OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To flesh out the ranks of the Shadow Knights. They are the renegade Eldorai's equivalent of the Angelii, who have played an important role in most Eldorai-related rps. This is more of a general purpose Force infantry formation that serves as a basis for the more specialised units.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Force infantry.
Permission: They can use Firemane equipment because I own the company. Permission for the Aliit'Ordo Litnr here. Permission for Laira Darkhold's ArmaTech subs here.
Links: Angelii, Eldorai, Qadiri, Archangel Research and Design, Firemane Industries, Battle of Kaeshana.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Caerith Tyari (Eldarai for Shadow Warriors).
Affiliation: Kaida Taldir, Naesala Faethyra, Yseult Faerin, Daymana Thael, Court of the Shadows, Court of the Four Elements, Eldorai, Shadow Knights (lore submission), Shadow Knights.
Classification: Infantry.
Description: The Caerith Tyari are a unit of Force infantry, based on the old Angelii corps. They are small unit, but make up for their lack of numbers with their extensive training, combat experience, equipment, zeal and high discipline. They are the backbone of a militarist, survivalist faction that has dedicated itself to the continued survival of the Eldorai and their cousins. They are utterly ruthless against those whose existence they consider inimical to that goal. This especially applies to slavers and imperialists.
While standardised Force training is mandatory for all Shadow Knights to ensure that they can control their powers and do not become a danger to the public, only the best are inducted into the unit. After recruitment, they undergo gruelling physical training and mental conditioning that is meant to break them down and build them back up. The unit is exclusively composed of Force-users, or Sciians as the Eldorai call them. Eldorai call the Force Sciia, which they regard as the inner flame the gifted can tap into, rather than an ominipresent energy field that binds all life together. To put it plainly, the Force is a tool, and they reject the idea of it having sides. The religiously inclined equate Sciia with soul and consider it a gift from the Goddess.
People who suscribe to the traditional dualist interpretation of the Force would probably classify most of the Shadow Guards as Grey or Dark Force-users. In terms of Force skills they focus on telekinesis, as well as the elements of fire, air, earth and ice abilities. Most soldiers specialise in one element and acquire skills using two others, but not the direct opposite to their preferred element. For a example, a pyromancer could have the ability to manipulate earth and air, but would be unable to use ice.
In addition to their ethereal powers, they are also trained in the use of conventional weapons such as blasters, slugthrowers, blades, polearms and explosives. Indeed membership in the unit has more in common with being a soldier than a member of a mystical Force Order. As the Shadow Knights maintain a mobile base and focus much of their efforts on a nomadic migrant fleet, the warriors are proficient in boarding operations and undergo Zero-gravity combat training. However, they are not sailors or combat pilots, and leave that to actual naval personnel. Their tactics empathise teamwork and discipline, while lone wolf actions are frowned upon.
A special detachment of Caerith Tyari serves as the protective detail for Archon Naesala Faethyra and the Citizens' Council. To avoid favouritism or a possible decline in combat skill, Tyari are assigned to it on a rotational basis. On the battlefield, the Shadow Warriors are good shock troops, often acting in concert with regular soldiers. They can also lay ambushes and act as a raiding strike force. However, they are a small unit and thus care must be taken when it comes to deployment.
The Shadow Knights have a more limited pool of recruits to draw upon, as they do not control holdings as large as those of the Eldorai Matriarchy, have a smaller population and less money. Thus they take great care to train their elite warriors thoroughly and make sure they are committed to the cause. Service guarantees citizenship in Shadow Knight society. From the point of view of the renegades, combat veterans know what it means to put country and service before self, and to get the job done. As a result, military service is glorified. This makes serving in the Tyari very prestigious.
In the Eldorai Matriarchy, the Angelii are seen as holy warriors of the Goddess Ashira. Being a nonbeliever and an Angelii is - officially - unthinkable, since the Queen they serve is supposed Ashira's viceroy. This is a little different among the Caerith Tyari, as the ranks of the Shadow Knights include many nonconformist believers, heretics or even atheists. The duty of the Caerith Tyari is to the Free Eldorai, not a divinely appointed monarch or deity.
