Soldier Familial Line
The Soldier family has been an all-military family for at least as many generations as the family history can recount. All family members enlist in Celestine military service as soon as they come of age (the sixteenth year). Some seek out other employment later, but all have served at least two years of service before retiring from the front lines. No Soldier has ever had a dishonorable discharge from military service.
For the Soldier family, the soldier’s way of life is the only way to live. Child rearing is done in a soldierly fashion, where the adults are the officers and the children are their enlisted men. There is love and very strong familial ties, but it is expected that orders are to be followed to the best of one’s ability. Discipline, loyalty, and honor are the three-fold pledge of the Soldier line.
Education focuses mostly on soldierly pursuits. In fact, family members are regarded with great respect by those that are aware of Celestine military history or its society. Some of the Celestine’s greatest soldiers and scholars of military science have been from the Soldier line. All Soldier members are well regarded by their reputation and soldierly upbringing.
Soldier family members have two tattoos on the right side of their face. First is the symbol of the Soldier family itself, surrounding the right eye. The second is the symbol of a patriarchal bloodline within the Soldier family, which covers his or her right cheek. Some bloodlines have more renown than the others, which is dependent upon parentage and the prestige said parentage entails.
The tattoos were originally of Silothreni origin, being designed by the Silothreni wife of Aerik Soldier, the founder of the Soldier family. As a result, all Soldiers have at least a small trace of Silothreni running through their veins. While primarily Celestine (with a trace of Silothreni), the Soldier family bears no prejudice against other races.
REQUIRED ADVANTAGES:
Language: Silothreni (Accented, 4). Literacy and the ability to be able to speak the Silothreni language is prized by the family. It is the language that is always spoken within the home and with other family members.
Talent: Soldier Family (5/level). +1/level on reaction with soldiers and military leaders. +1/level to these skills: Brawling, Broadsword, Leadership, Shield, Strategy (Land), and Tactics. All members of the Soldier line are required to have at least one level, and some branches within the familial line have up to four levels. The level must be determined at character creation. The level also acts as a measure about how “military-oriented” that the family is. For example, a level 1 individual is likely to retire from military service after two years, while a level 4 individual is likely to make a lifetime career out of it.
REQUIRED DISADVANTAGES:
Code of Honor (Soldier’s, -10). The Soldier’s Code is ingrained into the new recruits (children) from the day that they are born.
Sense of Duty (Celestine, -10). Patriotism is a serious part of the Soldier indoctrination and upbringing. Incidentally, this disadvantage is taken as a part of the Celestine racial template.
Sense of Duty (Soldier Family, -5). A strong cohesion of the Soldier familial unit is drilled into the heads of the children. The loyalties go Family, Country, and then Fellow Soldiers.
Social Stigma (Silothreni Heritage, -5). The tattoos and physical characteristics that mark the Soldier line as non-Celestine cause them to be regarded with some degree of negativity, depending upon the source.
Vow: “Always keeps his word, once given” (-10). Those that know the Soldier line also know that once that a Soldier gives his word, it is his bond, consequences be damned. This has helped the family to earn quite a bit of respect from outsiders.
Family Life of Joe Soldier
Joe, born on the 3rd day of Icetide 1957 FG, is the son of Rogar and Sethra (Cotton) Soldier. Rogar is of the Aerik line, which is the most renowned (being a direct descendant of the Aerik Soldier).
Rogar is still an active Celestine soldier, having attained the rank of General and serving as the head instructor for the Imperial Military Academy. Joe and siblings were raised near the academy and attended there as soon as they were old enough to do so (the age of 16).
Joe has four siblings: Sethra (born 1950), Rogar “Junior” (born 1952), Duke (born 1955), and Kya (born 1960). As of 1977, all but Kya are currently active military officers in the service of the Celestine Empire. As for Kya, she will graduate from the academy in 1978.