Black Guardsmen

Blood for blood, flesh for flesh. My enemies will fall where ever I step. No matter where they flee I will follow and make them feel only pain and sorrow. For when they face me there will be no tomorrow. For my pain is my strength and will is that of ice. I will slaughter them all until my dying breath, in a pool of blood for my final rest. - The Chant of Blood

Composition

Manpower

For each Warlock Lord, there was always a hundred Black Guardsmen at their beckoned call.

Equipment

Black Guardsmen were equipped with the infamous Black Iron armor that made them look like monsters. They carried little of anything else besides some medical tools and survival equipment for the wilderness.

Weaponry

Each guardsman carried a weapon that they mastered to use in battle. This could range from swords to axes, but make no mistake these weapons were made of superior craftsmanship from the finest blacksmiths in the land and were infused with magic that made them even more powerful than any weapon imaginable.

Vehicles

They rode on great black horse-like creatures known as Bicorns to carry them where ever they need. Carry some carried other equipment on them as they traveled and maintained their strength. Special ships known as called Heltdurgan roughly translated to "Rider of Tides" were used to transport them when they need to get to someplace fast to another part of the continent. Some of them were even allowed to ride special mounts of creatures that the Warlock Lords created to head into battle with.

Structure

All Black Guardsmen followed the orders of their Warlock lord and those who carried out their will. But their leadership was composed of three of the strongest members as Banemen with the strongest being known as the Cazori which simply translates to "Fist of Might" leading them into battle. Each one was responsible for ensuring that the guardsmen were disciplined and commanded them to carry out tasks.

Tactics

Fighting style

Black Guardsmen were trained to fight multiple enemies as a time to use their skill and strength to wipe them out. They are taught to fight individually and only fight in groups when vastly outnumbered or facing greater foes that can match their skill. Even if a guardsman is wounded they will continue to fight on as they can endure pain greatly and it just makes them much stronger than before and will fight to the death if need be. Even with a weapon, they are dangerous as they fight with their bare hands if need.

Strategy

Their fighting tactics were often brutal often using overwhelming strength against their foes and giving them no quarter to regain their strength. Along with laying waste to all opposition that came before them by razing settlements and making examples of those who defied their masters. But the fear that they imposed on their enemies through their armor war chanting and brutality would break the mightiest of foes to succumb to fear.

Training

Culling

When children are brought to the stronghold of their lord they are brought before them to show that they serve them now. Anyone that is defiant is often beaten as an example and is then taught and trained in the standard fight tactics of the guardsmen. Then once they are educated and trained, seven of them are left in a room together and are given weapons. Their purpose is to kill each other until one remains for only the strongest can serve their lord. Then they go through years of training to ensure they reach their full potential.

Discipline and Pain

Hundreds that pass their culling are trained for years to ensure they reach peak conditions. For many years they train their bodies and minds so they can reach feats that most Humans can’t possibly imagine. They were taught to ignore the pain and use it as powerful as their bodies endured many hardships to become stronger than ever before. Their minds would become sharper to notice things that most would not and become a killing machine that would kill all who faced them no matter what. The ones that survive then be trained in weapons and tactics.

Warfare

The weapon that they choose to fight is a sacred thing to a guardsman in training for it must feel natural to them when they fight with it. Once they choose they train spar for a month until it feels natural to them. All the while learning who guardsmen fight and the fighting styles they can use in a fight. Once they are ready they must bring with them a trophy it ranges from a traitor to a beast to show once more the willingness to kill and their years of training. Those that return go through one last trail to make their seat as guardsmen official, the Final Forging.

Final Forging

There is a reason why they are trained so hard for all their years of training, the Final Forging is that reason. For it, with it, they will never be the same again once it is over as magic is poured into their body. The magic that is used is only a small portion of the dark magic of a certain type that will make them more powerful than ever before. Why because a small amount of dark magic is because too much will either mutate them too much or break their minds. Those who are too weak will perish from it as the process is excruciatingly painful to endure. Once it begins it cannot be stopped and the process may take an hour or more to complete. The ones that survive become larger and stronger than an average Human as they receive their armor that customizes themselves as their right to hold the mantle of a Black Guardsmen.

Logistics

Logistical Support

Only the mounts that they ride are required to carry their supplies as they do not carry that much, to begin with.

Auxilia

There will often be infantry units such as Reavers, Sheildbreakers, and archers known as Death Flyers that are often under their command, along with cavalry units known as Tramplers. This will also include the beast tamers and the beasts that they control and other creature that the Warlock Lords created. Even at the time training their beast to fight alongside them in battle.

Upkeep

They did not require much as they were offered whatever they desired the most in life for their loyalty and devotion to their Warlock Lord and their weapons and armor did not require much maintenance to how strong they were.

