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| Ravagers of Plagueis
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Clan Plagueis
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Ascendant Legion
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Slaves
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- 5122 Warriors
- 2561 Enforcers
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Victory is life.
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- Blaster rifle
- Blaster pistol
- Assault cannon
- Vibroweapons
- Various grenades
- Heavy weapons
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Dark Crusade
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Ravagers are the warriors in service to Clan Plagueis and make up the bulk of the Ascendant Legion's infantry. Captured alongside the Clan's other enslaved forces, they are subjected to torture, gene and drug therapy, brutal training, and even cybernetic enhancement to produce bloodthirsty, fanatically loyal killing machines.
History
In 35 ABY, following the destruction of the Jusadih System, House Plagueis was forced to flee aboard the badly-damaged Ascendancy. Faced with few options, Quaestor Tra'an Reith used the slaving skill of the Saraask'ar to rebuild the military force of the House.
Those slaves fit for service were taken back to The Anchorage and prepared to serve. While those who showed greater mental acuity and skill were made Subjugates, those better-suited for combat and violence were put through procedures to increase their brutality, make them athletic and strong, and increase their stamina.
Sealed within combat armor they were trained in every waking moment to utilize a variety of weapons in battle. Afterward, only four weeks after their creation, these bloodthirsty warriors were thrust into their first action - boarding and capturing the Galactic Alliance Task Force Apex. Attacking with the element of surprise and unprecedented brutality, they obliterated the defenses onboard, claimed the beginnings of a new Ascendant Fleet, and sent the survivors to be similarly enslaved.
Unit Structure
- Officer: "First, can you vouch for the loyalty of your men?"
- Ravager First: "We pledge our loyalty to the Dread Lord from now until death."
- ―Typical call and response between a Ravager squad leader and his commander
Within the Ascendant Legion, all officers from the platoon level and above are drawn from the ranks of The Willing. These soldiers are not slaves, but are instead either remnants of the Jusadih Military Regime or recruits gained after the fall of the system. Each squad, however, is lead by a single Ravager that is singled out from his fellows and given the simple title of "First". The First is responsible for controlling his unit and implementing the orders of his officers, and is also tasked with directly disciplining or executing those under his command if they fail in their assigned tasks.
Skills and Capabilities
File:PLA-ravagerenforcers.jpgRavager Enforcer armor.Two distinct varieties of Ravager exist, fulfilling the roles of infantry and heavy infantry respectively.
- Ravager Warrior: Standard infantry, typically armored for regular engagements and armed with rifles and melee weaponry, as well as grenades. They fill the role of standard infantry on the field of battle.
- Ravager Enforcer: Armed with heavier weapons such as repeaters, concussion weaponry, missile systems and assault cannons, these Ravagers are chosen out of the stronger slaves and go into battle heavily armored. They fill the role of heavy infantry, and are often tasked with taking fortified positions and destroying larger targets.
In addition, all Ravagers possess an iron will due to fear for their Masters. If given a task, they will perform it, regardless of how bloodthirsty they may be. Deviations from this result in painful death for the individual involved and agonizing punishment for all other Ravagers, done in a way that only reinforces the deific way they regard Plagueian Dark Jedi. Discipline is so strong with them that Ravagers will often kill an unruly or disobedient member themselves and offer his corpse to their Masters as a showing of fealty.
Ultimately, Ravagers are only as content as their last victory in battle. This mindset is instilled in them from day one, and thus, as Ravagers become restless, they will spend more time training for combat and reinforcing their discipline. This keeps them deadly and efficient at all times, and above all, helps their devotion to the Plagueian cause. In most cases, it would take months or even years of therapy to break a Ravager's loyalty to Plagueis.
Weapons and Equipment
Ravager armor is a system very similar to that developed during the early days of the Galactic Empire for use in the early phases of the Dark Trooper Project. The Phase Zero dark trooper was not a droid system like later models, but was instead an armored cyborg. Much like the Imperial suit, the wearer is permanently encased within the armor permanently. The armor offers significant protection and combat capabilities, while also driving the slave within to be a fearsome soldier.
Ravager armament is varied in model, as most is acquired on the black market using ill-gotten funds. That said, they are quite lethal; all of their weapons are either of current military standard or have been upgraded to meet or rival said standard. Though they will use a variety of blasters, grenades, blades, cudgels, and heavy weapons, all have one thing in common - they are made to kill.
The Ravager Process
When Plagueis began to capture and augment slave soldiers to form the backbone of its new army, the early Imperial Dark Trooper Program was suggested as inspiration by Emar Xu. The Empire had been facing a shortage of able bodied soldiers and a plethora of aging but battle hardened clones, so they turned to cybernetic enhancement as the solution. Plagueis was facing the opposite problem, but Xul felt that the way to overcome that difficulty was in essence the same. Instead of creating an able body through cybernetic enhancement, Xul felt he could twist the mind to become the perfect soldier.
Initially, the slaves undergo basic processing to make them receptive to the final phase of the procedure. The process itself relies on custom chemical compounds produced and synthesized by Plagueian Krath, though they are made from relatively common base compounds. These are added to certain steroidal injections and minor brain chemical modifications meant to enhance brutality and decrease insubordination and moral reasoning. Finally, while long-term memories are removed by process of small tissue removal and bacta injection to produce new, memory-free brain cells, muscle memory and the ability to learn and master new skills is drastically enhanced.
To prepare them for the Ravager armor, cybernetic implants are placed at the base of the spine and through the chest into the heart. The former is connected directly to their central nervous system and allows for an interface with the armor's memory systems, a technology developed from the flash learning systems used in cloning. This gives the Ravagers the combat experience lacking in most captured slaves. The latter system is a far more invasive version of the Mechu Deru filtering used in the implants worn by Subjugates, and turns the heart itself into part of its system. The changes to the body chemistry are pronounced, a Force-based poisoning that makes them easy to twist and corrupt.
These factors combine to get the Ravagers trained and deadly within weeks, though the brutal side effects have led the Krath of the Clan to speculate a functional lifespan of four to eight years for the average Ravager.