[Forgotten Realms] Let's Vote Up: Mercenary Company

[Chambers]

Well met, traveler. I'm planning a new Forgotten Realms campaign based around a mercenary company in the Silver Marches region and thought it'd be fun to create one from the ground up for the players. In this thread I'll be presenting different ideas and options for the mercenary company and you, Gentle Playgrounder, will vote on which one should become cannon for this game.

Some preliminaries about the campaign:

The PC's will be around 9th to 12th level. I haven't decided which yet, but this is the power range. The PC's will be humanoid races and non-evil.
The majority of the mercenary company will be lower level creatures, in between 3rd and 10th level. There will be a few Special members that will be higher levels than the PC's.
The campaign will be based in the Silver Marches/The North/Savage Frontier region of Forgotten Realms. The campaign will begin in 1371, the year before the 3rd Ed Forgotten Realms timeline begins.
The mercenary company will be loosely aligned with the newly founded League of the Silver Marches.


We'll be using the entry format from Gold & Glory for the basics of the mercenary company, expanding it as needed.

- To Be Determined
- Voted!
[Navy] - Currently Voting.


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[b]Name
Knights of the Damned


Type
Standing & Roaming


Leader
The Judge


Government
Brotherhood/Sisterhood


Number of Members
Moderate (120 - 250)


Alignment
Lawful Neutral


History
[[I]History]


Strategy & Tactics
Mounted Skirmishers, Warpriests, & Battlemages


Personality
[Personality]


Logistics
[Logistics]






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Now Voting for:

[Chambers]

Previous Votes


Name

There's no list of choices for this one. Make up your own name or vote for one that someone else came up with.

Compiling the current suggestions and adding a few of my own.


The Gavels of Far
The Pink Company
The Order of No Quarter
Swift Wing Sisterhood
Brotherhood of the Lance
The Judge's Spurs
Lance & Arrow
Champions of the Great Guard (Deity: Helm)
Crimson Arrows (Deity: Red Knight)
Knights of the Damned (Deity: Kelemvor)

Strategies & Tactics

Choose three battle units and rank them in order of priority (1st, 2nd, and 3rd). The highest ranked overall will be the majority of the troops. The secondary and tertiary choices will represent additional units that the company has.


Infantry
Archers
Skirmishers
Calvary
Mounted Skirmishers
Scouts
Battlemages
Warpriests
Saboteurs


Run-off vote for 1st and 2nd. 3rd component will be Battlemages. Choose which array you want (A, B, C, or D)

A
1. Warpriests
2. Scouts
3. Battlemages

B
1. Warpriests
2. Warpriests
3. Battlemages

C
1. Mounted Skirmishers
2. Scouts
3. Battlemages

D
1. Mounted Skirmishers
2. Warpriests
3. Battlemages
Now Voting for: Type, Number of Members, and Alignment.

Type: Standing or Standing/Recruits. Fixed or Roaming.

Standing or Standing/Recruits. A Standing company has a large roster of members who live with the company full-time. A Standing/Recruits company has a small number of members and Recruits before each campaign or mission to fill their roster.

Fixed or Roaming. A Fixed company is one that has a permanent headquarters somewhere. A Roaming company either has several small headquarters or no permanent base.


Number of Members: Small, Moderate, Large

As the size of the company increases, the average level of the soldiers in the company will decrease and vice versa. A small company means fewer but more highly trained warriors while a larger company means more soldiers but with less experience.

Small: 60-100 members.
Moderate: 120-250 members.
Large: 300-500 members.


Alignment. Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Neutral Good, True Neutral, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral

The overall alignment of the company. This isn't prescriptive for all members of the companies nor the PC's, but serves as a general indicator of the companies Ethics and Morals.

Leader and Government.

Leader:

The Blackguard
The Destroyer
The Highwayman
The Judge
The Seer
The Spymaster
The Warlord


Instead of listing a number of race and class combinations, choose one of the above Titles that describes the Leader of the mercenary company. This will influence the leader's build, personality, and the tactics and reputation of the company.

