Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: NPC antagonist. Basically a bunch of horrible people for Elpsis and friends to fight.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Personal assault unit for Lachesis.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: The Valkyrie's Diary, Kyriaki, Prosperity Quarter, Hope Falls, Adlerberg, Dominion of Light, Republican Guard, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Glorious Conflict, Castle Maysaf, Tephrike, Darth Eisen, Firemane, Amidala Corps.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: 23rd KEC Mechanised Infantry Division Humanity's Blade
Affiliation: Humanist People's Party, Disciples of the Vader, Darth Lachesis, Tephrike, KEC.
Classification: Mechanised Infantry. Combined arms.
Description: It is common for totalitarian and authoritarian regimes to create parallel militaries as a counterweight to the regular armed forces. The most serious threat to a dictator is a coup by his own followers, and in order to coup-proof his regime, he needs to maintain control of the armed forces and constantly monitor the key players. The purpose of a parallel military force is to protect the regime, and thus it is bound to it through a special relationship with the tyrant.
The KEC are both a parallel army and a secret police. The origins of these 'Knights' are humble, as they were conceived as a bodyguard force for Darth Malitia, founder of the Disciples of the Vader and supposed Sith'ari. However, over time they have expanded their tendrils into virtually every sphere of Humanist society. It controls the police force, maintains a parallel army, runs the concentration camps and maintains its own business empire. It regards itself as the vanguard of Humanism, charged with purifying Tephrike from 'alien' and 'inferior' elements. The 23rd KEC Mechanised Infantry Division Humanity's Blade is one of their combat units. These formations answer to a separate chain of command than the regular armed forces. They serve an irredeemably reprehensible regime. Fittingly, its symbol is a flaming sword.
The division has been founded by Darth Lachesis, a Sith Lord and one of the leaders of the Humanist People's Party that governs the Imperium. Most of the stormtroopers in the division are drawn from the island of Chios, where she grew up. Lachesis has a policy of settling veterans and their families there, giving them land grants. The land has been taken away from aliens who used to live there, but who were deported or outright murdered en masse. The stormtroopers played a key role in this genocidal operation. The divison draws a lot of its manpower from rural areas on Chios and the 'frontier'. These are seen as the perfect recruitment grounds for tough soldiers. Other recruits are drawn straight from the ranks of the Imperial Youth Corps. The official standards for entrance are exacting. A potential recruit must be able to prove their 'pure human' ancestry a couple generations back. Moreover, they must meet high standards for physical fitness. The training places great emphasis on classical military education, athletics and sports. Furthermore, political education plays a prominent role during training.
Membership of the Humanist People's Party is a requirement. Soldiers of the division are educated to view themselves not as 'apolitical', but as warriors of the Humanist ideology. This postulates that humans constitute a master race, and are superior to non-humans, who are only fit to be enslaved or exterminated. Humanist works such as 'Glorious Struggle', which blames the Gulag Virus on an alien Jedi conspiracy, are required reading. The level of political indoctrination is very high and political education is an important part of their curriculum. Participation in the Vaderites' pseudo-religious ceremonies is mandatory. This is meant to prepare soldiers for their eventual role as Humanist crusaders - and rid them of moral scruples that might arise when they are ordered to wipe out entire alien communities as 'partisans'. It has also fostered an elitist warrior ethos.
The Imperium is poor and corruption is endemic, but being part of this corps givesn the stormtroopers an elevated status and access to benefits such as pensions. Needless to say, they are determined to preserve these privileges for themselves and their families. At the same time, the divide between officers and enlisted men is less strict. Training emphasies mutual respect, rather than unthinking obedience. Each officer is required to pass through basic training alongside the enlisted men. It is not a requirement to salute officers. Moreover, it is forbidden to address a superior as 'sir'. Every officer is addressed by their rank. This is general policy in the KEC. However, Lachesis has taken this a step further by introducing the rule that Sith who serve in the division are not to be addressed as 'my lord', only by their military rank. This is a departure from convention in the Imperium, where every Sith, regardless of their position in the order, must be addressed as 'lord' by a Non-Force-User.
