Military

After the Second Godswar the people of the desert vowed never to take sides in open warfare again. Not only did they suffer for their past mistakes, but doing so would also imbalance the scales and violate their oath to the Two-Fold Queen. As a result, The Waerd do not fight in wars. They will start wars. They will end wars. But they do shed blood on the battlefield. Theirs is a war from behind the curtains.

That all said, The Waerd are among the most tactical fighters in Elyria, and are renowned as effective assassins. While they typically strike first or use sabotage or subterfuge to avoid direct confrontation, they are never-the-less Skilled in melee combat using short-bladed or fist weapons, and are known to utilize thrown weapons such as fire flasks and smoke bombs - both constructed using alchemical minerals found in the caves and caverns of their semi-arid desert.

Finally, while effective in solo combat, The Waerd are lethal in groups, and very rarely move about alone. If you engage a solitary Waerd, the other one will be the last thing you didn't see.

Just sharing some info from the Waerd military segment (I am sure you read this, thus it is always a good place to go back to). They have bonus in disguises and I don't see why they wont get a bonus for being in group combat. Maybe everyone in stealth attacking at once will give a bonus to damage increase. Should be interesting to see the Waerd on the battlefield. I would not want to be the one facing them; especially in the shadows of war.

Very interesting question, Ilaria! One thing that I would point out is that The Waerd actually can fight in pitched battles, but they suffer penalties if they aren't in direct defense of a settlement (i.e. a siege.) If somebody declares a pitched battle on a Waerd settlement, though, they are totally able to participate in it without being at any disadvantage. If you poke the hornet's nest, they can and will sting.

So it's possible, even if this is restricted to pitched battles (which I don't know if it is or not,) that it might come into play even for The Waerd. If it's not restricted to pitched battles, that's probably even more cool. I'd totally take the time to train my count character as a skirmisher if there were an advantage to doing so rather than using an alt. It sounds pretty awesome!

I think the question then is, what happens if the Waerd lose a settlement and they return to siege it when it's historically Wared? They can be great at defense but if they can never attack, eventually it just becomes a hindrance to their own well being and survival.

Posted By Snipehunter at 6:52 PM - Fri Aug 23 2019

Posted By RedStormBringer at 2:48 PM - Fri Aug 23 2019

I think the question then is, what happens if the Waerd lose a settlement and they return to siege it when it's historically Wared? They can be great at defense but if they can never attack, eventually it just becomes a hindrance to their own well being and survival.

It's not that they can't attack in a siege. It's that they do so with certain penalties (no bolstering, no bloodlust). As a Waerd, you'd be better off making the settlement not worth holding for the folks that siezed it. nightly assassinations, poisoned food stores, etc. With the occupation weakened you could then sweep in and take the settlement in a fight less likely to have a high cost for you.

Hope that helps! :)

Does this mean that they're really good at doing that stuff? Or like if it's an option for everyone. Then well what's so special?

Posted By Gunghoe at 5:06 PM - Fri Aug 23 2019

Posted By Snipehunter at 6:52 PM - Fri Aug 23 2019

Posted By RedStormBringer at 2:48 PM - Fri Aug 23 2019

I think the question then is, what happens if the Waerd lose a settlement and they return to siege it when it's historically Wared? They can be great at defense but if they can never attack, eventually it just becomes a hindrance to their own well being and survival.

It's not that they can't attack in a siege. It's that they do so with certain penalties (no bolstering, no bloodlust). As a Waerd, you'd be better off making the settlement not worth holding for the folks that siezed it. nightly assassinations, poisoned food stores, etc. With the occupation weakened you could then sweep in and take the settlement in a fight less likely to have a high cost for you.

Hope that helps! :)

Does this mean that they're really good at doing that stuff? Or like if it's an option for everyone. Then well what's so special?

Assassin's Dagger

When you only have one chance to strike, you need a weapon that will guarantee success.

Known as the Chi'at'y Nesdr, this glass-bladed dagger is a holy tool of the Waerd. Used primarily in ritualistic assassinations, the poison held within the glass blade is an ancient recipe said to be able to affect daemons, and other monsters in addition to the children of Mann.

Each dagger can be used once, the blade breaking to deliver the poison inside, but the hilt is designed to allow a new blade to be joined to it after each use. The dagger's hilt is often engraved with prayers to the Two-Fold Queen.

And now we know what the Waerd use all that sand for.

@Gunghoe,

The Waerd are better than other tribes, in general, at doing "that kind of stuff". This is because of their several slight advantages in multiple attributes, and not because of an overwhelming specific buff. Characters of other tribes will not be prevented from attempting to increase their own attributes to better themselves at "that kind of stuff", but based on my reading of the lore so far, those characters will most likely have to access Waerd training and techniques to be their best at it. Also according to the lore, the Waerd are not likely to train members of other tribes in their very best techniques that could be turned against the Waerd.

So my take is that other tribes can use the tactics that Beathan mentioned, but they will be less effective against the Waerd. This probably doesn't matter that much because the Waerd are, again according to the lore, primarily a defensively-oriented tribe, which I take to mean that they are not interested in the conquest of others or in replacing other tribes with Waerd.