Darktide Forge
Structure
This "school" is exclusive to the Darktide Defenders of the Kingdom of Merkan. Attendance for Supernaturals of this Kingdom is mandatory as they are ripped from their homes and brought to the Palace in the City of Darktide for training.
Rank structure is as follows:
Leads the Defenders, decides what needs to be taught and when (not that this has changed much since the founding), sends teams out to find and pick up supernaturals in the Kingdom, and reports directly to the King. This rank is equivalent to the General of the regular army. The Marshal is always a telepath, usually the strongest of the up-and-coming telepaths.
This person is the Marshal's second-in-command. He or she assists the Marshal, fills in (among the Defenders) for the Marshal when needed, and is the supply officer.
These Defenders are usually strong in their given abilities. They are older Defenders with complete mastery over their said ability. An Ability Leader will always advise and teach their major ability (the one they are strongest in). They no longer spend much time in the field (if any at all).
They spend more time in the field than Ability Leaders but not much. They help train other Defenders to be Team Leaders. Overall, they help keep order among the ranks as well as helping with assigning Palyrs to new Defenders.
Are in charge of the novices. They oversee hand-to-hand and weapon training, history, reading, writing, basic math, diplomacy (for dealing with nobles and the regulars), and how to ride a palyr. They will ask other Defenders to help in the physical training and will consult with the appropriate ability leaders when it comes time for ability training.
Are in charge of 5 team members. They and their team are the ones who spend the most time in the field with many teams spending very little time at the Palace in the City of Darktide. They ensure that their team is ready for their duties by helping them in their continuing training, both physically and with abilities.
Aren't quite the lowest on the rung of power but close. They have graduated from being novices and have gone through The Binding. They follow their team leader and help with training when asked.
Ranges from the ages of 5 seasonal cycles to 15 seasonal cycles. They have been torn from their families and now live at the Palace. They don't go on missions since they are still being trained.
A select few are chosen to become assassins (whether this is seen as good or bad depends on one's viewpoint). Rank for this section is as follows:
The Defender who holds this position reports directly to the Marshal and is equivalent to the Dara in rank. They have gone through all of the Defender training plus all the assassin training. The Defender in this position usually has the Shadowwalking ability. They train apprentices, assign missions, request supplies, and help with research. When necessary, they do missions.
Are equivalent to Novice Masters. They are the ones who spend the most time doing missions. They help train apprentices by taking them on their first few missions. After this, this rank works alone.
Are Team Members who have gone through The Binding. They very rarely get assigned to a regular Defender team before they start their assassin training. This is due to the fact that assassin work is by necessity solitary work so learning to rely on a team is a hinderance.
This structure is in place to ensure order, discipline and proper training throughout a Defender's lifespan.
Leads the Defenders, decides what needs to be taught and when (not that this has changed much since the founding), sends teams out to find and pick up supernaturals in the Kingdom, and reports directly to the King. This rank is equivalent to the General of the regular army. The Marshal is always a telepath, usually the strongest of the up-and-coming telepaths.
This person is the Marshal's second-in-command. He or she assists the Marshal, fills in (among the Defenders) for the Marshal when needed, and is the supply officer.
These Defenders are usually strong in their given abilities. They are older Defenders with complete mastery over their said ability. An Ability Leader will always advise and teach their major ability (the one they are strongest in). They no longer spend much time in the field (if any at all).
They spend more time in the field than Ability Leaders but not much. They help train other Defenders to be Team Leaders. Overall, they help keep order among the ranks as well as helping with assigning Palyrs to new Defenders.
Are in charge of the novices. They oversee hand-to-hand and weapon training, history, reading, writing, basic math, diplomacy (for dealing with nobles and the regulars), and how to ride a palyr. They will ask other Defenders to help in the physical training and will consult with the appropriate ability leaders when it comes time for ability training.
Are in charge of 5 team members. They and their team are the ones who spend the most time in the field with many teams spending very little time at the Palace in the City of Darktide. They ensure that their team is ready for their duties by helping them in their continuing training, both physically and with abilities.
Aren't quite the lowest on the rung of power but close. They have graduated from being novices and have gone through The Binding. They follow their team leader and help with training when asked.
Ranges from the ages of 5 seasonal cycles to 15 seasonal cycles. They have been torn from their families and now live at the Palace. They don't go on missions since they are still being trained.
The Defender who holds this position reports directly to the Marshal and is equivalent to the Dara in rank. They have gone through all of the Defender training plus all the assassin training. The Defender in this position usually has the Shadowwalking ability. They train apprentices, assign missions, request supplies, and help with research. When necessary, they do missions.
Are equivalent to Novice Masters. They are the ones who spend the most time doing missions. They help train apprentices by taking them on their first few missions. After this, this rank works alone.
Are Team Members who have gone through The Binding. They very rarely get assigned to a regular Defender team before they start their assassin training. This is due to the fact that assassin work is by necessity solitary work so learning to rely on a team is a hinderance.
Culture
You’re a Defender. We’re your family now, and we take care of each other.
Because that’s what the Defenders did for me. They showed me what family truly means.
Family... Looking out over the training yard, she saw the people who welcomed her without question.
Public Agenda
The public agenda is to become a functioning and well-trained Defender in order to protect the King as the Darktide Defenders are magickally bound to do.
Lann, the current Marshal obeys the King as he must, but he has a deep need to protect "his Defenders". While this need is ingrained in him, he knows that he can't protect them from everything nor does he try. This is because he knows that would hinder his Defenders. But he does protect them from being unfairly used and is secretly trying to find a way to free them all from The Binding. He expects his Defenders to follow orders, train well and hard (he expects them to perform to their best), and he expects them to comport themselves with the honor and dignity befitting the magickal gifts given to them by the goddess Morgance.
Drystan is the current Profost and until Seanna, the main assassin for the Defenders. Her training fell on his shoulders. His success became tied to hers when Melor sent her on her one and only assassin mission. While he comes across as hard and unfeeling, he's not. He takes pride in a job well done, whether it's done personally or by a fellow assassin Defender. As with all Defenders, he views his fellows as family. His way of looking out for them is in training those who come directly under his control hard so that they can handle anything and everything thrown at them. Also, he sees his job as an assassin important because it allows his fellow Defenders to keep "their hands clean".
Though, the assassin side of what the Defenders do is not public knowledge, rumors occasionally crop up. The King prefers to keep this information quiet, limiting the knowledge to himself, the Marshal of the Defenders, the Profost of the Assassins, and the General of the Army.
by Lady Wynter by way of Hero Forge
by Lady Wynter by way of Hero Forge
Assets
All physical assets are provided to the Defenders by the King, such as their food, clothes, weapons, tents, palyrs, rooms at the Palace, and any other necessary supplies. The King has also granted the Defenders access to the Palace Library for their personal studies.
While the Defenders view the physical assets as important, or at least necessary for survival and/or success of a mission, it's their abilities that they view as their true assets. With a range of abilities, training and learning control is extremely important. Abilities are as follows:
All Defenders who have been identified with this ability wear the color red. These Defenders have control over the elements of fire, water, air, and earth. Seanna is in this category because she's fire resistant.
All telepaths wear purple. These Defenders can read minds. Currently the two strongest telepaths are Lann, and Eagan. Bryce is a unique telepath, who must catch the scent of a person to know their thoughts, but he has no way to block them.
As this is another mental ability, these Defenders wear a lighter shade of purple. They are good at moving things. They have a limited ranged but are useful for heavy items.
Wearing the lightest shade of purple yet. Clairvoyants see the future. Some are sensitive to the dead, making them useful to the Priests.
Those who wear black tend to become assassins. They are able to blend into the shadows, becoming one with darkness, like Drystan does. This is Seanna’s second ability but as with her other one, it works differently. She wraps light around herself to become invisible.
Wearing brown, these Defenders can transform themselves into animals. They are limited to just one animal, though. Some animals are useful in battle, and others not so much. These Defenders will typically rely on their second ability or their melee weapon when in combat.
Translocators are important as they can facilitate quick getaways, and help move supplies/people during peace or war. They wear silver.
All healers are also energy absorbers. They wear yellow. The name of their abilities explains it all.
This ability is a blessing and a curse. They wear orange. Those with this ability see a variety of enhancements, such as increased speed, and heightened senses. Birkita wears this color because of her increased speed and heightened sense of smell.
These Defenders wear the color green to signify that they can create poisons in people. What they create varies from the poisons that merely irritate (gives a rash) to those that kill quickly, and everything in between. Toxin Creators are granted a certain level of immunity to poisons based on the Defender's strength.
Defenders in blue read people blood (DNA). They can tell if people are related, whether or not they are of noble birth, and any sickness (diseases, poisons, or other ill-effects) by looking at someone.
While this isn't an actual ability, all novices wear white to signify that they are in training, that they are still working on their control, and that they haven't been Bonded to the King yet. All novices wear this color until The Binding. Seanna has the unique distinction of being the oldest supernatural as she was 20 seasonal cycles when she was brought in for training.
Except for novices, the shade of the color a Defender wears shows their strength in that ability, such as an Elemental wearing dark red is stronger than one wearing pink.
All Defenders who have been identified with this ability wear the color red. These Defenders have control over the elements of fire, water, air, and earth. Seanna is in this category because she's fire resistant.
All telepaths wear purple. These Defenders can read minds. Currently the two strongest telepaths are Lann, and Eagan. Bryce is a unique telepath, who must catch the scent of a person to know their thoughts, but he has no way to block them.
As this is another mental ability, these Defenders wear a lighter shade of purple. They are good at moving things. They have a limited ranged but are useful for heavy items.
Wearing the lightest shade of purple yet. Clairvoyants see the future. Some are sensitive to the dead, making them useful to the Priests.
Those who wear black tend to become assassins. They are able to blend into the shadows, becoming one with darkness, like Drystan does. This is Seanna’s second ability but as with her other one, it works differently. She wraps light around herself to become invisible.
Wearing brown, these Defenders can transform themselves into animals. They are limited to just one animal, though. Some animals are useful in battle, and others not so much. These Defenders will typically rely on their second ability or their melee weapon when in combat.
Translocators are important as they can facilitate quick getaways, and help move supplies/people during peace or war. They wear silver.
All healers are also energy absorbers. They wear yellow. The name of their abilities explains it all.
This ability is a blessing and a curse. They wear orange. Those with this ability see a variety of enhancements, such as increased speed, and heightened senses. Birkita wears this color because of her increased speed and heightened sense of smell.
These Defenders wear the color green to signify that they can create poisons in people. What they create varies from the poisons that merely irritate (gives a rash) to those that kill quickly, and everything in between. Toxin Creators are granted a certain level of immunity to poisons based on the Defender's strength.
Defenders in blue read people blood (DNA). They can tell if people are related, whether or not they are of noble birth, and any sickness (diseases, poisons, or other ill-effects) by looking at someone.
While this isn't an actual ability, all novices wear white to signify that they are in training, that they are still working on their control, and that they haven't been Bonded to the King yet. All novices wear this color until The Binding. Seanna has the unique distinction of being the oldest supernatural as she was 20 seasonal cycles when she was brought in for training.
Bound in Loyalty by Blood and Fire
Founding Date
09/01/0008 During Civil War
Formation Type
Training Level
Elite
Veterancy Level
Decorated/Honored
Demonym
Defenders
Leader
Ruling Organization
Leader Title
Founders
Location
Related Ranks & Titles
Related Species
Related Ethnicities
Training Schedule
Every Defender who is currently residing at the Palace must take part in both physical training sessions every day. No rank is excluded, except the Marshal and the Dara. A novice master is always in charge of training.
Dawn sees the Defenders doing around three hours of weapon training.
From mid-morning to mid-afternoon, fully trained and Bound Defenders are free to do as they wish. Further study in the Palace Library or honing their abilities is advised but is not required. All Defenders get lunch during this time. Novices are required to spend this time with other novice masters doing the studying best done indoors during the high heat of the day (i. e. history, reading, etc.).
Mid-afternoon, as things are cooling off for the day, all Defenders do around three hours of hand-to-hand combat training.
Novices do ability training during the break between physical training sessions, when they have been deemed ready. They have graduated from most book learning. This is dependent on the ability, such as shapeshifting or pyro skills.
This training is structured for maximum learning and the least amount of harm to student and teacher. Control, physically and magickally, is essential to a Defender, which is why novices will never be sent on missions.
Comments