Faction The Iron Path [Mandalorian Empire]

[Aurodium]

The Iron Path
"The path does not make the warrior. It reveals them"​

Yavin IV
Wilderness

The shuttle's engines roared as it descended into the rugged wilderness, delivering each team to a different starting point scattered across the valley. Some were left upon exposed shelves of rock overlooking the lowlands, others beside winding waterways and at the edge of dense woodland.

Each participant had been issued basic survival provisions, a weapon of their choice, a single piece of technology, and a dark band secured around their wrist. The devices monitored vital signs and transmitted each wearer's location to the exercise overseers, allowing the instructors to follow the teams' progress. They would not provide directions or warnings, however, and assistance would only come if circumstances demanded intervention.

The teams also received a single holomap marked with their destination, though it offered little guidance beyond that. The terrain was mapped only in broad strokes, leaving rivers, cliffs, forests, and other obstacles for the participants to navigate themselves. As the last shuttle lifted away, the holomap flickered, its display dissolving into the blue-white shimmer of a holographic projection.

Warmaster Monroe appeared above the device, clad in her black and gold armour. Her expression was composed and her gaze steady as she addressed the unseen audience.

"Welcome to the Iron Path." Her eyes moved as if looking at each of them in turn.

"When armour is such a vital part of our culture, tradition, and identity, you may be wondering why we have stripped it from those of you fortunate enough to possess it. Yes, the beskar we bear is important, but it is not what makes us Mandalorian; that journey starts long before you forge your very first pauldron or rest a helmet upon your brow.

"It starts within. With unyielding resilience, swift adaptation to the unknown, and the sacred ability to rely completely on your brothers and sisters. This bedrock of mutual trust and fortitude is the true foundation from which you will build your legacy.

"Look closely at those who stand beside you today; they might be lifelong friends, or they might be complete strangers. Whatever they are to you now, remember that they are here for the exact same reason you are: to endure the trials and reach the end of the path together. This is not a personal competition, nor is it a race for individual glory. Your objective is to reach the designated checkpoint in one piece, and if you cross paths with other squads along the way, know that their ultimate success is also yours.

"Some among you have already passed your verd’gotten, while others have never even held a weapon; yet all of you share the same worth and carry the same voice. Work together, and listen to one another. Some of you are fortunate enough to have mentors assigned to your team, seasoned veterans who long ago proved their worth and earned the right to wear the armour. Listen to their experience and heed their guidance, but also hold the wisdom to know that even the most battle-tested can be wrong.

"Good luck. We will be watching."

The projection collapsed into a flicker of blue light, leaving the holomap displaying the same uncertain terrain as before. Then the devices fell silent, and the wilderness seemed to close in around the teams once more.

The valley offered little reassurance. Sheer cliffs rose above fast-moving rivers, their banks slick with water and their currents churning around jagged boulders. Dense woodland covered the lower slopes, where tangled roots and fallen timber made progress difficult beneath the heavy canopy. Further into the valley, a broad basin lay buried beneath a shifting blanket of pale fog, concealing both the ground and whatever might be moving within it. Tracks pressed into damp earth and claw marks scored into tree bark suggested the participants would not have the wilderness entirely to themselves.

The Iron Path had begun.
​

Spoiler: Teams

Team Beskar

Torva Verd Viers Connory Seris Mataan

Your shuttle sets you down on a rocky plateau high above the valley floor. A steep descent winds between the cliffs towards the river below, while dense woodland stretches across the opposite bank and distant mountains loom beyond.​

Team Choruk

Rynar Solde Dayr Verd Kaela Voss

You are deposited along the riverbank, where fast-moving water cuts between scattered boulders and steep, uneven slopes. The plateau lies somewhere upstream, while the opposite bank rises into thick woodland, with a blanket of fog visible further downriver..​

Team Vheh

Garo Vevut-Varkor Alsin Vex Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata

Your starting point lies beneath the woodland canopy, several hundred metres inland from the river. Fallen trees and tangled undergrowth make the ground difficult to cross, though gaps between the trunks reveal the open valley and a distant ridge disappearing into mist..​

