Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Sub the unit Elpsis is part of.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Special operations unit.
Permissions: ARGH gear available for Firemane per this thread, where it becomes a Firemane subsidiary. Permission for all ArmaTech gear and all other subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here and and here. Permission to use Tricks of the Trade submissions here.
Links: The Long Road, Gehenna, Firemane General Staff, Jensaarai, The Final Battle, Death's Sting.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: 2nd Company, 1st Commando Battalion, 1st Commando Brigade. The Lions of Gehenna.
Affiliation: Siobhan, Firemane, House Kerrigan, Inferno Platoon, Elpsis, Order of Fire, Lucille Guyenne, Firestorm Squad.
Classification: Infantry
Description: The Lions of Gehenna are a special operations unit that belongs to Firemane's ground forces. Their mission profile includes direct action strikes, foreign internal defence, unconventional warfare, expeditionary warfare and reconnaissance. They are often called upon to seize important key, destroy strategic objectives or eliminate high-value targets. An example for a mission could be seizing an airfield, bridge or spaceport, knock out enemy defence guns to facilitate the landing of allied forces or eliminating an enemy commander.
They answer to the Special Warfare Command, which is a special department of Firemane's General Staff and responsible for all special operations. Recruits receive thorough training in fields such as marksmanship, medicine, physical training, demolitions, small unit tactics and piloting vehicles. All Lions receive basic training to pilot a shuttle in case the pilot is killed. This does make the average member an ace or even great at flying, but it means they will not be easily stranded. The training regimen is very gruelling and has a high washout rate.
The Lions have been conceived as a mobile, flexible reaction force that can be deployed to any hostile environment on short notice. In contrast to formations such as the Special Service Group, the Lions focus less on longer-term deep cover operations and more on typical commando operations, though training and guiding allied forces is also part of their remit. The Lions are equipped with an arsenal of potent weapons and tools designed by Firemane or procurred from companies it has business relations with. Sometimes their mission may require them to operate in disguise and make use of weapons that cannot be traced back to Firemane, such as when they are passing themselves off as mercenaries or even members of the enemy's military.
They often work closely with Task Force Starfall, an elite unit of pilots who deliver special forces into their operational zones and provide close air support. The Lions are the type of unit that may be deployed into a conflict zone, such as a brushfire conflict, in advance of the main force while the latter is still in the process of mobilising its full strength. As a result, speed, mobility, initiative and adaptability are essential qualities. The Lions have to be able to operate without the benefit of a regular supply train for an extended period of time.
As a result, being a member of the Lions - or any such unit really - means that one can be summoned at any moment to be deployed into a conflict zone, and be gone for weeks or longer. This has the effect of isolating members from what constitutes normal society, but it also makes them forge strong bonds with other members of their unit. Firemane operates on a galactic scale and has many mobile assets, such as arkships. This means that a certain degree of mobility is expected from all its soldiers, save for standard garrison troops, but it is particularly apparent in cases such as that of the Lions.
The origins of the individual Lions vary. A good number of them are veterans who used to serve in other militaries, such as the Omega Protectorate, the Republic or one of the many Mandalorian or the Eldorai Matriarchy. Some are drawn from the ranks of Firemane's vassals, especially the various elf races. While Firemane is a corporation, it has assumed many functions normally associated with a government. Its arkships are essentially cities on the move. This means entire communities live under Firemane laws. Retired soldiers receive pensions. A successful career in the Lions can open doors to rank and command advancement.
They derive their name from a hellish world called Gehenna, the homeworld of the modern incarnation of the Bando Gora. Many years ago, the Omega Protectorate fought a great battle on this planet in order to put an end to the Bando Gora and their Reavers, who had long been the scourge of the western outer rim. Fittingly, their emblem is a red lion. Their unofficial motto is 'hear us roar'. Soldiers from formations the Lions have a rivalry with like to make fun of it. The Lions have a bit of a rivalry with the Glory Hounds, a company of Dahomian Rangers led by Captain Glory.
