Eldritch and Arcane Corps

The Eldritch and Arcane Corps flag, featuring their four pointed star insignia.

The Eldritch and Arcane Corps, often abbreviated to EAC, is one of the five branches of the Tharavian military. They specialize in combating occult threats and policing the use of magic within the nation. Though the smallest branch in number, they are also by far the most elite soldiers in the country, and possibly, as some suggest, even the world.

The EAC handpicks its recruits from the four other military branches, offering a transfer only to those who show exceptional performance and the greatest dedication. Those who choose to accept this proposition then go through eight months of incredibly harsh physical, mental and emotional training, along with being taught how to combat all manner of magical threats they may face. In the end, soldiers of the EAC are known to show no emotion under any circumstance, and their quick, sharp movements show unmatched precision among any other branch of the military.

## History

### Formation and Early Operations

The Eldritch and Arcane Corps was founded as an official branch in 1680, 23 years after the Tharavian monarchy was replaced by a military government. From the beginning, they enforced the military government's policy of heavily regulating and suppressing the active use of magic in the country. They were preceded before this by various other military units that specialized in dealing with the occult, however none of these were so formal or extensive, and none were quite as extreme in their anti-magical views.

One of the first major operations of the EAC, which took place from 1682 to 1686, was a campaign of annihilation against a set of cults that had been active across Tharavia since the days of the monarchy. By its conclusion, this series of engagements had already demonstrated the excellence and ruthless efficiency of the EAC, establishing them early on as a force to be feared.

In 1744, construction began on the Mountain, a monumental subterranean fortress complex built inside one of the largest mountains in Tharavia. It would serve as the headquarters of the EAC from its completion in 1756.

### Vossterian Era and EAC Expansion

In 1787, Kerhardt Vosster, formerly a general in both the Tharavian Army and Eldritch and Arcane Corps, ascended to the rank of EAC Field Marshal. This was a turning point in the history of the branch and all of Tharavia that would come to be known later as the Vossterian Era because of its significance and infamy.

Kerhardt Vosster strongly believed that all magic was a threat to humanity, and that its complete and total elimination was essential in order to protect the whole of civilization against destruction. These views not only aligned with but exceeded the founding doctrine of the Eldritch and Arcane Corps and their goal of heavily regulating the occult. To this end, Vosster vastly expanded the recruiting programs of the EAC, though he never lowered the standards of enlistment and training for new recruits.

In 1796 he began a nationwide extermination campaign against magicals and several nonhuman races such as elves, though a few such as dwarves and birdfolk were spared. This genocidal crusade, which would later be dubbed the Vossterian Purge, lasted until 1802 when the last Tharavian populations of magicals were eliminated.