Origins of the Northern Air Fleet

[Lehran]

This is a place for each Northern Air Fleet member to catalogue their back story. This will serve as our "lore". Each Entry is to be included with the Following coding: NAF Data File NAF-00X, where X is the entry number. For entries ten and up it goes 0XX. Fitting music for readers to listen to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9scyP5gh8C4

[Lehran]

NAF Data File-001:

“For every beginning there is an end. An alpha and an omega.  An endless cycle.”
Humanity was created over 7000 years ago. I watched them in the last 1000 years. Advances in technology were rapid, leading to unbelievable heights. However these heights took mankind off their path, and their arrogance led to the apocalypse, their advances lost, the first omega. Out of this came a new age, with remnants of mankind fearing the corsairs and brigands. Airships rule the skies, and the empire tries to fight these corsairs, though they fail to eliminate them. What will end this madness?

NAF Data File-002

“There is never a true end, only another beginning. What will the next omega bring?”
I have watched long enough. I am Lehran, origin’s end. If the empire cannot end this madness, I will. I shall assume the role of omega, as the pilot of the Icarus before me, but more resilient.

I have assembled a force of noble mercenaries that will help me liberate the fjords from the corsairs. We are the Northern Air Fleet. We will stop this cycle, and start the world anew. The question is, can humanity stop itself from losing its way again, causing history to repeat?

NAF Data File-003

“Agent of Fate, Lehran, break the cycle. Set us free.”
Today we change the course of history.  Flying in formation at low altitude, a fleet of three ships breaks through the clouds at dawn, under the flag of the Northern Air Fleet. We move on the rear corsair ship. It falls within seconds, followed by another, and another after that. Confusion fills the air as the corsairs awake to their comrades' demise, unable to get to battle stations. The Northern Air Fleet shoots down fourteen brigand craft, liberating the fjords of their kind. Today is the dawn of a new era. Corsairs, run in fear, for Omega has come.

[Null]

NAF Data File-004:

"There are some areas in and around Firnfield where blood runs cold. Good thing the steampipes are warm."
     I started off in Blackcliff, as an engineer, until the fleet said they needed one. Now I know that to some of us, this is all about killing corsairs. But not to me. Sure, I don't want to have my home captured, but I joined to keep these men alive. And I've learned to shoot at them whenever they come in range of an engineer's gun, but this is all about keeping people safe. Corsairs aren't safe. If I blow up a ship, I do it only for the life of others, not to take the lives that I just took. Lehran's a good captain, but a risky one. He needs a good engineer, or the ship goes boom. With a good engineer. he makes the enemy ships go boom.  Corsairs, get ready to go boom.

[Metal Man]

NAF Data File-005:

 “Not all of it is about protecting the people, but about revenge on the people who killed his family.”
I was born on the fjords and grew up to fly supply ships, and was out when that fateful day occurred. Just past midday the peaceful sky was shattered by the drone of engines. The corsairs attacked without warning killing and plundering all in the path. My entire family lived in that village, there were no survivors. During my darkest hour the NAF took me in, and when the NAF brought the fight back to the corsairs I was there.
 
“Run you filth for the survivor is here, and there is no place to hide!”

I fight to prevent the what happened to me form happening to others, to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and to spread fear of the NAF throughout the corsair ranks.       

[Gerand Regent]

NAF Data File-006:

"There are only two kinds of beings in this world: the hunters and the hunted. Neither or mutually exclusive. You want to stay alive? Don't waste time thinking about which one you are."

Growing up in the world today, you learn quickly that he controls the skies above controls the world. That kind of control isn't something that I'd say belongs in anyone's hands, at least not in the hands of the Corsairs. They burned my home town to the ground when I was just a little boy. I barely made it out alive; the rest of my family didn't make it out at all. I grew up in the skies pretty much, always on one ship or another, working for some captain of some description. Leading a life like mine, you learn real quick not to think to much about the person who ends up on the wrong end of your flak cannon. Accepting death is just part of the job of a gunner, whether it's your own or someone else's. Thinking about it only makes the job that much harder. If you need something to kill for, then kill for your crew. Kill for your captain. Kill for yourself. Kill to live, that's what it boils down to, but don't bring death onto those who don't deserve it. The Corsairs kill innocent people, unarmed prey who present no threat or challenge to them at all. They think this makes them the hunters, but they do not not know the true meaning of the title, of the thrill of riding on death's doorstep, the excitement of facing down an enemy that could end you at a moment's hesitation. They are merely a different kind of prey, seeking strength by exploiting the weakness of others, and they will soon learn what it is like to be hunted. I will show them what a true hunter looks like, and they will know fear when they look upon me, upon the captain that found me, and upon the fleet he now commands. They will see who truly commands the sky, commands the world, and it will be the last sight to ever grace their pathetic eyes.

