“Without knowledge, wisdom is an illusion
Without wisdom, knowledge is unproductive
Together they awaken the blue snap of my Genius
The Pheniality of my king overcame the strength of the End of the World
I do not have the right to ignorance”– Arnem Oath
The Arnem Legion is one of the five Otesis Legions founded to be the most legendary and recognizable Force of Drakynium.
Founded by the kyuubi Alos, the Arnem are the blue legion, composed of Order Mysti users. With knowledge and wisdom as their secondary virtues, which together form their primary virtue, genius, the Blue Legion is driven by cold logic and rationally efficient strategy.Formed by natural strategists, the Arnem prefer direct combat to be the last possibility, looking for and researching ways to win with the least amount of time, effort and resources possible.
Eager for knowledge, the Arnem spend more time studying tactics and strategies than training with their weapons, which makes laymen, who do not know their true capabilities, treat them as the weakest legion on the battlefield. Even with their more methodical and non-violent style, the Arnems know very well that theory is inferior to practice. Contrary to what they think, the Arnems do not stick to studied and memorized strategies. In a massive and brutal war like the one they fight in, sticking to a single idea and style is suicide. They seek to be the reactive ones, those who let the enemy attack first, to analyze their movement and formation, so that they can apply the best possible reaction. When you attack first, you are limited to a single strategy, making it difficult to modify it in the heat of battle, but when you are focused on reacting, you are able to masterfully shape your defense, seeing your enemy stumble wherever he chooses to take a step.
In this way, the Arnems are the type that does not allow the enemy to hit, making all their options different paths to an inevitable defeat.
Segments
1st Segment – Silent Whistlers
Segrarch: Calivros
Culture: Impediment, cancellation
Main Power: Nullification
While most Arnems seek ways to contain and better respond to enemy actions, Silent Whistlers prefer that their enemies not even be able to carry out their actions. Using the power of Nullification of the Order, the Silent Whistlers prevents their opponents from using their powers and abilities, practically disarming them almost completely.
In battles without big names or powerful powers, the Silent Whistlers end up not standing out as much. However, it is in conflicts with enemies whose powers really make a difference that the knights of the first Arnem segment show their worth, reacting and preventing this powerful enemy from unleashing his full strength against his allies, practically nullifying him.
2nd Segment – Ice Hearts
Segrarch: Jalo
Culture: Efficiency, Competence, Logic
Main Power: Ice of Order
With expressions as cold as their powers, the Ice Hearts are a segment that does not allow themselves to be carried away by emotions. They believe that when a mission is given, it must be started and finished without any interference or delay caused by desire or self-will. When you are in a war, what you want does not matter, what matters is winning, even if someone you hate comes out alive or you fail to achieve something you wanted. Only the main objective matters, nothing else.
All the drakes in this segment have the breath of ice, matching the Ice of Order of their knights. One cannot expect sentimentality or a very empathetic treatment when one is in this segment. From the training, the squires, recruits in training to become Otesis Knights, are not treated with intimacy or closeness. The Ice Hearts always make a point of making it clear that their relationship is only professional, master and apprentice, and not that of friends.
They express little or no mourning for their dead brothers, and even less for civilians. However, this is only on the outside; on the inside, the Ice Hearts feel a tightness in their chest, an uneasiness called guilt, or even genuine pity. Some wonder if if they had deviated from their main objective a little, perhaps the lives of these people could have been saved. And that is exactly what Jalos wants.
The segrearch of the Ice Hearts indoctrinates them to be effective and cold, but not insensitive. They are not encouraged to deviate from their objectives to help others, but he wants them to feel this desire to help. Jalos wants to preserve this conflict between following orders and doing what they think is right in his knights. After all, this conflict is proof that they are people who care, that they are still warriors who would like to save as many people as possible. And that despite seeming like they only care about victory, they still feel guilty for not having done anything more for anyone.
