OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Shadow Knights and give Kytara a squadron.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Starfighter pilots, commandos.
Permission: Permission for all ArmaTech gear and all other subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here and here.
Links: Eldorai, Eldorai Exodus from Kaeshana, Yohara Taenasi.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Banshee Squadron
Affiliation: Kytara Valon, Shadow Knights, Court of the Shadows.
Classification: Fighter Pilots, Special Forces.
Equipment:
Armour:
- AE-AS1 Ghostsuit or AE-AS2 Specter Flight Suit
- Combat de-ionizer, Electrical Capacitance Shield.
- HRD bodies.
Sidearms:
- A280-CFE Blaster
- Verpine Shattergun
- Sonic Stunner
- Magnetic Revolver
- MSD-32
- Sonic Disruptor
- Hold-out Bolter
- Renegade Model 557
Melee:
Misc. Equipment:
- Spirit Gems.
- Whisper Jetpack
- Hypnogaze.
- Grenades (Up to 6)
- Graph 18 Surface Locator
- Weapon Silencers
- Plasma Disruptor
- U20 Field Wrist link.
- Signal scrambler.
- Fighters are equipped with Anti-Ion Emission Tracers
- BCC BC-11 Comlink
Here and there, members of the Shadow Knight movement come across posters stating: "For them death is no excuse. Is it for you?" These words tend to be accompanied by the image of starfighters, tanks or soldiers in sealed battle armour. They refer to women and men whose service has not ended with death. Some are volunteers who have given the state custody over their souls in return for the payment of hefty pensions to their families. Others simply possess skills that are too valuable to lose. The Shadow Knights trap their essence in spirit gems.
The small, sturdy crystals preserve the soul of a dying Eldorai. This enables them to continue their service after their mortal body has failed them, retaining their memory and skills in life. In addition, they can be plugged into droids, vehicles and starships to interact with the world around them. The morality of this is questionable, to say the least. However, the Shadow Knights are more concerned with the survival of their race than tender moral questions. A number of members of the movement are deeply uncomfortable about postponing the final rest of the dead. The Archon, a believer in Ashira, is one of them. But sacrifices must be made. The Shadow Knights' ideology postulates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
Banshee Squadron is one of the units advertised by the poster. In Eldorai mytholoy, banshees are vengeful female spirits. It is believed they take vengeance on the unjust. This makes it an appropriate name for the unit. In life the Banshees were among the Forsaken who were left behind on Kaeshana when most Eldorai evacuated the doomed planet. Most of the Banshees are low class orphans who lost their families in the cataclysm; others are revolutionary stalwarts.
They were forged in a world of blood, fire and steel. To them the Squadron has become something close to a surrogate family, binding them beyond death. They are a small, very tight-knit group. They are honoured by their peers, but several of them are also uncomfortable in the presence of the Banshees. Outside of combat, the Banshees also serve as flight instructors and trainers, teaching the next generation...some of whom may one day join them in unlife.
They are all elite pilots, but also capable of acting as commandos by having their spirit gems implanted into the bodies of HRDs stolen from Archangel. This is more than a little ironic since Archangel was also responsible for most of their deaths. Their loved ones, should any still be around, receive pensions and other privileges. In Shadow Knight society, service guarantees citizenship. So those who have chosen to serve beyond death are particularly honoured. Even if in some cases the choice has been made for them. As is common for a squadron, the unit has twelve members.
The commander of the unit is Kytara Valon, a former smuggler, privateer and fighter pilot. Born as the daughter of two pilots who served a family of pompous nobles, she experienced the oppressive nature of the ancien régime first-hand and was radicalised at an early age. After avenging the death of her parents by killing her former mistress, she became a smuggler. Looking for a purpose, she affiliated with the Shadow Knights, but retained her independence.
Until she suffered near-fatal injuries after a daring trench run against an Archangel warship. Now she serves the Eldorai renegades in unlife. She has a strong sense gallows' humour, which makes her come across as irreverent, but has also made her popular among her team members. Having been robbed of her life at an early age, she is determined to make her unlife count. Daring though not reckless in battle, she leads by example.
