The Dark Company


The scene opens up to a dark, rowdy tavern in the small town of Ushgar. A haggard, aging bard sits at the head of one of the many long tables in the establishment. Scars, burn marks, and arrow wounds are visible throughout his body, the look of a veteran obvious in his features.
The bard glances over his audience

“So… What story shall we start with? Mind you I’m not in a mood to do anything for free…”

An adolescent boy in his teenage years gathers his courage, nods over to the friend sitting adjacent to him, and runs over to the bard, whispering something in his ear.
The storyteller’s eyes widen for a second, before returning to their usual, lazy regard.

“So boy… You really want to know the story of how The Dark Company began? The mercenary unit that causes the blood to freeze even in the most powerful of Kings? The boldest of heroes?”

The bard quickly realized that the cacophony of voices, sounds, and laughter abruptly stopped with the mentioning of that infamous name. Every pair of eyes was on him now, with almost manic interest. The bard looked down on the table, deep in thought. He knew this was a story best left alone. However...

“The story begins in The Alabaster City, in Tysus - As a collection of most singular, unique individuals find themselves recruited into a squad of the Fifth Echelon mercenary army…”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello everybody! This is a role playing game I have been thinking of for a while now. It will take a lot of roots and inspiration from The Malazan: Book of the Fallen series and A Game of Thrones/ A Song of Ice and Fire.

It is be a medieval fantasy war role play combined with quests and adventures.

The role play will be about the history of our fantasy world's, Mirhandia's, most renowned, infamous, and deadly mercenary army: The Dark Company.

The Dark Company, however, did not start off as an army. Not even close. The founders of the company were a squad of talented and ferocious soldiers who worked under several other mercenary companies, fought in numerous campaigns, and completed a myriad of adventures. Through all these conflicts, they gained fame and attracted a following of soldiers, allies, and other assets which helped them create the army they will become.

Our players will be the members of the squad, which will embark on their first journey together.

This will be a medium fantasy setting. Yes, there will be mages. There might be dragons. However, everything has to be in realistic boundaries. You will not be able to incinerate battalions of soldiers with your sorcery. There are limits to those sort of things. Every squad/army also has it's own mage cadre or squad mages attached to it.

The mood of the role play will be dark, with cynical army/soldier humor mixed in. There will be tons of cursing, gore, and violence.The Dark Company is not a group of noble, just knights who will fight to save a woman's virginity. We are in the grey. Surely, some members will be more humane, more merciful then others, while others will have a different outlook on the world. At the same time, we will not plot some plan to destroy humanity...

SETTING
This role play will be located in the world of Mirhandia.

The detailed map is here.

Just a brief skim through of how the cultures are in Mirhandia.

The hub of kingdoms around the Jadelyn Empire, as well as those nations around Suratar can be considered a late medieval time Europe. The Jadelyn Empire is considered as one of the more powerful nation of Mirhandia. The natives there are similar to Europeans.

Below Tysus, as you go down to to the Tetrarchy of Klanat, think the Middle East/Arabian sort of vibe, when they were at their peak. Golden domes, skilled archer riders, that sort of stuff. The natives there, you guessed it, are a darker skin color just like the natives of the Middle East.

To the west of the south-west of the Tetrarchy, arround Dissor, we have a kingdom coalition of kingdoms and countries which are mostly covered in forests. The people here are of a more lithe, taller build, with tanned skin and slanted eyes. Some of the greatest archers in Mirhandia come from those parts. Also, a non-human rice similar to elves dwell in those parts, although very secluded.

To the west of that, Xenth and Athet. Athet, and half of Xenth, are covered by expansive jungles. Think of the African jungles. The people here are dark ebony skinned. The second half of Xenth is a desert.

North of Xenth, that whole continent has similar physical attributes and culture as of Asia. To be precise, Japan/China.

SQUAD ROLES
I would like the squad to consist of several roles.

1. THE MARINES. - "Marines never play fair - they just play to win."
   
   These are light/medium armored individuals who have a nack for versatility. Think of a hybrid between shock troopers, special operations, and heavies. They can use many different weapons - you pick which one your character favors. They usually carry crossbows as well, but sometimes bows. The marines will later become the unique backbone of The Dark Company army, a type of soldier which many other hosts will try to mimic, but few will succeed. Unlimited places in the squad.



