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    Default Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear: Part Eight (Final)

    Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear: Part Eight


    Final part of the fluff that accompanies the official Aotrs fleet/ground forces miniatures releases.

    Part One
    Part Two
    Part Three
    Part Four
    Part Five
    Part Six
    Part Seven



    Notable Persons and Units of the Aotrs

    (Note: Dates listed are in accordance with the current year 2347. To translate to Earth-E Julian (or Gregorian) calendar, simply subtract 326 years.)

    Lord Death Despoil

    It would be remiss not to start a precis of the Aotrs most notable persons without beginning with Lord Death Despoil the Lichemaster himself. For without Lord Death Despoil, there would be no Army Of The Red Spear at all. The Aotrs revere him only a little short of deification. (Expressions such as “by the Lichemaster!” or “Lichemaster forfend!” are not uncommon.)

    For all his status, however, Lord Death Despoil is not given to great personal ornamentation. He is habitually seen in simple grey hoodless robes; in the days before modern armour, in battle, he would exchange these for a simple light leather jerkin, round shield and his helmet.

    (The helmet bears passing mention, given its somewhat iconic status. It is essentially a simple pot-helm with a wide rear neck-flange. From the top, two upward curving horns of metal rise, terminating in balls, rather than points (a third ball is mounted at the apex of the helm centre). It shape can be difficult to determine, however, as Lord Death Despoil’s helmet, like his shield and Deathblood, is enchanted, such that it absorbs all visible light and so appears only as a black silhouette. Lord Deather and Yeller have similarly shaped helmets (or rather, a succession of them, through to the current day), though theirs do not have this enchantment; Deather’s is an electric blue and Yeller’s a dark green, their personal colours.)

    Little to nothing is known of Lord Death Despoil’s origins. While it is certain the Lichemaster remembers quite clearly the circumstances and place of his birth, this information has never been revealed to anyone, not even his inner circle of the High Command. It is surmised that he hails from an undisclosed HPE-L world, but even that is not entirely certain.

    Theories have abounded over the centuries. One leading speculation of the most recent few years is that his homeworld might have been one of the planets in the newly-contacted United Concorde of Divine Realms, or perhaps even the legendary world of Syalin, lost since the Xakkath Demon Wars (and the two are not necessarily exclusive). Proponents of this theory point that the known timelines and technological and thaumatological advancement are reasonably compatible and the UCDR’s own FTL teleportation systems bear some similarities to Gate drives. However, this may be down to the simple fact that both systems take fundamental principles from the Xakkath Pathways. But then again, surviving information on the Pathways is so scarce it seems sufficiently tangible records are unlikely to have been found in two entirely different places. The UCDR’s discovery is considered by many leading experts in the field to be the most likely candidate on record.

    Though the Lichemaster has as always, remained silent on the issue, it is entirely possible that with some digging on the part of the UCDR, concrete information could finally be brought to light. And at this late stage, any sympathetic power over him that his origin might once have held is long gone, so perhaps once the ghoul is finally out of the grave, Lord Death Despoil may finally be more forthcoming on the issue.

    What has been pieced together was that Lord Death Despoil was born a human. His official date of birth is 413BC, though the accuracy of this date is highly dubious. He was a magic-user in life, and stumbled by chance on what he has referred to as a life- and unlife-changing discovery during his studies. (It has always been phrased as though he found a source of information, rather than had an epiphany.) It is certain that his notoriously mysterious end-game pertains to this discovery, as does his research into dimensional and planar transportation. It is probable that his self-taught study of necromancy was boosted by this source as well, though it is strongly suggested that it was the study of necromancy that lead him to his discovery.

    While still living, the future Lord Death Despoil raised his first army on his homeworld when he was barely into his early twenties, and there lead it into some sort of armed insurrection. From context, it seems as if he had no assistance, other than animated Undead (or possibly created and controlled Undead). He was defeated by the forces of his homeworld. Lord Death Despoil has revealed little of this campaign, but he has said that he made many mistakes during it, not the least was that he allowed himself to become a victim of his own success. He says he won until the point he became over-confident and had made himself too large a threat and was overwhelmed by a large coalition of enemy forces he had defeated individually; and at the height of battle, he was killed.

    Things might have ended there, but at the moment he was killed in battle, he was opening a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire to escape. Lord Death Despoil was already a powerful enough necromancer that he would have become Undead on his death – but had his body remained, it could have been destroyed before this could occur. But as it transpired, his body fell into the Elemental Plane of Fire – and was shielded from the effects of the plane by the magic he had already cast.

    Lord Death Despoil then later emerged from the Elemental Plane of Fire onto the Macronis IV. The exact time he remained on the Elemental Plane of Fire is unclear. Lord Death Despoil admits while he thinks is was a few months, as he came to himself and lucidity as he became a Lich by “natural” (as opposed to artificial) means, it could possibly have been longer. This makes his official birthdate possibly wildly inaccurate.

    Only a short time – perhaps days, only hours – after his arrival there, he met Deather, and history was made.

    Lord Death Despoil began as an exceptional individual, born with prodigious natural magical talent, intelligence and insight and born into a position (whatever that may have been) to be able to learn to use them. And now, 2750 or so years later, he is at the height of his power. It is important, though, to remember that the Lord Death Despoil we see today is the product of his long and active unlife. While he is not infallible, nor believes himself to be (nor encourages that thought in his underlings – though enemies are another matter), experience has ensured that the worst of his mistakes have been made in the past, and been learned from.

    He is a strategic and tactical genius, equal to any of the most renowned generals of any world. This considerable natural talent has been further honed by the centuries of experience (not least by his natal – and fatal – campaign). Lord Death Despoil has tuned his extreme intelligence and insight to the point of limited precognisance. So not only can he often flawlessly predict what an opponent will do simply by mundane observation and experience, he can sometimes get actual confirmation via visions. This talent gives him a particular edge in personal combat, as this sense allows him to begin to react sometimes before his opponent even realises what they are going to do next. Shorn of the limitations of flesh, his speed and strength are super-human (though not quite to the point of actual super-powers), and his durability, even by Lich standards, is significant. He is still a very capable swordslich, though not to the standard or breadth of Lords Deather, Yeller or Foul Skream.

    Though supplemented by the Red Spear, and later his one-handed falchion, Death Blood – and in modern times, a coldbeam pistol – Lord Death Despoil’s magic is and always has been his most potent weapon. Lord Death Despoil has an arsenal of offensive spells. Though his preference is generally towards various point- and area-attack spells – Disintegration Bolt has been his perennial favourite for centuries – he can also dip into a seemingly bottomless bag of magical tricks he’s picked up through the years. Even when exposed to something he has not seen before, he can sometimes replicate it himself, only having seen it once.

    He is confirmed rating as at least a level 100 caster (five times what is normally considered the “top” tier of mortal casters) and that rating was not even for his specialist magic, nor is it known what the maximum level of spell he can cast is, 100 simply being the highest known rated. His talent with magic is such that he can stretch his spells to over twice the distances, areas and durations than most other casters using the same spell and mana.

    Lord Death Despoil exudes an aura of quiet control and power, above and beyond the supernatural aura of a Spirt-Bound lich. This is the result of his long experience – he does, in fact, have a temper, contrary to some belief. But he long ago learned to temper and focus his anger to burn cold, not hot. Making him angry no longer causes him to make mistakes, just more determined and precise, as more than one hero has found to fatal cost. He is ruthless when he needs to be, reasonable and moderate when not, and he is happy to at least attempt negotiation if circumstances are right. While in the vast majority, he (and thus the Aotrs itself) is a lich of his word and uphold bargains and agreements in good faith, he has no love for honour and similar concepts for their own sake, and holds no fear of violating a pact if circumstances conspire to make it untenable. Such instances are rare, as generally holding the reputation of good standing is reason enough to do so, but more than a few souls over the centuries have mistaken this attitude for an iron-clad slavishness to the letter or spirit of the law, to their detriment.

    Lord Death Despoil has a little flair for – and appreciation of – the dramatic, but like his well-known understated sense of humour, it takes second place to his practicality and good strategy. He enjoys learning for learning’s sake, and his memory has become practically photographic. While the sheer breath of technology and knowledge escapes him simply due to the lack of time to study everything, he knows a great deal on many subjects (some rather surprising), and usually enough to converse intelligently with technical experts. He also ensures that he follows cultural trends as well as pure academia – Lord Yeller says if for no other reason than to keep up with Yeller’s own cultural references.

    He is neither shy with praise, nor reserving of criticism of his subordinates. He has little tolerance for incompetence (gross incompetence is an executable offense in the Aotrs) or wilful ignorance. This is not to say that he is intolerant of mistakes, merely that he is acutely sensitive to the difference between honest mistake and happenstance and of ill-conceived action or failure due to in action or slovenliness. Failure is expected, and mistakes happen; incompetence, he says, is when they are repeated.

    The Red Spear, the titular artefact of the Aotrs, bears mention itself. Popular myth ascribes it to an artefact created by Lord Death Despoil on his homeworld, or found within the place of his great discovery. The reality is somewhat more mundane. The symbolism of the Red Spear is largely derived from the Aotrs themselves. The Red Spear’s origin is almost uninterestingly mundane. Far from creation by Lichemaster or divine providence, it was simply a magical weapon looted from one of the tombs on Macronis IV by Lord Death Despoil and Deather. Further provenance of the weapon is unknown. The tomb of the warriors it was taken from was already old. At the time of looting, technology was at the equivalent level of the first century BC and the tomb dated back to a late bronze-age desert civilisation, where iron weapons were rare and special, over a thousand years previously. (Latter-day metallurgical analysis indicates the Red Spear was forged sometime around 1530BC.) Whichever ancient necromancer first crafted it, for whom, and for what reason and the identity of its previous bearer were already mysteries lost to time even before Macronis IV itself was.

    The Red Spear is a one-handed light spear, a little over six feet long. It is entirely made of an enchanted meteoric iron (technically, due to natural inclusions, it can be classified as steel), enchanted to weight no more than a wood-and-iron spear of the same mass. The red colour – red like the colour of freshly-spilt arterial blood – is an alchemically-derived property from the blood that would have been spilled in its creation. It has strong, though not exceptional magical enchantment, and is unholy and specifically aligned towards Undead. This latter reason was what drew Lord Death Despoil to it. Bound magic within it originally enabled a single daily use of a primitive Animate Dead spell; Lord Death Despoil’s later enhancements increased that ten-fold and added a trio of blade-turning spells. The Red Spear was superseded as Lord Death Despoil’s melee weapon of choice surprisingly early in his career, he preferring the much-more-powerful Deathblood and his shield.

    Lord Deather and the Defilers

    Deather was the first true member of the Aotrs, for without him and the Defilers, Lord Death Despoil could never have created an army. A scant handful of years older than Lord Death Despoil when they met, he can even lay claim to be the oldest member of the Aotrs by a technicality.

