Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Republican Guard by giving it some flavour. Sub a unit for Mezha.
Image Credit:Here.
Role: Partisans, Force hunters.
Links: Tephrike,Into Darkness.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Viper Company, 14th Liberation Battalion.
Affiliation: Republican Guard, Mezha Krazhmir.
Classification: Infantry.
Equipment:
Cloaks of Nuun
Villip, with Oggzil attachment.
Verpine Shattergun, Heavy slugthrower pistol, Hammer or Cylix bolt pistol.
Adjudicator.
Outland rifle, Adventurer slugthrower rifle, Chitin carbine, Flechette Launcher, K-23 Hammer or MKII Boltgun (including APE rounds).
Hold-out bolter.
Imperial Heavy Repeater (support).
Verpine Sniper Rifle (designated marksman/sniper).
Dart gun (variable chemical payload).
CSPL-12 or MGL-1.
PLX-2M. Limited/mission specific.
ZX flame projector.
Thud bug launcher.
Talon vibrodagger.
Vibroblade.
Fire spitter (restricted).
Thud bugs, Razor bugs, Snap bug. Blast bug.
Blorash jelly. Magma pebble.
Spy bugs.
Steng's Talons
Tsaisi.
Monofilament wire and net.
Cyanide suicide pills.
Garrote.
Grappling gun.
No-show.
IEDs. Dioxis grenades, frag grenades, smoke grenades, sonic imploders, thermal imploders, ABC scrambler, Coma gas, thermite explosives.
Hard sound gun
COMBAT INFORMATION
Availability: Unique.
Deployment: Limited
Strengths & Weaknesses: Viper Company is composed of highly skilled, experienced partisans and Force hunters. They excel at raids, ambushes, hunting Force-Users and what some would call terrorist attacks. The members of Viper Company have a knack for stealth, being adept at blending into their environment. This is particularly apparent in jungle warfare. They are very skilled at setting traps, striking unexpectedly and then vanishing. Resources are scarce, so their training emphasises disciplined marksmanship over blazing away.
The unit is multiracial, with a strong Yuuzhan Vong continent. The members of the unit are trained to hunt and eliminate Force-Users, especially by sniping or ambushing them. All members of the unit, whether Vong or not, are Force Dead. This makes them a potent instrument against Force-Users, as they cannot be sensed in the Force or affected by most direct Force powers. Even a normally powerful telekinetic blast that is capable of launching an ordinary opponent off their feet at high speeds simply causes a Yuuzhan Vong either to stumble, or lose balance temporarily. Attempts to use the Force to predict their next course of actions are likewise futile. This is particularly pertinent since the two main opponents of the Republican Guard are the Jedi-led Dominion of Light and the Disciples of the Vader, a Sith cult. However, indirect attacks, such as chucking a boulder, obviously still work against them. Likewise, for unknown reasons Force Lightning and Force Net can be used against Force Dead beings. Another technique employed by Jedi during the Yuuzhan Vong War was to control the air in an attempt to increase the air pressure in order to, in effect, crush a Vong.
Viper Company is a commando unit and thus suffers in confrontations with entrenched fortifications and heavy armour formations such as tanks, heavy walkers and so on. Heavy weapons are only available in small numbers. Being infantry, they are vulnerable to air and artillery strikes, hence their focus on stealth and subversion. At best they might have portable missile launchers to defend themselves against aerial attacks. However, this is pretty variable and requires the aircraft in question to be close enough. Moreover, they only have a few available. The unit is also very small, which is an issue if they find themselves penned down by numerically superior enemy forces.
They forego heavy, tanky armour for more lightweight suits that give them mobility and help them remain undetected. This obviously leaves them more vulnerable to heavy attacks if detected, especially in protracted fights. Due to the nature of their mission and the fact that they often operate for an extended period behind enemy lines without access to a supply train, they often only carry limited amount of ammunition. While effective, their weapons also tend to be a bit dated because Tephrike has been isolated from the rest of the Galaxy for a long time. Most of their firearms are slugthrowers or Vong technology. Due to their skills, Firemane has equipped them with more modern weapons such as bolters, but they are dependent on the corporation for ammunition etc.
Description:
For many centuries, Tephrike has been a war-torn. The outbreak of the Gulag Virus caused the planet to spiral into chaos. The planet entered a long period of technological regression and isolation. Warlords, gangs, cults and remnants of Tephrike's old parliamentary government vied for power. The Jedi enclave sought to restore order, only to succumb to the very evil they sought to oppose while believing that they served the Light. They were opposed by the slavocratic, human supremacist Disciples of the Vader, a Sith cult, and the Republican Guard. Unlike many of the dominant factions, the Guard was controlled by Non-Force-Users. In fact, it positioned itself as the champion of the common people, regarding Force-Users as their enemy. In the eyes of the Guard, their powers were a sickness. True freedom could only reign after the Force cults had been overthrown. The struggle would be arduous, but sometimes freedom was never free. Sometimes the tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Lacking a strong manufacturing basis and numbers, the Guard conducted a guerilla war against its opponents, striking from hidden bases in the jungle and beneath the ocean. They were backed by various alien races that had been marginalised by the new order, such as the Yuuzhan Vong, who faced persecution. Their Force Dead qualities made them particularly prized as warriors. Partisan units were established to strike at the Dominion and the Sith warlord states from the inside, performing sabotage, raids and terror attacks.