2. THE HEAVIES - "When the Master Sergeant gave me a shield and a sword and told me to spar, I just dug in, and stood there. After two hours, he gave up"
   
   These are the heavy armored, shielded soldiers that just simply won't budge. They usually take point during operations or battles. They can keep a large number of enemy at bay. Unlimited places in the squad.



3. THE SAPPERS - "Sappers were considered the deranged part of the army. To constantly work with these explosives... It is of little surprise, that when an army arranged their camps, everybody kept well clear of the sapper tents, just in case things went awry."
   
   These are the wild, deranged soldiers which are connoisseurs of the grenado business. They deal with the primitive explosive charges and technology that is available in the setting of the world. Some of these explosives can cause a lot of damage, especially if done right. Sappers in an army can turn the tide of any battle, and can even the odds if the enemy army has more mages then you. There are several type of explosives, all varying in their uses and radius of the detonation. There will be explosives that you can attach to the crossbow arrow and lob at the enemy. These explosives, however, come from the far outreaches of Mirhandia, as only one culture of people have the secrets to craft them. They will be expensive, and sometimes rare. You will have a limited supply at every engagement, so best to use them wisely. A limit of two sappers in the squad. If there's more, the chances are they will blow us up



4. THE MAGES - "Witness"
   
   Countless armies in Mrihandia have fallen in the tens of thousands simply due to a lack of mages. In some battles, all mages do is counter each other, while letting the soldiers battle it out on the field. The skill and power of sorcerers in Mirhandia varies greatly. There will be Head Mages, at the head of armies, who could destroy thousands, and there might be squad mages who can only do simple things, such as talk to animals. Regardless, I do not want any overpowered mages at the beginning. Pick a talent, and stick with it, and as we go on through the story your power, along with others, will expand and you will become the deadly, renowned founding mage of The Dark Company that you are. A limit of two in the squad.



5. THE HEALER - "So after losing a game of cards at the encampment, Stumpy threw a knife at the Ninth squad marine soldiers, impaling his hand to the tree. I don't want people to think that just because I'm here, Sergeant, does like that can happen"
   
   The physical healing of wounds, with bandages and medical tools are left to the Cutters. These medics, as you can tell from their namesake - often cut off body parts when the wounds are too grievous. The healers, however, are those few who have a natural talent in High Iskar. Iskar is the concentration of magic that deals with healing and rejuvenation. It won't be able to heal you when you have your head cut off, but it is a damn useful skill for mending serious wounds and illnesses. Although physically healed, the injured person still has to rest for a day or two, as this sort of magic puts a serious toll on both the healer and the patient. High Iskar treatment allows individuals to live for hundreds of years beyond their life span. We will meet many renowned, famous human figures who are pretty damn old. High Iskar is a potent magic that only a few are born with affinity to, and even less are able to master. Therefore an individual is limited to only that path of sorcery. Meaning, you cannot be a practitioner of High Iskar and be able to control fire as well. Healers can also be very capable fighters, and are often marines. Armies usually only have a handful of High Iskar practitioners, so it would be overwhelming if more than one practitioner is a member of the squad. Limited to one.

RACES
The only race allowed will be human. There will be other races in the role play, but they are separated from humans. The grand majority of the population of our world, will be human.

GODS AND MAGIC
Magic: There is a certain way magic will behave in our role play. Every type of magic, be it Darkness, Shadow, or Light, has its own ‘warren.’ A warren is another realm which stands for the magic. The Darkness warren, for example, is a pitch black world. When Mages use their magic, they open up a portal, invisible or not, into that warren and summon the power from it. They basically transfer the darkness from its original darkness warren, into our realm. Each realm has a throne. That throne is occupied by the god of that warren.

These warrens run parallel with our realm, but not exactly. Meaning, if it takes you 5 days to travel from point A to point B in our world, you can actually open your warren, enter that world, and travel in it in a parallel path to ours. You can walk for a day, and then exit the warren – appearing at destination B in only a day, as opposed to the 5 days it would take you in the mortal realm. There are cons to this, however, as these warrens are their own world, and can contain their own dangers.

