Vaena Askari
Lady Cadalthor
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Elite minions for Vaena. Expand on the Eldorai.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Elite infantry.
Links: Eldorai, Kar'zun, Church of Ashira, Aspirants, Kaeshana.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Excoriators
Affiliation: Vaena, House Cadalthor, Eldorai, Ashiranism.
Classification: Infantry.
Equipment: They have access to Firemane tech (e.g. Reaper Plasma Shotgun) because I write the IC owner of the Company, Siobhan Kerrigan. ICly Eldorai forces were equipped by Firemane.
Armour:
- ACS-004 Olympian Battle Armor (purchase requests here, permission here)
- Taegis battle shield.
Ranged Weapons:
- Reaper Plasma Shotgun
- Eradicator Blaster (purchase request here, permission here)
- Baragwin flamethrower
- Cylix Bolt Pistol
- SE-14r
- Renegade blaster pistol
- RSIC-11 "Suncrusher" Blaster Pistol (purchase request here, permission here)
- ACS-207 Aerosolblaster (purchase requests here, permission here)
- Under-Barrel Miniature Flame Projector (purchase request here, permission here).
- ACS-208 Wrist Charric (purchase requests here, permission here)
- ACS-208 Wrist Ion Beamer (purchase requests here, permission here)
- Under-Barrel Disruptor (purchase request here, permission here).
- Grenadeshttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Grenade/Legends (Up to 6), det charges.
Description:
Ashira is not the goddess of peace, sunshine and happiness. To the Eldorai, she is their Creator, the mother goddess of their race. They were made in her image and possess a goddess-given destiny. It is the duty of every Eldorai to live in accordance with the laws laid down by the Great Goddess. When their time comes to depart this world and enter the afterlife, the righteous will enter Ashira's heavenly realm. By contrast, the wicked will suffer eternal torment in the hellish pit of Illyria, a traitorous daughter of the Goddess. At least this is what the orthodox believe. All this is to say that the orthodox Eldorai have a very dualistic view of the world. It is pertinent to point out that Ashira is explicitly the goddess of the Eldorai, not of any other species. She does not answer prayers from humans or aliens. The Church of Ashira is a national church, not a universalist one.
The Excoriators are an old cult of Ashiran battle clerics who have sworn a sacred vow to uphold the Goddess' law, protect the righteous and smite those who defy her will. They are led by Kalian Sathiras, a formidable battle cleric. She is dogmatic and fierce woman. Her courage in battle, piousness and leadership abilities have made her the uncontested leader of the cult. It helps that she is a - very distant - descendant of the sect's founder.
The group is composed of Force-Sensitive Eldorai females. The Church of Ashira does not allow male priests, and the members of the cult are extremely disdainful of 'namby-pamby liberalism' and 'secularist corruption of the true faith'. The Eldorai treat the Force differently than Jedi or Sith. To them, Sciia is both the word for soul and the Force, which they consider an inner flame the gifted can tap into. The religiously inclined regard it as a gift from the Goddess. The cultists obviously belong to this category. As a result, they perceive it as a tool that must be used in accordance with Ashira's will. In their case this means utilising it to smite her enemies with righteous fury.
In terms of skill set, they focus very heavily on offensive powers. They concentrate on elemental fire abilities, combined with telekinesis, Force Scream and physical enhancement powers. As a tradeoff, they neglect defensive and healing abilities. The battle clerics are not a subtle force on the battlefield. They are the Sarix used to stab an opponent or the hammer to beat him to death, not the subtle dagger. Those who die with honour on the battlefield are regarded as martyrs, for no death can be worthier than one in the service of the Great Goddess. This mind set makes them extremely fanatical in combat. Their courage serves as an inspiration to the faithful. However, they are loath to quit a fight.
The cultists pay lip service to the Star Queen. Traditionally, the Star Queen was regarded as the viceroy of the Goddess. However, in actual fact they have a very low opinion of the present government of the Eldorai Matriarchy. One reason is that Tirathana VII has tried to move away from the old ways and institute a system of liberal enlightened despotism. The battle clerics - correctly - suspect that she is an atheist or agnostic, which from their point of view is the same thing. Furthermore, the Eldorai lost their homeworld and many now live on arkships. They feel she is too soft on heretics and too reliant on foreigners. The cultists are extremely opposed to securalism, liberalism, atheism or dependence on foreigners.
