DESCRIPTION
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- ORIGINS -
There are stories told to children in the fringe worlds. Tales told to make them quiet before bed. Fear grips them as they grip their covers enraptured by the tales of the wolves of space. Stay quiet, stay neat, be polite, or surely they will come for you. So they do. Then the wolves come and they don't care about any of that. As those that were once scared children lay dying, at last they'd know what lives they had wasted.
On a primal world deep in uncharted space were a people lost to time.
"Death is not something that pads softly through the grass. Be like death, be swift, fierce, tragic. Earn your kills, earn your time. There is nothing that cannot be taken."
_Freya Baldr XXXIV (First Claw).
History becomes story, story becomes myth, myth becomes legend, and legend fades away. Few know the name Deucalian that do not hold it back in reverent fear. Warriors from the stars without a home or land. A wandering people bent on burning and destroying wherever they went. Like a malevolent maelstrom they leave little in their wake unburnt and unbroken.
Still rumors fly like the raven and the savvy sailor of the stars knows to look for the signs of wolves dens and hunting grounds. Almost like a collective feeling they avoid the once vibrant trading colonies now reduced to ash. Many wonder if these marauders are even living for none had ever seen one fall in battle. What they did know was this. Blacken the night, snuff the torches, cut the lights, silence the babes and dogs and pray to your gods the fires of the sky do not descend. Every day is a blessing. Every night is a curse.
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- CULTURE -
The Deucalians are grouped in clans loosely affiliated by familial bond and fealty to the Baldr though a member of that bloodline hasn't been seen in decades after the last one went into Unknown Space and never returned. Deucalian ships work in small groups to avoid the gaze of larger forces and mostly strike vulnerable targets on the outskirts of larger civilization.
A Deucalian raiding party.
Each Deucalian clan is ruled by a Chief. Chief's are selected by a number of ceremonies each different depending on the clan and the instruction of the Chief before their death. Most involve ritual combat either to the death or till one yields. Those who place their hand in to be a chief candidate must either succeed or become a Bersark
Deucalian hierarchy beyond the Chief fall into many alignments, but the general rule of thumb is you get what you earn and you earn what you take. If you feel the head engineer is doing poorly, take his position and leave them in a position where they wouldn't wish to or be able to fight back. Same for any other position of authority, land, ship, or title. This ensures strength, ambition, and bloodlust do not wither in the ranks of the Deucalian.
Deucalian live their lives for battle. When a raid is nigh the crew draws lots. One in ten have to remain aboard to man the ship while all others go off to fight. To return to the ship one must boast three kills and hold something of value. Those that fail die, or are dead to their clan for all time. If a Deucalian were to die in battle, the item of value can be the fallen ones corpse. Those that bring the fallen raider can strip them of goods and inherit whatever other items they posses including slaves.
Life aboard the raiding ship is one of companionship, drinking, and fighting. To live, to truly live, one must face death and to have so many who have faced their end so many times leads to a lively bunch. Autonomy and freedom are the most important values to a Deucalian so it is without question that the Bersark and the slave are looked down upon the most by all others, even more so than those who won't fight back during a raid.
A Deucalian raider with the mark of the Bersark upon her forehead
Slaves are rarely taken from those beaten peoples in raids, it was found the slaves made this way always attempted to damage Deucalian ships, harm their masters, or end their cowardly lives. Instead the majority of slaves come from Slave families whose reason for bondage was lost to the old histories. Every slave is branded with the seal of the clan that owns them and they will bear the brand until they die finding freedom only by death in battle. Ironically this opportunity only comes when the master specifically allows it as slaves are prized for their skills in cooking, ship navigation, and weapons maintenance.
Those that bear the mark of the Bersark will know only battle for the rest of their days. Only allowed to fight with the greenest of raiders in the grimmest of conditions they form the vanguard of suicide missions that often act as distractions for a nearby raid. First to fight and last to leave if they can find strength to leave at all, branded Bersarks usually don't last more than a few raids before succumbing to the fate they chose. Those that live by the vibrosword, shall die by it.
"First to bleed! Last to die!"A life of battle does not pay in gold, but in good soldiers. Deucalians are the best by far. Forged in the furnace of pitched battle and crafty in the art of stealth when faced with overwhelming odds, the proud Deucalian clans make their mark upon the universe with battle as their banner. Still warring with all worlds would have snuffed their flame out millennia ago, Deucalians are not so foolish as to leave themselves isolated from their neighbors.
