Hajduk

 

“To live by the sword is to live by a divine law. An oath sworn to protect the wild way of life until an inevitable end delivered by the selfsame creed you followed. This is our fate, our burden to bear but also our gift. For we are unbound yet celebrated. Heroes of the people, villains to the powerful and then you have the others, like me. Individuals all with a story to tell, who have taken up the blade for their personal reasons. Such as delivering Morana’s vengeance to the true evils of this world.”

    Hajduks are a type of traditional warrior and hunter archetype that originated among the peasantry of the Vouglian counties. During times of turmoil, having been both occupied by both the Sylvhar and Dyskhari dominions on separate occasions - ordinary people rose to become saints, sinners and all things between to survive.   Some of these warriors proudly followed in Ysand’s footsteps. Fighting silent wars within the mountains and woodlands. Liberating villagers and forming irregular warbands that would eventually lead to dynasties and bloodlines that in present time serve as nobility within the Golden Empire.   Others ventured into the territory of the Beastkin. Believing the gods had forsaken them. These raiders took up arms underneath the Beast himself, to become bloodcrazed and savage fighters that made a career of slaying both elves, and later men as well. Embracing lifestyles untethered from law and order - where all they can take through strength, is their divine rights.   A few oddities fell back to old traditions before Vougliano united beneath the Golden Empire. Serving themselves and their tribes as survivors and rebels that fought with Morana’s fury. Caring neither for personal glory nor that of the Golden Empire - above simply rising up to live another day. Earning them the blessings of Lady Winter, Morana.     The Hajduks of old commonly started out in the garbs of peasants. Armed with little protection besides what they could scavenge. Sometimes tunics with sheep's wool, other times chestguards carved from hard wood. Eventually scavenging, raiding and mercenary services left most of the successful Hajduk with a type of culturally aligned brigandine.   Dark red colours matching with blue and green made up their shirts and pants underneath a lightweight brigandine made from hardened animal leathers, with fur capes and shoulderguards. The colours on these animal-carved leathers are usually natural tints between brown and gray. Covering their more colourful civic garments with natural camouflage that helps them in opening up a fight.   While they do not use plate armour as it makes them too immobile, the wealthy among Hajduks tend to invest in chainmails - and especially in plate, cloth or fur covered helmets which a majority of them wear.   It is not unusual to see them adorned in jewellery, brooches or bone relics said to invoke Morana’s blessing - or those from other older gods of the Ysandrine pantheon.     Unlike most fighting professions that rely on firearms, Hajduks do not utilize revolving technology or semi-automatic pistols. They remain with the classics and not out of cultural pride or a naive trust in their sharpshooting skills.   With sigil shots, muskets and firearms can fire spell-bound balls - unlike that of modern bullets that lack the pure metal density and shape to function magically. For warriors that attack from stealth and then engage until the fight is won, limited ammunition is a downside. Ironically, this makes carrying six flintlocks loaded with rounds that spread a cloud of death, or an explosive solar blast, as far better options than trying to take out an enemy which might soak up two or three bullets before falling.   While some Hajduk learn to carve empty runes into their own munitions - to then be blessed by whichever divine domain they champion, others can be bought from temples or spell smugglers. Sometimes legally, other times illicitly.   Hajduks are deadly from a distance, but even more so at close ranges. Their weapons, usually consisting of a one handed axe or scimitar, seldom come without runic enchantments and blessings.   Depending on the deity they champion, a Hajduk could enter combat with everything from hellfire burning dual axes, to which they wield with savage might and bestial cunning - to graceful dueling with sabre and buckle, radiating with light and allowing them to carve through metal with a molten gash.   The main thing that makes them stand out from other spellcasting warriors, is that the Hajduk does not control their own spellcasting. Instead they constantly walk underneath the blessing of the deity they serve - or the ones listening in their place. Where one might faithfully serve Ysand and be blessed with shields of light or unnatural healing to their wounds, a zealot that goes against the tenets might find themselves unknowingly bound to a mimicking devil.