The Band of Fools
A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay
"King Adalmar II of the House of Northall peacefully ascended his father's throne in the year of our Lord 817. The chroniclers of his reign note it as one of harmony and contentment. His Grace was well known for his charity and piety, founding Colleges at Innsmouth and Edmundton and rebuilding the North Chapel at Kingsbury Abbey. In the year 819 he took Elise of the House of Ordoth, daughter of the Duke of Forlinger, as his Queen. She would bear him two sons, the Princes Edmund and Osbert, neither would ascend the throne.
King Adalmar II and his sons fell victim to the spring sweating sickness that struck the capital in the sixteenth year of his reign, leaving no clear heir. Thus the Kingdom of Westar was plunged into one of the darkest periods of its great history, the Anarchy of Adalmar."
The King and his sons are dead. The plague that swept through the capital is past and in the chaos of its wake four principle claimants to the throne of Westar emerge. Godfrey of Innsmouth, cousin of the former King through the female line and a powerful courtier, has seized the capital and crowned himself. Across the great river Wasser to the east, the Prince of Taratio gathers his own armies and those of his Bordian allies to press his own more senior claim of decent. In the wild north of the country the old Lord Howard of Northall, a remaining cadet branch of the Northall dynasty, hosts his bannermen and the local nobility in preparation for revolt. And most worryingly of all, across the Western Strait is the King of Blancia, Raynaud de Alecion, he remembers his grandfather's attempt to take the Kingdom of Westar almost a hundred years previously, not through right of descent - but by right of conquest.
The board is set and the pieces are in motion. Between them these men shall unleash a tide of blood across the country. They will do it for their pride, they will do it for their honour, they will do it for their greed, and most of all, they shall do it for power. Kings will rise and fall, men will die, and the fate of nations hangs in the balance.
But you will have no say in it.
You are not a King, nor even a great Lord. You are a mercenary, either one step above a common peasant, or so disgraced a noble it might have been better for you to be born that way. You have the dubious honour of serving in one of the Kingdom's oldest Free Companies, the Band of Fortune, or as it is better know: The Band of Fools.
Many years ago they were a powerful and respected fighting force numbering over a thousand. Now they are but a shadow of their former selves, barely being able to muster a quarter of their previous strength. The relative peace of Adalmar's reign meant that the mercenary companies that did not leave Westar atrophied. With work scarce they became little more than glorified thugs and many even turned to banditry when hard times struck. But now this new war has made their services back in demand, and some in the company still hold onto a notion of the glory and the wealth that could be theirs if they play cards right in the coming conflict.
So welcome, brothers and sisters in arms, to the Band of Fools!
1 - The Kingdom of Westar, controls all continental lands to the West of the river with the two large lakes.
2 - The Kingdom of Blancia
3 - The Principality of Taratio, controls lands between rivers to the north and south.
4 - The Noble Merchant Republic of Bordia
5 - The Kingdom of Ragmark, controls lands to the northeast of the longer of two lakes.
Right then, some OOC stuff to go at the bottom here.
First of all, this is reboot of an RP that a good IRL friend of mine ran and I helped with that never really got the run that it deserved. I've changed a bunch of the story/setting, but still, if any of you still remember Danimal from oldguild, tip your hat to him.
Secondly, planning to play this as a nebulous 'High-Casual' level RP, which for me means I expect advanced levels of spelling/grammar/writing, but I don't care if you only post a paragraph or two to keep things ticking along. On the subject of keeping things ticking along, I am not a fast player, if you need posts every other day then this probably not for you.
Thirdly, this is very Low-Fantasy. No magic (although your characters might believe in magic), no non-human races, no ridiculous anachronistic stuff for a period equivalent to the High/Late Medieval. In terms of tech levels, I'm thinking late 13th - 14th century. If you don't know what this means or really want to do something you're not sure about, PM me, we can chat. I also want the realism to extend into how these wars will be fought, there will be a lot of sitting around at sieges, people dying of dysentery, and marching in the rain - not just heroic battles.
And finally, even if you aren't interested leave me a comment or some feedback on why etc. Its been a long time since I GMed (at least 5 years?) so I'm relearning things a little right now. I made this because there's a recently been a shortage of RPs I'm interested in, but I still want to give it a proper go, and getting some pointers would help with that.
Thank you for reading.
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