    Deather recalls little of his early life, as noted previously. He and his men, who would go on to become the Defilers, were a phalanx of regular infantry serving an empire on Macronis IV. His unit was sacrificed to defeat a long-forgotten enemy by his leaders, but inadvertently, the manner in which they died meant that most of the unit returned from the grave weeks later (what Deather distantly recalls), as liches. He and his men were lost and confused, driven by the traditional anger at the living, and a more specific desire to revenge themselves on the ones who had caused them to be slain. The unit wandered rudderless for months, however, until fate intervened and they ran into Lord Death Despoil, himself only freshly a lich.

    Despite a somewhat tense start, Deather accepted this newcomer, who claimed to be from another world, into the unit. Lord Death Despoil offered to help the phalanx, as at the time, they had no capability to use magic themselves. The nascent Lichemaster quickly determined that the phalanx was unstable, due to the nature of their creation. They were necromantically linked, so that when enough of them were destroyed – or over time – the energy that motivated them would crumble and they would be permanently destroyed. Lord Death Despoil used his even then considerable necromantic skill to help stabilise the undead into something more permanent, tying each individual’s spirit to their body with and influx of his own power and severing them from the group link, transforming them into true Spirit-Bound Undead.

    This action earned both Deather’s and his units favour quickly. And when they first began to run into enemies, Lord Death Despoil’s tactical prowess came into the field. In a few months, far from being an attaché to the unit, Deather and his men swore their undying allegiance to Lord Death Despoil. While the official inauguration of the Army Of The Red Spear did not come for some months hence, this event marked its very first beginning. Deather and the Defilers later took their new names on the official formation of the Aotrs (their prior names, those of their lives, are now long-forgotten).

    Deather is a martial prodigy. He recalls only dimly distant echoes that as a child, he was raised at or trained in a monastery of warrior-monks (he is uncertain of which, or even entirely of the veracity of this memory), but if so, it stood him in good stead. He wears armour like a second skin. He is arguably the single most trained swordsman in the galaxy, as he has always made it a point to train with his sword for an hour a day for every day he was able for two and three-quarter millennia. Out of combat, he comes across as a typical old soldier. The centuries have taken some of the edges off, so that he is now merely more straight-forward in his tastes than crude, more blunt than course. He and Yeller have been fast friends and cohorts in crime for millennia, and their easy camaraderie is arguably the closest of all the High Command.

    In combat, however, this personality seems to switch off, and he becomes machine-like in his cool and calm precision. In a crisis, Deather is the most unflappable of the High Command next to Lord Death Despoil himself, and even that is debatable. This duality of nature is a common trait to the Defilers in general, having trickled down from their leader, but it is with Deather that is most defined.

    The Defilers are possibly the single-best trained unit the galaxy has ever seen. Out of all of the early units, the Defilers have retained most of their original number and early reinforcements over the centuries. To start with, this was simply due to their own skill and more than a little luck, but once the practise of being able to restore destroyed Undead truly began, the membership stabilised. Experience has done the rest.

    Of passing note is that the Defilers are not-quite exclusive majority of males, and former humans. At the time of their formation, and on their world, women were not warriors (or at least, not allowed to be by the cultural conventions of the time). By the time Defilers until their unit reached its permanent size, they were sufficiently elite that as they did now not need new recruits, expansion to any new members was neither required and would have been detrimental to their performance. As such, induction to their ranks is essentially closed off to anyone, male, female or otherwise.

    (This is similarly true for the Bellowers and the Grim, though in both cases, the units were traditionally slightly more open, given their irregular and tribal origins respectively and that both units’ members fluctuated considerably more before settling down.)

    The original, pre-Defilers phalanx was armed with spears and shields and only laminar armour, with a few javelins for ranged work. As time passed, and technology advanced the Defilers went from medium to heavy infantry, in full plate armour, with tower shields as well as their spears; broadswords for closer in work, and still using javelins, though now larger and heavier ones. This remains their equipment when they are deployed to tech-locked to time-locked worlds, where advanced technology cannot be taken. There, they are a sight to behold. Their shields locked together into a tortoise formation bouncing off mundane and magical attack alike, with only the hafts of the spears protruding. When an enemy force closes in, in the middle ranks, some of the shields drop, like hatches, and a shower of javelins shoots out with terrible accuracy. They march in silence, and in unison, as if all controlled by a single mind. Yet this is not magic, but simply a product of millennia of working together. Each individual Defiler is a master combatant in his own right, an all together they are practically unstoppable. Despite their individual magical skill, in formation, the Defilers stick to their roots and rely on their physical weapons to deal ranged attacks – which makes the shield wall parting to allow a fusillade of Fireballs or Lightning Bolts to strike an enemy’s ranks at close range all the more surprising, not least in the near silence that the spells are cast in, without a single signal.

    As the gunpowder age dawned, the Defilers easily made the jump first to pike-and-shot and then on to rifles and eventually vehicles – despite keeping up their old formation drills for when they care called upon to use them. On the modern battlefield, the Defilers serve as the most elite Power Troops. The size of the Defilers in terms of combatants to the relatively small number of troops in the modern squads means that they have diversified out, such that some members now crew their transport vehicles too. It also has meant that the Defilers can be spread out more, since they now longer need the entire unit in one place to have an impact. Indeed, the Defilers now are rarely ever called even to tech-locked worlds in their entirety; in rotation, a (ironically) skeleton crew remains behind to perform duties as required while the rest get out their spears. A couple of dozen Defilers less in a massed unit does not appreciably weaken their power on the ancient battlefields, but the same number can make a huge difference to small unit actions on a modern one.

    Deather’s right-hand lich, the Defiler’s traditional standard bearer, is Shatter-Scatter. Shatter-Scatter is so named for his penchant for literally striking his targets so hard that he punches right through them and scatters their vertebrae. Shatter-Scatter is not remarkable in size, as his skill and strength comes not from his physicality in life, but his will and power as a lich, even from his earliest start.

    Lord Yeller and the Bellowers

    Yeller is by far the most outgoing and flamboyant of the High Command. Yeller is loud, but easy-going, with a ready (if somewhat idiosyncratic) wit, he is practically the cheer-leader of the group. Yeller likes to have fun, and he isn’t all that particular about how his fun comes about. But beneath this apparent happy-go-lucky attitude lurks a fiendishly cunning mind, and something of a sadist.

    Yeller started out life, from what he recalls, on the fringes of the same empire that spawned Deather. More reckless back then, Yeller’s hedonistic tendencies made him a rogue and almost before he was full-grown, he was an outlaw. But Yeller thrived in this environment, using his charisma and his deceptive intelligence to become the leader of a large group of bandits and ne’er do-wells. Yeller had dreams of forming his own little kingdom one day, and he drilled his men quite well for someone with only a limited knowledge of military operations. His rise to power was not unnoticed, and in due course, he heard that the empire had to dispatch troops to the hinterlands to defeat him.

    It was here that his youthful recklessness got the better of him, and he and his band made a night attack on what he thought was an imperial phalanx, moving in a column through a forest. In one light, he was correct, that it was indeed equipped as an imperial phalanx would be – but it was, in fact, Lord Despoil and Lord Deather’s unit.

    This skirmish was technically the first true battle the nascent Aotrs had fought. Yeller’s men were defeated, but he himself put up a grand fight against both Lord Death Despoil and Deather, before being wounded and knocked out. He and his surviving men woke up as captives. During his interrogation, both senior liches saw something in Yeller they hadn’t expected, and conversely, Yeller saw a horizon he’d never have crossed on his own. Almost at once, Yeller decided that this path was a far more appealing one. The injuries he had sustained were not necessarily fatal (the dangers of infection and dark age-technology-level medicine notwithstanding) but they would have debilitated him. So Yeller surprised both liches by not only saying he wanted in, but that he wanted to become like them.

    Yeller also managed to convince a fair number of his men – some even, who had been killed in the skirmish – to join up as well. With two units now, Lord Despoil decided they need a symbol and a name. None of the surviving liches can recall who suggested that they take new names for themselves as well, but Yeller asserts that Deather suggested he be “Yeller” as a admonishment for his loudness (which Yeller immediately and gleefully decided to adopt) and Deather concedes that he recalls that Yeller suggested his own name in return, citing that Deather should have a name that was as boring as he was. These names stuck and as strange as it might be to unfamiliar ears, after a couple of millennia, to the liches, they are just names now and the meanings only remembered when quizzical historians dig through their pasts.

    One obscure fact about Yeller is that he is a natural shape-changer by birth (an ability he shares with Lord Unlucky by entirely unrelated co-incidence), which the ability to shapeshift into a cheetah form (now a skeletal cheetah). This is not lycanthropy, but instead a rare talent that his people occasionally displayed, whose origin was shrouded in myth and legend even when Yeller was alive. It is not an ability he has ever used often, but it remains a weapon in his arsenal and one little-known or remembered.

    The Bellowers – their name bestowed by Yeller, of course, satisfying both his desire for silliness with both a thematic and linguistic resonance – became the Aotrs second unit. At first, the Bellowers were a barely-regular group of disparately armed light troops. But under Deather’s supervision, Yeller began to forge them into a regular unit of swordsmen.

    Once they had fully established themselves by the time of the midpoint of the Kalanoth campaigns, the Bellowers were second only to the Defilers. The Bellowers used traditionally mail and shield, with sword and javelin, supporting the Defilers as the main core of the army. With a formation a little more open and flexible, the Bellowers made the easiest transition into the gunpowder age, and from then on into today’s Line Infantry and its attendant vehicle support.

    On the pre-industrial battlefield, the Bellowers live up to the name – even the Grim’s battle-frenzies are drowned out by the Bellowers war-cries. They are loud enough to be painful to the human ear, which gives them one more edge in close combat. In latter years, the Bellowers have refined their war-cries into an actual offense – their co-ordinated keening, enhanced by magic, as they close to charge is strong enough to constitute a sonic attack in and of its own right. Enemies not killed or knocked prone by the almost literal wall of sound are impeded by burst eardrums and are rarely able to stand against a mass of elite and experienced warrior liches, even before more magic comes into play.

    On a lighter note, the Bellowers are usually first unit to breaking into a marching song on the move, and they are responsible for the vast majority of the Aotrs traditional marching songs.

    Yeller’s second-in-command, the unit’s traditional standard bearer is Lacerator. Lacerator has been fiercely loyal to Yeller since the get-go before the Bellowers formed, and the two have a very similar outlook on unlife. Lacerator was in his earliest days, something of a bard and he is still by far the most musically inclined of the High Command, appreciating it in all its forms. He is the author of many of the Aotrs battle-songs. In later years, this appreciation expanded to the study of the science of sound and especially its offensive applications; he is also the mastermind behind honing the Bellower’s keen to its current form.

    Lord Foul Skream

    Lord Foul Skream has been Lord Death Despoil’s personal aide-de-camp, adjutant and factotum also since the beginning of the Aotrs. He is also the Aotrs chief engineer. Foul Skream was one of the original Bellowers, which when one considers his name, might not be surprising. (The reason he chose to spell his name with a “k” rather than a “c” has long since been lost to time.)

