Gaš Sakal - The Beast Warriors

The Gaš Sakal or Shapeshifters, literally Beast Warriors (Ngad i zerib (Zeribian language)) are a special unit of the Zeribian army. This unit is able to shapeshift on a will. They can use the power to take a shape of a dangerous beast, and ravage through the enemy forces. They can also use the animal powers in other types of missons, such as spying on the enemy. Every warrior usually has only one shape that they are able to take.

Recruitement

The Gaš Sakal come from a religious, not a military background. They need to spend hours upon hours in meditation, worship and studying the divine powers to learn how to master them. This said, these units also need to be in exceptional physical shape and have perfected fighting instincts. The Gaš Sakal usually come from prestigious noble families but it's possible for others to become one too, if they dedicate themselves to the worship of the divine and seem to show promissing powers. Although almost all Zeribian soldiers are men or third gender (šyrzir), the Gaš Sakal can be women as well.

Appearance

While outside of combat, the Gaš Sakal wear ceremonial suits and paintings resembling their spirit animal. They are also decorated my military symbols showing the amount of battles they have won. In combat they wear nothing but bodypaint, because anything on them would get entangeled when they change shape. Unlike other high-ranking Zeribians they keep their hair short, and the men are clean shaven or have only a small beard.

Cautions

The shapeshifters are a very dangerous unit. The process of shapeshifting is very unreliable and it is not certain that they can change shape when actually needed, especially under stress. They might also change when they were not supposed to. The unit is also dangerous, because it takes a huge amount of self control for the warrior to stay in control of themselves when in the beast form. They might attack friendly units, flee unexpectedly, or otherwise ruin strategies.

Common shapes and strategies

The shape a Gaš Sakal can take is usually pretty much human sized, and the strenght of the animal form is proportional to the strenght of the human form, although the animal form is usally somewhat stronger in some aspects. The shapes are usually whatever is considered to be the most important and dangerous beasts in the area. Some common forms are Hunter Bird, Dolphin and Bear.
These are also the three most common fighting styles for the shapeshifting units. The Bears are a powerful land melee unit. Hunter Birds are more of a sneaky unit, that can drop on their enemy from trees or cross walls unnoticed (they can only fly very short distances), and the Dolphins are specialized for sea combat and tearing apart fleeing enemies (like dolphines they cannot breath underwater, but can dive for long periods). If they are not in the beast form, they fight with the general Zeribian equipment of a short spear, sword and shield, trying to avoid close combat.

Overall training Level

Elite

Status
The Gaš Sakal are the most respected and feared Zeribian military unit

Cultural reception

The Gaš Sakal are almost exclusively Zeribians or local natives, but other peoples have also studied similar powers. Natives worship shape shifters as divine manifestations. Farens of West Island think that they are a form of demonic possession (in which they are right) and abominations. They are trying to root out the practice, but are unsuccessful.

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This is my submission for Summer Camp 2020 prompt "Describe an elite or highly specialised military unit in your world."