Otesis needs cold knights who fulfill their missions despite everything, but Jalos refuses to let his knights be reduced to this. Behind every knight’s apathy and coldness, there is someone who feels deeply for everyone they failed to save, who cries for those people, even if no one sees it.
As Jalos says to all his knights: “Tears are the drops of our hearts. They are the proof that we still feel.”
3th Segment – Sky Jailers
Segrarch: Clai
Culture: Custody, Interrogation, Containment
Main Power: Forms of Containment
The Sky Jailers specialize in containing and controlling enemies. They often prefer to imprison them rather than kill them. This way, they can extract as much information as possible about the enemy.
For them, everyone has something to offer, something to tell, something to report, especially the more important the enemy is. They use the Forms of Containment power to imprison enemies, even shrinking them and transporting them inside bags and pockets of their clothes. After interrogating them and extracting what they believe to be what they wanted, they imprison the person in small objects, where the person remains paralyzed until they are freed or when the Sky Jailers want to talk to them again.
In addition to information about enemy plans, strategies and positions, the Sky Jailers are very interested in enemy research. Weapons they develop, artifacts they use, troops they recruit, all of this, for them, can be used by Otesis against their opponents. And even if it takes torture to get that information, Clai’s Sky Jailers will get it.
4th Segment — World Readers
Segrarch: Palox
Culture: Strategy, Intelligence, Organization, Planning
Main Power: Expert Lobotomy
World Readers are the most useful of all segments, simply because they are useful both in and out of war. They are devourers of knowledge, consuming anything that makes them increasingly useful and intelligent. Philosophy, mathematics, arts, engineering, architecture, military strategies, everything. It is simply impossible to find something they are not good at. Being a World Reader means always seeking to improve yourself in the most diverse areas. This makes them the busiest knights, both with themselves and when they are called upon to help the kingdom of Otesis. While the other legions are mostly focused on battles, World Readers are called upon for any area, be it administration, logistics, construction, anything. They basically, in addition to war, help control the more resourceful side of war, the least exciting part, but simply indispensable. But above all, they are unparalleled strategists within the legions. Due to their power of Expert Lobotomy of the Order, World Readers are accustomed to always being ahead of their opponents, always predicting their moves, whether in a game of chess or in a battle with thousands of lives at risk. They cannot force the actions of their enemies, but they limit them to always arrive at the scenario they want, and this scenario is usually a victory for the World Readers. They are the largest segment due to their extremely low mortality rate caused by their enviable number of victories. For them, be it a game, a fight, a battle, or a war, all of this is the world, and they will read each one perfectly.
5th Segment – One Truth
Segrarch: Rainares
Culture: Deception, Infiltration, Destabilization
Main Power: Illusions
For the One Truth, a good enemy, if not a dead enemy, is a confused enemy. They are experts in deceiving their enemies, that is, when the enemies discover that they were being deceived.
These knights have little attachment to things like direct and honorable combat, always seeking the most subtle and stealthy way to end a fight. Because of the Order’s Illusions, they are able to become invisible, change their faces, even their bodies, races and equipment. They even have infiltrators in other segments and legions, with the intention of keeping them under surveillance so that they are not surprised in any way, because they are the ones who surprise.
Fighting against the One Truth is fighting against the lie that you believe to be true. It is going crazy trying to guess where it is, and freaking out to the point of pointing your weapons at your allies and not even being able to know if you are really fighting someone.
