The Praetorian

The Praetorian were established by Alexander and Azazel Valkyrion during
the Aevum Aurum of the Illian Empire and since have served as the personal army
of the two brothers. Following their victory of their homeland, and their
subsequent forceful takeover of the Illian Empire; the need for an elite unit
loyal only to Alexander and Azazel had become apparent. After all, they had
inspired the loyalty of both their father’s army and the Illian Legion and with
it had conquered what was at the time their known world. They needed a
contingency plan, a way to prevent their generals from doing the same thing in
turn. The Praetorian became that solution, the most terrifying fighting force
the world would every know loyal only to the two eldest of the remaining
Valkyrion line.

With their inception, this militant body became an immediate threat on the
battle field, dominating every enemy they faced. They were instrumental in
Illian’s doctrine of expansion capable of taking on armies much larger in
number. Their superior martial talent coupled with their unique magical
enhancements and unparalleeld ability to work as a single unit made them nigh unstoppable.

### Recruitment:

The brothers took a unique approach in their recruiting
efforts for the Praetorian. Two demographics were identified as having the most
potential, both children between the ages of five and eight. They selected
children because they viewed them as a clean slate, raw clay to be shaped and
molded into what they would become. For the first of the Praetorian; 20,000
children were brought in from all corners of the empire to the Legion
Stronghold and Imperial Prison at Ostview. Only six hundred left the compound.

Some of the children were orphans, taken off the streets
from major cities through the Imperium. Others were not so lucky. The majority
of the “recruits” were children forcefully taken from the families of conquered
territories. When possible, children of ruling families were made a priority. This
served a dual purpose. It not only increased the number of recruits they would
have to work with, but also acted as a way to beat conquered nations into
submission.

### Training Preparation:

Torturous. The training of the Praetorian was brutal and
draconian, exceeding levels of twisted cruelty unimaginable to those who hadn’t
lived through it. Recruits were broken and rebuilt, time and time again. From
the day they arrived in Ostview, they were denied sleep and food. Their first two
weeks there, they were provided only enough water to keep them alive. At the
end of the two weeks, children were made to fight one another bare-knuckled.
These fights were to the death, and only the victors were allowed to eat. Those
who wouldn’t fight, were killed before the horde. On the fifteenth day,
ten-thousand children died while the remaining half feasted. This was far from
the end.

The cycle continued, two weeks without sleep or food
followed by a single day of brutal carnage. Each time, the children were more willing
to engage one another. Forty-five days in, and the recruits numbers had
dwindled to only twenty-five hundred children. They were made to bury the
bodies of those not strong enough to survive. In the rocky terrain of the
Forsaken mountains, the remaining group was forced to dig and stone without
tools or adult help. Daily, children were publicly beaten to death to encourage
the remaining group to work harder, faster. By the time the dead were buried
another five hundred had died to the beatings or the disease of the now
festering corpses. Three months in and Alexander and Azazel had caused the
death of eighteen-thousand children. The remaining two-thousand were castrated
before their actual training began.

### Martial Training and Education:

For the next five years, recruits were subjected to non-stop
training and education. Eighteen hours a day, these children were only allowed
to train their bodies and their minds.

They were taught combat both on foot and on horseback, in
and out of formation. Martial instruction and a deadly regimen of practice was
instituted for every conceivable weapon be it melee or ranged, flexible or
fixed in every type of armor imaginable. They studied as well; educated in the
art of war, strategy, and tactics with required adherence to the Proximian Faith. Another five years and another five hundred dead. Now, only
fifteen-hundred remained.

### Augmentation:

As though their bodies and minds had not been broken enough,
Alexander and Azazel saw it necessary to change their biology. They did this
through the use of divine magic, in conjunction with the power possessed by the
Vitemium and Mortemium blades. In a series of rituals, developed over the last
five years with the Legionairres at Ostview, the recruits were created anew.

Bone density was tripled leading to amazing skeletal integrity.
This allowed for increased muscle density as well as the augmentation focused
on incredible strength without the bulk that would normally be associated. Lean,
white muscle became the focus leading to superior strength and speed. As part
of the anatomical changes, each recruit acquired a second heart—a necessary
adjustment to provide blood flow to the additional muscle groups. So much was
their cellular composition changed through magical means, a new race—unable to
reproduce—had been created.

Of the fifteen-hundred that entered augmentation, only six
hundred survived. The number for the order had been set. The process had
produced a three percent success rate.

### Divine Magic and Further Martial Training:

Those who survived augmentation entered the personal
tutelage of Alexander and Azazel. From Azazel, they received further martial
training ensuring that they would be the most skilled and organized combatants
on any battle field. From Alexander, they were trained in the use of Divine
Magic.

Rather than teaching them as casters, an approach was taken
to use Divine Magic to further augment their already impressive physical
prowess. Through the use of Divine Magic, the Praetorian were taught to further
fortify their bodies, to increase their speed and strength, to heighten their
sense and their reflexes. They were also taught to augment their weapons.
Education was provided in the four cardinal elements as a means bolster their
equipment. The result was an uncanny ability to enchant their weapons and armor
as needed. From flaming swords, to arcanely hardened armor – their magical
prowess was such that they could not be outmatched in either ability or
equipment.

### The Cleansing:

For over ten years, the Legionairres that had brought the
recruits in and those that had already been stationed at Ostview had not been
allowed to leave. They missed their families and worried for their well being
as they had been allowed not contact witht he outside world since the first child
was brought in. The hop, was that graduation day would change that. Their
hopes were misplaced.

A massive ceremony was put together in the fortress, the
revealing of the Praetorian Cohort. Every soldier at Ostview was required to
attend. They filled the courtyard before a stage that had been constructed in
the days leading up to the ceremony. From the bowels of the stone monolith, the
Praetorian emerged  in a phalanx that
moved as though it had one mind. Shields and spears glistened in the light of
the early morning. As they took the stage, silence fell. The Legionairres
looked on in awe.

In the silence, the gates were sealed—each portcullis shut
with a ferrous whine and sudden crash. It did not go unnoticed. Once escape was
rendered impossible, the Praetorian wasted no time. They had been instructed in
what needed done. Like the wrath of the gods, they descended from their podium
slicing through the soldiers before them. Within an hour, six hundred
Praetorian had slain fifteen thousand men. Not one was left alive, each of them
deemed a liability having witnessed the atrocities that took place to create
Illian’s elite warriors. Once again, the Praetorian were made to bury the
fallen, though none struggled this time. Ostview was never used by the Legion
again, reserved to this day as the primary location for new Praetorian
training. Stories are told by the locals of the place and none dare venture
there for to do so is a death sentence—even for the bravest of traveler.

### The Praetorian Now:

In the current day, the Praetorian are split between two
cohorts of three hundred each. One stationed in Nova Indomitus and the other in
Nova Carthago.  Their numbers never
change, each time a Praetorian is felled in battle another one is ready to take
their place. Six hundred, no more no less.

Their methods of training remain to this day just as brutal
and vicious as they started, though now it is reserved to the Veterans of the
unit to carry out this duty. Alexander and Azazel’s involvement is limited now
only to the augmentation process.