Vaderite society purports to create a People's Community where all class divisions have been broken down and all humans strive for the common good - and are superior to inferior 'xenos', as non-humans are called. In practice, society is still very classist and, naturally, Sith are seen as superior to Non-Force-Users. The culture is more egalitarian in the Humanity's Blade Division, as social standing is seen as less important than belief in Humanism, courage and personal loyalty to Lachesis. They have acquired a reputation for daring and bravery, as well as for their officers leading from the front. Of course, this also led to high officer casualties. For some members, service in the division has become a family tradition. The soldiers wear black uniforms on ceremonial occasions and grey ones while on duty. They don armour for combat.
The KEC have their own symbols and table of ranks that sets them apart from the regular army. A Private is a Squire, a Corporal an Errant, a Sergeant a Banneret, a Lieutenant a Crusader, a Major a Cavalier and a Colonel a Paladin. Captain is still a Captain though. The equivalent of a brigade general is a Commander, while a division general is called Knight Commander and a corps commander a Paladin Commander. Lachesis has the rank of KEC Lord Commander and General of the Stormtroopers. This makes her a full general. The stormtroopers do not fall under the jurisdiction of military or civil courts. Only the KEC Main Office Court has the authority to try KEC members for criminal behaviour. Humanity's Blade works closely with the Amidala Corps, a women's auxiliary and support group for the military. Many of their nurses, clerks-typists, cooks, mechanics, secretaries, and other essential support personnel are drawn from its ranks.
Lachesis herself is personally quite popular because she values the lives of her men and does not sacrifice their lives wantonly. She has been nicknamed 'Auntie Lachesis'. She has provided wounded veterans who ran into financial troubles with land grants at her own expense. The charismatic Sith Lady makes a habit of visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals and is the godmother of some of their children. She is also a Humanist fanatic and a genocidal butcher. She has a habit of distributing presents among her soldiers on important occasions such as Imperium Day. Her gifts are clothes and other items that have been stolen from murdered aliens and other 'enemies of humanity'. Thus their children and wives may end up profusely thanking 'Auntie Lachesis' for clothes that just a few days ago were worn by prisoners, before they were forced to dig their own graves and shot. Some of the socks they wear were made by cutting victims' hair off and turning it into felt.
A special detachment of Humanity's Blade serves as Lachesis' personal guard. It is commanded by Captain Nikos Diamandis. He honestly admires Lachesis, and is not afraid to speak his mind. When he joined her fledgling unit, he was down on his luck due to debts, an impoverished family and combat injuries. But she saw potential in him. He is the epitome of the 'honourable fascist'. Very polite and courteous, and intelligent, yet more than willing to carry out 'suppression orders'. He thinks himself a 'gentleman' because he treats his servants 'decently', but still expects them to obey him absolutely.
Knight Commander Anastasius Mexates serves under Lachesis, organising and leading the division for her. He is popularly known as Ironfist Mexates for the powerful prothesis he had his maimed right replaced with after killing a Jedi Master in battle or so the legend goes. In reality he was assisted by a a group of his soldiers and some now dead apprentices but still. The tall, bearded 'scholar-general' is a fervent believer in the Sith cause. He is liable to quote passages of Glorious Conflict both in dispatches and in battle. His catchphrase is: "The only good xenos is a dead xenos, unless it's a dying xenos who can tell you where his friends are."
Behind the scenes and propaganda though he is considered stubborn, unlikable, hard to work with, elitist and socially awkward. Moreover, he is a bit of an eccentric hypochondriac obsessed with bizarre physical ailments. This is the reason why, despite the clamouring of the papers, he has not been promoted higher. It has been judged that he is a good general of division size and probably not fit for higher command. His views of Lachesis is complicated. On the one hand he is from Chios and believes in her righteous mission and the glory of the Sith.