The Lions of Gehenna are a company-sized unit and thus part of a larger commando battalion, the Ember Commandos. The company can conduct semi-independent operations for a short time when augmented by assets from the attalion headquarters company. In terms of composition, the Lions have a Company Headquarters that is composed of a few officers and staff, three Combat Platoons for the rank and file and one Weapons' Platoon. The latter constitute the heavy fire support, mortars, anti-tank weaponry etc. Moreover, Inferno Platoon is attached to the company. This platoon is unique since it is composed almost exclusively of Force-Users. For this reason it is categorised as a Special Force Services Platoon.
The Infernos are new recruits to the Order of Fire and belong to the Young Flames, the Order's cadet corps. The Force-Users have a dual ranking system. The Order of Fire has titles like Master, Apprentice and Knight, but these are ceremonial and would not be used inside the unit. For example, Elpsis would be addressed by her military rank as Lieutenant, not Master or Mistress. In addition, both Force-Users and Non-Force-Users answer to the same chain of command. Military rank takes precedence over Force rank. This means that since Elpsis is a Lieutenant, she has to follow the orders of the commander of the Lions.
The Order follows beliefs that can broadly be classified as grey. The Force is treated as a tool that can be learned like any other tool such as piloting or marksmanship, instead of a mystical journey. This does not, of course, prevent individual members from having their own spiritual beliefs, provided they do not get in the way of doing their job and do not lead to actions that contract the Firemane military's code of conduct.
Their composition gives the Lions a good deal of firepower and flexibility, allowing them to punch above their weight in a combat situation. However, they are not a big unit and thus need support in larger engagements. Elites may be more glamorous than regular forces, but they can only accomplish so much in pitched frontline combat and have trouble holding territory on their own. Small numbers aside, the Lions lack heavy artillery, tanks and bombers etc.
A platoon is commanded by a Lieutenant, a squad by a Sergeant and a fireteam by a Corporal. The overall commander of the Lions holds the rank of Captain, answering to the Colonel in command of the Lions' parent battalion. Firemane's military operates on the basis of mission-based tactics, which places a lot of initiative into the hands of the lower-level leaders. This frees the leadership of micromanagement and allows them to focus on the big picture, while empowering those on the ground, allowing for a greater amount of flexibility.
The platoon leader is responsible for providing leadership to the platoon, while a platoon sergeant administers it, ensures readiness and acts as a conduit between the commander and the enlisted. This includes, among other things, dealing with prisoners of war, handling casualties, supply issues etc. The sergeants must enforce discipline and ensure orders are carried out, but also make the commander aware if a plan is not feasible. Moreover, they must also be prepared to take command if the platoon leader is killed or incapacitated. Firemane officers and NCOs are encouraged - and even forced - to write critical after action reports, detailing what went wrong or what could have been improved on a mission.
The Lions are commanded by Captain Sha Rezz, a Rodian female. She is a Force-User and a member of the Order of Fire. Typically, Rodians are a very martial species and she does not disappoint in that regard. However, she has eschewed the life of thuggery and criminality her people are often associated with. Sha's origins lie on Susefi in the Surabi System, the home of a fringe Force tradition called the Jensaarai. When Zero released the Gulag virus, the Surabi System was cut off from the rest of the galaxy. Isolated from external support, the Jensaarai were once again called upon to serve as defenders of their homeworld.
Traditionally, the Jensaarai followed a blend of Jedi and Sith teachings. They fight with lightsabres, but are clad in Sith-inspired, alchemised cortosis armour. Her mother served as a representative in the Protectorate Council, the legislative body of the Omega Protectorate. However, the family fell on hard times during the Netherworld Crisis, losing most of its fortune. The disappearances caused her to become the head of the family at an early age. Sha leaned closer to the original teachings of the Jensaarai and was sceptical of the Jedi. Thus she found herself out of step with the political realities when the Protectorate collapsed and Surabi later joined the fledgling Galactic Alliance, which was built upon the bedrock of light side orthodoxy. After strife and a failed attempt at political intrigue, Sha had to leave the planet.
