KOSSITA WOODSMAN & MANHUNTERS
Guts and Gears: Khadoran Irregulars
The Khadoran Empire’s greatest strength comes from its people. With such a large swath of land to govern, it comes as no surprise that the empire’s armies are made up of men and women possessing diverse sets of skills. The varied abilities of the common folk spread across the frontier lands are often used by the military to supplement the more numerous Winter Guard and Iron Fang divisions. That these so-called “irregulars” are capable warriors not to be trifled with is very apparent to all of Khador’s enemies, but perhaps none are more feared and respected than the cunning Kossite woodsmen and deadly manhunters.
The northernmost regions are challenging territory, and any creature that lives there, man or beast, must be hardy, adaptable, and attuned to the harsh realities of those environments. Few exemplify this better than the Kossites. Resilient men and women who come mostly from the stock that defied the ancient Khard horselords, these people inhabit some of the most challenging lands in the Iron Kingdoms, dwelling among inhospitable forests and mountains. Many are farmers, hunters, trappers, furriers, herdsmen or fishermen. They generally remain within the relatively isolated communities of the northlands, preferring the rugged beauty of the steppes and forests to what they see as the soft luxuries of cities. It is from regions such as these that Kossite irregulars are drawn.
Irregulars have an unusual role within the Khadoran military. There are still many Kossites to be found in the regular Winter Guard, serving alongside other Khadoran soldiers, but irregulars grew out of a need to find a better use for the most rustic of Khador’s citizens. Their independent nature has often made those living in the fringes ill suited for regular service. Kossites and members of other remote groups have been permitted to serve in a different capacity. Their aptitude at woodcraft and stalking prey developed through years of hunting makes them ideal ambush forces. Such woodsmen can move unhindered through terrain that would slow normal troops, penetrating deep into enemy territory to strike before melting away back into the wilderness.
Kossites are not the only ones allowed to serve as irregulars. Skirov hillmen, Ruscar scouts, and other groups drawn from the far-flung peoples of Khador also support traditional forces throughout the empire. The Kossites are the largest and most predominant group, and enjoy a prestigious history of unorthodox fighting on behalf of the Motherland.
Kossite armament is well-suited for guerrilla tactics. Rather than burdening the Khadoran treasury with outfitting these far-flung units, irregulars arm themselves. They make use of rifles, bows, axes, and other weapons common to defending families in these rustic regions or frequently found among their former professions. Being drawn from such disparate sources, each unit is highly affected by its local culture and can vary wildly in appearance, training, and equipment. Irregulars do not have common uniforms, tending to receive relatively little in the way of standard military supplies. Indeed, it is one of the advantages of the Kossite irregulars that they can feed themselves off the land, easing the burden on whatever formal military force they accompany.
Integrated with the rest of the Khadoran Army, they become a powerful weapon.
HISTORY
Defense of the Motherland has always been at the heart of Khadoran culture, and it has never been difficult to find soldiers, even among the distant rural areas. Compulsory military conscription for all Khadoran men of age was formalized in 245 AR as part of King Levash’s preparations for what would become the Colossal War, but there was little resistance to the idea.
The primary effect this had in the sparsely populated north was to bring arms and training to people already prepared to fight. The kingdom was slow to integrate the Kossites during the Colossal War, as its primary focus was on industrialization, and most of the fighting was on the southern borders far from their homelands, though the Kossites did still participate in that conflict. Groups of Kossites were incorporated in the attempted taking of the Thornwood in 289 AR, scouting in advance of the larger body of Khadoran forces. Even then they were deployed in limited number, only really becoming a relevant military factor later in the Border Wars, as the kingdom became increasingly low on resources and gathered whatever forces it had.
In ensuing battles to quell more aggressive northern barbarians in the Khadoran interior following the Border Wars, many Kossites were put into a difficult position. Some of the more remote Kossite families had historically intermarried with these barbarous tribes, and there were some isolated cases in which troops refused to fight, or conveniently failed to show their normal zeal for combat. Allegations of Devourer worship flared up during this time as well. Some of these accusations were true, but many were driven by the perception that there was little difference between these rustic soldiers and the tribes they were tasked to put down. The denizens of the far north were seen in certain circles as feral, attitudes reinforced by the actions of remote tribes like the violent Vindol and Vorgoi.