    Foul Skream was from a minor family of the now-forgotten empire, the same one that Deather had been part of. As a middle son, Foul Skream recalls he had wanted to be in the military, but that had gone to his older and more physically adept brother. Foul Skream instead found himself languishing in a minor bureaucratic post. His only consolation was that it enabled him to learn things he might never have done, and these studies started his unlife-long interest in engineering. Yeller come across Foul Skream during a raid, and the young Foul Skream immediately saw the chance for something better.

    Yeller immediately noted him as being particularly bright and highly organised. Foul Skream started to gravitate towards helping with the organisation and logistics of the pre-Bellowers, aiding Yeller and Lacerator and becoming a little bit of a de facto third-in-command, at least as far as non-combat operations went.

    During the final years on Macronis IV, he occasionally helped Lord Death Despoil in organising his research. It was in the early years of the Kalanoth campaign, when as the Aotrs expanded, Lord Death Despoil realised that with the expanding army, he would need an assistant. Yeller immediately recommended Foul Skream for the job without hesitation, and the rest was history.

    Foul Skream was eventually discovered to be naturally psionic. While even during his life, he had had an occasional tendency to make odds things happen around him in times of stress, but these were just assumed to be magical in cause. Psionics was fundamentally unknown to Aotrs (and the peoples of Kalanoth and Macronis IV) in those earliest days, and it was not until a couple of centuries later during the Akamo campaign that Foul Skream was finally able to understand what his ability was. As he was already a few centuries in age, his psionic powers have always been something of a back-seat to his magical and technological abilities. His telepathy is his most developed skill, being both of broadest use and having the advantage that as a Spirit-Bound lich, he is himself largely immune to any return psionic attack.

    Foul Skream is calm, collected and meticulous. Much of the Aotrs’ earliest surviving records are written by his own hand, and he and Lord Death Despoil worked very closely on building up what would become the Aotrs bureaucracy and information storage systems ensuring they would be sufficient to collect all required data without being burdensome and cumbersome.

    While Foul Skream came to enjoy the bureaucratic work, and, spurred on by his work assisting lord Death Despoil, he has done not a little research into magic and especially psionics himself over the centuries, his true passion remains engineering. Foul Skream was often the driving force behind Aotrs technological work over the centuries, and in truth he is still happier to rely on a technological solution than a magical one if he can. With the much wider variety of technology available in the modern world, Foul Skream doesn’t quite have the time to master everything – though he makes a spirited attempt – and his main focus shifts around. In the past few decades, it has mainly been in weapons research. The new generation of coldbeams and drain cannon are both projects he has done considerable work on himself.

    Lord Bowblast and Skel Ride

    Lathril Bowblast is a relative newcomer to the High Command, joining a mere five centuries ago. Despite his comparative youth, Bowblast has made himself indispensable companion and proof positive that even the High Command’s ancient circle is not impenetrable.

    Bowblast is the most stoic and humourless of the High Command. A quiet elf lich of few words, Bowblast is often the straight lich to Yeller, Deather or Unlucky’s antics (outside of combat, at least, in Deather’s case). Bowblast has a stated preference for unpowered technology or magic, and even still prefers his bow to a coldbeam rifle if he can get away with it. This is often the source of habitual good-natured ribbing from the others, especially Yeller and Foul Skream. While he has mellowed somewhat in the past centuries, he still acts the curmudgeon. In truth, he enjoys taking this role in the group’s dynamics and despite appearances, is fast friends with the others.

    As it is both much more recent, and in an age where information is much more easily stored, Bowblast’s personal history is a matter of Aotrs public record.

    Bowblast comes from the tech-locked HPE-L planet of Myerld, first invaded by the Aotrs in 1762 and so well into their FTL era. The Myerld campaign was relatively limited in scope, lasting a little under sixty years before the Aotrs were repelled in 1819. As such, the amount of forces that it was possible for an FTL-level society to commit on a world where no industrial or beyond technology could be utilised was quite limited. Even the core, the Defilers, Bellowers and Grim were a couple of centuries’ shy of serious practise. Lord Death Despoil was essentially forced to start almost from scratch, using local recruits and a small number of highly committed volunteers. Myerld’s geographical location placed it along a route that would further Aotrs expansion, and it had a plentiful supply of magic that the Aotrs found valuable, but the campaign was not a critical as those in the distant past.

    The elf Lathril Elentari was born to a lowly woodcutter and a hunter in a small elven village in Myerld’s elf nation of Lastrilora. An only child, Lathril had few prospects in life beyond his parent’s vocations. He showed most promise following his mother’s footsteps, with above-average skill with the bow. He was a reserved, quiet individual, not prone to emotional outbursts and this put him something at odds with the generally more care-free wood elves around him.

    When he was just entering his physical adulthood at sixteen, both his parents were killed in a monster attack. Lathril rallied the villagers and managed to land the killing shot on the beast himself. With few other options, he left his village behind and went to join the elven army. Though young, his proficiency with his bow, his woodcraft and his maturity meant he was accepted quickly into the ranks of a small skirmishing unit of foot archers. Lathril flourished in the military environment, becoming a rising star in the unit. As his skill and reputation grew, his talents saw him placed into the ranks of a regular archery unit assigned to the capital. There he came to the attention of a noble elfmaid Valfanladel Shiellen, the scion of her family, when he won the annual archery contest at the capital. Lathril, as a young elf of low birth, came as something out of the left field. Valfanladel took an immediate liking to Lathril and he to her, and they were soon courting. This did not sit well with some of the nobles, for reasons of Lathril’s birth, but most notably with one noble, Taelissin Vyeneor. Vyeneor had designs on Valfanladel (of both political and personal nature) and was furious to see Lathril functionally poach his future ticket to wealth and luxury out from under him. Lathril’s humiliating defeat of him in the archery contest sealed what was for Lathril, a life-long bitter rivalry.

    Lathril’s growing relationship with Valfanladel introducing him to another pivotal love of his life – riding. Lathril showed an uncommon talent in the saddle, to the point he transferred into a light horse unit, the 3rd Glade Riders, and rose quickly through the ranks, to the dismay of Vyeneor, who also was part of the unit.

    By the time he was thirty-one, in 1802, Lathril was married to Valfanladel, with a thirteen-year old son (Orrlauretholagen) and eight-year old triplets (Amedri-Galiel, Dolter-Ullta and Erraesfana). He was now the commander of the 3rd Glade Riders, and popular with his troops.

    The Aotrs campaign entered full swing. After forty years of build-up, first conquering and then fortifying Morakkkriks, the land of the undead, the Aotrs moved out to conquer the continent. The Aotrs campaign caused a great deal of uproar; finally united, the good nations were banding together as the Aotrs swept out. Lathril and his unit went to the battlefront, where he won further honours, taking the field against the Aotrs.

    But then Lathril’s tale took a much darker twist half a dozen years into the war. Vyeneor’s obsession with Valfanladel and Lathril reached breaking point. During a lull in the fighting, Lathril went to meet with his wife and family, they having travelled part-way from the capital to meet him. Vyeneor arranged for an ambush, hoping to murder all of them and blame the Aotrs or the general confusion, hiring mercenaries. For good or ill, Lathril was delayed riding to the rendezvous, and arrived too late. Of his family and retainers, only Orrlauretholagen was left alive, but comatose.

    Lathril was shattered. Matters became worse as when Orrlauretholagen regained consciousness, it was discovered that he had been substantially brain-damaged and rendered incapable, (though it was not known in those terms. The symptoms suggest to a modern eye, the cause was likely through oxygen deprivation to his brain). In his desperate search to find a cure for his son, Lathril started to spend less time with his unit. Vyeneor managed to capitalise on his own political position and took advantage of the situation to get Lathril declared unfit for command by his new political allies. As a further bit of spite, Vyeneor also had Orrlauretholagen consigned to a distant monastery, under the auspices of “treatment,”, though without the massive magical efforts required to actually treat the damage, it was little more than functionally palliative care, and Lathril knew it.

    Forced out, his family taken and with nowhere to turn and no way to prove Vyeneor was behind it all, Lathril disappeared, taking only his horse with him. For five years, he was a shadow in the woods. A chance meeting found him encountering members of his old unit. Disaffected by the scheming of the nobles – and Vyeneor in particular, and his increasingly careless regard for their lives if it could win him more glory, about half of 3rd Glade Riders were deserting. Lathril joined them.

    But before they could leave the region behind, word reached them that Vyeneor had the unit disbanded completely and had all the deserters declared traitors, dispatching a large force to capture (and execute) them. (Bowblast suspects this action was purely out of spite for them not kow-towing to Vyeneor’s whims and daring to defy him.)

    On their own, the elves would have been wiped out. So Lathril suggested that there was only one way out; join the invaders.

    The Aotrs, after some initial concerns, quickly found that Lathril and his unit’s skills were invaluable, much superior to the current small units of light horse that they had to hand. Lathril himself soon found favour with the Lichemaster personally, who valued his level head and tactical insight and the 3rd Glade Rides were attached to the Aotrs core forces. Lathril and his unit served with distinction for another five years.

    During the first phase of the pivotal Battle of Galadrat Fields, Lathril spotted Vyeneor, sequestered away in a pike phalanx. The elite pikeelves had already broken the Aotrs small group of goblin cavalry, causing the entire orc flank to waver. Having put to fight the enemy’s skirmishers, Lathril gathered his troops and called for volunteers to join him in attacking the pike phalanx. The close terrain the pike phalanx had entered meant that it negated any advantages the riders had from mount and bow, and such an attack would be suicidal – but they were the only unit in position to do anything before the orc flank collapsed. The whole unit, to an elf, volunteered, and the 3rd Glader Riders charged into the pike phalanx. Their furious assault wiped all but wiped them out, but in doing so, not only heartened the orcs, but broke the pike phalanx. Lathril himself managed to slay the stunned Vyeneor himself, but died of shock and blood loss due to his injuries.

    Following the battle, Lord Death Despoil raised Lathril’s ghost and those of his troops, and offered them a second chance. They accepted, and so Bowblast came to be, retaining only his former name as the link to his past. The unit, too, took a new name, one from the ancient lists of the Aotrs (if one of unremarkable pedigree): Skel Ride.

    Skel Ride only contributed in the final phase of the battle, two days later, however. The mage Dasfretionas was the most powerful caster in Myerld’s history, and during the final phase of the battle, he cast a spell specifically designed to destroy Lord Death Despoil completely. It not only cost him his life, and those of many other volunteers, but ensured that none of them would be able to be resurrected. But potent though it was, the spell was only partially successful. Instead of total destruction, the Aotrs were banished from Myerld for five hundred years, old and new liches alike.

