The Buccaneers
The Dead Children of Ferven
"Whilst seemingly cold and rather harsh from my own perspective, people from within the system who have shared their stories with me seem to have an unsaid understanding of their own place in the universe which makes life much easier for them. I must admit however, that their answers bring little comfort; like everything in their lives, each and every response has been practised hundreds of times, regardless of its initial sincerity. How does this fit into the main topic of this book? Well, dear reader, it is rather simple. One must understand how Ferven works in order to understand its most elite soldiers."Soldiers Made of Glass: Chapter One, by Virisa Teierovah
Structure
Public Agenda
Assets
History
The Buccaneers were founded in the year 126 D.E., in response to the ever-rising population in the Ferven system, and the strain on resources that led to the crisis we see still ongoing today. A long meeting in the Terminus Conglomerate's headquarters - and the locking of doors with the promise they would not be opened before proper legislature had passed - led to the passing of a great many Acts in answer to the people problem of Ferven. Among these Acts, one particular law came about that led to the creation of this specialised force; namely, the Child Poverty Prevention Act, 126 D.E. This Act introduced several new rules for life under the Conglomerate's jurisdiction, such as a mandatory child benefit scheme, a child limit, reducing the number of times a person can legally reproduce to one, and finally, the ability for military officials to conscript homeless children into a separate, specialised unit - even without their consent. The original intention of this last freedom offered to the military was to allow Ferven's young and homeless to serve their system whilst earning themselves a bed and a hot meal every morning and night. What happened instead was so much more.
Within a few years, what had originally been pitched as a regimental homeless shelter had yielded... surprising results. Supposedly, the soldiers trained amongst this specialised unit - at the time, code-named Saint August's First Regiment - had grown to perform leaps and bounds beyond their standard cousins of the armed forces. They had proven more durable, more logical, and perhaps most importantly, more willing to kill. While many of Ferven's soldiers averaged a still-impressive 70% shoot-to-kill percentage, Saint August's boys and girls were achieving figures as high as 97% once they were sent into active duty at eighteen. And so, the military brass of the Conglomerate saw an opportunity - a chance to, with the slightest adjustments, create the most terrifyingly talented force of soldiers in Ferven, and perhaps one day, the entirety of Salus. Some would argue they accomplished their task, at a vicious cost.
As time went on, more and more experimental techniques were applied to Saint August's children, transforming them more and more into super soldiers, while stripping even further from their humanity. Darkvision capacitors, steel bones and armour-plated skin are just a few upgrades that have since been inflicted on those delivered into the arms of Saint August - naturally, well out of the way of the civilian population of Ferven. This continued for a generation, until the group was officially isolated from the armed forces to become its own special forces unit of Ferven's military, changing its name to the Buccaneers on 31st August, 164 D.E.
Since then, the Buccaneers have had their boots on practically every planet in Salus - most without their occupants' knowledge - to gather information, assist in war efforts from the sidelines, and more often than not, work as the galaxy's most talented commandos. Most Buccaneers are experts in long-range combat and CQC, preferring to use sniper rifles, combat knives and analog pistols. Every member of this unit is a fully-trained spotter, and possess unnatural capabilities in infiltrating an environment and assassinating high-value targets without the enemy ever having knowledge of their presence there. This predilection for going unnoticed has earned them the moniker of Ghosts among those not aware of their unit - a title that inspires fear among many a bandit, Shirren sympathiser, and World-Eater Cultist.
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