The STL Trenches

Cinderthralls: The poor wretches that make up the Cinderthralls are mostly promising captives taken alive to serve the Ironbound. When a Forgefire Belcher is slain, whomever made the killing blow is marked by soulcinder, these skilled mortals are kept alive, if possible in the heat of battle. This is no mercy, for the Ironbound take these skilled fighters prisoner and weld rudimentary armaments to their flesh and send them into the front ranks of the most grievous battles. Those who survive their first battle as a Cinderthrall are elevated to the ranks of the Aspirants, not many do.  Worse than even the wretches forced into service are those witless mortals who seek out the Ironbound, these mortals are tested in combat as a Cinderthrall, given the same opportunity, survive and be elevated or die and become fuel.

Ironbound Revenants: Aspirant Ironbound who achieve veterancy of three battles are candidates to become Revenants. The final step before ascension, Revenants are honored and feared by the aspirants. Augmented beyond mortal capability, the Revenants are infused with the eternal flame. They are not dead, are mortal only just; sustained by techno-sorcery and flame, they linger at the threshold of death. Revenants are utilized as elite troops for the most arduous missions; their success marks them for transfiguration.  Failure does not consign them to scrap, they are too useful to be discarded outright, yet the winnowing is harsh, and those Revenants who fail their testing are ascended to the ranks of the Forgefire Knights and Belchers, or into Forged constructs. A Revenant is guaranteed ascension, but only the most deserving may become true Transfigured. It is a closely guarded secret among the ranks of the Revenants and the Forgefire; the fear and shame of failure, to have come so far but fail at the final step. Yet every creation has its place, and Fer’agosh does not waste wantonly; Forgefire battalions are fearsome indeed, and there is always the hope of future transfiguration. In battle, the Revenants are vicious killers, each burning with ardor to distinguish themselves for transfiguration. The do-or-die mentality drives the Revenants to the extreme limit of mortality, yet therein lies Fer’agosh’s design; by combining physical liminal existence with the emotional, Revenant souls burn bright with potential, and therefore are the most useful.

Aspirant Ironbound: Mortals mad enough to join the Ironbound willingly and promising captives alike form the ranks of the Aspirant Ironbound. These poor wretches fight to earn the gift of transfiguration, or the release of death. Their bodies are enhanced with ironbound augments, swifter and tireless legs, arms that can carry heavier loads and land stronger blows, implanted mechanical eyes, or even their entire face carved off and replaced with an iron mask to interface with the forge’s combat overlay. Aspirants have developed a cutthroat warrior culture; the gift of ascension to the ranks of true iron is tantalizingly within their reach, so they seek great glory and deeds on the battlefield. Whilst not in combat, the Aspirants live and train in barracks quarters within the Forge-Ziggurats. There they tinker upon themselves under the tutelage of the Cindersmiths. Every Aspirant is considered a resource, failed aspirants are recycled into components, soul energy, or remade into Iron Scavengers; but the investment into the Aspirants is genuine; Transfigured Ironborn tutor Aspirants in their ways, teaching them engineering, architecture, the catechisms of the Eternal Flame, strategy, the scientific method, and the natural sciences, for each Aspirant may one day become a Transfigured themself and, despite mortal reckoning, a sense of academic camaraderie exists within the upper echelons of the Ironbound. The brilliance of Fer’agosh is infectious, promoting the Transfigured to compete in contests of invention; aspirants are an essential resource for the propagation of the Ironbound dominion.

Lychhunter: Lychhunters are the Transfigured assassins of the Ironbound. Their clade is entrusted with the sacred task of hunting and capturing select souls for Fer’agosh. The Forge-Ziggurats are powered by bound and transfigured liches, creatures powerful enough to embody the liminal of undeath and the process of transfiguration. A Lychhunter can trace the necrotic scent of a lich across all of Ashmourne. Relentless in the hunt Lychhunters can disperse into smoke to hide in shadows and reconstitute themselfs, can utilize short range flame teleportation to blink in and out of reality in bursts of incandescent light. Their elusive nature allows them to infiltrate a lich’s sanctum for capture using nullification shackles to mute a lich’s spellcasting.  Lychhunters can also drop ember-beacons, allowing for triangulation from the Forge-Ziggurat to allow teleportation into a Lich’s chambers once infiltrated; allowing for instant reinforcement and extraction. The fate of a captured lich is horrific. Bound in nullifying iron, the lich is transported to the heart of the Forge-Ziggurat. There, they are subjected to a binding ritual; first they are entombed in an iron maiden made of nullification iron.  Threads of eternal flame are woven throughout their flesh like circuitry. Then, molten iron is poured within, to encase the lich in scalding agony. The lich’s phylactery is connected to the iron maiden to complete the ritual, turning the lich into a power source that is linked into the Forge-Ziggurat. Necrotic energy creates a feedback loop with the eternal flame circuit; lesser souls are fed to the forge as fuel, burning coal to keep the balance of flame and undeath hot.  The inner sanctum of the Forge-Ziggurat is not unguarded, Lychhunters haunt these spaces as eternal guardians, ready to eliminate intruders and, in the extremely unlikely event that the bound lich is freed, silence and recapture the asset.

Ironwych: Pyromancers who fall to the Ironbound are selected for immediate transcension into forged bodies. The process is excruciatingly painful. A blacksmith has a kinship with flame and heat, it is their livelihood; pyromancers are mad with obsession, or have invited flame into their soul, this bond is exploited to rip the soul and consciousness from the body of flesh and shackle it to a mechanical body. The pyro-sorcerous potential is then channeled into rune etched bindings behind the iron masks. The ensuing Ironwych is an asset to the Ironbound, a living battery, whose connection to primal flame enhances the prowess of the forged around them. The process induces immediate madness. Ironwyches delight in grand pyroclastic displays, raining fire and ruin from above whilst hovering on gusts of superheated air. They have mastered the flame-portal craft of the Ironbound, channeling the great forge-ziggurats to teleport Forged troops in fiery blasts. A deadly tactical asset, an Ironwych can pluck an Iron Howler mid-charge and deposit them in the midst of an enemy formation with a tremendous explosion, gifting the beast more victims to rampage into.

Iron Howler: An engine of vicious design, the Iron Howler is a favored creation of the brutal Forgemasters.  A Fiend-Engine, its creation is a tricky process, a serial killer is hunted down and dragged still living before the Forgemasters. The unwilling subject then endures the soul transference process, their sentience and consciousness scalded by the eternal flame and constrained within the sweltering heart of the Iron Howler. Madness ensues, a soul trapped in a body of heat and metal turns to the only thing it knows, murder. Unsubtle, yet effective, such a beast is a terror on the battlefield. It bounds into the enemy, ripping and tearing through ranks with unrivaled savagery. It remembers what it felt like to be mortal, but it cannot feel, so it slakes its madness on violence. 💚 Join before you buy! Get an exclusive 50% storewide discount: https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Fleshcraft-Studio/ Contents Included The Iron Howler: Chosen-type model, Large (50mm) Scenic Base Toppers Basic Round Base 5e Statblocks for each model type