Arnem Knights
1st Segment – Silent Whistlers
Calivros
Rank: Segrarch
Race: Aven
What made Calivros so famous within the Unholy Alliance was the fact that he tormented his targets with a whistling song before killing them. Acting alone, the legends of his cold kills accompanied by an elegant and calm whistle became famous due to reports that those pursued by Calivros were unable to use their powers to defend themselves or even scream for help. Slaves and those thirsting for justice began to whistle whenever they could as a way of showing support for Calivros, many of those who did so and were caught were severely punished. Calivros’ career ended when he was caught by Ikrian, one of Golenat’s greatest servants and leader of the goddess Dimera‘s forces in Eredwyn. Calivros was imprisoned and tortured, but his death would only come about due to a condition imposed by his own captor. He would die only when he spoke again, not being necessary to say a word, but he would be killed the moment any sound left his mouth. It is unknown how long he spent being tortured, and day after day, with the pain and agony growing continuously and new ideas of affliction arising in the mind of his torturer, Calivros did not make a single sound, not even if it was pain. He was finally rescued and cared for by the Alos band when he was still in his early stages. After recovering, Calivros began to use sign language, stating that he would only speak and whistle again when Ikrian was purged. With a deadly silence, Calivros eliminates his enemies by nullifying their powers, their chances of defending themselves, and even removing their voices, depriving them of the chance to cry out for help.
2nd Segment – Ice Hearts
Jalo, The Survivor of Gelvalar
Rank: Segrarch
Race: Canidi (husky)
A resident of the cold Gelvalar, a city built against a wall of snowy mountains, Jalo was one of the ice users summoned to protect his great city. The city had always been very protected by the region’s harsh and icy climate, which the people of which Jalo was a part were already accustomed to. However, the firepower of Golenat’s World Burners was gigantic, enough to advance against his cold territory. The king summoned all the ice users of the kingdom to conjure an ice barrier around the entire capital. This ice would be enchanted by his mages, giving it even more resistance, and would keep them safe in Gelvalar until the enemy could obtain a weapon capable of overcoming the barrier. Jalo was taken from the interior of the kingdom to the capital to help lift the ice around the city. The barrier began to form after days, and throughout all these days, more and more people arrived at the last safe place. The enemy’s fire was approaching, and could already be seen on the horizon; Between Gelvalar and the enemy were those who would be the last to enter the city before the barrier closed. Every single point of the ice barrier had to be essentially closed so that when it was enchanted, a single failure would undermine the entire protection.
Almost finishing the point of the barrier for which he was responsible, Jalo saw in the distance a group of desperate people, still outside the barrier. With the enemy’s fire approaching, the complete closing of the barrier was ordered immediately. Jalo hesitated, and hesitated a lot, those people were not yet inside the city, safely. He looked, and the enemy was still far away, they would be able to enter in time. It was then that Beast came, the End of the World, the Dragon Gralgor came flying like a shadow and attacked the point in the barrier that belonged to Jalo, the only one that had not yet been closed. The fire that the dragon launched all those people he wanted to help. Just as a collapse began in the ice barrier, which began near Jalo. He protected himself from the fire, but the enemy managed to enter and destroy Gelvalar. Because of his hesitation, Jalo did not close the barrier, and because of his desire to save a few, he condemned thousands. That day, Jalo lost his family, his home, and his sentimentality. Taken as a slave, he lived a life with a heart colder than the region he lived in, never showing concern or any feeling that would harm himself or others. Jalo was among the bodies recovered by the Dranis of the Coilav family, the red-haired people of Dranate. They went to Gelvalar to loot what was left of the city. They watched as Jalo crawled through the rubble. Seeking to have fun amidst that tedious ruin and misfortune, they tortured him, and burned his body while laughing even though Jalo did not even have the strength to scream in pain. Even without great hope or feelings, Jalo still wanted to fight. To fight those who took everything from him and who were destroying the world. He was saved from the Coilav by Alos and his band, who cared for him and healed him, even though he would spend the rest of his life bound in bandages due to his burns. Jalo’s ice power, in addition to saving him from death by fire, helps to ease the pain of his injuries. He readily joined his warband to fight with a cold and methodical focus, always putting the greater victory above anything, even anything he cares about.