The most senior pilot after Kytara is an Eldorai female called Shanara Vael. In contrast to Kytara, Shanara is one of the original Banshees and has long been a member of the Shadow Knights. She was still rather young when Kaeshana's cataclysmic destruction occured. The planet's post-apocalyptic conditions hardened her, forcing her to grow up fast. She quickly became a protege of Meara, the founder of Banshee Squadron, forming a strong bond with the older woman. Back then it consisted of flesh and blood pilots.
Shanara was put into a coma when Archangel unleashed a psychic weapon in the final battle. Her soul was transferred into a gem. The same battle claimed the life of her mentor. Shanara is a capable pilot, special forces operator and a good XO for the squadron, but feels resentment over being passed over for command in favour of someone who joined the Shadow Knights fairly late and, in her view, displayed little conviction till now. This causes some tension between her and Kytara.
Another pilot of note is Zyara Jai Koral. In contrast to the two aforementioned, she is a Qadiri rather than an Eldorai. Back on her homeworld Tygara, Zyara was an insurgent who fought against Shahbânu Semiramis, ruler of the Amikarese Empire. She was an associate of Jahira Jai Kazal, the leader of a group of nomadic raiders who shared her grudge against the ancien régime. Firemane support for Semiramis forced her to go underground. When the Shadow Knights did a covert recruitment drive on Tygara in the days leading up to the abandonment of the planet by its people, she joined them.
Qadiri have an instinctive talent for navigation, which helped Zyara become an excellent pilot. She put racist Eldorai who scoffed at the notion of a 'sand baby' in the cockpit to shame. Zyara has handled the transition very poorly, viewing it as a form of damnation. Emotional adjustment procedures have made her more compliant, but also comparatively robotic. She is a very stern instructor to new pilots. Deep down, she knows they may end up dead or in the same condition as her, so she pushes them hard to ensure they survive, but comes across as acerbic and cold.
Zolath'Citali is the Xioquo member of the squadron. Though she grew up a slave, Citali became an avid technophile and acquired a fascination for outsider technology after Firemane's conquest of the Underealm. Before the fall, she was the personal slave of a Xioquo alchemist and machinist who developed many of the war engines of her people, including primitive gyrocopters.
Her keen intelligence and skill at dissembling kept her from sharing the fate of many of her fellow slaves and being sent to the blood forges. After freeing herself, she realised quickly that the outsiders were people, not deities, and learned all she could. Fascinated by the prospect of life in the stars, she was recruited by the rebels.
Citali actually views her new condition as an improvement because now she can walk out into the sun without being burnt. Her mechanical body is a lot stronger and sturdier and she does not need to sleep anymore. However, she worries about how her condition might change in the future, as she knows it is only a purgatory. As a result, she is quite determined to improve on it. She conducts her own studies of the soul gems and can often be found tinkering with whatever new piece of tech the team happens to come across during their missions.
Ysildae Sylmaris is a former fighter pilot of the Eldorai Matriarchy's navy who was shot down and ended up behind enemy lines during the Battle of Kaeshana. Captured by the enemy, she was able to escape together with some rebels and fell in line with the Dark Eldorai. She eventually became a convert to their cause and decided to stick with them, believing this to be a better way to help her scattered sistren and brethren.
Elanil Yesran has been made a member of the squadron as a way to atone for past crimes. Before being drafted, she was a member of a group of corsairs who brought the Shadows into disrepute, as they made deals with slavers and even sold fellow Eldorai deemed 'reactionary' into slavery to 'teach them a lesson'. These actions put her beyond the pale and led to her being ostracised by the Shadows. After the corsairs had been taken down, high command decided that since she had been a good pilot and commando she could repay her debt to society by serving it in unlife. Adjustment procedures have been carried out to make sure she remains obedient.
Tamissa Kol is one of the more well-adjusted members of the squadron. She became a political activist, a renegade and a resistance fighter at an early age. A passionate anti-monarchist, she joined an Illyrian rebel group. She fought against Tirathana VI, the totalitarian Star Queen who ruled Kaeshana with an iron fist, was imprisoned and mutilated for her crimes against the state. She was freed by Tirathana VII, the old queen's more liberal and tolerant daughter, as part of a general amnesty.
She soon found her way back to radical circles. When Nemesis came to Kaeshana, she was among the Forsaken. Tamissa is kind of happy that she has an HRD body because she now has her proper ears back. She views her present condition as a judgement by her goddess. One day her essence will pass away and she will face Illyria's judgement in the underworld. For a Death Cultist, she is quite cheerful and good at improving morale.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Small.
