-deficient".
If you are having to rush city development because the mission starts off with an imminent aggressive AI action or because the mission starts off with a quest that has to be completed within a limited amount of time and you don't have access* to enough woodlands for at least six fully upgraded woodcutter huts, then the mission will be classified as "timber-deficient". Quests that are active from the start of the game but are generous with the amount of time they give you do not count, as you don't have to rush. Triggered AI actions or quests that would cause you to rush city development do not count, as they can be avoided and put off until you feel ready to deal with them.

*Access includes woodlands in unclaimed territories, except for territories that can't be reached early on, territories that the AI is programmed to claim early on, or territories that are difficult to keep early on. Any trees on hunting grounds do not count, as cutting down these trees will cause the animals to leave.

Hakim's reduced building upgrade costs are very useful in these missions.

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About the classification "higher level knight"

This classification means that your knight starts with a higher-level title and a city that is already partially developed. These cities tend to be set up poorly, and because of the higher-level title, your settlers have more needs. So as you're dismantling, rebuilding, and improving, something like this could happen: your food production workers refuse to work because there's no clothing, and your clothing production workers refuse to work because there's no food. Elias' food reserves are very useful in these situations.

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About the classification "scripted sickness event"

This classification means that something is going to cause your settlers to get sick, no matter how many settlers you have. Alandra's medicine is very useful in these missions.

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About missions where your settlers can get sick

Your settlers can't get sick for the first nine missions; Alandra's medicine is pointless in these missions. From the tenth mission onwards, your settlers can get sick, but only if you have more than 150 settlers, unless affected by a "scripted sickness event".

A "knight usefulness" score of less than 10 is insignificant; a score between 10 and 29 is okay; a score of 30 or more is useful.

Missions 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13 are the only missions where at least one knight has a score of 30 or more.

When you're done with the mission overview, check out the "a final recommendation" section below before you start your campaign.

I'm limited to how much data I can put into one section, so I've broken up "mission overview" into 3 parts.

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Key for knight usefulness
Knights receive a ✔ for every 10 points they have.
If they have less than 10 points, they receive a ✘.
This is for a quick visualisation of how useful knights are.

Key for enemy forces
✘ = none
✔ = small
✔✔ = moderate
✔✔✔ = large

Key for bandit tents
✘ = none
✔ = 1 to 7 (insignificant)
✔✔ = 8 or more

Key for everything else
✘ = no
✔ = yes

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Notes

You can't have sermons because you don't have a cathedral in the tutorial, so Alandra's +20% sermon collection is pointless.

Mission features

Climate: Mild
Enemy cities: ✘
Enemy forces: ✘
Bandit tents: ✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Alandra: 0 points ✘
Marcus: 0 points ✘
Elias, Kestral, Hakim, and Thordal haven't joined you yet.

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Notes

Vikings will invade via the coastline in your home territory, so build a wall along the cliffs above the coastline. Other than that, you don't need walls anywhere else, and you can peacefully develop your territories.

Mission features

Climate: Mild
Enemy cities: ✘
Enemy forces: ✔
Bandit tents: ✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Alandra: 10 points ✔
Marcus: 1 point ✘
Elias, Kestral, Hakim, and Thordal haven't joined you yet.

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Notes

You can put off the quests and peacefully develop your territories until you're ready.
Before you start any quests, I recommend you build walls to protect your city from enemy invasions.

There's a camp of what you may mistake as a bandit camp, but it's not; they're Kestral's mercenaries and will help you if you pay them.

Mission features

Climate: Mild
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔✔
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 10 points ✔
Marcus: 4 points ✘
Kestral, Hakim, and Thordal haven't joined you yet.

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Notes

The enemy won't invade, so you can peacefully develop your territories, and there's no need to build walls.

Mission features

Climate: Cold
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 10 points ✔
Marcus: 3 points ✘
Hakim and Thordal haven't joined you yet.

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Notes

There are enemy outposts, but no cities.

The enemy won't invade, so you can peacefully develop your territories, and there's no need to build walls.

Mission features

Climate: Cold
Enemy cities: ✘
Enemy forces: ✔✔
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 20 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 10 points ✔
Marcus: 2 points ✘
Thordal hasn't joined you yet.