Gods: As I mentioned before, each warren has a throne, which is occupied by the god of that warren. There are many temples in Mirhandia paying tribute to a god of their choosing. The god chooses, among the mortals, a High Priest. That is the head of that priesthood across Mirhandia. He has the closest connection with his god. A god may choose a Mortal Sword, which is a chosen mortal which he will use to indirectly fight or influence certain aspects of Mirhandia. At the beginning, no player in our squad is allowed to be a Mortal Sword.

Here is the catch: Some are gods, and some are god ascendants. There were gods that have been around since the beginning of time. Sometimes, however, if a god dies, the throne becomes vacant. A mortal may ascend, and take the throne for himself, becoming a god. For now I will not specify which gods are ascendants.

There are individuals who are semi-ascendants. Meaning they have gained superb power or abilities. Combined with High Iskar treatment, as I previously stated, these individuals may also live for very, very long periods of time.

Names of Gods:
HOOD – “KING OF HIGH HOUSE DEATH” God of Death
TRAKE – “THE TIGER OF BATTLE” God of War.
AMMANAS- “KING OF HIGH HOUSE SHADOW” God of Shadow
ANOMANDER – “KING OF HIGH HOUSE DARKNESS” God of Darkness
OSSERIC – “KING OF HIGH HOUSE LIGHT” God of Light
POLIEL – “GREY GODDESS” – Goddess of Disease
MAEL – “KING OF HIGH HOUSE SEA” – God of the Seas
BURN – “MOTHER OF EARTH” – Goddess of the Earth
AURELIUS - "FATHER OF TE WIND" - God of the Wind/Weather
OPONN - "JESTER OF CHANCE" - God of Luck/Chance

WARREN NAMES
Ruse Warren - Water/Seas
Healing - High Iskar Warren
Earth - Tennes Warren
Light - Thyr Warren
Stone - D'riss Warren
Shadow and Illusion - Meanas
Fire - Telas Warren
Darkness - Rashan Warren
Air/Wind - Serc Warren

MUNITIONS
If a normal soldier’s most valued possession is his sword, then the sapper’s is definitely his Moranth munitions. The chemical techniques and secrets used to make these munitions are only known to the strange people of Moranth. Munitions are therefore very valuable and should not be emptily wasted. Sappers go as far as to sometimes even hide or lie to their officers about the amount of munitions they have left. They value them more then their own children... There are several type of munitions.

Burners were composed of glass cylinders filled with a different type of explosive than other munitions, comparable to real-life incendiary grenades. Upon detonation, burners created a fireball designed to burn enemy troops and supplies. They were less deadly than Sharpers but could be used more strategically to create havoc among the enemy. They were frequently loaded onto large crossbows to allow for more range, and were often used in conjunction with crackers to demolish fortifications.

Crackers were a very specific variety of explosive used for the demolition of buildings. They were the most durable form of munition, able to be hammered without detonation, comparable to a block of real-life military C-4. They were made of fired clay, shaped like cones or wedges that could be hammered into cracks or gaps in walls. Crackers exploded with a loud cracking noise, leading to their name.

Cussers - Filled with a yellow powder and shards of iron, cussers were the largest, most volatile and most deadly of the munitions, comparable to a real-life satchel charge in potential destructiveness. Their name came from the only adequate reaction to their effects - cussing. Cussers required much more delicate handling than other munitions as they were extremely difficult to use on an enemy without also affecting the user. Attempts to launch them using catapults caused them to detonate, as did using a conventional crossbow to deliver them, and they could not be thrown by hand as the blast radius was too wide for the thrower to clear after launching one. Due to their limitations, several alternative methods of delivery and detonation were developed:

1)The most common method of delivery is launching with a modified crossbows. The crossbow is much larger than a conventional bow, and uses a special cradle to hold the munition. These have an effective range of approximately 30 paces, which is close enough that one needs to take cover from debris.

2)Remote donation is also a popular technique. A cusser or group of cussers is planted near the target. The sapper would then retreated out of range and fired a crossbow loaded with a sharper or burner into the region causing the cusser(s) to explode.

3)There is also a fuse technique. A cusser was rigged with a drop of acid that slowly dissolved the clay coating while the sapper retreated out of range. The amount and placement of acid affected the timing of the explosion and was a rare art with little room for error.

