The Worshippers of the Dragonkin/Prometheans

The Promethean Elites. A powerful force to contend with, many view the outfit of a Promethean as the face of the Worshippers out of character. Prometheans draw their roots as the oldest caste of the Worshippers, predating the formal caste system as the few entrusted with dragon hide at the tribe's victory over the Monussins.

Today, the Prometheans are a very selective force of warriors. Selected to train starting at age seven, they are subjected to harsh conditions in a way that ends the lives of many before they even earn their helmets. Jacks of all trades, Prometheans are taught to deal with managing large groups of people, combat excellence, and the rarely made political dealings with outside nations.

History
TBA

Rank Structure
The Prometheans are no exception to the Four-Tier rank structure most Worshipper Rates carry. At their head is the Atinaese Promethean, followed by Overseers, then Blades, and the lowest ranked Prometheans, the Gaiaximus Guard. Below them, are Epimetheans, or trainee Prometheans. Epimetheans are divided based on where they are in training, but follow the traditional rank structure of Ak', Au', and Tio'.

Overseers
The Pinnacle of the Worshipper's population, the Overseers are the twenty of the most Elite among the Prometheans. They are often assigned to deal with Military campaigns, or manage captured land. Overseers are fiercely loyal to the Worshippers, but many of them are not loyal to the Atinaese Promethean. Most of them have realised they are very close to simply killing him and taking the position, but many of them are also aware their chances of succeeding are slim to none. Instead, many Overseers take pride in their positions they have and don't strive for much higher; instead choosing to take part in training and teaching Epimetheans and their lesser castemen.

Overseers are the only Prometheans with access to Onyx jewellry, Dragon metal, or Black Dragonhide. Regardless of this, many will not use the former two in real combat due to the ceremonial use they carry amongst the Worshippers.

Notable Overseer Prometheans include:
 * The Martyr, Head Overseer (Atinaese Promethean)
 * Ataleus, Promethean of Misthalin
 * Aegus, Promethean of Kandarin
 * Vallah, Weapon-Mistress

Blades
Blade Prometheans are the first group told that they can do whatever they feel nessacery. Given a board of jobs to do, Blades are sent on less honourable tasks than the Guards below them, and less glorious than Overseers until they prove otherwise. Blades also have freedom to choose their own gear, and freedom to customise their armour based on how they plan to fight, and what jobs they seek to do. Blades often are asked to accompany Overseers on missions if they are in line to become Overseers themselves,

Notable Blade Prometheans include:
 * Hawke, Weapon-Master
 * (TBA)

Gaiximus Guard
The First Stop for Prometheans, the Gaiximus Guard is an honourable job filled with excitement. The lowest ranking Prometheans guard the Gaiaximus with their lives, often holding Polearms as a default. With many attempts on the Gaiaximus' life to traditionally take the position from him, their job can get repetitive. They need to stay alert. Their uniform is dyed green dragon leather, the Promethean helmet, and a Guard's cloak.

Epimetheans
Called Prometheans in training, Epimetheans are young, growing fighters. At their oldest they tend to be in their early twenties, their youngest going back to age seven. Clad in Bovine leather, Epimetheans wear armour similar, and cheaper, than their higher ranked teachers.

Epimetheans who reach the "Road to Ascension" are not permitted to remove their helmet in front of others, with penalty of death if discovered. Lower ranks, however, do not even wear helmets as to conserve steel by making it when they reach their adult size.

Notable Epimetheans include:
 * Zephyr
 * Garrent
 * Alexander
 * Messandei
 * Ryanne
 * Medea

Retired
Prometheans who become too old to be physically fit for harder service often move on to other jobs within the Worshippers, maintaining the honour code. While lower than a Rate Atinaese in rank, they are treated extremely well in regards of respect by all Worshippers for simply surviving.
 * Achilleus the Untouched, the current Atinaese of the Hermite Rate.

Training
Promethean training is a harsh process, designed to push the human body to its very limits. Not all are suited for it, as evidenced by even those most likely finding themselves bleeding open to their last breaths. While it pushes the human body to it's limits, the cynicism sets within them, taking away any hint of mercy they may have had. Their brutality matched with their full-helmets makes them appear as monsters... And that works fine for the view of the Prometheans as a whole to anyone on the outside they make contact with.

Early Selection
Hadeans and Military Officers often take on the role of teaching Worshipper children as young as age five. Early on, they are taught the faith, to read and write, to add and to fight. The brightest students and the strongest are reffered by age seven to go to a training camp within the Empire.

Worshipper Children are then whittled down, until only a hundred remain of the initial thousand, chosen by Prometheans themselves as to who will be submitted to actual training at age ten. At this point, any protective padding is removed for training, and the young children are taught to survive extreme temperatures. They swim in hot water run-offs heated by volcanoes to cold waters of the Heim sea. They run on jagged rocks barefoot, sleep on them, and fight with plain staves. By age 14, when caste selection is finalised for the other worshipper youth, Epimetheans have already seen combat in the real world.

Middle-Ground
From this point on, Epimetheans are trained with a Promethean Overseer. About one in four of the original thousand remain, the others either flunking and moving to other castes, or dying, forgotten to even their peers. The remaining numbers rotate around, spending time with other Castes for a year at a time, in order to learn something from each that would help them as Prometheans. The Labour Caste teaches how to specialise armour, how to perfect it, and how to repair it. The Military refines their fighting styles if they wish to specialise on melee, or add ranged and magic tactics to their arsenal. The Religious Caste teaches them the importance of the Honour code, as well as rough field first aid. The Specialist Caste helps them to learn about the politics of mainland Gielinor, using the newest resources available to do so.. After four years of rotation added to their normal training regimen, the Epimetheans who remain are fewer in number, approaching the final ascension.