On the other he is unhappy to be put under the command of a woman, though he keeps it to himself. He feels it emasculates himself and his men to be under the command of 'female energy' no matter her skills and successes. This only confirms with exception rather than exclusion of the belief he has about women. Mexates is married, but does not take a lot of interest in his wife. Lachesis is well aware of his opinion and likes to mock his sexism, but finds him competent. Not only is he meticulous in enforcing discipline, he has an intuitive grasp for understanding her goals. Thus he does not require micromanagement.
Humanity's Blade is organised as a mechanised infantry division, which means it is a motorised formation equipped with armoured troop transports, armoured personnel carriers and trucks. This makes it well-suited for mobile warfare. Humanity's Blade has a reputation as a crack formation and is known for its speed, daring and tenacity. The soldiers of the formation have been nicknamed the Wraiths since they managed to stage a successful breakout from a city encircled by the Dominion of Light, a Jedi theocracy and the main foe of the Vaderites.
The division has become notorious for committing war crimes, and has been involved in or instigated countless massacres against civilian populations of aliens or 'enemies of humankind'. The soldiers are taught to regard non-humans as lesser beings, but also as vile devils who continuously scheme to destroy mankind. Its record is filled with atrocities, including wiping out entire communities, and murdering prisoners of war.
'Bandit-fighting' has more often than not been a smoke-screen for ethnic cleansings and mass killings. Humanity's Blade has assisted regular army formations, rear echelon security units, the Order Police and secret police death squads in such operations. Unsurprisingly, neither the Republican Guard nor the Dominion of Light are inclined to spare captured KEC stormtroopers. The savagery displayed by Humanity's Blade is a direct consequence of the evil system they are part of. Mercy is derided as weakness in a war against 'inferior races'. It is pertinent to stress that stormtroopers who express doubts about carrying out such illegal orders or who do not want to be part of the firing squads are not executed. Nor are their families punished. There is a lot of peer pressure, and soldiers who opt out are often seen as weaklings who are 'not man enough' to 'make the hard choices' and are less likely to receive promotion. They may be shamed by their comrades for 'leaving the dirty work to them'. But compliance is not forced at gunpoint. This makes their complicity all the more reprehensible.
It is worth noting that the Imperium's regular army also routinely commits atrocities. Both are criminal organisations that serve a criminal regime. There is a high degree of rivalry between the KEC and the regular army, but this has nothing to do with morals. Instead both organisations compete for influence, manpower and priority when it comes to receiving new equipment. Humanity's Blade has cooperated well with many regular army formations.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Large
Unit Availability: Unique
Unit Experience: Veteran
Equipment:
Armour:
- Stormtrooper Armour. Camo-painted to match terrain.
- Slugthrower Assault Rifle
- J-301 Pulse-Wave Saboteur
- E-11 Blaster Rifle
- Verpine Shatter Rifle
- ST-W48 Blaster
- M-110 Pulse-Wave Disruptor
- E-11D Carbine
- Scattergun
- Imperial Heavy Repeater
- Stouker Concussion Rifle
- FC-1 Flechette Launcher
- Verpine Shattergun
- FWG-5 Flechette Smart Pistol
- Enforcer Pistol
- Hard-Sound Gun
- Mandalorian Ripper
- DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol
- Adjudicator
- Sonic Disruptor
- Sith Tremor Sword
- Vibrodagger
- Generic Sith Swords. Only available to a small number.
Misc:
Support:
- PLX-4 Missile Launcher
- D-93 Incinerator Flamethrower
- Model MGL-1
- F-11ABA Heavy Blaster Cannon
- CSPL-12
- Model 201 Mortar System
- E-Web Heavy Repeating Blaster
- Slugthrower Machine Gun
- Armoured Personnel Carrier
- AAC-1 Speeder Tank
- 74-Z Speeder Bike
- Ground Assault Vehicles
- A few HAVw A6 Juggernauts
- HAVw A5 Juggernaut
- Hi-Sense Enhanced Eyes
- Adrenal Implant
- Cardio-Muscular Package
- Cybernetic Arms
- Cybernetic Legs
- Advanced Alacrity Implant
Humanity's Blade has also been utilised in anti-partisan warfare, which is often a euphemism for genocidal mass murder. The troops have become notorious for making no distinction between real guerrillas, political suspects, and aliens. Groups such as Twi'leks and Mon Calamari have been outright slaughtered under the flimsy pretext of being partisans. They may also make use of nerve gas, flamethrowers and similar weapons. However, their brutal methods and reliance on sheer firepower do not make them good at counterinsurgency operations. They are made for conventional engagements.