4)Trip wire - This was used in ambushes and traps for enemy troops. A tripwire was stretched across a path tied to a cusser on each end. The cussers were balanced on a nearby object. When an enemy sprang the tripwire, the munitions fell and detonated. This was not practical in open areas nor during daylight.

5)The Drum - A legendary method of deploying cussers used only by the most experienced of sappers, which mimiced a land mine. Holes were first dug in a chosen pattern, depending on the area. Cussers were then shaved down on one side until the clay was paper thin. A sharp stone was then placed on the thin area and the cusser was buried. When the enemy approached, their footfalls resonated through the ground causing the stone to puncture the clay and detonate the cusser.

Sharpers These were the most commonly used type of explosive by the armies, due to their versatility. They were small cones composed of fired clay and contained shards of metal designed to act as shrapnel. They were small and light enough to throw without causing damage to the thrower, comparable to a real-life hand grenade. Sharpers were so named because of the sharp shrapnel they produce. They were also commonly loaded onto large crossbows to be fired at distant targets.

Smokers As the name suggests, smokers released large clouds of smoke, akin to a modern smoke bomb. They were used tactically to create confusion.

SQUAD RANKING
The squad will at first consist of a Sergeant, me, in order to keep the story going, and a Corporal will be appointed. No hard feelings but the corporal will be appointed some time during our first adventure. The Corporal should be a good, efficient role player. In the general sense, it is sort of an empty rank. It is someone who takes over if the Sergeant dies. As we will become a closely knitted group of soldiers, bound together by hardships and battles fought together, the hierarchy will mean less and less. The shots will still be called by the Sergeant and through the Corporal, but it will be a casual thing to curse, joke, or sometimes second question the higher ranked squad members. One of the edicts of The Dark Company will, however, become the fact that every soldier has the ability to give his own input, feedback, and advice. It is that basis, among many others, that will make it so successful.

Although I can see how I'm coming off as very nit picky or strict, I will allow people to add to the world and story as they see fit. The more the players bring of their own to the plot, the better of a role play we will have! I will try not to force us in any strict direction or event, but rather it will all be depending on our actions as a whole, and the opinions of every squad member. Example : We are attached to a certain army, and therefore we will have to march with them to the engagement they hired us for. The Dark Company will later be famous for almost never dropping out or failing a contract. However, if squad mates feel a certain way about the conflict we are in, and would like to deal with it in another way, we will change the plot to reflect that. Don't want to accept a certain contract? Don't like the army we are fighting for? Feel like the quest we are on is pointless? We are in a world with boundless opportunities, and can go about it in many ways.

RP Quality should be casual to high-casual.

CHARACTER CREATION

The character sheet is posted in the IC, in an 'in game' format.

Post all your character sheets in the OOC.

Only start posting in the IC after I make my double post, after the squad has been filled up and positions have been arranged.

When creating your biography, feel free to use locations from our world map, or come up with new cities. The world, however, stays the same. Meaning the countries and their borders should not be violated. I also urge you to use your motivation to describe the region and culture you were born from. I will adapt to your stories and they will begin forming the world we will be playing in. I only ask of you to keep with the gritty, dark tone of the role play, and remember that this is a medium - fantasy role play, so no flying lions, ponies, or unicorns. Keep it real to it's setting and tone.

Additionally, I want to state that none of us, as of yet, are semi-ascendants. We possess a much higher level of skill and ability then others, but we are still quiet fallible. We might be getting hurt if we are thrown into the fray. It is up to us to work together, help each other, and come up with strategies to stay alive and survive encounters.

As we go on there is definitely potential of us becoming stronger and stronger, or even becoming semi-ascendants.

Characters

The Dark Company Archives include the names and background information of each member of the squad.

Will post a healer.

Are Marines able to perform magic, or are Mages and Healers the only ones capable of using magic?

Will get my app up soon

Healers are, quiet often, Marines.

A Mage can't be a Marine. They're usually using their warrens during battle, and are protected by the Marines/Heavies around them.

