A Zealot Shadow wielding a handgun.
- Intent: To add further detail to the Shadow class of Zealot warriors in the Bryn’adul.
- Image Credit: General Karn - Villains Wiki
- Role: Special forces unit
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: The Zealot unit page (used for reference), General Karn - Villains Wiki (image)
- Unit Name: Zealot Shadow
- Affiliation: The Bryn’adul
- Classification: Acquisition & Assassination
- Description: Zealot Shadows are specialized Draelvasier Zealot units who specialize in stealth operations such as assassination and infiltration. Unlike other Zealots, Shadows typically work alone instead of in six-individual units. However, in especially high-risk situations, Shadows will sometimes work in pairs with each individual having a separate task associated with the same goal.
- Unit Size: Small
- Unit Availability: Rare
- Unit Experience: Veteran
- Equipment:
- Armor
- [Limited] Barad Special Operations Armor
- Firearms
- [Limited] Radesh Automatic Weapon
- Melee Weapons
- [Minor] Barad Kukri
- [Minor] Shadow’s Kasurigama
- Armor
- Combat Function: Zealot Shadows use their extensive stealth training to slip behind enemy ranks unnoticed, performing high-risk assassination and infiltration operations. Operating alone or in pairs for more tedious tasks, Shadows excel at slipping into an enemy’s flanks or fortifications while they are distracted by a larger force. Once inside, Shadows maintain stealth and secrecy until they arrive at their target. Shadows then swiftly seize or eliminate their target, fleeing the area before enemy forces can retaliate.
- Special Forces: Zealot Shadows are trained in the more subtle arts of combat such as infiltration, assassination, and asset retrieval. Zealot Shadows are capable of performing many specialized, high-value operations that other units such as Brutes would be incapable of.
- Big Boys: As members of the Draelvasier species, Aeravalin and Baedurin Zealot Shadows are well-built and can take serious punishment from most opponents.
- Silent Killer: Zealot Shadows have extensive specialized training in stealth and assassination, allowing them to identify and eliminate key enemy figures with ease while their smaller group size allows them to avoid detection.
- Tactical Introversion: Zealot Shadows are at their most effective when operating alone, away from heavy frontline fighting. If the enemy vanguard detects one or even multiple Zealot Shadows, then it is highly likely that they will be quickly ripped apart by superior enemy numbers and firepower.
- Big Boys: The considerable size of Draelvasier makes it difficult to hide themselves on the battlefield. While Shadows are usually capable of partially mitigating this through various methods of concealment, their bulk requires considerable effort to conceal and they are extremely visible on any thermal sensor regardless of how they hide themselves.
Zealot Shadows are a specialized sealth unit of Zealot, a special-forces unit of the Bryn’adul armed forces.
Zealot Shadows are typically recruited from Zealot Minors who have extensive experience in assassination and infiltration missions specifically. Shadow candidates are then given an extra year of training on top of the year they received as Minors in order to refine their combat skills further. However, Zealot Shadow training is much more specialized than Zealot Minor recruitment training. Shadow candidates are taught advanced asssassination, infiltration, and most importantly, independent function techniques. Lasting roughly five months, independent function training teaches Shadows how to act alone efficiently, encouraging trainees to avoid unnecessary social interactions and utilize local resources to survive behind enemy lines alone for days on end.
In the final week of Shadow training, trainees are given one final trial known as the Solo Selection. They are dropped off in their full combat gear deep in the wilderness of the planet Sraeljoarsk, hundreds of kilometers away from a beacon that marks their retrieval site. Each Shadow candidate is blindfolded beforehand and dropped individually kilometers away from each other to prevent easy memorization of a route. From then on, they are monitored by their tutors from above, who observe as the Shadows attempt to approach the beacon within a week.
In the Solo Selection, Shadows are not allowed to physically or verbally communicate with or assist each other, with punishment being expulsion from the Shadow program. Additionally, Shadows are forbidden from killing other Shadows in the Solo Selection, and those who break this rule are swiftly executed. A true example of survival of the fittest, Shadow candidates are pitted against the various carnivorous and dangerous fauna of Sraeljoarsk as they attempt to reach the beacon. Some Shadows attempt to use brute force, striking down swarms of Draeyde bats only to be overwhelmed by sheer quantity. Other, more clever Shadows use traps and trickery to catch individual bats, which they cook and eat. And some Shadows avoid most active fauna altogether, instead scavenging for weak and aging individuals.
Regardless of how a Shadow chooses to survive, their goal is to make it to the beacon within a week. Those that do are greeted by their instructors and a shuttle, and they are indoctrinated into the Shadow class of Zealot.
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