Ghostknights of Poland

### Armament

Various; includes autocannons, heavy flamethrowers, wraithblades, and high velocity cannons

### Manufacturer

Bumar Labedy, Spiritseer Orders

*Even in death, we still serve. Not even the shadow of the afterlife can stop us from our duty."*

- Felix Hodor, High Master of the Wrathwalkers

The Ghostknights (Duchowi Rycerze) are undead warriors, ghosts interred within Darkstone frames crafted for them by the Spiritseer orders within Poland.

One might think that the statuesque constructs that march at the head and periphery of the Polish army are frail and brittle due to their lithe appearances. Alas, they are hardier than steel and their psychoactive construction is difficult to breach save through the most potent anti-tank weaponry. The Ghostknights do not walk with the vitality of the living, instead moving with the eerie inevitability of death itself. They are armed with various types of weaponry, often depending on what role they fulfilled as soldiers when they were still walking the land as flesh and blood. Amongst their armaments are autocannons, flamethrowers, blades, and anti-tank guns, though the most elite in their deathly ranks often sport the destructive Spectrum Cannon.

## Background

The first Ghostknights were created by Kondrad Sierakowsky as he fought within the Vietnam War, and scored quite a few kills under their shadowy belts before their master defected to the Soviet Union, taking them with him.

After the Sierakowsky Dynasty took over the ruling of Poland, fear of renewed foreign invasion from the west stoked the House to immediately move to strengthen the nation's military. To this end, several projects were initiated to create metahumans with similar abilities as Lord Kondrad when the combat effectiveness of his constructs were noted. Most of these ended with failure, as many of these newly forged metas simply turned into pyrokinetics. However, one project, Project Fusion, succeeded, and churned out an undisclosed number of metahumans with similar, if not far weaker abilities as the Lord of the Polish ASSR. A side project to this also saw the creation of the PT-97 Orzel, the first of the Wraith Tank line.

With the project's success, the Sierakowsky Dynasty proceeded to build a force of Ghostknights with the express goal of using them as powerful assault platforms should the need ever arise. Due to their construction, they are quite easy to integrate into existing structures as a design; as such, some Ghostknights were turned into gargoyles, while others became statues in the middle of public squares. Still others served as the personal guard of the Sierakowskies, such as the famed Wrathwalkers.

Few have asked where exactly the ghosts that pilot these inconspicuous constructs come from. Most citizens agree that they're soldiers that have fallen in defense of Poland, some of whom have been wandering the land for centuries before being interred into the Ghostknights.

With that said, these warriors do not come without controversy. Some say that the government has denied many a soul their rest, though it has been stated that the Ghostknights fight according to their own volition. It doesn't help that only the Spiritseers can hear them.

## Armament

As stated before, the Ghostknights come with various weaponry, turning them into walking assault platforms. Typically, they will have flamethrowers and autocannons, since most of them are simply guarding their locale. Those who are actively involved in conflict, such as the Wrathwalkers and the Risen Hussars, will have more weaponry made available to them. They will often switch weapons in between battles in order to counter specifically detected threats. Anti-tank guns, rocket launchers, and spigot mortars, and flamethrowers are commonplace amongst these more active Ghostknights. Those that have done great deeds in battle will often be upgraded with the Spectrum Cannon, which fires a devastating beam of photons that could boil metal into molten sludge and turn infantry into ash.

## Variants

There are at least a dozen different variants of Darkstone Constructs, all of which were built with a specific purpose in mind.

### Guardians

Also known as 'lesser' Ghostknights, these are the most numerous of these ghostly constructs. They are armed with basic weapons and are usually charged with acting as durable frontline troops, though they also often take bodyguard duty in areas where the greater size of the Wrathwalkers would be liability or simple inconvenience, such as Dynastic Congresses.

### Wrathwalkers

The Wrathwalkers are larger and more powerfully armed than their smaller counterparts, with their leaders wielding energy based weapons known as the Spectrum Cannon. These Darkstone Constructs are the personal bodyguards and protectors of the Sierakowsky Dynasty. In times of war, they can be found at the head of the army, spearheading assaults.

### Watchers

The Watchers are a far more subtle form of Ghostknight, as they are disguised as humans using artificial skin made from silicone. Though weaker than all their brethren, they are still much more durable than any human, so they also act as bodyguards and passive spies.

### Great Eagles

The Great Eagles are terrifying winged harbingers of death and destruction. They are essentially V/TOL attack aircraft powered by Darkstone Matrices, with squadron leaders amongst them armed with a lower yield, airborne version of the Spectrum Cannon. They emit a demoralizing screech whenever they swoop down in a bombing or strafing run, shaking the hearts of the weak willed. Unfortunately, most of the Great Eagles are relegated to patrolling the area around the Treacherous Moor in order to prevent any undead creatures from slipping away undetected.

### Lions

A blanket term used to refer to land and sea vehicles that operate using a Darkstone Matrix. Wraith Tanks such as the PT-97 Orzel and the Ghast Class Missile Destroyer are amongst the examples of these eerie machines.

### Wraith-Metas

Exceedingly rare are those Darkstone Constructs that use the ghost of a fallen Metahuman as a heart. Results are varying; at times, the resultant construct can use the powers it once held in life; in other times, it was no better than one of the Guardians.

### Wraith-Seers

The Spirit Seers that die from any cause often inter themselves within specialized Darkstone Constructs. Their powers remain as potent as they were in life, though their senses are somewhat dulled, just like every other ghost construct.

### The Dragon

A one of a kind construct whose operating matrix is comprised of ghosts pulled from the rift in the Treacherous Moor, forming a barely sapient consciousness that exists only to serve. It is currently kept in stasis as it is infamously erratic.

## Notable Ghostknights

### Felix Hodor

Felix Hodor was the very first of the Ghostknights, having been interred into a Darkstone Frame only a few months after the onset of Kondrad Sierakowsky's metahuman powers. He was the gunner of Kondrad's tank crew during the Second World War, and though he died of old age, his soul persisted in the mortal realm, watching Kondrad until the latter was able to see him through his Wraithsight. In the current setting, Felix Hodor is the High Master of the Wrathwalkers, the personal guard of the Sierakowsky Dynasty.

### Sabina Koza

Sabina Koza is the personal bodyguard of Marek Sierakowsky. She was a partisan of the Polish Home Army during the Second World War, and made a name for herself as an accomplished markswoman. Sabina would die in the Warsaw Uprising, but her ghost continued to persist in the mortal realm until the Spiritseer Karol Gleba put her inside a Darkstone Frame at her own request. She would eventually be made into Marek's personal guard, and had the opportunity to meet the Pope face to face.