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Notes

Until the last part of the mission, winter is present all year round, so you won't be able to use grain farms, fishing huts, or beekeepers. There are plenty of hunting grounds, so supplying food shouldn't be an issue.

There's no enemies, so you can peacefully develop your territories, and there's no need to build walls.

Mission features

Climate: Cold
Enemy cities: ✘
Enemy forces: ✘
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 20 points ✔✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Hakim: 10 points ✔
Alandra: 10 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 0 points ✘

Key for knight usefulness
Knights receive a ✔ for every 10 points they have.
If they have less than 10 points, they receive a ✘.
This is for a quick visualisation of how useful knights are.

Key for enemy forces
✘ = none
✔ = small
✔✔ = moderate
✔✔✔ = large

Key for bandit tents
✘ = none
✔ = 1 to 7 (insignificant)
✔✔ = 8 or more

Key for everything else
✘ = no
✔ = yes

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Notes

You can put off the quests and peacefully develop your territories until you're ready.
Before you start any quests, I recommend you build walls to protect your city from enemy invasions.

Mission features

Climate: Mild
Enemy cities: ✘
Enemy forces: ✔✔
Bandit tents: ✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 20 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 10 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 2 points ✘

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Notes

I recommend that you choose Hakim to lead this mission, as you have to rush city development and you don't have access to enough woodland for at least six fully upgraded woodcutter huts.

To begin with, you're not allowed to attack Crimson Sabbat; if you do, you'll lose the mission.

Except for the territory with the fishing grounds, Sabbat's forces won't invade, so there's no need to build walls in any other territory.

Mission features

Climate: Cold
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔✔
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✔
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Hakim: 58 points ✔✔✔✔✔
Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 10 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 4 points ✘

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Notes

I recommend that you choose Hakim to lead this mission, as you don't have access to enough woodland for at least three fully upgraded woodcutter huts.

The enemy will be claiming territories. They won't claim:

• "Jabal Path", west of your home territory.
  
• "Mushir Wastes", east of your home territory.
  
• "Serpent's Gulch", east of your home territory.
  
• "Searing Sands", north-east of your home territory.
  
• "Forsaken Land", west of the enemy's home territory. Doesn't have any resources. No point taking this one.

The enemy won't invade these or your home territory, so you can peacefully develop and there's no need to build walls.

Mission features

Climate: Hot
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✔
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✘

Knight usefulness

Hakim: 58 points ✔✔✔✔✔
Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 10 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 3 points ✘

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Notes

One of the first things you should do is build a stone wall protecting your city from invasions; otherwise, Crimson Sabbat's forces will invade after several minutes into the mission.

I recommend that you choose Alandra to lead this mission, as this mission has a "scripted sickness event". You can't produce medicine yet, but you can buy it, though it takes a long time to reach your city. However, Alandra can use her medicine to quickly cure your settlers. The Ghost Plague spreads slowly, so you might have to use her ability a couple of times. Once the Ghost Plague hits, regularly check your marketplace for sick settlers. If a few minutes have past and no one else has become sick, the Ghost Plague is gone for good.

Mission features

Climate: Hot
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔✔✔
Bandit tents: ✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✔
Settlers can get sick: ✔

Knight usefulness

Alandra: 40 points ✔✔✔✔
Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 5 points ✘

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Notes

I recommend that you choose Alandra to lead this mission because your settlers are sick from the start. You can produce medicine now, but Alandra can quickly cure your settlers as soon as you start the mission.

I also recommend that you leave one section of the stone wall unbuilt until a few minutes before the one-hour timer runs out; in the meantime, develop your city and keep an eye on that timer. After you've finished the wall, you have a generous three-hour timer to finish the mission.

There's no enemy present in this mission (except for bandits), so you can peacefully develop your territories.

Mission features

Climate: Warm
Enemy cities: ✘
Enemy forces: ✘
Bandit tents: ✔✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✔
Scripted sickness event: ✔
Settlers can get sick: ✔

Knight usefulness

Alandra: 40 points ✔✔✔✔
Elias: 30 points ✔✔✔
Kestral: 20 points ✔✔
Hakim: 10 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 1 point ✘

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Notes

I recommend that you explore the entire map and discover the locations of the three excavation sites, then restart and avoid them until you're ready, and save regularly in case you accidentally reveal one of them before you're ready. By avoiding the excavation sites, the timed quests won't be triggered, and you can take your time peacefully developing your territories. After completing certain quests, the enemy will invade, so build walls.

