Order of The Lunar Arrows
| Motto | "Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl" |
|---|---|
| Parent Faction | Starlit Court |
| Type | Knightly Order |
| Leader | Lady Kaniya Moon, the Unbroken Arrow |
| Homeworld | Sihi |
Origins
The Lunar arrows is a child order, having split because their founding grandmaster had a disagreement between two siblings and their ideas of ideal battle strategy. The siblings eventually broke and formed their own subfactions within their parent order, before eventually fully splitting and creating their own orders, hoping to prove to their sibling that their combat style was superior. Since then, the Lunar Arrows have honed their skills to the point that their accuracy is so exceptional that they can perform a dangerous close barrage without ever hitting a friendly unit.
They have proven themselves over the past 400 years in many conflicts and especially during the Era of the Path Least Taken, where many knights earned great reputation. Even if many still found the way, they conducted combat in a cowardly manner, but no one would deny what they achieved during those years. An entire lance single-handedly saved an order from complete destruction with their precise bombardment of the encroaching enemy forces.
When the Dominionist uprising came about, a quarter of the order left and joined with the Dominionist movement. Because of this betrayal, Dominionist apologists are considered with disdain and disrespect within the Lunar Arrows in Sihian society.
Purpose
OUT ON THE FLEET: Their ships provide a mix of long-range fire, tending to stay in the back of battle lines. They often use their ships’ forward-facing guns as spaceship-sized sniper rifles. They normally aren't front line fighting craft, as they can't deal heavy damage to capital-class ships. Along with providing a unique role in being an orbital bombardment style of a ship, they are called to the scene in dire situations for when a specific planet needs glassing.
IN COMBAT: There is a saying commonly attributed to the skills of this order: “If you can see the Lunar Arrows, you're probably already dead. That, or something has gone horribly wrong.” It is a very accurate assessment of their skill level. They are generally a long ways behind friendly lines, using their mechs as mobile artillery pieces, mechs that range in types of artillery, from physical ballistic rounds to energy plasma-based rounds.
Flagship
The Longbow is a state-of-the-art ship, one of the many colossal-sized ships within the fleets controlled by the court. This ship was built around a massive Railgun capable of single handedly devastating a continent with a single shot or cracking a planet with concentrated fire from the main cannon. With concentrated fire, the gun will require repairs and fine-tuning to ensure accurate firing because of frequent warping of the barrel. In fleet engagements, it's often in the back lines sniping away at capital-class ships. Its main gun is able to easily wipe out most smaller-class ships in one shot of its main guns, although capital-class ships can withstand much more damage.
Notable members
Lady Kaniya Moon, the Unbroken Arrow: Kaniya is the fourth grandmaster to take the lead of the order. Although she may not be related to the original grandmaster, she agrees with the idea and grudge that the original grandmaster had. She's known to be caring, yet stern, and very flexible; harsh when needed and accepting when wanted. These qualities have earned her this title.
Syr Lucas Hunter, the Iron arrow: Lucas is a rather no-nonsense kind of person, especially with his parents being lost in the Dachia crisis. He often finds the way Kaniya leads the order to be rather unorthodox, especially when dealing with Jesse Love. Despite often questioning her orders, he still follows them. When it comes to combat, he is always rather eager to use overwhelming amounts of fire to eliminate a target, even if it means causing immense collateral damage.
Syr Jesse Love. Cupids lance: Jesse is both a renowned knight in his order and an arrogant ladies man. Both his charm and good looks allow him to hook up pretty easily, but he still ends up getting around alot as well, breaking many hearts. His honorific is mostly a joke, a nod to his lifestyle, but this doesn't stop him from being an amazing shot when a fight does come his way.
Recruitment
Recruitment begins with taking aspirants and putting them through many educational courses that involve high levels of math. This is to ensure that each aspiring knight will know how their shots will get affected by gravity and many other external conditions. Aspirants learn to do these calculations in their heads quickly, accounting for space combat and the effects of planetary gravity wells on rounds.
Once done with the classroom education, next is the much more hands-on education, putting that classroom education to the test. First, the squire will be given a bow and arrow and told to aim at a target several yards out, one that is concealed with brush. When the knight can achieve accurate shots consistently and without harming the plant life around the target, they continue to the next stage, where they are given a sniper rifle and run through multiple courses. The goal is absolute accuracy. These tests utilize moving ballistic dummies with life-like damage replication when hit. These tests require that the trainee finds and eliminates a specific target without any collateral damage to any of the other targets. When they can find and spot a target given only a small amount of info and description, they move on to proper artillery pieces.
Here, many will learn to use their accuracy to the fullest as they will be firing at targets with only a provided grid map, asked to fire on certain points with speed and accuracy. The goal is to fire 30 rounds within 5 minutes, accurately and on-target. Along with this, they are taught certain types of artillery strikes and barrages, from box barrages to a rolling barrage. All of this training goes to ensure effective, accurate, and powerful strikes on specified targets.
After their final training with artillery weapons, many will go on to become squires and work as helping hands to their knights, providing them with help in reloading their guns or assisting them in calculations. Throughout this, they are trained and readied for taking on the responsibilities of becoming a knight and manning their own artillery mech. Until then, they are provided a high-powered sniper rifle for their main tool of war. Squires and knights alike are called up to defend the artillery base when -or really if- an enemy is even able to get in sight of the artillery base.