Mawite Legend
Bogaranth Cavalry
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To draw on the Brotherhood of the Maw's Nihil roots and create a thematic ground unit.
- Image Credit:
- Top Image: Concept Art from the starwars.com High Republic Concept Art Gallery
- Description Images: High Republic Adventures Issue 3, drawn by Harvey Tolibao and colored by Rebecca Nalty
- Role: Heavy Cavalry
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Bogaranth, Nihil
- Unit Name: Bogaranth Cavalry
- Affiliation: Brotherhood of the Maw
- Classification: Cavalry / Warbeast
Description: Vile and terrifying fusions of reptile and insect, bogaranths are mega-predators whose homeworld has been lost to time. On their own they are vicious and chaotic, always hungry and capable of scarfing down colossal amounts of meat. With a Brotherhood rider atop their backs and a slime runner to guide them, they are capable of being directed into charging at a targeted foe, using their massive bulk and powerful jaws to smash through anything that dares get in their way. The rider atop each bogaranth exercises some small amount of control over it with his shock whip, but mostly just uses his high position to snipe at enemies with his long blaster lance, which doubles as a way to slash or impale anyone trying to climb the bogaranth. Actually directing the creatures falls to the slime runner scurrying along in front of it, trying not to become its first meal.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
- Unit Size: Small
- Unit Availability: Uncommon
- Unit Experience: Veteran
- Equipment: Shock Whip (Rider), Blaster Lance (Rider), Blaster Pistol (Slime Runner), Bogaranth Mount
Combat Function: Bogaranth Cavalry operates as heavy support for Brotherhood ground troops. When a fortified position or mass of armored vehicles stops marauders in their tracks, or when concentrated fire from enemy infantry formations pins down advancing raiders, the bogaranths are called in to break the stalemate. The creatures are generally only able to be directed for one good charge, as their slime runners are usually killed in the process - and even if they manage to survive, the bogaranths are locked in a blood frenzy by then. If the bogaranth survives whatever confrontation it was thrown into, the rider - working with Maw beastmasters on the ground - does his best to subdue it, either for transport to the next battlefield or until another slime runner can be brought up to guide it to fresh carnage on the current one.
- Power and Bulk: Bogaranths are huge creatures. They average about six meters tall and ten meters long, and weigh in at around sixty tons, much of it muscle. This puts them in the literal weight class of tanks, and they are perfectly capable of charging, ramming, and seriously damaging - or even overturning - armored vehicles. A toss of their huge heads can send a squad of infantry flying, and a chomp of their powerful jaws can rip apart durasteel plating. Their thick hides and knots of muscular tissue make them fairly difficult to injure, allowing them to shrug off blaster bolts and vibroblade cuts. They are terrifyingly fast for their size, and their long legs - comprising much of their total height - keep their bodies well above many ground hazards, allowing them to pass easily over difficult terrain.
- Noxious Slime: When hungry, which is most of the time, bogaranths secrete noxious slime from their slavering jaws, leaving a steaming green-white trail behind them as they run. This slime is caustic, burning flesh and eating into metal, which further improves their ability to bite through armor plating. The poisonous mucus also emits a toxic vapor that sickens many species, filling them with nausea if they breathe it in. The trail left behind a bogaranth charge makes it difficult for scattered infantry to reform in its wake. Additionally, the Brotherhood's bogaranths are trained to vomit up huge wads of slime on command, which they use to burn through enemy strongpoints.
- Slime Runners: Bogaranths are brutish, stupid, nasty creatures with a mean streak that nearly surpasses their survival instinct. Training them is almost a lost cause, and there is an extremely limited set of things they can be trained to do. While they can be trained to accept a rider, who has some control over the creature's speed and direction if he wields his whip well, this is not enough to control them. To get them started in the right direction, a "slime runner" is required. This undesirable position means acting as bait for the creature, fleeing its mucus-spurting mouth long enough to get it up to charging speed. The position of slime runner has a very short life expectancy, and represents a vulnerability for the cavalry: if the runner is killed too early, the bogaranth may change direction and rampage uncontrolled.
- Huge and Organic: Bogaranths are living creatures, and are susceptible to many dangers that the tanks they counter are not - poison gas, hard vacuum, radiation, and others. They must eat a huge quantity of meat each day in order to remain combat effective, and need time to rest after the heavy exertion of a battle. Wounds slow them down, with injuries to the legs effectively disabling them. If a bogaranth is so disabled, or if the creature is killed outright, the rider and slime runner are all but useless; their weapons are far from impressive on their own. This is a problem because each bogaranth is a huge target. Once enemy heavy weapons are locked onto it, it's hard to miss on an open field. This means that careful tactics and use of cover are essential to using bogaranth cavalry effectively.
From the first major raid on Batuu to the battle against the Galidraani armored columns on Csilla and Ilum, a consistent problem for the Brotherhood of the Maw was enemy armored vehicles. Ground-based PLX teams and scavenged Imperial walkers were a stopgap solution, but were still frequently routed by the technologically-advanced tanks fielded by the New Imperial Order and other such foes. With the secretive engineers of the Final Dawn focused on spaceborne projects, from new Star Destroyers to the Mercy superweapon and its successor, the Brotherhood needed a more immediate solution to the problem of heavy armor. The Heathen Priests searched ancient records for mentions of those who had fought the Republic and other such advanced civilizations, and among the stories of the ancient Nihil they found their solution.
No records remained of where bogaranths originated, but various crime lords and xeno-zoos had kept the species alive over the millennia, and the Brotherhood was able to acquire good breeding stock - as well as a number of fully-grown specimens. Many of the creatures were introduced to Lao-mon, where they squabbled with the equally deadly local wildlife before eventually carving out their own niche in the food pyramid. In the meantime, the adult, non-breeding bogaranths were trained in the planet's beastmaster camps, and eventually instilled with a few basic commands. This process took considerable time, but the bogaranths and their riders were finally ready to deploy in the same wave of other new troops types trained by the Brotherhood in preparation for the raids on Sith space.