The Archon, as the leader of the Shadow Knights is known, is elected by an oligarchic council and not an absolute ruler. The official credo is that if you worship any deities, they want you to fight for the Asuran people and place the nation above yourself. Service guarantees citizenship among the Shadow Knights. Asuran is the word the Shadows use to refer to both the Eldorai and their cousins in order to empathise that they are one people. Singing the revolutionary song 'Rise against Tyranny' is quite popular in the unit.
The soldiers are indoctrinated to place the survival of the race above dogmatic disputes. In that regard, militant pan-Eldorai nationalism has replaced devotion to the Crown or the Temple. That said, members of the unit can believe whatever they wish privately. Priestesses can minister to believers, though the content of their sermons is inspected quite thoroughly. However, the divergent belief systems can cause friction between members. This is one of the reasons why the Shadows have reintroduced some of the draconian punishments their Angelii cousins got rid of many years ago. The soldiers of this unit are expected to set an example, especially to the more irregular forces that are part of the Shadow Knights.
In contrast to the all-female Angelii Corps, the Caerith Tyrai allow elf males to join their ranks. The reason for this radical change is partly ideological, partly pragmatic. The Eldorai exiles who had been left behind on Kaeshana had to struggle to survive in a post-apocalytic wasteland. In such a situation it was necessary to have all hands on deck. Necessity has forced them to do away with or relax traditional policies. Moreover, several of the Forsaken were political radicals and reformists.
Officially the Shadow Knights are committed to gender equality. However, in spite of these progressive notions, individual units are still segregated by gender. This is justified by saying that men are too prone to emotion and that gender integration would undermine unit cohesion. While they are integrated at command levels, women still tend to monopolise the top positions in the corps. The Masculine Anti-Defamation League has called this a setback in the struggle for gender equality in the military, but for the time being the conservative forces are too strong for the radical progressives to overcome. This probably not too surprising since many of the Shadow Knight leaders are middle class female officers.
The 'Shadow Warriors' are commanded by Daymana Thael, a former Angelii and career insurgent. Daymana is a fierce opponent of the ancien régime, with a strong hatred for the nobility. She is very loyal to the Shadow Knight cause, regarding it as more progressive than the old order. However, she is also a 'confrontional' choice, as she is poorly disposed towards accommodation with the Eldorai Matriarchy. In short, not the type of person one would send as an emissary unless one wanted to make an assertive statement. Daymana is a charismatic, impassioned revolutionary leader who can inspire her soldiers and leads by example. She is a Force warrior who focuses on pyromancy and a formidable duellist. She is also skilled in the application of earth and air. Though in a command role, she is not afraid to lead from the front. She reports to Strategos Yseult Faerin and the Archon of the Shadow Knights.
Daymana is on the same broad trajectory as Kaida. However, she has handled her experiences in a different way. While Kaida soon began to doubt the ancien régime and then hold it in contempt, she served it loyally for a decades, believing it was her duty. For a long time she regarded 'Dashdae Eldorai' as traitors, despite sympathising with some of their beliefs. By contrast, Daymana rebelled against the old order decades ago and embraced the life of a Dashdae Eldorai insurgent. Daymana is respected among the Forsaken, but is less experienced in interacting with non-elves than Kaida.
The group works closely with the Court of the Four Elements, an administrative body responsible for regulating Force-Sensitives in the nomad fleet. Marlaen Nylath, head of the Court and rogue Angelii, is an old acquaintance of Daymana. Kythaela Faesalor assists the commander in running the unit. Back in the old days, she was a comrade of Daymana and deserted from the Angelii corps with her. While a capable soldier, she is less of a charismatic revolutionary commander. Instead she is a skilled organiser and logistician, who is able to keep the machinery running and ensure her friend's directions are carried out. She also has contacts in the underworld, which is useful when the unit needs to make special acquisitions.