I kill because it is my purpose. I fight because it is my duty. I serve this fleet because it is my obligation. I hunt because it is my destiny, for all those who fell prey to these cowards we now fight, and for my comrades-in-arms whom fight and die beside. For our leader Lehran, the Omega, the bringer of change, I shall be the hunter's bow, the weapon to strike down our prey, the corsairs. I will be the hunter these poor excuses for men fail to be.

I am Gerand Regent. I am the Huntsman. Pray that you will not be my quarry, and if you are, pray for the mercy you have so clearly never shown, for only the cruel and the cowardly are struck down by my arrows.

[Gerand Regent]

NAF Data File-007

My time as a hunter of men only truly started when I joined the NAF. Having been aboard so many ships, serving so many causeless slouches of captains, my reasons for fighting, for killing, used to be very much monetary. That all changed once I was ordered by my previous captain, a Corsair whose ship had been wreaking havoc on the Fjords for many a year, ordered me to get on the flamethrower and set fire to an innocent trade town. I would not repeat the very action that robbed me of my own family. I killed the sod with my own bare hands, threw him overboard, and blew the rest of the ship to the high heavens. I was welcomed into the town a hero, the one who finally rid them of a long-time predator.
That's when I met him. The Omega.
Lehran, a name I would grow to know well very quickly, had already heard of in fact, in hushed rumors tinged with reverie and awe. There he stood before me, among the crowd of townsfolk, like an old friend I hadn't seen in ages. He approached me, told me I had potential, and that if I so chose, I could hone it into true skill among the ranks of his fleet. The Northern Air Fleet. It was, and still is, a name that carries respect and pride. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and, seeing as I'd just killed off the entirety of my previous crew(captain included), I didn't have any place else left to go really.
And that's really all there is to it. I've said everything else that needed to be said before, so I'll leave the rest of my history to the annals of time. Still plenty left to be written after all, and besides, actions always speak louder than words. You don't need to hear my life's story to know who I am, you need only hear the roar of a Hwacha or the boom of a carronade to know the Huntsman comes for you.
I will make history not with the words I put here, but with my deeds as a member of the NAF.

[Thraxius Meridius]

NAF Data File-008

Is this thing on?...*Taps Mic*

(Coughs roughly) (Spits) (Clears Throat)

While I am in the right mind and since the wine and liquor have already done to me what they were created and brewed for...(belches) let me tell you my story. A memoir if you will.

I am Thraxius Meridius, son of Decimus Meridius of the House Meridius- Commander of the 13th Legion of the Northern Fleet of the Fjorn Baronies, during the war of the burning skies - Descendant of The First King Agrius. Father to a slaughtered family.

Stripped of Rank and Exiled into the vastness - Wrongfully accused of treason by the Mad King Romulus Maximus.

I have wondered the Vastness for many decades, survived it's Stygian landscape.
Traveled all across this realm, from the wastelands of the Arashi desert, to the abysmal waters of the Sea of Devils - in search of those who have wrongfully accused me. Sometimes I think 'War' is the god's way of teaching us geography.


I am a friend to the high consul of The Order, A comrade to the Armed forces of The Republic, A brother of the Brotherhood of the League. Enemy to the Empire and Enemy of my home, the Fjorn Baronies.

I have been the commander of The Titan for nearly 30 years - The Spire Airship thought to have been obliterated in battle - brought back to life by the the warm pulse of my bloodlust and vendetta. The wars may come and go, but my crewmen stay eternal.

I am a verteran. I fight wars with bodies on the ground, with only the warm embrace of wine and liquor beside me.
Everybody should believe in something, and I believe i'll have another drink. Because a man in pain is unreliable.

To my Crewmen and comrades, I say - as we charge in battle, no last wishes and no second thoughts. Never spill the liquor!
To my Enemies, I say - Give the Devil my regards.

*End of recording*

[RethBurn]

NAF Data File-009

"For a cycle of Alpha and Omega, I seem to pass through a lot of them."