3th Segment – Sky Jailers
Clai Prison Eye
Rank: Segrarch
Race: Gnome
Clai had seen it before, but he didn’t remember what it was like. He wanted to see it again. To see this sky that everyone talked about. When he was still very young, Clai was sent to the Drani underground work camps, under the supervision of the Airvoline, and since then he spent his life without returning to the surface. Without ever seeing the sky that he tried so hard to remember what it was like. Clai grew up among the slaves in the Drani mining camps. The supervisor of his camp was called Elovo Airvoline, who was a harsh, demanding man and a staunch supporter of productivity, which he kept at a high level by mistreating the slaves. One day, Clai was invited by a group to try to escape. Unbelieving in the possibility, he refused. That day of work in the mines, the group tried to escape to the unknown parts of the underground world. Most of them were hit by arrows from the guards and quickly killed, until only one was left. Even running as fast as he could, the arrows would still hit him. It was then that Clai intervened. He imprisoned the latter in a containment sphere until the guards came and arrested him. The slave was furious with Clai, as he would rather die trying to be free than continue living that way. The reaction of the other slaves was mixed, with some thinking it was wrong for him to prevent the escape attempt, even if it was doomed to failure; and others supporting his decision, as it saved the life of that young man, even if he himself did not thank him for it.
To everyone’s surprise, Elovo, the person in charge of that slave camp, liked Clai’s action in preventing the slave from escaping. He then promoted him, now no longer a work slave like the others, but one who would supervise the others and use his power to detain anyone who was troublesome or tried to escape, as well as taking them to prison. Clai had a natural talent for the Order’s Containment Forms power, and Elovo would use this to his advantage. Still, at the end of the day, Clai would go, like everyone else, to his cell. That night, he received a visitor. It was an elf boy, close in physical and mental age to Clai. He was well-dressed, well-groomed, and carried himself formally. The boy then asked: “That last slave who tried to escape today. Why did you save him?” Clai did not know him, but the answer was quick. “I did not want to see anyone else die. Slaves die to escape this torment, even for a moment of freedom. I believe it is better to stay alive, even if suffering, to see a better day.” The boy liked the answer very much. This was Drevol Airvoline, son of the overseer Elovo. His father thought he had reached the age to begin learning about the work he would have in the future, when he replaced him. Keeping slaves in line, obedient and hopeless; as well as torturing them to serve as an example, as well as supervising them and keeping them locked up so that they have the least hope possible. Despite being a Drani, Drevol did not seem to have been born with the almost genetic evil of his family, however, he did not see a way worth separating from them. What he could do was to make the best of the situation he was in.
With Clai as foreman, and Drevol as supervisor, attempts at rebellion and escape decreased, as did punishments and productivity increased. Clai and Drevol developed a strong friendship over time. And it was through Drevol that Clai could hear things about the surface world that he had not seen since a time he no longer remembered. He was able, through his friend’s descriptions, to imagine that sky whose memory was sealed in his mind. Even on opposite sides of the bars, the friendship between the two grew along with them.
But this strong friendship would find its end when Elovo, Drevol’s father, discovered that his son had a friendship with a slave. He then demanded that his son stay away from him and ordered Clai’s right eye to be torn out, as he needed to at least be able to see in order to arrest the slaves who tried to escape. And if they interacted again, he would tear out the other one and finally release Clai into the world, as his blindness would eventually cost him his life. The friends then remained separated for years, without even exchanging words, and remained that way until the day Alos attacked Elovo’s labor camp. The slaves quickly joined the kyuubi in the fight against their Drani tormentors, as did Clai. Upon seeing the one he himself promoted fighting against his troops, Elovo tried to run Clai through the back, but Drevol was the one who received the blow. The father killed his own son, before being killed by an enraged Clai.
In his final moments, Drevol gave Clai a skalira. A pure blue gem, one of the many stones mined by the slaves he oversaw. The gem was shaped like a perfect sphere, and Drevol wanted Clai to wear it as a false eye. He accepted the gift, but did not accept his friend’s death. Clai then used his confinement power, and locked Drevol’s soul in his new eye. As long as Clai remained alive, his friend’s soul would accompany him and see the world through his eye. The skalira also functioned almost like a small dimension in which Clai could trap enemies, like a prison inside his eye, and Drevol would be the overseer of this prison, using all of his father’s teachings, now against those who truly deserved such treatment. Clai joined the Alos band, and rose to the surface that day, after years of slavery underground. The daylight almost blinded his only eye, but the sight was worth it. An expanse of the purest, most beautiful blue. Even after imagining it for so long, the grandiose beauty of the roof of the world still surprised him.