I also recommend that you intercept enemy spies. Once you have collected a piece of regalia, Crimson Sabbat will send her spies to steal it from your castle. To effectively and easily intercept her spies, claim and wall off the choke-point in the adjacent northern territory of "Ghawabih Mine" with a stone wall (no gate, just a wall), and build a stone gate and walls around the choke-point in your home territory of "Jhanzur Hill". This way, there is only one access point that Crimson's spies can take to get to your castle: through that gate. Place an archer battalion on one of the walls coming off the gate and keep them there throughout the entire mission; they will detect and take out the spies before they can get their grubby little hands anywhere near your precious regalia.

It may look like it should be classified as a "timber-deficient" mission, but there are enough trees to build three fully upgraded woodcutter huts early on (2 in "Jhanzur Hill" and 1 in "Ghawabih Mine").

Mission features

Climate: Hot
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔✔✔
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✔

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 12 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 5 points ✘

Key for knight usefulness
Knights receive a ✔ for every 10 points they have.
If they have less than 10 points, they receive a ✘.
This is for a quick visualisation of how useful knights are.

Key for enemy forces
✘ = none
✔ = small
✔✔ = moderate
✔✔✔ = large

Key for bandit tents
✘ = none
✔ = 1 to 7 (insignificant)
✔✔ = 8 or more

Key for everything else
✘ = no
✔ = yes

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Notes

I recommend that you build walls and lots of woodcutter huts, as you have to aid the villages while quickly developing your territories and defences to prepare yourself for a large enemy army that will attack you after 90 minutes. There are enough woodlands within the territories you start with to build eight fully upgraded woodcutter huts. Specific woodcutter hut locations:

• 4 in the territory "City of Montecito": 1 west of the hunting grounds, place it close to the border of "Montecito Crossroads" so that it's not too close to the hunting grounds; 1 by the cliffs between the two woodlands south of your cathedral; 1 next to each of the two woodlands on either side of your castle (one is already built).
  
• 1 in the territory "Montecito Fields": dismantle the grain farm west of the grain fields (this grain farm isn't needed as there's also one north of the grain fields) and build a woodcutter hut in it's place.
  
• 3 in the territory "Seradillo Willows": 1 next to your outpost and 2 along the trail in the middle of the woodlands south of the outpost.

I also recommend that you intercept enemy spies. The Red Princes forces will send spies to your storehouse; if they reach it, the ghost plague will spread and your settlers will get sick, but you can buy or produce medicine. If you keep an archer battalion outside your storehouse, they will detect and take out the spy before they can spread the ghost plague.

Mission features

Climate: Warm
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔✔✔
Bandit tents: ✘
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✔
Scripted sickness event: ✔ (unless you intercept enemy spies)
Settlers can get sick: ✔

Knight usefulness

Alandra: 40 points ✔✔✔✔ or if you intercept enemy spies, 12 points ✔
Elias: 30 points ✔✔✔
Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 5 points ✘

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Notes

Crimson Sabbat won't be aware of your presence until you've increased your reputation to at least 30% or until you claim territory. When she becomes aware of your presence, she will attack your city. So, I recommend that you keep your reputation low and don't claim any territories until your knight has been promoted to baron/baroness and you've done everything you can in your home territory. Keep your reputation low by not having any diversity of goods and setting your soldiers pay to none. Use your stockpile of stone to upgrade your castle, storehouse, and cathedral; build wooden walls and, if you want to, replace them with stone walls later.

Mission features

Climate: Warm
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔✔✔
Bandit tents: ✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✔

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 12 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 5 points ✘

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Notes

You're not allowed to destroy enemy buildings or walls, if you do you'll lose the mission (well, you can destroy one, but then you get a warning), so Marcus' resupply torches ability becomes pointless, and Kestral can't get past the enemy walls that have plunderable buildings beyond them, so her plunder building ability becomes pointless.

After you promote your knight to baron/baroness, you have to send a spy to the enemy's castle (well, your castle that they stole!), but I recommend you put this off and develop your territories before carrying on with the mission. The enemy won't attack you until after you've sent the spy, until then you can peacefully develop your territories. Once your spy has retrieved the information from their castle, the enemy will invade, so build walls.

