What would be the toughest types of mercs/soldiers that earn their way to being the absolute highest ranks within each Faction

Let's say the Empress's Bodyguards, or the Navy Seals of Gallente, etc.

What could be a cool name for these types of elite soldiers per Faction. Feel free to inspire me

Amarr: Echelon, Templars, Chosen,

I'm of course a huge fan of the W40k mythos and always loved the concept of power curve

human>human soldier>human hero without enhancement> space marine > space marine hero > primarch > custodian (elite bodyguard) > emperor

Seconded... Is this for a new novel? or are we naming new NPC groups? Are these for new suits? player ranks? wat.. because we've had some pretty long and lengthy discussions about this before.

1) The Amarr seems in the best shape in terms of ranks and titles. No lack of Paladin, Crusader, Templar, Seraph, Cyber Knight, Empresses Hand, etc that you can dip into.

The Amarr could use the Sefrim (Sef singular). I get the sense they're inspired by seraphs anyway.

True, I should have clarified. I was mixing known New Eden lore and titles that were more in the spirit of things. I am often a mild lore stickler but in this case i think Dust players should have a little creative license to make this something unique to us.

Amarr: The Left Hand.

Just tried to make it sound devine. Thought it would sound intimidating too.

Gallente: The (blank) Legion.

I got the Legion idea from the French Foreign Legion, and since the Federation has French roots, I thought it'd work. Couldn't come up with a full name though.

Minmatar: The Minmatar words that mean "The Enemy".

I got this idea from the Apache tribe. The name comes from the word Apachu which means "the enemy".

Caldari: The State Retainers.

This one I got from Japanese history, referencing retainers feudal lords would keep around him for protection. The idea is each megacorp would put their best immortal soldiers into one force to sever as "retainers" for them all.

One Mercenary could worm himself into the Empress's bodyguard, there is nothing that says that couldnt happen, even if its not an achievable goal for every mercenary.

Empress Sworn?

Executive Security?

Council Huntsmen?

TALON?

Sultan Sworn?

Well at least FFXIV free paladins aren't lawful stupid :P also lot so many other cliches have been overdone; seeker; keeper; hand of ect ect to which I will blame DnD and subsequent inspired on. Rather have sworn than custodies in subligars.

Some entry level ideas

Sanctum Squires

Corporate Cohorts

Ratatoskr Recon

Sable Pinion

and some mid range things

Principal Palmach

Task Force Directive

Clans Coterie

Argos Brigade

*notation making stuff up based on my current knowledge my lore level is only lvl 3 general knowledge progressing towards 4 but its been very difficult without RPing. This can hopefully inspire better names and mixes of hte like.

Well I am not sure if this is true but I dont think that if you are a black belt in one school of Martial arts they'd give you a black belt in another if anything they will start you back at their lowest 'belt'.

Huh... What are you on about?

Thank you for the explanation, but I still can't make out if you guys think that calling the afw rank10 Amarr (Templar) Ascendants is a good or bad thing.

Since mercs from all kinds of places can get to afw rank10 the bit about rising above was directed at non-amarr mercs.

And the Amarr Templars is supposed to be about dust clones, no?

But the Amarr Templars is a mercenary company isn't it? That sounds fairly far removed from any 'Empress Guard' to me. Not labelling you in any way, so go on speak freely. Besides I am more attached to calling the mercs who get afw rank10 Ascendants bit than anything else, if Templars doesn't fit in there then Templars doesn't fit in there but maybe something else will?

What about the Amarr Kameiras?
According to the eve lore they are an elite unit mostly composed of soldiers of conquered races rased from young age to serve the empire but have Amarrian (hope is spelled correctly) officers

That's why I mentioned the officers, aren't they considered part of the unit? Correct me if I'm wrong
I also always liked the name "Shining Flame" maybe something inspired to that?

You can quote me, True.

Also, here's the quote from EVE Source that is important here with regard to the status of Dusters in FW:



Quote
[CONCORD ratified them] as a legal entity with the Directive Enforcement Department's Mercenary Infomorph Act, released on May 14, YC 115. This legislation ushered in a new era for the cloned mercenary, and indeed for New Eden, causing the widespread legalized construction of mercenary enclaves and the revision of the CONCORD Emergency Militia War Powers Act to include the ability for cloned mercenaries to fight as independents on behalf of the sovereign militias. Coupled with this, the Mercenary Infomorph Act also gifted a status similar to that of the capsuleer to the cloned mercenaries, effectively billing them as independent political entities in their own right.