Government:

Business
Brotherhood/Sisterhood
Council
Counciled Dictatorship
Democratic Council
Dictatorship
Clan
Military Hierarchy
Oligarchic Council (Wizardly/Priestly, etc)

[Snowbluff]

Standing, Roaming, Small, LG.

[Amphetryon]

Standing, Roaming, Medium, CN

[torrasque666]

Standing. Fixed. Medium. Lawful Neutral.

[Jeff the Green]

Standing/Recruits. Fixed. Large. LG.

Though, how does size interact with standing/(standing/recruits)? Or should that just be "interact with recruits"?

[Chambers]

A Standing/Recruits company will expand their ranks to the Number of Members listed when they recruit for an operation. When they aren't at full strength, they'll have about 30% of the listed Number of Members, the core group that stays between campaigns.

[Summerstorm]

Standing (+Specialists/Adventurers hired for special assignments)
Fixed (Sending out Parties/Advisers/Trainers and smaller campaigns for sometimes weeks/months)
Medium (10 times 12 Men at least)
Lawful Neutral (At the core - Members of course differ wildly. Good is inefficient as an uncaring authority and getting-rich scheme - Chaotic in this business is hampered too - I would say lawful evil or neutral if you want a mercenary organization to thrive)

This is fun...

[JDL]

I'm going to cheat and suggest a pre-existing group within the Forgotten Realms setting.


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Name
[The Riders of Nesmé]


Type
[Standing/Militia. Fixed.]


Leader
[Galen Firth, Clr8 of Tempus]


Government
[The Council of Nesmé]


Number of Members
[20 standing/83 militia]


Alignment
[Lawful Neutral]


History
[Nesmé: Nesmé has always been a fortified trading town under threat from raiding trolls and barbarians. Now it’s a pale shadow of its former self, a crumbling fortress besieged sporadically by furious giants. Nesmé has lost fully one-fifth of its inhabitants to frequent barbarian, troll, and now giant raids. Since the coming of the giants, the Riders of Nesmé have been all but obliberated, their citadel on the west bank of the Surbrin ruined and lost, along with its bridge, and the docks, paddocks, and stock-pens of Nesmé.]


Strategy & Tactics
[The Riders of Nesmé defend a city under siege. The much battered walls of the city bristle with ballistae and catapults that are manned day and night against giant attack. The small but hardy horses that were bred in ranches west of Nesmé have all been eaten now. Nesmé is desperate to become a member of the Silver Marches and gain military aid to slay the giants. Alustriel favors the idea, but she can’t convince the present members of the Marches to bring in an isolated town that will immediately cost them dearly in gold and blood to defend.]


Personality
[The Riders of Nesmé are a grim company, sworn to defend a dying city with their lives against impossible odds. They know their task is hopeless but they can't give up. Nesmé is a town on the verge of obliberation. If more giants come south, or disease or a harsh winter besets the exhausted, besieged citizens, Nesmé may soon become just one more ruin of the North, abandoned to all but lurking monsters.]


Logistics
[The townspeople have lost both their moor-grazed sheep and cattle, and any hope of grazing anything on the Evermoors in the foreseeable future. They subsist now almost entirely on vegetables grown within the walls, and lout netted from the cold waters of the Surbrin. Alustriel has been sending Nesmé large amounts of coin from her personal fortune, as well as any adventurers she can recruit, through a portal linking a secret location in Silverymoon with a chamber in the ruined temple of Waukeen, within the walls of Nesmé.]




---

Source: Silver Marches, page 23-24.

[Strormer]

Standing, Roaming but looking for a fixed base, Moderate, Lawful Neutral with a strong if it isn't outright illegal then it's fine by us attitude.

[Jeff the Green]

A Standing/Recruits company will expand their ranks to the Number of Members listed when they recruit for an operation. When they aren't at full strength, they'll have about 30% of the listed Number of Members, the core group that stays between campaigns.

Alright. Changed my vote on size to Large, then. Presumably with the core being more well-trained and equipped than the recruits, but less than you'd have if they were the totality of the group.