Kaida commands one of the sub-units of the Tyari. Taciturn, stern and chilly, she is a hard person to like, but a competent officer. Her interactions with Daymana are not free of tension. Alpha females who are used to having things their way tend to not get on that well. Moreover, despite her grumbling and doubts, Kaida served the Matriarchy loyally for decades. Indeed, Daymana's rebels were one of the Dark Eldorai groups she fought. Kaida has fully repudiated the ancien régime, but the tension has not vanished. Telara Maedis is Kaida's student and understudy. She grew up poor and used to be the ill-treated servant girl of pompous nobles. Left behind on Kaeshana, the girl had to fend for herself, forcing her to become a hardened survivalist. Snarky and cynical beyond her years, she is nonetheless loyal and brave. Her elemental focus lies in aeromancy.
Farzona Jai Shirzal is one of the commissioned officers of the group. She is a Qadiri, an Eldorai subrace. While less dexterous than Eldorai, her people are physically stronger and have inherent navigational talents. Farzona has put these to good use by picking up piloting of speeders and small starships. She has an affinity for elemental air abilities. Farzona was drawn to the Shadow Knights when they conducted a recruitment drive among their Tygaran cousins. She is an intrepid survivor of the wars between Shahbânu Semiramis and the League of Krolis. Farzona used to be a Captain in the Krolian army. She was originally from Zeheb, capital of the Amikarese Empire. When there was a struggle for the succession she backed Semiramis' cousin. However, he lost the battle and was murdered by traitorous underlings.
Her family lands were confiscated and she was exiled. She joined the League and fought in the Krolis War. This was a conflict in which Semiramis sought to centralise power over the Qadiri and bring the Kashari Church under her control by getting her chosen candidate appointed as Saoshyant, the supreme religious leader of the race. Firemane backed Semiramis, and her actions had made her a target of the monarch. This drove Farzona to venture into the stars and she fell in with the Shadows. She still has ties to Qadiri on the planet and elsewhere, which has proved beneficial to the unit.
Daylan Shailan is a squad leader for a team of rangers, scouts and skirmishers. Stuck on Kaeshana as one of the Forsaken after the Eldorai Exodus, he was forced to survive the aftermath in a devastated wasteland, becoming a hardened survivalis, scout and salvager. He joined the Shadow Knight cause and later fought the First Order before getting the chance to leave Kaeshana. Daylan tried to join the Angelii in his younger days, but was rejected on account of his gender, as the order is all-female. He still has to deal with sexism among the Shadows and had to prove himself. But he is a tough fellow who refuses to be subservient. Does his best to subvert the stereotypes associated with Eldorai males. Daylan was a retainer of Princess Nalia, who was executed by Siobhan Kerrigan for trying to stage a coup and seize the throne. Despite her reactionary politics, he resented her death. He has a talent for marksmanship, scouting and an affinity for earth manipulation. Can summon mist to provide concealment for himself and his allies.
Ashana was an enlisted soldier in the corps. Once she was an Angelii and Protectorate officer called Lavina Taldir, then a Rogue Knight who righted wrongs and protected the innocent. But she no longer remembered her former life, for she had lost her memory in the Field of Blades after being raptured. She was reborn as Ashana, an extremely strong and tenacious, but also haunted Eldorai berserker. She is the older sister of Kaida. Recently, Ashana has regained her memory, though at the cost of her Force connection. The corps still counts her as an honorary member of sorts, but she has transferred to the Court of War, which is responsible for Non-Force-Using military personnel.
Morwen commands one of the teams of the Tyari, specialising in sabotage, irregular warfare, commando operations and ' special acquisitions'. Born into a family of low born farmers, she was quite old by the time the Angelii conscripted her. While her Sciia manifested early, she kept my abilities secret, not wanting to leave her home. An accident brought them to the attention of the authorities and she was conscripted by the Angelii when she was an adult. Full of resentment, she did not take well to discipline.