And from within Clai’s skalari eye, Drevol was happy and said: “You were right, brother. It is worth living to see a better day.”
4th Segment — World Readers
Palox
Rank: Segrarch
Race: Elf
“Your intelligence has brought you this far, let’s see where your choices will take you.” These were the words Palox’s mother said before leaving him at the gates of the Vlargo Institute on his first day. This institute was created by Vlargo of the Beltif Family, with the intention of providing educational opportunities for non-Drani and non-noble elves who demonstrated above-average intelligence so that they could prove their usefulness in improving and strengthening the Drani kingdom of Maliris, thus achieving a better life than their birth condition would allow.
Every day, Palox’s mother took him to the front of the institute for another day of classes. She knew her son’s potential, and that with his intelligence, Palox would be able to improve the world in some way. That was until she developed an illness that did not allow her to get out of bed. Studying at the institute was free for those who were admitted, but the household bills had to be paid. The boy said he would find the money to take care of her, and yet his mother made him promise that he would go to the institute every day to study. The time at the institute took up almost the entire day, so Palox began to escape to bet on street games, any that involved intelligence and bluffing. The elf awakened the mysti of the Order at an early age, and specialized in the power of Forensic Lobotomy, which allowed him to read people’s minds. With this power, he was able to earn enough money on the streets to take care of his mother and maintain the house. When she questioned him about the money, he said that the institute helped him because of his good grades.
Because of the promise he made to his mother to go to the institute all day, Palox was forced to go there every day, but soon after he would jump the wall to go and earn money. After all, he promised that he would go there every day, not that he would stay all day.
He had the capacity to earn a lot of money, but no matter how much power he had or how intelligent he was, he was still just a young man, and if he attracted too much attention he would not be able to stop someone who wanted to rob him. Spending more and more time away from the institute, with his best friend, another elf named Nivian, covering for him as much as possible in class, Palox began to focus much more on gambling, going to the institute as little as necessary and passing tests by extracting the missing answers from the minds of other students. The fact that he was absent so often and still remained the best in the class generated envy and anger among his classmates, but until then they could do nothing about Palox’s excellent performance. And so it went on for a while, until the director of the institute, Vlargo Beltif, announced a gaming tournament for the students, with a huge cash prize, enough to pay for his mother’s cure, and still have some left over for them to support themselves for a while. The entire tournament was a series of matches in different games of intelligence and bluffing, whether cards, board games or a pure game of mentality; it was necessary to keep winning to reach the final. Reading the minds of each one, and even eliminating his friend Nivian, Palox reached the final and won. It was then that the director Vlargo of the Beltif family, and organizer of the tournament, made a proposal to the champion. A match against himself. If Palox won, he would receive the prize multiplied. Before, it was only enough to cure his mother and support them for a while, but now the prize would provide him with enough money to live in luxury for a few generations. However, if Vlargo won, he would get Palox’s house and everything inside. Even considering the risk, he decided to trust in his power and intelligence, accepting the challenge. And this ended with a surprising and devastating defeat for Palox. When he was defeated, Vlargo approached him and whispered: “Never believe completely what you read.”
Vlargo was also a user of the Order and an expert, like Palox, in mind reading. However, he did not read a single thought of the young man, he only thought of a series of false information that Palox followed until his defeat. In the end, Vlargo revealed Palox’s power to everyone, showing that he used it to continue getting excellent grades at the institute, even with minimal attendance, and how he used it to win the tournament. Palox was expelled from the institute and Vlargo handed him over to the other students, who beat Palox until he was unconscious and threw him into the gutter outside the institute.
