Morningstar Brigade
The Morningstar Brigade is a Mercenary organization founded during 12,385 RA, by General Dethross, of Erras Das. The brigade boasts a total troop strength of around 4,500 soldiers, including engineers and support staff. While much of their total strength is assigned to various missions and contracts abroad, the Brigade maintains a garrison of one Battalion, the headquarters Company, and all trainees at Fort Isran. The Morningstar Brigade is well known across Hesper as being the first place to go if you have money, you want something accomplished, and you don't care if anyone gets hurt along the way.
Forces
Under a complete and all-hands muster, the Morningstar Brigade certainly has enough skilled soldiers at it's command to pose a serious threat to any City-State on Hesper. Though the majority of the Morningstar brigade is on separate missions around Even the presence of Fort Isran is enough to make city administrators and guards nervous.Regular Infantry
Each battalion is organized into 6-8 companies of around a hundred soldiers each. Though it is rare that a whole battalion is gathered in one place to fight at one time. Each of the three Battalions that is not garrisoned at Fort Isran is given one of the three main continents of Hesper as their area of operations. With smaller divisions of their area given to individual missions and regions within these main divisions. Each Battalion and Company has their own unique traditions, though all share the typical culture and traditions of the Morningstar Brigade at large.Expeditionary Forces
In separate chains of command from the regular infantry, the Brigade maintains several companies of units dedicated to specialized operations.Marines
Specially trained in sailor duties and in ship-to-ship combat, these members of the Morningstar Brigade are found exclusively in and around the many seas of Hesper. Despite being officially the largest Battalion, they are typically the most divided for ongoing operations. With most of the unit being split into the squad level or smaller in support of naval merchant ship operations. They consider themselves to be the fiercest fighting forces of the Morningstar Brigade, called in to resolve situations that other units are unable to handle.Light Infantry
The Scout/Recon company is specialized in espionage, reconnaissance, and other clandestine forms of information warfare. They are typically deployed in very small sections of two to four specialists. They consider themselves to be the fiercest fighting forces of the Morningstar Brigade, called in to resolve situations that other units are unable to handle.Headquarters
The Headquarters company consists mainly of supply specialists, contract negotiators, representatives, and strategists that conduct much of the business of the Morningstar Brigade. They consider themselves to be the fiercest fighting forces of the Morningstar Brigade, called in to resolve situations that other units are unable to handle.Culture
Professional Soldiers
Throughout the hundred and twenty some odd years of operation as a mercenary unit, the Morningstar Brigade has become steadily more professional from their roots as a raider gang. Since their founding, Dethruss has made great efforts to direct the organization towards reliable professionalism. Though the younger recruits are sometimes rowdy and violent, they are usually much better behaved when an officer is around.Iron Sharpens Iron
A major contributing factor to both trooper loyalty to officers and officer loyalty to troopers is the ability for any member of the brigade to challenge their leaders for promotion through a process called "Iron Sharpens Iron". Though this often is a direct physical fight, that is not always the case, as the challenged party has the right to name the form of the contest. For more senior and experienced officers, this will often take place as a war game among their soldiers, or other such test of cunning and leadership. The victor, however, is determined by a majority vote of all who witness the challenge, even when there is an otherwise obvious victor. A cowardly challengee who chooses an unsatisfying or rigged contest may well lose their position anyway.
In occasions where a position is vacated through retirement, or casualty of a soldier, or when new positions are made available within a unit that is being created, the next highest ranking officer decides the nature of the challenge, and an open call for participants is made to quickly determine the replacement. Though in cases of retirement, the retiree is often given the opportunity to name the challenge for their replacement instead of their superior.
Iron Circlet
Promotions are rarely outright granted to soldiers within the Morningstar Brigade, they must usually be earned through the Iron Sharpening Iron challenge of a superior. The rare and special exception to this is the awarding of an Iron Circlet. Soldiers of any rank that have gone above and beyond in duty or have proven themselves enough to earn the attentions of General Dethross are granted a rare and special symbol of status, as well as a promotion to whichever rank General Dethross deems appropriate. The design for Iron Circlets is based off the halo of General Dethross himself, further personalized by the soldier has earned the award, often with personalizing markings, and are worn about the head at all times while on duty.
History
Though the Morningstar Brigade itself was officially founded in 12,385 RA, before the brigade came another organization of less professional demeanor. General Dethross was once the leader of what was little more than a large street gang, living in the undercity tunnels of Erras Das. One day, a Manumoku pilot took a wrong turn into the gang's territory and ended up bartering for their life with valuable information they had seen while scouting around the city... the location of a nearly intact walking Atlantean Fortress.
Erras Das was already preparing it's guard for an expedition to recover parts and equipment from the abandoned fort, but Dethross took his gang, bribed the right engineers to come along, and got to the Fortress first. From the defensible positions on Fort Isran, Dethross' gang easily repelled the equal numbers of Erras Das soldiers, and raised the first flag over the fortress in millennia, a simple blue sheet with a black handprint of their leader.
At first, Dethross operated the Fortress like a mobile raiding camp, setting up near trade routes and charging for protection, but as their numbers swelled, so to did the scope of their operations. After word of an assault on a rival raider gang went around, a letter found its way onto his desk, promising payment for completing another assault on a different raider camp that had been harassing trade near The Rookery. Dethross, seeing a new lucrative business for his then nearly 2,000 troops, officially formed the Morningstar Brigade.
Ferrum Intra, Ferrum Sine
Four Infantry Battalions - 750 each
Marine Battalion - 1,000
Light Infantry Company - 250
Headquarters Company - 500
4,750 total
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