So, for elite groups, I'm going to repeat some suggestions I made before:

Amarr: Probably a cyberknight order. Cyberknights have the benefit of being one of if not the most elite of Amarr combatant orders while also being fairly independent. One can already consider the Amarr's Templar development as simply a refinement of pre-existing cyberknight technology, combining cybernetic soldiers with cloning much in the same way as capsuleers combined elite mind-machine interfacing pilots with cloning. Ergo, a knightly order gives something that is Amarr-aligned without being an official government entity. Think something like Knights Templar, the Order of the Knights of Saint John (Knights Hospitaller), etc. Hell, on a joke post CCP Falcon made about Jamyl's titles he mentioned her being the sovereign of a knightly order called the Order of the Hound. It was technically a joke post, but such a knightly order that the empress herself is the grand master of could very well be an option! Such a thing would be technically independent of the government apparatus, while still being very closely associated with the empress.

I did notice on the dust forums that someone mentioned worry about being called a squire: Many knightly orders required a person to already be a knight before entrance. Knightly orders are elite groups, with strict selection criteria and limited numbers. What ranks they do tend to have are things like Knight Commander, Knight Captain, Master, Grand Master, etc.

For an Amarrian order, however, I'd strongly recommend looking to Persian or Arabic nomenclature for inspiration rather than Latin/English ones. It should be reminded that most of the original names of Amarrian elements when EVE launched were Persian/Arabic/Hebrew.

http://i.imgur.com/ZoBTpiP.jpg

Gallente/Caldari: For Gallente and Caldari, I'd personally recommend either black ops units or Mordu-associated mercenary companies. Black ops units work due to being deniable operatives who are given dirty jobs that the government doesn't want to be associated with, giving it the necessary separation and independence necessary for a Duster. For Gallente, a Black Eagles unit would work well (with some non-descript name like Task Force XX). For Caldari, the same could be said of the various mercenary/black ops units attached to the megacorps. I would recommend mercenary company that works for either one of the Patriot groups (Kaalakiota, Wiyrkomi, and Lai Dai) or one of the Practical megacorps (Sukuuvestaa, Nugoeihuvi, or CBD). The Patriots give the opportunity for a fairly pro-State mercenary company, while the latter for a much more shady, underhanded and ruthless company. Again, these should be elite mercenary companies or black ops task forces, as Dusters are independent operatives.

Minmatar: I'd recommend a particularly warlike clan for the Minmatar. Clans, while part of the general structure of the Republic, are essentially independent family groups only tied loosely with their tribe. This gives them a lot of freedom to act as they see fit. I would personally recommend a Krusual clan, as they are already associated with ground activities and ruthlessness, and are very patriotically minmatar as well. Alternatively, the Bloody Hands of Matar or the Maru Rebels (see below quote) could be an option. Both are pro-Minmatar freedom fighter/terrorist groups that act independently of the Republic government, and are very aggressively anti-Amarr.

Quote
The Maru Rebels

The Maru Rebels were once part of a gang of pirates who turned into a sinister terrorist network claiming to fight for Minmatar freedom. In fact, they're little more a ruthless gang of criminals dealing in the black market, smuggling, and extortion and blackmail, even sometimes working as hired assassins. Their official agenda is to murder as many citizens of the Amarr nations as possible GÇò i.e., Amarr Empire, Ammatar, and Khanid Kingdom GÇò hoping to force them to withdraw eventually from historically Minmatar systems currently under Amarr control. The Minmatar Republic leadership has denounced them as being cutthroats and criminals even though they support Republic goals, and has put up a sizable bounty on their leader's head. But even so, the Rebels do maintain some support within the Minmatar Republic, which has allowed them certain freedoms other criminal networks do not have.

Any thoughts on warrior cult of cybernetic space vampires (Alukan Order, the continuation post)? or the Cal/Gal ones?

Updated Sanguine Hand just a bit (recruitment, and possible elite bodyguards), same with the Alukan Order (made them secretly accept contracts as elite mercenaries for some Amarr and Khanid corporations, and corrupt lords).