_Deucalian Battle cry
Before a system is raided there is the white ship. It comes unarmed bearing a messenger to meet with all who will listen. If the planets in the system agree to give a tribute of ships, food, and drink, then the system will be passed over by the ravaging fleet. This isn't always a gurantee however as rival systems could always give a larger tribute to convince the clan ships not only to pas them over, but to turn back around and demand more. This is repeated until some poor system can't or won't pay the gold price, so instead they pay in blood.
Besides raiding, Deucalians can be found in mercenary groups often forming elite ship boarding squads that will do the dirty work most governments would like deniability in. Their reputation for savagery and their hatred of mercy can often be enough to turn the tide in a pitched battle. While not as exciting, Deucalians have also been known to act as debt collectors and occasionally to deliver cargo. This isn't recommended as they will just take it for themselves if they like it enough.
Laws are more like guidelines to the Deucalian clans, but the most serious ones that dictate honorable battle are followed by all on pain of death or exile. Those are the laws that dictate the use of the white ship before a raid, the proper exchange of tribute if a clan loses a battle to another, and the succession rights for all Deucalians that allow any to seek the office and status they believe they are strong enough to obtain and hold. Those left out of the right of succession are the Bersarks who failed their challenge once before and slaves who will remain slaves for all their days. No exceptions.
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- HISTORY -
Freya Baldr CCXLI the First Claw looking over the starcharts made by her ancestors
They were born on the world, Deucalia, but it was not their destiny to die there. It was said they outlived that world of legendary savagery, fleeing the cracking earth split by fire and ice. A people adrift in the endless black guided by only the faintest glimmer of hope far beyond their grasp.
Deucalia was a world of jagged peaks and rough soil. Nothing grew there in such abundance as to allow cities and empires. Instead only roaming hunting bands could survive. Hounded by massive wolves, drakes that blew frigid gales, and the harsh landscape only the strongest and luckiest clan members survived to bring new life into this world of death. Lucky was not how they felt, proud was.
Earning their place slowly on the harsh world proved irrelevant as the sages calling upon the old carvings foretold the doom of the planet and all who lived upon it. Some ignored the calls, others sought to pray and sacrifice to the gods for mercy. One clan did something different, the Clan of Baldr led by Freya the First Claw.
Named for being the first to kill a Direwolf in armed combat alone, the chief led her people to the sages for a reading of their fate. From the ancient scripts the sages saw the direction of their salvation, not east, nor west, nor north, nor south, but down deep below. Thinking they were to hide in caves until the horrors wracking their world subsided, Freya led her people into the old caves of her ancestors. Marked by the same runes of the sages she moved deep into the dark to find the strangest of lights. Faint blue and pulsing she entered the strange cavern alone and emerged with news that would change the course of their collective history.
Deucalia forged them into the people they were, but there was a beginning before the first clans. A people who rode the sky and ruled the stars and moons like kings. All was made possible by the glowing blue which allowed the strange buildings within the cave to fly. Freya Baldr and her clan may have kept this to themselves, they might have sought the stars and never looked back, but she made a fateful choice. Gathering her fastest runners she sent them in all directions with a simple message, come to the caves, or die.
Many came, including the sages who read the ancient words in awe. After much study the cleverest of the Deucalians were able to get the ships to fly and slowly, tenuously, carefully, the clans made their way into the stars. It would be the last time they were careful for quite some time. Leaving their dying world behind they followed the charts of their lost ancestors. Finding a world populated by strange speakers they did what they had always done, they showed strength. Capturing some of the populace and slaughtering the rest they acquired more knowledge of starflight and the surrounding galaxy, a scope of peoples and places the clans had never even dreamed of.
With this new knowledge the chiefs gathered. All gave fealty to Freya Baldr as their savior, but she knew such a peace wouldn't last. Breaking up the fleets and slaves between them she scattered them across the stars to find their destiny. For generations to come the Ten Claws of the Wolf would ravage the Outer Rim, coming and going like a beast in the night that would never end.
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- THE CLAWS -
Freya Baldr First Claw leading the first raid on a new worldThe Deucalian are divided into ten clans known as The Ten Claws. Each claw has it's own family name, the Thorites, Alemanii, and Baldr to name a few. Even if not bound by blood those that come into a clans fold take upon the name. Forged together by bloody battle not by blood of the womb, that is the Deucalian way.
