OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Kaida's rebel friends and their society.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Tactical police unit.
Permissions: Can use Archangel and Firemane gear because I own the companies. Permission for all ArmaTech gear and all other subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here.
Links: Vigiles.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Defenders of the Star Home.
Affiliation: Court of the Shadows, Shadow Knights, Asuran Star Combine, Naesala Faethyra, Eldorai.
Classification: Infantry.
Description: The Shadow Knights are a group of Eldorai renegades and dissidents that was formed in response to the desolation of Kaeshana. The basis of the Shadow Knight society is a heavily militarised nomad fleet. In Shadow Knight society, service guarantees citizenship. Only those who have performed military service are considered full citizens and have the right to vote, and only those who have served with distinction can run for high office. This has produced a rather stratocratic, oligarchic republic and makes military service very prestigious. The Shadow Knights are focused on the protection of their migrant fleet, and lack the resources to conquer large planetary domains. Aside from Eldorai, they have Qadiri, Vashyada, Xioquo and even Kar'zun members. This has allowed them to pool the strengths of the different 'Asuran' races, but racial tensions are sadly also an issue.
Within this framework, the Defenders of the Star Home are a tactical police unit. They assist the Vigiles, the gendarmerie and public order police force, and tackle tasks the regular police officers are not equipped to handle. They are deployed to resolve dangerous situations that pose a threat to public order and the community. They deal with terrorists and armed and extremely dangerous criminals. Their missions may involve making high-risk arrests, hostage situations, counter-terrorism, riots and security at special events such as rallies. They will often provide security at important events.
For instance, they protect senior government officials against snipers. The Defenders are a police force, so they do not measure success in terms of bodycount. They are supposed to reduce the loss of life and damage to property. To this end, officers attend special training courses that provide instruction on how to de-escalate crisis situations without loss of life. However, they also receive military training. The nomad fleet cannot tolerate threats to public order and peace, and so they are ready to use force to ensure the survival of the community and protect law-abiding citizens.
All Defenders receive the same general training. However, the unit has specialists with skills for specialised tasks. Examples are hostage negotiators, medical professionals, pilots, snipers and bomb disposal experts. Others specialise in forcing an entry, such as into a compound armed criminals have holed themselves up in. Each team has tactical officers who organise and lead operations. The nature of their work requires the Defenders to be in very good physical condition, tough and, above all, disciplined. Outsiders might find the police force to be unduly militarised, but the Shadows are space nomads who do not control planetary domains. Public turmoil could spell doom for the nomad fleet.
Their training is very taxing. Recruits must complete a ten-day selection course that is unofficially called hell week. Those who pass must go through an intense training course. Apart from physical strength and fortitude, mental ability and self-control are important traits for a Defender. Needless to say they must be very knowledgeable about actual police work, including collecting evidence and keeping it from being contaminated, and proper procedure when handling prisoners. The training is very intense and has a high washout rate. Applications are open to both men and women. This is pertinent because Eldorai society is traditionally matriarchal.
Like the Vigiles, the Defenders answer to the Court of Justicars. This Court is responsible for all law enforcement personnel. In Shadow Knight society, the head of a Court holds the title of Magister. They are indirectly elected by the people they govern. In short, all members of a Court elect a body of voters, who then pick the Magister. This is in keeping with the Shadows' corporativist beliefs, based on which segments of society are organised into holistic bodies and integrated into the government. Essentially, the Shadows have traits of an oligarchic republic and a militant garrison state.
Service guarantees citizenship in Shadow Knight society, and serving in the Defenders counts as equal to military service. Fittingly, they have military-style ranks. In keeping with their role as special tactical police, they have access to lethal and nonlethal weapons. For a police unit, they possess a significant amount of firepower. Because they are a crisis response unit and their job exposes them to high-risk situations, they wear sealed body armour. This allows protects the identities of the police officers. Sometimes the Defenders will wear plain clothes if the situation requires it. Though they are a special police unit, not a military unit, the Defenders can be called upon to help soldiers and marines protect the nomad fleet against external aggressors.
In between emergencies, the Defenders handle routine assignments, such as investigating cases and conducting patrols. Many Defenders used to be Vigiles, though a transfer from other agencies is possible. It is a bit ironic for the Shadows to have an anti-terrorist and serious crimes unit, since they have several former terrorists in their ranks. Moreover, a group of smugglers is part of their organisation. However, it is a matter of survival for the nomad fleet to keep order. For many it is still quite a change. Adjustment has not been an easy or smooth process, as they have to evolve from insurgents or members of irregular militias to police officers.