They are also extremely disdainful of the Shadow Knights, a rogue group of Eldorai formed by Forsaken and soldiers who stayed behind to protect Kaeshana's survivors, until being forced to flee when the First Order assumed control of the homeworld following the Galactic Alliance's retreat. Many of the Knights are atheists or belong to heterodox groups, such as Illyrians, Followers of Arryn and others. To the Excoriators many of them are infidels.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Unit Size: Medium
Unit Availability: Unique
Unit Experience: Elite
Combat Function: The Excoriators are a unit of fanatical battle clerics. Their skill, zeal and bravery makes them ideal shock troops, whose purpose is to smite their enemies and inspire their allies through acts of valour. In battle they seek to get close to the enemy in order to engage with melee and close quarter weapons. They can draw upon elemental fire abilities as well as various applications of telekinesis. Moreover, they can use physical enhancement powers to buff themselves and suppress their pain. On the conventional front, they have a preference for shotguns and heat-based weaponry, while they wield the Sarix energy sword or the Sarzmigar polearm in melee. Fire helps flush out entrenched infantry, while their shotguns make ideal close quarter weapons and are very potent against Force-Users. They also have no qualms about using disruptors. They often make use of the traditional but still very effective Taegis shield to protect themselves from attacks.
However, they suffer from a lack of strong defensive or healing powers. Moreover, their focus on a strong offence leaves them dependant on support forces to make up for their weaknesses in other areas. They do not pilot starfighters, snipe enemies at far range, operate artillery or tanks. These are all fields they would require support in. To stay mobile they forego heavy weaposn such as missile launchers and rotary cannons. They also do not have snipers. Their zeal makes them fearless in battle, for they believe that if one of their sisters falls in combat against the infidel, she will ascend to heaven. Such zeal is obviously a double-edged sword.
The Excoriators are rather ruthless. Those they consider to be particularly heinous foes of the Eldorai are regarded as undeserving of mercy. Thus surrenders may not always be accepted. They are particularly cruel towards slavers and traitorous Eldorai who have sided with the oppressors and exploiters of their race. They will not obey orders from foreigners or non-Ashiran Eldorai. Oftentimes they go into battle singing Ashiran hymns and psalms. Indeed, Warsingers are assigned this duty to inspire their fellow war priestesses. To those who share their beliefs, the sight of a group of screaming banshees charging the enemy is an inspiring sight. They are a direct force that is good for shock trooper actions, rear guards and last stands. However, they also lack subtlety and are thus a poor choice for operations that require subterfuge. They are a broadsword, not a dagger that unexpectedly stabs an enemy between the ribs after sneaking up on him.
Strengths:
- Knight level Force warriors with a strong focus on offensive powers.
- Elite soldiers. Bravery, skill and tenacity are well-represented among the members of this unit.
Weaknesses:
- Focus on overwhelming offence has caused them to neglect defensive and healing abilities.
- Purely an infantry unit. Focused on close quarter combat. Lack long range weapons and heavy weapons such as anti-tank/air missile launchers or squad support weapons. Will require support forces in a larger battles.
- Zealotry can be used against them.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION:
The Eldorai have always been a spiritual people, and the strength of their religious beliefs set them apart from most other societies in the galaxy. For them the universe was very much divided into those who followed the light of the Great Goddess and those who did not. Those who worshipped Ashira and the other lesser deities were promised paradise if they lived a virtuous life when they died. Those in contrast who disobeyed Her dictates would be condemned to an eternity of torment in the black pits of Illyria. The Star Queen is - officially at least - not merely a secular ruler, but also the viceroy of the Goddess.
All this is to say that religion has long been a major force in Eldorai society and politics. Excoriators are a product of this. Their roots lie in the dark days of the last Kar'zun War. The Kar'zun and the Eldorai had long warred for control of Kaeshana. Indeed, the Eldorai united under a single ruler, the first 'Star Queen', after the Kar'zun sacked Santaissa, their capital. For millennia the fighting went back and forth. Territory was lost, then regained, technology marched on and thousands died. The Kar'zun took advantage of the Time of Troubles, a period of internal turmoil among the Eldorai, to sack Santaissa again. Though the Matriarchy stabilised, the conflict entered a long stalemate.
Then Star Queen Vania IV passed away without legitimate heir. The crown passed to her cousin Silaqui I, who was murdered by the traitorous mad cleric Eldsair Nai'tan, whose daughter was placed on the throne. Collapse and civil war set in, and the Kar'zun took advantage. Their King, Arz'alor, conquered province after province. His goals remained ambiguous. The Eldorai would claim that he wanted to exterminate them, though it is more likely he simply wanted to conquer them and expand his realm.
Regardless, the Eldorai were driven to the brink and this produced a counterreaction. The Excoriators were part of it. Their forebears were priestesses of the Temple of the Silver Star, an Ashiran place of worship. It was located in one of the provinces that had first slipped from the grasp of the Star Queen during the civil war, then been invaded by the Kar'zun. The priestesses did their best to minister to the faithful, but were forced to take up arms after the local garrison deserted.
