Bladedancers

A silent whisper in the air, like a soft kiss in the wind gently embracing your cheek as you merrily walk on your rosebed. This is how it most often feels to face a bladedancer. They'll leave you buried beautiful by these blossoms of death, before they leave without a trace. A pleasant way to die indeed, perhaps even longed for by the old and corrupted, but be wary their judgement.
As you leave this world, there is no telling what they may do. Everything you built up, everything you strived for in sin will be cleansed with your blood. Your history will be torn apart and erased forever, with the pain and suffering you brought.
It's not a sin, to wish to die by a bladedancers blade. No, it's holy, it's to be forgiven and cleansed of corruption within the soul, so that one may pass on to a more worthy after life.
-War Priestess Sinathis Shadowkiss.

Composition

Manpower

A squad consists of two to five Bladedancers and one Bladesister depending on the skill of the leading Bladesister.

Equipment

The squad usualy uses tools that make subterfuge and assassination easier. A grapple, smokebombs, a spyglass and a pouch of bullets by usualy hang by their belts, along with the different special tools that signify the Bladedancers and their houses, much like their coloured hairtips.
The following houses use these different tools to kill.

• House of Serpents: Slow killing snake venoms, coated on blade and bullet.

• House of Wolves: Climbing claws and boots.

• House of Eels: Black Runes of Sarak.

• House of Bears: Political favours.

• House of Crows: Raven pets.

• House of Crocodiles: Legal use of Puppetpowder

• House of Spiders: Swift killing spider venoms, used in vials to poison everything from a persons drink to the very air they breathe.

• House of Shadows: Besides using highly illegal purple runes of Draghânir, they carry mutated and ingrown wings. Their house also allow both men and women to become bladedancers.

Weaponry

The Bladedancers are equipped with a very weird set of katar. They are ornate with gold and ebon ornate handles around a scissorlike pair of steel blades, sharpened on both edges surround a round pipe that carries a single shot within it. The pistol part is however only used as a last resort, as it's way harder to load than a normal flintlock besides it leaves a lot of noise. It can however destroy a far larger and stronger opponent, that a bladedancer may not be capable of taking on in a melee.

Vehicles

The Bladedancers are skilled riders of both horses and chariots, the later mainly for ceremony and show, but both are necessary to learn for a Bladedancer to cross great distances with speed. Many are even taught how to ride pegasi or dragons, but especially the later is scarcely used as they draw too much attention towards them.

Structure

The Bladedancers are most often commanded by their Bladesister, but can at times be lead by both the Dark Elven Emperess/Emperor or a Bladesister-in-training's mentor. The later among with the Bladesister herself are commanded by their own house.

Tactics

Tactics are incredibly important for this unit as their lives depend on it. They don't walk in formation or use normal tactics in combat as ordinary units, but rather excel at precise, lethal strikes.
On a battleground they are likely to appear behind enemy lines after the heat of battle has caught up with both sides, leaving them to reap through enemy firelines like demons, covered in their own enemies gunsmoke. They are also very swift to disengage combat and hide within the chaos to prepare for another devestating blow. They will keep on doing this, until they managed to kill the enemy commanders or when things get too dangerous. In case of the later, they are often the first to retreat the field.
Outside of a battleground, they launch tactical strikes that seek to eliminate important targets without being noticed. They always aim to make the strikes look like accidents or put the blame on another enemy.

Training

Bladedancers are handpicked from the the age of seven out of their looks, agility, strength, intelligence and potential. They are then schooled in politics and culture for three hard years.
At the age of ten they undergo basic bladedancer training, which includes physical and mental training against hard conditions. From the most hostile of terrain to sprawling cities, they are forced to undergo stealth operations from various situations. Ranging from assassination to saboutage. They do this side by side with their further schooling, untill they reach the age of fifteen.
At fifteen, a Bladedancer truely become a bladedancer. They undergo trials within a large tourney, where the Bladesister watches on and picks her entourage. The ones that are not picked go back to training. If they fail to join a Bladesisters party at the age of twenty, they are transfered to the army as honored soldiers.
The ones that however get picked and turn into fully fledged Bladedancers continue their training underneath their Bladesister and her personal councilor. Here the training depends all on who they serve.

Bladedancer poem:
You may believe us evil, terrible, assassins in the dark that take lives in cold blood, in order to destroy and sow chaos. But people fail to see the bigger picture. We do not kill for pleasure. We do not destroy for the carnage. We do not decieve, for the sake of chaos.
We slay, so that less lives need to be taken. We destroy, so that less destruction have to be caused. We decieve, so that the innocent don't get involved.
We dance in the darkness of Sarak, his bringers of death. Always seeking justice, to prevent unecessary bloodshed. They may see us as evil, corrupted and sick, yet our blades sing on, releasing the wicked. By grace we keep dancing with fate, avoiding it's bile and poisonous hate. Because in our very blood it was writen, to protect our people, is our holiest mission.

Type

Covert Ops

Overall training Level

Elite

Used by

• Dyskhari Imperium

Ranks & Titles

• Bladesister