Graycogs

"In his honour and faith, by the bright shine of the blades edge we stand, the cogs in motion of a royal decree. We shall hunt the impure to the edges of our world and beyond if need be. Our people shall be redeemed, as is our holy right. Glorious be the king, his cause and the Kingdom we built to last!"
-Graycog prayer.

Structure

The organization is structured by three fundamental pillars that serve underneath the king to supply their civilization.

Military:

The strong middle pillar of the Graycogs. The military division oversee the kingdoms defences and war-campaigns as they stand for the majority it's army.
Generals: The inner circle that make the hard decisions.
Brightlancer: The faithfull elite knighted by the king himself.
Grayguard: The Officers overseeing training, logistics and morale of the regiments.
Musketeer: Soldiers of the Graycogs that finished military academy.
Conscript: Pure elves in training to become musketeers.

Prospectorate:

The Graycogs civil pillar out in the field. While they often stay out of harms way, they collect resources, knowledge and artifacts during campaigns that are brought back to kingdom. They also deciper relics and old history to further their crusade against vile mysticism.
Royal Archeologican: Archeologists that through proving their loyality and dedication have been allowed to contain and study dangerous and powerful relics.
Archeologist: Leads the exploration through mystical and newly discovered sites in the world, they record and collect information and history from past and present.
Prospector: Often among archeologists in training. They search the earth for valuable resources and oversee the workers.
Worker: Miners, lumberjacks, cooks, the necessary people required to get a little camp or settlement running. Often consists of volounteers and conscripted recruits, rather than fully fledged members of the cogs.

Technocrate:

The pillar within the kingdom that churns out the latest technological advances and weaponry, that give the Graycogs their much needed superior firepower. More than that, they also keep their own people alive and well functioning in their cold and merciless climate.
Royal-chemist: The most respected and well versed in the arts of chemical compounds. These few individuals are the experts that are allowed to experiment with any material, no matter how rare or expensive they are.
Chemist: The backbones of all science and enginnering. The ones whom bring life within the machines and mechanisms. Chemists are highly valued as the wielders of technological magics.
Professor: Educates and guides young pure elves, while they also stand for most of the research and breakthrough's within the Cogs.
Engineer: The holy locksmiths of the Cogs. They are the chains and wires that build the machines for the organization.

Culture

The Graycogs see themselves as the mechanisms that run the divine conquest against darkness and tyranny around the world.
It's a religious and royal horde led by the king himself, based in the belief that protecting the innocent and weak is the greatest virtue of them all and thus inspire the Cogs to campaign the globe, while hunting foul relics and villanous heads to mount the museums of honor, in a quest to redeem their people from old sins.
Though this mission spread the army thin and with a low population, they had to trust in top notch technology and military education to win decessively, which inspired the people to learn, develope and seek knowledge to keep their edge in combat.

Public Agenda

The Cogs are well known in other civilizations as a warband that appear on the field like ghosts. Without warning, they could storm out of the woods in a cloud of powder and smoke filled by the earpiercing thunder of mortars and cannons.
They fight without fear and mercy, yet never go after civilians nor seek to plunder peacefull villages, instead they have on the rare occations rode to aid troubled towns sieged by bandits or other hostilities and are therefor both respected and feared.

Assets

The Cogs have an average amount of wealth and troops, yet own several cities and towns around and outside the Snowland Isles. Over the years they have amassed a great amount of mystical artifacts and resources from various lands, along with some of the worlds most effective firearms that range from revolvers, repeaters and long range rifles.
They also have one of the most efficent cavalaries in the world that is based on mainly War-moose and Ice-lions.

History

"The year was 797 and the banner stood ablaze. Too long we struggled against threats we thought would break us, only to ruin ourselves instead.
Our king had fallen with the army and people torn in despair. Hope was like a distant fading memory, yet salvation was already on it's way.
A few of us seeked respite in tinkering with old gear and warspoils and lead us to find tools that distilled the snow into drinkable water and allowed us to sow seeds underneath glass roofs.
We kept inventing untill the year of 801 known as Innocenthope's crowning. He was a wise king that didn't even hesitate to call for council in search for aid. He had a vision of a city, run by steel and steam, but to make reality of it, he requried us, the cogs.
With the aid of old soldiers and the kings loyalists we started working on the foundations underneath the promises of prosperity. A prosperity he did deliver with completed construction of our capital.
So thrilled with the work was he, that the Graycogs as we came to be called were brought into his league. A league that built a great power from lost people and inhospitable wastelands, and as with all great powers, we attracted conquerors.
The year was 1030 and I remember it too well. In the horizon thousands of ships set sail with killers and heathens looking for slaves. They assailed our shores and our homes, yet unwisely awoke the spirit of the Warrior-king.
We set to work on new ingenuinites to refine the arts of war forever. Rifles and flintlocks got thrown out the window and were replaced by revolvers and repeaters just as heavy plate and chainmails had been set aside for woolen cloths which allowed better mobility on snowy grounds.
Meanwhile, the military had scouted the landscape and set up markers for us to set up new cannons and mortars that packed more than just a punch.
Underneath the united banner of the Graycogs we stood in faith as the invaders charged the city in futile efforts. Time by time we sent the masses of a superior number back away from our people and once the dust and vapors from our lead clouded the air, we rode out in all our might.
Forever from that day ownwards, the Graycogs lead a charge through tyranny. With unmatched dicipline and strong brotherhood, suited with only the finest of arms, we created an establishment that should come to rule, explore and defend our beliefs."
-Divine Architect Harald Wisestream, in the year of 1247

In the name of the king!

Dragonmountains expedition

"The year was 1107 and an opportunity rose within the Dragonmountains.
The eastern threat lead our men to a remote coast guarded by deadly reefs and dark tides that could easily splinter boats back into nails and planks. It was curious how our foe dared their lives and countless sacrifices to build the smallest outpost on inhospitable sands.
At first it seemed like an attempt to surround the isles, having more than enough men to waste on a petty struggle. Little did we know what they really searched for.
During the first rays of dawn we stormed the shores with steamtanks and claimed the land and it's bounty. It was a massive gilded gate that carried an ancient tomb within.
A torn off skull from a missing relic released darkness from it's depths and a new dread struck within us. I still remember how we fought back to back inside crumbling corridors, while fanged jaws and amphibian claws tore at our clothes and skin. In the end, we managed to retrive the skull and it's statue which brought but even more questions than they solved.
Thus the third pillar was formed within the Graycogs, to fight back against such vile horrors and lock forgotten ages back into their foul crypts."
-Brightlancer Walter Faithshield.

Type

Political, Faction / Party

Training Level

Elite

Veterancy Level

Decorated/Honored

Demonym

Graycog

Parent Organization

Kingdom of the Snowland Isles

Location

Winterland Isles

Related Professions

• Hat maker

Internal conflict

It's well known that the Military and Techoncrate pillars of the Cogs have had their internal disputes on how to solve problems and many heated debates and loud arguments took place, yet calmed down during the second major war that the kingdom entered.
On later days, the internal conflicts brewed up again and hindered much work with local brawls and fights both in the street and congress. It got so bad that laws around public violence were sharpened and the constitution of education was changed to enforce ground courses in both fundamental schools, and in modern time, even all three.

See the Pure Elven timeline here