The Defenders are concentrated on the Defiance. This worldship is essentially the Shadows' mobile 'capital'. It is a city on the move that is home to millions of people, so the Defenders have their work cut out for them. The Defenders are typically organised in small teams. Each team has about twenty-four members. Roles can include being a sniper or tactical medic or serving on the ground team, which handles containment and entry. In addition, a crisis negotiation team is attached to the Defenders. The group is set up in such a way that at least team is always ready to be deployed on short notice.
The commander of the Defenders is a Sciiac Guardian called Darius Jal Rahbar. In life he was a Qadiri general famous for his stern discipline. He is from a small Qadiri state and used to be an enemy of Shahbânu Semiramis. Forced to bend the knee when she brought in Firemane to support her imperial ambitions, he departed as soon as he could with his retainers and sought out the Shadows. However, he was mortally wounded in action. Now his life essence is trapped inside a spirit gem and he has a robotic body. However, his service continues. His body is big and bulky and its mechanical nature is obvious, but it makes him very tanky and good at intimidating criminals. He is useful for police work because he is less 'attached' to the real world and has less of those prevailing weaknesses. After all, he is already dead - or rather undead.
Jassin Caithyra is a Defender who specialises in crisis negotiation. He is one of the Eldorai who call themselves the Forsaken due to being left behind on Kaeshana by the Eldorai Matriarchy and Firemane. Caithyra served in a volunteer militia unit that was later folded into the Vigiles before being recruited into the Defenders. He has received the same training as the other officers, but his focus lies in crisis negotiation, especially during hostage takings.
His job is to build a dialogue with the perpetrators, gauge their state of mind, and convince them to turn themselves in peacefully. He will also provide his superiors with information. Caithyra has a lot of self-control and is good at defusing situations. His past can help him build a rapport with criminals from similar backgrounds. Much to his chagrin, he has often had to deal with Forsaken on the other side of the line.
Raeran Yllathana used to serve in the counterterrorism branch of the Matriarchy's security police. She went into exile after refusing to give the 'Queen's Justice' to protesters. She was the younger daughter of a somewhat important family who could not be executed but was banished. Later led a resistance assault group on Kaeshanam, then joined the Shadow Knights. She serves as a senior team leader and is skilled at close quarter fighting.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Medium
Unit Availability: Rare
Unit Experience: Elite.
Equipment:
Armour:
Rifles:
- Verpine Shatter Rifle
- MkI Bolter
- GLX Firelance
- Nightstinger Sporting Blaster Rifle
- Magnetic Repeater
- DC-19 Stealth Carbine
- Reaper Plasma Shotgun
- CS-33 Firespray Stun Rifle
- Headbanger
- SWE/2 Sonic Rifle
- Grenades, Sonic Imploder, Breaching Grenades.
- Often equipped with coma gas and tear gas grenades.
- A280 CFE
- SIB-14 Stun/Ion Pistol
- Verpine Shatter Gun
- Hard-Sound Gun
- Holdout Bolter
- Sonic Stunner
- Cylix Bolt Pistol
- Magnetic Revolver
Transports:
Support:
Misc:
- Stun Cuffs. MagnaCuffs.
- Hurlothrombic Compound. Used to terrify and nonlethally cow dangerous criminals, rioters etc.
- Signal Tapper, Strip Cam, EAR-1, Microdroid, Audio Telescope, Noses.
- Battering Ram
- Rifle Silencer
- APEB Rounds
- Whisper Jetpack
- Wrist Bolter
- Velocity-7 Dart Shooter
- Surveillance Tagger Darts, Electro Darts
- Stecher Wasp Droid.
- MM9 Rocket System, Lumablast Rocket.
- Neural Band (worn by NFU members of the Defenders to shield them from mental influences)
Typically, the Defenders will conduct extensive reconnaissance and surveillance before carrying out an assault. Then they will make an entrance using breaching grenades, specialised shotguns or other means such as battering rams. They often make use of smoke, sonic or tear grenades to overwhelm and confuse foes. The Defenders will often be deployed as a hostage rescue force, and thus minimising danger to those they are supposed to save and rapidly eliminating their captors is paramount. Ballistic shields may be used to provide cover to Defenders in close quarter combat.
