Warlord Baen & His Horde
Baen Arleth rose high on the wings of prophecy...until he flew too close to the sun
Only the most dedicated historians know the real story about Baen Arleth. The Senate purged what records were left after the Collapse of how he nearly brought the whole Cluster to its knees, so someone else doesn't so easily follow in his footsteps. Despite our desire to preserve history for those who come after us, none of us have disagreed with the decision to hide what he did.While Baen Arleth and his role in the Collapse is well known, the exact details of how he rose to prominence as well as his fall from grace. The Core Senate and the governments that survived his attempted takeover of the Cluster chose to purge the majority of the records of the period from the public. The Collapse's destruction of the old InterNetwork did aid in this as for decades there was no easy way to either access or share information. All information gathered below is that that is available to an historian with the access to the surviving records. These records are guarded quite seriously and it is only certain historians that are even allowed access to the information, most often only after a long interview and submission process as to why they want the access.
Structure
Iron Creed
Bertim Rodre was the leader of the faction known as the Iron Creed and the first group that organized amongst the Horde. They were also consistently the most fervent of Baen Arleth's followers, often reported to charge into battle without armor or any kind of protection at all and sometimes without even weapons. Howling his name and the motto of the Horde, they usually brutally beat their enemies to death with their bare hands. This led to them also being called The Bloodsoaked by members of the Horde.Gathering of Fire
Alten Ersoks was the leader of the faction known as the Gathering of Fire. The core purpose of the Gathering of Fire was to serve as a quick strikeforce, ready to rise and operate wherever it might be needed in the future. However, because the faction was made of up thieves and cheats and generally unsavory types, it quickly became rowdy. Members stole from others and were hung for it or excuted publicly, giving the Gathering a reputation for being dangerous to the health. Despite these trials in controlling them Alten Ersoks was the only faction leader to survive through several assassination attempts that killed his fellow faction leaders. He was, however, captured and put to trial afterwards, serving out the remainder of his life in a sentence on Lxile.Cult of Light
Sica Grison was the leader of the faction known as the Cult of Light. While most of the members were of the average populace, the Cults core revolved around their reverence and regard for the Throatspeakers. Several Throatspeakers were members of the Cult of Light, most of them even going so far as to take up arms (an unusual choice given that the majority of the original followers of Yrena, The Singer of the Thorat, were staunchly against war of any kind). The Cult was the first faction to fall, the other factions absorbing members (if they were will reliable, at least) after Sica Grison was assassinated by a member of the Covert Company in 3206 AFT.Hands of Baen
Teve Butlee was the leader of the faction known as the Hands of Baen. The Hands of Baen were considered to be the personal bodyguards of Baen Arleth, usually found around him wherever he was and defending whatever town or city he happened to be in at a time. At their peak, the Hands were made up of the best trained amongst the Horde and were well-known for outfighting many of those they fought. However, by the end of the war, they became known as The Traitor Hand after one of the members was the one to assassinate Baen Arleth. Unknown to the Horde itself, this traitor was a member of the Covert Company who had been following Baen in search of the right opportunity to strike.Culture
While a great deal of the original members of the Horde were true believers in the prophecy, as the Horde expanded into the rest of the Eusarre Erria System and beyond. Once the Horde began taking over planets in other systems, they began 'recruiting' by threating the occupants of the planets and forcing them to serve.
Young children were forcibly removed from their parents and put into schools that would indoctrinate them, rebuilding their world around the framework of the prophecy. Older children were taken as prisoners and used as leverage to force their parents to serve in the Horde. If the parents of any of these children died, the children were gifted to true believers to take care of and to raise in the faith.
By the time of its height, half of the Horde was made up of true believers and the other half was those serving by force. Those who were forced to serve could see no way out as well, as those who did try to escape were usually unable to escape from the wrath of Baen and his lieutenants. Any escape attempts that ended in capture brought death to the one who was forced to serve as well as their family, usually organized publicly and broadcast out for anyone under the thumb of the Horde to see. While escape attempts did still occur, this practice certainly stopped a large numbers of these attempts from happening.
When the EMPs fired in 3213 AFT, the ninety-nine percent of the Horde that were forced to serve fled in droves. While many were still executed, these executions became only public on their planets as many after the Collapse were unable to either escape or trasmit from their planets. Often this lead to uprisings amongst the populations of the planet against the lingering remnants of the Horde, these actions mostly lead by the members that were trying to escape.
History
Baen Arleth was motivated by prophecy. And his people followed him because of it.
Alongside the creation of the gods of the Eusarre Erria System came several prophecies. One was that a man, a true son of Eusarre Erria, would rise up with the power of Zanmus the Deaththroat behind him and crush the rest of the Cluster beneath his feet. He would be a giant among men and he and his followers would rule for a thousand cycles. Baen Arleth decided at the age of fourteen that he was going to be that man no matter what. How did he succeed? By using propaganda and the beliefs of his people against them.
Baen Arleth was never a true believer but he excelled at seeming to be so. What truly aided him in his mission to become the product of prophecy were those that he surrounded himself with, who became his lieutenants and the leaders of the four factions in his army. They followed him for power, not belief, however, and knew the truth: that Baen Arleth was only a man and not the god his followers believed him to be in their zealotry.
Disbandment
The Horde was disbanded by force not only by those that stood against them but by the Collapse. Three of his original faction lieutenants were assassinated by the Covert Company in their actions against Baen and his army starting in 3207 AFT. When the actions of the Covert weren't happening quick enough to fully cripple the Horde, The Core Senate began orchestrating the events that led to the Collapse in 3212 AFT. When the EMPs fired in 3213 AFT, Baen and his forces were as crippled as everyone else in the Cluster.
Official dissolution of the Horde happened when Baen Arleth was finally assassinated in 3225 AFT by one of the last surviving members of the Covert but small groups remained in operation for some time.
Territories
At the height of their power, the Horde controlled the entirety of the systems in the Outer Range. Starting in the Eusarre Erria System, they spread first into the Teceanisis System before taking over the Glyni Ka'Roma System. While they did move into the Inner System, only Hani fell entirely to the Horde. In the Alalus System, only Mattan's Rest on the border of the system was overtaken. While a large chunk of the Leporis System fell into their hands, Desnand never did as it was the one place where the Horde did not prevail due to the high heat on the planet.
Religion
Baen Arleth was the core of the relgion in the Horde.
While he began as the target of a prophecy, he and his lieutenants and what were known as the Throatspeakers turned him into the god of the Horde. The Throatspeakers were originally former priests of Yrena, The Singer of the Throat, who believed in the prophecy and came to help Baen. Eventually, however, they became the spreaders of the belief that Baen himself was a god, no longer believing in Yrena but in him.
For some time after the Horde was dissolved, belief in him as a god did persist but it is now believed to have largely been weeded out.
Credits: Organization image was generated using Artbreeder. Banner was created using Illustrator with stock photo by Pixabay from Pexels.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
We Are the Hand of the Gods
3174 AFT - 3225 AFT
Type
Illicit, Terrorist group
Alternative Names
The Horde, Baen's Horde
Location
