Order of the Vulture
| Motto | "Kill the Meat, Save the Metal" |
|---|---|
| Parent Faction | Starlit Court |
| Type | Knightly Order |
| Focus | Generalists |
| Leader | Grandmaster Hauight Yagyan |
| Homeworld | Sihi |
| Colors | Purple, Blue, Red |
| Capital Ship | The Black Wing |
The Vultures are widely considered one of the least honorable Orders of Knights in good standing in the court. This reputation has been earned through their doctrine of enriching themselves and the court first and foremost. The Vulture push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable battlefield salvage and acquisitions, taking salvage and materials from friends and foe alike so long as it can fit within the bounds of their contracts. Additionally, when push comes to shove, the Vultures emphasize the capturing of materials and profitability of their contracts over collateral damage and acts of glory or honor. This, along with gray area ties to the civilian economy and guilds has made the Vultures wealthy, but not necessarily popular.
Founding
Founded in AoQ 89, the Vulture Order was founded by the Council of Grandmasters at the behest of the Council of elders as a means of acquiring new technologies and resources lost during the Day of Dead Suns. The Vultures were selected for their pragmatism and technical knowledge, though in many cases more established orders used their founding as an excuse to purge problemed knights and political climbers from their ranks. The order was initially composed primarily of knights from the First Forge, Red Dragon, and Order of Preservation; the young order quickly developed a combat doctrine based on bold decisive action, acts of subterfuge, and calculated loss.
The First Grandmaster of the order was Syr Sharhaz Kahn, a politically minded Wizard and Knight Captain of the First Forge. Grandmaster Kahn saw great potential with the order and their mandate, and chose to partner with a Civilian industrial guild on Sihi to offload a number of their technical duties so they could focus on acquisitions. This began the long partnership between the Vulture and the Glinting Gears.
Order Tenets
- The wellbeing of the Court above all
- First Honor the Order, Then Honor the Client
- All edges exploited, all advantages pressed
- What's Mine, is Mine.
Combat Doctrine
The Order of the Vulture are brutal pragmatists who seek to maximize the gain from each contract and minimize their losses above all things. They will always seek to successfully fulfill their contracts, but will not commit to a lost cause, and will add termination clauses to their contracts to prevent major material and manpower losses. The Vulture will take contracts that other orders will often pass up on due to lack of apparent financial gains, with the express purpose of earning their profits through salvage and ‘battlefield acquisitions’.
Militarily, the Vulture favors hit and run tactics, anti personnel weapons, traps, ambushes, and displays of sudden overwhelming force. Vulture Knight captains will attempt to calculate the cost in lives and materials of each action before launching into battle, attempting to minimize the cost of combat on the order and the court, often putting allied or client materials at risk over their own forces so long as it does not violate the contract. In fact, Vulture commanders have been accused of putting allied and client forces in harm's way on purpose in order to claim salvage rights over the resulting destruction.
Controversy
Due to what many have considered underhanded tactics both on the battlefield and in the economic sector, the honor and viability of the Vultures has been called into question on several occasions. Several past clients have accused the Vultures of outright theft or dereliction of duty due to their ‘habit’ of allowing collateral damage to occur, and then claiming damaged assets as battlefield salvage. During one instance they were famously accused of damaging a research facility and the experimental weapons inside of it, only to claim them as battlefield trophies. This and several cases like it have earned the Order derision among their peers.
Additionally many have voiced their concerns about the Orders close economic ties to the Guild of Glinting Gears. It is generally known that the Order of the Vulture contracts the Glinting Gears to reverse engineer technology for them as part of their mandate under the court. Some have called this a betrayal of the order’s purpose, claiming that to offload such a duty onto the private sector creates a corrupting influence and a conflict of interest of the knightly order. Additionally, several officials have claimed the veracity and legitimacy of numerous items claimed by the Vultures as personal trophies, only to have those trophies sold directly to the Glinting Gears after they had been brought onto Sihi.
Despite these controversies the economic and technological contributions the Vulture have provided to the Court and Sihi have been considered to be more beneficial than any negative effect they have on the reputation of the court. Particularly because the Vultures tend to take contracts that other orders pass up, often giving them the air of a ‘bargain bin’ Knightly order.
Flagship
The Black Wing: A Cruiser-class Command-ship, the Black Wing is part warship, part breaking yard. The Black Wing was acquired during the Tereket Wars as salvage from the Zurian Confederation’s illegal occupation fleet. The ship was initially designed for orbital bombardment, fighter wing deployment, and research and development, the Vultures removed all laboratory facilities and half of the ships anti-ground cannons to make way for internal forges and salvage equipment, as well as a proper set of anti-ship weaponry. The Black Wing is still capable of high power orbital bombardment, but with more of an emphasis on precision strikes, and is known to gather up loot and treasure from half a dozen quests,before returning to Sihi with its bounty already processed and broken down.
Notable Members
Grandmaster Hauight Yagyan
Xelvan, age 99. Hauight, like most who have come before him, is a shrewd pragmatist, and knight of few words. Their loyalty to the court is unquestioned by those who know him, when he does speak he is often sarcastic and short, as if annoyed to have to explain himself to towers.