Silent Showers
FetzenFaction Name: 100th “Bloody Hundredth” Bomber Wing
Faction Overview/Concept: The 100th Bomber Wing is an aviation unit that was formed after the Ethnarchy was knocked off the board by the Imperium’s forces. Amongst the population of the Ethnarchy were many citizens who had found themselves deeply unhappy with the eugenicist oligarchy that had been running their nation up to that point. Though the setup was quite advantageous for its ruling class, the downtrodden that now make up this bomber wing lived in fear that they may be culled for the sake of purer genetics one day. As such, when the Imperium finally broke into the Ethnarchy and ended the regime, these formerly downtrodden people were all too happy to enlist in droves and receive the training they needed to operate bombers. After all, to them, it was an opportunity that they felt they never would have seen under the previous regime. So they threw themselves into their training diligently, and formerly downtrodden souls became eager aviators for the Imperium.
True to where the unit had originally come from, its original nickname as the “Lions of the Sky” was not just meant as a boast from its commander (though that certainly played into it). Indeed, it was meant as heraldry from Commander Marta Kotrikadze’s home in the South Caucasus, an ever present reminder of where the unit was originally formed from. Even as they take on personnel from other places, the Lion emblem serves as a reminder of their origins that will ring down through the generations. However, despite Commander Kotrikadze’s attempts to make the lion imagery their nickname as well, a much more grim sobriquet was what actually stuck.
After their formation, the 100th eagerly volunteered for dangerous assignments, wishing to prove their worth to their new overlord. All too eager to make use of their zeal, the Imperium assigned them the dangerous tasks that they asked for. What followed was a wake-up call to the aviators of the 100th, as they began to suffer heavy losses in near-suicidal bombing runs. Not only did this dampen the earlier enthusiasm the unit had displayed, but it also earned them the nickname that actually stuck to them: the “Bloody Hundredth”. Nonetheless, their heavy losses rarely kept them from ultimately completing their missions, meaning that those above them saw little need to change their operations. After all, their losses were unfortunate, but in service to the greater good. Thus, the Bloody Hundredth soldiers on, equipped with grim determination, even in the face of death. They won’t be the ones to let their liberators down.
Faction Assets: The 100th Bomber Wing is exactly what one would expect from the unit name, an air wing consisting entirely of strategic bombers. This makes them capable of delivering extremely powerful ordnance over a large area, including nuclear payloads if the situation calls for it. Their aircraft are also not defenseless, featuring defensive turrets that are quite capable of shooting down careless enemy fighters. Nevertheless, their craft are much slower and heavier than the fighters that often try to kill them, making them extremely vulnerable without a fighter escort of their own. This vulnerability is a major cause of the 100th’s significant losses. On top of this, these aviators are trained to do one thing: operate their aircraft. They have minimal combat training on the ground, and would be in deep trouble if an enemy force caught them out on their airbase. As such, they often sortie from far behind the lines, taking advantage of their craft’s significant range advantage. All these strengths and weaknesses combine to form one fundamental truth: the 100th Bomber Wing is incredibly useful for delivering tons of heavy ordnance…if they can reach their target.
Key Characters: Commander Marta Kotrikadze
Faction Overview/Concept: The 100th Bomber Wing is an aviation unit that was formed after the Ethnarchy was knocked off the board by the Imperium’s forces. Amongst the population of the Ethnarchy were many citizens who had found themselves deeply unhappy with the eugenicist oligarchy that had been running their nation up to that point. Though the setup was quite advantageous for its ruling class, the downtrodden that now make up this bomber wing lived in fear that they may be culled for the sake of purer genetics one day. As such, when the Imperium finally broke into the Ethnarchy and ended the regime, these formerly downtrodden people were all too happy to enlist in droves and receive the training they needed to operate bombers. After all, to them, it was an opportunity that they felt they never would have seen under the previous regime. So they threw themselves into their training diligently, and formerly downtrodden souls became eager aviators for the Imperium.