Believing that she was being used as a tool to serve the interests of corrupt aristocrats and foreigners, she grew disillusioned and rebelled. To the authorities, she became a terrorist. When it came to her methods, this was definitely true. Wrote an Eldorai version of the anarchist's cookbook. When nemesis came to Kaeshana, she was understandably among those who would not be evacuated. Joined the Tyari as an irregular warfare specialist. Morwen has a lot of anger in her, espouses radical republican views and is a devotee of Illyria, the Goddess of Death. She has a rather black, even malicious sense of humour.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Medium
Unit Availability: Rare
Unit Experience: Elite
Equipment:
Armour:
Melee:
Sidearms:
- Renegade Blaster Pistol
- Cylix Bolt Pistol
- Hold-out Bolter
- A280 CFE
- Magnetic Revolver
- Verpine Shattergun
- Sonic Disruptor
- MkI Bolter
- ACS-204 Vulcan Blaster Rifle
- Magnetic Repeater
- HN-55 Heavy Sonic Carbine
- ACS-202 Vanquisher Light Repeating Blaster
- Verpine Shatter Rifle
- Microgrenade Launcher. Usually mounted on another rifle as an under barrel weapon.
- Reaper Plasma Shotgun
- Lance Missile Launcher. Requires two-man crew; a gunner and a spotter/ammunition carrier.
- ACS-201 Executioner Slugthrower
- Model 201 Mortar System
- TL-50 Heavy Repeating Blaster
- Grenades, Sonic Imploders.
- Whisper Jetpack
- APE Boltgun Ammunition
- Verpine Prototype Shield
- ZX Miniature Flame Projector
- Dur-24 Wrist Laser
- ACS-207 Cryo-Ban Gun
- Wrist Bolter
- Armoured Personnel Carrier
- Ultra-Light Assault Vehicles
- Bladesinger Combat Speeder
- LAAT.
- Sentinel Class Landing Craft.
- Delta Class DX-9 Stormtrooper Transport.
They are trained in the employment of infiltration tactics. In this particular case, this does not refer to sneaking around. Rather they can advance into enemy rear areas, bypassing enemy front-line strongpoints, possibly isolating them for attack by follow-up troops with heavier weapons. Soldiers take the initiative to identify enemy weak points and choose their own routes, targets, moments and methods of attack; this requires a high degree of skill and training, and can be supplemented by special equipment and weaponry to give them more local combat options. However, when faced with large enemy forces they would require support from more conventional, heavily armed allied troops in order to exploit any gains they make. Infiltration tactics can be particularly useful in, for example, a trench warfare setting or an assault on an enemy fortress, especially if combined with a hurricane bombardment by allied artillery forces.
Discipline, teamwork and courage are all valued; rashness, bravado and flash are not. When operating with more specialised Force-using units, they will provide the muscle and exploit any breach the specialists have gained, while protecting them. The Shadow Warriors often open battle with elemental salvoes before closing in on the enemy, though their tactics vary based on the terrain and the opponent. They may also summon mist, rain or a wind that throws up sand and dust to help obfuscate their presence.
In terms of Force skills, they focus on telekinesis and the elemental abilities of fire, earth, water/ice and air. Each warrior tends to specialise in one element and is able to learn two others, but not the direct opposite of their focus. Thus a cryomancer would specialise in ice/water and be able to use earth and air powers, but not elemental fire abilities and vice versa. The Tyari are taught to act as a team and combine abilities when appropriate. A few of them can use Force Valour.
Their elemental focus makes them very resistant to elemental hazards and attacks. They can summon telekinetic barriers to protect themselves and their allies from attacks. Often one member of a pair carries a Taegis shield along with a Sarzmigar or Sarix whilst the other uses a blaster rifle or a boltgun with APE rounds, along with a blade. Sometimes the situation will demand that both carry a Taegis in which case they rely on their sidearms or lighter blaster weapons. Specialists can carry support weapons such as a heavy repeating blaster or a missile launcher. In the case of the latter, the launcher is served by a crew of two; a gunner and a spotter/ammunition carrier.