    This was a major defeat. The loss of Myerld’s system as a usable asset was one of the driving impetus for the ill-fated 3rd generation starfleet, rushed into production for the required extended range to exploit other avenues. While the Aotrs did eventually return to Myerld in 2319, aside from retaking the capital of Morakkkriks, operations have been confined to small-scale covert recovery operations and the occasional battle to repulse invading enemies.

    But for all that, the Myerld campaign did bring the Aotrs Bowblast, which Lord Death Despoil considers entirely worth the trade.

    Bowblast and Skel Ride, in the ensuing years, were indispensable assets on other tech-locked worlds. Now armed with their bows of blood that gain in power with each kill they made, they have become as much the core of the Aotrs pre-industrial army as the Defilers or the Bellowers. Having been so decisively beaten, Lord Death Despoil initiated a project of mid-level campaigns and strikes on other tech-locked worlds, simply to ensure the Aotrs would be able to keep their eyeglows in on pre-industrial warfare capabilities. Bowblast and Skel Ride adapted to the modern technology fairly quickly, but as relatively young liches and elves both, they have a predilection for the pre-industrial era and are one of the foremost units deployed when called. Bowblast himself is now typically deployed as the Aotrs’ second-ranking general after the Lord Death Despoil himself on the field, typically commanding one flank.

    In modern warfare, Skel Ride naturally transitioned from light horse to fast scouting, using a variety of light vehicles, most notably the various recon cycles in use.

    It would also be remiss to leave this topic without mentioning Chillhoof, Bowblast’s steed. Chillhoof was an elven steed, longer lived than a typical mortal horse breed. Bowblast had him for a good two decades before both their deaths. Chillhoof was the first creature Bowblast used his fresh necromantic powers on, on the eve of the final phase of the Battle of Galadrat Fields, under lord Death Despoil’s personal supervision. While his body was raised an animated undead, Bowblast then bound Chillhoof’s soul to the body, making Chillhoof a rare example of an animal Skeleton Warrior. Chillhoof has remained with Bowblast ever since. Chillhoof is regarded by the High Command as much a part of the team as Bowblast himself.

    It is unclear exactly how intelligent Chillhoof is, though he is at bare minimum at human intelligence. While alive, he was not particularly remarkable; his breed was naturally slightly smarter than an average horse, but still very much only of animal intelligence. After five centuries of being a Spirit-Bound lich, shorn of the limitations of an animal brain, Chillhoof has vastly exceeded that. Chillhoof does not talk (at least not in any actual language), but his actions – and clear understanding of the language of others – belie mere animal intelligence. It is equally clear, though, that the way his mind works is definitively not like that of a humanoid, so while he may be as intelligent as one (if not more so), it is intelligence from an entirely different direction.

  2. - Top - End - #2
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    Default Re: Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear: Part Eight (Final)

    (Had to be three posts this time...)

    Lord Slaughter and the Grim

    If one were to meet the zen-like Slaughter, one might be forgiven for mistaking him for an ascetic scholar-philosopher, imagining perhaps in life, him wandering and dispensing wisdom to some callow youth. Calm and measured, Slaughter seems at odds with his chosen name. That is, until one sees him in battle. There, his true nature is visible, as he explodes into a terrifyingly potent battle-frenzy.

    Slaughter is the age-old leader of the Grim. One of the early units of the Aotrs, the Grim were the first new unit to be formed on Kalanoth. The Grim were at first a group of living men, a warrior tribe that swore fealty to Lord Death Despoil within a few years of the invasion of Kalanoth.

    For two decades, the tribesmen rounded out the Aotrs army, providing some much-needed numbers. Their ferocity made them excellent for breaking up enemy formations of spears or sword-armed infantry, but this very aggression and lust for battle made them difficult to control, as Lord Death Despoil was at the time unused to dealing with irregular troops. During the battle of Rendealth Vale, the tribesmen, led by the over-confident chieftain, charged in too early and found themselves on the receiving end of a large cavalry charge and were overrun. Only a small band of fighters managed to hold off the cavalry surrounded and against impossible odds, fighting to the last. But this last stand tied the enemy horse up long enough to provide the Defilers time to break and rout the enemy’s centre.

    Lord Death Despoil elected to raise those few as liches and give them a second chance. And from this small core, the Grim was formed. Traditionally armed with the scythe, the Grim were one and all berserkers, their numbers expanded over the Kalanoth campaign, like the Defilers and Bellowers. Like both of those early units, the membership fluctuated in the first few centuries, until settling down into the fundamentally permanent incarnation.

    Slaughter came to prominence first as the Grim’s standard bearer. Due to their berserker nature of the Grim, the Grim’s initial leaders, lich or otherwise, had something of a tendency to permanently die, usually against some extremely powerful foe. The berserker nature of the unit did not help the situation, even as Lord Death Despoil’s grasp on how to handle more impetuous troops grew. Slaughter was able to maintain something of a comparatively clear head, even when raging, which was what lead him to be nominated as the standard bearer. He also had an uncanny knack for surviving, which went back as far as his life as tribesman – he was one of the last standing in the ill-fated stand at Rendealth Vale. After the Grim’s seventh leader perished fighting an angel in the heat of battle, Lord Death Despoil surrendered to the inevitable, and made him the Grim’s leader. Slaughter insisted on remaining the standard bearer as well, saying that it was partly his duty to the standard that let him keep a clearer head.

    Lord Death Despoil’s decision proved to be wise. Slaughter proved to be an excellent choice, able to handle both the out-of-combat affairs on the unit and to co-ordinate the Grim even while he was raging himself. Indeed, as time passed, Slaughter learned to master his rages to the point that it was less a rage and more simply a battle-frenzy, controlled and channelled.

    The Grim continued to reap their way across the battlefield, right the way through to the industrial age, though their usefulness slowly slipped as firearms began to dominate. As the atomic age dawned, the increasing use of vehicles meant that the place for battlefield berserkers was largely gone in modern warfare.

    Unlike the Defilers and Bellowers, the Grim were not in a position to adapt to the changes in warfare. While they were still a force to be reckoned with on tech-locked or time-locked worlds, where modern technology could not be taken, Lord Death Despoil was loathe to keep the Grim for those purpose alone.

    Instead, he suggested a change of focus. Throughout the centuries, as magic had become more advanced and easier to be taught, Slaughter’s mastery of his frenzies had reached the point he was able to cast spells while berserk, and he was passing on this method to the Grim. Lord Death Despoil proposed that this now became the Grim’s focus, when they were not called upon. To study and master anger and rage as a science, to learn best how to focus it and to be able to teach others. The Grim were given their own new headquarters; a monastery in a mountain range in the deserts of Raytayne. The Grim, by this point a stabilised cadre of old liches, took to this new challenge with vigour.

    The Monastery of the Grim today remains a place of ascetic learning, as the Grim refine new ways to channel anger – and, in perhaps the greatest irony, to become the Aotrs’ leading anger-management councillors. The Grim’s teaching, and Slaughter’s in particular, were invaluable in dealing with various orc-kin breeds and today many living disciples reside in the expanded complex.

    The Grim rarely are called into any modern conflicts, and even then only in a small number. They remain one of the core units for the Aotrs when tech-locked or time-locked world operations are required however, and their prowess is even more formidable. Now, they can no longer said to truly rage, but instead simply enter a state of hyper-frenzy, with all the power of a rage, but focussed with the ice-cold clarity of centuries of experience.

    Lord Unlucky

    A Kalanothi-type-orc-kin kobold, Lord Unlucky towers above his homeworld’s brethren by a full foot, but that merely makes him nearly four feet tall. Unlucky is the fool of the inner circle, the hapless jester to whom fortune has taken a particularly mean disliking too. Unlucky, as his name suggests, is a magnet for bad luck, to literally supernatural levels. His idiosyncratic speech pattern (using “me” or his name instead of “I”), suggests his bad luck is accompanied by a slow wit, incompetence and ignorance. His biggest dream is the ludicrous goal of creating the Elemental Plane of Snot. So, a sidekick then; a mascot – or a near-pet, for the High Command’s amusement and abuse; the designated butt of all the jokes. A position he accepts with resignation, for he has, after all, never known anything else, but he longs to. Indeed, more than once, Unlucky has defected from the Aotrs, run away at an opportunity given, when some kind hero shows him true kindness. But always, circumstances seem to conspire to return him to the Lichemaster’s heel.

    Mostly these circumstances involve him gleefully betraying and dispatching the hapless heroes who so are so totally fooled by his act. (And thereby short-circuiting any threat they might pose to Lord Death Despoil.)

    For an act it is. Unlucky thoroughly enjoys his role, acting the fool and all the High Command knows it. He and Yeller are particularly firm friends, having a similar sense of humour. But like the best lies, there is truth to it; Unlucky honestly enjoys being the recipient of an elegant, well-executed prank; he thinks it’s funny too, and he genuinely does like making his friends laugh.

    Though he is not a lich, Unlucky is frighteningly intelligent and even more frighteningly capable of concealing it. Despite his apparently bumbling, he is in reality a highly skilled and capable warrior-archmage in his own right. Unlucky has long-since exceeding his species biology, too, via his own research and magical means, being over a millennia-and-a half old, despite his apparently youthful appearance.

    Even his innocuous and silly-sounding dream of an Elemental Plane of Snot is much more than it appears. Unlucky is being genuinely serious about creating an entire Plane and possesses the considerable magical skill and ability to be able to experiment with demi-planes, though the sheer scale of a full plane eludes his power in the current time. Further, Raytayne kobold mucus is actually slightly corrosive. In a concentrated form – such as one wielded by an archmage – it becomes a destructive acid. And, in essence, the corrosive effect is what Unlucky is most interested in. So in stark truth, his goal is nothing less than the creation of an Elemental Plane of Corrosion; the “snot” is just one form of being able to deliver it.

    Unlucky serves Lord Death Despoil as a second adjutant, often helping Foul Skream with his duties, but he is also the Aotrs’ overall chief of intelligence. Naturally devious and stealthy, Unlucky is an expert dissembler and the High Command’s best infiltrator.

    Unlucky shares with Yeller the unusual ability to naturally shapechange, though unlike Yeller, the exact type (or even number) of his alternate forms is a closely-guarded secret. It is widely suspected that he has a rat or bat form, though there is no solid confirmation of either; some even speculate his natural ability may not even be limited to specific forms.

    The deceptive kobold hails from Raytayne. As an imp, a kobold slave in Zutak-Sar, he served a noted dwarven alchemist, one particularly interested in the esoteric. An accident exposed the imp to a conflagration of magical potions, philtres and concoctions which forever burned bad luck into his very being. His master started to call him “Unlucky” and it stuck. Unlucky quickly learned, though, that this was something to his advantage. His bumbling made him less of a threat – even if it made him a target for the other slave’s mockery – but it amused the master. And it let him into places the others would never have been allowed; such as being left alone (to clean up his latest mess) in master’s study with his research materials and lore. Using his natural stealth and guile, Unlucky managed to educate himself, in dribs and drabs, until the point he was able to start studying the master’s books for himself.

