Kel

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   Template:Infobox faction

> "*From every spark a fire.*"
> ― Kel watchwords
>
>

The **Kel** are one of the six factions governing the hexarchate in the Machineries of Empire universe.

Notable Kel include Hexarch Kel Tsoro, General Kel Khiruev, Commander Kel Nerevor, Commander Kel Talaw, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, Major Kel Dhanneth, and Brevet General Kel Cheris.

## Role

The Kel are a low faction; their corresponding high faction is the Shuos. They are the hexarchate's military, specializing in kinetic operations, though they are unsuitable for the post-battle process of converting heretics to the high calendar, ceding these functions to the Andan and Vidona.

They appreciate the conservative mindset of the Rahal; grudgingly acknowledge the essential function of the Vidona; have strong ties to the Nirai, who provide them with technology; and work closely with the Shuos, who provide them with intelligence and strategic guidance, despite distrust of the faction's inherent foxiness. They despise the Andan for the faction's suspiciously close contacts with foreigners and flexible social mores. Meanwhile, the Rahal regard them as instruments to spend freely to put down heresies, the Nirai disparage their intelligence but readily do business with them; the Andan consider them "a hammer in search of a nail"; the Vidona admire their loyalty and are sympathetic to their culture; and the Shuos consider them a handy distraction to throw at enemies while the real work is done elsewhere.

## Government

The Kel seat of government is the Aerie. The faction emblem is a black ashhawk surrounded by flames, which, like any individual Kel, may also be called a suicide hawk. Their colors are black and gold.

The most recent Kel hexarch is Kel Tsoro. However, the Kel are usually administrated by Kel Command, a hivemind using composite technology and composed of Kel high officers who have been assimilated into the collective consciousness.

The Kel hexarch's seat stands on rank and seniority, usually falling to the highest officer in Kel Command.

## Technology

The Kel specialties are formation instinct, a form of medically-injected brainwashing that compels Kel to find emotional solace in taking orders from superiors, and the ability of Kel soldiers or warmoths to channel formations, producing exotic defenses and attacks by grouping into specific geometric configurations. The development of suicide formations prompted the Kel to be nicknamed "suicide hawks." Non-Kel cannot use formations to channel exotic effects.

Kel unable to maintain formation instinct are known as crashhawks. While there is some precedent for individual crashhawks continuing to serve, the Kel regard them with horror and suspicion, and more often they are discharged or executed. Notable crashhawks include Cheris, Kel Iasure, and Kel Brezan.

In dire emergency, Kel generals can set aside formation instinct by resorting to the Vrae Tala clause, which allows them to disobey orders at the cost of dying within a hundred days of the clause's invocation. A Kel saying describes the resulting countdown: "Every general is a clock."

## Culture

Main article: Kel culture

The Kel tend to be conservative, xenophobic, conformist, and rigidly hierarchical, and acknowledge little difference between foreigners and heretics. The faction's prejudice against body modification, though not an outright taboo, sometimes extends to discomfort with people whose physical form does not match their gender identity, and sex changes are considered distasteful by most Kel, though they are common in the Andan and Shuos. They are stereotyped as blunt, unimaginative, flamboyantly militaristic, fanatical, and prone to sacrificing themselves in impetuous fits of suicidal bravery.

The military keeps a ten-day week. Kel planetary navies are considered the least prestigious postings, dumping grounds for unwanted soldiers. Kel posted to warmoths have a similar prejudice against infantry, who are sometimes disdainfully referred to as "garden Kel" for their ground-based operations.

The number four is associated with death in the hexarchate, and the Kel, whose "luck is always bad," consider "lucky unlucky four" a particular number of theirs. One Kel superstition involves knocking in a one-two-three-four pattern. Another numerical superstition involves the numbers on the blades of calendrical swords, which most Kel carry, being in general extremely fond of dueling.

While a strong taboo against in-faction relationships existed before the development of formation instinct, modern Kel are strictly forbidden to form intimate relationships with one another. Kel caught violating the taboo are executed. Therefore, Kel only marry outside their faction. Group marriages are the norm, especially when children are desired.

