Balaurian Knights

These powerful saurian troopers make up the only military force left in the Balaurian Empire. As such they find them selves in many different roles, such as your typical soldier, Vehicle/Ship operation, infiltration, special operations and Royal Guard.

Because Balaurian's can have drastic body differences, some will excel better in an area then others. Smaller less bulky Balaurian's are better suited to Vehicle/Ship operation, as well as infiltration and special operations. While the larger bulky brethren fill in as soldiers, special operations and Royal Guards. As such your size may actually dictate what a Balaurian is trained to do.

Balaurian Knight Training is some of the toughest training in the galaxy, more so now then ever before as those few remaining Balaurians must on the front line must absolutely be the deadliest thing out there, while also maintaining a high survivability. While some of the training could be accomplished by another species some of it is outright impossible for anything other then a Balaurian.

Because of the Balaurian's very high heat resistance, they practically thrive in it, soldiers and Royal Guards are often pushed to become even more resistant. This is done by literally being subjected to even more heat then they can normally stand. Some who have completed this training, can take the ultimate test where they leap into a river of lava and swim to the other shore line. Weather one survived or not, high honors were given to those who would undergo this test of ultimate endurance. Their names passed down as legends.

This practice has been suspended due to the fact that not many survived, and with Balaurian numbers as they are, that risk can't be taken. But the simple fact remains, some did survived this test and many are still alive today.

Armor
With their high resistance to heat and thick hides, blaster type weapons already have lesser affect on them. Even Lightsabers would be hard pressed to hurt a unarmored Balaurian. But even if their numbers weren't so few they wouldn't risk knowingly going into battle without protection.

Balaurians make use of heavy plate armor, often covering them from head to toe. During and after the CIS invasion that nearly wiped them out, this armor has been augmented with powered pistons, cogs and other systems allowing for even heavier plates to be equipped while allowing the Balaurian to move with little hindrance. These "steam powered" suits of armor, while crude and maybe primitive when compared to the rest of the galaxy, are still finely tuned works of art and fall under armor as "Heavy Power Armor" and shouldn't be underestimated.

These suits of armor are unique to the user, while their basic function is the same no two will have the same look or built in weapons. The only exception to this is the Royal Guards, their armor has a uniformed look but built in weapons may still vary to the tastes of the wearer.

The armor is nearly impossible to damage with small arms fire and is resistant to explosives/Vehicle mounted weapons. The Systems Alliance actually considers a fully suited Balaurian Knight as a light to medium vehicle then infantry.

Weapons
Primary weapons mostly consist of blades or bludgeon weapons, though the use of their ever advancing coil cannons are becoming popular, if not standard weapons as well. These take on the form of rifles or weapons integrated into the armor, like shoulder cannons, or cannons mounted on/in gauntlets.

These weapons fire a slug of metal through magnetism. An added effect is as the slug is fired it is turned into a semi plasma state due to excessive power from the coils, this wasn't a intended but a welcomed "flaw" to the weapons which gives them an added boost in fire power.