However, if you would like to be a Marine with a lesser unrefined warren, meaning some small skill or talent, that's fine. Some affinity to a warren you were born with, but haven't mastered since you're more of a physical attribute soldier. So no offensive Battlemage powers. I wouldn't want anyone slashing enemies with one sword and devouring them with ice/flames with his warrens.

Sorry, I'm a bit confused, do we post our CS' in the IC or the OOC?

Richard_III said
Sorry, I'm a bit confused, do we post our CS' in the IC or the OOC?

OOC

Ah right, thanks

Name: 'Ser' Merek Harclay
Age: 45
Sex: Male
Height: 5 foot 8
Squad Role: Marine
Appearance: Merek
Origin: Mountmend, Essatar
Background:
Merek was born to a peasant farmer working on land rented from a noble who reaped just about all the wheat and whatnot that his father grew, leaving his father very little to maintain his tools after purchasing food and other essentials needed to live. As a result, Merek grew up with an innate hatred of members of the nobility because of the way the noble treated him and his family. The farm his family worked on was situated next to the small village of Mountmend known for the stone mine that it got its name from. Merek was often sent to the village to buy supplies and to sell the produce that the farm produced. This was where he met the man that would mentor him in the art of the blade.

He bumped into the man when he was heading out to buy some food, he was a short old man. His hair was black with greying streaks at the sides and his gaze was as astonishing as a Medusa's. He met the man three more times after that. Twice when Merek was selling produce at a stall and once on the occasion that would see him made into a swordsman's apprentice. Merek was working the stall at the time. He heard shouting and commotion coming from the nearby mine and went to go check it out. It turned out that a part of the mine had collapsed and a few men were trapped in. Merek tried to help as much as he could, but in truth, nothing could stop what was going to happen next. The structure keeping the part of the mine behind them up weakened and eventually snapped, killing two and leaving 3 including Merek, the swordsman and a miner. The miner had a plan to dig their way out by working in shifts with the miner doing the longest shift. The only problem was that it was pitch black and accidents could be prone to happen if they were not careful. They also had no way to gauge the amount of time they had spent doing anything and so shifts were generally done until they were too tired to work and had to switch out.

During his time in the mine, Merek and the swordsman talked often and eventually the topic of an apprenticeship came up. Merek disagreed at first, but the more he talked about it the more he was convinced it was a better option than continuing to be an impoverished farmer all his life. After he got out of the mine, he was eager to break the news to his father, but under the advice of his new mentor he decided to wait a few days before telling him. His father reacted rather badly to the news that his son wanted to go off with a strange man to learn how to kill people. Under much persuasion and a little bit of bribery from Merek's soon to be mentor Merek was soon ready to set out on his pilgrimage. They started by travelling to Suratar and buying Merek a shortsword there to train with. They then made their way down to Dissor while training all the time they travelled. They encountered very few enemies on the road much to Merek's disappointment.

They stopped at Dissor where real action was found. They had entered a pub and had met a rather unsightly group of men fresh from a war they had pretty much avoided altogether by being placed in the rearguard of most fights. They began to act rather rambunctious which lead to Marik's mentor getting rather annoyed which ultimately led to a bar fight. This was Merek's first taste of real combat and to his delight, he actually got to stab someone. His mentor was quite hasty to get out of Dissor after the fight though and they soon arrived in Zend. Most of Merek's training took place there in his mentors home. They trained and occasionally took contracts up until Marik was in his 20s. He was then ready to go out into the world and make something of himself. At first he didn't really know what to do. He considered mercenary work, but ultimately decided on military work.

He was placed in the vanguard of most battles and experienced combat first hand. He saw his comrades die around him and was lucky to survive a lot of situations he was put in. At the end of his military career he was paid fairly and was to be welcomed back if he ever wanted back in. By this point he was in his mid 30s and was very well trained with his sword. But he yearned to rest for a while and so he returned to his old village of Mountmend. When he arrived there he did not expect what he saw in the least. The village had been ravaged by invading barbarians of which the noble was too preoccupied to send men to fight. Merek had to get revenge in any way possible. He recruited what little men where left after the attack and launched an attack on the barbarian hoard. After successfully killing and driving out the small barbarian tribe, Merek's next target was the noble that taxed the village so dearly. When he arrived at the nobles estate he was caught off guard when the noble decided to reward him rather than fight him. As it turns out, the noble was too preoccupied with helping fight the war that Merek had just left to help the village. He was massively grateful for Merek's work and in return for it gave him a medium amount of gold and had him knighted as a Ser. Merek wasn't really sure how to react to this, he had never thought of himself as a noble and practically hated the lot, but then again, the title did come with a degree of respect that couldn't be gained from a name otherwise. He decided to accept the title and begin another pilgrimage. He done mercenary work for a while and has just recently arrived in Alabaster City.

