[hider=The Cocksmen][center][h3]The Company of the Rooster[/h3]
[img]http://art-salon.eu/upload/image/vallonskii_flag.gif[/img]

[i]the Cocksmen
the Bloody Birds
the Western Company
A Free Company Based out of Volantis[/i][/center]
[B]Seat:[/B] None
[B]Words:[/B] [i]Bright Beaks, Sharp Talons.[/i] 
              Unofficial: [i]“Laugh now, you won't have a chance later.”[/i]
[b]Affiliation:[/b] Mercenary
[b]Description:[/b] “Free Company” is a nebulous term, but the Company of the Rooster currently fields roughly 1,500 fighting men, a count that includes squires (who fight), but not pages, though the latter march alongside their men at arms. The companies are broken down into Lances, Foot and Bows, composed of about 200 men of each type, at full strength. There are currently three companies of lances, two of foot and two of bows, though it has become a practice under Ned Green, for the lances to dismount and fight as heavily armored infantry and advance under a storm of arrows, a practice that Westerosi knights would sneer at. Ned Green himself leads the reserve company of lances, about a hundred men rallied around “The Big Cock”, a bright yellow and red version of the House Swift banner that serves as the company standard.

The Cocksmen maintain a large contingent of washerwomen, pages and carters to help move the company from place to place, along with a contingent of accountants, scribes and lawyers from the various Free Cities to help account for and carefully distribute the spoils of war and ensure that pay is provided in a timely manner. Because of this, there is little shortage of men willing to sign on with the company, though the captains tend to prefer to recruit from the ranks of their own pages, and the company, in its third generation of leadership, seems to have no shortage of sons, nephews and cousins of Cocksmen willing to fight under the Rooster. This provides a pool of recruits that are familiar with the company and its culture.

[B]History:[/B] See below; personal history of Ned “The Green” Swyft, the current captain of the Cocksmen.

[B]Members of the Company:[/B][List]
[*] Jondyn Sands, a Dornish Bastard and First Bow.
[*] Paxter, the chief steward. A disgraced maester.
[*] Vogarro, the aging Volatene exile and Company Champion. A man that served under Eddard the Black and helped depose Eddard the Grey. A former Captain of the Company. Ned served this man as a squire.
[/List]

[b]OOC:[/b][/hider][hider=Ned Green]
[Center][h3]Eddard “The Green” Swyft, Captain of the Company of the Rooster[/h3]
[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pUHpZIZKZQ0/ScRtlJ3j0vI/AAAAAAAAA9o/DxruLkA0O2g/s400/film%2Bbyrne%2Bexcalibur.gif[/img][/Center]

[B]Age:[/b] 37
[B]Sigil:[/B] Same as the Company of the Rooster
[B]Words:[/B] Same as the Company of the Rooster.
[b]Affiliation:[/b] Mercenary.

[B]Personality:[/B] Ned Green is a serious-seeming fellow, and not at all the flamboyant sort of leader of sellswords from the Free Cities that others imagine. He's serious, studious, and often found with a book or a ledger in hand. He has an acute business sense, but is merely sharp rather than rapacious. He has a reputation for effectiveness and honest on the other side of the sea, however, that is hard to match among mercenary captains, and he is well known for having a good eye for opportunity in battle. War is his business, rather than the adventure that Westerosi think of it as. He has no lands to administer, but he has a company of fighting men to lead and feed, along with their families and loved ones, and he does so competently. He is not sure how to regard Westeros; the dreams of returning there were not his own, he's never seen the Cornfield, met a relative or even bothered much about finding a way back. And yet, with things getting tense there, that is where the gold is. 

[B]Biography:[/B] The founder of the Company of the Rooster was a younger son of House Swyft, Ser Eddard, who, facing little prospect for wealth or even a decent marriage, preferred to swear his oaths to the Night's Watch in hopes of finding adventure rather than become a hedge knight.