The Kar'zun had allies - or collaborators, if one is feeling derogatory - among the Eldorai. These tended to be ambitious warlords who hoped to expand their power, mercenaries or elves who had been persecuted by the ancien régime due to their beliefs. One of the most prominent example of the latter are Illyrian cultists. To conservative Ashirans, Illyria is the traitorous Goddess of Death, who grew envious of Ashira, rebelled and tried to murder the Great Goddess, only to be cast into the pit of hell. However, Illyrians regard her as a liberator who stood up to the tyrannous Queen of Heaven and was unjustly vilified for it. Unsurprisingly, many have social revolutionary aims.
It was an Illyrian militia that assaulted the Temple, the Children of the Deliverer. Having long been persecuted by Church and State, these cultists saw a chance for revenge. The Temple of the Silver Star was besieged. The priestesses and what was left of the militia were forced to defend themselves. It was a bloody battle, but the clerics were outnumbered and outgunned. The walls were sturdy, but eventually starvation set in. Aided by a traitor, the Illyrians stormed the building. Clerics were butchered, and the temple was looted. Abbess Anael Maeir chose martyrdom. Together with a few priestesses, she immolated herself, the temple and many Illyrian militants, using pyromancy and some improvised explosives provided by the militia.
Only a few clerics and militia managed to get away. The province had fallen to the enemy, forcing them to go underground. Inspired by the example of the fallen Abbess, they decided to fight back. Their experiences probably left them more than a little mad. Their leader was Tarian Sathiras. She became the founder of the order. The Excoriators were born. The clerics and soldiers swore a sacred vow. They would oppose heresy in all its forms, fight the foes of the Great Goddess Ashira and not rest until retribution had been enacted. They branded the Kar'zun as the demonic spawn of Illyria. To the cultists, the stone people had risen from the dark goddess' hellish pit to destroy the Eldorai race. The cult soon acquired a small, but very militant following.
In this day and age, central authority was weak. They fought Kar'zun and Illyrians with fanatical fervour and zeal. After all, those who fell were martyrs and would become angels in Ashira's heavenly realm. In addition, they fought bandits, criminals and corrupt officials, enacting an often rather vicious form of retribution. When Ariane Saedaris, one of the great generals and nobles of the Eldorai, seized control of Santaissa, the Excoriators rallied to her standards. The new queen preached a bloody crusade against the Kar'zun. The Excoriators fought at Battle of Az’vakarz, where the Eldorai broke the Kar'zun. Their bravery and fanaticism gained them renown. When a Kar'zun charge almost broke an Eldorai division, the zealots threw themselves into the breach. Ferocious and fanatically brave, they rallied the retreating soldiers and launched a brutal counterattack. The dream of a Kar'zun Empire died in this battle.
However, Ariane was not content. Instead she sought the total defeat of the Kar'zun. The Excoriators supported her with great enthusiasm. The resulting war produced a horrific death toll, with tens of millions Eldorai and Kar'zun deaths. The Excoriators were among the Eldorai forces that stormed the Kar'zun capital, and burnt down the temple of Zak’zakada, the Kar'zun god. No mercy was shown to the inhabitants of the capital. When the fighting ceased, the surviving Kar'zun were deported to alpine and tundra regions. By then their population had been driven to the brink of extinction by Ariane's genocidal campaign.
After the death of Ariane the Conqueror, their radicalism brought them into conflict with her daughter, Ariane II. Nicknamed the Diplomat, she brought order to the realm after the war and confined the Kar'zun to reservations, despite calls to wipe them out. Having radical priestesses and vigilantes running around after the war was won did not fit into her plans for a peaceful realm. Especially since they were taking the law into their own hands. So she deployed the Angelii to disarm the clerics. Those that resisted were put to death. This was part of her attempts to regain the Crown's monopoly on Force-using troops and restore the power of the law after the long period of chaos. Henceforth, the Excoriators would operate within the framework of Eldorai law. They maintained the traditions of their founders as far as possible, but their military aspirations were nipped in the bud.
However, times changed. Tirathana VI, a reactionary queen, ruled Kaeshana with an iron fist and kept it isolated from the rest of the Galaxy. Isolation ensured the survival of the old ways, but also kept the Eldorai from modernising. This left them vulnerable to foreign incursions and invasions. Her successors Silaqui III and Tirathana VII, known to her friends as Anya Venari, sought to build closer ties with foreigners to catch up. However, time was not what the Eldorai had. In the span of two decades, Kaeshana was devastated by a huge asteroid, most of the Eldorai fled to Tygara with help from Firemane, and later abandoned that planet as well to form a huge nomad fleet. Today, most Eldorai have scattered across the stars, living aboard vast colony ships. Royal authority and old certainties have been undermined. Where once the Eldorai were united under a single Star Queen, now a myriad groups claim the mandate. Some are traditionalist, others revolutionary. Eldorai do have a tendency towards extremes.