I have been in conscription for the Aetheri Empire for as long as I remember, they own me as property. I have been taught how to fly, to fight and how to sacrifice myself for the good of the Emperor. I don't know if this is what I believe in. At the age of 18 I have passed my flight tests, and have been given my first air-craft. I serve in Squad 13. We are given the task of defending a transport on it's way to the Central air-base, near the palace.

NAF Data File-010

The mission were unsuccessful. As we passed through the Dragons' Belly, a huge underground Cave system that serves as a Crossroads within the main-land, we were ambushed by Marauders, they had hid in the unlit tunnels. And we only found out when we heard the engines overlap our own. Our Wing Commander told us to engage the enemy. That was, until his engines were shut out and he collided with the armoured pincer of the enemy ship. With the chain of command disrupted, some people took their liberty to try and break free of the Empire's chains, and flew off. I gripped my steering gear and tried to shoot at the enemy ship, to no avail. The Pirate ship rammed the transport, and it all ended in the dark maws of the Dragons' Belly. Gripped with Panic and despair, I fled to the Central Air-base. Here I gave my report, and became responsible for the loss of highly advanced salvaged goods, that was to turn the tide in the Empire's struggle.

NAF Data File-011

I was placed in a Court-Martial, for the Crime of fleeing the battle-field, breaking the Chain of Command, and failing my Duty as a soldier, as well as the deaths and desertions of the rest of the Squad. For this, I was punished with a slow death. Placed in jail, 'till starvation claimed me. As I sat there, not even once did I think of this as undeserved. Like a drone, I waited for my rightful punishment. I closed my eyes, waiting for it to happen. At daybreak, my life was changed forever.

I woke up abruptly, in the dawn of day, explosions sounded across the city. I rushed to the door, crying out for an answer to this confusion. There had been an attack on the Air-base. An enemy of the Empire had raided the main city, and had taken out the stationary defence in the area. I searched for cover, where none would be had, in my little cell. The world shook, and for the second time. I felt despair grip me, only in the midst of battle, where men was born and the Empirical soldiers stood strong, I was weak. I heard the whistling howl of an incoming shell, and closed my eyes, hoping for it to end swiftly. It did not. The wall of the cell was torn off, a guard that had been on the outer walls had been diminished to a bloody wretch in the rubble in front of me. Life presented it's bountiful gift of freedom. and to my left, the floor presented my left arm, crushed off beneath the rubble that had flown into the cell. I looked upon my arm, still attached to my body, if only in the flesh, the bones had horribly snapped, and every single part of the pain followed.

That day, an animal that had been tamed from birth, finally roared. I looked over the dead guard in front of me, and grabbed his pocket knife. I looked to my left arm, and tore the world asunder in screams of pain as I cut my own arm off. I threw the knife asides, and stumbled ahead, falling several times on my remaining stump of arm, each time more painful than the last. I tore pieces of the guards uniform, covering the wound up the best I could. With the blood of min staining the roughed up pilot suit of mine, that I had been allowed to take into the afterlife, I looked like more like a savage killer than a scared prisoner. I stood up, and walked out onto the garrison wall.

The first thing that met me here, on the dawn of a new day. Was the scent of blood and gunpowder blowing in my nostrils. Before I could even decide what to do, an airship lowered itself from the skies. A man stood at the edge, holding a hand out for me: "You don't look too good, son! Grab my hand if you care to live." He shouted, I trembled once more, but my mind had no say in this. My arm reached out and grabbed his, jumping onto the ship. As I got safely into the middle of the deck, I noticed other prisoners escaping their stone clutches and turning to the Air-captain for freedom. I plumbed down against the back railing, breathing out as darkness took over my vision.

NAF Data-file 012

Years have passed since the day I left the dreaded empire. Although it is not the same as I fight now, I see the resemblance in every imperialist I fight. They are the same as what I had been, drones without the understanding of what the human life is worth. They seek to please, and based their life around it, yet I clench the pistons in my left hand, crushing the medal of their empire with the arm that I replaced.

I have fought for many, I have loved few, laughed with companions, and shed tears when they died. People come and go, so do I. When I left my previous arrangements with the Baronies and the Commander that I had captained for, I took only my ship, in respect of the men that had set me free.    To this day I still haven't recuperated from what happened on that fateful day, but with the Northern Air Fleet, I seek to become the Captain that once reached his arm for me. Until that day, the man named Lehran claims my soul and ship, aboard the Baronoke of the NAF

Wing Commander RethBurn, out.