OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out the ranks of the Shadow Knights by subbing an elite unit. The Caerith Tyari are the renegade Eldorai's equivalent of the Angelii, who have played an important role in most Eldorai-related rps. They're commanded by Kaida Taldir and are part of a new story arc for her.
- Image Credit: Here. 'Blacktip Knight' by Ahmed Maihope. Found on artstation.com.
- Role: Elite infantry.
- Links: Angelii, Eldorai, Shapers of Kro Var,
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Unit Name: Caerith Tyari (Eldarai for Shadow Warriors).
- Affiliation: Shadow Knights, Kaida Taldir, Naesala Faethyra.
- Classification: Force Infantry.
Equipment:
- Sarix Mk2 or Sarzmigar Mk2.
- Vibroknife.
- Cusaeris Armour Mk3 or Sentinel Battle Armour
- Taegis battle shield or Aliit'ordo Litnr (received OOC permission from [member="Draco Vereen"] to use this sub, tagging him here so he can confirm with a like).
- Particle beam blaster rifles, flechette launchers or Mk1 bolters.
- Blaster Rotary Cannons (for heavy weapons specialists)
- Cylix bolt pistol (for officers and NCOs)
- Blaster pistols, sonic pistols.
- Thermal detonators, various grenade types, demolition charges.
- Military rations, medkits, grappling hooks etc.
- Pulse Cannon
- Knuckle plate vibroblades
- Subrepeating blasters
COMBAT INFORMATION
- Availability: Rare
- Deployment: Limited
- Force soldiers. The Caerith Tyari are composed of Force-sensitive elves, who specialise in elemental powers, but have also been trained to fight as a military unit. This helps when working alongside conventional troops.
- Elite unit. Their training emphasies discipline, teamwork and precision. In battle they operate on the basis of a buddy system. Lone wolf actions are looked upon poorly.
- Racial Eldorai strengths - agility, heightened sense of hearing etc.
- While they train extensively with conventional weapons and in hand-to-hand combat, losing the Force means losing their greatest advantage. This puts them at a disadvantage against enemies who use ysalamiri or Voidstone tech.
- They have the traditional physical weaknesses of Eldorai and their subraces. On average, they are physically weaker than humans and have a lower pain threshold.
- They have few heavy weapons and thus suffer against heavy armoured vehicles, heavy fortifications and in pitched combat.
Description:
For millennia, the Angelii have been the guardians of the Eldorai Matriarchy. They are a curious mix of Holy Order, Imperial Knight and Priestess. Formed many centuries ago during the early days of the Eldorai Matriarchy as a royal guard for the Star Queen, they have retained a vital place in the Eldorai military and society to this day.
The Queen who founded this elite, all-female corps of Force-sensitive warriors is unknown, but most historians credit Tassaria I., the very first Star Queen, who needed shock troops to unite the Eldorai of Kaeshana under one banner and defeat the Kar'zun. Over time, they became the Eldorai's preeminent soldiers. Being assiged to the Angelii came to be regarded as a prestige position, especially if the battle sister hailed from a lowborn family.
At times, especially during the Time of Troubles, they became queenmakers, crowning and dethroning Queens as they pleased. As a result, later dynasties reduced their power and kept a tight grip on their numbers. The Queens needed capable, powerful protectors to keep them on the throne and shock troops that could smite the enemies of the Eldorai...but they had to be certain they could be relied upon. When the Eldorai Matriarchy opened up to the rest of the Galaxy, the Angelii adapted foreign weapons such as blasters, bolters and, to a lesser degree, lightsabres, merging the old with the new. However, the corps was deeply fractured by the Great Exodus from Kaeshana, for the Eldorai homeworld was devastated by a huge asteroid.
Angelii had obviously left the corps before the calamity, rebelling against the Crown they'd sworn to serve. These oathbreakers were known as Dashdae Sciians. Indeed, it has always been common among Eldorai insurgent leaders or claimants to the throne to create their own version of the Angelii corps. Not only is it common sense to have Force-sensitive warriors who can match the guard of the monarch you want to overthrow, it is also a way to claim legitimacy.
The Caerith Tyari are one of many such attempts. But what separates them from the others is that they have had more staying power. When the Shadow Knights, a group of renegade Eldorai, elected to help those Eldorai who had been left behind on Kaeshana, they decided to found their own Angelii unit. In contrast to the Crown's Angelii, the Shadow Warriors are a bit of an electic mix. They are composed of Angelii who became disillusioned with the triple alliance of crown-temple-nobility and deserted, hardened revolutionaries and rebels who fought the Crown and Eldorai who were too young to fight in the dynastic wars but went through the school of hard knocks while struggling to survive in the wasteland that was Kaeshana.
Bringing these very divergent groups together and forging them into a cohesive whole has not been easy. Indeed, despite the Shadow Knights' commitment to the creation of a more just and egalitarian order, their elite warriors have been forced to reintroduce some of the stomach-churning punishments that the Crown's Angelii abolished. The maxim 'with great power comes great responsibility' was and continues to be utilised in their criminal justice system. Thus when an officer commits a crime she receives a punishment far more severe than an enlisted soldier would because as an officer she should have a better understanding of her crime and its consequences. As a result, a crime that would result in a common grunt being flogged might result in a death sentence if an officer commits it.
When winter came after the cataclysm, and slavers and corsairs descended upon the ruined planet, the Caerith Tyari fought to protect the remaining Eldorai communities, all the while trying to wrest order from the chaos. When the Shadow Knights allied with the Galactic Alliance and their estranged brethren on Tygara against the First Order, they fought alongside the allied troops - and retreated along with them and many Eldorai refugees after the battle went ill.