A rogue Jensaarai who had fully embraced the dark side tried to tempt her to join the One Sith, but she refused and killed the heretic. Sha became a rogue and was eventually drawn to Firemane, where she completed her training. Since then she has risen to become a commissioned officer in Firemane's ground forces. She intends to rise further in the ranks. The first commander of the Lions has since reached general officer rank. Sha answers to Colonel Lucille Guyenne, the battalion commander. The latter is known to be a strict and very ambitious officer.
A number of droids have been assigned to the company. These are Infantry Drones and thus sturdy, but of limited intelligence. They can obviously fight, but are mainly used for patrols, standing guard, guarding supply depots as well as carrying heavy equipment, extra supplies and ammunition. Past crises such as the Clockwork Rebellion and the Contingency have made Firemane suspicious of droids that are too independent. Thus battle droids are only used in fairly limited roles. However, their use frees up organic manpower that can be utilised elsewhere. Moreover, droids do not get tired, do not require sustenance and cannot be bribed. These traits make them ideal for unglamorous but important duties.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Medium
Unit Availability: Unique
Unit Experience: Veteran
Equipment:
Armour:
Primary Rifles:
- Mark I Bolter
- Magnetic Repeater
- Reaper Plasma Shotgun
- Shatter Rifle
- ACS-205 Blackblade Modular Rifle
- ACS-205 Advanced Dual Weapon System
- ACS-202 Vanquisher Light Repeating Blaster
- The Firedrake
- Agneya Particle Rifle
- KIIR-17 'Redeemer' Anti-Droid Rifle
- ACS-201 Executioner Slugthrower
- High Velocity Kinetic Shatter Boltgun
- Lance Missile Launcher. Served by 2 crew; a gunner and a spotter/ammunition carrier.
- Model 201 Mortar System
- Eradicator Blaster
- Hold-Out Bolter
- Uproar Blaster
- A280-CFE Blaster
- Vornskr Revolver
- Last Whisper Suppressed Blaster
- Pinprick Needler
- Renegade Model 557
Droids:
Misc:
- APE Boltgun Ammunition.
- Firemane Force Suppression Devices
- Camouflage Netting. For vehicles when not in use and structures.
- Rampart II Shield Generators
- Grenades, Devastator Multi-Purpose Mine, Detonation Pack, Sonic Imploder, Thermal Imploder.
Transports & Vehicles
- Ghoush Class Orbital Lander
- UT-65 U-Wing
- Nemesis Class Air Combat Drone
- Bantha Class Armoured Transport
- Firedancer Landspeeder
- Yazgid IFV
- Bladesinger Combat Speeder
An example would be seizing or blowing up a bridge, eliminating enemy planetary turbolaser cannons or taking control over an airfield. The Lions may also be dispatched to a planet under enemy occupation in oder to provide aid to allied guerrillas and resistance groups. Thus they may have to operate without a regular supply train for an extended duration. For this reason, the Lions combine mobility, firepower, skill, adaptability and discipline.
These qualities allow them to punch above their weight, as they are small unit and thus cannot overwhelm an enemy through sheer force of numbers. Overall, the group is very versatile. They have access to landing ships, jetpacks and infantry fighting vehicles to enhance their mobility. In larger engagements, the Lions can be deployed in a tactical role to knock out specific objectives and thus provide an opening for allied forces. Being primarily an infantry unit, they have little in the way of heavy integrated support, which means they might require support in big battles. A number of Infantry Drones have been assigned to the company. These battle droids serve in support roles, freeing up organic manpower so that it can be used more productively.