These changes have not left the Excoriators untouched. Indeed, the order has been reborn. This is the doing of Kalian Sathiras, a very distant descendant of the sect's founder. Prior to the cataclysm, she was a rather conventional priestess. However, she decided to stay behind on Kaeshana, foregoing the chance to escape with most of her people. She managed to survive when the huge asteroid impacted Kaeshana. However, the trauma and the psychic shock broke her a little, driving her more than a little crazy. The fact that Kaeshana had been turned into a blasted wasteland did not help. Those Eldorai not immediately killed by the impact soon found themselves in close succession with many other desperate members of their kin. Violence became endemic and gangs soon appeared trying to steal away resources. Foreign slavers took advantage, seeing the survivors as prey. For a while, Kalian was unable to feel the Force. The mass deaths caused by the impact had created such a catastrophic disturbance in the Force that she, unconsciously and instinctively, severed her connection. Kalian was an empath, so it is likely that she would have died if she had not deafened herself. The priestess claims that she drifted, joining a scattered band of survivors. According to her testimony, she regained her Force connection - or her Sciiac powers, as an Eldorai would say - through a journey to the ruins of the Temple of the Silver Star. There Abbess Anael is said to have appeared to her in a vision, commanding her to go forth and do Ashira's will.
Reinventing herself, she became a militant priestess determined to regain the Goddess' favour by any means necessary. For a while she affiliated with the Aspirants, an Ashiran reformist movement that stood in opposition to the ancien régime and tried to bring order to chaotic, war-torn Kaeshana, and their leader Sahome Tyral. Dogmatic differences caused her to drift and she gathered her own acolytes. They called themselves the New Excoriators, making them one of the many paramilitaries that tried to wrest order from the chaos. However, belief in Ashira had waned on Kaeshana, as the goddess had not saved her people. This limited her influence, but the cadre she assembled was a dedicated one. She acquired a reputation for sternness and commitment to justice, but also zealotry. During the Kaeshana Rebellion, she reunited with her estranged cousins, taking up arms on the side of the Tygaran Alliance and the Galactic Alliance against the First Order.
The Excoriators of old were reborn under her leadership. Kalian pushed the old guard aside after reuniting with the Tygaran chapter following the retreat from Kaeshana. She would continue to fight in the Galactic Alliance-First Order War until it was ended by treaty. However, Tygara did not become home to her. She held the government in contempt for being soft on heretics, dependent on outsiders and, as she saw it, abandoning the homeworld to foreign invaders. She was also disgusted by decadent nobles who paid lip service to Ashira, but in truth worshipped gold.
But unlike many who clung to the old ways, Kalian was smart about it and did not get involved in half-baked coup plots. Instead she patiently rebuilt the sect. For a while they acted as vigilantes, fighting slavers, Kraal raiders and providing protection to Eldorai who had remained true to the old ways. When the Eldorai moved from Tygara into the stars, utilising colony ships, the cult aligned itself with House Cadalthor. From this moment on, the sect did not nothing to hide its militarisation. The past humiliations had weakened royal authority, and it was more difficult for the Eldorai Matriarchy to exert authority on nominal subjects who lived on distant arkships.
House Cadalthor had its roots in the Time of Troubles, a period of civil war and strife among the Eldorai. It had always defined itself as the standard-bearer of Eldorai orthodoxy, zeal and purity. They played an important role in bringing the Kar'zun to heel. Indeed, the Excoriators' ancestors had been partly disarmed because the Queen - correctly - suspected that the 'Daughters of the Dragon' were hoping to take power by riding a wave of religious populism.
The present leader of House Cadalthor, Vaena Cadalthor, was born a bastard and raised in an Ashiran temple associated with the cult. She happened to be one of the few orthodox nobles left who wa a realist in her views, though the Excoriators are probably crazy in a different way. Disdainful of luxury, she proclaimed that her ancestors had been encased in steel, not clothed in fine silks. Vaena is very pious, which is one of the reasons for their decision to affiliate with her. Indeed, she is possibly the most pious independent Eldorai lady around. Of course, her 'association' with outsiders is troubling and Ashira will hopefully guide her to see the error in her ways, but at least she is a devout Ashiran and not a closeted secularist.
