The Sentinel
Child of
Self-Obliterating Empathy
A soldier wounded during the defense against a month long assault, lying in the mud watching his kin refuse to abandon position.
“I’m alive because I suffer just as much as my soldiers.”
Wields a Load Application of establishing cognitive links with blood-bonded soldiers.
A bond is established through The Conduit Pact on newly integrated Legion members. Participants will make a cut on their palm, followed with The Sentinel forming a large circle with his own blood. Before it is finalized, those being bonded must pledge an oath of absolute loyalty. Participants then squeeze their hand, holding it outward, while standing inside the circle, securing the ceremony and being cognitively linked to The Sentinel. Ceremonies are performed every time before deployment into a battlefield.
Newly bonded members report uncanny mental clarity and discipline during active operations. The cognitive link established by The Sentinel serves to relay their orders and tactical information. Bonded Legionnaires subconsciously process this information and instinctively act upon it. Additionally, the bonded members transmit sensory feedback back to The Sentinel, not literally telepathic, but in a way that heightens their battlefield awareness.
This information relay is only enabled when The Sentinel is diffusing outward. In Overburdened zones, this effect becomes passive.
After a battle, every Legionnaire who fell in combat has a portion of their blood collected and pooled together. This collective blood is poured to form a circle, followed with The Sentinel cutting their palm and spilling blood inside the circle, mirroring the bonding ceremony. For each death, The Sentinel briefly experiences their final sensations.
Overview
An ordinary Sovereign soldier turned Legion Captain after extensive self discovery of their own Load Application, commanding The First Legion; a renown unit of generalized defense that has never buckled or cracked, being the only few that has ever succeeded against The Ghost Brigade's infiltrations. They are only deployed by The Sovereign as a preemptive shield to defend highly strategic territory, halt enemy advances, and function as an immovable blockade to prevent further conquest. The Sentinel serves as one of The Sovereign's greatest on-field strategists. Their hands are enveloped with scars from countless ceremonies they have performed.
Overall Complexity
Empathy is seen as weakness in war, but here it becomes unbreakable command.
- Empathy no longer disrupts them, used as an infrastructure for war instead.
- The Conduit Pact forces the full emotional consequences and responsibility of leadership.
- Post-battle rituals make them a living monument for their fallen.
- They retain their individuality while lacking one simultaneously.