True to where the unit had originally come from, its original nickname as the “Lions of the Sky” was not just meant as a boast from its commander (though that certainly played into it). Indeed, it was meant as heraldry from Commander Marta Kotrikadze’s home in the South Caucasus, an ever present reminder of where the unit was originally formed from. Even as they take on personnel from other places, the Lion emblem serves as a reminder of their origins that will ring down through the generations. However, despite Commander Kotrikadze’s attempts to make the lion imagery their nickname as well, a much more grim sobriquet was what actually stuck.
After their formation, the 100th eagerly volunteered for dangerous assignments, wishing to prove their worth to their new overlord. All too eager to make use of their zeal, the Imperium assigned them the dangerous tasks that they asked for. What followed was a wake-up call to the aviators of the 100th, as they began to suffer heavy losses in near-suicidal bombing runs. Not only did this dampen the earlier enthusiasm the unit had displayed, but it also earned them the nickname that actually stuck to them: the “Bloody Hundredth”. Nonetheless, their heavy losses rarely kept them from ultimately completing their missions, meaning that those above them saw little need to change their operations. After all, their losses were unfortunate, but in service to the greater good. Thus, the Bloody Hundredth soldiers on, equipped with grim determination, even in the face of death. They won’t be the ones to let their liberators down.
Faction Assets: The 100th Bomber Wing is exactly what one would expect from the unit name, an air wing consisting entirely of strategic bombers. This makes them capable of delivering extremely powerful ordnance over a large area, including nuclear payloads if the situation calls for it. Their aircraft are also not defenseless, featuring defensive turrets that are quite capable of shooting down careless enemy fighters. Nevertheless, their craft are much slower and heavier than the fighters that often try to kill them, making them extremely vulnerable without a fighter escort of their own. This vulnerability is a major cause of the 100th’s significant losses. On top of this, these aviators are trained to do one thing: operate their aircraft. They have minimal combat training on the ground, and would be in deep trouble if an enemy force caught them out on their airbase. As such, they often sortie from far behind the lines, taking advantage of their craft’s significant range advantage. All these strengths and weaknesses combine to form one fundamental truth: the 100th Bomber Wing is incredibly useful for delivering tons of heavy ordnance…if they can reach their target.
Key Characters: Commander Marta Kotrikadze
Faction Name: 99th “Bulava” Fighter Wing
Faction Overview/Concept: The 99th Fighter Wing is an aviation unit that was formed after the Ethnarchy fell to the Imperium, formed from grateful former citizens of the techno-barbarian state. Composed of people who had once been the poor and downtrodden of the Ethnarchy’s society, the 99th Fighter Wing shared much in common with the 100th Bomber Wing that was formed in a similar fashion. Much like their sibling wing, they were made up of pilots who were grateful to the ones they saw as liberators. This, in turn, motivated them to give the job their all. However, where the 100th was formed from recruits that came from the Caucasus primarily, the 99th Fighter Wing’s nucleus was in the lands west of the Caucasus Wastes. Of course, much like their sibling wing, this original nucleus was only a starting point, with recruits from elsewhere on Terra becoming more common.
That said, much like their bomber wing counterpart, the unit’s commander made sure that the heraldry and insignia would reflect the place where they had come from. To this effect, the 99th adopted the symbol of the bulava, a ceremonial mace. The meaning, as Commander Vadym Kyrychenko intended it, was twofold. The first was its meaning as an old symbol of power, to symbolize the power and dignity he felt they’d been given when the Ethnarchy was taken down. The second was the bulava’s obvious shape as a bludgeoning weapon, a symbol he felt was apt for his aviators’ ferocity in being a bludgeon for the Imperium.
Unlike their counterparts in the Bloody Hundredth, this ferocity has not abated a great deal since their deployment. Though they have taken their fair share of losses, to be certain, the pilots of the 99th find a great deal more joy in being “knights of the sky”, using only their skills to shoot down as many of the enemy as possible. However, this strong desire to duel in the air that courses through the unit has led to problems on escort missions for bombers, and was especially apparent in the unit’s early days. Rather than stick with the bombers until they came under direct threat, the pilots of this unit would peel off to engage the first threats that they saw. This, in turn, left the bombers vulnerable to follow-up attacks from enemy fighters, a cause for numerous lost bombers on their watch. Their Commander has worked hard to drill them out of this bad habit after disastrous deployments, but the fact remains that this bad tendency has not yet been fully stamped out. Still, war teaches its lessons, and Krychenko is determined to ensure that his pilots learn the skills and habits that will serve the unit even after he is gone.
