Wyvern Riders

"Deadly and Majestic. Hard to say if they were worth the efforts though."

Veteran Legionnaire pondering the absence of Riders in modern day Legions.

As the name implies, the Wyvern riders are a special unit who employ Wyverns as mounts to engage the enemy. Whether plunging to sow chaos, or bombarding the enemy with spells, the Wyvern brought a new dimension into battle. But this type of unit had quite a lot of limitations despite its apparent revolutionizing presence on the battlefied.

Composition

Manpower

At the most, a single unit of Riders involved ten people for five creatures.

Vehicles

The Wyverns served as short-duration vehicles for the unit, being unable to sustain flight for more than half a day on muscles and magic alone, and this without any rider. However, for the duration of their flight they could be a terrifying enemy to face. As a properly educated battle mount, Wyverns could participate in the battles through clawing and biting whoever was in range once on foot, or grabbing those unfortunate enough to be on their low flight path.

Tactics

Harassment tactics and surprise divebombings are a staple of proper Wyvern Rider conduct. The riders are on a constant lookout for long ranged units or the occasional surge of Mana indicating an incoming spell. Riders never directly approach either the afforementionned long range attackers, or units with long weapons unless they face the other direction.

Training

One of the more costly aspect of the unit is the very requirements for its creation. Taming Wyvern is a lengthy process from their capture to their daily needs as well as the extremely slow training of the riders themselves so that both soldiers and beast may function in harmony despite battlefield conditions. A decade may be spent in forming a single Wyvern and its assigned crew to optimal levels of skill. Longer than what a simple Wyvern transport training could be like.

Logistics

Auxilia

While not part of the unit, other tamers untrained in riding but trained to accomodate the beasts may do just that while the riders recuperate. Those tamers are often Riders in formation, trying to get a feeling for the beast they will one day mount and work with. In some rare cases trained soldiers can act as spares in case one of the riders fail to be available. In other cases, a completely untrained mage or high ranking official may temporarily join the Riders for transportation or for discharging a spell strategically, lack of training be damned.

Upkeep

Incredibly costly to maintain and train, the cost-benefit of this elite flying unit almost makes the near-extinction of the Wyverns a worthy fate for the Empire. Almost.

History

The history of Wyvern Riders is tied to the history of Taming itself. Being one of the few available creatures capable of flights with a potential passengers, it didn't take long for the most enthousiastic of tamers to foment plans to master the dangerous fiends and connect them to their culture.

Historical loyalties

Wyvern Riders are a unit that is completely exclusive to the Keratos Empire. Or at least that's what the official version states. While the idea of Wyverns not only surviving in high numbers somewhere beyond the Verdant Steppes but also being trained in the Imperial way is ludicrous, its possibily isn't null.

Type

Airborne

Overall training Level

Elite

Assumed Veterancy

Decorated/Honored

Used by

• Culling Legion
• Keratos Empire
• Kratoth Legion