Avarian Fighter Pilots

Avarian fighters are owned and operated by families of a special caste of knights.  The Avarian Navy only has a hundred of its own fighters, but has no trouble mustering enough for battle. There are a million freelance knights eager to fill any mission roster. Those that take part in a victorious battle earn special bonuses. The knights that fly the most dangerous missions or succeed in destroying enemy ships can gain prestige and a higher rank in their caste.  Most starship captains and admirals started from the ranks of fighter pilots.

Avarians always fly alone in fighters.  They are considered an extension of the pilot, an advanced form of hobby wings that let Avarians fly in outer space. Each pilot is the repair and maintenance chief of his or her own fighter. The fighters nearly always fly at peak performance.

Many of the Avarian ground forces come from the ranks of the "broken wings," those unfortunate enough to lose their fighters without means to replace them. Victory in ground battles constitutionally earns the soldiers "borrowed wings," a euphemism for government or war clan owned fighters loaned out to the dispossessed. After a certain number of missions a dispossessed pilot has earned the right to keep the fighter.

There are different degrees within the fighter caste. Many of the pilots come from old and therefore powerful clans that dominant the higher ranks of fighter wings. Many times two lower ranking pilots will voluntarily become vassals to a younger clan pilot. By showing the youth the ropes, aiding him or her in battle, and teaching what they know the youth owes them a mentor debt. Though much weaker than life debt mentor debt entitles the mentors to become partial members of the clan. Those that owe mentor debt can buy out of the debt by purchasing their mentors new fighters when they are needed.

Wealthier pilots, usually clan members, often have three or more fighters. They sometimes lone these out to hard-pressed friends, but most often entice poor but talented Avarians into fuedal servitude for a certain length of time. As long as this servitude is not abused by the liege lord, he or she can buy six Avarian years (roughly 10 Earth years) of service from their vassals. Many clan members use this system to build elite squadrons that fight to build prestige and wealth for the clans.

Avarian Fighters vs. Terran Fighters

Avarian fighter pilots welcome battle, even at the risk of life or "wing"([i. e. the fighter). They tend to be a lot more experienced than their human counterparts.

The experience is due in part to the effectiveness of Avarian ejection systems. Even damaged ejection pods rarely fail When they do there is a secondary system that ejects the suited pilot and his or her seat directly into space. The odds of surviving a successful ejection are roughly 98%. Pilots successfully eject from destroyed or severely damaged fighters roughly 90% of the time. As a result most Avarian pilots live to eject at least once or twice in their careers. and a sizeable minority have survived ten or more ejections.

The natural flying instincts give Avarians a big advantage over humans when piloting fighters, even in space. The spatial awareness and sense of balance innate in Avarians make them natural pilots. Their bodies can handle a lot more G forces than humans. The almost spiritual link Avarian pilots have with their fighters allows them to perform maneuvers that seem impossible to human pilots.

Avarian fighters are more maneuverable than Terran Fighters. Their weapons systems are roughly comparable. Yet their stats are very different. The difference is in the pilots themselves. Through their special spiritual links to their "wings" Avarians can sense attacks coming from all directions at once. They instinctively know when to dodge, launch decoys, or take other evasive actions. The Avarian fighter profile of two represents these instincts combined with the Avarian ability to perform high G defensive maneuvers. The pilots spatial awareness and sense of balance greatly improve their firing accuracy in dogfights.

source:  Terran & Avarian Fleet Book