Strengths:
- Force soldiers. The Caerith Tyari are composed of Force-sensitive elves, who specialise in elemental powers, but have also been trained to fight as a military unit of shock infantry.
- Their training emphasies discipline, teamwork and precision. In battle they operate on the basis of a buddy system. Lone wolf actions are looked upon poorly.
- While they train extensively with conventional weapons and in hand-to-hand combat, losing the Force means losing their greatest advantage. This puts them at a disadvantage against enemies who use ysalamiri or Voidstone tech.
- They have few heavy weapons and lack heavy combat vehicles. This can put them at a disadvantage against armoured fighting vehicles and entrenched fortifications. It also has implications in protracted combat. Being infantry, they are vulnerable to long range bombardment. Portable missile launchers and elemental air abilities can help against bombers, fighters etc. but this is variable.
For millennia, the Angelii have been the guardians of the Eldorai Matriarchy. They are a curious mix of Holy Order, Imperial Knight and Priestess. Formed many centuries ago during the early days of the Eldorai Matriarchy as a royal guard for the Star Queen, they have retained a vital place in the Eldorai military and society to this day. The Queen who founded this elite, all-female corps of Force-sensitive warriors is unknown, but most historians credit Tassaria I., the very first Star Queen, who needed shock troops to unite the Eldorai of Kaeshana under one banner and defeat the Kar'zun. Over time, they became the Eldorai's preeminent soldiers. Being assiged to the Angelii came to be regarded as a prestige position, especially if the battle sister hailed from a lowborn family.
At times, especially during the Time of Troubles, they became queenmakers, crowning and dethroning Queens as they pleased. As a result, later dynasties reduced their power and kept a tight grip on their numbers. The Queens needed capable, powerful protectors to keep them on the throne and shock troops that could smite the enemies of the Crown...but they had to be certain they could be relied upon. When the Eldorai Matriarchy opened up to the rest of the Galaxy, the Angelii adapted foreign weapons such as blasters, bolters and, to a lesser degree, lightsabres, merging the old with the new. However, the corps was deeply fractured by the Great Exodus from Kaeshana, for the Eldorai homeworld was devastated by a huge asteroid.
Angelii had obviously left the corps before the calamity, rebelling against the Crown they'd sworn to serve. These oathbreakers were known as Dashdae Sciians. Indeed, it has always been common among Eldorai insurgent leaders or claimants to the throne to create their own version of the Angelii corps. Not only is it common sense to have Force-sensitive warriors who can match the guard of the monarch you want to overthrow, it is also a way to claim legitimacy. For instance, Taenarys Evora, a pretender for the throne during the rieng of Tirathana VI, maintained her own Angelii corps to strengthen her claim as the 'rightful Star Queen of the Eldorai'. Unfortunately for Taenarys, her coup ended in disaster and she was executed along with her supporters. Tirathana gave her 'dear cousin' a crown of gold - by having her minions pour molten gold over her head.
The Caerith Tyari are one of many such Angelii knockoffs. But what separates them from the others is that they have had more staying power. When the Shadow Knights, a group of renegade Eldorai, elected to help those Eldorai who had been left behind on Kaeshana, they decided to found their own Angelii unit. In contrast to the Crown's Angelii, the Shadow Warriors are a bit of an electic mix. They are composed of Angelii who became disillusioned with the triple alliance of crown-temple-nobility and deserted, hardened revolutionaries and rebels who fought the Crown and Eldorai who were too young to fight in the dynastic wars but went through the school of hard knocks while struggling to survive in the wasteland that was Kaeshana. Recently they have even acquired Tygaran members, whose cultural experiences differ wildly from those of the Eldorai.
