Jade Warriors

Jade Warriors are the backbone of the Celestial armies, the trained professional soldiers upon whom the defence of the empire truly rests. Clad in lamellar armour lacquered a deep jade green and armed with halberds or sword and shield, they drill until their formations move with the ordered precision that is the pride of Cathay. Where the peasant levies bleed and delay the foe, the Jade Warriors hold the line that must not break, ranks locked and weapons leveled, an unyielding wall of green and steel that has thrown back horrors beyond counting. A Cathayan general trusts them to stand where they are placed and hold until relieved or slain, and they rarely disappoint. Steady, unshakeable, and superbly equipped by the standards of any western army, they embody the harmony of the empire made martial: each soldier a single note in a vast, ordered chord of war. To break a Cathayan army, an enemy must first break the jade line, and few in all history have managed it.