    Despite the sequence of disproportionate, to the point of comedic, ill-fortune that plagues Unlucky to this day, a dispassionate observer will note that this bad luck never seems to do any permanent harm to him (or anything truly important around him) – and when things go Unlucky’s way, they seem to do so with abandon.

    The case-in-point is his chance meeting with Lord Death Despoil. His master’s city was overrun by the Aotrs and while his master prepared to flee with all his belongings, Unlucky thought to slip away with his abusive master’s most precious potions in the confusion. Instead, a confluence of bizarre co-incidences, random events and highly implausible happenings left him literally rolling right up to the Lichemaster’s feet, with an armful of rare potions. Looking up, Unlucky judged his dissembling would not help him here and immediately offered up his loot for his life, and the rest of his master’s supplies as well.

    Lord Death Despoil, Foul Skream, Deather and Yeller were sufficiently amused at the audacity that Deather (not needed in the clean-up of the city) gamely went with him personally to retrieve the promised stores. (With the warning that if this was a waste of time, Unlucky’s life would be forfeit.) They arrived at the master’s home to encounter the alchemist himself, about to leave. Unlucky immediately broke free and ran sobbing to his master, clinging to his leg and shrieking about how he was forced to lead the lich to master’s home and how sorry he was. Deather recalls he rolled his eyeglows, having half-expected this exact reaction.

    But then with a speed that startled even the lich, Unlucky pulled a previously unseen weapon – little more than a crude shiv – from his person and coolly jammed it into his master’s eye socket. Deather fondly recalls that is was the sudden switch-off from blubbering coward to studied action that grabbed his attention. He recollects he was further impressed by the depth of Unlucky’s knowledge as they looted the remains of the alchemist’s lab. And so it was when they returned to Lord Death Despoil, Deather recommended that they keep an eye on the little (to them) kobold.

    Unlucky proved himself several times over that campaign, and by the time it was done, he had solidified his position in Lord Death Despoil’s inner circle.

    Unlucky was the instigator of the program that created the Kobold Commandoes, both by his discovery and the ardent pursuit of the idea once started. Though he himself was an outlier, Unlucky noted that the kobolds (of his type) that were most suited to intellectual pursuits were always the smaller, weaker ones most frequently culled from the brood as imp in the often brutal life of a kobold. By simply ensuring the entire brood was educated and not allowed to murder each other, Unlucky proved that Kalanothi-type kobolds had a great deal of potential that was being wasted that the Aotrs could harness. Today, after a centuries-long breeding and genetic engineering program masterminded by Unlucky, the kobolds recruited into the Kobold Commandoes second only to the Aotrs proper in terms of training; something that would have been an idea comical in its implausibility to the dwarves of Zutak-Sar.

    Lord Lungrender

    The Dark Elf now known as Lungrender was born on Kalanoth in 320 BC (or as close as records can determine). He is not only the highest-ranking living member of the Aotrs, but also one of the oldest living beings in the entire power.

    He was born in then- Dark Elf nation of Nathrogaa, located under the Stormcloud Mountains of the continent of Vayath. Nathrogaa was a hot-bed of political intrigue, full of competing noble houses, forever engaged in internecine warfare. One of the chief vendettas dated back to the schism of the Dark Elves from the surface elves; the noble houses blamed each other for the fall from grace they had succumbed to.

    At the time Lungrender was born as Elatarin (pronounced “E-lat-ar-in”) of the minor house of Zooll, Nathrogaa could barely even band itself together long enough to fight any external threats. Zooll was but a minor house in the thrall of a larger one, and the opportunities for the young Elatarin were few. The best path open to him was to be apprenticed to the House of Assassins, a (theoretically) politically neutral assassin’s guild, and it was an assassin that Lungrender spent his formative years. Elatarin proved to be naturally talented as an assassin, and over the years, rose in power in the House of Assassins. Throughout this period, Lungrender became increasingly frustrated with the nobility of the Dark Elves, which spent its time either indulging in excess or in-fighting. But until he had a power-base of his own, he could do little but bide his time, since it was obvious to him that if he were to try a coup, he would likely just make one more faction in the squabble.

    What Elatarin did manage, however, when he became the head of the House of Assassins, was to keep the House genuinely neutral. Before, it was only nominally neutral, subject to the whims of the house head’s own political leanings. But Lungrender had succeeded his position on merit (specifically, by being a better assassin than more than a few of his superiors), and he had done so without needing the outside support of one of the noble houses. They were less than happy about the situation, but as Lungrender was simply too good at his job to be assassinated himself (and his underlings fervently loyal, since the most politic he had purged himself), there was not a great deal they could do about it. After some desultory attempts to impose control by two of the nobles houses abruptly ended with the deaths of their scions in their beds, the noble houses got the message.

    For two decades, Lungrender held on to this position, as he neared his first century. He was slowly leveraging the House of Assassin’s reputation as a neutral party to expand the guild’s economic power base, especially in the farthest-flung parts of the nation, where the noble paid least heed to the doings of their lessers. His overall plan would be to make the guild so stable that eventually, it would become the true power base of Nathrogaa and then the nobles cut be effectively just cut-out and ousted, an artefact of the past. He knew that this could be a painfully long and dangerous path to take, but it would be the only one that would see the survival of the Dark Elves of Nathrogaa.

    Then, in 220 BC, the Army Of The Red Spear arrived on Kalanoth. Their arrival point put them fatefully in the Stormcloud Mountains. While the Liches busied themselves establishing a base of operations and beginning to carefully scout the land around them, Lungrender was conducting a tour of his operations in the west of Nathrogaa. News of the Aotrs reached him, and he decided to investigate himself. Lungrender expected that he would find a necromancer, one whose threat to Nathrogaa he and the House of Assassins could eliminate and curry more favour with the general populace. But his years of experience also made him cautious and to not jump to conclusions.

    Lungrender infiltrated the Aotrs camp personally. Using all of his talents, he was able to eavesdrop on the liches, even Lord Death Despoil, Deather and Yeller themselves. He quickly saw that this was not a mere necromancer, but a highly organised operation, and one that had access to magic the like of which Nathrogaa simply had never seen.

    He revealed himself to the liches, in Lord Death Despoil’s tent. (Lord Yeller fondly recalls the moment, as he says, aside from startling the unlife out of himself and Lord Deather, it was the first time he recalled seeing Lord Death Despoil momentarily loose his composure.) Lungrender offered a deal – he believed that he and the Aotrs could help each other, and Lord Death Despoil concurred. This was the start of an alliance between the House of Assassins and the Aotrs.

    The first deal was information. Lungrender could supply information on the comings and goings of Kalanoth – or at least in the local area – in return for Aotrs assistance when needed. In the first place, it was simply, guard duty, escorting a surface trade caravan containing some very valuable cargo to the Nathrogaa, a trivial job for the Aotrs.

    From there, the alliance grew stronger. Lungrender assisted the Aotrs in establishing their own powerbase in the region, and in thus also his own. Lungrender, like Deather and Yeller before him, came to quickly realise Lord Death Despoil’s potential. What started out as an alliance of convenience quickly became more. In Lord Death Despoil, Lungrender found a kindred spirit. Their goals dovetailed perfectly. The final moment came when Lord Death Despoil offered Lungrender not only just rulership of Nathrogaa, but eventually of Kalanoth itself.

    So it was, in 211 BC that Lungrender officially swore allegiance, along with all of the House of Assassins, to the Army Of The Red Spear. While he did not wish to become a lich, he did take his new name, abandoning Elatarin, formerly of House Zooll, forever.

    That same year, the Aotrs invaded Nathrogaa. It was a short campaign. Lungrender and the House of Assassins began slaughtering through the nobles. Simultaneously, the Aotrs marched in. Bearing the writ of the trusted House of Assassins, they faced only limited resistance from the warbands of the noble houses; the lower-class population found themselves not only minimally disrupted, but in a more favourable position, and the news spread like wildfire.

    Within seven weeks, Nathrogaa belonged to the Aotrs, and the army had now truly transitioned into a state.

    The Dark Elves have thus always been a major part of the Aotrs. With the Liches forming the core of the army, the Dark Elves formed the bulk, eventually supplemented by all the other races. In the modern times, the Dark Elf Troopers form a solid second-line military, the equal to many power’s front-line forces. Though still Dark Elves by the majority, the name is as much an honorific to the Dark Elves’ contribution to the Aotrs.

    Lungrender served as general and Lord Death Despoil’s personal assassin for many centuries. Once Kalanoth was conquered, he was indeed made its ruler, though he remained a permanent, active member of the High Command until the industrial age. As the Aotrs expanded, however, and the distances to an enemy grew greater and greater, his task of assassination became less important and feasible. Lord Death Despoil also had many more capable troops and generals at his disposal. Lungrender began to take a back-seat, spending more time developing on the infrastructure of Kalanoth, working closely with Lord Death Despoil. It was, they agreed, a task that needed to be done, and Lungrender was ideally suited for it.

    Today, he is the closest thing the Aotrs have to a civilian governor. He is still the head of the Dark Elf Troopers, but rarely joins them in the field. Lungrender now spends most of his time administrating – though he still performs a few little side-projects, sometimes even on tech-locked worlds – simply to keep his eye in. On the books, in addition to the rule of Kalanoth, he has ultimate authority over the other civilian rulers of the other worlds. In practise, due to the Aotrs’ skill at personnel management, he very rarely needs to utilise this power, and can leave them to administrate themselves.

    It would be impossible for anyone so long in association to the Aotrs not to have picked up some degree of magical skill, and Lungrender is no exception. Magic is not his forte, however, and though by most standards he would be a very capable magic-user, it is not something he relies upon. Rather, he has always preferred his own training and skill, backed-up by the technology of the time and his endlessly-seeming bag-of tricks in combat. For many centuries, he was the High Command’s stealth and infiltration expert. It was not without wry amusement that he relinquished this role to Lord Unlucky; but also with some satisfaction, as he had taken a personal hand in Unlucky’s training.

    Lungrender has had centuries to mellow from the harsh and ruthless elf of his assassin days. He has, after all, achieved his own ambition. He has more than enough people to wisely rule, and had seen his people prosper beyond what he could have imagined. He is, in his old age (relatively speaking, since as a Kalanothi elf, he is biologically unaging), happy in his position.

    One of Lungrender’s early acolytes, as far back as the invasion of Nathrogaa, was Lord Daggerheart. Daggerheart was Lungrender’s second-in-command, serving as something as an aide-de-camp initially, though never to the same extent as Lord Foul Skream to lord Death Despoil. Daggerheart is a skilled general in his own right. More martially motivated than Lungrender, Daggerheart retains the drive for battle. Indeed, it is partly because of Daggerheart that Lungrender felt able to semi-retire. Daggerheart became the Aotrs primary Dark Elf general until the FTL age. Then, as the Dark Elf Troopers became a primarily defensive force, he transferred into the Aotrs proper where he serves today. He retains an equivalent rank in the Dark Elf Troopers, making him the highest-ranking person to have such a duel-ranking.

