Tales of the Steel Talons: (0) Who They Are
Disclaimer: I don't own Exalted in any shape or form, but I like to think that my concept that I first introduce in this chapter is uniquely mine, although the name comes from the the GDI faction in Kane's Wrath.
For being some of the most sophisticated and well-equipped mercenaries in Creation, the Steel Talons are certifiably insane. These are their stories.
In theory, there is no reasonable explanation or slimmer of possibility that the concept of the Steel Talons that exists. The very idea of taking in only the most desperate and refining them into a massive and cohesive multi-national mercenary force is ridiculous. Even more insane is the idea of each member creating a family legacy of being a Steel Talon. Despite those two noticeable hurdles and many more less-noticeable pitfalls, the reality of the situation is that the mercenaries form surrogate, and actual, families with others. Each member has valuable skills and perceptions that they are trained to use and take pride in, regardless of the opinions of outsiders.
Some armies of Creation drill their raw recruits for two weeks before sending them out to the front-lines to either die or survive through some miracle. The average life expectancy of soldiers trained in this method is about three weeks on the front-lines. This estimate includes those veterans who manage to survive longer. This life average is even shorter now that Creation has entered its Time of Tumult. The Steel Talons enjoy being different from those armies in two principle manners.
The first area is the obvious difference of training. Each recruit of the (in)famous mercenaries can usually expect six months of basic training and then a minimum of nine additional months of specialization training before being shipped to one of the well-hidden fortresses in the North's Wyld Bordermarches. Generally, a recruit will spend one to two years there, learning the true purpose of the mercenaries and how to combat all of the myriad forces that threaten Creation. If they survive their first years of service, which is likely since the mercenary officers have a vested interest in making sure they thrive and learn, the recruits are given various surgeries and treatments that augment their bodies, minds, and souls.
Finally, after an additional 3 months mixed with recovery and leave time and assessment tests, a recruit will have the opportunity to request placement with one of the four brigades that make up the Steel Talons, although most inhabitants are not aware of this fact. Each brigade specializes in a different aspect of warfare and modifies their equipment selection somewhat to suit their purpose and mission.
The Airborne Brigade is the force least seen outside of the Steel Talons' territories, but it possesses the highest mobility out of the brigades. Its members receive additional training in coordination, rapid-strike operations, and aerial vehicle skills. The Airborne are commanded by Colonel Iron Raptor, an Air Aspect Dragon-Blooded, who traces her lineage back to a Dynast who had angered both his House's head and the Scarlet Empress herself for being too outspoken about his ideals and had fled to the icewalker tribes before being recruited by almost-mythical founder of the Steel Talons himself.
The Support Brigade is the most familiar force to any former recruit, since it is responsible for both the management of Steel Talon bases and the various tasks that keep the entire force running, such as the training of recruits. Its members specialize in defensive combat, training and management operations, and construction skills. There is a continual debate about whether the commanding officer for the Support Brigade actually exists or if that position is actually overseen by the Steel Talons' overall commander and founder.
The Reconnaissance Brigade is the least seen force of the Steel Talons…anywhere. This brigade serves as the covert striking arm of the mercenaries and also manages its independent information-gathering operations. Former recruits who join the Recon can expect to receive additional training in undercover missions, covert operations, methods for dealing with hostile forces from within Creation, and guerilla warfare tactics. It is commanded by Colonel Anastasia Stalin, a Chosen of Luna, and a mistress of hidden death who was rescued from a raging chimera by mercenaries' founder almost two hundred fifty years before the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress. Despite being a member of the Silver Pact, she considers her loyalty to be first to her savior and original mentor.
The only one of the four brigades that is well-known outside of the North, the Light Brigade possesses the greatest amount of firepower and skill in using that power as a scalpel of its commander. When outsiders think of the Steel Talons, they're usually only thinking about the Light Brigade, not realizing how much that impression is desired by the overall organization to conceal its true might and abilities. The Light Brigade is also the force most-used to hiring out members to fulfill contracts. Unfortunately, it also possesses the highest casualty rate out of the brigades due its high-visibility posting at Lookshy and its high mission/job rate. New members of the brigade will receive training in mechanized warfare, social training due to the high-visibility profile, training in combating demonic and undead forces, and independent operations. Colonel Tiberius Rommel is both the brigade's commanding officer and the overall second-in-command of the entire organization who was recruited in his teenage years with his two sisters from a Whitewall execution by the founder of the Steel Talons. It is said that he was chosen by the Unconquered Sun for tenacity and his desire to create a better world for his two sisters.
Going back to the principle differences of Steel Talons and the majority of Creation's other armies, the first topic have adequately mentioned for the moment: each recruit's training and preparation for combat. The last manner of difference is how the Steel Talons are successful when others would fail, which is related to its organizational lay-out, equipment, and how the mercenaries handle opponents of all types.
The success of the Steel Talons, in many ways, is what sets apart from almost any other force. Not only are they capable of waging war against a wide range of opponents on almost any battlefield, but the Steel Talons Mercenaries are also capable of fighting over half of those hostile armies on several different battlefields at the same time. A great part of this capacity for warfare is based off its organization, with each of the brigades fielding a force equal in number to one of the Scarlet Realm's legions but capable of taking on, in some fashion or another, a far larger force and tearing it apart either viciously or surgically.