Team Taakur

Rynna Nyva Shei Avast Verd

The shuttle leaves you on the lower slopes of a broad hillside, where loose stones give way to patches of scrub and scattered trees. The river can be heard somewhere below, though the terrain obscures the water itself, and a narrow trail curves around the hill towards the fog-shrouded basin.​

Team Shaap

Elian Abrantes Ryela Solde Perseus

You are dropped near the mouth of the fog basin, where damp ground gives way to shallow pools and sparse woodland. The mist thickens further ahead, obscuring the valley floor, while the silhouettes of the surrounding hills remain visible behind you.​

 

[Dayr Verd]

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HOUSE VERD

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x

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FIELD NOTES

MANDALORIAN CLAN ARCHIVE

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DAYR VERD

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WARHOST // WARRIOR // GUNSLINGER

RIVERBANK, YAVIN IV

LOCATION

OBJECTIVE

COMPLETE THE IRON PATH

x

TEAM CHORUK // FIELD EQUIPMENT

CRYONCORP ENHANCESCAN

MODE // MOTION SENSOR
SETTING // PASSIVE SENTRY
RANGE // 500 M
ALERT // MOVEMENT
STATUS // ACTIVE

The shuttle was already climbing away when Dayr looked from the river to the two people he'd been dropped beside.

Without beskar'gam, he felt lighter than he expected. A black shirt, dark trousers and boots had replaced most of what he normally carried on his body, leaving the knife strapped across his chest as his only weapon. The dark band sat around one wrist, unobtrusive enough until Dayr happened to look at it. The EnhanceScan was another matter. It had enough weight to make itself known, and he kept a hand near the grip while Warmaster Monroe's image finished speaking above the holomap.

When the projection collapsed, Dayr looked properly at the other two members of Team Choruk. He didn't know too much about them, but that wasn't unexpected, as there were many Mandalorians. He decided to nod at each and introduce himself, at least:

"Dayr Verd."

Fast water shoved around the boulders beside them, noisy enough that Dayr stopped paying much attention to it after the first minute. The opposite bank climbed into thick woodland. Downriver, fog sat low over the valley. He looked upstream instead, trying to pick out some sign of the plateau they'd been told was there.

Nothing obvious yet.

Dayr tipped his head back toward the canopy. The sun was still low, it was morning. He found a straight piece of fallen branch near the bank, pushed it upright into a patch of open soil and marked the end of its shadow with a finger.

"It's early morning. Yavin Four has a twenty-four hour cycle. Give this a few minutes and we'll have east and west."

He left it there and crouched beside the holomap. Their drop point was easy enough. So was the river. Dayr traced what he could actually see, then stopped when the bank disappeared around the bend rather than guessing at the rest.

"We should fill this in as we go. Anything useful enough that we'd want it again. Any volunteers to keep it updated?"

A crossing would qualify, if they found one. This stretch didn't. Dayr looked at the water once more and dismissed it.

He pulled the EnhanceScan around from his side and ran a sweep over the bank, the slope above them and the nearest tree line. When nothing demanded his attention, he changed it over to the motion sensor and let it hang from the strap again. It could watch the ground around them while he worked.

"Before anything, we should know what we're carrying between us." Dayr stood and looked between Rynar and Kaela. "Food, water, weapons, tech. Better if we know what each of us has before we need it."

His attention went upstream again. The plateau gave them one known feature in that direction, and staying near the river for the opening stretch would make their progress easy enough to record.

"I have a general purpose scanner. I've set it to sentry mode," he said, glancing down to the item. "It will alert us to movement up to five-hundred meters away. Also canteen, food rations, basic supplies. Vibroknife."

He looked back to the other members of the team.

"My first thought is we follow the river until the terrain or the map gives us a reason not to. But if you disagree, now's the time."

Dayr looked down to the stick casting the shadow.

Too soon to tell.

