Vaena Askari
Lady Cadalthor
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Mooks for Vaena.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Paratroopers.
Permissions: They can use Firemane gear because I own the company. Permission for all ArmaTech gear and all other subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here and here.
Links: Ashiranism, Asur Class Worldship, Kar'zun, Firemane, Kaeshana, Eldorai Exodus, Battle of Kaeshana, Tygara, Angelii, Qadiri.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Astrani
Affiliation: Vaena, House Cadalthor, Eldorai.
Classification: Infantry.
Description: Astrani are a minor form of angel in Ashiran scriptures. Devout Eldorai believe that if they live a virtuous life they will go to heaven and become angels. Thus the mortal warriors coming from the sky are modelled on those divine beings. Like their angelic namesakes, they descend from the sky to deliver fiery justice and smite the wicked. Eldorai are fond of flowery names. The Astrani are a formation of paratroopers. Fittingly, their unit emblem is an avenging angel swooping down from the sky. Rather than utilise drop pods to deploy into enemy territory, they rely on the cheaper Saviour anti-grav-chutes. They are capable of being deployed on the frontlines or behind enemy lines, and are characterised by a high degree of manoeuvrability, flexibility and discipline. This means they can attack unexpectedly and rapidly to, say, seize key locations in preparation for a conventional assault. An example would be a bridge, spaceport or similar.
Once on the ground, the Astrani operate as light infantry. They have a lot of firepower for an infantry-based formation, but will regular support in larger engagements, and have to rely more on speed, skill and surprise rather than raw firepower. While it is possible to air-drop certain types of vehicle, they will often have to operate without support from armoured vehicles until reinforcements arrive. The modern battlefield makes mass drops of paratroopers impractical, as sensors, anti-air artillery and missiles, not to mention the incredible firepower a modern army can bring to bear, could easily make it suicidal if one were to say drop a division. As a result, the full force of the Astrani is unlikely to be brought to bear against a real enemy.
This has at times been the cause of annoyance in the Eldorai military's 'airborne clique', which is sometimes given to the rather romantic notion of mass aerial drops from the time of the Great War against the Kar'zun. However, drops are commonly carried out in smaller, more compact formations that are able to maintain mobility and flexibility. A typical operation consists of jumping in behind enemy lines, taking control over a bunch of airfields or bridges and then holding out for long enough until the heavy infantry arrives to reinforce them, since they will require armour and heavy artillery to hold on to their gains in the face of an enemy counterattack.
The criteria for selection are rigorous. The Astrani are volunteers, and must complete a gruelling selection process, which tests their physical and emotional aptitude. As a result, only a small number of applicants are accepted and many drop out during training. The recruitment physical test includes a 10-mile run in heavy gear. Aside from standard combat training, they also learn about topography, night time operations, and, of course, aerial drops.
As with many special operations units, the Astrani are bound by a strong esprit de corps. This gives the formation cohesion, though it can also manifest in unfortunate rivalries with other groups. Soldiers are bound by shared experiences in training and on the battlefield - especially the blood that has been spilt on the latter. In keeping with this, Astrani continue to serve in the formation after being discharged. This is done either in the career army or the reserves. Thus they remain part of the family. Typically, Eldorai veterans are given the option of receiving a land grant. Those who take advantage of this offer exchange their blade for the metaphorical plough, but are still considered reservists and can be called up in times of need.
The Astrani have been assigned to Vaena Cadalthor since she largely operates in frontier areas, where she has need of mobile drop troops. The Duchess is a former soldier who used to serve in an Angelii. This is obviously not as good as an Astrani, if one were to ask a paratrooper, but nobody is perfect. Notable portions of the Eldorai species have settled on worldships and embraced a semi-nomadic life style. Vaena herself has her own worldship. This makes it especially important to have mobile troops that can be deployed on short notice. Most of the Astrani are Eldorai, but they have recently opened their ranks to Tygaran 'cousins' who have sworn an oath of fealty. Qadiri have become prominent among them. Not all Eldorai are pleased about this. Racism is sadly a vice they are prone to. However, Vaena regards the Tygarans as fellow children of Ashira.
