Maeskoloi

The Maeskoloi are all of the eali al'aqran -- the Jaddian palatine class -- whose genetic enhancements exceed standard Chantry norms, making them faster, stronger, and more resilient than standard palatines. Members are recruited in youth and subjected to nearly a standard century of training at the Fire School, also known as Islis di Albulkam, built along the lower slopes of the Hephaistos volcano on Jadd.

The order is organized in numbered Circles from the Ninth to the First, with the First Circle being the highest honor. A First Circle master is one of perhaps half a hundred in all the galaxy. Masters wear black robes and, in formal or ceremonial contexts, a white half-robe on one side. The term Maeskolon is the adjectival or genitive form used when referring to members collectively as a group to which one belongs.

Neophytes who aspire to become Maeskoloi train for decades before undertaking the Trial of the Heart (il Ebtellah du Qal) at the Atash Behram Jaddi -- the Grand Agiary at the top of Hephaistos, a volcano on Jadd. A tunnel in the Grand Agiary is said to follow the lava flow down into the caldera itself. The Trial is a sacred mystery conducted in this volcanic location. Initiates swear a vow never to reveal the Trial's nature, and the order's secrets are not shared before outsiders. Those who fail the Trial do not return; their bodies are given to the sacred fire. Neophytes preparing for the Trial keep vigil overnight in prayer and fasting.

Upon successful completion of the Trial, swordmasters receive the black mandyas and twin swords. The full membership mandyas is the crimson mandyas: a half-robe of samite dyed nearly arterial red, woven with golden paisleys, hanging from the left shoulder and tied beneath the right arm and belted at the waist, so that the left arm is slung within the voluminous square sleeve, its fringe falling just past the knee. The right arm and the rest of the body is wrapped in polished black leather. Swordmasters carry a matched pair of swords. The order uses a distinctive handshake: the left hand extended, thumb up, for greetings between members.

Swordmasters practice the Tower Dance -- a footwork exercise fought with bamboo swords on narrow posts above a water-filled pool.

The Fifth Circle represents an advanced level of membership with demonstrated superhuman combat capabilities, including catching thrown spears bare-handed and fighting effectively unarmed. It is said one Maeskolos can engage a hundred legionnaires and survive, and that they move so quickly they shock the very air. One-to-one, a Maeskolos is considered the equal of a Sentinel of the Holy Terran Chantry or a khandasattva of the Cid Arthurians. Individual Maeskoloi may serve as sulshawar -- personal protectors -- to Jaddian princes and nobility, as members of diplomatic delegations, or as officers in the Jaddian armed forces. The Maeskoloi do not sell their arms.

Jadd actively limits Chantry presence in its territories, and those within Jadd who embrace the Cult of Earth are tolerated but not embraced. The Jaddian governing religious council is called the Domagavani. The Maeskoloi are the elite warrior order of this sovereign realm.

The Maeskoloi are first referenced when a Jaddian delegation led by Lady Kalima di Sayyiph visits Calagah on Emesh during the early years of the Cielcin war. The delegation's swordmaster-bodyguard, Sir Olorin Milta, demonstrates the order's combat ability in the tunnels at Calagah against Cielcin raiders.

Kharn Sagara of Vorgossos describes the Maeskoloi as an organization that understands that violence is art. Sir Olorin Milta previously gifted Hadrian Marlowe a highmatter sword -- a sword with silver fittings, a lunar blue light when activated, and a highmatter surface that ripples and flows like quicksilver.

During the grand Colosso games on Forum, Irshan -- a Maeskolos of the Fifth Circle and former sulshawar to Prince Constans du Olante -- is forced to fight Hadrian Marlowe in the Grand Colosseum on Forum. Irshan demonstrates the combat abilities of a Fifth Circle Swordmaster: catching Hadrian's thrown spear bare-handed, slapping aside swords with open palms, and fighting unarmed in a boxing style after losing his scimitar. Hadrian kills Irshan during the fight. After Irshan's death, dispholide poison suspended in nano-capsules in his blood is remotely triggered, dissolving his body completely.

During Hadrian Marlowe's two-hundred-year exile on Jadd, he trains at the Fire School under the swordmasters there. His daughter Cassandra, created by Jaddian natalists, trains at the Fire School for nearly thirty years and successfully completes the Trial of the Heart -- il Ebtellah du Qal -- at dawn, descending at sundown as a Swordmaster of the Ninth Circle.

During the assault on Vorgossos, Cassandra Marlowe fights as a Maeskolos alongside Hadrian and his forces, wielding twin swords. She sustains the loss of her left arm in the battle. The Extrasolarian ruler Calen Harendotes identifies her as a Maeskolos and recognizes her as a potentially lethal opponent.

Following the Battle of Vorgossos, Prince Kaim (Olorin) -- himself a Maeskolos -- convenes a council aboard Demiurge. He uses the Maeskolon term to address Cassandra as a peer. Tiada di Umaz, a Jaddian officer in his delegation, is also a Maeskolos.

During the Chantry Sentinel boarding of Demiurge, Cassandra Marlowe engages Sentinel-Commander Kedron in single combat, drawing his elbow wound before being incapacitated by an electric shock from his gauntlet. The encounter reinforces the long-held assessment that one-to-one a Maeskolos equals a Sentinel in individual combat.

Sir Olorin Milta (also known as Prince Kaim Sanchez Cyaxares Nazir-Vincente Olorin ban Osroes ban Aldia du Otranto, the Darkmoon of Jadd) is a Maeskolos and the High Prince of the Jaddian Principalities. He served in his youth as the personal bodyguard and swordmaster to Lady Kalima di Sayyiph, Satrap of Ubar, and previously gifted Hadrian Marlowe a Jaddian highmatter sword. He uses the Maeskolon term with Cassandra, acknowledging her as a peer.

Irshan is a Maeskolos of the Fifth Circle who formerly served as sulshawar protector of Prince Constans du Olante. He is later killed by Hadrian Marlowe at the Grand Colosseum on Forum.

Hydarnes du Novarra is a swordmaster of the First Circle and long-serving teacher at the Fire School. He approves Cassandra Marlowe for the Trial of the Heart and assures Hadrian she will return from Hephaistos.

Anamara is a Maeskolos swordmaster at the Fire School, described as a tall bronze woman with red hair. She wears the white half-robe of a master.

Cassandra Marlowe is a Swordmaster of the Ninth Circle, wearing the crimson mandyas. She passes the Trial of the Heart during Hadrian Marlowe's exile, departs Jadd on the Sabratha expedition, fights at the assault on Vorgossos where she loses her left arm, and subsequently engages Sentinel-Commander Kedron of the Holy Terran Chantry in single combat aboard Demiurge.

Tiada di Umaz is a Maeskolos who serves as a houri and Jaddian officer in Prince Kaim's delegation.

Hadrian notes that he once witnessed a Maeskolos -- unspecified -- defeat three of the Emperor's Martian Guard without drawing her blade.