Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Kassarock
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Kassarock W O R L D E A T E R

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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 Edmunton 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."
Deacon Malcolmson, Chronicle of the Kings of Westar


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 known: 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!













OOC information


Welcome to the Band of Fools, a reboot of an RP that my friend Danimal ran on the old guild site, albeit in a much edited form. For those of you who weren't in the Interest check I'd like to quickly law down a few rules/pointers about this particular roleplay:

  • Most people should no this by now, but the usual suite of roleplaying rules apply: Listen to the GM, don't be a massive prick, no meta gaming, no god modding, you know the gist.
  • High-Casual' level RP, which for me means I expect advanced levels of spelling/grammar/writing, but without the expectation of writing walls of text every post - although I will probably do these from time to time. Give me a well written paragraph or three and we should get on fine.
  • I'll be aiming for at least one post a week, possibly more, possibly less, we will see. Important thing is to stay active in OOC chatter etc, so that people know you're still planning to respond.
  • 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 technology levels, I'm aiming for the late 13th - 14th century Europe. If you don't know what this means or really want to do something you're not sure about, PM me, we can chat (or have a look at this handy guide). Realism will also 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.





Character Sheets and Submissions


Please find the C.S skeleton for this RP below, post your character here in the OOC for review when you're done, please put it in a hider so it doesn't take up too much space. DO NOT post it directly into the character tab without my prior approval, there are likely going to be more submissions than available spaces so there will be some kind of selection process. Feel free to edit the character sheet to your personal aesthetic, but do take note of an specifications I put in the fields.

There will be a number of roles and positions available to your character in the Band of Fools. These include:
  • Leftenant x 1, one of the two second in command of the Company.
  • Men-At-Arms/Knights, leader of single Lance (3-10 men) served by a squire/serjeant and supported by infantry/bowmen
  • Squires/Serjeant, a junior man-at-arms in service to a Lance leader
  • Infantry
  • Crossbowmen/Bowmen


There will also be some unique positions, such as the paymaster, quartermaster, armourer, and perhaps even a battlefield surgeon. Some of these can be jointly held with command roles. You could potentially play a non-combat role such as a camp servant if you so desire. If you have something a little outside of the box, go for it, although I can't promise you'll be able to play whatever you want.






I think that's pretty much everything I can think of at the moment, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them below, PM me, or join me in the discord server - I don't bite.
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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Mattchstick
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Mattchstick This little light of mine...

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If it's allowed, I'd like to reserve the bowman position, as I am no good at being a leader and would be much happier having orders than giving them. I'm busy right now, will work on a CS in a bit.

Don't suppose I could be Sir Shmoopy of Awesometon, the dual-wielding Canadian lumberjack.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Silver
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Silver Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam

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Still got room, or are you full?
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Gunther
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Gunther Captain, Infantry (Retired)

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If it's allowed, I'd like to reserve the bowman position...

In an RP like this, I think it would be safe to assume there are multiple archers and infantry. I intend to leave that slot open. If someone is willing to promote my character, then by all means, I will step up. If not, I don't care. I've been a grunt, a platoon leader and a company commander in real life. I can write for either position effectively.

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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Enigmatik
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Enigmatik Overly-Caffienated Thembie Supreme

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I’d like to reserve a coporal or knight for my d00d. If we can make multiple characters, then I’ll take quatermaster too.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Mattchstick
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Mattchstick This little light of mine...

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Please feel free to correct me on what you may consider "historically inaccurate" information. I am not all that good with medieval etiquette and behavior.

How much freedom is allowed for clothing and weapons? Are characters clever enough to improvise things, or are we simply filling "Head, Chest, Legs, Gloves, Boots" slots? Are they intelligent enough to, say, wear the knife sheath horizontally on the back of his belt? Create a makeshift flaming arrowhead? Use tree branches as camouflage? Innovate and improvise in general?

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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by KazAlkemi
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KazAlkemi Everdark

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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by POOHEAD189
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POOHEAD189 Warrior

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Present
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Kuro
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Just wanted to say that I'll be watching this. I was hesitant with the number of people expressing interest in the interest check, as well because I already have my hands full with 7 RPs (possibly 9 soon), but as one interested in medieval-esque settings, I must say that I'm heavily intrigued and will most likely stop by in the future if I have more free time and if there are still spots open.
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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Enigmatik
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Enigmatik Overly-Caffienated Thembie Supreme

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WIP

Name: Sir Geoffry Halter

Gender: Male

Age: 33

Role/Position: Corporal, 33 men.