Humanity's Blade has a small cadre of Force-Users in its ranks, but these are very few in number and the vast majority of the stormtroopers are Non-Force-Users. The dark mages can utilise Force abilities like Force Lightning, various applications of Telekinesis, Force Fear and basic physical augmentation abilities such as boosting one's speed or an attribute such as strength or reduce one's sense of pain. Some of the stormtroopers have received cybernetic augmentations to enhance their abilities or replace lost limbs. These implants enhance traits like strength, resilience and reaction time, but also make them more susceptible to ion and EMP attacks. These cyborgs are a minority though.
Officers are trained to follow the principle of leading by mission, also known as mission-type tactics. This means that the military commander gives subordinate leaders a clearly defined goal - a mission -, the forces needed to accomplish that goal and the time frame within which the goal must be reached. The subordinate leaders then implement the order independently.
The subordinate leader is given, to a large extent, the planning initiative and a freedom in execution which allows a high degree of flexibility at the operational and tactical levels of command. Mission-type orders free the higher leadership from tactical details. For the success of the mission-type tactics it is especially important that the subordinate leaders understand the intent of the orders and are given proper guidance and that they are trained so they can act independently.
Strengths:
- Crack unit. Humanity's Blade is a well-trained, experienced unit with a high degree of unit cohesion. The soldiers are not held together by fear of their leaders, but comradeship. Rather than being micromanaged from above, it encourages a high degree of initiative from officers and enlisted men. The motorised element gives them mobility and increased firepower. The soldiers are zealots who are extremely dedicated to the Humanist cause, viewing themselves as crusaders of mankind.
- The division has a small number Force adepts. These are heavily outnumbered by the Non-Force-Users, but can use their abilities as force multipliers.
- Special cadre. Cyborg members benefit from implants that endow them with traits like improved strength, durability, reaction time etc.
- Heavy fire support in form of armoured transports such as Juggernauts. These also enhance their mobility.
- It is a line unit and thus focused on conventional frontline warfare. This can put them at a disadvantage in responding to foes using guerrilla tactics in terrain that negates their mobility and heavy firepower, such as deep forests, mountainous areas etc.
- Force-Using members are a very small minority and susceptible to the usual Force suppression fields, such as those generated by ysalamiri.
- Bravery and zeal are assets, but also have a downside. Officers who lead from the front are inspiring, but if they fall, the effect can be disruptive. Moreover, their zeal can manifest in arrogance when fighting foes they consider 'inferior' on the basis of their species.
- The cybernetic implants some of the soldiers are susceptible to ion and EMP attacks. Depending on proximity and power of a blast, an EMP attack could say hamper their responses by causing their cybernetics to respond more slowly, temporarily knock them out or even debilitate them permanently.
Tephrike has been isolated from the rest of the Galaxy since the outbreak of the Gulag Virus. Originally colonised during the twilight years of the Old Republic, it was subjugated by the Galactic Empire. The regime established by the Empire was overthrown with the aid of the Rebel Alliance and the planet emerged as a multi-species federation. Then the Gulag Virus sent the Galaxy spiralling into chaos. Warlords, Jedi, Sith and rebels vied for power. Prolonged warfare and the use of primitive weapons of mass destruction brought great devastation to the planet. Benign intentions turned to evil over time. Jedi who sought to restore order and reunite the planet fell to the darkness they claimed to oppose, while still believing that their intentions and actions were good. In so doing, they were corrupted by their power. Believing that they alone could lead Tephrike out of the darkness, they created a theocratic dictatorship.
