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What if knights had planes? Knight Airborne are part of the Knights of Embersworn, a faction in Transcendent Decay.

The safety of a fief

The Ministeriales of Embersworn not only collect the taxes from their fiefs, they are also responsible for the safety of the people and their belongings. To hold a fief from Hohentäuffen is not necessarily an honour. Foremost it’s a duty occupying the Ministeriales the whole day from dawn until dusk, week by week, month by month, year by year. However if a Ministerialis is managing the fief properly they can live a life of a Markgraf. If their neighbours won’t intervene.

To guarantee the safety of a village in a dale of the mountain region is an easy task in regards to attacks and raids from other Ministeriales and their Lanzen. On the other hand it is not if the raid comes from the mountain sides performed by protowyverns or aurox. This doesn’t happen often, but when it happens it is devastating.

Rumours

In the harsh autumn of 2178 it happened again. First there was rumour that one of the mountain farmer’s homestead was pillaged. It took a couple of days to confirm that the homestead was destroyed because neither did the farmer have a phone line nor could you reach the property by car. The scout party – which was actually the neighbouring farmers – brought the message back to Odalrich.

In order to react properly the Ministerialis had to know what had happened exactly. So Odalrich formed yet another scouting party. This time with men and women from Odalrich’s Lanze. It took another couple of days for them to confirm it was the beasts from the mountains. They also found the current cave of the beasts. For now it seemed that the beasts were satisfied with the spoils from the poor farmer. But soon they’d continue and for sure would draw closer to the village and the surrounding farmsteads.

Now it was on Odalrich to fulfill his duty and to protect the people of his fief personally. The fief was rich enough that he was not only able to maintain over a dozen men and women in his Lanze but also to be an airborne knight. There were few in Hohentäuffen who were able to afford flying a double decker. Especially in the remote fiefs of the mountain regions.

Take-off

Equipped with the hunting lance the double decker takes off. Odalrich is a skilled pilot, known from several areal tournaments which brought fame and gold. But hunting the beast is more than winning a tournament. It’s the ultimate adventure, the ultimate quest. Now he slowly makes the last turn. He knows that the beasts are hearing the strong and monotonous Schmidt motor. And he knows that the beasts will be outside their cave. Lastly he also knows that they will be in the open. One last turn and they are in sight. Strong and feral, lethal and wild. But also within a perfect aim. Only seconds now.

The making of

The Knights of Embersworn are a feudal faction in the world of Nocturna, where the Transcendent Decay takes place. They are full of real world anachronisms. They fight on horse back with shield and lance but also shoot with rifles and heavy machine guns. What if knights had planes? They’d fly them. So the idea was to create such an aircraft with a knight – in this case a Ministeriales.

Julian - Visual Storyteller