Elephant Soldiers

By Charles Ferguson

Elephant Soldiers are the professional soldiers of the Divine Cities who ride Painted Elephants

All weapons, helmets & tools are bronze, the Old Metal.

In theory all Cohorts of Elephant Soldiers serve their Living God. In practice they are under the command of various Elect. Some Living Gods ignore or even encourage the Elect using their Cohorts against one another. In the cities of others, it is a heinous crime which the God punishes in the most extreme way.

Their bronze helmets adorned with four tusks, like their four-tusked mounts. These tusks are wrapped with fetishes of protection and power.

Wear scale-armor coats made from Painted Elephant scales. Each scale is marked with an enchanted glyph.

Cohort panoplies (weapons, armor, helmets) are very old. Each is handed down from champion to champion, awarded through a complicated system of caste, prowess, and the embodiment of the Precepts.

Cohorts wield swords of various exotic design, hooked glaives, bladed clubs, hand scythes, chain-knives, and composite bows of layered ivory ringed with bands of gold, silver and copper. Like helmets, weapons are wrapped with powerful magical fetishes.

They don't carry shields, but rely on their enchanted armor to protect them. This allows them to use their bows from a distance, and a weapon in each hand in close combat.

Elephants

By Ryan St and Charles Ferguson.

War elephants are huge in size. They require a prohibitive amount of food to be sustained. They are owned by the Elect, especially in the southern cities of Ravibe and Isra. They have between six and twelve tusks.

Painted Elephants, also known as 'Four Tuskers', stand 5' high at the shoulder, and while shaped like War Elephants they have only 4 tusks, and are covered in brilliantly colored scales instead of hide. These beasts are common pack animals in the Halcyon Sea region.

A Halcyon saying for 'buyer beware': "There are painted elephants, and there are painted elephants."

Forest Elephants are the same size as Painted Elephants but their scales are deep emerald green rather than multicolored. These are also favored mounts and pack animals. Many Forest Elephants are painted by their masters with white runes, usually circles and dots on the face, to ward off evil spirits.