The Republican Guard, a faction that glorified the Old Republic and staunchly opposed Force-users, was founded by disgruntled clone slave-soldiers and racial minorities that declared war on the tyrannical Force cults. The Disciples of the Vader were created by a fallen Jedi Knight. Thrust into command at a young age, he fell to the dark side. A vision convinced him that Darth Vader had chosen him as his champion, for Vader had experienced apotheois. He chose the name Darth Malitia, and was able to assemble an army that became a serious threat to the Dominion. His dark crusade was halted at Palmyra, Tephrike's old capital. But victory came at a staggering cost for the Dominion. However, the Vaderites survived and created their own state. It was founded upon the principles of human supremacy, tyranny and enslavement of non-humans.
The Humanity's Blade Division's history is closely tied to that of Darth Lachesis, who is one of the foremost Lords of the Disciples. Her family came from a lesser branch of a more influential clan that lived on the island of Chios. Her family, though respectable landowners from the Junker class, were quite poor. They had alien 'servants' and an estate, but it was in a poor state. One of the reasons for their lack of influence was that they had not produced a Force-User in generations. However, Isidora Manatos was Force-Sensitive and sent to train at the Sith Academy. She grew into a cunning, ruthless Sith. However, her hopes for elevation were dashed when she was put in charge of managing the clan's estates. This was a lucrative position, but a bit of a dead end for someone of her ability. However, it did give her skills in properly manipulating and working the 'xenos'.
Her cruel methods triggered a workers' uprising. The revolt was backed by Republican Guard partisans, who provided the rebels with arms, volunteers and training. Isidora ruthlessly crushed the revolt. To this end, she organised the humans she had settled on the lands in a militia. These irregulars proved surprisingly effective. The core of them was composed of veterans and they were promised land in return for good service, so they were very motivated. Isidora lacked leadership experience, but learned quickly and took advice from experienced veterans.
She gave the order that for every human soldier killed, a hundred aliens would be slaughtered. Her militia was exhorted to make 'salient examples' of civilians suspected of hiding rebels or providing them with supplies. Her zeal brought her to the attention of Darth Temis, and Isidora became her apprentice. She joined the KEC, the praetorian guard of the Humanist Party, and brought her fledling militia unit with her. It formed the nucleus of a new Stormtrooper unit, and soon swelled to battalion and then regiment size. Humanity's Blade saw action against the Republican Guard and the Dominion of Light. The stormtroopers distinguished themselves through courage and skill, but also gained a grim reputation for brutality and cruelty.
Isidora once led a perilous river crossing and then went on to 'liberate' a Dominion-controlled town despite not having been ordered to do so, after spending several days out of contact with high command. The Imperial media reported a great success, celebrating the 'liberation of fellow humans from xenos Jedi tyranny', and left out any mention of massacres of Dominion POWs or civilians by her troops. Her troops ruthlessly implemented the criminal Confessor Order, which dictated that any Confessor identified among captured Dominion troops be summarily executed. The same applied to captured alien Jedi.
Humanity's Blade rose in prestige when, following the Supreme Leader's death, Isidora brought tanks to Skywalker House, where the oligarchs had convened to choose a new leader. This helped sway the deliberations in favour of her cousin Darth Hyperion. She struck down her master. By now Humanity's Blade had swelled to division size by incorporating other units. Humanity's Blade went with Isidora when she was appointed governor-general of Chios. There they played a pivotal role in 'bandit-suppression operations' and 'population transfers'.
This was an euphemism for genocidal mass murder, as their master spearheaded a campaign to 'clear' the 'xenos reservations' and ghettos. The division often carried out mass shootings of innocent civilians and was deployed to hunt down 'partisans' in the forests. As part of one operation, the stormtroopers created a 40-km-wide 'dead zone' - a no man's land where any 'xenos' was to be shot as a 'partisan'. Around this time the division acquired its true form. Veterans were encouraged to settle on Chios with their families, taking over the homesteads and farms of aliens who had been deported or murdered outright. Isidora, now calling herself Darth Lachesis, even had some latifundia owned by her family broken up to settle former soldiers there. This 'General Settlemen Plan' was supposed to implement an agrarian, racial 'utopia' of farm and model villages interspersed with KEC outposts and tourist resorts.
