Sunday, November 30, 2008

Peoples: The Scorighters

A long time ago, when the first strings of some of the things that would eventually be added into this idea came into my mind WAY back in 2002, I envisioned a special type of people. They would be a warior society of perfect militant discipline who wore black armor and helmets that had snarling faces beaten into them. They were masters of the blade. They were a nightmarish army of invincible warriors taken from all sorts of different peoples and amalgamated under one banner. I named them the Destroyers.
Though this incarnation did not last, they would be the inspiration for one of the three types of demon that I would concieve when writing book 1. They differed from the Destroyers in that they were their own seperate race whose name came to me when I thought of the role they'd play: the scourge's fighters.
If you've ever seen Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers, you'd remember Sauraman's orcs, the Uruk Hai. They were supposed to be the deadliest kind of orc. They are certainly the most memorable orcs if you ask me. They were well disciplined and wore armor that designated them as the elite. BUT HOLY CRAP THEY WERE TERRIBLE! Ten thousand of them couldn't even take out Helms Deep. I lost faith in the Uruk Hai when the elves fired their bows. Just seeing all those Uruk Hais die made me realize that training and equipment was only for show. I have come to think of them as storm-troopers-with-swords.
The scorighters are kind of like the uruk-hai in that they are the best the soldiers that the demons have, but unlike them in that they can show it. Although they look like gaunt corpses (I wanted to give them weak looking bodies to emphasize how much their armor completed them). For the closest comparison, think of the skeletal pirates from the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, but with no bare bones, lips, and no hair. The scorighters are ruthless fighters. They are immune to pain and shock, and are able to lose certain vital organs and retain health. Combine this with good training and a suit of black armor that covers them from head to toe. One scorighter is said to be able to beat five men in a melee. Traditionally, evil minions tend to be numerous and weak. The scorighters are numerous and strong.
Aside from being the demonic elite, the scorighters also form Usor'an's bodyguard: the King's Wall. They are distinct from the others in that they wear no helmets (helmed bodyguards can be infiltrated) and have dark blue armor instead of black. The King's Wall are the elite of the scorighters.
To date there has only been one scorighter character: the lieutenant of the King's Wall, Wraith. Wraith takes on a very important role as being Mhaldin's first mentor.