### High table

High table is a formal meal eaten daily with the rest of one's company. Each company eats in a different high hall. A communal cup is passed around after the ranking officer present takes two sips. If a high officer who has invoked the Vrae Tala clause is in the room, a candle is present at their place on specific days between the clause and the officer's death.

### Symbolism

The ashhawk, especially Brightly Burning, figures prominently in Kel symbolism, as do flames and the faction colors, black and gold. Ashhawk symbolism appears in rank badges too: captains wear a gold talon with a drop of ruby blood; generals wear wings; high generals wear wings and a flame.

The Kel wear black gloves at all times, only ungloving, it is said, for suicide or lovers. Other faction members seconded to the Kel used to wear black fingerless gloves. After the massacre at Hellspin Fortress, fingerless gloves went out of fashion and seconded personnel wore gray gloves instead.

The Kel have an identifiable body of music. A formal roll call includes fire, a drum, and a flute.

### Food

The Kel flavor plain food with an emphasis on vegetables, and are adamant about spiced cabbage pickles. Other typical Kel fare includes sesame-salted quail eggs, pickled plums, fish fried battered with egg, rice flour, and sage leaves, rice, sesame leaves, and finely chopped marinated roast meat. Indulgences, including fresh fruit such as tangerines and persimmons or cinnamon-ginger punch with floating pine nuts, round out a Kel meal.

Mikodez eats half a Kel infantry ration bar every day for breakfast to atone for all the candy he puts in his system. Kel lore is that that consuming ration bars voluntarily suggests mental health problems. Available flavors include honey-sesame, roasted dried squid (often unpopular but one of Cheris's favorites), taro, anchovies, and curried goat. The various flavors have strong, distinct smells, and some varieties are rated to last over two centuries.

### Kel jokes

Main article: Kel joke

Hexarch Kel Tsoro keeps a file of Kel jokes, as does Lieutenant Colonel Kel Meraun. As a cadet disturbed by Shuos Zehun's remarks, Rhezny Brezan swore to be a "boring average Kel like the ones in all the Kel jokes."

* "How many Kel does it take to clean a latrine?" -- Kel Gized to Jedao (punchline unknown)
* “For all [the Hafn] know, we haven’t met our daily suicide quota.” –- Khiruev
* “How do you tell the difference between a violin and a Kel?” “The Kel burns longer.” -- Jedao to Khiruev

## Recruitment

Main article: Kel Academy

Service in the military is voluntary, and Kel applicants are told clearly what their obligations and odds of survival are likely to be. The Kel recruit from anyone who can pass their entrance exams, focusing on bravery, loyalty, strength, and a modicum of mathematical ability to handle formation geometry and calendrical warfare.

Kel Academy has a Primary campus for officer candidates, with a five-year program. Troops attend a four-year program at Secondary, Tertiary, and other branches.

## History

The Kel were originally an independent starfaring people before the heptarchate was formed. Though their origins are little remembered, some of their culture still exists, including Kel Command, xenophobia for outside cultures, reflexive deference to hierarchy, Kel heraldry, the significance of Kel gloves, and the creation of dramatic tapestries and other memorial art from Kel uniforms and technology used in past battles. However, modern Kel are a volunteer force rather than a closed culture.

The first Kel formation discovered and used was a suicide formation. This fact colored Kel formation use from the start and lent to the perception of the Kel as suicide hawks.

Two of the only three attempts to secede from the hexarchate were instigated by Kel generals before the institution of formation instinct. All of the attempts failed.

Kel Command had always been composed of high generals, but the establishment of the hivemind led to a change in practice wherein every high general was routinely assimilated into Kel Command, an integration procedure requiring new members to be on site with the rest of the hivemind. Nonetheless, the original precedent allowed exceptions for tactical purposes.