Unit Availability: Unique.
Unit Experience: Elite.
Combat Function: Banshee Squadron is composed of commandos and elite pilots. It has taken to raiding, infiltrating, and sabotaging the efforts of their enemies. The squadron able to compete in guerrilla warfare in enemy occupied territory from multiple approaches rather than just flying starfighter missions. They can conduct assault, escort, recon and infiltration operations.
They are able to infiltrate and exfiltrate enemy territory, and excel at performing ambushes. The Banshees can pilot starfighter craft by interfacing directly with them via their spirit gems, which enhances their piloting abilities, or through use of their HRD bodies. Lacking organic weaknesses, they can pull off manoeuvres that would be beyond those of flesh and blood pilots. This can give them an advantage in dogfights and attack runs.
Use of HRD bodies allow them to interact with the world outside of a cockpit and participate in combat if needed. While piloting them, they have the traditional strengths and weaknesses of an HRD. Their spirit gems are protected with a small shield generator and reinforcement. This makes them difficult to destroy - but not impossible. Powerful attacks or ion blasts can disable or destroy a gem. It is obviously especialy vulnerable if it lacks a host or said host has been disabled.
Their HRD bodies gives him incredible strength and resilience, but they are also vulnerable to ion, EMP and electrical discharges. Moreover, lightsabres, powerful explosions and heavy blasters weapons can still damage or destroy them. To stay mobile, they largely forego heavy weapons on the ground, which is a disadvantage against heavy armour such as tanks. Their strengths lie in surprise and subversion.
It should be noted that while the Banshees use machines to maintain their unlife and interact with the world, their minds are still those of Eldorai. As a consequence, they can feel fear or have other emotional reactions, just like any organic being. Being a unit of special purpose operators, the Banshees are only lightly armed and armoured. On ground operations they forego heavy armour and weapons in order to stay mobile. This means they would suffer in direct confrontations with entrenched fortifications and in pitched combat. Furthermore, the unit is the size of a squadron, so they obviously cannot take on large groups of enemies on their own. HRDs are not invincible in his this high-tech galaxy, after all, and death charging a fleet with a dozen starfighters tends to not go well.
Strengths:
- Elite starfighter pilots and guerillas.
- Can utilise HRD bodies, granting them incredible strength and resilience.
- Have the strengths and weaknesses associated with their hosts. HRD are vulnerable to the traditional machine weaknesses. Starfighters suffer in direct confrontation with capital ships. Soul gems are sturdy, but can be destroyed by powerful attacks. This will release their spirits into the Netherworld.
- Stuck in limbo between life and death. The associated trauma of their near-deaths is something that could be exploited via canny mentalism.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Eldorai have always been a spiritual, deeply religious people. The strength of their religious beliefs sets them apart from a largely secular or Deistic Galaxy. To many Eldorai, the universe is divided into those who follow the light of the Great Goddess Ashira and those who do not. Those who worship Ashira (and are Eldorai, for they alone are her chosen people) will go to heaven when they die if they have lived a virtuous life. Those who do not meet these criteria will suffer eternal torment in the black pits of Illyria.
In short, the Eldorai have a clear idea about the natural order of things. Death is a natural part of life, and thus seeking to prolong one's life is an aberration. Something like essence transfer would be regarded as a grave violation of the natural order. However, there are cases where exceptions must be made. Those with rare skills might find it hard to pass on their knowledge to the next generation or be too valuable to use. So the Eldorai have made use of spirit gems to preserve certain rare individuals. These are only to be utilised in the rarest of circumstances. Partly because they are difficult to manufacture, partly due to the fact that the purgatory like existence of the souls trapped inside the gems is regarded as problematic.
However, recent calamities have forced the Eldorai to make compromises. First Kaeshana was devastated by a huge asteroid, forcing most Eldorai to flee their homeworld. Later it fell under the control of foreign occupiers. Recently, the Eldorai have moved into the stars, seeking new worlds. But the wounds are still raw. The elves have been thrust onto an infinitely greater stage than they could have possibly been imagined. Furthermore, they have been forced to realise that they are outnumbered and outgunned by the rest of the Galaxy.