[Chambers]

No cheating JDL, go ahead and vote. :smallsmile: The purpose is to make a new company, not adapt an existing one.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Standing, Roaming, Large, CG

I am picturing the Band of the Red Hand stumbling into the Realms by accident.

[Chambers]

Last Call for current voting!

Votes:

Standing: 6
Standing/Recruits: 1

Fixed: 3
Roaming: 4

Small: 1
Medium: 4
Large 2

Alignment: Lawful Good x2, Lawful Neutral x3, Chaotic Good x1, Chaotic Neutral x1

Edit: Votes are done and tallied. Results put into OP.

[Cardea]

Blackguard, Brotherhood/Sisterhood.

[torrasque666]

Warlord

Military Hierarchy

[Coidzor]

The Judge

Business

[Summerstorm]

Hm... this is tough:

The Warlord (Maybe Spymaster or Seer for more "You don't need to know WHY we are doing this - just do it and in time my magnificent plan will come together" - More intrigue)

Counciled Dictatorship

[Jeff the Green]

Seer, Brotherhood/Sisterhood

[ThisIsZen]

Seer

Brotherhood/Sisterhood

[Amphetryon]

The Judge

Brotherhood/Sisterhood

[ArcanistSupreme]

The Judge

Counciled Dictatorship

[Chambers]

Last call for Leader & Government (will tally votes in the morning).

[Strormer]

The Judge (sounds badass, but still like a leader)
Counciled Dictatorship

[Chambers]

The Judge & Brotherhood/Sisterhood won.

Current Vote:Strategies & Tactics

Choose three battle units and rank them in order of priority (1st, 2nd, and 3rd). The highest ranked overall will be the majority of the troops. The secondary and tertiary choices will represent additional units that the company has.


Infantry
Archers
Skirmishers
Calvary
Mounted Skirmishers
Scouts
Battlemages
Warpriests
Saboteurs
Siege Engineer

[Vaz]

Mounted Skirmishers
Saboteurs
Warpriests

[Coidzor]

Warpriests
Mounted Skirmishers
Battlemages

[Amphetryon]

1. Mounted Skirmishers
2. Warpriests
3. Battlemages

[Dr TPK]

1. Infantry
2. Archers
3. Scouts

[Dgrin]

Skirmishers
Battlemages
Scouts

[rypt]

Shoot. I missed all the earlier votes.

1. Warpriests
2. Cavalry
3. Battlemages

[torrasque666]

Cavalry
Scouts
Warpriests

[jguy]

Battlemages
Warpriest
Saboteurs

[Summerstorm]

Hm hm...

Saboteurs (Slitting throats of high-up enemy leaders is supposed to be sabotage too, or not? *g*)
Scouts (Recon is important - and hard to do right... also infiltration)
Infantry (Sometimes you just need to hold a village or a dungeon or whatever)

Some riders would be nice too though. They could heroically show up sometimes and spear people with some glorious music playing.

I assume every unit has a mage and a priest and maybe a marshal/bard/dragon shaman though - no matter the speciality.

[Chambers]

Last call for Strategies & Tactics voting.

[Chambers]

Run-off vote for 1st and 2nd. 3rd component will be Battlemages. Choose which array you want (A, B, C, or D)

A
1. Warpriests
2. Scouts
3. Battlemages

B
1. Warpriests
2. Warpriests
3. Battlemages

C
1. Mounted Skirmishers
2. Scouts
3. Battlemages

D
1. Mounted Skirmishers
2. Warpriests
3. Battlemages

[torrasque666]

My choice is C

[rypt]

Torn between A and D, but I think I'm going to have to go with D, with the added preference that the skirmishers' mounts be something other than plain ol' horses.

[Amphetryon]

I vote D. words needed

[ThisIsZen]

I'm very tempted to vote B, just 'cause it looks funny, but I'm going to have to go with D as well.

[Vaz]

Voting D.

letters

[The Bandicoot]

I vote B just because who says they have to be the same kinds of priests?