Bringing these very divergent groups together and forging them into a cohesive whole has not been an easy task. Indeed, despite the Shadow Knights' commitment to the creation of a more just and egalitarian order, their elite warriors have been forced to reintroduce some of the stomach-churning punishments that the Crown's Angelii abolished. Daymana Thael became the commander of the unit. Once she had been an Angelii who served the Crown. Forced to commit unlawful acts during the reign of Tirathana VI, she rebelled and was arrested for sedition.
The disgraced Angelii was due to be executed but escaped with her fellow prisoners due to having an insider in the guards. The renegades managed to go underground. Her experiences with the darker side of the ancien régime turned Daymana into an arch rebel completely opposed to the old order. As a result, she became an insurgent and a heroine to the Dark Eldorai. Her partisan force called themselves the Red Eagles. She was one of the Forsaken when Kaeshana was turned into a wasteland. Five survivors of her old Angelii unit still remain with her to this day. They helped her set up the Tyari. One of them, Kythaela Faesalor, heads headquarters staff.
When winter came after the cataclysm, and slavers and corsairs descended upon the ruined planet, the Caerith Tyari fought to protect the remaining Eldorai communities, all the while trying to wrest order from the chaos. They fought slavers, rival Eldorai warlords and Archangel, a machine cult that conducted raids to abduct Eldorai for processing. When the Shadow Knights allied with the Galactic Alliance and their estranged brethren on Tygara against the First Order, they fought alongside the allied troops - and retreated along with them and many Eldorai refugees after the battle went ill. Allied forces had held the Citadel of Dusk throughout the battle and were able to evacuate the Eldorai civilians who had sought refuge there.
The withdrawal from Kaeshana caused the Tyari's role to change, as the Shadow Knights' efforts were centred on a nomadic migrant fleet. With some reluctance, the Caerith Tyari decided to open their ranks to Tygaran natives who could match their standards, though Eldorai continued to outnumber them. Many of the newcomers were Qadiri, as the way the Tyari fought was quite close to the fighting style of their own Force warriors. The Shadow Warriors would soon see action against internal and external threats.
Domestic unrest and insurrection among the Shadow Knights resulted in them being deployed to quell threats to the junta. This caused some mutinies, which were suppressed by their commander. The corps was reinforced by defections from the Eldorai Matriarchy. One defector was Kaida Taldir, a former Angelii officer who had grown disillusioned with the Monarchy. Not all of the defectors were welcomed with open arms though, as the old guard often felt suspicious of former royalists. As a consequence, the newcomers had to pass trials to prove themselves.
When the Eldorai exodites were targeted by Archangel to provide 'processing materiel', the Shadow Warriors were deployed in defence of their people. Archangel needed more processing materiel for its droid armies and considered the Eldorai to be adequate prey. Forced into a corner by an overwhelming Archangel strike, the Shadow Knights were compelled to align with Enyo Typhos, herself a former Archangel experiment, and her cabal. It was an alliance of convenience on both sides.
When the allied forces launched a desperate attack on Archangel's base to stop the machine cult from completing its secret weapon, the Caerith Tyari clashed Archangel battle droids and Shards, while warships duked it out in space. Daymana herself led her warriors into the fight, employing her skill as a fire and earth elemental mage. The battle was a bloody one and the Shadows suffered significant casualties, but Archangel's leadership was toppled. The elves were able to free several of their captured kin and steal some of Archangel's technology. Enyo Typhos took control of the machine cult, abandoning its genocidal schemes.
The Tyari were among the Shadow Knight forces dispatched to Kaeshana to investigate rumours that the planet had been moved through the Nether. As the Shadow Warriors discovered, these rumours were true. The planet was free from foreign occupation, but even more devastated. Nothing of the old grandeur and hubris of the old Eldorai Matriachy was left on the inhospitable tomb world. The Shadow Guards encountered bizarre Force phenomena on the tainted, haunted world and helped the last few survivors of the cataclysm escape. Then they quickly left the death world. The Eldorai among them had to abandon any notion of reclaiming their home. Instead they had to find and build a new one. For good or ill, it meant a new beginning for their race.
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