The distinction between these people and the proud descendants of Kos wasn’t always clear to southern Khards living in major cities like Korsk and Khardov. Despite this, they were instrumental in taking many territories. Eventually, they became an essential propaganda tool for Lord Velibor in maintaining patriotic zeal among remote rural regions during a time of increasingly unpopular war.
Through the Hundred Year Peace, many Kossites and other rustic peoples returned to their wilderness homes and only participated in infrequent service. They armed as required to serve as guides to military patrols in nearby areas or when remote townships were endangered by trollkin, Nyss, or other threats in these untamed places. During this time, only a few thousand irregulars served alongside regular soldiers at the more active border garrisons farther to the south. Those who did were usually drawn from Kossites and other tribes living closest to major cities or those who had weathered poor harvest and hunting seasons and thus were in need of the army’s coin. Rather than sending every son of age to serve, these families would only send the third or fourth sons they could not easily feed or clothe.
Kossite irregulars rose to greater prominence in the First Thornwood War, where their knowledge of woodcraft proved integral to the campaign. Despite the ultimate failure of this war for Khador, the unusual tactics employed during this conflict were important in forging an identity for the Kossite troops. They had never previously been asked to be part of such a massive infantry force, and their scouting skills were invaluable in preparing the way through the Thornwood for both heavy infantry and warjacks. Kossites surveyed the landscape and helped lay out the course of the Warjack Road, seeking to intercept and eliminate any Cygnaran patrols they encountered along the way.
A shadowy war between the Kossites and Cygnaran rangers was waged beneath the canopy of the Thornwood in these months. Though the southerners managed to lead Khadoran forces into difficulty time and again, many more northern lives would have been lost without the aid of the irregulars. The demands on Kossites were many, as they were asked to be experts of an unfamiliar forest while battling an enemy far more knowledgeable of the local terrain. While the southerners would seize ultimate victory, the place of the Kossite irregulars as an invaluable element of the army was secured.
In the winter campaign of 604 AR during the Llaelese War, the hardy men of the northwest forest proved invaluable. The harsh conditions of winter combat that paralyzed and demoralized the regular troops were apparently a source of comfort to the Kossites. As one kovnik of that campaign put in his report to the High Kommand;
“These Kossites are mad. While seasoned Winter Guard grumble about the cold, the irregulars seem happiest in it. When en route to the front, we had marched all day through a blizzard and were camped for the night by a frozen lake. The troops were in ill spirit and nearly mutinous. I was informed that a gathering of irregulars was causing much uproar, and, preparing to have to break up some drunken brawl, I trudged to their part of the camp through knee-deep snow. When I arrived, I saw that the Kossites had cut a hole in the surface of the
lake and were taking turns stripping nearly naked, diving into the icy water, and running back to the fires. Apparently, the contest was to see who could withstand the stinging water the longest. When I asked the nearest sergeant why his men were stripping naked and diving into a frozen lake, he looked at me as if I were a fool and simply said, ‘So they don’t get their armor wet.’”
In 605 AR during the Llaelese War, manhunters also rose to special prominence. Such individuals also serve among the irregulars, though they occupy a slightly more specialized role. Manhunters are considered experts in their field and thus earn more compensation for their service than their counterparts. They proved especially valuable during the wintertime march on Llael. Many of the most renowned manhunters are also from Kossite villages, where a life of hunting and trapping far from civilization is common. Only the Skirov of Khador’s northeast challenge Kossite supremacy over this specialty, and they come in a distant second.
In the bitter months of winter marking the outset of the invasion into Llael, supplies and shelter were difficult to maintain. Fierce storms battered both armies. The manhunters drew from their experience in woodcraft and trapping to keep the troops fed and sheltered. Once battle was joined, manhunters mounted numerous surprise attacks on the Llaelese troops during bitter snowstorms. Being unaccustomed to warfare under such harsh conditions, the defenders fell in droves beneath the manhunters’ whirling axes. Such attacks gained Khadoran forces much needed time to draw up ranks and prepare for extended fighting.