The force is commanded by Niraya Antava. She is a career soldier and a devout orthodox Ashiran. She is from Galondrona, which used to be the fief of the Cadalthor family, and used to serve in their personal household troops. She transferred to the regular army prior to the Exodus from Kaeshana. Niraya had her issues with the relative liberalisation under Tirathana VII and the influence foreigners had managed to acquire. Nonetheless, she was one of the Astrani officers who helped put down the attempted mutiny. This put her in good standing. Her relationship with Vaena is not without complications. Niraya is big on tradition and following the rules. This means she is not fully on board with a bastard being the new duchess. It goes against her legitimist views. However, she follows her loyally despite that.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Medium
Unit Availability: Uncommon
Unit Experience: Veteran
Equipment:
Armour:
Rifles:
- SR-2 Magnetic Repeater
- Mk I Boltgun
- ACS-205 Dual Weapon System
- Reaper Plasma Shotgun
- ACS-205 Blackblade Modular Rifle
- Verpine Shatter Rifle
- ACS-202 Vanquisher Light Repeating Blaster
Support Weapons:
- Lance Missile Launcher. Limited to specialist.
- TL-50 Heavy Repeater
- Model MGL-1. Usually mounted beneath a rifle as an underslung grenade launcher.
Transports:
Attached Weapons:
Misc:
Combat Function: The Astrani are a rapid deployment force of light infantry, who specialise in aerial and atmospheric drops. They can be deployed in virtually any environment to seize strategic targets such as bridges. Moreover, they can be inserted behind enemy lines and evade enemy fortifications that impede a direct assault. Furthermore, their deployment can force the enemy to spread out their troops to defend multiple areas that would normally be safe from the enemy.
However, they are vulnerable during transit, since the drop potentially exposes them to enemy fire. For this reason, it is pivotal to pick the right drop zone. Once on the ground, the Astrani fight as light infantry. For an infantry unit they have a good deal of firepower, but forego heavy integrated support such as artillery, tanks and the like. While it is possible to air-drop some vehicles, this is unlikely to happen in the first wave and usually the Astrani will not receive heavy support until reinforcements land. The lack of vehicles such as armoured personnel carriers during the initial landings obviously also limits their speed and the amount of ground they can cover quickly.
This means that while they are good at seizing strategic locations, it will be difficult for them to hold these areas for a prolonged period if an enemy launches a determined counterattack and has heavy armour and artillery support. In such a situation the paratroopers will require support from more heavily armed allies. By seizing key areas such as spaceports and airfields, the Astrani can pave the way for a larger allied force to arrive.
Strengths:
- Mobile and flexible, they can be deployed rapidly into enemy territory. Their training in carrying out atmospheric grav-chute jumps makes them ideal for lightning raids and surprise attacks.
- Crack light infantry.
- Grav-chutes leave the user exposed to enemy fire. This is a problem when a supposedly safe landing zone turns out to have lots of flak. Moreover, it can also not really be steered. Moreover, they are single use. If a grav-chute breaks down mid-flight, this is a serious problem for a trooper.
- Armed as light infantry and thus forego heavy support such as armoured fighting vehicles, artillery and the like. They can seize a strategic position, but will require support to avoid being overrun by enemy armour.
The Astrani have their roots in the reign of Ariane the Great. That time was an era of great strife as the Kar’zun sought to establish dominance over the Eldorai and over all Kaeshana. For a long time, the Kar'zun had been on the road victory, taking advantage of internecine strife among the feuding Eldorai. The King, Arz’alor, seemed unstoppable, but his aims were unknown. Eldorai propaganda would always declare he wanted to exterminate their kind, though it is more likely he simply sought to expand his kingdom. Finally, a reaction was born. Ariane Saedaris, one of the great generals and nobles of the Eldorai, seized the throne and preached a veritable crusade against the Kar’zun. She brought the worship of Ashira to new heights of zealotry, and using new weapons including some from the first outsiders to arrive on the planet, she formed a massive army.
New technologies, some of them acquired through trade with outsiders, allowed the Eldorai to deploy more advanced troops than before. One of the innovations were paratroopers. Airborne warfare was seen as a way to strike deep into Kar'zun territory and raise the morale of the Eldorai. The strength of the Kar'zun lay in their strength, implacability and technology, but they were slow and ponderous compared to the more flexible, but less durable elves.
The first airborne assault was an operation where a detachment of the fledgling Astrani parachuted behind enemy lines to blow up a major industrial facility in the mountains where the Kar'zun had made their home. The initial start was difficult. The Eldorai used modified bombers to drop the paratroopers. However, their drop was mired by equipment failure and navigational errors. As a result, a good portion of their explosives and a team of sappers landed off-course.
However, the remaining Astrani soldiered on, improvising on the spot. They were able to destroy the factory and withdraw in good order. However, although they moved as fast as they could to their evacuation points, they were soon surrounded by Kar'zun troops and captured. One Astrani managed to escape captivity and another was tortured and executed, but the rest remained captives. The destroyed factory was eventually rebuilt. Notwithstanding this setback, the operation served as a morale boost and the Eldorai airborne establishment gained experience.