When the massacred elf found the energy to walk, he went to his house, only to find an empty, square space where he lived. His house, along with everything inside, including his mother, had been taken. Even though he was worried, even desperate to know about his mother, Palox would need money to support himself and find her. Seeking to make money in street betting, the revelation of his power in the tournament was reported throughout the city. All those outcasts that Palox had defeated in the past came to demand his cheating, and he was brutally harassed and raped. Since he had no money, all they could do was relieve Palox’s anger by hurting him. Weak, exhausted, penniless and with no one, he was handed over to slave traders. A slave who could read minds was worth something. Palox, like others, would be taken in a caravan to the market where he would be auctioned. It was in this prison on wheels, chained up, along with several other hopeless slaves that he saw the reality of the society that would have strengthened if he had stayed in the institute until the end. His fortune and good life would have come at the cost of tyranny, cruelty and oppression against innocents. He closed his eyes in shame. His intelligence had brought him here. His mother’s words came like a slap in the face. Palox’s arrogance, deceit, and greed had him chained up. No one else was to blame for his situation but himself, he knew that. However, it was the choices of others that got him out of it.
The slave caravan was attacked by the Alos gang. Some slaves thanked them and fled to shelters, while others decided to join the gang. Some members recognized Palox. After the humiliation in the tournament, he became somewhat well-known. He explained his situation to the Alos leader, and was repaid with an explanation of what happened to his mother and his house. Vlargo has the ability to transform everything he wins in games and bets into chapters of his Book of Victories. Everything that is put in the book would be frozen in time while it was inside, so as long as his mother was alive when the house was introduced to the book, it would remain that way, and Vlargo takes great care to ensure that nothing bad happens to this book. For now, Palox has been reassured, but his desire to have her back has not diminished. Alos finally invited Palox to join the band.
Let’s see where his choices will take him. The rest of his mother’s sentence came, this time, as a gentle request for reflection. All Palox did was use his intelligence selfishly, and in the future, if he had the opportunity to continue, he would be helping the kingdom that took his mother from him, that chained him and would enslave him, just as it does with thousands of others who were not as lucky as him. That was when he learned that intelligence, when possible, should be used to improve not only the life of the person it possesses, but to improve the world as a whole. And at that moment, the world needed to improve, and a lot.
Alos promised that one day they would reach Vlargo, and Palox would have the chance to have his mother back. Until then, she would remain safe inside the book, and her son would fight against the kingdom he almost helped, that took everything from him. Using his intelligence for something greater, to make the world a better place not just for himself, that was what Palox would do for the next decades, and even frozen in time inside the book, his mother was proud.
5th Segment – One Truth
Rainares
Rank: Segrarch
Race: ?
From the moment he announced himself to the entire Alos band, the only certainty Rainares gave his allies was that they would only know that someone was him when he wanted them to.
Among all the segarchs, Rainares is a true enigma. None of his own allies, even the closest ones, know his true age, voice, gender, face, size, race and many do not even believe that his real name is Rainares.
Completely skeptical about everything and everyone in the world, Rainares has never confided truthful information about himself to anyone. Using the Illusions of the Order, Rainares, every time he presents himself, has a new appearance. He is able to assume the image of any person and any race, never truly revealing his own appearance. His allies, and especially his superiors, can only believe that the one who stands before them and claims to be Rainares is really him.
The segarch of the One Truth shares his philosophy of secrecy and concealment with his entire segment, and they follow their leader’s footsteps faithfully. Since Rainares can be anyone, any knight of the One Truth can say “I am Rainares.” Always deceiving, always protecting, no matter who dies, both enemies and allies will never know whether Rainares really died or not. As long as a knight continues to present himself under the name of the segrerch, the stability and secrecy of the One Truth can never be shaken.
With his loyal followers, Rainares commands the One Truth on missions that involve extreme caution, espionage, infiltration and sabotage. Despite generating distrust in almost all of his allies in Otesis, no one can say that Rainares does not do his job perfectly. His achievements and successes crush any doubt and discomfort he may generate.