    Kemala Axea is Lungrender’s consort – although given Kemala’s well-known promiscuity, that status is perhaps somewhat nominal, despite its officiality. Kemala hails from Raytayne originally, where her nation of Dark Elves was much more ritualised and given to blood rituals.

    An unabashed hedonist, Kemala’s status as arguably the most historically visible female in the orbit of the High Command has caused some occasional friction across the ages due to her proclivities. (These quarters usually conveniently ignore the contributions made by ever other female across the centuries.) Kemala has always found such criticism laughable – as she points out, why anyone would think she would be different if she had been male is a mystery to her. (In fact, Kemala has been known to experiment with sex and gender occasionally – as well as species, for that matter.)

    What attracted Lungrender to her initially (aside from her ability to cleave an armoured knight into two with one swing of her greatsword or rip out a man’s heart with her bare hands and bathe in the blood) was that beneath her apparent shallow exterior, Kemala genuinely does find joy in almost everything. She is forever experimenting, and very rarely does any activity – even the most mundane – fail to stimulate her. (Lungrender has occasionally noted it is as well that she is not monogamous, since no-one person could ever cope to keep up with her, even before considering her sexual appetites.) If one can hold her attention long enough to get her to engage, she has a surfeit of knowledge at all manner of topics. She is deceptively intelligent and a capable small-force commander in her own right, though not a general.

    Her traditionally-predominantly-female unit, the Poison Blades for many centuries served the Aotrs on the battlefield. The Poison Blades were berserkers, often supporting the Grim. Like the Grim, the dawn of the firearm age depreciated their usefulness, and they are now more of a ceremonial unit that serves as an extended personal guard and for Lungrender and Kemala. (Though one must observe that while the unit is now of more mixed sex, gender and species than it used to be, it also has a decided leaning towards the physically attractive, given that it is something of an open secret it is as much Kemala’s harem as any of that.) Kemala says she does miss the days where she could strip half-naked and charge screaming across the battlefield, but observes that modern technology has a number of other compensations (which she is liable to elaborate on, often to explicit length). She occasionally misses it enough that she will lead the Poison Blades on tech-locked world operations, though this is increasingly an infrequent occurrence.
    Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2021-03-27 at 10:06 AM.

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    Default Re: Guide to the Army Of The Red Spear: Part Eight (Final)

    Spoiler: Vehicles of the Aotrs Ground Force, Part Two
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    (Note: measurements are taken from bounding box extremities.)

    Hammer of Hatred Super Heavy Tank


    Length: 11.76m
    Width: 10.48m
    Height: 4.16m

    The Hammer of Hatred is the current-model super heavy tank operated by the Aotrs. The Hammer of Hatred is heavily armoured and has strong shields. Two rear engines provide it with full flight capability, enabling it to fly into and out of orbit under its own power. The vehicle’s unusual hammerhead shape is partly streamlined to facilitate these operations. However, it is only a mediocre flier at best, and the main turret has to be locked forward during high-speed flight – but it is capable of a surprising turn of speed, nonetheless, if only in relatively straight lines. It has excellent sensor systems, including a front-mounted rotating sensor pod just in front of the cockpit, which is itself very heavily armoured.

    The weapon systems were designed to be modular, though in practise, the primary configuration is nearly ubiquitous. The primary mode uses a huge Magnetic Linear Accelerator Cannon, rated at Class 25, which capable of shredding main battle tanks like paper. The weapon is playfully nicknamed the “can-opener” by its crews. The distinctive oblong shape of the barrel is due to the placement of the two main magnetic accelerators, which run along either side the barrel. All three of those parts are surrounded by the secondary accelerators, which work in a more conventional fashion. The railgun is able to accept and fire a wide range of munitions, though again, typically it uses just the solid slug.

    The secondary weapons are a pair of Plasma-Pulse Cannons, mounted at either side of the “hammer.” The atypical placement of the mounts was a compromise between the need for a weapon system for point-defence (typically top-mounted on most tanks) and the need for a dorsal turret during flight (typically a chin turret for VTOLs). The guns thus can rotate freely in all three axes. The somewhat eclectic placement affords both guns very good coverage on the tanks, with the only blind-spot being from the area of the rear hull at close range. (At longer ranges, the PD system can automatically tilt the tank slightly to be able to fire.)

    Outside of special operations or custom modifications, the only other modular weapons in use are a heavy Plasma-Pulse Cannon for the main turret to wreak havoc at close ranges and a pair of small horde launchers for the twin turrets, but it rare to see either in use in practise. This was primarily the reason no additional configurations were developed – the Hammer of Hatred’s primary set is the best-suited for its typical role.

    Deployment was rapid and widespread after its introduction as both of the older super heavy tanks that had been in service were overdue retirement. Both older tanks were Aotrs refits of imported vehicles, the Bloody Spear in particular being a modification of the ancestor of the current Herosine Onager Superheavy tank.

    Gloombat All-Purpose Attack Craft



    Length: 8.16m
    Width: 9.92m
    Height (Energy Beam): 4.35m
    Height (Quad coldbeam): 3.75m

    The Gloombat was an experimental concept. It was intended to take multirole craft to the extreme. It was intended to be Grav-Tank and fighter, bomber and VTOL all in one. It was even planned and tested to be used for aquatic operations, though it is unclear how much of this work made into the production model. The design laid down by the successful Fallen Soul prepared the Gloombat for this new and rigorous operational envelope.

    The Gloombat carries a Gate drive, starfighter engines and a grav-drive, combined with shields and a tough hull.

    The Gloombat’s main weapon is an Energy Beam Cannon. With brand-new refraction technology combined with a turreted mount makes its arc of fire very good indeed, not to mention very adaptable for other purposes. Four class 8 coldbeams, two on the nose and one on each wingtip, provide moderate fixed-forward firepower. A single plasma-pulse support cannon is placed as a chin turret, allowing some anti-infantry capability.

    The Gloombat’s final offensive capability comes from its two light fighter warhead launchers. These two bays give it a payload similar the Apparition’s, but being in two bays instead of across bays and hardpoints. The standard load is four Skull Anti-ship/Anti-armour warheads and four Reaper short-range anti-fighter missiles. The next most common loads replace the Reapers with 20 Horde semiguided warheads or replace the entire load-out with 50 Hordes.

    The turret, for operations as a fighter, can also be replaced entirely with a mount that contains an additional four coldbeams to supplement the four the Gloombat normally carries.



    The Gloombat, however, demonstrated that the Aotrs had not reached the point where a jack-of-all trades could be master of any of them. It was too big and too cumbersome to be used as a grav-tank and that aspect was dropped almost immediately. The Gloombat was only an adequate fighter. It was too small to carry a significant amount of weapons compared to the larger and more powerful fighters and in particular, the Crater simply out-performed it. The additional coldbeam module did not add enough extra firepower to make it a particularly valuable dogfighter. However, as intended, the energy beam cannon was useful in some scenarios, such and during capture operations, where it could be used to target specific enemy systems. A few Gloombats are thus retained by specialist units for space operations, but the idea of a general purpose fighter was dropped as well.

    Where the Gloombat did succeed mostly was in the ground-attack VTOL role. Being well-protected, fast and well-armed, the Gloombat does enjoy a level of superiority over other VTOL craft, and thus it is there that the Gloombat has its niche, though its moniker of All-Purpose Attack Craft is now something of a misnomer.

    Storm Cleaver Assault Strider



    Length (Standing): 4.57m
    Width: 5.39m
    Height (Standing): 7.30m

    The Storm Cleaver is a front line battle walker. In concert with the Gloombat All-Purpose Attack Craft, it was designed to replace the outdated Fleshburner main battle tank as the primary combat vehicles. The Storm Cleaver sports considerable agility and speed for a vehicle of its size. The arm-mounted weapon pods have had extensive reinforcement, allowing them to take non-typical stresses on the barrels and permitting the Storm Cleaver to use them as levers to assist it in difficult close terrain or if it becomes stuck.

    The Storm Cleaver’s arm-mounted weapon pods contain three weapons systems. Each unit contains a Class 14 Coldbeam to work in concert to provide the primary firepower. An underslung missile pod provides some additional firepower. These are typically loaded with a pair of Skull warheads, though as typical for Aotrs warhead technology, other munitions are not unknown. Above the Class 14 coldbeams is a pair of heavy support coldbeams for use against infantry or soft targets.

    The coldbeam cannons also they serve a secondary purpose as Frost Bomb launchers. At the top of the weapon array is a magazine that feeds through the rear mechanics of the support coldbeam to the main cannon, containing twenty Frost Bomb cartridges. The Frost Bomb system was newly developed for the Storm Cleaver, using technology derived from coldbeam technology. A single Frost Bomb cartridge creates an area of freezing, thick mist on impact. Aside from blocking non-sensor targeting locks, the mist freezes liquids and is harmful to most living creatures. In enough concentration, the mist will kill humanoid infantry and even vehicle crews with the sheer, unnatural cold. This is the first application of such an effect that does not require magical assistance. The Frost Bombs can freeze water sufficiently solidly that the Storm Cleaver can use them to make crossings of small bodies of water more expediently, instead of the more laborious method of sustained coldbeam fire.

    Early versions of the Storm Cleaver mounted a single support coldbeam in a top turret for point-defence and anti-infantry operations; more recent refits have seen this replaced with the more substantial twin coldbeam turret used on later versions of both the Devil Storm and Reign of Anger.

    As a combat walker, the Storm Cleaver requires only a single pilot, rather than a full tank crew. It was hoped that, as the Gloombat was in a similar position, that this would free up more vehicle crews for more vehicles, after retraining (something the Aotrs almost uniquely could afford to do).

    In practise, while both the Gloombat and Storm Cleaver were powerful vehicles in their own rights, the Aotrs found that both vehicles were, ultimately, simply just too tall to fill the MBT role. While offensive and defensively in terms of weapons, agility, shields and armour, both vehicles were every bit the equal of any MBT, their taller shape was no substitute for the low profile of a more traditional main battle tank, requiring them to be exposed to more fire than necessary and making defensive deployment more difficult. Work began barely a few months after the Storm Cleaver was first fielded in combat operations and the result of that was eventually the Revenant Spear. Storm Cleavers are still a common sight in the Aotrs ground forces, but now are more appropriately used in urban areas and dense terrain (where they and the Enragers make a deadly combination) or as supplementary support for the new MBTs.

    Reign of Anger Firesupport Vehicle



    Length: 8.23m
    Width: 3.68m
    Height: 4.42.0m

    The Reign of Anger is a refit of the older Rain of Fury fire support vehicle. The hull remained the same, but improved sensors were added. The biggest difference is that the Reign of Anger no longer carries a MRLS system (which has been outdated by the introduction of the Horde Semi-guided warhead munition).