Recruitment

They were always Norrian children selected at random from each clan no matter their gender or parents. Often at the ages of seven to nine when their minds were still able to be molded to learn.

History

Origins

When the Warlock Lords conquered the continent of Norria as their domain, all the Norrian clans that fought them soon found themselves kneeling before their new overlords. As punishment for their defiance against them, the clans were forced to give up their children to be in service of the Warlock Lord that they served under to become their guards only loyal to them. At first, the first children were tested with magic and tests on and few survived, and through trial and error, the plans to properly create them were made. The children that survived the training would become one of the most feared creations that they made and would become the terror of their rule. As they would soon slaughter their own kinsmen without hesitation for they no longer had a free will of their own. Making them far more dangerous than anyone could ever realize to be possible.

Enforcers and Warriors

The Black Guardsmen were the required muscle that was needed to keep the populations of the domains under control and subservient as their presence alone caused fear among those around them. No one even tried to face them open as it would be like walking into a bear's den, only the bear would probably kill you a lot quicker. This usually kept the people in line whenever they showed and peace was maintained. When there was trouble caused though they would destroy and slaughter anything that crossed their path. Letting ever know that they would not be lenient on anyone that broke their lord’s laws.
When they were not scaring the population into fear and killing anyone who defied them, they were guarding their lord and carrying out tasks for him. While guarding the stronghold was often boring it gave them more time to train and enjoy the rewards that their lord had given them. When on a mission though it often leads to combat as these were assignments that only the best could handle. These ranged from slaying creatures of ingredients to wiping out enemies of the state. This kept them on their feet and showed the people that their armor and weapons were not all for show. It was something mesmerizing and terrifying to watch guardsmen in battle as they were good at what they did best.
Then suddenly after many centuries, the Warlock Lords planned an invasion of the Western Lands to expand their power and exact revenge on those who forced them to flee from it centuries prior. Which put many Black Guardsmen to go as the vanguard of the invading force beginning the Warlock Wars. While most people in the West have never seen guardsmen before, they would never forget as they set foot on the shorelines and left a path of destruction. Not even the most trained soldiers and experienced could even hope to match such a terrifying monster as they left a path of corpses in their wake. Though it would not remain so as their numbers soon fell as the Warlock Lords retreated broken and defeated by nations of the west that wiped out their armies and lost much of their power as well. With man guardsmen gone from the wars, their numbers dwindled as they now were exposed to threats that they could easily deal with at full strength.

Downfall

After the end of the Warlock Wars with the defeat of their masters, Norria was soon in full rebellion as they fought to finish off the remaining Warlock Lords. The remaining Black Guardsmen soon saw themselves vastly outnumber as their armies were decimated and those who survived began turning on them. But they continued to fight on as their purpose was to serve their lords. The fighting that ensued became the stuff of legend only a few hundred of them were facing thousands upon thousands of rebels as they continued to fight on despite the injuries they suffer as mounds of corpses were around them.
When the Last of the Warlock Lords were killed those that were alive fought on to the last breath while some seeing their deaths pointless fled into the wilds of the far north. Some were said to have even fled to Grogenheim where they and their descents would become rulers of the city. As for those who lived the rest of their days in the wilds, it is clouded in myth and rumors such as the Asmer being their descendants as many of them settled down to start families. Creating a powerful new race that would call the north their new home. Whatever may be true not many of them were still alive long after their masters were dead as the dark magic that was infused in them granted them longer lifespans than most others by centuries. Some would even return from the wilds as warlords seeking vengeance and conquest to create their domains.

The Resurgence

This of course was not the official end of them as more was being made a century and a half after the defeat of the Warlock Lords. This was caused by a minor Warlock Lord that managed to survive the purge of the rest of his peers and fled in the far north in the hope of regrouping with any surviving force for a counter-attack. This Warlock Lord was known as Shadulmar and he would the last of his title to ever exist. So after he realized he was the only one left he would go into hiding for a time before reappearing in the attempt to reconquer the continent. He thought with his limited resources, it would take him a while to even try it. His first task was to create more Black Guardsmen to protect him when he began his conquest.
He did this by scaring the locals in the region into giving up their children by acting as an evil spirit that desired human sacrifices and it was easy since he was a Lich. After that, he forced the children to serve him and began training them, but were a pale imitation of what the Guardsmen went through and not as disciplined. Those who did survive the Final Forging served him for many years as he created more and more for decades. This was until one of his Guardsmen by the name of Valador killed him and the guardsmen that were created swore fealty to him. He and his warrior would become a Warband by the name of the Sinless and began offering their services to the highest bidder.
This would last for several decades years until they meet another Black Guardsman from the old guard named Daramos and would teach them the old ways of the Guardsmen. In return, they fought with him and other old guardsmen to make an official settlement for their kind in the far north and it would later be called Heldenmar. This would lead to the founding of the Banethar clan as they would later be absorbed by the local population and many of them would have offspring with them. After that, the guardsmen no longer existed and the clan grew over time with its members being larger and stronger than most in the north. Though that did not mean that all of them died out after that as there are still some that live even to this day, living amongst their people and living their lives in peace, only waiting for a battle to call them once more to sow terror amongst their enemies.

