Battle Chef Brigade (Organization)

The **Battle Chef Brigade** is an organization within the continent of Victusia, comprised of chefs of incredible cooking and hunting ability. These chefs seek to both hone their skills against the monsters of the world, as well as feed the starving, and protect them against monsters. It is unknown exactly how far the Brigade's influence stretches, however, there are many satellite institutions in the more rural parts of the continent, and they have minor influence even in far off continents.

## History

A century ago, the world of Victusia was nearly driven to the brink of extinction by the unstoppable proliferation of monsters, which threatened to starve the populace by devouring all local wildlife, most crops, and lifestock. All while being poisonous to eat. That is, until the brave King Heinrich and Chef Robuchon came together to build the finest culinary institution the world had ever seen, and taught chefs methods to not only find monsters that could be prepared safely, but how to prepare and hunt them down. This institution, now called the ***Battle Chef Brigade***, has continued their legacy and is now known as a brave order of battle-chefs that both protect and feed the people of the continent.

At one point, the mages and sorcerers of the BCB initiated a project that would theoretically provide easier and safer transportation for monster parts and food across regions. They did this by attempting to create and link together a string of magic portals throughout Victusia. However, an accident in the process caused the portals to crumble into each other and fuse, creating a darker mirror dimension of the continent called the Darkrealm. The project was closed, and any information covered up by the Brigade. Only current members know of its existence and location.

Much of the Brigade's history inbetween its creation and the present day is unknown. What is known is that they have constantly maintained the safety of the populace and kept people fed in times of need, as well as regularly send out Ambassadors to outlying regions or rural communities to teach more people about monster food preparation. They have also held the Battle Chef Tournament every year without fail, and without disruptions up until the events of the main game.

## Joining

To join the Battle Chef Brigade, an individual must enter the yearly cooking competition located in the Capital City's "Brigade Town" and must challenge and defeat other hopefuls in battle rounds. These rounds will be judged by a panel of one to three judges, with a required ingredient, and a time limit (based on how many judges). Competitors must also maintain a consistent challenge rate, so as to stay in the contest.

Once a contestant has totalled three wins, without reaching the maximum of three losses needed for elimination, they will move onto the finals, and must face three active members of the Brigade in a row. These matches are one after the other, and use the same resource pool. Thus allowing contestants to build up a supply of ingredients from all three zones before the final fight.

While it is not a rule, most competitors tend to give out or exchange items with the ones who defeated them as a sign of goodwill and respect. These can range from personally crafted goods, to food items, or utensils. All of which can normally be used in the contestant's future matches.

## Current Members

* Chairman Kamin: The Chairman of the Battle Chef Brigade, a mysterious dapper man, with an even more mysterious past. He officiates matches between hopeful chefs
* Razel: The drill sergeant elf who takes care in overseeing all of the hopefuls, and a counselor of sorts.
* Kraus: A hardy knight-warrior, not much is known about him, other than that he likes the phrase "Tough Bricks"
* Belchior: The self proclaimed "Gastronomy Wizard Extraordinaire" and a mad scientist of sorts, he is always looking to experiment on food and get closer to his ultimate experiment, Ambrosia. Extremely fond of cats.
* Thorn: The head of the "Hunter's Guild" in Brigade Town, she is melancholic, but honorable and wishes to see young sprouts grow...even though she doesn't show it. Very protective of her trophies, which she aquired through many battles.
* Rixal: A Master Alchemist with the same level of skill as Belchior, currently removed from service.

Below are the members that joined after the events of the main game:

* Mina Han. The main character of the game, Mina becomes a member during the events of the storyline. She becomes an Ambassador that travels to all corners of Victusia and then some, spreading knowledge and information on monster cooking.
* Thrash. The second protagonist of the game, Thrash becomes a member at the same time as Mina. He joins the Military branch of the Brigade and works to both defend and feed his home village.
* Kirin. She joins the brigade as a researcher working under Belchior in Brigade Town after the events of the main game.
* Leonid. He is one of the first chefs from his batch to join the Brigade. It is unknown which branch he joins, although it is very possibly magic related due to his skillset.
* Cezar. The only dwarf of his year to join the brigade, Cezar presumably stays in Brigade Town after the Tournament so that he can be with Pontida, with whom he has started a relationship with.
* Wart. Very narrowly disqualified, Wart manages to make a comeback very rarely ever seen in Brigade history, and wins all his matches after losing four (the fourth being to Mina). He is the only one aside from Mina to have been given a second chance at joining after his prior disqualification due to three losses, due to the recall from the monster plague.
* Quetzel. The youngest Brigade member to have ever joined, she becomes an Ambassador alongside Mina after the events of the game. Both go on many missions together due to her interferring.

* Other members that joined, with their names unknown:
	+ A blonde hair, slightly plump, light-turquoise eyed elven female chef.
	+ A long pink haired, stick-thin, human female chef.
	+ A dark brown and braided haired human female chef.
	+ A dark-skinned, honey brown mohawk having human male chef.

## Known Members (Former and Possibly Current)

* All backers of the Kickstarter's Brigade Veteran tier received a portrait of themselves as a canonical veteran chef in-game. They are as follows:
	+ **Martin**, a heavily scarred orc chef who wields a giant meat pounder with an eye etched into the metal. His element, as seen from his background, is of fire.
	+ **David**, a jovial human chef that specialises in vegetarian cuisine (as implied by the vegetarian expertise book he carries and the block of tofu in hand). His element seems to be light or earth based.
	+ **Matt**, a chef from an unknown siren/mer-like race who specialises in alcohols and other liquors. His element is water.
	+ **Jon and Kelly**, a human and elf couple who specialise in baked goods and pastries. Jon can be seen with a pair of wings behind him, just like some other elven characters have. Their elements seem to both be air.
	+ **Tristan**, an elven mage chef that wields a staff with a pizza-cutter on top. He has several pouches with elemental drawings (a rain cloud, a ghost or a gust, and a lightning bolt) sewn onto them. Possibly implying that he uses elemental components either in battle or his cooking. His element seems to be lightning and/or water.
	+ **Moric**, a goblin chef that wields a hatchet in his right, and a mezzaluna in his left. His element is unknown, but his art features multiple explosions. It is highly possible that he uses fire.
	+ **Tiso**, a bald human chef who carries a pocket watch, with time-based imagery for his background. It is possible he uses some form of chronomancy, although there is no indication of which element that would be in related to.

* Members of Kirin's Family: A lineage of elves related to the contestant Kirin are known to be current Brigade members. It is unknown how many of them are currently serving, but they are described as being a part of an elven "royal family", and have a long history of being in the brigade.
* Due to his involvement with the monster plague, Ziggy was granted an 'honorary' Brigader status, although it is unknown if this role was given in any official capacity, as he left before the graduation ceremony took place.

## Trivia

* The organization seems to take nods from the real life term "Brigade La Cuisine" a French term which denotes cooking and serving staff in restaurants
* The competition aspect seems to reflect cooking shows such as "Next Iron Chef" or "Top Chef"