Crusader Fleets

"*We do not come in peace, cannibal. We come in wrath!*

*In the names of Lord Odin, Lord Lumbariz, and Lord Makravalas; and on behalf of all your victims, we sentence you Valgetans and your vile mockery of a 'civilisation', to total oblivion. Enjoy whatever flesh you can chew, before it tears out of your fetid bellies as our holy fire reaches their very hands, against you, hellspawn!*

*We do not come in peace, cannibal. WE COME IN WRATH!*"

The **Crusader Fleets** (Novantirna: **Sauvralmadrai, Sauvraldra, Vaimaldra, Vaiualdra**), or the **Holy Navy**, were a specialised space naval force that served the Novantirna civilisation for thousands of years.

Originally an anti-demon defensive navy, this force has become one of the most powerful forces in the Galaxy. It is dedicated to the Star God Odin, the creator of the Celestials who influenced Novantirna civilisation.

## Symbols

The current flag of the Crusader Fleets is a blue and yellow flag with an eye at the left.

The dark blue stands for challenges, the white arc for adapting to every disaster, light blue for dispelling ignorance, yellow for the wisdom of the Gods, and the nine points and the odal-eye for Odin, the Lord of Knowledge.

## History

For many ages, the Crusader Fleets brought hope to a war-torn Galaxy, rebuilding ruined worlds and defending the weak under enduring alliances. Many a tormented victim smiled upon seeing the flags emblazoned with the Eye of Odin, for it meant that the Crusaders were there to save them. In most occasions, the Crusaders not only helped them rebuild, but they also armed the victims, allowing them to unleash their vengeance and wrath on their enemies.

The most famous eras when the Holy Navy was involved were during the wars against the Valgetan Empire and the Celestials, as both fed upon millions of innocents across the northern Galaxy. However, overwhelmed and driven insane by their divine wrath, the Crusader Fleets descended into a war of extermination, directed by the victims of their enemies to destroy the former cannibals and the latter eldritch abominations.

In the former, the Valgetan Crusade, the Fleets were joined by the survivors of Valgetan exterminations, who gladly asked the Crusaders to provide them weaponry and vehicles to slaughter their enemies. In the latter, more fleets from Rukthan used the dangerous Ninth Lore of magic to disable the Celestials before any of the fallen angels would start eating their souls, allowing the rest of the Novantirnas to defeat the Celestials until none of their fell warriors remained to eat any of their souls.

The Orloi, some of the creations of the Valgetans, were not only spared from the exterminations, but were also protected and armed, because they were considered as victims of the Valgetans and a proper civilisation, although they consisted of small leagues of isolated space cities and they were clones. Many Orloi even joined the Crusader Fleets, seeking vengeance against their tormentors and perhaps to win the respect of the Galaxy by being among its protectors.

The Crusader Fleets also took in various peoples that were otherwise hated in Malendor society, but only recruited those who were willing. Many of the future leaders of the Traitor Fleets were banished officers who were arrested for forcibly recruiting the outcasts, turning them away from achievement to degrade them into killing machines. Among the outcasts who became members of the Crusader Fleets were Terran humans from defeated territories or prisoners of war, who were simply left alone in autonomous colonies.

The Crusader Fleets also aided Rîgara during his war to overthrow the Theocrats of Novantir.

### Sarmelonid Era

Much of the Crusader Fleets are currently stationed at the northwestern corner of the Supercorporation, at the north of the Galaxy near the Baimulxerei and the Kingdom of Anchanok, whose loyal people make up a quarter of its members.

Unfortunately, some of the fleets rejected the authority of the High Admiral, seeing him and the current Supercorporation as weak and pathetic, so they terrorised many worlds to create brutal domains under a twisted distortion of Odin's teachings. The rebels also hated and waged war against the Crusader Fleets for being too lenient to prisoners, instead of forcibly recruiting, enslaving, or exterminating them like the rest of the Malendor army. While the remaining members of the Crusader Fleets tried to stop them from destroying the Galaxy, they are also being caught up between the Warlords that emerged in the weakening rule of the Supercorporate government.

Nonetheless, many armadas of the Crusader Fleets battled against the brute might of the Terrans and the Sacrificial Fleets of the Igarin Empire. Some also intervened against any Traitor Fleets who sided with the other two to slaughter for destruction's sake, preventing any more ruin from spreading to many more worlds ...

The Rigarian Alliance was made of many worlds who sought to turn the Malendor Supercorporation into an alliance of independent republics, and some Crusader Fleets were among its members.

## Government

The Crusader Fleets are managed by a High Admiral, who answers only to the CEO of the Malendor Supercorporation.

## Doctrines

"*To say that 'I fight for peace' during war, is to make yourself a liar. If you really fight to bring peace, you must prove it by your actions.*"

The Crusader Fleets believed in justice and efficiency - while they were fierce and sadistic in combat, to those who were not their enemies, they were helpful and kind. They can be very angry whenever someone commits so much destruction and cruelty.

This led to two controversial attitudes - seeking crusades against *all* war criminals no matter how impossible, or being too merciful to people who are hated by the Galaxy if they were prisoners or conquered. An example of the first was their failures to defeat the Igarin and Konjor fleets, and the second was in their incorporation of Terran humans as protectorates, rather than exterminating them as other Galactics did. This led to former allies rioting against the Crusader Fleets and sending fleets to attack Terran areas to slaughter the humans, condemning them as "walking demons".

The Crusader Fleets may be cruel to their enemies, but to prisoners of war, they were rather merciful.

## Weaponry

See also: Malendor creations

While the Crusader Fleets have among the most advanced technology in the Galaxy, many personnel in the Crusader Fleets are also adept sorcerers, continuing the dangerous skill of magic while the rest of the Supercorporation abandoned (not persecuted) the practice.

## Trivia

* The Crusader Fleets may have been inspired by the Grey Knights from Warhammer 40,000, the Jedi, and mediaeval knights from fantasy works.
* Parts of the Crusader Fleets' history are meant to be subversions of the "benevolent guardians" trope, where their beliefs in benevolence and justice may fail in a Galaxy corrupted by fanaticism.

## See also

* Malendor Armed Forces
* Sacrificial Fleets, Igarin Imperial equivalent