Greenglade Brotherhood

" If there's someone on this world who can make any soldier soil their pants in fear, it has to be the battle brothers and sisters of the Greenglade brotherhood. I have seen them fight before, and there's a reason why the Argonites rarely, if ever venture into the Greenglade's without assembling entire armies now"
Maximillian Christiansen, remarking on the Greenglade rangers.

The Greenglade Brotherhood is the largest and most powerful paramilitary organisation in The Sanguine Imperium, numbering in the hundreds of thousands to millions. Renowned for their extreme ferocity, nimbleness, being adapted to forest warfare and being a very effective guerilla force, they guard the forest areas of the Imperium, preventing them from being used by the enemy as invasion routes or being occupied. Taking their name from the Greenglade forest, the largest forest on Elladia spanning millions of square kilometres and spanning multiple continents, the Greenglade brotherhood always stands ready to guard the forests of the Imperium. With their mastery over the very forces of nature itself, thanks to their usage of druidic magic, the brotherhood has earned a fearsome reputation amongst both man and Argonite alike, always ready to strike from the shadows against the enemies of mankind.

Structure

Ranger

The Brotherhood is led by a ranger council of four members, who are elected by popular vote every ten years and usually serve for lifetime. Each of these four members have a specific duty to perform, such as logistics, seeing to the moral of the different legions and orders of the brotherhood etc. They are lead by a High Ranger, who holds final authority over all the other council members. To prevent potential misuse of power however, the high Rangers orders can be vetoed if at least ninety percent of the brotherhood and all of the ranger council vetoes the high rangers decisions

Public Agenda

"May the gods have mercy on our foes, for we shall not"
Attributed to brother Zeraphel, one of the most famous rangers

The main goal of the Greenglade brotherhood is to protect the forest areas of The Sanguine Imperium and serve as a paramilitary force which is specially adapted to fighting in the forest and as light infantry and guerillas, constantly tiring down the enemy through hit and run attacks and harassment tactics

Assets

"What makes the brotherhood so terrifying is how silent they are. Its like they are wraiths. You don"t expect them until the very moment they strike, when hundreds of shadowy figures descend on you from the trees, hellbent on taking your life and giving others a warning. And they do a spectacular job at that i tell you.
Attributed to a Normal Legionnaire in the Imperium

Quirion Ranger

As the most well equipped and well supplied as well as well trained out of the myriad paramilitary organizations of the Imperium, the Brotherhood is a force to reckon with. Numbering well in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, the Greenglade brotherhood has many fortress monasteries spread across the forests, inside of clearings. Each of these fortress monasteries are self sufficient and can go without any outside aid from the other monasteries for weeks or even months for the largest ones. From these monasteries, they conduct their operations pver a certain part of the forest , and sometimes many fortress monasteries have their areas overlap.

Weapons and Comabt capabilities

As a light infantry force which focuses on hit and run tactics, guerilla warfare and harassment tactics, the brotherhood does not have many heavy infantry or heavy cavalry. Rather, the standard equipment for a ranger is a bow, two daggers and a relatively large longsword. Dedicated archers use massive longbows and greatbows, to counter enemy heavy cavalry or infantry. Assault units are equipped with Halberds , spears and lances and cavalry for the most part, are equipped with bows or spears/lances or longswords.

Druids and mages

" The Druid brothers are the strongest amongst us. Harnessing the very power of Elladia itself, they have unprecedented individual power amongst all the others"
Attributed to Brother Zarakiel, one of the members of the ranger council

Rangers of the Brotherhood by Sebastian Horoszko

The Druids are the main magical arm of the brotherhood. Having mastered the natural elemental arts for years, they have almost unprecedented control over the beasts and nature of the forest. They can call the animals and plants of the forest to fight alongside their human brethren, and also have fearsome powers which include Earth manipulation and shooting Raw blasts of natural energy from their hands. Besides that, they also have more normal varieties of mages including fire mages, ice mages, thunder mages, Sanguinomorphs and necromancers as well.