With each brigade comprising of five thousand veteran soldiers, this number is multiplied by how effective each of these brigades fight hostile legions even when divided and surrounded on all sides. The basis for this effectiveness is a result of the intense two to three years of training where recruits are gathered into sub-units that are organized far differently than those of other armies. Instead of the Legion-based organization favored by the Realm and its satrapies or the Field Forces of Lookshy, the Steel Talons use a unique organization format pioneered by its founder before the fall of the First Age. Each brigade is broken up equally into five "battalions" that each possesses a certain specialty of a combat aspect.
These one thousand-man battalions are broken down further into a mix of five "companies" that are consist of about two hundred soldiers geared toward one specialty in the battalion aspect or a supporting aspect. In this manner, a lone battalion can support itself and demolish a legion of the Scarlet Realm without even taking extensive casualties. Furthermore, each company is broken down into four "platoons" of fifty mercenaries who specialize in a certain portion of the company's or battalion's combat aspect. The final level is the five "squads" of ten soldiers each that make up a platoon.
The combat aspects of a Steel Talon battalion are reflected by its specialist companies and its equipment. There are five different aspects of combat that a battalion can be modeled to handle: Armor, Artillery, Airborne, Mechanized, and Reconnaissance. An Armor-combat battalion is one of the mightiest forces in the inventory of the Steel Talons that is also capable of traversing a wide range of terrain in faster than the many of Creation's military planners believe possible. To this end, they are equipped with a mix of heavily armed and armored land vehicles and highly mobile and well-armed scout vehicles for both air and land. With a vanguard formed of Dauntless MBVs supported by Drebin IFVs and War Hawk SCAs, an Armor Battalion can demolish any force anywhere, except on the sea. Attempting to hide when they pass will only result in discovery by patrols of Blitz DPVs or Gemini Scout Airships that will then call in the assault elements of the battalion to shatter those hiding places.
An Artillery-combat battalion delivers Death from afar. While most armies generally deploy low magnitude and power artillery batteries on a battlefield unless from a defended or prepared location, the Steel Talon have a highly effective, highly concentrated, and highly mobile artillery section for each brigade. The founder of the Steel Talons once remarked, "Comrades, my artillery is my personal Boomstick to destroy both the morale and numbers of the hated enemy long before they can harm us." While they still take some time to deploy for combat, a few minutes of setting up before firing the first destructive salvos over the horizon or obstructing terrain to land upon unsuspecting targets is a vast improvement upon the hour it takes opposing artillery units to lay down fire upon the rapidly-advancing Steel Talon formation. Equipped with both Juggernaut and Behemoth MASs and firing data relayed from Panzer CCVs, an Artillery Battalion will fulfill the mission laid out by the statement of the Steel Talons' founder.
An Airborne-combat battalion is exactly what its title suggests. Although it possesses two companies of armored troops, its workhorse force lies in three Airborne Companies, each using a modification of aerial Battle Carriers, the Gemini and War Hawk airships and various other airships, along with one Kireeki-class assault skyrieme and two Roughneck-class aerial frigates for the battalion.
A Mechanized-combat battalion is the only force that has actually be seen by foreign observers without those observers being executed or shipped off to a forsaken island without contact to the rest of Creation. Using a mix of power armor-equipped infantry, Drebin IFVs, Blitz DPVs, and Panzer CCVs that are then supported by a platoon of Dauntless MBVs, a Mechanized battalion is able to quickly and decisively react to a rapidly-shifting situation and then dominate hostile infantry and warstrider units. Mechanized battalions consist of three Mech companies supported by two Combat Engineer companies, which allow them to the sole force to take and hold territory against all but the most determined foes.
A Reconnaissance-combat battalion is a bit of misnomer. Unlike the other battalion combat aspects, the lone Recon Battalion rarely fights with its full force gathered in one region. Its ability to do harm to an enemy force or nation is actually a result of the battalion dispersing to destroy infrastructure, take out commanders, tear down hostile morale, and pick off enemy patrols one at a time, rather than on massive scale in the midst of chaotic battlefield. Existing only as a part of the Recon Brigade, the battalion takes on the special and covert operations of the brigade, handing off the more obvious and destructive missions to the Armor, Artillery, and Mechanized battalions of the Recon brigade.
Another factor in their capacity is the sheer cruelty of both the soldiers and officers. While this is not always apparent off the battlefield, this is exhibited in several different manners on the battlefield. Chief of among these manners are the tactics used. The only true taboo that mercenaries observe is the threatening or involvement of civilians and innocents. Otherwise, any tactic or stratagem that keeps those two groups out of the issue at hand is allowed and even encouraged by commanding officers.
Best known of the Steel Talon policies is the refusal to take prisoners. This can be interpreted in three manners by commanding officers. Surrendering forces are usually told to give up their more-advanced equipment and to disperse to their homes. However, when additional threats lurk nearby or if hostile forces have returned to their homes only to pick up new weapons and return to war, then the systematic extermination of hostile forces, even if they are wounded or unable to fight back at the time. This response has two results: usually the undying hate of the mercenaries by the families and nations of those who were exterminated by the mercenaries and an investigation and review of the commanding officers' decision by the mercenaries' upper-level officers to determine the validity of the actions in response to different circumstances of the event and its causes. The final occurrence is undoubtedly the rarest of the three to take place. It is so rare because it results in the recruitment of the hostile forces that surrender because of how impressed the Steel Talons were by the campaign or battle against them. This rarity is increased because the Steel Talons will not recruit undead, although it will recruit Abyssal officers or soldiers of that unit, the fae, demons, or any force from outside of Creation.
AN: Not entirely done or updated because of recent work I've done and the introduction of the North book for Exalted. Expect it to be updated eventually though.