The Shadows are a nomadic, space-faring society, so the members of the unit receive training in zero-G movement and combat as well as in boarding operations. This is pertinent if say a riot breaks out on a colony ship or it gets taken over by terrorists. Defenders also undergo training to enable them to resist mind tricks and similar forms of Force-based mental manipulation. Calls-ups for emergencies are infrequent, so Defenders may be assigned to regular patrol duties and crime suppression tasks in between these assignments, but remain on call when needed. They are well-equipped for close quarter combat, sniping, breaches and crowd control. They also don full body armour. They have access to military intelligence, infrastructure and equipment. The Defenders have Force-Sensitive members, but they are a minority. Moreover, they lack the hard-hitting powers commonly associated with Force-Users.
Instead they focus on Force Persuasion, Force Sense powers and empathy. These skills are useful for trying to read criminals or persuade them to stand down, calm victims, anticipate dangers, react faster, aim better and shoot more precisely. Some are also telepaths and use their abilities to both read criminals and improve coordination between the members of a team. A select few of them have a varying degree of talent for technopathy. This improves their ability to interface with or manipulate technology. For instance, this is useful for slicing, and disarming explosive ordnance such as bombs. Their Force abilities are not earth-shaking or exceptional, but they are still a boon and increase their ability to survive in a combat situation. An extremely small number of Defenders are Force-Dead. They cannot be sensed in the Force and are immune to most direct Force attacks, but can still be affected indirectly. Moreover, they cannot be aided by beneficial Force effects such as Force Healing and Battle Meditation.
Strengths:
- Elite tactical response teams. Their training, equipment and skill makes them an ideal force to tackle exceptional situations that go beyond what standard police are trained for. This includes high-risk arrests, hostage or barricade situations, escorting VIPs or high-value prisoners, bomb disposal, and counter-terrorism.
- Flexible, highly mobile unit.
- While the force includes several reservists and combat veterans, they are special police unit, not frontline soldiers. They lack tanky armour, heavy weapons and the training for pitched frontline combat.
- As a tradeoff for being several cuts above average, they are a small unit and not able to be deployed in large numbers.
The Shadow Knights were born in the hour of cataclysm, namely during the devastation of Kaeshana and the Eldorai Exodus. Composed of Eldorai rebels, survivalists and dissidents, they sought to build a new future for their race unbound by the three pillars of crown, temple and nobility. Electing to stay behind on war-ravaged Kaeshana rather than flee to Tygara, they provided protection to surviving Eldorai communities, defending them against slavers, warlords and other menaces. The events of the Kaeshana Rebellion and the subsequent First Order takeover of the planet forced the rebels to leave the ancestral homeworld and seek out a new home in the stars.
From then onward, their efforts would be centred on a nomadic migrant fleet. It was apparent to the leaders of the survivalist movement that they would need to rebuild their military forces, which had taken significant losses during the conflicts back on desolated Kaeshana. Composed of hardened partisans, ex-soldiers who had deserted from the Eldorai army, volunteers and conscripts, the Caerith Darin represented the common troopers of the Eldorai exiles.
In the aftermath of the failed Kaeshana Rebellion, the Shadows formed a nomad fleet. Adrift in a cold, bleak galaxy where they were outgunned and outmatched, they had to evolve from a paramilitary band of survivalists into an organised society. This was far from an easy or smooth process. They were committed to a more egalitarian society than the one they had escaped, but the core of their leadership was composed of middle class officers, exiles and former terrorists.
Moreover, the Eldorai lacked a democratic tradition. Underground leaders had become accustomed to violence and conspiracy. To keep order, they needed a police force. They had already set one up during the Long Night. However, attempts to centralise control over the police force led to resistance. Moreover, the Vigiles also confronted problems that went beyond the capabilities of a normal police, even of militarised gendarms.
The Defenders were founded in response to a crisis in the early history of the nomad fleet. Following a disputed election, Raenisa Eildan, a famous militia commander and former insurgent leader, claimed vote fraud in the aftermath of a disputed election to a Council seat. She was backed by her militia, whose members were disgruntled over bad pay and loss of autonomy. To force the Council to accede to their demands, the militants barricaded themselves and took hostages. Their base was well-fortified. Not willing to appear weak, the Council decided on removing them by force. However, its response was bungled.