For a few years, he served as a ranger, though in a particularly bloody skirmish near Seal Bay, he was wounded, his patrol mostly killed off. He was nursed through his wounds by a woman by the name of Aedilind and they became lovers and confidants. Leaving was not easy. As Ser Eddard rode away from Aedilind's croft and back toward Castle Black, he abruptly turned, without a word, and returned to the arms of his lover. 

They did not remain beyond the wall for long; they managed to find their way onto a trading vessel and to the Free Cities, where Ser Eddard the Black, so named for the black of his equipment in compliance with the Night Watch's preferences, made a name for himself as a sellsword, and enjoyed the lifestyle, gathering a number of like minded men under his command. His wife, Aedilind, was feared for her reputed abilities, and though it was thought that she was a strange one, she bore Eddard a healthy boy, also named Eddard.

As the company grew in stature, despite Eddard the Black's betrayal of his oaths (not a big deal in the Free Cities, where the Night's Watch is viewed as a form of madness) it attracted a number of Westerosi expatriates and adventurers to its ranks, men who would rather join a band of people speaking a like tongue than serve among complete foreigners. As the younger Eddard grew up, he was raised as a warrior among warriors and eventually took command of the company by rising through the ranks. 

Despite Eddard the Younger's upbringing, he wasn't quite the commander a free company needed, and his ambition and greed got the better of him. Eddard the Grey became known as such for the shady nature of his dealings. After a disastrous battle with Volantenes in the employ of the Myrish, where he tried to switch sides and was caught by his own warriors, he was removed from command by his father, who came out of retirement in order to command and rebuild the company, alongside 

During this time, Eddard the Green, the grandson, was being brought up within the company as the squire of the First Lance, Vogarro, and acquitted himself well. Under the tutelage of Vogarro and the disgraced Maester Paxter, Ned Green grew into a strong and well-thought of lad. When the time came for Ned Black to step down again, he threw the leadership of the company to a vote, rather than make the mistake of inheritance. Vogarro was chosen as the captain, and Ned Green served under him for a time.

During the captaincy of Vogarro, the Company regained a measure of its reputation lost under Ned Gray, who died dicing and drinking in Lys, while Ned Green did well as a centennar (commander) of a company of foot, of lances and of bows. In due time, after ten years, Vogarro stepped down and the Cocksmen were called again to vote on the Captaincy, this time with Ned Green made captain with the support of Vogarro and much of the company.

During the Captaincy of Ned Green, the Company continues to grow slowly, take contracts cautiously and serve honorably when they do put pen to paper. For the most part, the Company operates out of Volantis, where reliable mercenaries are hard to find, but is known for its independence.

As a company, the Cocksmen have a reputation for adaptability and competence in a fight, though they are one of the few mercenary units that will not try to weasel out of storming an enemy fortification. On the other hand, they have strong march discipline and a good supply train, eschewing feast-tents and much in the way of extravagances on the march. Ned is considered stodgy because of this spartan attitude toward warfare, but he's not there to be charming. He's there to win fights and less baggage means faster travel. A favored method of the company is to dismount the armored cavalry and fight on foot alongside the bows, particularly as a means of breaking down foot formations or fighting in broken terrain that is not suitable for a cavalry action.

[b]OOC:[/b] On foot in battle, Ned prefers a halberd. Mounted, he fights with a particularly nasty warhammer. It's not huge, but has a rather nasty “rooster's beak” on it. Ned swings this rather quickly, keeping a sword as a backup, and not a particularly favored backup at that. He is not a flashy fighter, but has a certain lethal economy of motion in handling fairly heavy weaponry; he makes it look simple when it is anything but. His armor is not new, but it's well-made and well-fitted. It is the practice of the company to identify itself solely by painted shields or similar devices, rather than invest heavily in the frippery and frills of engraving and embroidering. Ned shares this taste, and seems rather plain looking on the battlefield alongside others.

The Company has some of its own engineers and the men know enough carpentry to assemble siege engines.[/hider]