Summary
Skitarii light cavalry of the Adeptus Mechanicus mounted upon stilt-legged Ironstrider Engines, charging foes with taser lance or sniping at distance with radium jezzail.
Lore
Sydonian Dragoons are tried and tested Skitarii warriors of the Adeptus Mechanicus given the honour of riding to war atop venerated, stilt-legged Ironstrider Engines. They burst from shrouding fogs to plunge lance-first into the enemy’s ranks, the pent-up energies of their taser weaponry blasting the foe back in a blazing storm of sparks.
The order draws its name and tactics from the first Sydonians, who settled a vast cratered region of Mars — Forge Primus swathed in dense acidic mist. Those with stilt-augmetics could stalk those mists and yet live, their elevation allowing them to escape the worst of the acid while remaining hidden from foes — and the Dragoons of today echo the methods of those warrior-explorers.
Wargear
Taser Lance. Powered by hyperdynamo capacitors that store an immense potential charge. A solid impact discharges the stored energy in a scorching blast, the electrothief prongs at the lance-tip recapturing it for the next strike. The lance is paired with a phosphor serpenta sidearm — its blinding white spheres mark out high-priority targets through battlefield murk.
Radium Jezzail. A long-pattern marksman’s variant. The bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a sustained volley induces a localised rad-storm; the weapon eventually kills its wielder as surely as its target.
Doctrine
As Skitarii of the Tech-Priesthood, Sydonian Dragoons answer the Doctrina Imperatives — battlefield protocols broadcast across the Noosphere that retune their senses, gait, and aim for the moment’s need. The Ironstrider chassis they share with the Ironstrider Ballistarius and the watchful Sydonian Skatros is built upon the same stilt-legged frame: where the Ballistarius mounts heavy guns and the Skatros stands deathly still as a cyborg watchtower, the Dragoon is built for the charge.