Force Abilities (Force User Units Only): A few members of the Lions are Force-Users, though they constitute a minority. Their powers tend to focus on elemental fire abilities, telekinesis and its various sub-applications, Force Valour as well as physical enhancement abilities. A few of them can use Force healing, which they combine with the conventional skills of a combat medic.
Strengths:
- Crack unit. The Lions are a well-trained, disciplined rapid deployment and special operations unit.
- High mobile and versatile.
- Small unit. It is a company-sized unit, which means they are easily outnumbered in large engagements.
- Being primarily an infantry unit, they have little integrated heavy support, such as heavily armoured combat vehicles. They lack bombers, tanks, artillery and so on.
Strictly speaking, the Lions of Gehenna did not start out as a Firemane unit. Instead they trace their roots back to a formation of the Omega Defence Forces. This is not surprising, since in many ways Omega Pyre and the Protectorate are predecessors of Firemane. Omega Pyre started as a paramilitary corporation that provided protection to worlds on the western rim that had been disconnected when the Galaxy was ravaged by the Gulag Virus. Starting out on Fondor and Thyferra, the corporation was able to leverage its military and economic influence, especially its control over bacta production.
Siobhan Kerrigan and Tegaea Alcori were two of the founding members of the group. Lacking large numbers, it focused on small elite groups of soldiers, which it hired out to governments in return for political or economic concessions. Over time the territory it administrated grew too large and its duties too complex for a corporate body, and it evolved into a government, the Omega Protectorate. In terms of ideology, it was a Republican Dictatorship.
Within this context, the unit that would become the Lions started out as a special operations unit in the Protectorate's army. Back then they were known a far duller name. The name they are known by today started out as an honorific that was bestowed upon them for their valour during the Battle of Gehenna. This campaign pit the Protectorate against the Bando Gora and their legions of savage Reavers. Though destroyed centuries ago through the efforts of Count Dooku and Jango Fett, the cult had been to take advantage of the chaos caused by the Dark Age to rebuild.
In the process, they had become a lot more extreme. Worshippin dark gods and demons that dwelt in the realm of Chaos, they spread terror and destruction across the western rim. They were led by a former Inquisitor called Abaddon, who used dark sorcery to remain alive throughout the centuries and was worshipped as a god by his followers. Gehenna, their homeworld, was a hellish hothouse. The heat, toxic atmosphere and volcanic eruptions made unprotected exposure suicidal.
When the time came for the final battle, the unit was deployed to land on Gehenna in advance of the main force and neutralise defence guns that would otherwise spell doom for Protectorate vessels. The inhospitable nature of the planet made this a hazardous undertaking. Led by their Weequay commander Captain Kiera Bey, the commandos landed on Gehenna at night time, when weather conditions were somewhat tolerable. The soldiers had to scale cliffs under intense enemy fire. However, after scaling the cliffs, they discovered that the cannons had been removed. The guns they had seen in the distance turned out to be a decoy. Furthermore, the bunkers were just camouflage. Illusions had been employed to further the deception and make it look more real.
Ironically, Protectorate reconnaissance had learned of this earlier, but had been unable to transmit this information to the operatives on the ground. Gehenna's odd electrical storms made it difficult to use comms. The soldiers regrouped and prepared for an imminent Bando Gora counterattack, which was not long in coming. Meanwhile, a small group of soldiers was dispatched to search for the guns. The commandos eventually found the cannons and disabled them through use of explosives. However, the commandos faced stiff enemy resistance.
It was vital to hold the high ground, but they were isolated from the Protectorate's main force. Digging in, the commandos held the line against several Bando Gora counterattacks. The dark cultists were able to corner the commandos, forcing them to make a stand along the cliffs. It took several hours until they were relieved by allied forces. By that time the commandos had sustained heavy casualties and had lost about fifty percent of its effective fighting strength.