Appearance:

Personality:

Normally taciturn and morose, Geoffrey shows all the signs of long term depression and PTSD. He finds difficulty in enjoying the same things he once loved, and motivates the men under his command more by actions than flowery words or great soliloquys and speeches. Within combat, he fights recklessly and with a touch too much open- his shield kept up more as an afterthought rather than around his main style. He is always on the lookout for ambushes and traps, and his tendency to go without sleep for long periods of time means that he is almost always found on watch.

History:

WIP

Skills and Abilities:

Geoffrey is an excellent fighter- capable with handaxe, mace and sword. Personally, he prefers a good shield and an axe, but he can also work with any number of polearms or makeshift weapons. He’s also incredibly durable, feeling the effects of hunger, and his wounds, less keenly than a lesser man does. Finally, Geoffry is a man without something to return to. His wife is dead, he sold his lands, and his title of knighthood rings hollow. Combat holds no fear for him.

Weakness(es):

Cannot have a proper night’s rest. Geoffrey suffers from serious PTSD and has vivid and horrific nightmares when he does sleep. Hates sleeping and prefers to go as long as possible without, relying on the adrenaline from combat to sustain him in a fight.

Equipment:

Geoffrey owns a full set of plate armour, including helm, as well as chainmail, a gambeson, and three surcoats. His armour is kept clean mostly thanks to his squire and liberal amounts of sand and vinegar- meaning that it is clean of rust, if slightly dinged and banged. One of these surcoats is his old crusading wear, one has his personal coat of arms, and the final one is the banner of the Band of Fools. Weapon wise, he has a longsword, greataxe, handaxe, flanged mace, flail mace, arming sword and a number of daggers. He obviously does not carry most of these into battle, instead choosing based upon his foes. He also owns a number of shields, although this is more to ensure he is never caught without should one be damaged.

Finally, and curiously, Geoffry does not ride a horse. Instead, he uses a mule to carry what he needs, and walks beside it. He has never revealed if this was personal preference, or something more.
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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Dziady
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Dziady Jestem Bogiem

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Interested, but how historically accurate will this role play be? Meaning in terms of equipment, combat and such I understand it is fictional settings.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Kassarock
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Kassarock W O R L D E A T E R

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@Mattchstick No set numbers for bow men/infantry/men-at-arms, only officer positions and the unique ones below.

@Silver Feel free to put up a C.S. can't guarantee anyone a place however

@Irredeemable I'm not going to be allowing multiple characters for this, too many potential players

I'll sit down and go through everyone's characters at another point in time
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by POOHEAD189
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POOHEAD189 Warrior

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I'm not the GM, but I suggest we put characters in hiders to keep the OOC clean.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Kassarock
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Kassarock W O R L D E A T E R

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@POOHEAD189 Actually yeah I should have mentioned that, cheers Poo
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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Forgiveness
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Forgiveness The Best Sunbro

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I'm interested although I am not all that good with medieval etiquette and behavior.

Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Kassarock
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Kassarock W O R L D E A T E R

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@Forgiveness@Dziady It's more about plausibility than actually being 100% historically accurate, as long as something does not violate the technological limits and has some kind of precedent I will most likely be okay with it. For example, full plate harness is going to be incredibly rare and expensive because of the tech limit, however I am fine with the use of later helmets i.e. Sallets or Barbute because these are largely more stylistically different than technologically superior to earlier forms of enclosed helmet.

One thing I think I should stress however is that we are not at the high end of what kind of armour and equipment will be available, we will be using the old, the dinted and dented, the out of fashion. Keep this in mind when making characters.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Forgiveness
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Forgiveness The Best Sunbro

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Understood mister guild master sir. I'll have CS wrote up sometime soon.
@Kassarock
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Dziady
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Dziady Jestem Bogiem

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@Kassarock I was asking because I will most likely not enjoy something where people step too far outside the bounds of realism, in this setting, I will wait and see what caliber of character you attract and then present mine if there is still space. Thank-you.
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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Forgiveness
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Forgiveness The Best Sunbro

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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Mattchstick
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Mattchstick This little light of mine...

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@Forgiveness

.(Maybe Cedric taught him)


Yeah, maybe because he's, like, almost identical to Cedric? The two of them are almost interchangeable, especially in Skills and Abilities. And Equipment.
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