Humanity's Blade was deployed back to the front to fight the Dominion. After notable successes, the Vaderites had been humiliated when a major air offensive ended in defeat. Cooperating with other units that constituted Lachesis' corps command, Humanity's Blade managed to take a strategically important city called Chazowa with her tank corps, after managing to outflank the enemy. House-to-house fighting was very fierce. However, then the situation turned critical because a Dominion counter-offensive threatened cut them off. The Dominion sought to envelope the city, with the ultimate objective of pinning the Vaderite troops against the sea. Hyperion ordered that the city be held at all costs.
However, Lachesis feared her troops being encircled and cut off. She had no qualms about butchering the 'impure' and 'undesirables' without mercy, but saw little purpose in pointlessly sacrificing 'pure' human blood. Air support and airdrops that had been promised did not materialise due to a combination of a lack of transport capabilities, hazardous weather conditions and Dominion airpower. Supplies of food, ammunition etc. were running low. Lachesis ate the same rations as the common soldiers. Indeed, sometimes she went without sustenance entirely, using the Force to sustain herself.
Lachesis contacted army group command to ask to evacuate. However, the marshal backed up Hyperion, before finally giving Lachesis a noncommittal response that passed the buck to her, but gave no guarantees that they would receive support during a breakout. So Lachesis ordered the breakout herself, defying the Leader. There was a heavy fog and the Dominion was shelling the streets. But Lachesis used her powers to guide lost soldiers to safety. Dominion troops kept harassing the Vaderites until they reached friendly lines. Lachesis took charge of the rearguard during the fighting retreat. Her actions made her very popular among her troops. The Supreme Leader was furious.
The Vaderite army group was eventually able to inflict a defeat upon the overextended Dominion troops by luring them into a trap. Though under orders to bypass Chazowa, the desire for vindication proved too strong for Lachesis and she took the city. Her troops took the city after savage house-to-house fighting, at the cost of high casualties. However, the subsequent Operation Citadel, which led to one of the largest tank battles in Tephriki history, ended in a Dominion victory.
Lachesis was removed from command, but the Vaderite cause deteriorated. She was reinstated after Hyperion survived an attempt on his life by a cabal of disgruntled officers. Increasingly, the Supreme Leader grew paranoid. The disruption caused by the Netherworld Event brought a faction of Light Sith, who promised freedom to the slaves, to power. Lachesis and her followers fought against these 'heretics', allying themselves with a group of hardliners led by Darth Furcht after the reformed Vaderites became embroiled in a costly war against the Dominion.
Humanity's Blade took a leading role in the 'cleansing' of the Prosperity Quarter ghetto. There the oppressed had managed to break their chains, taking over parts of nearby Adlerberg. The division faced several days of brutal house-to-house fighting. The rebels knew what gruesome fate awaited them if they fell into enemy hands, and there was no external support forthcoming, save from a few Republican Guard cells, so many fought to the last in order to buy their people time to flee.
The stormtroopers sustained heavy casualties during the fierce urban combat, and they levelled a large portion of the city. Eventually they were able to overcome the heroic resistance. Prosperity Quarter was rebuilt as a ghetto, but the flame of rebellion was not so easily extinquished. When Furcht was killed in a Firemane bombardment of the Vaderites' headquarters, Lachesis allied herself with the decadent, but cunning Darth Eisen, bringing her 'private army' to his side. Humanity's Blade fought in the campaign against the pretender Achilles, son of Furcht. With the boy-king beaten, the stormtroopers continue to serve the new Supreme Leader's cause. There are still Vaderite leaders who defy and low-intensity skirmishes with the Dominion and the Republican Guard are heating up.
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