At one stage of the battle, it was considered to reinforce the commandos with a unit of marines. However, at the last moment the request was denied. When Exarch Siobhan Kerrigan learned of this, she had the officer responsible court-martialled. The badly mauled commandos were finally reinforced and evacuated. Gehenna was a victory for the Protectorate, but also the bloodiest battle it had fought to date. In recognition of their valour, the commandos were renamed the Lions of Gehenna. Siobhan visited the surviving members of the unit in person after she was fit to leave the hospital, for she had been wounded during the final stage of the battle.
Shortly after the battle, Tegaea was nearly killed by the psychopathic Sith Assassin Kaelin Isandros. The Sith was killed by Siobhan, but the severity of her injuries left Tegaea unable to continue her work as Lady Protector. Thus the couple stepped down and withdrew to Kaeshana. There they founded a company called Firemane Industries. The fledgling corporation approached the Lions. The glory days of the Protectorate had passed. It still ruled numerous worlds on the western rim, but it had stagnated and was being eclipsed by its rivals. Thus the commander of the Lions and many members jumped ship. Of course, this did not apply to everyone, but they transferred over enough to just retain the name and insignia. Thus the second incarnation of the Lions came into being. Initially, things were rather ad hoc. Firemane was a new - and very small - player on the board, so there was a lot of improvisation.
However, over time things became more institutionalised. The Lions became part of the 1st Commando Battalion, nicknamed the Ember Commandos. They were integrated into Firemane's Special Warfare Command. This organisation assumed responsibility for most of Firemane's special operations forces. Their old commander was promoted from her original role to their brigade commander. While Firemane has a substantial army for a corporation, it is dispersed and has a somewhat simplified structure. There is no point in having army groups, armies or corps if most of the time units do not fight above brigade or, more rarely, division strength. Thus this was an important position. A Rodian Force adept called Sha Rezz eventually rose to become the commander of the Lions.
The Lions saw action against manifold enemies, such as Dark Eldorai insurgents, the One Sith, Xioquo cults and the First Order. They distinguished themselves during a raid on a heavily defended One Sith remnant shipyard. The Lions missed the Tephrike campaign due to being heavily involved in the Krolis War, a conflict between rival Qadiri factions about who should be Saoshyant, the supreme religious leader of the desert elves. Firemane was pulled into it because Shahbânu Semiramis, the leader of one of the factions, was its vassal.
Recently, the Lions and their parent battalion were assigned to the Forge. This station had a dual purpose: on the one hand it served as a mobile boot camp for the Order of Fire, on the other it patrolled the frontier. This was not the most glamorous assignment, but an important one that required soldiers characterised by skill, initiative and self-reliance, who could act as a rapid response force to eliminate threats to Firemane's interests. The newly-formed Inferno Platoon was loaned to the company by brigade command as a Special Force Services Platoon.
More recently, the lions of Gehenna participated in the assault on Lao-Mon, a remote world in the Unknown Regions that had been occupied by the Brotherood of the Maw. The darkside fanatics were plundering the world and massacring the shapeshifting natives. When the Silver Jedi Order, the Galactic Alliance and the New Imperial Order dispatched a large assault force to support the Shi'ido rebels, Firemane sent the Lions of Gehnena to assist. The Lions were involved in the assault on Goshen, facing Mawist fanatics, Sithspawn and zombies. Captain Rezz used her mental abilities to enhance coordination and boost her soldiers.
One of the platoon commanders, Elpsis Kerrigan, engaged a Sith Lady in the process. Her platoon acquitted itself well, despite being assailed by an undead horde and a Force-based storm. However, allied forces had overextended themselves and as the battle's tide turned into the Maw's favour, the platoon received the order to retreat. Facing heavy fire, the Lions pulled off a fighting retreat back to the Firemane rally point for evacuation. They were able to pull out and rescue a few native helpers before the Mawists carpet-bombed the jungle. But this meant abandoning the Shi'do to a genocide perpetrated by the Brotherhood.
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