While non-Kel rarely rose to positions of prominence, other faction members seconded to the military occasionally had successful collaborations with the faction. One such soldier was General Andan Zhe Navo, who was later remembered as one of the hexarchate's greatest historical generals. Zhe Navo died of old age during the childhood of General Shuos Jedao, who would later be promoted quickly and win every battle he was assigned to until his notorious massacre at Hellspin Fortress. Afterwards, Jedao was placed in the black cradle and signed over to the Kel Arsenal. The Kel subsequently fielded him a number of times as a revenant attached to a living person, usually a Kel "volunteer"; as in life, Jedao won every battle in which he was fielded.

Though the Kel originally existed as an elite by choice, the horror of the Hellspin massacre and the destruction of the ethically-minded Liozh twenty years later dramatically increased Kel Command's paranoia and paved the way for the introduction of formation instinct. This made the taboo against in-faction fraternization became even stronger and reduced the likelihood of non-Kel ascending to positions of prominence due to their inability to be controlled with formation instinct. Over a century later the death of General Kel Vrae Tala led to the development of the Vrae Tala clause, but otherwise little recourse remained for Kel soldiers to directly question bad orders. Kel Command's ever-growing composite psychosis tended to make its bad decisions, such as hiding vital tactical information from its own troops and alienate charismatic or independent officers, much worse. Kel historians tended to skirt issues related to Kel Command's paranoia and questionable choices rather than risk their careers.

During the next few centuries, the development of true machine sentience resulted in the transfer of scutwork such as cooking, cleaning, and repairs to servitors rather than soldiers. Unbeknownst to humans, servitors developed their own culture and those serving with Kel absorbed some Kel prejudices and values. The Kel also continued to obtain better weapons, defenses, and mothdrive vessels from the Nirai.

Ultimately, Kel Command's mishandling of Jedao and Brevet General Kel Cheris, first during the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles and then during the Hafn invasion, cleared the way for the Shuos to enable a calendrical spike in which Kel Command and four of the six hexarchs were destroyed, destabilizing the hexarchate. After the spike, neither the only remaining high general, Kel Brezan, nor the senior swarm general, Kel Inesser, claimed the Kel hexarch's seat. Instead, the Kel divided themselves between Brezan's Compact, where Cheris's revised calendar removed mandatory torture and made exotic effects voluntary, and the Protectorate, led by self-styled Protector-General Inesser and abiding by the old high calendar. Nine years later, the two polities united under Inesser's banner, the Three Kestrels Three Suns, wholly adopting the new calendar in exchange for unified support in opposing Hexarch Nirai Kujen.

## Trivia

* After graduating Kel Academy, Kel Nerevor's first assignment as a junior lieutenant was to a planetary navy. Despite the general Kel preference for moth duty, Cheris, who liked the sea, regretted not being assigned to navy duty.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
2. ↑ The Factions: Low Faction Kel
3. ↑ Ninrfox Gambit, Chapter 20
4. ↑ The Factions: Low Faction Kel
5. ↑ Author's website
6. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 26
7. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 1
9. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: The Battle of Candle Arc
10. ↑ The Factions: Low Faction Kel
11. ↑ The Battle of Candle Arc
12. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter
13. ↑ The Factions: Low Faction Kel
14. ↑ Author's website
15. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2
16. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
17. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 1
18. ↑ Cheris and the Sea
19. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 14
20. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 8
21. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 13
22. ↑ Extracurricular Activities
23. ↑ The Factions: Low Faction Kel
24. ↑ The Factions: Low Faction Kel
25. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter
26. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
27. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
28. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
29. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 23
30. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
31. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 20
32. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
33. ↑ Persimmon Quest
34. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 8
35. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 11
36. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 13
37. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 24
38. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
39. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 10
40. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 3
41. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21
42. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 6
43. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2
44. ↑ Author's website
45. ↑ The Factions: Low Faction Kel
46. ↑ Author's website
47. ↑ The Chameleon's Gloves
48. ↑ Author's website
49. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 18
50. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 12
51. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 13
52. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 13
53. ↑ The Lieutenant and the Sergeant
54. ↑ Cheris and the Sea