Helmet-Bound
Bound to their helmets, Epimetheans are now told as they turn 18 their honour code breaking will no longer be met with punishment, only humiliating execution. The Epimetheans are put to the real test, practicing with sharpened weapons and missions that typically Blades would do alone to do in groups. These young men and women do the jobs the Prometheans are too busy to handle, and are not always pleasant.

After years of surviving past legal adulthood, Epimetheans may finally be selected as a Promethean dies or retires to fill in the opening this creates on the Promethean Guard. Roughly 11% of Epimetheans from age seven onward will make it toward being a Promethean, but even being an Ak'Epimethean, or Helmet-Wearer, is something to be proud of.

Honour Code

 * Never remove your helmet where others may see you.  Your identity is your secret.
 * Protect the Gaiaximus with your last breath.
 * Put the sake of the men and women under your command before yourself.
 * Never threaten a man or woman, no matter what social class they are, with lude threats.  Show them fear through your blood-spattered weapons, not the weapon within your armour.

Specialization
Prometheans have different roles and jobs within their own caste, specializing in what they do best and personally prefer.

Weaponmasters deal in multitudes of melee weaponry. Jacks of all trades, they are skilled with heavy thrown weapons and either light or heavy melee tools. Because of this, they are not magically inclined. However, they are almost unmatched in melee combat.

Invasion Leaders are Prometheans entrusted to maintain and control troops over swathes of land. They are taught to deal with the South, and their direct involvement tends to humanize them slightly with time, reversing some of the cruelty they learned in training.

Armoury
Promethean Armour follows a trend of similar materials being used in it's design. Depending on whether the Promethean is a Guard, Blade, or Overseer affects the material of their armour. Blue, Red, or Black Dragonhide respectively are worn by the groups, but all of it is heavily dyed black if it isn't naturally. The metal used tends to be Mithril, with the quality of make depending upon rank as well. The helmets, however, are made of steel, dragonbone, and ground up Dragon weapons that have eroded or broken with time.

Epimetheans use strictly scaled bovine leather and steel on their armour, their helmets being painted red in the required spots.

Heavy-Armour Variants
Heavy-Armour Promethean Variants tend to use more metal armour, especially mithril, to allow for greater thicknesses of plating and pauldrons at the same weight as Steel. Heavy-Armour variants typically use two layers of hide, giving a stronger magic resistance but leaving them still vulnerable to stabbing motions. Heavy armour often incorporates bracers, greaves, and chainmail, the mail going between the helmet and pauldrons to cover the neck.

Anti-Fire Variants
Anti-Fire Variants remove metal from the equation entirely, aiming to keep heat away but also protect from dragonfire. Anti-Fire protection comes from two layers of leather, with harder, boiled scraps used on the pauldrons and lower chest. This also functions as a Mid-Ground between lighter and heavier armours, that can be specialised against Magic.

Light-Armour Variants
Lighter Armour Variants use purely a single layer of stretched hide with either enameled leather or metal bracers and pauldrons. Lighter armour variants are much more mobile, even having a more streamlined design compared to their Guardsman counterparts.

Weaponry
Standard for Prometheans to claim are a variety of Steel and Mithril weapons, from longswords to greatswords, maces to axes, hammers to daggers. Melee is a preffered choice of combat among Prometheans, with a majority well versed in various polearms. Standard for claiming are steel hastae, javelins, spears, and pollaxes, from time using them in defense of the Gaiaxamus.

Bows tend to be made of yew, or natural wilderness wood if a Promethean chooses to carry one. Staves tend to be fire-based, implementing a Worshipper version of a Mystic orb.

Ornaments
Jewellry is common within the Promethean caste, either as a show of rank or to be enchanted into aid for the Promethean to use as an edge against larger, more dangerous opponents such as Mahjarrat, Demons, or Dragons. Commonly used gems are those to boost power, or boost raw strength.

Kinstone Rings, modelled after the Ring of Kinship allow teleportation to three lodestones in the Worshipper empire; Daemonheim, North Chaele, and Vulcan's Lament.

Also common are various cloaks, typically in reds or blacks. These cloaks are either silk, fur, or hempen, to show rank above the Guard-class of the lower Prometheans.

Trivia

 * The name Promethean is a derivative from the name of the Titan Prometheus, who gave man the gift of fire that led them to progress.
 * The name of the Epimetheans comes from the name of Prometheus' younger brother, Epimetheus.  Epimetheus is known for being the husband of Pandora.
 * Achilleus' full name is Achilleus Jason Junior Jorgson, a reference to Sergeant AJ Junior Johnson of the Halo Franchise.  His name reflects both Achilles of Assassin's Creed III's status as a teacher, and the Classical Greek Hero, supposedly unable to be wounded except for his heel.  In roleplay, Achilleus has just been lucky enough not to die; legends surrounding the results.
 * Promethean Overseers have the most Dragon Weaponry out of any other Worshipper group, regardless of being limited to only 20 characters maximum.  Other than Overseers, only the Kronesian himself, Caste Heads, and extremely notable war heroes can carry Dragon Weapons, limiting them to the hands of 25 to 35 people in the Empire of 100,000 total.  Regardless of this, not even half the Overseers are permitted to use said weapons, due to the scarcity of them.