History

Landscape by Grosnez

The history of the Greenglade Rangers is centuries old, with their very beginnings happening at roughly eight centuries ago. Around two hundred years into The Great War, the Argonite army made significant gains into the territory of the Imperium, by exploiting the weakly defended sections of the Greenglade forest. The Imperium suffered incredibly high number of casualties and was barely able to contain the advance and force the Argonite armies back. To prevent such a situation from ever happening again, a force of warriors was raised by then High Seraph Linus Christiansen, to guard the Greenglade forest as well as other forest areas of the Imperium. Ever since then , they have done their duties faithfully, ferociously defending the forests of the Imperium from any and all who threaten mankind.

Second Battle of the Greenglade forest

"It all happened in the blink of an eye. One moment we were marching across the swamp and the next i see the bloated , insect filled corpses of my comrades, being eaten by those filth whilst some of them were still alive. To this day, i don"t know why i still live. The almighty should have taken me right there and then."
An Argonite soldier, recounting the events of the Second battle of the Greenglade forest

The Old Dragon God by JJcanvas

Around fifty years after the debacle of the greenglade forest, the Brotherhood would finally get their chance to prove their worth when the Argonites attempted a second breakthrough through the Greenglade forest. At first, they did not encounter any significant forces, with most of their casualties coming from traps laid by the brotherhoods rangers.
As they went deeper into the forest, the resistance kept increasing and their forces were being worn down, till finally at one point during their advance, the decision was given to retreat. Just then however, a massive counteroffensive spearheaded by the brotherhood, including elements from the regular army, decimated most of the forward units of the Argonite armies and routed them.
The Argonites quickly retreated, having suffered a tremendous defeat at the hands of the brotherhood, whom they considered nothing more than poorly armed militia. This event and the many other battles fought by them in the upcoming decades and centuries would cement their deadly reputation as the strongest paramilitary force in the Imperium

Signs of Corruption

"We don"t know whats happening. Gods save us. Harken was bitten by one of those mutated wolves a few days ago and ever since then, he can"t sleep. He keeps screaming and says that he sees visions of this strange demonic being in the night. He says that it whispers into his ears and tells him to do his bidding. I don"t know what the fuck is even happening. Moreover, we keep hearing strange noises and creepy laughs from the forest, its as if something is hunting the entire brotherhood. We have to launch an investigation at some point and figure out what the hell is happening in this forest as of the recent times
Brother Elias, a ranger of the brotherhood talking about the disturbing events taking place in the Greenglade forest

For the past few years, there have been disturbing reports coming from the Greenglade forest, which have since then spread across the other forests of the Imperium as well. The trees are changing their colour and behaviour, with some of them dying entirely and worse stills, others mutating into horrifying new forms. There have been many disappearances amongst the brotherhoods members, and reports are coming in of wild and mad animals, who have been morphed into horrifying new forms by a strange corruption. As the coming storm looms over Elladia, the brotherhoods rangers have to prepare themselves, for the very forest and world itself will soon turn against them.

Victoria Est Hominibus

Age

The Brotherhood is well over eight hundred years old.

Headquarters

The brotherhood has their main base of operations in the very centre of the Greenglade forest.

Popular Reception

The members of the brotherhood have grown into somewhat of folk heroes over the centuries. Many tales abound of their achievements, and this has given rise to many myths about them, including that they can transform into wild beasts and so on. Whilst some members of the brotherhood are lycanthropes, shapeshifting is only done by the Druids, who have the skill and training to do it. There have been many songs, poems and novels written about them too, and many citizens of the Imperium eagerly wait to join the Brotherhood some day.

Brotherhood Culture and Values

The Brotherhood has developed their own culture since their inception. This consists of many shared values such as honor, loyalty and respect, which are the key three values that define the rangers of the brotherhood.
Every ranger is expected to do their best to contribute to the brotherood as a whole, and help out other rangers as well as teach what they can to the new recruits. They are drilled to obey and respect their officers, but are also told to question them and discuss amongst themselves as to how the officers methods can be improved or if it is right or wrong. From the moment they take the oath of the brotherhood , every ranger is expected to fully serve mankind with all of his/her loyalty, no matter what it takes

Type

Military Order

Training Level

Elite

Veterancy Level

Decorated/Honored

Demonym

Rangers.