Wings of Fury

Where the Foresters keeps Her Majesty safe from the woods, we keep Her safe from the air.

— Zhorylvar Jacard
Eshalor of the Wings of Fury

Originally hailing from the plains of north-western Enarion, the natural habitat of the Plains Griffins, the Wings of Fury is an airborne elite part of the Enari military. Combining the cultural art of archery with the airborne life of the griffins, this force protects Queen Loranel Edea Arbelladon and the lands of Enarion from danger.

Composition

Manpower

The Wings of Fury consists of about 20 Plains Griffins and their riders. Additionally, there is usually a group of recruits hoping to one day become good enough to be a Fury Wing.

Equipment

The most exotic equipment used in the Wings of Fury are the various riding equipment needed to ride a Plains Griffin. The Griffin Saddle is the most intricate piece of this equipment since it doesn't only need to not obstruct the wings itself, it also needs to keep the rider secured on the back of the Griffin in flight while keeping the rider's arms and legs away from the wings. This saddle needs to be specifically made to each Griffin to make sure the fit is correct, since an incorrect fit might at best annoy the Griffin, and at worst do damage to the creature.

Weaponry

All riders are provided with one long-range bow to use from the Griffin's back, one quiver with twenty arrows, one Enari-style scimitar in case of being attacked when landstuck, and an all-purpose dagger if all else should fail.

Structure

As the Wings of Fury is a small force there aren't many ranks inside the force itself. Since the Wings of Fury are a sub-division of the Forest Guardians of Enarias they ultimately answer to the Kael-Eshalor, even though she isn't part of the Wings of Fury.

The following ranks are considered a part of the Wings of Fury:

Eshalor

The Eshalor is the highest rank within the Wings of Fury itself, and commands and organizes the three squads within the force. The current Eshalor of the Wings of Fury is Zhorylvar Jacard.

Khonear

Each of the three squads are led by a Khonear. These have great freedom in how they lead their squads as long as their methods don't go against the orders of the Eshalor.

Fury Wings

The Fury Wings are the rest of the griffin riders in the Wings of Fury. Their job is to follow the orders of their Khonear, in rare cases the Eshalor and rarer cases the Kael-Eshalor.

Tactics

The Wings of Fury is the only known military unit known in Shireon that attack from the skies, which gives them a considerable tactical advantage. Enarion is the only area of Shireon where the Plains Griffins exist in the wild, and there aren't any other flying creature that can be used as a mount in this way.

The Wings of Fury use two different types of attack from the air: Archery and griffin attacks. Of these the archery attack is the most straightforward one, as it's about firing arrows at a target and not much more. The advantage of this attack is that few expect arrows raining from the sky, and that both rider and griffin can be at a distance from the target. The disadvantage of archery from the air is that the griffin is moving while flying, which makes it hard to aim. Even experienced Fury Wings will sometimes miss due to irregularities in the griffin's flying movement or sudden air currents.

The other type of attack is with the griffin itself. A Plains Griffin has powerful forelegs with razor sharp talons, made for ripping flesh and getting a solid grip of their prey. Their hind legs have equally sharp claws that can be used for delivering devastating kicks to held prey. The huge and powerful beak is designed for ripping prey into bite size chunks of flesh. A griffin attack can either be a strike or a grab, where a grab is when the griffin tries to pick up their target to lift it up in the air to drop it from high above, to rip it to shreds with its powerful hind legs, or to simply immobilize it. A strike can either be when the griffin gets up close and personal with the target to fight it, or when the griffin swoops just over the target, lashing out with one of its taloned forelegs as it flies by.

All attacks done by the griffin itself puts both the griffin and its rider in potential risk as they have to get close to their target, and this risk needs to be weighed up against the payoff. A considerable part of the required training a candidate for the Wings of Fury needs to have gone through before being accepted into the force is about risk assessment. However, if the griffin thinks it seems too risky the rider might not even be able to do an attack with the griffin, since the creature might refuse to follow commands if it feels it's too risky.

If a Fury Wing's griffin is landstuck for whatever reason, it's still dangerous as the taloned forelegs aren't dependent on flight to be lethal. The Fury Wing will dismount a landstuck griffin in a fight, however, since it's almost impossible to hit an enemy that's in close combat with their mount without a great risk of hitting the griffin instead.

Training

The training to become a Fury Wing is long and intensive, and a certain amount of skill is required to even be considered a potential candidate.

Initial Tests

Before becoming a Fury Wing recruit a candidate must prove they have the necessary skill. This is done through a series of initial tests where the candidate must show their physical fitness and strength, their archery skills, and how well they handle pressure and stress. If a candidate fails one of these test, they're out. Only the best can become a Fury Wing.

Recruit Camp

Those who manage to get through the harsh initial tests become Fury Wing recruits. The Recruit Camp lasts for one to two decades, depending on how fast the recruit learns the needed skills to become a full member of the Wings of Fury. During this time a recruit starts out learning about griffins and how to care for them, as well as archery practice and general physical exercise to keep fit.

A recruit won't get their own griffin before finishing the griffin course. It's important to know how to treat a griffin well, as a griffin might reject a potential partner if it doesn't initially like the person. This is when the training to become a Fury Wing intensifies, as the archery practice and fitness still goes on at the same intensity as before, in addition to the griffin lessons being switched out by flight lessons, and the additional time needed to try to befriend and care for their griffin.

The Trial of Wings and Arrows

At the end of Recruit Camp, when the recruit think they're ready, it's time for the Trial of Wings and Arrows. This is the final test, and by passing this the recruit will join the Wings of Fury. The Trial is hard, and most won't pass it the first time they try. Many even fail their second try.

True, the Trial of Wings and Arrows is tough, but it needs to be. The Fury Wings need to be tough, and the Trial weeds out the ones who aren't the best of the best.

The Trial combines all skills that a Fury Wing has to know, including precision archery, maneuvering through the air, and cooperation between the griffin and the rider.

The Fury Wings

After passing the Trial and being accepted into the Fury Wings there's still training to be done. Only a fool thinks that one can't learn new skill or get better at known skills. The Fury Wings are constantly honing their skills through training whenever they're not on a mission.

Type

Air Force

Overall training Level

Professional

Assumed Veterancy

Experienced

Used by

• Forest Guardians of Enarias

Ranks & Titles

• Eshalor
• Fury Wing
• Khonear

The Bond

A Fury Wing has a special bond with their griffin. This bond is created during training, and will strengthen as long as the two work together. The nature of the Fields Griffin as a mount makes such a bond necessary for cooperation between a rider and a griffin, since griffins won't let anyone use them as mounts if they don't like the rider. Someone skilled in communicating with animals might convince the griffin to not instantly throw them off its back, but any complex maneuvering in the air or even any real control of where the journey will go is out of the question.

If the bond gets strong enough, both the rider and the griffin will go to great length to protect one another, even to certain death for themselves if the bond is exceptionally strong and it will guarantee the safety of the other. Even riders who don't have an emotional bond to their griffin, however rare they might be since it's hard to not getting an emotional bond to someone you work that closely to for so many years, will recognize how tuned the griffin and rider is to one another, and will go to great length to keep their mount safe to prevent spending several years to create a decent bond to a new griffin.

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