Dreadnoughts
Fiery, Interplanar Explorers, Historians and Liberators
II. Move ever forward,
III. Think not in negatives,
IV. Consult the fires, then consult them again
The Dreadnoughts are the modern mortal swords of the Material God of fire, bravery, justice and ingenuity, V'Shaat.
The Dreadnoughts are primarily a force of bravery in the face of fear and freedom in the face of tyranny. Like churches of the fire goddess, they are centrally of Chaotic Good alignment, but individual members may also lean toward Neutral Good or Chaotic Neutral.
The order are the modern relatives of the Sagasingers: a loosely organized, interplanar guild of explorers, guides, mercenaries, archaeologists, anthropologists and liberators, united under the command of a younger V'Shaat al-Avra, then an Insurgent demigod in Materia's Antediluvian Era. The arrival of the Sagasingers around I.M. 40 (40 years Intra-Merantha) represented the start of Materia's Upper Middle First Age, or the Age of Insurgency.History
The Dreadnoughts began as the Sagasingers, a band of thieves and agitators led by a young V'Shaat al-Avra on her home plane of Tassalit. Too wise for emotions like annoyance or vengeance, the nation's Sovereign, a sphinx by the name of Annan the Attentive, decided it more convenient to employ the band than to eliminate them. By then a powerful self-taught spellsword, arcane trickster and pyromancer, V'Shaat was taught the secrets of Voidwalking by the Sovereign, and her group was tasked with two missions: observation of the encroaching Rozsan Empire on neighboring planes, and stealing any knowledge the advanced Rozsans possessed around agriculture or silviculture, a dire limiting factor for arid Tassalit's health. As these goals benefitted her homeland as a whole, particularly the poor, V'Shaat agreed.
Eventually, V'Shaat was to discover the stakes were higher merely than her tiny and relatively well-run home plane, and she broke from Annan the Attentive's government. Thus the Sagasingers reached the height of their power, operating at an interplanar level, with more members becoming clerics, warpriests and liberator paladins as V'Shaat achieved demigodhood.Prominent Members
that degrade you back towards disease and death.”
Co-founder of the Sagasingers is the ascendant, dwarven god of skaldry, travel, diplomacy and fire, Galadnock mac-Kenzie, a Flamespeaker of Tong Deum originally from the mountainous, arctic plane of Pitravat. His own mercenary band were initially rivals of the Sagasingers before al-Avra and mac-Kenzie became close friends, and the two groups united.
Most of the original members of the Tassalite "proto-Sagasingers", prior to meeting mac-Kenzie, have been lost to history, though two of V'Shaat's closest partners are still attested in the church's oldest texts: B'Non il-Anrau, said to be a swordsman of great ferocity, and R'Ani il-Duat, said to be a spy-inquisitor assigned to V'Shaat by Annan the Attentive. Initially feigned, il-Duat's loyalty to the mage-thief grew more real than the densest iron over the following decades.
Prior to ascension, the famed bard and traveler Laila By-the-Sea was, for a period, a student of mac-Kenzie's and a Master Flamespeaker in her own right. It is unknown how deep her involvement was with the Sagasingers, however.
Hrafnagaldr Fistpoetry was a dwarven monk, student of Tong Deum under Galadnock mac-Kenzie and early member of the Material Sagasingers, who later became one of the most storied members of the Dragon Knights of Tallarax. Some would say 'Fistpoetry' is a tad melodramatic for a given name... until they saw him in a fight. The old dwarf remains perhaps the greatest genius at unarmed fighting that Materia has ever known. Hrafnagaldr died in the First Dragon Wars, helping combat the elitemost forces of Elir-Otrinax.
Waltrud van Toth, "The Lioness of Laoisterre" (Profile Image) was a Gormengaster Dreadnought and remains one of the most celebrated heroes in V'Shaat's church. The Lioness was known to be quite dimwitted, however the ways of the Dreadnoughts—the hatred of guile, the celebration of life, the swordsmanship, the mental readiness, the never-say-die attitude—all of these things flowed from her naturally and effortlessly, like the breath from our lungs. A master demonslayer known for her brutally simple philosophies on life and justice, it is rumoured she eventually joined the demigodic Dragon Knights of Tallarax. Her death was mourned by hundreds of thousands across the plane, Dreadnought and civilian alike.The Anzu Riders of Tel
One breakaway group of Sagasingers was assigned to infiltrate and study the methods of the Devastators, the elite army of the great Kelpeater demigod Indu'una, who specialized in the use of semi-tamed megafauna in warfare. This eventually lead to the aerial Insurgent paramilitary known as the Anzu Riders of Tel, named for their use of moderate anzu as knightly mounts.Trivia
V'Shaat's divine Relic Weapon, is an intelligent, flaming, dancing, singing khopesh, also known as Sagasinger. It is unknown whether the name of the sword or the organization came first.
Banner: Galadnock mac-Kenzie shouts an assertion of flame (Left). A young V'Shaat al-Avra prior to leaving her home plane (Centre). The Valamonian Dreadnought Nikka of Tuurilselden.
Profile: Waltrud van Toth, "The Lioness of Laoisterre".
Illus. Akihiko Yoshida
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