    Instead, it carries two sizeable Warhead Launchers. These have the same capacity as one of the Foul Wing Fighter’s munitions bays, but divided into two launchers on independent loads, rather than the two launchers attached to a large bay. This means the Reign of Anger can only load one type of warhead at once in each launcher (and typically the same in both). Despite this minor drawback, they are surprisingly effective. Most foes underestimate the Reign of Anger, believing (not unjustifiably) that it is the older Rain of Fury. This can come as something of a shock when it fires out warheads.

    The Reign of Anger’s standard load is eight Skull Anti-ship/Anti-Armour warheads. Used in an AA role, it carries four Render heavy anti-fighter missiles (the largest of the Reaper/Reaver/Render trio).

    The Reign of Anger is even capable of heavy demolitions; the warhead bays can manage to accommodate a single Shatterer Heavy Anti-Starship munition each. The Shatterers are capable of blasting the heaviest planetary defences apart. In at least one recorded occasion, the Reign of Anger has used this capability to engage in combat against starships.

    Royal Elven Kingdom forces attacked the Aotrs’ Caradat Moon Base. With few available fighters and only a Subterfuge Scoutship to fend them off, the commander created an unorthodox strategy. The base put up a token resistance before appearing to be disabled. Under cover of the engagement, the commander deployed a pair of Reign of Angers from a shipment that was due to go out in the transports. In the low gravity, they had to be tied down, and were not able to move. Fortunately, the Aotrs standard practise of making sure all vehicles capable of self-sealing enabled the Reign of Angers to function in the vacuum otherwise unimpeded. The Elven cruiser ignored them, and they were able to fire a spread of Shatterers from relativistically point-blank range as it moved over the horizon (a few scant miles away) to fire at the base. Because of the range and the cruiser flying in to a stop, the Reign of Angers were able to use purely visual targeting to pinpoint the optimum targeting spots on the cruiser. As there was no sensor lock and no significant power source to detect (since the Reign of Angers were otherwise powered down, aside from just enough juice to power the actual firing system) there was no warning for the cruiser. As it lowered its shields to start teleporting marines down, the Reign of Angers fired. The warheads crippled the cruiser, and it retreated. Amazingly, the Reign of Angers both survived. Their crews and commanders were decorated with the Diamond Spear (the Aotrs’ highest commendation) by the Lichemaster for heroism under fire above and beyond the call of duty.

    Like the Vampires and the Distant Thunder, as of 2342, the Reign of Angers have begun all to be upgraded with a new, stronger power plant and the addition of the new external shield grid matrix, giving the vehicle light but effective shield protection without having to sacrifice any payload or armour.

    Enrager Heavy War Droid



    Length (arms lowered): 2.28m
    Width: 3.00m
    Height: 3.86m

    The Enrager is essentially an oversized large War Droid, introduced as part of the replacement program for the aging Fleshburner Medium Tank, especially for urban areas. The larger body allows a much more advanced AI, giving better (though not perfect) performance.

    In its element, the Enrager has proven to be a very effective unit. The initial tests showed it was extremely difficult to dislodge an Enrager from a defended position and deployment in the field, especially during the Muisis campaign bore out this assessment. Though the Enragers suffered extensive casualties, they achieved an average of three-to-one kill ratio in close terrain.

    The Enrager carries only moderate armour, but this is due to the powerful shields that cover it forming the bulk of its defences. The Enrager’s shields can sustain two or three shots from an enemy MBT’s guns before they collapse, which allows it those critical moments for which to strike back with its own.

    The Enrager’s primary armament is a shoulder mounted heavy (Class 10) plasma-pulse cannon over the right torso. This weapon proved to be the Enrager’s greatest asset, allowing it to shred enemy MBTS at close range with ease.

    The left shoulder carries a Class 10 coldbeam cannon, which had a good range, but significantly less power. On each arm, it carries a modified infantry support weapon – a plasma-pulse cannon and coldbeam cannon, for dealing with infantry instead of the main guns. It is quite capable of holding its own against a whole squad of enemy infantry. As a large walker, the Enrager is more than capable of entering close combat, assuming it can actually get to the target. The arm-mounted weapons can swivel back so it can lift objects (up to light vehicle size (40 tons) with both hands). It can thus pick up smaller enemy vehicles and on at least one occasion, has used them to smash another enemy vehicle with the hapless victim. Equally, the Enrager is entirely capable of ripping the gun or even the turret off an enemy tank.



    However, it became very quickly clear that the Enrager’s effectiveness lasts only as long as it is within close environments. Outside an urban, broken or forested area, the Enragers lack any serious long-range weapons. While both the Class 10 weapons have an effective range envelope of 2000m, the coldbeam is only of use again light enemy vehicles and the plasma-pulse cannon’s effectiveness sharply drops outside of 250m, until it is little better than the coldbeam’s. The support coldbeam has a range of 2500m but is only a threat to infantry. All three weapons in concert are not even good shield strippers, barely managing the combined output of most MBT energy weapons.

    As such, at any kind of range, the Enrager is almost defenceless against enemy armour.

    Enrager Mk 2 Heavy War Droid



    Length (arms lowered, missile tubes vertical): 2.87m
    Width: 2.97m
    Height: 4.41m

    The Mk 2 Enrager has only just begun to be fielded, production beginning in 2345. The Mk 1 Enrager was partially a product of trying to do a little too much at once to partly fill the role as MBT. With all the battle experience of the Mk 1 Enrager, the Mk 2 was built to address all the Mk 1’s shortcomings, and produce a unit that would fulfil the same role as the Mk 1 excelled at, but further improve its capabilities.

    The Class 10 plasma-pulse cannon had proved highly effective, despite its short range, and the Mk 2 continues to carry the same weapon. All the other weapon system were pulled out and entirely replaced.

    The Mk 1’s most pressing problem was its lack of ranged capability. The Class 10 coldbeam had been appended to attempt to deal with this situation, but it was just not powerful enough. Further, the arc of fire was limited and it failed to provide any kind of useful defence against aerial or point-defence targets.

    But how could one place a turret capable of high-tracking on a relatively small bipedal droid? The problem was that anything large enough to provide the necessary punch precluded the placement of a high-track weapon – and a left-shoulder high-track weapon of sufficient power alone simply would make the Enrager fall over when it swung about. The Aotrs considered several approaches, including a quadrupedal design, but nothing seemed satisfactory.

    Then the team hit upon a solution, inspired by watching old fictional giant-robot movies. Laser eyes.

    The design team turned the entire head of the Mk 2 Enrager into coldbeam emitter. The optical sensors could easily fit behind the faceplate emitter. Using innovative new approaches made possible by the 11th generation coldbeam technology, backed-up by careful use of magic-enhancement systems, the Enrager now had effectively a gaze attack capable of destroying an enemy MBT, with the same 2000m range envelope. And, being the head, the Enrager could shoot anything it could look at, solving the high-track problem. This was an expensive solution, but Lord Foul Skream himself approved the design, and commended the team for their innovative approach.

    The power requirements of the new weapon exceeded what the Mk1 Enrager could manage. The 2342 power generator upgrades provided a partial solution, but even then, the Enrager Mk 2 had to be made 10% larger to be able to fit everything in. This case of size also mandated the Enrager’s footprint size being increased, both to take and to spread the additional load. However, this additional size also allowed the Enrager Mk 2 to carry additional armour plate to bolster its protection verses kinetic weapon attacks (for which there is ultimately little substitute than just thicker plate) over most of the surface, with only the front upper torso being as strong as it could be already.

    Analysis of the battle footage indicated that the coldbeam support weapon had almost never been used, and the new coldbeam gaze would serve better in the few times it had. The plasma-pulse cannon was an older model, whose performance was overkill for infantry in terms of penetration, but irrelevant verses vehicles, given the larger Class 10.

    So both weapons dumped entirely, and the spare weight and power instead was given to mounting four standard plasma-pulse rifles – the same design as on the smaller War Droid shoulder -mounts – a pair on each arm. This further meant that they could be set back into the forearm, so the Enrager would no longer have to move its arm guns out of position to use its hands and could even fire them while making melee attacks. The coldbeam gaze was just as effective as the old support weapons at the job of suppressing infantry at long range (a job the Enrager rarely attempted and was not efficient at anyway). And with the four rifles, it was now much better at suppressing infantry at short ranges, which it could capitalise on. Both marks of Enragers were much more adept at close assaults than a regular War Droid due to their size and MBT levels of protection, provided they can physically get into a building or position to bring it to bear.

    Finally, to supplement the coldbeam gaze, to add some additional anti-armour ranged offense, a trio of Snake Launchers were added in a rotary carousel to the left shoulder. This is normally held vertical against the Enrager’s back, and brought up into position to fire, not unlike a regular infantry-carried Snake Launcher.


    Six additional Snake warheads are stored in a bin at the back of the Enrager. Once empty, the carosel is moved by the mechanical arm so that one tube enters the bin at a time to be reloaded (as illustrated below).



    The Mk 2 Enrager is thus a much more significant threat to enemy armour units. It is at least as dangerous at close range, if not more and the Mk 2 can now engage enemy vehicles at longer ranges. While it is still too big to hide easily, it is still not a replacement for a regular MBT, but it is now far from helpless when caught out of its ideal environment.

    Revenant Spear Main Battle Tank



    Length: 9.60m
    Width: 3.51m
    Height: 3.12m

    When the aging Fleshburner MBT was reaching the end of its lifespan, rather than replace it directly, the Aotrs planned for the role to be primarily taken by the Gloombat Multirole Attack Craft; and when this proved to be most effective in a VTOL role in ground combat, by the Enrager and Storm Cleaver Assault Walker. Combat experienced proved, however, that no matter how advanced the Gloombat, Enrager and Storm Cleaver were, they were all were simply too physically large. In the end, it was proven that advanced technology was no substitute for a true main battle tank.

    The Revenant Spear was thus built on much more conservative lines. It is designed primarily to work as a low grav-tank. It is capable of full flight (both into and out of orbit), but unlike the larger Hammer of Hatred Super Heavy Tank, no attempt was made to streamline the hull, making it a poor flyer. Flight, however, is considered very much an auxiliary function, used only on occasions where it cannot be Gated or transported to the surface via more convention means.

    When switching to flight mode, the main gun lowers to its maximum depression, and a series of thin baffles slide up to help streamline the tank slightly. The top turret locks to the forward position and telescopes down by almost thirty centimetres, further reducing the vessel’s flight profile. The Revenant Spear’s shields also form a smoother surface, but all this only makes the Revenant Spear a slightly less clumsy flyer. In space, without the constraints of atmospheric drag, the Revenant Spear is better off – it can at least use its weapons effectively – but it is no match for a fighter.