As you can't attack the enemy's city, you won't need siege equipment, so you don't need to promote your knight higher than baron/baroness if you don't want to. However, I recommend you promote your knight up to duke/duchess (or archduke/archduchess if you want) for the high reputation that comes with the title; high reputation = strong battalions. At the very least, promote your knight up to count/countess so that you can install mounted catapults onto your stone walls.

Mission features

Climate: Mild
Enemy cities: ✔ (counts as ✘, as you're not allowed to attack it)
Enemy forces: ✔✔✔
Bandit tents: ✔✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✔

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 20 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 12 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 3 points ✘

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Notes

Once you promote your knight to baron/baroness, you'll be given multiple quests, but I recommend you put them off, develop your territories, and promote your knight all the way up to duke/duchess (or archduke/archduchess if you want) before carrying on with the mission. The Red Prince won't attack you until after you've completed one of the multiple quests, until then you can peacefully develop your territories. Once you've completed one of the multiple quests, the Red Prince will invade, so build walls.

Mission features

Climate: Warm
Enemy cities: ✔
Enemy forces: ✔✔✔
Bandit tents: ✔✔
Timber-deficient: ✘
Higher level knight: ✘
Scripted sickness event: ✘
Settlers can get sick: ✔

Knight usefulness

Kestral: 21 points ✔✔
Hakim: 18 points ✔
Elias: 13 points ✔
Alandra: 12 points ✔
Thordal: 6 points ✘
Marcus: 6 points ✘

Contains spoilers.

Knights gain titles from missions they lead; the more times they are promoted during a mission, the higher-level title they are given. Whoever's highest-level title is lower than everyone else's will betray you. Originally, I thought it was whoever had the fewest titles, until I played a campaign where Thordal had the fewest, but it was Marcus who betrayed me because his titles were lower than everyone else's, including Thordal's only title. Marcus had two titles: Sheriff (level 2) of Vestholm and Baron (level 3) of Challia, and Thordal had one title: Count (level 4) of Rekkyr. So because Marcus' highest-level title was lower than everyone else's, he was the one who betrayed me, despite having more titles than Thordal.

Kestral, Alandra, and Thordal are not present in the Eastern Realm campaign; Hakim, Elias, and Marcus are. I don't know about you, but I would find it irritating if one of my knights in the Eastern Realm campaign were the one who had betrayed me in the main campaign.

Here's my recommendation: choose your least favourite knight out of Kestral, Alandra, and Thordal and don't choose them to lead any missions (or at least ensure that their highest-level title is lower than everyone else's before the 13th mission, Montecito).

This way, the betrayer won't be one of your knights in the Eastern Realm campaign.

By the way, even though Kestral isn't present in the Eastern Realm campaign, she is a friendly AI player in two of the custom games, and Thordal is mentioned in one of the custom game descriptions.

Personally, I don't feel that betrayal suits Alandra. I do feel that betrayal suits Kestral best, but since she's a friendly AI player on two of the custom games, I prefer to have Thordal be the betrayer. Out of the three of them, his abilities are the weakest anyway. Sorry Thordal.

For anyone who's interested, here's who I chose for each mission in the campaign I played while making this guide:

1. Vestholm (tutorial): Marcus
2. Challia: Marcus
3. Gallos: Elias
4. Narfang: Kestral
5. Drengir: Kestral
6. Rekkyr: Alandra
7. Geth: Elias
8. Saydiir: Hakim
9. Husran: Hakim
10. Juahar: Alandra
11. Tios: Alandra
12. Sahir: Hakim
13. Montecito: Elias
14. Gueranna: Kestral
15. Vestholm: Marcus
16. Rossotorres: Hakim

I like to fairly equally distribute missions between my knights. Apart from Thordal and Hakim, everyone was chosen three times. Hakim was chosen four times. Thordal was not chosen at all for the reasons stated in the "a final recommendation" section above. So that I didn't feel like a meanie, I simply imagined Thordal to be a homicidal boozer, and I, being the wise and just king that I am, would never choose someone so clearly unfit to lead. My imagination justifies my spurning. And with that, I bid you adieu.