Each family does things slightly differently, but under the banner of culture and camaraderie even feuding clans will honor one another and uphold the traditions of their people. From the ancient scrawling of their ancestors came a collective enlightenment tempered by the real politik of warrior customs. From this came The Laws of the Claws. Those rulings which must be obeyed lest the breaker of the oath forever be known as a coward and traitor, stripped of their family name and never again allowed into the fold of the Deucalian people.
- THE LAWS OF THE CLAWS -Freya Baldr meeting with other chiefs before the breaking into the Claws
HONOR
Without honor there is no meaning. Slaying a foe in their bed does not make you stronger thus it does not make you worthy to take their place. To allow such trickery among the brave is not the way of the Deucalians. When one feels their honor has been questioned they have a right to challenge the questioner. Combat decides all matters among the Deucalians and the result of the bout will be honored by both.
BRAVERY
Bravery is not fervor, bravery is not insanity, bravery is rushing towards an enemy one knows can be broken while also realizing the fragility of the self. The fire of Deucalia would rather burn twice as long than four times as hot, but it must burn in the end and that requires fuel for the fires. To join the pyres of the many brave is the finest death a Deucalian can ask for.
FREEDOM
To be free of the yoke of others is tantamount. This does not mean being alone, but simply means choosing your rulers. If you feel you have a weak ruler, kill them and take their place. If you do not feel you are fit to rule find another and follow them. Without your whole heart how are you expected to bleed for your people. To be truly free means to chose something to believe in. A man chooses, a slave obeys.
TRADITION
Do not forget the times of old. Each of your ancestors survived to meets the call to bring new life into the world and doing so was no easy task. To cast away the old ways is not just to lose old weight, but also to lose that which keeps you grounded in who you are. To lose yourself in the dark void of space, is to be lost forever.
AMBITION
Ask not for a lighter burden, but a stronger back. Our ancestors might have died upon their freezing world had they not left the safety of their caves. Never be content in who you are when there is so much more you can be. When you are not getting stronger, smarter, and faster you are not merely standing still, you are being left behind.
RESPECT
That which has been given to you was paid for in blood. Your very life came from the splitting of flesh as your cries mingled with your mothers. Respect first your family, then your clan, your people, and finally yourself. If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything and Deucalians do not fall save for the heat of battle and even then they fall with blood on their axe and a smile on their face.
ASSETS
The Deucalians possess ten fleets of raiding ships usually anchored by a large capital ship or a base of operations upon a moon, asteroid, or abandoned space station. They number in the millions with twenty percent of their population comprised of slaves and Bersarks.
Each fleet contains roughly one hundred ships that serve as living quarters and working quarters for all aboard. Deucalians freely share their bases in times of peace to refit and repair their vessels before going off to raid once more. Each raiding fleet can hold up to half a million warriors, but often make due with a few thousand clansmen. To allow for this massive show of force no supplies are prepared for a return trip as the raiders expect to both have their ranks thinned in the ensuing battle and to collect much in food, drink, and valuables to be traded for more supplies.
ROSTER
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TITLES
Each Deucalian has a family name depending on their clan. Exceptions to this are Slaves given the surname Thrall and Bersarks who have no name at all and are simply called Bersark. Clans organizes under a chief with many advisors and other specialists. Slaves are subdivided based on their job on the ship.
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- CLAN TITLES -Level 1 - Plyndrer (Raider)
Level 2 - Banebryte (Special Missions)
Level 3 - Allmenn (Raid Leader)
Level 4 - Hyllebær (Elder/ Adviser)
Level 5 - Claw (Chief/ Unobtainable)
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- SLAVE TITLES -Level 1 - Thrall (Unskilled work)
Level 2 - Thrall Ascendii (Semi-skilled work)
Level 3 - Thrall Justicar (Skilled work/ organizes other slaves)
Level 4 - Thrall Meritas (Leader of all slaves in a clan, advises the Claw on Slave matters)
INTENT
I intend for the Deucalians to be an interesting faction both to make characters for and as flavor for the outer rim both as a military enemy and a diplomatic challenge. To bring a warrior culture based on the Viking age hearkens to Star Wars love of naval battles and provides another warrior culture to base an honor bound character on that isn't Mandolorian.
My future hope for this faction is to create a plot tracing them back with other characters to the fabled world of Deucalia to face the beasts there and learn more of their history collectively. For now I simply hope to populate the skies of the outer rim with lurking space vikings that all can use in their stories or simply as flavor text for happenings throughout the galaxy.
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