    Looking at the Revenant Spear’s blocky hull shape, with the driver’s vision block placed relatively far back, one might at first think it to be poorly placed for visibility. However, when the vehicle is hovering only a few centimetres above ground (standard cruising height is only 30 centimetres), the height of the driver’s vision block height is no taller than that of many tracked battle tanks. The vision block is, in fact, itself a secondary feature. The driver’s standard position has his head rather directly beneath, rather than in, the vision block. The driver sits in an armoured capsule with a full 360º holographic display. This display – taking a few keys from the Strayvians – is supplied by a dispersed series of cameras and mini-scanners in addition to the vehicle’s sensors. Each of these devices is power-pack powered, rather than by the main generator, and thus means they cannot be so easily knocked out. Should the display still fail, the entire driver’s station can be raised upwards by means of manual hydraulics so that the driver can use the vision blocks. This system was created as a response to the Fallen Soul’s primary failing of being entirely reliant on sensor navigation due to the armoured prow.

    The Revenant Spear uses much of the Fallen Soul’s armour techniques, the front of the hull being primarily composed of heavy armour plating. The hull armour alone is still not heavy as that of an unshielded MBT of the same size (the mass for the shield generators, as always, directly impacts on the armour), but in concert with the shields, provides excellent protection.

    The Revenant Spear’s primary weapon is a magnetic linear accelerator rail-gun, a smaller version of the Hammer of Hatred’s “can-opener.” As with the Hammer of Hatred’s cannon, the oblong barrel profile is due to the primary accelerators, which are situated either side of the barrel. Both the barrel and accelerators are surrounded by the magnetic coils and between the two devices, can hurl the gun’s solid slug at phenomenal speeds.

    The main MLA cannon is supplemented by two coax-axial Class 13 Coldbeams. These lack the punch of the MLA cannon, but have slightly greater range (even though the MLA cannon’s range is exceptional) and are primarily for assisting taking down enemy shields of lighter vehicles where over-penetration with main gun would be a problem.

    The main turret weapons have an elevation of 20º and a relatively low depression of only 4º. This is deceptive, however, since with only minor adjustments to the orientation of the hull itself to the ground, the Revenant Spear can achieve another 4º even at normal cruising height.

    The top turret provides the tank with its primary anti-infantry and anti-missile defence. It mounts a high-track Class 8 Gatling plasma-pulse cannon. A not-inconsiderable weapon in and of itself, the plasma-pulse cannon is bleeding edge technology, with considerably greater range than might be expected from a normally-short-ranged weapon system. The cannon attaches to four single-warhead tubes. The tubes are designed to be disposable, and once empty, they are replace entirely, rather than reloaded. The standard tubes are fitted with RV series Reaver missiles. The Reaver is the Aotrs standard medium-range anti-fighter missile, and provides the Revenant Spear’s principal air defence – but they are also quite effective on ground vehicles as well. In theory, the tube mounting points are rated to allow SU Skull warheads or PI Pierce interdictor warheads in tubes instead, but the larger physical size of those weapons (the Skulls especially) would make the vehicle more cumbersome. Horde semi-guided rockets, HN Harridan warheads or RP Reaper dogfighting missiles (which have excellent off-boresight tracking), while lighter weapons than the Reavers, are other potential alternatives, though in the year of first production, 2343, only the Reaver tubes were being manufactured.

    Finally, the Revenant Spear also mounts a concession to the previous decades-long lack of Aotrs smoke dischargers. While it has been convention that coldbeams can create sufficient super-cool mist to create a functional visual smoke screen (as anything that is sensor guided is not affect by any kind of smoke in any case), the Frost Bomb cartridges pioneered on the Storm Cleaver were so successful that the Revenant Spear mounts a dozen in lieu of a traditional smoke discharger. The Frost Bombs are mounted in two sets of three tubes, each tube having two Frost Bombs. The tubes have only a third of the range of the full launchers on the Storm Cleaver, only making 500m at most. Their default configuration is not even that, however, aimed towards the standard 150m smoke discharger range.

    Devil Storm Light Munitions Vehicle



    Length: 5.04m
    Width: 2.40m
    Height: 2.41m

    The Devil Storm is a light munitions vehicle. Lightly armoured and shielded, it is very fast, though as a low-grav vehicle, unable to truly fly as some of the other Aotrs grav vehicles can.

    Devil Storms are armed with a light twin-mount coldbeam turret on the front for anti-infantry and light targets. Its main firepower comes from the rear warhead turret. Typically, this is loaded with sixty Horde semi-guided rockets, but other load-outs (such as Reaper or Harridan anti-fighter warheads) are sometimes seen.

    The top rack typically sports two Skull warheads, the Aotrs primary anti-armour/anti-starship guided warhead, though provision is also made for fitting two Reaver anti-fighter warheads instead.

    Typically, Devil Storms are used as light artillery to support or as rapid-deployment versions of the Reign of Anger. As one of the lighter Aotrs vehicles, they are often called on support recon elements like the Scitalis, as they can re-deploy faster than other ground units.

    The Devil Storm was the first vehicle of the current generation, coming only a few years before the Fallen Soul. Unlike the older vehicles, like the Reign of Anger or Vampires, it is modern enough that is has not yet reached the point where it is due for an upgrade. In light of the 2342 shield revolution, it is possible that the Devil Storm’s power core and shields could be upgraded. But as the vehicle is ideally not supposed to be engaged by enemy forces, such a modification is unlikely to be performed until there is a larger gain for the expenditure of resources.





    Spoiler: Lord Death Despoil and Yeller
    Show



    As a close-out to this project, a composite of a pair of I-don't-know-how-old* pencil drawings of Lord Death Despoil and Lord Yeller, draw by my own foul hand (and illustrating why I stick to CAD modelling, since I commit Art like other people commit crime.)
    *Could be easily date to before the millenium.









    Postscript

    Transcript of records from Lord Death Despoil’s personal chambers, 5th November 2345

    Lord Death Despoil emerges from his meditation chamber, showing visible agitation


    Lord Death Despoil: Foul Skream! Alert Myst Base and send all available force to Damning Echo base at once!

    Lord Foul Skream: (expresses momentary surprise, but immediately reaches for console) Right away.

    Lord Death Despoil: Open a channel to Echo Fleet.

    Admiral Fellbane: (taken aback) My liege? To what-

    Lord Death Despoil: Admiral. You are to make an emergency chain Gate jump to Damning Echo base at once with as many forces as you can manage.

    Admiral Fellbane: (startled) Y-yes, my liege. (momentary pause) That will require leaving most of the fleet behind and scattering the fleet; we’re still three weeks off the planned approach. We’ll have to drain power from several ships to make repeated jumps even with the emergency jump to cover that distance. It will mean the drained ships will be left in space with no power and it will take potentially weeks to recover them.

    Lord Death Despoil: I’m aware, admiral. Ensure all nonUndead crew are transferred off ships that must be used as batteries; they are to shut down to minimum power and await rescue. Use jump points on interstellar space; that will minimise the risk of detection by potential hostiles. You may offer my apologies to the crew for the sacrifice they must make before we can retrieve them.

    Admiral Fellbane: (nods) At once, my liege. What are we to expect at Damning Echo?

    Lord Death Despoil: I do not know, Admiral. Be ready for anything.

    Admiral Fellbane: (visibly unsettled) As your command, Echo fleet out.

    Lord Foul Skream: My lord, Myst Base reports they cannot raise Damning Echo base, nor establish contact, they will continue to try.

    Lord Death Despoil: (closes eyeglows) Then my intuition may have come too late.

    Lord Foul Skream: My lord… What’s going on?

    Lord Death Despoil: I do not know, Foul Skream. As I finished my meditation, I gleaned a sudden urgent sense that something great and terrible was about to happen and Damning Echo base. I have not felt such a strong sense… Ever, I do not believe.

    Lord Foul Skream: [Expletive redacted]

    Lord Death Despoil: (calmly) [Expletive redacted] indeed. In fact, if I may be so impolite, [Expletive redacted], [Expletive redacted] and, as Yeller would say, double [Expletive redacted].

    Lord Foul Skream: Should we prepare to go?

    Lord Death Despoil: To what end? Until Myst Base re-establishes contact or Fellbane arrives, there is nothing we can do. Contact the others and have them on standby.

    Lord Foul Skream: Should I ready the fleet?

    Lord Death Despoil: No. I will Gate True to Myst Base myself if necessary.

    Lord Foul Skream: Understood.

    [Three hours pass. Lords Deather, Yeller, Bowblast and Unlucky and Generals Shatterscatter, Lacerator and Slaughter arrive; extraneous conversation redacted]

    Lord Foul Skream: Report from Myst Base. They have established the Myst Gate, forces deploying now.

    Lord Death Despoil: Active feed, please, I will oversee this operation personally.

    [Extraneous conversation redacted. Myst Base troops quickly establish contact with Damning Echo base, which is determined to be under attack by human forces of significant number and whose troops are pinned down. Damning Echo forces had however managed to disable a device which had disrupted all teleportation and portal effects (including the Myst Gate) allowing Myst Base to regain contact.

    Myst and Damning Echo base forces deemed sufficient to handle situation without High Command intervention.

    Hostiles definitively identified as Monks of the Brotherhood of the Grey Lizard by martial arts style, but otherwise who are not wearing robes and who are using standard modern firearms, not the traditional Brotherhood shuriken launchers.

    Forces from Echo fleet arrive approximately thirty-five minutes later and immediately engage a series of six enemy craft, apparently heavy transports/supply ships, destroying them in short order.

    Forty-seven minutes pass. All hostiles are eradicated.]


    Lord Foul Skream: Report from Alpha Squad. They have secured the Core. Core Central Intelligence is offline; they’re working to recover it.

    Lord Yeller: Damn, how’d they manage THAT. Must be time travel, I guess? Future technology?

    Lord Deather: Must have been saving it for a special occasion.

    Lord Unlucky: Me still bothered by them not be in robes. That bad sign. They always in robes, unless undercover.

    Lord Death Despoil: Foul Skream, have Alpha confirm. Did they use the device?

    Lord Foul Skream: Yes.

    [Numerous expletives redacted.]

    Lord Foul Skream: It appears to have been activated approximately three hours ago.

    Lord Death Despoil: What did they do?

    Lord Foul Skream: We don’t know. Whatever they did, it was erased from the system. But we can confirm, retrocausal probability engineering was utilised.

    Lord Death Despoil: Which means whatever they did has always been going to have been.

    Lord Deather: Explains why they were able to get the jump on everyone, you included.

    Lord Death Despoil: Yes, probability engineered to ensure their own success.

    Lord Yeller: I hate this metaconceptual stuff.

    Lord Foul Skream: The only thing Alpha has been able to recover was the name of the program. Great Time Shade’s Revenge.

    Lord Death Despoil: There’s something else.

    Lord Foul Skream: “Time Shade” is spelled as two separate words, not one, like his name. No obvious clue as to the significance.

    Lord Yeller: So, anyone else feel an inexplicable chill? ‘Cos I’m pretty sure we should not be doing that.

    Lord Death Despoil: (calmly) [String of expletives redacted.]

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