In the Second Thornwood War, Kossite irregulars served and were celebrated alongside more traditional troops. Their bravery against terrifying Cryxian forces was noted by several in the High Kommand. By this time, the Khadoran woodsmen had a much better sense of the forest after numerous campaigns in the region and were able to bring their expertise to bear in a way that let them truly challenge and sometimes exceed their Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service adversaries. Kossite irregulars also worked closely alongside Widowmaker snipers in this conflict.
Such a long history of service to the empire has made Kossite irregulars a frequent sight on the battlefield. All the enemies of Khador know to be wary of their sudden raids, lest the lives and materiel of trained soldiers be lost in a hail of arrows and musket fire loosed from the shadows of a darkened grove. Organization and Training
Historically, irregulars have been poorly equipped compared to most Khadoran forces. For decades they were considered little more than backwoods peasants, good primarily as cannon fodder. The truth was, even once their skills began to be valued, kommanders appreciated being freed of the necessity of arming these forces, as did those in charge of military payroll and supplies.
While some kapitans still share a dismissive attitude toward these forces, this prejudice has steadily shifted to give way to respect. Despite the industrialization of the modern Khadoran military, however, Kossites are still self-supported and haphazardly armed. This has actually become something of a proud tradition among the Kossites themselves. Many prefer to fight with weapons and tactics passed down through family and village, even were uniform armaments and training available to them.
There are always fewer resources available for irregular troops than for traditional soldiers. Many of them receive relatively little formal training before being sent to the front lines. The majority of them are not full-time soldiers and are only briefly supervised by army inspectors to ensure they have the semblance of a chain of command with a leader who will reliably answer to Khadoran Army officers. In most areas,
during times of peace, conscription means traveling to the nearest garrison town, training and drilling there for a few months, then being sent home again to await the call should they be required in service of the empire.
Beyond this, local regiments are expected to train in whatever manner is available, much in the manner of a local militia. That said, the very value of these forces is that the skills they have developed may come from many years of day-to-day hunting and tracking to keep their families fed. Many Kossites have been using their bows, rifles, knives, and axes since they could walk and talk, and they are well accustomed to survival in hostile conditions.
Left to their own devices, irregulars rely on guerilla tactics, operating in smaller bands and striking rapidly at the enemy before withdrawing and dispersing. They prefer to avoid protracted skirmishes whenever possible, a trait that can lead to regular soldiers considering them cowardly and undependable. Their armament is suited to these tactics. Their armor tends to be light — sometimes little more than thick animal skins or winter coats. Clothing is chosen to provide warmth and the ability to blend into the environment more than with the expectation of turning aside weapons. Units tend to be generalists, armed with a combination of hunting bows, muskets, and hand weapons. Manhunters are known for considerable proficiency with their woodsman axes, but among the other Kossite troops, hand axes and short blades, already on hand as tools, are popular as weapons of choice.
As irregulars are drawn primarily from outlying villages, they often come to battle with strong bonds that are distinct from the unity that the army builds in basic training. Often several siblings, cousins, or friends will enlist at the same time, and the already-established relationships carry into military life. These bonds promote strong internal loyalty, which can see a unit through adversity. The downside of this, however, is that these irregulars will sometimes act on their own initiative, regardless of what their kommanders desire.
Along with having reputations tainted by a lack of discipline, there are also sometimes reputed to be superstitious and to follow unsavory religious beliefs. Such rumors are not always spurious, as the communities from which the irregulars hail may well include dangerous cults of the Devourer Wurm, often in the guise of totemic animal worship. Even when a community is not actively worshiping their Wurm, they may practice rituals and customs including ancestor worship, which is off-putting to traditional Morrowans and Menites.
Therefore, fellow soldiers distrust many Kossite troops, which further encourages segregation between regular and irregular forces. This makes integrating the Kossites into a larger army difficult and contributes to the preference of some kapitans and kovniks to use them incautiously as cannon fodder, sending them into needless peril. This goes along with a tendency for officers to underestimate the Kossites under their command.