Faction Assets: The 99th Fighter Wing’s main capability comes from the fighter craft that they fly, which are one-man fighters with the range to escort bombers to their targets. Their craft are also agile, which gives them the ability to dogfight well against enemy fighters that would dare to face them. This means that they are extremely well-equipped to face down enemy fighters and come out on top. However, this ability to engage in air combat comes at the expense of any other capabilities, as their craft are not equipped with anything but air-to-air weaponry as a standard. They can be equipped with light bombs or rockets on an as-needed basis, but this extra ordnance comes at the cost of their normal mission of fighting air-to-air. As such, it is extremely rare for them to fly close air support missions, instead focusing on interceptions and escort primarily.
Key Characters: Commander Vadym Krychenko
Faction Overview/Concept: The 99th Fighter Wing is an aviation unit that was formed after the Ethnarchy fell to the Imperium, formed from grateful former citizens of the techno-barbarian state. Composed of people who had once been the poor and downtrodden of the Ethnarchy’s society, the 99th Fighter Wing shared much in common with the 100th Bomber Wing that was formed in a similar fashion. Much like their sibling wing, they were made up of pilots who were grateful to the ones they saw as liberators. This, in turn, motivated them to give the job their all. However, where the 100th was formed from recruits that came from the Caucasus primarily, the 99th Fighter Wing’s nucleus was in the lands west of the Caucasus Wastes. Of course, much like their sibling wing, this original nucleus was only a starting point, with recruits from elsewhere on Terra becoming more common.
That said, much like their bomber wing counterpart, the unit’s commander made sure that the heraldry and insignia would reflect the place where they had come from. To this effect, the 99th adopted the symbol of the bulava, a ceremonial mace. The meaning, as Commander Vadym Kyrychenko intended it, was twofold. The first was its meaning as an old symbol of power, to symbolize the power and dignity he felt they’d been given when the Ethnarchy was taken down. The second was the bulava’s obvious shape as a bludgeoning weapon, a symbol he felt was apt for his aviators’ ferocity in being a bludgeon for the Imperium.
Unlike their counterparts in the Bloody Hundredth, this ferocity has not abated a great deal since their deployment. Though they have taken their fair share of losses, to be certain, the pilots of the 99th find a great deal more joy in being “knights of the sky”, using only their skills to shoot down as many of the enemy as possible. However, this strong desire to duel in the air that courses through the unit has led to problems on escort missions for bombers, and was especially apparent in the unit’s early days. Rather than stick with the bombers until they came under direct threat, the pilots of this unit would peel off to engage the first threats that they saw. This, in turn, left the bombers vulnerable to follow-up attacks from enemy fighters, a cause for numerous lost bombers on their watch. Their Commander has worked hard to drill them out of this bad habit after disastrous deployments, but the fact remains that this bad tendency has not yet been fully stamped out. Still, war teaches its lessons, and Krychenko is determined to ensure that his pilots learn the skills and habits that will serve the unit even after he is gone.
Faction Assets: The 99th Fighter Wing’s main capability comes from the fighter craft that they fly, which are one-man fighters with the range to escort bombers to their targets. Their craft are also agile, which gives them the ability to dogfight well against enemy fighters that would dare to face them. This means that they are extremely well-equipped to face down enemy fighters and come out on top. However, this ability to engage in air combat comes at the expense of any other capabilities, as their craft are not equipped with anything but air-to-air weaponry as a standard. They can be equipped with light bombs or rockets on an as-needed basis, but this extra ordnance comes at the cost of their normal mission of fighting air-to-air. As such, it is extremely rare for them to fly close air support missions, instead focusing on interceptions and escort primarily.
Key Characters: Commander Vadym Krychenko