Not long, though.

x

TAGS

Rynar Solde Kaela Voss

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HOUSE VERD

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x

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FOUNDLING

 

[Kael Varr Bastiel Skirata]

Tags: Garo Vevut-Varkor Alsin Vex
OBJECTIVE: The Iron Path: Team Vheh

Spoiler: Gear

Primary Weapon: Plasma Bow
Tech: Medic Drone

No armor, just his new combined-energy bow and a newly acquired ALBATROSS Triage Drone strapped to his back. As the transport dropped him, his packmate Garo and someone new. Once they had been dropped off, Kael felt out with the force, getting a sense of the area around him. Garo was force sensitive, that much he knew, but the masked one- they must be a Miraluka, a species Kael had heard about but never seen, much less one that was a Mandalorian or learning the way; he wasn't sure yet. Kael took a moment to check through his supplies, making sure most of what he had was tightened down. He was no stranger to roughing it. "Garo, happy to be paired with a packmate." Kael looked to the new member of their group. "And to you, welcome. I am Kael Varr Bastiel of Clan Skirata, and you are a Miraluka. I haven't met one of your kind, but I feel your flame in the Force."

 

[Torva Verd]

​

The shuttle ride to Yavin IV had been the worst part; the enclosed space, the knot in the pit of her stomach, her wound tight nerves that made her fidget (even as she tried to not make it so noticeable). Torva was without her armor, just like the other two in the transport shuttle with her, and it left her feeling almost naked. This next adventure she was going on was a challenge, a sort of trial that would test her and the others on what all they had learned, and how well they could work together to get out of it all in one piece.

The Warmaster called it the Iron Path.

The shuttle Torva and the other two members of her team were riding in, came in low and set them off on a rocky plateau high above the valley floor. Once her feet were on solid ground, Torva took a moment to take in her surroundings, bright blue eyes scanning the immediate terrain, the valley beyond them, the river plains, the mountains, the dense forests. Up on the plateau, the wind was stronger and more biting, the temperature colder and uncomfortable to someone who had been spending nearly every day of her recent year or so in a desert - enough to acclimate to the hot environment.

It made her realize that she was not a fan of the cold, at all.

And of course she didn’t have her armor on to help keep herself warm. All she had on was a slightly loose fitting shirt that would allow for ease of movement and so her skin could breathe; and her pants were flexible and allowed for ease of movement as well. Her boots were heavier but had good traction, something that would likely come in handy out in the untamed wilderness.

Beyond that, she had little else. A single weapon - a short sword - a piece of tech, which was a field medkit that fit into a side pouch that hung from a utility belt around her waist, and a dark band wrapped around one of her wrists to track her vitals and give her location to those overseeing the test. Wrapping around her upper body was a harness that held the scabbard of the sword against her back, its hilt extending above her left shoulder for ease of access should she ever need it, which she mused was likely to happen.

After the shuttle departed, leaving the three of them alone to stand against the battering winds, the holomap they had been given flickered and replacing it for a brief moment was the familiar figure of Warmaster Monroe, clad in her signature armor. She delivered a message to the three of them, giving a reason for the trial they were now on, and what was to be expected. She encouraged the three of them to rely on one another to get through to the end, and that this trial was not a personal competition nor a way to achieve personal glory.

When the message had been delivered, Mia’s image flickered and faded, and the holomap returned to its original state. Silence fell across the three of them on the plateau, except for the whistle of the wind and the silent pressure of the wilderness that closed in around them.

Torva took a moment to glance between the other two women there with her, the members of her team. She didn’t know either of them, and she certainly felt a touch of unease with that knowledge. It was one thing to trust your life and safety to others you knew, it was another to trust complete strangers with such important things.

But she had a feeling though that by the end of this trial, they would all know each other a lot better. And maybe, she would have two new friends.

“Hi, I’m Torva.” she said, introducing herself to the others and hoping to get their names in turn, before they inevitably had to turn to figuring out a plan of action on getting off the high, rocky plateau. "This is...quite the spot we are in, isn't it?" ​

Viers Connory + Seris Mataan ​

 

[Kaela Voss]

Tags: Dayr Verd // Rynar Solde

Kaela had never been very much of an outdoors type person, though growing up in a small farming village on the rocky steppes of Aargonar had made avoiding the outdoors pretty much impossible, but this jungle she and the two strangers she’d been dropped off with was a totally different beast. She was doing an inventory of her gear, feeling rather stupid that when she was put on the spot and asked what additional piece of technology she’d take she panicked and named something she always kept in the bottom of her bag, space tape, the strong, durable, silvery coloured adhesive rolls were useful, but in the wilds, she was thinking she should have asked for a compass.