The withdrawal from Kaeshana caused their role to change, as the Shadow Knights' efforts are centred on a nomadic migrant fleet. With some reluctance, the Caerith Tyari decided to open their ranks to Tygaran natives who could match their standards, allowing Xioquo, Vashyada and Qadiri to join, though these are still a small minority.
The Caerith Tyari are a small unit, but make up for their lack of numbers with their extensive training, combat experience, equipment, zeal and high discipline. They are the backbone of a militarist, survivalist faction that has dedicated itself to the continued survival of the Eldorai race. They are utterly ruthless against those whose existence they inimical to that goal. This especially applies to slavers and imperialists.
While standardised Force training is mandatory for all Eldorai to ensure that they can control their powers and do not become a danger to the public, only the best are inducted into the unit. After recruitment, they undergo gruelling physical training and mental conditioning that is meant to break them down and build them back up. The unit is exclusively composed of Force-users, or Sciians as the Eldorai call them.
The majority of the Caerith Tyari are Apprentice level. Officers are Knights and provide leadership. Eldorai call the Force Sciia, which they regard as the inner flame the gifted can tap into, rather than an ominipresent energy field that binds all life together. To put it plainly, the Force is a tool, and they reject the idea of it having sides. The religiously inclined equate Sciia with soul and consider it a gift from the Goddess. People who suscribe to the traditional dualist interpretation of the Force would probably classify most of the Shadows as Grey or Dark Force-users. In terms of Force skills they focus on telekinesis, as well as the elements of fire, air, earth and ice abilities. Most soldiers specialise in one element and have some skill in two others, but not the direct opposite to their preferred element. For a example, a pyromancer could have some ability to manipulate earth and air, but would be unable to use ice.
In addition to their ethereal powers, they are also trained in the use of conventional weapons such as blasters, slugthrowers and explosives. Indeed membership in the unit has more in common with being a soldier than a member of a mystical Force Order. As the Shadow Knights maintain a mobile base and focus much of their efforts on a nomadic migrant fleet, the warriors are proficient in boarding operations and undergo Zero-gravity combat training. However, they are not sailors or combat pilots, and leave that to actual naval personnel. Their tactics empathise teamwork and discipline, while lone wolf actions are frowned upon.
A detachment of Caerith Tyari serves as the protective detail for the Archon and the leadership Council of the Shadow Knights. To avoid favouritism or a possible decline in combat skill, Shadows are assigned on a rotational basis. On the battlefield, the Shadow Warriors are good shock troops, often acting in concert with regular soldiers. They can also lay ambushes and act as a raiding strike force. However, they are a small unit and thus care must be taken when it comes to deployment. The Shadow Knights have a limited pool of recruits to draw upon, as they do not control a planet like the Eldorai Matriarchy does.
In the Eldorai Matriarchy, the Angelii are seen as holy warriors of the Goddess Ashira. Being a nonbeliever and an Angelii is - officially - unthinkable, since the Queen they serve is supposed Ashira's viceroy. This is a little different among the Caerith Tyari, as the ranks of the Shadow Knights include many atheists, agnostics or heretics, who either reject Ashira in favour of other Elorai deities or have nonconformist views about her.
Indeed, the orthodox are outnumbered by the nonconformists and heretics. Some of the latter even worship Illyria, the Eldorai Goddess of Death, who is reviled as a villain by the State Church for growing envious of Ashira and rebelling against her. The duty of the Caerith Tyari is to the Free Eldorai, not a divinely appointed monarch or deity. The official credo is that if you worship any deities, they want you to fight for the Eldorai people and place the nation above yourself.
They are indoctrinated to place the survival of the race above dogmatic disputes. In that regard, militant pan-Eldorai nationalism has replaced devotion to the Crown or the Temple. Their commander, the former Angelii High Captain Kaida Taldir, is an atheist and a card-carrying member of the Cult of Reason. That said, members of the unit can believe whatever they wish privately. Priestesses minister to believers, though the content of their sermons is inspected quite thoroughly.
However, the divergent belief systems can cause some friction between members. After all, by the standards of an Ashiran, an Illyrian is a demon worshipper, while the radical atheists believe that both are fools who venerate false idols and so on and so forth. This is one of the reasons why the Shadows have reintroduced some of the harsher punishments their Angelii cousins got rid of many years ago. Commissars have also been appointed to ensure discipline. Ironically, a few of said Commissars are former Ardarvian Priestesses who are apparently more dedicated to the primacy of order and discipline than to the Crown and Temple. The soldiers of this unit are expected to set an example, especially to the more irregular forces that are part of the Shadow Knights.
In contrast to the all-female Angelii Corps, the Caerith Tyrai allow elf males to join their ranks. The reason for this radical change is partly ideological, partly pragmatic. The Eldorai exiles who had been left behind on Kaeshana had to struggle to survive in a post-apocalytic wasteland. In such a situation it was necessary to have all hands on deck, forcing them to do away with or relax traditional policies. Moreover, several of the Forsaken were political radicals and reformists. Officially the Shadow Knights are committed to gender equality. However, in spite of these progressive notions, individual units are still segregated by gender. This is justified by saying that men are too prone to emotion and that gender integration would undermine unit cohesion. While they are integrated at command levels, women still tend to monopolise the top positions. The Masculine Anti-Defamation League has called this a setback in the struggle for gender equality in the military, but for the time being the conservative forces are too strong for the radical progressives to overcome. This probably not too surprising since many of the Shadow Knight leaders are female middle class officers.