Historical loyalties

The Black Guardsmen have always been loyal to the Warlock Lords, most notably the ones who created and trained them. Along with the Banemen they serve under.

Type

Special Forces

Founding

513 CA

Dissolution

1398 CA

Overall training Level

Elite

Assumed Veterancy

Decorated/Honored

Used by

• Warlock Dominions

Beyond Human

by midjourney

They may look like men and sound like men, but everything about them is wrong, just wrong. That damned magic has turned them in monsters that will not hesitate to kill if they want to. - Norrian warrior

Those who become Black Guardsmen are no longer Human due to the magic that has been conducted on them. They are completely different from what they once were. They are larger and stronger than they look with their skin being paler to the point that they look sickly. But do not let that fool you for they never seem to get sick or age as most others as their lifespans have increased several-fold. With the oldest among them living for centuries before they reach old age. Even the way they feel pain is no longer the same as they can withstand it more if injured to keep on fighting. Making them nothing more than another creation of their dark masters that serves them.

Gifts of Magic

by midjourney

We were trained to become that greatest warriors in order to serve our lords, but they wanted more than the greatest, they wanted us to be unstoppable. Daramos the Scourge

Though the power bestowed upon them makes them powerful warriors, certain effects are given to them depending on what magic is used on them. By magic, that is being referred to as dark magic for it is the power of the Warlock Lords use to impose their will. With each one giving a Guardsmen a certain boost to aid them in combat.
Blood/Strength: There has always been a power in the blood of all things that give them strength. It is from this that Guardsmen who come from Blood Magic are much stronger than others. Being some being able to wrestle with beasts twice their size and can batter down gates by themselves!
Shadow/Perception: Those who are in the shadows tend to see more than those blinded by the light. Guardsmen of Shadow Magic are more capable of spotting things than others. Being capable of seeing clearly in the darkest of places and knowing the presence of everything around them even when hidden.
Necromancy/Endurance: The undead never tire and are known to take a beating when they need to. It is from here that Guardsmen who are created from Necromancy are capable of achieving feats that seem impossible for the living. With it being said that they can run for several hours straight without the need for rest and not require food or drink for many days.
Death/Speed: Death does not favor anyone and claims all with time, but sometimes it gets anxious for some to embrace it sooner than later. This is why the gift of speed has been given to these Guardsmen of Death Magic for they are the servants of death itself. They can cross great distances in short lengths of time and can react faster than most as if time has slowed down for them.
Demonic/Resistance: Demons have always been capable of doing things that most people find inconceivable. This is why Guardsmen created from Hellion Magic can survive things that most others can't. It is said they can survive falling from great heights with little more than scratches and the gravest of wounds they can easily stay from as if they were minor.

The Will of the Lords

by midjourney

Back the in the days of the Warlocks, everyone knew that if they saw riders in black armor that they pray to the gods that they weren’t after them. For if they were then their final days in this world would painful and agonizing. - Soothsayer

Whenever Black Guardsmen appeared it always meant that something serious was about to happen as they never leave their lord's stronghold without good reason. When they arrived someplace and began asking questions you did so without hesitation because to defy them was instantaneous death and lying to them was pain beyond imagining. They were the will of the Warlock Lords and always did as they were instructed in carrying out their will. But when they were seen with weapons drawn and with other warriors, bloodshed was unavoidable as they left everything in ruins. They were instruments of death that had no mercy in their hearts to those who defied them.

Power of the Armor

by midjourney

I never seen such finely made armor in my life and never shall be able to make for its crafting is beyond my skill. - Blacksmith

The Armor of guardsmen was a sacred thing to them it was how they represented themselves. It also was an instrument of fear for their enemies when they saw it. They shaped them to suit their fighting styles and decorated them with the things they killed, such as horns, bone, fur, hair, and feathers. The armor itself was also strong as rituals had been performed leaving the armor black as a result created the infamous Black Iron made from it. You would never find a set of armor without scratches and dents for it is the badge of honor of a guardsman who has seen many battles. Though it is rare to see a piercing in the armor, most weapons have trouble just piercing the magic-infused metal. It is a part of them and without it, they lose a piece of their very being.