For one, there was jurisdictional friction between the army and the police force. Both the Vigiles and the Caerith Tyari were deployed, but they lacked sufficient training to conduct counter-terrorist operations. A tense standoff ensued. Then the troops stormed the building. All terrorists save three were killed. The surviving perpetrators were captured by the security force. However, most of the hostages perished during the fighting and the would-be liberators took heavy casualties when a bomb went off. All in all, it was a major debacle.
The disaster stirred a lot of public debate and was a big embarrassment for the fledgling government, which was forced to conduct an inquiry to determine who was responsible and the circumstances that had led to this unfortunate resolution. The commission determined that dealing with threats like this went beyond the remit of regular police. Equally, it could not be made the responsibility of the army. The Caerith Tyari were shock troops that were supposed to defend the nomad fleet against external attackers. Counter-terrorism operations, especially those involving hostages, were not part of their mission.
This sort of task required a tool that was more subtle, but also had more punch than the gendarms. Based on these findings, the Archon authorised the creation of a special tactical unit. The question of which Court should be responsible for for it stirred some debate behind the scenes. Finally, it was decided to form the new unit from the police and place it under the authority of the Court of Justicars. Using the army against the civilian population was too close to the actions of the Matriarchy - and to measures the Shadows had taken during the Long Night.
Thus the Defenders of the Star Home were born. Their missions would include responding to kidnappings, hostage takings, terrorist threats, kidnappings and armed criminals too dangerous for the regular police to take on. The Defenders got their chance to prove themselves on their first mission. It received the codename Operation Magic Fire. A group of Illyrian radicals had hijacked a bulk freighter, taking the crew and passengers as hostages. They demanded that imprisoned members of their group be freed from prison. The freighter changed location many times, and the captain of the vessel was murdered by the kidnappers.
Finally, the Council signalled that they would agree to their demands. This halted the freighter's odyssey. In truth, it was a ruse. Taking advantage of a distraction, the Defenders infiltrated and stormed the freighter. The assault only lasted a few minutes and was a complete success. Most of the hijackers died, but only one Defender was wounded. Four hostages suffered light injuries, but none perished. The mission cemented their status as a special tactical unit of the police force.
The Defenders carried out many operations since then. Most of them remained classified. Among other things, they carried out operations against organised crime syndicates and extremist political groups. They have also provided security at public events and muscle when the police carries out high-risk arrests. The Defenders were mobilised in response to the disturbances following the final evacuation of Kaeshana.
Kaeshana had been dragged through the warp due to aftershocks of the Netherworld Event. This cataclysmic event devastated the already desolate planet even further. When the planet emerged from the warp, it was on the other side of the galaxy. The Shadow Knights dispatched a task force to investigate and rescue any survivors. The rebels were able to evacuate scattered bands of survivors, such as the Harrowed and the Sicarii. Then they left Kaeshana. It forced them to acknowledge that if they wanted a home, they would have to build it, for the old was lost forever. A solemn ceremony was held on the Defiance to mourn the dead. The Archon gave a speech that was broadcast to the nomad fleet. Kaeshana was lost. The elves could overcome their squabbles and build a better future, or follow it into the pit. However, the reunion was accompanied by violent riots.
During the evacuation, the Forsaken and the Shadow Knight task force sent to rescue them had received visions of the past. These showed that the Eldorai had enlisted the aid of humans to defeat the Kar'zun, and then covered it up. This made their victory over their hereditary enemies a lot less glorious. However, the visions also showed that Ariane had been less of a butcher than the Kar'zun remembered her as. Eldorai nationalists, angered by what they regarded as an insult to their people, rioted in the streets.
Protesters who believed the visions were true and that the Eldorai should denounce the lies of the Queens of yore and join with the Kar'zun clashed with those who believed the visions were lies that spat on the sacrifices of Eldorai patriots. Fighting broke out in the streets. Some of the refugees were attacked. There were cases of arson and looting, as some disturbers of the peace tried to take advantage of the unrest, seeing it as a chance to loot.
The Vigiles and the Defenders were deployed in large numbers to quell the disturbances. Many of those who were mobilised to keep the peace were Tygarans. This was deliberate because the 'cousins' were less disposed to be concerned about ancient Kaeshana history. A unit of Defenders was deployed to protect the Councill from rioters. This led to a strange incident when they had to provide protection to a conservative Eldorai Councillor who had been assailed for being a 'reactionary', but was rather ungrateful about being saved. The Court banned marches and public protests, and the police remained alert throughout the night. Several arrests were made and some of the Forsaken were put in protective custody to protect them against further attacks. Eventually calm was restored.
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