“I’ve got the same survival pack as the two of you, my blaster pistol, and maybe about a dozen rolls of space tape, don’t judge me, I’m a mechanic not a wilderness scout and I didn’t think my tool belt would count as one item.” Kaela said adding a bit of self deprecating levity to her tone. “Or an axe, we could make our own river crossing just by dropping one of these trees, save us the myriad of issues that could come with a dip in an unfamiliar river.”

Kaela’s clothing was a sturdy protective leather, and while treated to protect from water damage, submerging leather wasn’t the best idea with having a few care items handy, so even though jumping in a mystery river was already a bad idea, she clearly had an ulterior motive for wanting to avoid a swim as the first option.

“Name’s Kaela Voss, no clan yet, but hopefully I can impress someone.” She then added introducing herself.

“No argument about following the river,” Kaela said as she stood up and put her pack back on, “Don’t forget to account for the rotation of the moon on your sundial.”

Kaela wasn’t exactly sure how the rotation of the moon around the gas giant would effect the actual output of the using the sun and stick to find direction, that kind of mental calculation wasn’t in her skill set, being much more hands on, but she knew it was one more thing to account for.

 

[Perseus]

The speech before hand was one I had heard multiple Mandalorians speak of. Time and again, I have been told and shown that allies, Teammates, and comrades were one of, if not the greatest asset one could have. Not in just a field of battle, not just survival, but in general. This, for me, was the hardest lesson to learn so far. I already knew that. Always staying aloof and in the background. Watching others as they rode jetpacks into combat, dove through the open air like a falcon down onto our enemies. It was one of the few times where I could understand what was going on. Talks, words, and gestures of grandeur flew over my head easily. Words could mean so many things. Be felt so many ways. I knew that all too well.

As a Void-borne individual, I had heard time and time again of my curse. And it was always that way. Yet, there were a few, who reached out, to show me, physically, that it was quite the opposite. Which is why I was here. I took the leap they asked of me. Joining this Iron Path to not really test my survival skills, but the test of working with team members, even if I didn't know them. In this case, I did not. This silence across us for a moment after the drop off and the shuttle leaving us to our own devices in this damp, and fog laden scenery. I could feel the squelching of mud beneath my boot tread. It stuck to everything like white on Arkanian Rice. Eyes looking down at the density. Seeing and feeling the growing heaviness of the boots. Any step would be a heavy and long one. Looking to the other two for a moment, A soft shrug of my shoulders as my hand fell to the grip of my knife. It was familiar to me, comforting that at least I could keep this with me.

My voice broke the silence. Its deepness matching my stature, but misaligned with my face.

"Moving through this will be difficult. Might be best if we fashion something to extend the surface area of our feet."

Always thinking about movement, and the ability to keep ones self mobile. Sitting still was not in our sabbac cards. Eyes scanning already. Moving with heavy steps deeper into the swamp towards one of the trees. Their height was enough that low hanging branches would not suffice. Reaching to my side, my grip found the paracord. Opening it up and slinging it around the tree twice, and around myself. Tying a bowline knot around my waist for safety, I leaned back hard. Feeling it biting through my clothes. Feet brought up to the trunk of the tree, slow but smooth, Climbing up into the tree enough to get to one of the thicker branches. Reaching up with my hand, grabbing a hold with both hands and clambering up onto it. Straddling the branch, I scooted across a few feet before reaching to the knife. Grabbing a good hold of the weapon, and using the pommel to smack it a couple times.

No shatter, no break, solid. Just what we needed. I went a little further out before grabbing some of the shoots and breaking them off easily. Sized to just a bit smaller than the thickness of my wrist. Letting them drop to the ground one after the other. Gathering just enough for what we needed. Using the blade, I cut the rope for easier retrieval and dropped down. My boots sinking heavily into the soft ground, and making sure to roll to soften the landing time. of course, I was now all dirty and wet, but it is nothing new for me.

The voice broke again.

"Take some and tie them to the bottom side of your boots. It will spread out your weight."

Elian Abrantes Ryela Solde