❋ DLC · ORDERThe Common Soldiers of Messmer's Army
Conscripts in unending war, soot on the inner face
The Common Soldiers of Messmer's Army
"Cloth armor of the rank-and-file soldiers of Messmer's army. A pitch-dark soot clings to it, much like the inner faces of the men who wore them."
From the Common Soldier Cloth Armor description
Messmer's army is structured in three rings : the Black Knights (his command), the Fire Knights (his intimates), and below both the rank-and-file Messmer Soldiers and Common Soldiers, the conscripted bulk of the campaign against the Hornsent. The Common Soldier Cloth Armor description gives the canon's most pitiless one-line gloss on conscript morale : 'Cloth armor of the rank-and-file soldiers of Messmer's army. A pitch-dark soot clings to it, much like the inner faces of the men who wore them.' The soot is Messmer's flame ; the inner-face line is the canon's quiet argument that long exposure to that flame did to ordinary soldiers what it would later do to Messmer himself.
The Messmer Soldier Armor description makes the Black Knights' Scadutree-in-gold contradiction visible at the lowest rank too : 'A ragged cloak is draped over rusted mail. Though the chestpiece features a Scadutree motif, gold has been used for its engraving. A small consolation to those forced to wage a war without grace or honor.' The same line appears, almost verbatim, on the Black Knights' armour ; the consolation, in other words, was issued at every level of the army identically, because every level of the army needed it. The altered version adds the canon's quietest summary of what the war was : 'The mail has rusted while fighting in unending war.' Marika's cleansing crusade, by the time the Tarnished walks through Belurat's outskirts, has been going on long enough that mail rusts before it returns home.
Common Soldier Cloth ArmorCloth armor of the rank-and-file soldiers of Messmer's army. A pitch-dark soot clings to it, much like the inner faces of the men who wore them.
Messmer Soldier ArmorA ragged cloak is draped over rusted mail. Though the chestpiece features a Scadutree motif, gold has been used for its engraving. A small consolation to those forced to wage a war without grace or honor.
Messmer Soldier Armor (Altered)The mail has rusted while fighting in unending war. Though the chestpiece features a Scadutree motif, gold has been used for its engraving.