MANHUNTERS (Caçadores de Cabeças)
Even among the irregulars, some woodsfolk are a breed apart. These are usually trappers, hunters, or loggers whose skills have been honed by spending much of their time in the harsh northern wilds in pursuit of their trade. Many such individuals are hired into the Khadoran military as manhunters. Acting as a mixture of scout and hired assassin, they are the most terrifying irregulars in Khador’s employ.
The double axes that have served as tools of woodcraft and deadly weapons for millennia are a symbol of this brother and sisterhood and are part of the mythos that defines them. Some are known to whisper prayers to the axes themselves, and these practices, though uncomfortably close to certain Devourer rituals, are tolerated by commanding officers due to the deadly utility of maintaining manhunters in a force.
Time spent in the wild has given these nearly savage rangers many useful qualities. Before an engagement they are stealthy, moving cautiously and silently as they await the perfect opportunity to engage an unsuspecting enemy. When advancing they are fearless, sometimes making loud jests about how weak and pathetic the enemy forces are in comparison to some wild beast they bested in combat. Others mimic wild animal calls to unsettle the men they are about to murder. Most frightening of all are the silent hunters, who dispassionately cut down their targets without a single noise.
In battle, manhunters are sturdy, shrugging off many attacks that would disable lesser men, hacking through armored foes with brutal ease, able to claim a hefty toll of the dead. Most often, manhunters are given special assignments to eliminate specific enemy officers or other critical personnel or to patrol alongside other skilled woodsmen in countering similar experts among the enemy. They can stalk an enemy column for days at a time, observing a target’s movements and behavior. When the time comes, a manhunter emerges from the wilderness to ambush his or her target with a swift axe blow, preferably removing the head to use as proof of a job’s completion.
Manhunters tend to be rugged individualists. Outside of their military service they will spend weeks or months isolated in encampments in the deep forest or tundra, living as hunter gatherers and building simple shelters as required. As a result, they find it difficult to integrate with the regular army, and most others see them as somewhere between socially awkward and feral, lawless killers.
The accusations of lack of discipline that plague the irregulars as a whole are especially true of manhunters. Commanding officers find them difficult to understand and impossible to command, at least without some sort of personal rapport. The better officers know that a manhunter is not a regular soldier but more of a weapon to be pointed in the direction of the enemy, trusted to do harm to the enemy in his or her own way.
YURI, THE AXE
The infamous man known as Yuri the Axe has a murky early history, and the barbarous warrior is not inclined to offer any details. The earliest reports of him are of infrequent appearances at villages and outposts near Uldenfrost and Tverkutsk. As a youth, Yuri traded pelts of winter argus and other dangerous creatures for food, drink, and medicine. He turned to hunting men in short order, earning a living as a bounty hunter and hired killer, eliminating undesirables and even rogue Winter Guard. An entire kompany died to his axes and to exposure in their attempts to evade him.
Such actions did not escape the notice of the military; following a lengthy hunt involving hundreds of soldiers and hired agents, in which Yuri more than once escaped captivity, he was given the chance to join forces with the Khadoran Army, gaining amnesty for a litany of murders. He was offered the chance to test himself against the best Khador’s armies and its enemies had to offer. Yuri accepted with surprising enthusiasm.
The officers charged with keeping an eye upon him know to be vigilant. Yuri claims that he left that trail of bodies in the Scarsfell because he simply wanted to be left alone. But it is undeniable that he does have an insatiable bloodlust and is prone to rage in battle. It is said among the other wilderness fighters, half in jest and half in fear, that he must be allowed to kill an enemy every so often so he does not turn on his comrades instead. He is feared and respected by the irregulars, and especially by the manhunters, with whom he shares a deep bond.
Yuri is a massive man, and, the axe for which he earned his namesake is nearly as long as he is tall, a weapon most of his rivals would find too awkward to wield. He speaks little, preferring to let his skill with the axe speak on his behalf. He charges into battle wearing a cloak made of a motley assortment of skins from various beasts. His kinsmen say that every hide adorning his back was claimed by Yuri’s axe, not by trapping or other hunting methods. Darker rumors persist, some saying that the frostbitten leather of dead men can be found beneath layers the of argus, wolf, and bear fur.
Fonte: No Quarter 73
