The Krath yl Rhyn are an elite unit of soldiers, spies and assassins who serve the Ward and the clan-lords of Greymour and who are typically recruited from the ranks of those families. They are prized guardians of any noble house and are feared for their prowess and ferocity.
Lore
Recruits undergo a rigorous training period for 5 to 10 years that consists of lessons in combat and survival; those of noble birth are typically instructed an extra year on the arts of subterfuge. Their tutelage culminates in a ceremony where they swear an oath that binds them first to the Ward, then to their comrades, and finally their respective clans. Upon completion those of common birth are conscripted into the Shadow Guard (soldiers) or the Ebon Dirk (assassins) and those high-born continue their refinement and become Blacktongues (spies).
Membership in the Krath disqualifies its members from owning titles or possessing wealth. Oath-breakers are exiled from Greymour and deserters are executed.
History
Ward Cirin II (Cirin the Bald), suspicious of his bodyguards, trained his kinsmen in the arts of hand-to-hand combat and subterfuge. Cirin sent his kin out to all parts of the world in search of foreign warfare techniques. His eldest nephew, Rhy, returned from the Malkost after years as a hostage of House Rosemurk, where he learned various styles of combat as a squire to the lord there. Upon his return Rhy served his uncle and trained his kinsmen in those foreign styles of combat for many years and he eventually developed a new style which fused the most effective elements of his training. When Cirin died Rhy was crowned Ward. He accused Cirin's bodyguard of poisoning their master and had them executed. Rhy appointed his trained siblings as his personal guard, named them the Krath yl' Rhyn, and ruled effectively for many years.
Rhy's younger brother Khir initiated the practice of training children. Khir believed that the Krath did not necessarily need to be of the clan, as long as they were chosen and molded while still at an impressionable age. Khir was correct and his Krath were completely devoted to their Ward.
Rhy's grandson, Ward Cirin VII, recruited magelings and hired tutors from around the world to educate them. As a result the Krath today boast some of the most powerful combat-mages on the Isle.
Modus Operandi
In court and in the field the Shadow Guard wear identical black armor (enchanted) and don death's-head face guards. Their gear serves both a functional and psychological purpose; in combat they resemble fearsome black skeletons.
Temperment
Since many Krath are recruited young, they become bound to each other by a sense of family which becomes reinforced by the oath ceremony. Their loyalty to each other is superseded only by their loyalty to the Ward, who becomes a father figure to many of them. The Ward pampers the Krath by lavishing them with the finest weapons, horses and clothes. He approves of and encourages relationships between his bodyguards and he frowns on outside fraternization. As a result of their training, their status and their treatment, a typical Krath yl' Rhyn is haughty and condescending when he deals with anyone other than his king or his peers.