Skills:
Merek has honed his longsword skills over the many years that he has fought. He is also very versatile when it comes to using a shield or not. He generally prefers to keep a round shield on his back for protection against archers and attacks from behind, but will sometimes use the shield itself if he is up against a particularly big enemy or against a barrage of arrows. He is also proficient with a longbow and carries one with him.
Reason for joining the Fifth Echelon: An eagerness to get back into battle.
Other information:

Work on a Marine beginning immediately.

Can I ask where Alabaster city is on the map?

Sure! I apologize for the low resolution of the map. I am working on getting the higher resolution version from it's creator.

I'm going to start giving more information on how to find certain locations and cities on the map, it being so big and stuff.

You can locate Tysus a little bit above the middle of the map. The most western/south point of Tysus, there is the bay of "Shiddan." You can see the city is right on the coast of that bay.

Auro - God of wind and weather

I need a god similar to this for my character

Ignore this.

and this.

I'd like to create a mage that specializes in using the natural terrain to his advantage, enhancing it in various fashions to the tactical benefit of the unit, rather than some fireball slinger.

If forced to pick a specific single ability, I'd go with either rapid plant growth or the summoning of a fog. If you give me a better sense of the scope of initial abilities, I'll be happy to conform to that standard. ;)

Barring physical alteration of the landscape, I'll happily play an illusionist. I can go several ways on this, but the mage I envision is almost an avatar of "By way of Deception, thou shalt wage war." So perhaps an affinity for shadow is pertinent here.

Would it be alright if my healer talked to animals?

Nytefall said
Auro - God of wind and weather I need a god similar to this for my character

Can we name him Aurelius?

God of Wind and Weather is a very interesting idea.

There could be problems of it overlapping with Mael though, the God of the Seas. Let's just say that Aurelius wouldn't have control over oceans/bodies of water through weather.

If that's fine with you I will edit him in.

Enalais said
Would it be alright if my healer talked to animals?

Yes, that's good. Would be darn useful in ambushes/sabotage missions. Or if we ever got lost in a forest or some sort of wilderness.

Since animals really don't have the cognitive abilities to have long thoughts or formulate complex senses, lets say your character has a talent for being able to communicate with animals, rather then talk. Feel their fear, their senses, or whatever they are thinking. Befriend them. Not directly talk, as if in "Hey, how was your day?" If you know what I'm saying.

I'll get my character up in a bit.

HeySeuss said
I'd like to create a mage that specializes in using the natural terrain to his advantage, enhancing it in various fashions to the tactical benefit of the unit, rather than some fireball slinger.If forced to pick a specific single ability, I'd go with either rapid plant growth or the summoning of a fog. If you give me a better sense of the scope of initial abilities, I'll be happy to conform to that standard. ;)Barring physical alteration of the landscape, I'll happily play an illusionist. I can go several ways on this, but the mage I envision is almost an avatar of "By way of Deception, thou shalt wage war." So perhaps an affinity for shadow is pertinent here.

Love the way you're thinking!

Well, the different warrens can be used with different things.

For example, by being a practitioner of the Earth warren, you will be able to transform parts of terrain for your units advantage. That's one handy skill.

Fog - that could be the Warren of Seas, as you will be able to summon water.

Illusionist - That would be a specialization of the Shadow warren.

You can border more than one warren. For example, fog would be the Seas warren, bordering with the Light warren. As you would have to heat up the water to get the fog. And as long as you're just trading on the border of a second warren, not delving completely into it and shooting fireballs, that's fine.

These obviously won't be your limits though, we are just starting off and I would like some character development as our potential and skills increase.

I'm also going to go ahead and name each Warren, so we don't have to say stuff like "Warren of the Seas"