The Mezokkkim
Even the Bureau cannot escape war's gnashing teeth. The grinding expanses of No Man's Land cannot be avoided by those who would shape mankind's fate. It is for this reason the Mezokkkim were designed.
The Mezokkkim are standardised infantry units drawn from conscripted men and women that populate the Bureau's network of hidden citadels. The Gen Bureau does not have the luxury of resources that the great powers wield. Only resources that can be extracted in secret are viable. Operations to steal and siphon materiel exist, conducted with utmost care and secrecy, yet these cannot provide resources in the volumes the great powers command.
What the Bureau does have at its disposal is time. Its great purpose is eternal, and they do not have the disadvantage of needing to commit constant resources to fight for territory. Ever since the influx of Hellenic Golems from Greece, the Bureau has managed to industrialise and standardise their war economy, freeing up populations to the pursuits of the mind and the flesh, for numbers must be maintained.
The Mezokkkim's informal training starts in infancy, where they are schooled in many topics, from politics to geography. Students that excel in areas of the mind are quickly isolated for other programmes. The majority that remain are introduced to military concepts and increasingly intensive physical education. By the time they are the age of thirteen their brains are developed enough to accept the primary leucotomy. This is seen as an act of graduation and severs the part of the brain that allows belief in a higher power. Children with a high level of sociopathy and charisma undergo two years of intense training to become a Kukiya, before being dropped into population centres that are expected to be scoured or pillaged for recruits by the great powers.
Those that remain are destined to become Mezokkkim. Their first lesson is how to bite off their own tongue and fill their lungs with blood should they be captured. The next decade of their lives are entirely dedicated to the pursuits of training. A large part of their education is specific to survival within No Man's Land and identifying each of the threats known to it. This includes the best ways to hide from certain foes, what weapons can be salvaged to supplement their kit, and what ones must be avoided at all costs. They learn intuition, resourcefulness, and adaptation; where other factions keep their supplies and which ones are safe to consume or utilise. How to stay warm without building a fire, or which parts of bodies are safest to eat in dire circumstances. They know every badge, uniform, and rank of each command structure operating in the war should they need to disguise themselves, as well as the phrases in a dozen tongues that can grant safe passage through enemy lines or simply seem like a friend long enough to ensure their mission remains a secret.
Training does not shun relationships or polyamory. Squads should all return together or not at all, and few fight better than brothers and sisters in arms, than lovers. It is not uncommon for women to return from missions with child, as the squad will not be redeployed until birth. Squads are six strong, though multiple may deploy depending on mission requirements.
A troop of Azeb once took a bunker. It seemed an easy victory against the mad zealots of the Trench Pilgrims. Yet none of them thought to check the corpses, which had been dead a week, their swollen faces obscured by gas masks and iron capirotes. The real defenders, the Mezokkkim, had fled strategically during the assault, only to return under cover of night to slit the throats of the merry victors; laying claim to their food and equipment to continue with their mission now they were fully equipped.
Innovations of the Mezokkkim's field kit are meagre and it is expected they supplement their limited weaponry and ammo through resourceful means in the field, since there will be no resupply once they are deployed. Aside from the Bureau's unwillingness to risk technology falling into the wrong hands they also recognise that humans in No Man's Land are rarely more than fodder for the horrors that roam it. Within the Mezokkkim it is less about the strong surviving, and more about the clever. Mezokkkim are not beyond feigning surrender, setting traps, or embedding themselves into other troops if it aids in their mission or gets them a meal once their thin rations are spent.
There are, however, some achievements of the golemic production lines that give them an edge in battle. Primarily their helmets, these beaked helms are not made of anything more than hardened steel, but contain brass tubes that allow the ingestion of nutrient water or laudanum as needed as well as having an attachment for an external gas filter. The eyes themselves contain Hagstones, allowing soldiers to see that which is hidden from mortal sight.
Their Waxed Canvas Longcoats are waterproof, windproof, and most importantly quiet. They are stitched with thread made from Rowan and Fennel stalks, and each undergoes years of preparation, soaked in water touched by birth-caul. The effect of these is to mask the wearer from evil and reduce the effect of witchcraft that would otherwise affect the mind and flesh. Whether this offers true protection or merely steadies the mind, none can say with certainty.
The final standardised equipment is traditional tool of the Krsnik adapted for the bleak gestations of Hell, known as “Yated Kesef". These are alchemically hardened steel Trench Spikes, plated in a silver alloy. The Mezokkkim each have two of these, and are trained how to use them as climbing tools as well as weapons.
For the Mezokkkim that continue to survive and show resourcefulness, they are selected to undergo another five years of training and become ‘Qliphah’, elite teams that are not denied the full resources of the Bureau, for when failure is not an option.