Recruited from the citizenry of the Cloudspires and trained under the guise of a few remaining members of the Commissariat that sought to oversee Ivor Keterog's construction of Echelon.
Training is harsh, regimented, orderly... discipline rules the day, forming competent soldiery the likes of which has not been seen for some time in the Cloudspires. Unlike the Cloudspire Militia, members of Echelon didnt join up for a hot meal, warm bed, and to sit on their asses behind high walls... They come from those who saw their family enslaved, friends killed, and homes burned. Those with anger, hatred, and pain in their hearts... with the desire to do something, anything, to prevent others from suffering a similar fate... or to exact bloody personal vengeance.
Most would consider such armed individuals to be a dangerous if not fractous element in a kingdom, one that could lead to rebellion if left unchecked. For now, Ivor seems to have collared such an internal threat and molded it into a benefit for the rest of the Cloudspires for Lord Commander Keterog has promised them this much... that with loyalty to him and faith in his plan, the Cloudspires would one day be safe and all its enemies dead.