[Dr TPK]

C gets my vote

[Coidzor]

Run-off vote for 1st and 2nd. 3rd component will be Battlemages. Choose which array you want (A, B, C, or D)

A
1. Warpriests
2. Scouts
3. Battlemages

B
1. Warpriests
2. Warpriests
3. Battlemages

C
1. Mounted Skirmishers
2. Scouts
3. Battlemages

D
1. Mounted Skirmishers
2. Warpriests
3. Battlemages

B seems to have a typo here.

[Chambers]

B seems to have a typo here.

I'm not seeing it. :smallconfused:

[Coidzor]

I'm not seeing it. :smallconfused:

Warpriests as both the primary and secondary unit type when we had to vote for three separate unit types to get primary, secondary, and tertiary isn't an error? I think that's even weirder. :smallconfused:

[Summerstorm]

I am voting C. More mundane = more better *g* Prefering the Cavalary to the mages and clerics.

(Also they can be dino-riders or bear cavalry or whatever *g*)

[Chambers]

Warpriests as both the primary and secondary unit type when we had to vote for three separate unit types to get primary, secondary, and tertiary isn't an error? I think that's even weirder. :smallconfused:

Ah, I see what you mean. Warpriests tied in both primary and secondary, so I went ahead and included them in both choices for the run-off.

[Chambers]

Results: Mounted Skirmishers, Warpriests, Battlemages.



Now Voting for: Name

There's no list of choices for this one. Make up your own name or vote for one that someone else came up with. Keep in mind the characteristics of the mercenary company so far (mostly Mounted Skirmishers, Lawful Neutral, Brotherhood/Sisterhood, lead by the Judge, etc).

[Vaz]

The Gavels of X?

Trying to think of a word for X, but thinking of the mounted Skirmishers, the Gavels of Far.

[Dr TPK]

The Pink Company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Company)

[Coidzor]

The Order of No Quarter.

[Chambers]

Compiling the current suggestions and adding a few of my own.


The Gavels of Far
The Pink Company
The Order of No Quarter
Swift Wing Sisterhood
Brotherhood of the Lance
The Judge's Spurs
Lance & Arrow
Champions of the Great Guard (Deity: Helm)
Crimson Arrows (Deity: Red Knight)
Knights of the Damned (Deity: Kelemvor)

[The Bandicoot]

I second Knights of the Damned

[Dgrin]

Hmm... I think I heard some kind of nice name for a community... Giants in the Playground, it was :smallbiggrin:

On a more serious note, if the company is more or less well-known, it may be named after the leader (current or first). So [Judge's name]'s Company or [Judge]'s Raiders, or Children of [him again], or whatever.

I may return to that post if I think about cool-sounding names, like Brotherhood of Eternity, or Shining Swords

[PeekingPenguin]

how about The White Gauntlet(s)?:smallcool:

[Coidzor]

On a more serious note, if the company is more or less well-known, it may be named after the leader (current or first). So [Judge's name]'s Company or [Judge]'s Raiders, or Children of [him again], or whatever.

Bonus points if their ranks are all made up of his actual children, grandchildren, and the spouses thereof. :smallamused:

[Dgrin]

Bonus points if their ranks are all made up of his actual children, grandchildren, and the spouses thereof. :smallamused:

It is not called Brotherhood/Sisterhood for no reason, after all :smalltongue:

EDIT: Am I the only one thinking about The Godfather right now?

[rypt]

Windgrace Dragoons.

[Chambers]

There doesn't look like there's going to be a clear consensus, so I'm going to go with Knights of the Damned, as it got someone else's vote and I've thought of some story to go along with it (and the Kelemvor tie-in).

I'm working on a full write up, but the Knights of the Damned will be a company formed of people who lost a family member to an undead attack. That's the tie-in with Brotherhood/Sisterhood, as the company is now their family (probably only family in some cases). I want to find a word that reflects the all inclusive familial nature of the company rather than just Brotherhood or Sisterhood.

Edit: Kinship works pretty well.