In the time leading up to the great Battle of Av'vakaz, the Astrani were used in several small-scale raids and bold delaying actions to buy the Eldorai army time. They were also parachuted into Kar'zun-occupied areas to link up with Eldorai partisans and gather intelligence. In preparation for the final battle, they were deployed to disrupt Kar'zun defences, taking several small villages. These operations played a notable role in securing victory at Death Sorrow, as the Kar'zun call the battle, but did not satisfy the airborn establishment's desire for glory.
In the aftermath of the battle, Arryn Naeran, an Eldorai general known for her brilliance as much as for her ego, proposed a daring plan to cut off retreating Kar'zun troops and secure the crossings into their industrial heartland. Valeria Arana, the commander of the Astrani corps, embraced the plan as a way to put the airborne troops in the limelight. She voiced concerns about the timetable, but downplayed information provided by her intelligence officer about the Kar'zun being stronger than assumed. The official line was that the Kar'zun were carrying out a hasty retreat and had expended their last reserves.
However, in actual fact a reserve column of the Kar'zun was hurrifying to rejoin the defearted army. It is claimed that when Arana was informed that the Astrani would have to hold the bridges for four days until reinforcements arrived, she answered that they could hold it for four, but later claimed to her field commander Taenya Inawarin that they might be going a bridge too far. Detractors claimed that she was fixated on getting a peerage.
The initial landings were successful and the Astrani were able to capture vital bridges. They were supposed to be reinforced by an armoured corps to consolidate their gains. However, Kar'zun engineers managed to blow up two of the bridges before they could be taken, delaying the arrival of reinforcements by several hours. Meanwhile, the Astrani encountered stiff enemy resistance. The fresh Kar'zun reserves that had been route to join their retreating ran straight into the lightly armed airborne troops.
Thus the paratroopers found themselves facing heavily armoured and very angry foes. They were pitted against crack soldiers and tanks. Moreover, a lot of the communications equipment they had been outfitted with did not work over long distances. This had been known to Eldorai officers, but they had not made their superiors aware of their awares, since the latter had been intent on ignoring any nay-sayers. One unit of Astrani was able to take a bridge by staging a daring river crossing with boats while under heavy enemy fire, but the main force had been encircled by the Kar'zun. The Astrani repelled several attacks, but their drop zones had been overrun and reinforcements could not break through the enemy lines.
Knowing that no reinforcements were forthcoming, the Kar'zun commander agreed to a brief ceasefire, which allowed both sides to evacuate their wounded. Then they hit their hated foes with everything they had. Led by Inawarin, some of the Astrani managed to flee. The rest were overrun. The heroic last stand ended with most of the Astrani being wiped out. Inawarin escaped back to friendly lines with less than a fifth of her original force. They had been forced to leave the heavily wounded behind. When she confronted Arana about the debacle, the latter responded by saying that she had always that they were going a bridge too far.
Naeran, the instigator of the operation, claimed it had mostly been a success and blamed the setbacks on bad weather. To this day, the Eldorai airborne establishment continued to demand another massive air drop operation, but was always turned down. Following the destruction of the Kar'zun capital, the Astrani participated in numerous mop-up operations against Kar'zun partisans who resisted being deported to 'reservations'. This made them complicit in the atrocities and reprisals carried out by the Eldorai. But they increasingly fought other Eldorai in their people's seemingly endless civil war.
A paratrooper drop over the Eldorai capital helped General Roshana Venari secure the throne. A rather tragic fate befell the legitimate heiress Ilyse. Her grandmother had alienated the elites, and in came a girl who was barely an adult. The putschists moved her to a secure location 'for her protection', while Roshana became her guardian regent, then 'regretfully' took the title of Queen after Ilyse was 'consumed by sorrow'. The usurper took the regnale name Tirathana V and killed many members of the former royal royal family.
As Kaeshana opened up to the rest of the galaxy, the Astrani were increasingly deployed against foreign enemies that menaced the Eldorai, but also saw action against 'Dark Eldorai' insurgents. The Eldorai's dealings with Firemane allowed them to upgrade their arsenal. However, there was also an unfortunate case of mutiny when a unit of Astrani, disgruntled with what they view as appeasement of the foreign devils who had acquired too much power at court, plotted to take control of the capital. This led to some internal house-cleaning. Following the Exodus, the Astrani participated in the campaigns on Tygara and returned to the now devastated Eldorai homeworld to fight in the Battle of Kaeshana. They conducted drop strikes to allow survivors to escape and support Eldorai partisans.
Last edited:
