Exploration Corps' Trooper

The wilderness frontier is never far away in the Sultanate of Fashaddon, with few people brave or foolish enough to stray from the roads and settlements that offer shelter, sustenance and guidance in the Sonsuz Desert. In order to ensure that the Sultanate has all of the resources that they need, the Sultans personally see to the maintenance of the Exploration Corps, whose responsibility it is to patrol the unknown regions of the desert, map them, identify useful resources and neutralise any potential threats to the Sultanate that might be lurking amongst the desert sands.
Troopers in the Exploration Corps are a mixture of military personnel, engineers, pathfinders and cartographers, and are expected to be competent in all of these things to best serve the Sultan. To be selected as a Trooper in the Exploration Corps is to enter one of the most prestigious professions in the Sultanate, and brings great honour and wealth to the families of the Troopers, provided that they survive long enough in the desert to benefit from this.

Career

Qualifications

In order to be selected as a Trooper in the Exploration Corps a potential recruit has to pass the following criteria and demonstrate competency in a number of skills:

• A gruelling physical fitness test that is much more demanding than wha tis normally inflicted on army recruits

• Psychological testing and profiling to examine a recruits capacity for operating in adverse conditions.

• Mathematical and literacy testing to ensure that they will be able to cope with the academic rigours of the job

• Test of orientation skills and potential for successfully learning desert survival and navigation.

• Examination of the potential cartographic skills of any potential Trooper.

Operations

Workplace

On the whole, Exploration Corps units will undergo tours of duty in the Sonsuz Desert of a month at a time, so their workplace will be amongst the sands of the wilderness, and whatever it is they find beyond the comfort and safety of Fashaddon's settlements.
Once they have finished a tour of duty they will return to their home barracks, where they will spend several weeks within the barracks complex writing reports of their mission, drawing up any maps they may have sketched out and resting up before another tour of duty.

Dangers & Hazards

As most of the Sultanate of Fashaddon's territory is uncharted desert, there are a huge number of risks associated with being an Exploration Corps' Trooper. Attack by bandits, wild beast and monsters that call the desert home is not uncommon, the Sonsuz Desert is full of barely perceptible quick sand, and there is always the risk of being effected by debilitating sunstroke. Most deadly of all is the risk of becoming lost or disoriented amongst the endless sea of sand, and slowly watching your supplies and sanity dwindle away.

Type

Military

Demand

There is always a demand for willing and able Troopers to search for new oases and resources in the Sonsuz, and ensure that the borders of the Sultanate are safe.

Legality

The activities of any Exploration Corps Trooper carefully supported by the Sultan himself, provided they do not bring too much dishonour to the Corps and can be properly explained away with a written report.

Related Locations

• Sonsuz Desert

Used By

• Sultanate of Fashaddon