The present-day Banshee Squadron is a result of this. Today, the squadron is composed solely of pilots trapped in soul stones. However, originally it was a squadron of flesh and blood pilots. Banshee Squadron was formed by the Shadow Knights, an Eldorai dissident organisation that was founded in response to the destruction of Kaeshana. While Firemane and the Eldorai Matriarchy were able to evacuate most Eldorai prior to the impact, some had to be left behind. They called themselves the Forsaken and were forced to survive in a blasted wasteland. Warlords and gangs vied for scarce resources, and foreign slavers preyed on them.
The Shadow Knights were formed by Eldorai rebels, as well as soldiers who had grown disillusioned with the government. They tried to wrest some order from the chaos and protect the surviving communities. Eventually they were forced to retreat from Kaeshana in the aftermath of the Battle of Kaeshana between the Galactic Alliance and the First Order. They pooled their resources into a nomadic migrant fleet, dedicated to finding a new home for their people. The harsh conditions compelled them to prioritise survival over tender moral questions.
Banshee Squadron was formed as a unit of irregulars. Many of its pilots were refugees who had lost family during the cataclysm. They fought against local warlords, Archangel, a machine cult that sought to abduct Eldorai to process them into machines or entech them, and later the First Order. It was founded by Meara Aelasar, a long-time career insurgent who had been associated with the Red Eagles, a 'Dark Eldorai' resistance group.
The Banshees gained renown for their bravery and skill, but also for being extremely independently-minded. In the aftermath of the retreat from Kaeshana, they joined the migrant fleet. They flew escort missions for the fleet, carried out raids and guerilla attacks to help acquire resources to keep it afloat. Many times they clashed with Kraal raiders and Archangel, both of whom had taken a predatory interest in the Eldorai. Kytara Valon, a free pilot and privateer, often served alongside them.
Banshee Squadron was part of the Shadow Knight strike force that helped bring down Archangel. Necessity had forced the Shadow Knights to ally with Enyo Typhos, herself a creation of Archangel, and her paramilitary organisation, the Iron Fist Consortium. Both distrusted one another, but were forced to band together to defeat a foe that threatened them both. The battle was a brutal one. Archangel had acquired advanced technology from the remnants of the Contingency, a group of Shards that had sought to exterminate organic life and had a grudge against Enyo for betraying them.
The Shadow Knights suffered heavy casualties in the space battle. Aside from deploying advanced droid warships and fighters, Archangel unleashed a psychic weapon which hit the squadron. The Banshees and Kytara were able to destroy an Archangel battleship, but at a cost. Many of the pilots were rendered comatose by the psychic wave, others died or suffered severe injuries. Kytara herself suffered near-mortal injuries due to being caught in the explosion after her attack run had succeeded.
The Shadow Knights were able to recover the bodies of nine pilots. The destruction of the prototype warship had played a vital role in securing victory. Many armies would not have considered transferring the souls of the pilots into spirit gems, but for the Shadow Knights survival was the prime imperative. Strategos Yseult Faerin, general-in-chief of the Shadow Knights, authorised the programme. It was supervised by Yohara Taenasi, the iconoclastic Eldorai scientist who had invented the next generation of soul gems. The morality of the operation was dicey to say the least, but she carried out the procedure nonetheless.
The Banshees were heroines. Their bodies had failed them, but there was a way for them to continue service. Thus they pulled the plug on the mortal forms of the comatose pilots. Those who had suffered severe injury but were not yet past the point of being salvaged were also transferred. One of them was Kytara Valon. It was she who had destroyed the warship and her daring piloting had impressed her superiors. A few volunteers were added to bring them back to full strength. Kytara was appointed as squadron leader. Her leadership skills would serve them well. In life she had been a loose cannon, but now she dedicated herself to the cause.
Thus Banshee Squadron lived to fight another day, in a manner of speaking at least. To increase their effectiveness, the Shadow Knights gave every Banshee an HRD body their spirit gems could be plugged into. This would allow them to participate in ground combat or boarding actions instead of merely being pilots. It was darkly ironic that the HRDs had originally been built by Archangel. The same applied to the modern spirit gems that now housed their life essence. After an adjustment period, the reborn squadron returned to duty. The elves have scattered across the stars, so the Banshees will undoubtedly see action soon.
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