Silas "Bad Eye" Elaro
"A soldier with a metal arm? You must have seen such despair in the world, yes?" -Agaia Greenteeth in the guise of Maya Gai'oona
Silas is a high elf soldier. His eyes are a bright violet and his skin bears the scars of multiple serious scrapes. His gray hair is shoulder length but somewhat secured back. He is a rough 317 years old of average height and wiry build. He walks upright with pride wearing the stone gray waxed canvas short cloak of his uniform draped over his left shoulder concealing his left side just past his hip. Protruding from the folds of the cloak is a hand shrouded in blackened steel. An unobservant person would write this off as a gauntlet, but a closer inspection reveals that the steel continues up to a jointed elbow and to the shoulder. This is a steel prosthetic. His dark brown calf height boots show use but wear and are well kept. They are reinforced with what look to be a small amount of metal braces integrated into the soles. His pants and shirt are a versatile dual layer dark blue cotton and linen make with various pockets and loops. They are of a martial cut and bear the rank insignia of a Hierarchy Navy Chief for those who can read such things. On his tunic's left shoulder is a peculiar patch of crossed blue and white feathered wings underwritten by the word "First" in Draconic. This is the patch of the Hierarchy's specialized Airborne Infantry unit. The "First and Only." When in less martial surroundings he carries an unremarkable but solidly crafted cane. For the truly observant the word "Gloria" is inscribed in Celestial near the top. When fully prepared for a fight, a peculiar harness rig is worn secured over his pants and shirt secured with its own leather straps and buckles. It has clips and fasteners for pouches and equipment. It is most reminiscent of a complex climbing harness. Its most distinctive and perhaps confusing feature is an empty spool and two aligned metal brackets on the back. These however are usually at least partially covered by his cloak.
Silas comes to his present circumstances through a resource sharing agreement between the Consortium and the Hierarchy. In exchange for a long term sourcing deal for specialized parts, the Hierarchy assigned Silas to "advise" the Consortium's guards on skills for use in the Prim'terran wildlands. After completing his 6 month assignment and its travel through the 5 Prim'terran colony towns, he finds himself on the Drift awaiting re-assignment orders from the Hierarchy Embassy. With no particular orders he spends his days and his coin wishing for the wind and freedom of the sky found on deck of one of the Hierarchy's flying ships. And the thrill of jumping off one onto the enemy...
Born to a bureaucrat mother and guard captain father, he grew up with a healthy respect for civilization's trappings. Perluxian life for the long lived and properly respectful wasn't hard. When childhood ended, Silas showed no particular magical talent or drive to delve into the arcane, nor did he have the fortune of being landed nobility. So it was either the town guard, the hierarchy administration, a wanderers life or enlistment. Showing no inclination to follow his parents and certainly no fascination with being a vagabond, Silas reported to the nearest Hierarchy garrison to enlist. He struggled with the physical aspects of his training but showed an aptitude for ranged warfare and an inventive mind. He quickly took to the bow (as expected for Elvenkind) and quickly found himself in a unit of a competent formation of ranged fighters.
Minor scrapes and deployments set the tone for Silas' early and middle service to the Hierarchy, eventually rising to command various squads over this phase of his career. Amongst the officer corps he gained a reputation for being a solid choice for a non-commissioned officer. Over the course of a long career, it was inevitable that certain events would come to be defining personal moments.
Born to a bureaucrat mother and guard captain father, he grew up with a healthy respect for civilization's trappings. Perluxian life for the long lived and properly respectful wasn't hard. When childhood ended, Silas showed no particular magical talent or drive to delve into the arcane, nor did he have the fortune of being landed nobility. So it was either the town guard, the hierarchy administration, a wanderers life or enlistment. Showing no inclination to follow his parents and certainly no fascination with being a vagabond, Silas reported to the nearest Hierarchy garrison to enlist. He struggled with the physical aspects of his training but showed an aptitude for ranged warfare and an inventive mind. He quickly took to the bow (as expected for Elvenkind) and quickly found himself in a unit of a competent formation of ranged fighters.
Minor scrapes and deployments set the tone for Silas' early and middle service to the Hierarchy, eventually rising to command various squads over this phase of his career. Amongst the officer corps he gained a reputation for being a solid choice for a non-commissioned officer. Over the course of a long career, it was inevitable that certain events would come to be defining personal moments.
By the mid point of his life, the young officers he had shepherded through their early years were reaching new heights in the Hierarchy's military. Coupled with advances in magic and tinkering made by the arcanists and engineers of Perluxia, these new leaders would begin to make reforms to the military system that would hopefully cement the HIerarchy's dominance. Taking advantage of two major breakthroughs, the means by which ships could take to the skies and by which cannons and powder could be made smaller, they put their authority to beginning testing new concepts. For these tests soldiers were needed. Loyal, Clever, Ruthless, and perhaps less careful with their own lives than otherwise would be considered normal.
Upon receiving orders to travel to the Hierarchy's High Command, Silas was given an assignment, simple in concept: Field test the new kind of small man portable cannons with the academics and arcanists. Report back on their effectiveness and ability to replace the bow as the primary ranged weapon issued to soldiers. After a few weeks of being shown how these new weapons worked, how to maintain them, and create ammunition for them, SIlas was to apply his knowledge in the practical manner.
Upon receiving orders to travel to the Hierarchy's High Command, Silas was given an assignment, simple in concept: Field test the new kind of small man portable cannons with the academics and arcanists. Report back on their effectiveness and ability to replace the bow as the primary ranged weapon issued to soldiers. After a few weeks of being shown how these new weapons worked, how to maintain them, and create ammunition for them, SIlas was to apply his knowledge in the practical manner.
