Beacon Guardian

Written by Yerran

A position once held by the most trustworthy and loyal of The Red Ushad, now no longer needed. Though for a window of modern history this was a role vital to the survival and founding of the recognised nation.

History

During the early days of The Red Ushad much of their time was spent fighting a guerilla war with the slave-masters of Sabal both before and during the early years of The Emperor's rule until he put a strict decree on the ownership of slaves.

At the time many fled to The Crimson Canyons in a bid to escape their masters. Too many never made it, killed by the dangers of the desert or re-captured on their way. The exodus of slaves became so great though that powerful slave-masters would combine their forces and raid the small towns and villages built amongst the stacks of The Crimson Canyons, dragging all they could back to serve.

Beacon Guardian

In the early years of these raids The Red Ushad had limited manpower and strength and could never hope to compete with the strength of the slave-masters of Sabal, only able to rage guerilla warfare on them within the Crimson Canyons itself. To combat these raids they recruited a new sect within their order, those that possessed the highest loyalty and had usually suffered or experienced these raids first hand. They became known as 'Beacon Guardians'.

Across the stacks and plateaus they began to construct beacons visible to all below in the canyons and infused them with magical powders so their flames burned a deep blue. Sometimes beacons were built on multiple sides of one stack and managed by a single Beacon Guardian. These guardians would spend their days and night looking out across the plateaus for other signal fires or into the canyons for approaching raids. The station was dangerous, for many flying beasts would scoop unsuspecting guardians from their watch and the sun beat down relentlessly on top of them. Though through the commitment of these guardians the slave-master's raids soon began to stop, for with the Beacon Guardians alerting the towns and villages below, the residents could escape to the holds of the stacks, abandoning the settlement, so that the raiders could claim no spoils.


In their rage they often sought to burn the towns to the ground, but stone burns slowly and the longer they tarried the more chance The Red Ushad had to strike at the raiders.

A Role in Freedom

During this time the slave-masters sought to retrieve a vast majority of their slaves in a single strike and sent ships from Lightwatch down the Harrowing Bluffs and round to Saviours' Gulf in a bid to surprise The Red Ushad and take what they wished.


Luckily a young Beacon Guardian named 'Earin Palswood' saw the fleet after the passing of a storm had blown it too close to the coast and lit the fires, sending a warning down the coast and giving the citizens of what is now The Red Refuge a chance to mobilise. It was in the battle that followed in Saviours Gulf where, The Red Ushad truly won their freedom and the slave-masters finally gave up hope of retrieving their property, aware that the price was now too high.

To remember the acts of this Beacon Guardian, a statue of bronze now stands where she had when she saw the fleet, staring out over the ocean, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun and a flaming torch in her other.

A Necessity Passed

With the current strength of the Red Ushad and their more permanent cities they now command The Crimson Canyons. The need for Beacon Guardians is no longer needed, and since then the job has passed into history, a vital role of a bloody time.

Article cover image use permitted under pixabay CCL.
Credited artists: Alanfrijns