The Army of Thorne

The Army of Thorne
The Army of Thorne is a militant cult operating within the confines of the territory covered by the NCD, around District 3, District 2, and the southern fringes of District 4. It is officially considered a bandit group by the NCD, dismissed by even the civil guardsmen as "total n00bs" when it comes to combat. They are nevertheless regarded by most, however, as a fearsome cult-warband. They are known to regularly abduct random civilians and passersby of all ages, and initiate random assaults on NCD positions, often carelessly taking heavy casualties.

They are lead by a mysterious figure known as the "Prophet". Attempts by NCD specialists to infiltrate the group have so far proven futile. What is known so far is from anecdotal information from Director-3/5, and from information collected by an NCD specialist who managed to infiltrate the group and stayed sane for roughly a week, which was unheard of at the time.

History
It is widely speculated that the Army of Thorne originated from an infamous mental asylum. Attempts at capturing and interrogating any of its members have so far been only successful until the "capturing" part; the interrogation of any Army of Thorne member often ends in disappointment for the interrogators.

It is now known that the first engagement between Thorne members and any NCD director occurred pre-unification. Director-1 was relieving a police precinct when he and his men came under fire from Army of Thorne members. They suffered no casualties, whilst inflicting two on the other side. A few weeks later, Director-3/5 was on routine scouting and patrol when he was abducted by Thorne members. He was later rescued by a joint force under former Director-5 Kaye Richards and Trent Verde. It was at this time, while in captivity, that Director-3/5 noted down the rituals of the cult-warband.

After the formation of the NCD, the group began actively attacking convoys that traveled between the outposts, and started abducting security service members and unarmed people. The intensity of the attacks started to grow. A well-coordinated ambush managed to destroy an entire convoy, consisting of 8 supply vehicles, supported by 4 armored technicals and 2 gun trucks, amounting to 51 KIA. It was because of this incident that the NCD started to take the Army of Thorne more seriously. Battalions of the defense forces were dispatched to hunt down elements of the Army of Thorne. There were 134 confirmed KIA Thorne fighters by the end of the 2-month S&D. Thorne raiders and kidnappers still prowl the shadier regions of the NCD to this day.

Culture
The Army of Thorne relies on the so-called "Prophet" for "guidance", which is verbose for the Army's command-and-control structure. The Prophet hand-picks trusted lieutenants, which he refers to as "disciples". There are three known disciples in the Thorne ranks: the Disciple of Vengeance, the Disciple of Fear, and the Disciple of Mercy, herein designated in documents as "Di.V", "Di.F" and "Di.M", respectively (read as "Division V", "Division F" and "Division M"). Members that are incorporated into the Di.V and Di.F ranks are referred to as "initiates". Di.V initiates constitute the main assault and shock units of the Army. Di.F initiates act as scouts, reconnaisance, and carry out kidnapping and raid operations. Di.M members are referred to as "confessors", who carry out "The Ditestament".

The Ditestament is an integral part of the organization. Without it, the Army of Thorne will quickly run out of loyal, zealous followers. Kidnapped children, adolescents and adults undergo several brainwashing sessions, in accord with their age group. Children are saturated and indoctrinated with the Thorne doctrine and teachings. Adults are tortured and are made to "repent", whilst being saturated with Thorne rhetoric. They are periodically deprived of food and water, being sparingly given such necessities because of "the Mercy of Thorne". The following is an excerpt from such a session witnessed by Director-3/5: The process is repeated in varying degrees. Favourable responses from the initiates are rewarded by the confessors with appraisals and encouraging words, coercing the initiate's mindset into one of the Army of Thorne's.
 * "Are you not enlightened yet?'"
 * (weakened) "I... I won't..." (punched by confessor)
 * (brings water) "And this is as for Thorne has mercy (initiate is drawn towards water bottle) but only to those who fear him!" (punches initiate)
 * (weakened) "I... I... P-praise..."
 * "Thorne hears you!"
 * "Praise... T-t-thorne..."
 * "Thorne wants your loyalty!"
 * (hesitant) "I..." (punched by confessor)
 * "Do not hesitate! Maybe next time, Thorne might give you his mercy!" (exits)

All initiates of all age groups take part in a final rite of ritual cannibalism. One "devoted initiate" from the newcomers is selected for ritual sacrifice, to be cooked and eaten by his/her compatriots. Adults, adolescents, and children, all partake in the ritual sacrifice.

Combat Culture

 * Thorne fighters and raiders wear garments according to the Disciple they serve under. Di.V shock units often wear anything, but they never change. They also often smear blood on their clothes, faces and arms. Their weapons vary, but they will always go after the biggest gun there is, hence their practice of capturing machineguns whenever possible. They often mount these machineguns on technicals, their primary mode of vehicular transport. In-combat, they exhibit below-par tactical capability. They often do not take cover, and refuse to do so anyway. They use fully-automatic fire, as opposed to bullet-saving semi-automatic fire, in an attempt to intimidate their enemy. In assaults on NCD positions, they often run guns-blazing. These tactics are unsurprisingly ineffective in the open, but are also equally as surprising when used in closed quarters combat. Individuals are amazingly strong, and have been observed to pummel zombies to death with their bare fists. WIth access to explosives, Di.V units are often encountered wearing a crude suicide vest. These units are often protected until they can get close enough to their target.


 * Di.F units wear mostly-black garments, sometimes even with cloaks. They use facepaint, and sometimes even put on masks. They operate in the night, attempting to ambush convoys, raid supply depots, and kidnap personnel and random people (they most commonly kidnap random people). They prefer to stay in the shadows, instinctively knowing when to attack. They usually use silent weapons, from swords to knives and bows. Some of them are also usually equipped with a conventional sidearm. They also carry out psychological warfare in the form of murdering a random civil guardsman and mutilating his body and leaving the parts out in the open street, or murdering a random civil guardsman and throwing the dead body from a roof and onto an unsuspecting vehicle.


 * Confessors are drawn from the largest and strongest recruits. They do not often appear in combat. They often wear cloaks and wear steel plates over their back and chest in an attempt at body armor. They have been observed to manhandle machine guns and wield heavy melee weapons. Confessors are also the only known enemies of the NCD to have been able to utilize rocks as a viable, deadly weapon. One convoy ambush incident found Confessors to be able to throw rocks that have enough force to punch through sheet metal.

Thorne

 * The Army of Thorne worships a diety called Thorne (unsurprisingly). Thorne rhetoric from captured members imply that the Army believes that Thorne had borne the apocalypse as his mercy towards all of mankind, which was destroying itself. The Army believes that anyone who tries to fight the apocalypse--emphasis on the NCD--is only prolonging humanity's suffering. The Prophet preaches that Thorne has called upon him to form "His Army" in order to remove these people, who do not believe in salvation by the mercy of Thorne, and that by joining the Army of Thorne, they are reserved a certain place in the afterlife.