Heroes of the Great Alliance

A Hero in the Great Alliance is more than a name, it is a title. It represents a person who has in someway or another benfited the progress of the Great Alliance beyond their call of duty as a citizen. To be a Hero one does not need to be a member of the military. Several tradesmen, politicians, and other non-combatants have earned this title.

History of the Heroes
Heroes are more than just great warriors or people, they are the best tools a nation can have. The first Hero was given this title by The Grand Council many generations ago. A half orc by the name of Karka Steeltooth. The man had quite resume for himself. Karka was a man whose banner any would have been proud to be under. He embodied what any citizen could aspire to be. However, Karka was more than just a great military leader. The Grand Council used him as an agent for many classified missions that remain only known by the Grand Council.
 * Silver General of the Great Alliance
 * First Half Orc to ever earn the title of General
 * Led 3 victorius campaigns against the Southern Empire
 * Saved 3 members of the Grand Council from certain death
 * Due to his bloodline was able to cohearse an peace agreement with the Orcish Horde

Now although his resume is a little unfair to compare everyone against. Shortly after they dubbed him a hero the Grand Council looked at several more people they could employ in the classified line of work that Karka accomplished. But before anyone could be considered to be dubbed a Hero, they would have to prove themselves a Hero in another fashion.

When everyone is a Hero, nobody is...
After some time The Grand Council realized that just because someone met certain requirements doesn't mean that they should be dubbed a Hero. The title would begin to lose it's meaning if too many people obtained it. So the council set a limit on the amount of Heroes who could own the title. The original limit was set at 80, one for each kingdom.

The only way for a Hero to lose his status was to be stripped from it by the council, or retire. If they retired they became a Hero Prime, which means their spot in the group of Heroes could be taken even though they were still living. There is generally a waiting list for potential Heroes, and as the current Heroes die or retire their positions are filled by qualified people.

As the territories of the Great Alliance expanded and retracted the numbers of allowed heroes was raised and lowered, never going below the original limit of 80. Currrently 250 people can hold the title of Hero in the Great Alliance at one time.

Classes of a Hero
Though all Heroes see each other as equal, there is a clear distinction betwen a Hero and a future legend. Each hero is given a class number to which they are associated with. The class numbers are between 1 and 5 with 5 being the "least" and 1 being the "greatest." Make no mistake a Class 5 hero is not someone to be taken lightly, combatant or not.

Duties of a Hero
Depending on their profession a Hero will have several different roles beyond their previous line of work. The heroes have their traditional roles as normal, but when called upon for the Hero duties they are in a different classification and answer only to the Grand Council. When not being called upon a Hero can either make individual decisions on where they will be, or continue their role of their pevious line of work. A few examples for a combatant call of duty from the Grand Council might be: Roles of a noncombatant might be:
 * Covert Operations under command of the Grand Council
 * Personal Protection of the Grand Council
 * Attendance of Events
 * Supporting an ongoing military operations
 * Diplomatic Intervention
 * Covert Operations under command of the Grand Council
 * Attendance of Events
 * Utilizing tools of trade for an ongoing operations