Hounds of Amar

One of Taen's oldest and most elite fighting forces.

Origin
The Hounds of Amar was made up of slaves to the Ruler of Giant's Dynasty. They took the title thrust upon them by their former masters and embodied the same strength, agility, and loyalty to their cause as their namesake symbol.

Technology
The Hounds retained a reverence for traditional weaponry, though they later incorporated siege engines.

Infantry fights with Cetus and scimitars

Elite troops also fought with scimitars, though they achieved mastery of the weapon and often wielded one in each hand.

Assassins killed with daggers and rarely met opponents on "fair" terms.

War Hounds
The Houndmasters developed breeds of dog incredibly suited to many different battlefield services.
 * Amari War Hound (Knifehounds): These large, ferocious war hounds fought alongside infantry in open battle. They were often armored in chain-mail, and had filed claws and fangs. Their size and ferocity is often owed to their rumored direwolf ancestry.
 * Edosi Dancer (Dancers): Slender, quick hounds were used to send messages between tacticians and generals, as well as transport medical supplies to combat medics. They are a hybrid of the Craghounds of the Ashen Crags and the nimble Riverdancer hounds of Esros.
 * Stormwal Stalker (Helhound): Silent, swift hounds were breed and trained to assist assassins. They learned upwards of forty silent commands and were never heard making noises above a low growl to warn it's master. They have parentage from the Winter Wolves on the Stormwal, and the Silent Stalkers in the Solemn Tiaga region.

War Elephants
The Hounds of Amar have always used elephants in combat, devoting a large amount of resources to the breeding and training of the behemoths. It is believed that the elephants were the hounds of the giants that once enslaved their ancestors.

Philosophy
The Hounds of Amar are the blades of the people of Amar. They owe blind allegiance to the people's leader and therefore carry out the will of the Edos. Their main ideal is undying loyalty.

Infantry
Common infantry members were well trained and loyal

Houndmasters
The Hounds lived up to their name, training war mastiffs and silent hounds to fight alongside men

Golden Fangs
Elite troops devoted to the Hounds. Their training was rigorous; incorporating dehumanization, intensive weapons training, self mutilation (carving the symbol of Amar into the flesh).

Assassins
The Hounds soon realized that assassin's were invaluable in warfare. They believed independent assassin guilds to be too unreliable and instead, hired former assassins to train a separate division of infantry in the art of assassination.

Behemoth Riders
The elephant trainers and riders of the Hounds' cavalry.

Final Thoughts
The Hounds of Amar remain the oldest and proudest fighting force in Taen. They are highly respected and feared by all of Taen's governments and could likely conquer any one of the other nations alone.