Five days into using his weapon and reporting in to the field scholars his experiences, the prototype failed. With a horrific shriek of rending metal, the weapon ripped itself apart, spraying shards into his face, and taking off his left arm at the shoulder. The scholars and arcanists rushed to see what happened. As the Pelorian cleric assigned to the effort pulled Silas away to stop his bleeding, the academics immediately began assessing what went wrong.
In their follow on reports, the cause was determined to be impure and imperfect metallurgy. The dwarf clan which had provided the metals only avoided scandal by crafting a darksteel arm that through the mechanical and divine blessings of Moradin could replace Silas' own. Silas was reassigned from the effort for 3 months of rest while the tinkerers and scholars went back to their towers. Further iterations and follow on testing would result in Silas' recommendation that while the weapons show promise, they should be only deployed to few specialized units of mechanically inclined and talented individuals. The mental demands of use and care of the devices put them beyond the reach of the vast majority of Perluxia's inhabitants.
Eventually Silas' blackpowder infantry unit was assigned to patrol Perluxia's borders via an extended deployment on board a Hierarchy skyship. Being well over a hundred and fifty years into his life as a soldier, his nature was to find the best way for he and his unit to work and fight from such a unique perspective. WIth their months in flight and on the ground, the unit invented tactics and equipment that would allow them the most advantage if a ship was forced into a fight. Some in command considered this combination of ship and soldier to be novel and effective, some considered it to be expensive and too unique. For the cost of one airship and the investment of time and resources into one small unit, an entire company of guards could be raised. As both sides could not overmatch the other politically,this led to the unit being officially created as the First Airborne Infantry as long as there would not be a Second. This gave rise to the unit's informal nickname of the "First and Only."
Shortly before the disappearance of the Fog and the coming of the Yuan Ti, it became known that a combination of adventurers, a violent sect of religious warriors, and the Shadehand had funded and built a flying battleship. This threat to Hierarchy supremacy could not be left to stand, Silas' men were ordered to seek out and eliminate the threat. What followed was a costly success.
Silas and the crew of the airship had kept watch from the top deck for weeks as they searched the Perluxian mainland for the enemy skyship. One clear summer morning, the ship's captain spotted a bone white and brass colored armored craft rising lazily out of a forest clearing. Deciding that there was no reason to wait, the Hierarchy airship captain ordered an immediate attack. As the hierarchy airship closed in, the enemy the craft turned to present its side to Silas' ship. Soon the whizzing and hard impacts of the enemy craft's weapons began to get to the soldiers waiting nervously for action. After what seemed an eternity but was likely only 3 minutes, a skyship officer relayed to Silas that the distance had closed enough for the First to make their presence known.
Shortly before the disappearance of the Fog and the coming of the Yuan Ti, it became known that a combination of adventurers, a violent sect of religious warriors, and the Shadehand had funded and built a flying battleship. This threat to Hierarchy supremacy could not be left to stand, Silas' men were ordered to seek out and eliminate the threat. What followed was a costly success.
Silas and the crew of the airship had kept watch from the top deck for weeks as they searched the Perluxian mainland for the enemy skyship. One clear summer morning, the ship's captain spotted a bone white and brass colored armored craft rising lazily out of a forest clearing. Deciding that there was no reason to wait, the Hierarchy airship captain ordered an immediate attack. As the hierarchy airship closed in, the enemy the craft turned to present its side to Silas' ship. Soon the whizzing and hard impacts of the enemy craft's weapons began to get to the soldiers waiting nervously for action. After what seemed an eternity but was likely only 3 minutes, a skyship officer relayed to Silas that the distance had closed enough for the First to make their presence known.
Arriving on deck and moving close behind the railings, the soldiers in Silas' squad readied themselves and their equipment. Having adapted their tactics from Naval infantry, their first job was to clear any exposed decks of the enemy ship of crew. Quickly ducking up and scanning the situation various members of the squad reported what they saw. Orders were given and they opened fire on anyone they could see. The visible enemy crew was mostly put down but before the First could re-orient themselves on new targets several jagged steel harpoons lanced up from the enemy ship and embedded themselves deep in the skyship's hull. With a creaking strain and a loud clanking sound, the harpoons began to be retracted and the skyship was pulled down toward the other craft where its weapons could be better aimed to smash the hierarchy ship to pieces. Sensing this event could spell their deaths if nothing was done, the First looked at each other and nodded silently to one another.
Combat jump.
Easily the most terrifying thing that they had ever practiced, the First grabbed at the metal hooks dangling from their belts and fastened them to the nearest metal bracing on deck. Each soldier then pulled at the ends of rope dangling from the rigging on their backs and tied off to the hooks. Composing themselves for a second, all twelve soldiers leapt over the rail and plummeted toward the deck of the enemy ship. Rope unwound off the spool on their rigging at a speed loud enough to be heard for the first 6 seconds, then with a gentle ease their feather fall rings activated. With their rate of descent slowed to a manageable speed each soldier readied for their landing.
Their boots making contact with the deck, silence reigned for 6 seconds. Then the melee broke out as enemy crew poured out of hatches.
When the fight was over and the enemy ship cleared, 7 of Silas' unit had died and 3 were wounded. A prize crew came aboard from the their Hierarchy ship and took control steering the battleship back to the nearest Hierarchy garrison.
In the months following this stunning achievement the role of the First was re-evaluated. The losses would be replaced and the unit would be increased to 24 soldiers and 2 upgraded skyships better able to deal with ship to ship combat. ore missions followed. More deaths, more success. Slowly over the course of the decade since the enemy airship incident, the First became a specialist training and mobile support unit. Since the disappearance of the Fog and open attacks of the Yuan Ti, the First has participated in 50 engagements, each one more challenging than the last.