The Great House Espada (Take 2)

[MethosDarkblade]

The Great House of Blades

Known as the House of Blades, The Great House Espada is a small house with power that they do not advertize. Though many of the recruits are from two nearby retro villages, the traditions of the great house are passed from parent to child. The majority of the soldiers live within a mountain fortress that towers above the jungle foliage. They have called the mountain fortress Tizona.

Because they are located in the middle of a jungle, House Espada has gained much in the way of genetic engineering, using the natural and alien plant and animal life of the jungle to construct new and improved biotechnology. The end result, House Espada possesses two new weapons in the fight against the machine. The first are the Pride Lords. These warriors are used for jungle warfare against the machine and are slowly reducing the number of pack masters within the Great House. Though many Pack Masters and Falconers feel a sense of impending doom for their style of warrior, Warlord Porfedio has decreed that these two dwindling warriors will be revitalized with new blood as he feels the number of both of these worthy warriors should be higher. But the end result is that Falconers and Pack Masters have slowly begun to die out for the much more impressive Tigres and their Pride Lord masters.

The second new warrior to come out of great house is the use of Animal Biotics. The head Librarian has instituted a program under the watchful eyes of Warlord Porfedio to create animal/human hybrids. These new Biotic warriors may become larger or smaller than their human brethren and surprisingly has natural abilities that cannot be duplicated into any other Biotic (Animal Psionics). These random x-factors allow the librarian to create a second-class citizen among the populous that could be exploited. However, Warlord Porfedio prefers to allow these new warriors to gain independence through warfare and any Animal Biotic that performs its duty with integrity and honor will be allowed full citizenship without prejudice. Though only a handful have been allowed this honor, it is still a worthy carrot to prod these animals into destroying the machine. (See Animal Biotics, coming soon on how to create these unique style of warriors)

Despite being in the jungle, the great house has made many allies and has shared some of its secrets with two great houses in particular. In exchange for continued supplies for their growing army, including food and biotechnology, Warlord Porfedio has given up his house’s designs for the Pride Lord to Barren Marsh and to Achilles. These two great houses do not utilize the Pride Lords in the same capacity as Espada’s Pride Lords but both houses agree to help Espada in a time of need and to prevent other houses looking at this great house as a target for conquest. This has worked well for several years. What Barren Marsh and Achilles do not know is that Espada has perfected the Animal Biotic and the warriors available are almost twice what everyone believes.

If there is one house that the Espada despise, it is House Paladin. Though the Great House Paladin barely acknowledges the Espada’s existence, the Espada have begun to conduct raids on the great house, using their own Skin Jobs to infiltrate and destroy supply lines. If Paladin were to figure out that the Espada have been conducting these raids, even with the added Animal Biotics, the Espada would still have an uphill battle as the Paladin forces are still stronger.

If there are any weaknesses in Espada, it is the reduced number of gardeners living in the great house (only 12 in great house, all stationed at the mountain fortress of Tizona) and the lack of superior airborne biotechnology. Archangels are at a distinct disadvantage in the jungle as are war mounts like the Zypher and the Draco. Only Falconers are useful enough to be used in the jungle environment. Although they do exist in the great house, their numbers are far lower than any other house. What they lose in air superiority, they make up for it in amphibious assaults. The jungle in which they inhabit has numerous rivers, ponds, and even a beachfront to the great ocean. In fact, Espada has some of the best amphibious warriors in the world. They have sent several warriors to other houses as trainers for amphibious assaults. To this day, only Achilles has taken their training to heart.

Population Breakdown:
72,000 total people
3% Archangels
12% Biotics (includes Animal Biotics)
12% Dreadgard 1% Scarecrows
-Engineers (8 total) 3% Skin Jobs
-Librarians (2 total) 2% Technojackers
-Gardeners (12 total) 5% Outriders
5% Packmaster 8% Pride Lord
2% Falconers 15% Roughnecks
2% Saints 25% Non combatants
5% Other O.C.C.s

Geography
Much like other Great Houses, the majority of the territory controlled by the house in underground. The subterranean haven links several small caves in the mountain and tunnels under the closest retro village. There is an additional retro village nearby that the Great House uses for recruitment and supplies. Everything within a 60-mile radius of the mountain is considered to be Espada territory, though the machine does not respect their borders nor does House Paladin who regularly uses Espada’s jungle territory to the North.

Special Skills
All members of House Espada know swimming and climbing regardless of character class. They receive these skills at a +15%. More to the point, all Espada warriors receive Jung Hua (as found on Ninjas and Super Spies page 144) at a +25%. Jung Hua is the art of melding with water. This is a skill that allows them to stealthfully infiltrate other houses for their bio-tech or attack the machine. Jung Hua is an Espionage skill but requires swimming and counts as three related skills. Jung Hua can only be taught by a member of the Espada house. Anyone receiving this skill starts at base level (regardless of IQ or OCC Bonuses) and must progress normally.

Warlord Porfideo
Warlord Carlos Porfideo is a strong warrior that surprised many in the Great House. He surprised them not with his dreadguard armor which all other Warlords possessed. In fact, Porfideo does not possess a host armor. No, Warlord Porfideo is unique due to the fact that he was a pack master who took the seat of Warlord.
Porfideo was a young man when he fell in love with his pack. He modified them whenever he could, always believing they would be better if he did. He made impressive ambushes against not only the machine but to other great houses that dared to impose their will on the Espadas. When the Tigres were introduced, Porfideo wanted one. His pack had already included several extra Gorehounds from friends and comrades who perished in battle. His wish was almost pushed aside until Porfideo noticed a runt that was going to be recycled. He begged the librarian and the engineers to allow him to train the runt.
At first, the librarian laughed until Porfideo did something amazing. He proclaimed that the runt will become a powerful Tigre like all others made around her (the runt was a female). He said that he would bridge the gap between canine and feline. The librarian took the young pack master’s words to heart and proclaimed that if he could raise the runt to become powerful within two years, then he could keep her. If after two years, the runt remained a runt, not only would the runt be recycled, but his entire pack would be as well and Porfideo would submit himself for biotic transformation. The librarian felt that such a punishment would pursuade the warrior from taking on the impossible task. Porfideo accepted.
Porfideo used his pack as training tools and in less than a year, the runt had grown to become a lynch pin in ambush attacks. Porfideo used the runt’s unnaturally small size and weakened stature to his advantage. Now named Destiny, the runt would ambush from above, using the trees as a form of endless cover. Destiny would attack from above, striking sensor pods and communications nodes while the pack attacked from below. She was outfitted not with heavy weapons, but with stealth capabilities and surgical style claws.
Destiny would remain small much of her life but Porfideo loved that about her. Destiny’s design became available as other Pride Lords saw the advantage to such a small creature, smaller than the lynx option that came about after some Pride Lords demanded a way to make their prides unique.
Now, alone at the top, the Warlord has decided it was time to come out of the shadows of jungle. Finding House Paladin to be weak for the moment, Porfideo has declared the beginning of a blood feud. Their goal, destroy the great house from the inside. Between surgical strikes and complete destruction of their patrols, Porfideo has also instituted a propaganda program to make the leadership of the Great House appear weak. Paladin has begun to notice such intrusions and though only a handful of warriors have deserted, the Great House still regards the Espada as beneath their contempt. This is something Porfideo has anticipated and tries to work such contempt to his favor.

I am currently working on Stats for the Warlord and several of his elite guard, including a very interesting TJ (more spills and chills)