Dawnfire Vanguard
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Contents |
Origin and Goals
Originally founded by the Peacebringer Solaira to combat the Nictus threat, the Dawnfire Vanguard has since grown far beyond its original purpose. First sanctioned by Vanguard to help deal with Nictus invasion while Vanguard was occupied with the Rikti, the Dawnfire's policies have expanded since the recruitment of Agent Anarch. Coinciding with his promotion to Director, Thomas Cann's (Anarch's) policy has since expanded to encompass all extradimensional and extraterrestrial threats, including Rikti, Praetorians, subversive Kheldians and Nictus, and Rularuu.
Despite its name, the Dawnfire is not a true branch of Vanguard. They have been called mercenaries and privateers by those wishing to discredit them, but the names are not entirely inaccurate. As Director Cann defines it, the Dawnfire Vanguard is an elite first-response unit contracted by Vanguard to handle threats too large or too ambiguous for the UN-sanctioned organization to handle itself. Black ops, counterespionage, and blitzkrieg are all hallmarks of a Dawnfire-led operation. They are the ones who get in, get out, and get on with their lives before the world at large even knows how close it came to subjugation or destruction.
After the massive Praetorian push, in which many good members were lost, Agent Anarch has slowly begun rebuilding the Dawnfire, restoring its strength and prestige. While still relatively small, the Dawnfire is comprised of a number of truly mighty individuals; it would be unwise for any villainous group to attempt an attack.
Policies
- Trial Membership: One of the greatest stumbling blocks to bolstering a group's numbers is hesitation; it's far too much effort to repeatedly interview a prospective member with all of the other chaos running rampant through Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. As such, Director Cann has initiated a new policy regarding "trial" memberships: prospective members are, at their request, granted an alternating passcode and a communicator, and are for all intents and purposes considered Initiates. However, they cannot rise in the ranks, and their membership is essentially a "feeling out" of the Dawnfire. If the prospective member feels that the Dawnfire Vanguard is a good place to settle, then full membership is granted along with any increases of rank thereof.
- Members' Duties: Director Cann considers the Dawnfire Vanguard to be more than a superhero group; he treats it as an extended family. His brothers and sisters in arms live and fight together, and he expects them to offer support to one another both in and out of combat. Members are expected to settle any differences like civilized people, and any arguments that cannot be so settled are to be brought before the Director, not hashed out in back-alley blood feuds.
- The Lethal Force Policy: Easily the most controversial policy for a registered Super Group, the Dawnfire's stance on lethal force has garnered harsh criticism but earned the respect of pragmatists and military officials. The backbone of the policy is quite simple: the use of lethal force is never off the table. Any threat, should it prove a threat to life, may be responded to with a lethal solution. Director Cann is quick to point out that while nonviolent or diplomatic solutions are best, and the incapacitation of an enemy is generally more desirable than murder, an enemy's life is always less important than the lives of the innocents that enemy threatens. The director himself reviews all kills to identify whether they were justified, and has so far never had to dole out punishment for an unjust kill.
There are only two circumstances in which the lethal force policy is rescinded, but this may be expanded with more frequent incursions by the likes of Rularuu. The first circumstance is Rikti invasion. All Dawnfire Vanguard members are instructed to aim for killing blows against Rikti, as the enemy intends genocide. The war is real, and so must be the riposte. The second circumstance is Praetorian incursion. This was difficult to put into writing, as it felt unjust, but after watching so many good people slaughtered by Praetorian forces, Director Cann will no longer stand for such atrocity. While the civilians of Praetoria are not to be blamed, and assassinations are off the table, any Praetorian who sets foot on Primal Earth with hostile intent has effectively signed his own death warrant in the eyes of the director. No quarter will be afforded these deadliest of foes.
Ranking System
The Dawnfire Vanguard operates its ranking system on a mixture of Prestige and arbitration from the command brass. The first several ranks in the Dawnfire's system rely on mainly Prestige gain while the much higher commanding ranks are by arbitration only. As one can guess, the higher ones rank in the Vanguard, the greater their access to the groups recourses.
- Initiate: Initiate are the lowest ranking members of the Dawnfire Vanguard, heroes who must prove their abilities in the group before they can gain rank. An Initiate generally will be promoted as soon as is possible if they can gain at minimum 20,000 Prestige points, but if the commanding brass of the Vanguard feels that an Initiate has proven themselves reliable to the degree that the prestige mark would ultimately be unneeded, they can be promoted sooner.
- Vanguard: Initiates that have proven themselves are appointed official Vanguards, the official backbone of the group. While normally an Initiate must gain a total of at least 20,000 Prestige points to become a Vanguard, sometimes the command brass of the group can make acceptions if an Initiate has proven to already be a highly reliable member. When one becomes a Vanguard they gain full access to the groups resources, barring access to the command permissions.
- Elite Vanguard: Only appointed to Vanguard's that achieve at minimum 100,000 Prestige points, the Elite Vanguard's are trusted with being able to assist in maintaining the groups HQ though either paying off upkeep when normal command brass are unable, but they are not yet permitted to actually carry out modifications to the base itself without Director's approval.
- Field Commander: The Field Commanders of the Dawnfire Vanguard are the ones that carry out general operations for the group. They are only appointed by the command brass if a member has proven that they can coordinate a group in an operation, something that is usually done though observation from a commanding officer of the Vanguard. Field Commanders are able to schedule ops for the group and are also given greater permissions for maintaining the Vanguard's HQ.
- General: Only the most trusted of individuals are made Generals in the Dawnfire. These people are the ones closest to Thomas, and act as his council as well as the final word on Dawnfire Vanguard operations barring those of Director Cann himself.
Roster
- Agent Anarch
- Origin: Natural/Incarnate
- Archetype: Arachnos Soldier
- Rank: Director
- Catalina the Dark
- Origin: Magic
- Archetype: Mastermind
- Rank: Vanguard
- Clockwork Titan 2099
- Origin: Technology
- Archetype: Blaster
- Rank: Initiate
- Dark Naexus
- Origin: Science
- Archetype: Warshade
- Rank: Elite Vanguard
- Lineage
- Origin: Natural
- Archetype: Scrapper
- Rank: Elite Vanguard
- Malign Otaga
- Origin: Natural/Incarnate
- Archetype: Widow
- Rank: Initiate
- Mega Watt Unlimited
- Origin: Science
- Archetype: Controller
- Rank: Initiate
- Moonlight Sonata
- Origin: Magic
- Archetype: Defender
- Rank: General
- Novaward
- Origin: Science
- Archetype: Blaster
- Rank: Initiate
- Piston Fist
- Origin: Natural
- Archetype: Brute
- Rank: Initiate
- Solaira
- Origin: Natural
- Archetype: Peacebringer
- Rank: General
Coalition Allies
Hostile Forces
- The Council: Due to their neo-fascist intent and alliances with parasitic Nictus, the Council have found their forces and plans crushed beneath the heel of a Dawnfire operative one too many times. They have attempted to assassinate said operatives more than once, but so far such efforts have only resulted in further losses.
- Praetoria: Easily the greatest threat that the Dawnfire faces on a regular basis, Praetoria's government and IDF are a constant threat to the Dawnfire. Lives have already been lost in this war, and Director Cann knows that more will fall before this is over.
- The Rikti: As a result of the Dawnfire's work with Vanguard, they have gained the enmity of Rikti fanatics and the cautious loyalty of the more peaceful Rikti traditionalists. At the moment, the Dawnfire seems to be in a sort of cold war with the main Rikti forces, but any sudden aggression could force heat back into this conflict.
