Cloud Knights

The Cloud Knights are the armed forces of the Xianzhou Alliance. Their main mission is to wipe out the Denizens of Abundance. 
==Description==
==Organization==
===Command and control===
The Cloud Knights are led by the Seven Arbiter-Generals, the seven top generals and officers of the Cloud Knights within the Xianzhou Alliance known as the vanguards of The Hunt. Every Xianzhou ship operates individually, but the Cloud Knights are all commanded by the Marshal. Therefore, it's normal for Knights to transfer between ships. Appointments are assigned and sent out from the Marshal's Office.
===Operating forces===
Cloud Knights aboard each ship are generally organized into brigades known as fleets. The Xianzhou Yaoqing, known for its military prowess, has long been standing at the forefront of the most intense combat missions. As the Yaoqing often sails through active war zones, military operations of the Xianzhou Yaoqing is mainly done by the expeditionary fleet as to not endanger the main ship. 
Under the ferocious assault of the elite Verdant Knights of the Yaoqing — armed forces mainly comprised by foxians — the army of abominations made up of borisin and the like has finally been routed, with their numbers now on the decline. The Yaoqing also employ Shadow Guards for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and wetwork. Vidyadhara cloudhymn magi of the Xianzhou Fanghu's Ebonpearl Fleet specialize in using cloudhymn magic in combat. The Xianzhou Zhuming is known for it's artillery and Dawn Army deploy into battle with heliobi. Cloud Knights may sometimes be deployed on secondment to the Ten-Lords Commission.NPC: Zhouduan dialogue
===Martial Arts===
There is a Cloud Knight saying; "A Cloud Knight must never let slip their weapon, nor let slacken their form." Luofu swordplay is all about swift and agile movements with an emphasis on footwork. Those with quick hands and a flexible body are a good fit to practice Luofu swordplay. Zhuming swordplay places and emphasis on strong, focused strikes, trying to take down targets with a single strike. Practicing Zhuming swordplay helps to develop strength.
==Equipment==
===Weapons===
Cloud Knights use various weapons, namely devastator glaives, and other armaments such as thunder crossbows, recurve bows, rifles, shields, spears, guillotine blades, and swords. Cloud Knights may also use their own personal weapons like Sushang's Xuanyuan sword and Yunli's Old Mettle. General Feixiao uses both gun-blades and a battleaxe. Some Cloud Knights prefer to use flying swords connected into their spinal meridian from acupuncture points. They need only to think to move them around though they may be difficult to control. The Zhuming is known for it's use of artillery in combat, and have weapons of mass destruction like Zhuming Flames and Alchemical Arrows. Starskiffs can also fire alchemical arrows. During the High-Cloud Quintet era, Yingxing and Xianzhou military engineers who marched with the army adjusted and tested giant aurumatons that were hundreds of feet tall and were specialized weapons designed to counter borisin mechabeasts.
Despite their deceptively esoteric designs, the weapons of the Xianzhou are actually quite advanced. Their blades are high-frequency and monomolecular, their crossbows are electromagnetic and their recurve bows are thermal seeking. The arrows of Yukong's bow are self-guided auto-aim ones, and drawing the bow is just used to give a sense of antiquity. Usually, Xianzhou swordsmiths infuse a basic level of awareness into their swords to make them easier to wield, like Yanqing's flying sword. According to Howard, the Xianzhou Natives like using a few tricks to mask their strength, likely connected to their propensity for humility.NPC: Howard dialogue The Xianzhou Zhuming's Artisanship Commission is responsible for providing sixty or seventy percent of all of the Cloud Knights' armaments.
===Tools and Provisions===
It was rumored that military rations aboard the Yaoqing include dried mineshrooms from Thalassa, though this hasn't been verified. When fighting the borisin, Cloud Knights either don breathing masks or take poison-proof pellets called Clear-Head Flowing-Meridian Infusion to resist the effects of Lupotoxin, suppressing the fear incited by the borisin's pheromones. Some of the Cloud Knights use pellets which contain trace amounts of Yabruh to block pain on the battlefield. 
The Yaoqing briefly collaborated with the Intelligentsia Guild to create a medicinal pellet that could resist most of the Chiseltooth Pack's microbe weaponry. Soldiers are advised to bring at least two of these pellets or something similar before going to combat. The Yaoqing has also developed a tactic against the Sableclaw Pack's superior olfactory senses by deploying smell disruptors and counter pheromones. Before sent on deployment against borisin, it is recommended that Cloud Knights bring at least two units of counter-entrapment inhibitors known as "Perfume."
The Cloud Knights of the Zhuming's Dawn Army deploy into battle with heliobi. Even on the Zhuming, it's rare to see a soldier and a heliobus have a close symbiotic relationship. The connection between a person and a heliobus becomes unstable under immense pressure, and at times like this, military healers use incense to purge evil.
===Starskiff===
Fighter starskiffs make up the bulk of the Cloud Knights air force. At least 500,000 fighter jets were deployed during the Third Abundance War. Large fighter starskiffs need to be operated in pairs. One pilot takes the helm, the other controls the turrets. The Verdant Knights use starskiffs born with biotechnology instead of being grown from seeds. Newly born starskiffs are described as "furry little creatures" that may join the battlefield after growing in a few short months, becoming loyal partners capable of eradicating abominations. The Navis Astriger is a type of Cloud Knight troop carrier starskiff that can land and deploy Cloud Knights onto the surface of a planet. The Xianzhou Alliance also employs large military vessels like battleships that boast massive cannons.
==Known Personnel==
===Arbiter-Generals===
===Others===
===Former Personnel===
==Cloud Knight Units==
* High-Cloud Quintet (disbanded)
===The Xianzhou Luofu===
* Rainbowfall Fleet
* Vernalbolt Fleet
* Pyrocrane Fleet
* Starlance Fleet
===The Xianzhou Yaoqing===
* Verdantia Fleet
* Heroncrest Fleet
* Red Ballad Fleet
===The Xianzhou Yuque===
* Echojade Fleet
===The Xianzhou Fanghu===
* Ebonpearl Fleet
===The Xianzhou Zhuming===
* Flamewheel Octet
* Goldencrow Fleet
* Dawn Army
==Faction Mentions==
==Other Languages==
==References==
==Navigation==