The Flame Major
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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: The purpose of this unit is to help solidify Caelag's connection and place with the Silver Jedi Order, and provide story opportunity through their contrast with more 'mainstream' members of the SJO Rangers, and to a lesser extent provide a unit specialized for air assaults or other methods of airborne army operations.
- Image Credit: Original Found Here (Image adjusted for size), 82nd Airborne Division, US Army
- Role: A portion of rank and file for the SJO, this unit is a specialized airborne infantry meant for operations requiring airlift or drops into hazardous situations, including behind enemy lines.
- Links: Caelag Vass Profile
- Unit Name: The 113th Airborne Division "Ferrum Sanguis" (Iron Blood)
- Affiliation: Caelag Vass and the SJO by extention
- Classification: Airborne Infantry
- Equipment:
Ranger's Katarn Class Armor
Firebolt Variable Charge Rifle
Ranger Field Pistol / Ranger's SMG sidearm
Standard Combat Knife
- Availability: Unique
- Deployment: Minor
- Strengths & Weaknesses:
+ Arctic Conditioning: As a consequence of formerly residing on Illum and other cold, normally inhospitable planetary conditions, the unit is well trained and adapted well to handling severe cold, trench foot, frostbite, and other conditions that come hand in hand with such an environment... as well as using such environments to their advantage.
+ Urban Warfare: Though not specialized for urban combat, Caelag trained her soldiers with the intention to create a force well and capable of keeping pace with her in settings such as towns or cities, even metropolises such as Coruscaunt. Out of concern for the likely situations they would encounter, she wished to be certain she could entrust the safety of civilians to her troops.
+ Airborne Training: Trained to come from the sky and often infiltrate or attack the enemy from behind their own lines, the troops of the Feratta 101st are no strangers to slim odds. The expectation they hold is to fight where they stand little chance in almost any form of traditional fighting, and thus are taught to use various tactics to combat greater forces.
+ Well-Rounded: Though not proficient at everything, the troop as a whole has significant crossover training with one another. Most members, for instance, can operate each other's equipment (save of course anything bio-metrically coded) to a reasonable degree and treat wounds with first aid care.
+ Veterans: A good portion of the troop, between fourty and sixty percent, certainly all the officers, are either veteran combatants, former Iron Empire troops, or both, with a strong sense of loyalty to their CO. As such they are a good several cuts above standard troopers in experience and combative capabilities.
- Specialization: An unintended consequence of a force that prioritizes tactics and the ability to manage multiple roles, there are very few members with any sort of specialized capabilities. The consideration that specialized members would become ideal targets drove them away from having such members in their airborne team. Thus, there is a deficiency of members with any particularly specialized skill in one area. Caelag Vass herself is one of, if not the only, highly specialized member of the unit.
- Jungle/Forest Environments: As a primarily air-assault focused combat unit, jungle/forested environments are particularly troublesome for the 113th. The jungle or forest canopies are very poor for entry, leaving the actual ground obscured and not the best for potentially parachuting in, while the hot and humid jungle is particularly alien to the former IE leadership of the unit. Enviroments such as these remove the unit from their home field, reducing their effectiveness.
- Fire Support: As a fully committed infantry unit, the 113th have little in the way of fire support. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the time they have none, leaving them disadvantaged against a host of enemies armed to the teeth with heavy equipment or armored support such as tanks. As such, it remains vital to their survival to avoid situations that require fire support, lest they enjoy a truly brutal uphill battle.
- Low Recruitment: Training for the 113th is extensive, and rigorous, sometimes downright brutal. To be a member is no small task, and many prospective members are simply unable to keep up with the standards they've set. An utter refusal to lower what they declared essential to join might mean their recruits are quality, but causes their numbers to remain lower than other units within the Rangers. - Description: Originally little more than a single platoon of troops, the 113th was the first unit the then Lieutenant Vass was put in charge of. Comprised primarily of humans, the LT was more than a little nervous at the prospect of leading primarily human soldiers, sure that they would resent her. At the time, in the Iron Empire, they had little time to address such issues however, and worked to combat the Chiss insurgents attempting to unravel the Empire, forcing the unit into combat more often than not, with even the restful hours becoming little more than precursors to the inevitable combat to come. War was their home, even as time drew it closer to the end with every training session and every deployment. By the time the Insurgency had been brought to their final threads, Vass had become High Colonel, and the unit in turn came to respect her. She was not one to hide behind her troops, she preferred to lead them as they left safety and took the plunge.
They hardly even cared that when the Insurgency was over, this time the one which threatened the galaxy itself, she drilled them near daily, teaching them to fight in their home territory, that of snow covered planets. She drilled the growing unit until she could full well leave them to their own devices for days in the inhospitable territory and fully expect them to survive, if not pleasantly then at least enough they could recover. In conjunction with this were urban exercises, as she felt that would prepare them for the day they had to protect the people where they lived, and so she could trust them to keep up with her. As time went on, they pushed for training in airborne tactics, to fulfill a rather empty category of units within the Empire, and shifted away from specialized individuals and towards a versatile group of what could only really be explained as veterans of combat.
When the Empire finally went into obscurity, and Vass left to find a new home, the unit was, understandably, dejected. What would they do now, with so much left empty in their lives? Answers wouldn't come for much of the company, as death took some, and others left for unknown pursuits, perhaps never again to see the 113th. Those who managed to stay together, however, caught word of Caelag Vass now working for the Silver Jedi, a former ally of the Empire, and like moths to flame went to join her. The 113th's loyalty to their beloved officer was unquestionable, for as they arrived, their first and only hope was to be reunited once more.
They would be trained to utilize their new weapons and armor, and to cooperate with new recruits from within the Order. Vass would leave no room for them to question their duty, lest their hearts be clouded in doubt. As airborne units destined to go where others dread, they had reason to doubt, to fear, but not the luxury to indulge in such emotional turmoil. Whether they dropped by air above, or took a transport around them, the moment they let fear take over would spell disaster. And so, the 113th would be born again, a will of iron, to fight for and protect peace once more.