They would be directed by the Central Staff of the Partisan Movement, which maintained territorial commands to coordinate partisan activity and answered to the Republican Guard's military junta, which governs the liberated territories. Living off the land, these units learned to be self-sufficient, tough and ruthless. Blending in amongst the local populace, these underground movements would subvert the organs of Jedi and Sith control, until the day would come when the Guard could overthrow them and usher in a unitary, secular republic of Non-Force-Users by Non-Force-Users for Non-Force-Users. That has been the goal for a long time at any rate. Viper Company is one of the many units that have been established to this end. Though categorised as a company, it is in fact closer to platoon strength. Like many insurgencies, the Republican Guard likes to inflate its numbers a bit.
Viper Company has its units in a group of Yuuzhan Vong partisans who resisted the attempts of the Disciples of the Vader, a Tephriki Sith cult, to exterminate their people. Baanu Rass, a Vong settlement named after one of the oldest Yuuzhan Vong worldships to survive the trek from their galaxy to the known Galaxy, was razed by the Sith at the behest of Darth Oppress, an apprentice of the Dark Master of the cult. Oppress was a particularly vicious Sith. After the settlement had been sacked, prisoners were rounded up and massacred. However, a few survived the mass killings. Retreating into the wilderness, they swore to avenge their murdered kin. Thus they fought their own war as partisans, becoming adept at hunting and eliminating Force-Users. Darth Oppress himself was ultimately assassinated by them when they ambushed him with land mines and snipers. In time, the partisans entered an alliance with the Republican Guard, a resistance movement that had been formed to resist the Force theocracies that laid claim to Tephrike. Like many of their fellow Yuuzhan Vong, the vengeful guerillas joined the Guard. They distinguished themselves in many fights, focusing on terror attacks, assassinations and targeted strikes against Force-Users from both the fundamentalist Jedi-led Dominion and the Sith. It achieved renown for infiltrating and blowing up a Jedi academy.
As the older generation died off or was moved to other positions in the command apparatus, the newly christened Viper Company opened its ranks for new recruits. For obvious reasons there was a preference for Vong, especially those who had lost people to the Force cultists. However, the unit eventually allowed members of other races to join it. This was in keeping with the egalitarian beliefs of the multispecies Guard. But while the unit opened its ranks to Nautolans, Twi'leks, Quarren, humans and other races, it expected all its members to be Force Dead, regardless of race. Those who were not Vong would have to submit to a complex – and dangerous – procedure involving the application of Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology. Not all those who submitted to the process survived, which was why the unit would only accept volunteers.
Despite the risks, the unit's reputation and actions would ensure that it did not lack for recruits. Needless to say the members had to go through an extremely rigorous, gruelling training programme. Among other things, it involved endurance, jungle survival courses, the embrace of pain, hand-to-hand combat, demolitions and marksmanship training. Every member of the unit carries a cyanide suicide pill, which is to be used in case of capture. The Republican Guard is a secular group, but supports freedom of religion, provided the faith in question does not promote discord or Force use. Due to the strong Vong influence, some members of the unit believe in the Vong deities. Here it should be noted that the faith of the Tephriki Vong has diverged from that of their ancestors, who invaded the Galaxy centuries ago, in a number of ways.
Mezha Krahzmir, a Yuuzhan Vong refugee who had escaped from a Dominion prison camp, eventually ended up joining the unit after proving her worth among Republican Guard-backed partisans in enemy-held territory. Over time she rose to become Viper Company's commander. The unit played a prominent role in the so-called Hundred Days' Offensive. This was a military operation conducted by the Guard against the Dominion, which had been weakened by the Netherworld Event, as the Force was thrown out of balance. Deployed deep inside Dominion territory and working alongside local partisans, Viper Company did its part to throw Dominion forces into disarray.
A number of prominent members of the Windian Jedi Order were assassinated by the rebels. The unit also performed bombings, sabotage and attacks on Jedi installations. This involved utilising improvised explosive devices in civilian locations to target Jedi or alleged sympathisers, aiding in unleashing chemical weapons on enemy troops or Jedi strongholds, and helping disable factories that supported the Dominion war machine. One of their most prominent victims was a Jedi Council member. However, the Dominion fought back, applying a scorched earth policy. Eventually the Republican Guard offensive petered out and Viper Company was forced to retreat to escape the wroth of the Dominion. Vanishing into the wilderness, the partisans continued their war against the theocracies. When, after centuries of isolation from the rest of the Galaxy, foreigners arrived in Tephrike's orbit, the Republican Guard took note.
It soon transpired that the outsiders belonged to a group called Firemane. At first they attempted to negotiate with the Dominion, but soon open warfare broke out when an extremist faction in the Dominion attacked the Firemane negotiators. Some Firemane-allied pilots, led by Laira Darkhold, were shot down. Pursued by Dominion militia, they had to seek refuge in the wilderness. Viper Company operatives and normal irregulars, led by Mezha, followed the outsiders. When the pilots were being swarmed by Dominion militia, the rebels came to their aid. Ultimately this led to Firemane and the Republican Guard entering an uneasy alliance. It helped that Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, the adoptive daughter of Firemane's boss, had been captured by the Dominion. The Guard shared intelligence on Dominion forces and strongholds with the outsiders. In return, Firemane provided them with food and medical supplies. Eventually it decided to equip select rebel units, such as Viper Company, with some more advanced weapons. Viper Company played an important role in the battle for Fortress Purity, a joint assault on a major Dominion base and a key breastwork on the road to Nexus City, capital of the Jedi theocracy.
