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The Band of Fools - A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay

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The Band of Fools

Lemenuel 'Lem' Arronson

Lemenuel 'Lem' Arronson

Male - 48 - Leftentant

There are old sellswords and bold sellswords but there are no old, bold sellswords.

George R. R. Martin

Appearance:

Lem is an older grizzled man with a somewhat gaunt appearance and a wiry build. His thin face is tanned by long days in the sun, and criss-crossed with pale faded scars. From out of this somewhat grim visage stare dark flinty eyes surrounded by prominent crow's feet. They are eyes that look cold and hard at first glance, but can spark with mirth should the mood arise. His nose has been broken at least once and should he choose to smile, it would show that Lem is missing one of his upper canines. He shaves both his face and head, often leaving a rough coating iron grey stubble for extended periods of time. Through his right ear there is thick hoop of dull yellow gold.

Physically Lem is not an imposing man, being of around average height and not of a particularly heavy build. When not in armour, his arms can be seen to be corded with sinewy muscle. On his left forearm are the grey blue marks of the nomad barbarians from across the eastern steppes, made by placing charcoal beneath the skin. His hands are rough and callused, the astute might notice that he is missing the tip of his right index finger. On his left ring finger he wears a wide band of silver and brass, there are two sets of initials on it.

The final thing might notice about Lem cannot be seen until he begins to move. Lem walks with a noticeable noticeable limp, avoiding putting weight on his left leg and clearly favouring his right.

Personality:

Lem Arronson is hard man, he’s lived a hard life and a long one at that considering his profession. He’s tough and reliable, diligent, someone that you can depend upon in a difficult situation. No great speaker, he uses plain language in his native northern dialect. None-the-less, there is still an authoritative tone to his voice, the air of one who has faith in their own expertise. Patient and quiet, he is a man who listens to what others have to say before speaking. All of these traits combined leads Lem to be a cautious (yet highly skilled) fighter and commander of the battlefield.

Despite his gruffness and somewhat unyielding nature, Lem has a relatively good heart. He genuinely cares for many of those who have served under him and is exceptionally loyal to the Band. He has served as sort of mentor in the past to younger men following similar paths to the one he has travelled. With his comrades he will show his dry sense of humour, one that tends towards the macabre – a side effect of spending a life killing people for money.

However, though he has great love for his brothers in arms, Lem is unscrupulous in how he conducts himself on the battlefield and when negotiating contracts. His morality and loyalty only extends as far as the band, after that, he believes he has no moral obligation. As might be expected considering this outlook, Lem is largely irreligious, though he is as superstitious as any other old soldier.

History:

Lem’s story is a something of a common one. He is not an orphan, his young life was not filled with hardship or tragedy or formative suffering. Nor was he a noble, born with silver spoon in mouth. He was the son of common folk, but well to do common folk. They lived outside a small town in the north of Westar where his father bred horses. His mother was from the east, Illyria, across the gulf of Litan. She had met his father as he soldiered on Crusade to the Blessed Lands years before. She kept the house and vegetable gardens while her husband worked in the paddocks and stables of the local lord.

Lem was second of four children that made it past infancy, he worked in the fields and pastures from a young age with both of his parents, learning to ride and care for horses from a young age. It wasn't a miserable or particularly hard life, sometimes the winters and springs were lean, and sometimes they were not. Ultimately they scraped a decent living for folks such as themselves and his family were content. Lem however, was not.

He had been an adventurous boy, always dreaming beyond the valleys of his childhood to the world that was outside. He wanted to see the world, and more than that, he wanted to be a part of it. He wanted to be more than just another commoner, more than his father; he wanted to live. As he grew older they clashed a lot.

He went south after his fourteenth name day, riding one of his father's horses, and carrying his old mail shirt and sword. Another crusade was gathering, the Blessed Lands and the city of the prophets was back in the hands of heretics. Lem rode east with the pilgrims and warriors that intended to recapture it.

He saw his mother's country of Illyria,, before turning south into the arid lands where the prophets had first heard the words of God and the Blessed One had first performed his miracles. The Crusade wasn't just a failure, it was a bloodbath. They had been mostly untrained and poorly armed, foolhardily believing that their faith and their God would be guide them to victory. It was there that Lem learned the importance of caution and tactics on the battlefield.

A experience like this might made some men go home, but not Lem. He went further east, to the far plains of the nomads where it is said that women give birth in the saddle. There he got his first taste of fighting for gold instead of God, and Lem liked it. For six years he warred his way through the eastern lands, fighting alongside the nomads and barbarians in their never ending conflicts.

By the time he returned to Westar he had made a small fortune. Then there was happy time. There was a woman in Port Layton for a while, thoughts of settled life, but something went wrong - Lem doesn't like to dwell on it. After that there were brothels, drinking and gambling. The money was all gone in a few years and Lem was at rock bottom. That was when he found the Band of Fortune.

The purpose he found amongst fighting men again saved him from dark time. He fought wherever the Band went, through times both fat and thin. He learned from the old men, until most them were gone, and he was the one doing the teaching. From a serving a man-at-arms as a serjeant, he rose to lead a lance of his own, and then to be a leftenant of the company.

All of this continued uninterrupted until five years ago, when Lem’s horse was killed beneath him during a skirmish on the border at Forlinger. Some runt with a spear stepped out from behind a tree as Lem thundered past and skewered the horse through the chest. The beast fell, and Lem wasn’t quick enough to leap clear of the saddle. It landed on his left leg, crushing his knee in to bloody, broken mess. Lem survived the battle, but he would never be the graceful and truly formidable fighter he had once been.

He served on with the band though, he was experienced, he could lead and train men and was still a good enough sword – especially when in the saddle. Besides, there was no other life left open to him by this point: he had given the band his best years. When banners were called and levies raised for the conflict that would be known as the Anarchy of Adalmar, Lem had been with the band for over twenty five years and was its second most senior commander.

Skills and Abilities:

Accomplished Swordsman - Lem has been fighting on and off the battlefield for over 30 years now. If you can do something with a sword that he doesn’t know about, it’s probably not worth knowing. His main areas of expertise are sword and shield or sword and dagger, he is less accomplished with two handed swords or other combinations. He isn't the greatest duellist, and isn't creative or innovative in his fighting style, but his repertoire of techniques is extensive and his execution of them was near flawless in his prime.

Expert Rider – Lem is very comfortable on a horse, having ridden extensively in both combat and non-combat situations. His childhood was spent caring and riding horses and his time fighting on the eastern steppes of the nomads taught him how ride bareback and sleep atop a horse.

Unscrupulous Tactician - Lem has served in variety of conflicts across much of the known world and has seen how many different peoples and cultures fight. His wide travelling gives him an extensive pool of tactical innovations to draw upon. From storing crossbow quarrels in latrines to make the smallest scratches lethal, to rolling felled trees down a battlefield to smash enemy formations - Lem knows how to fight dirty.

Weakness(es):

Lamed - Lem's left leg is lamed from being crushed beneath a dying horse several years ago. He can still walk without too much difficulty or pain, but his running days are long behind him. This gives him a severe disadvantage when fighting on foot.

Common as Muck - Lem has risen surprisingly high for one born a step above a serf, this does not do him any favours when it comes to negotiating contracts or interacting with members of the nobility, something that might be expected of a commander of a mercenary company.

Illiterate - Another disadvantage from an administrate and leadership point of view, Lem can barely read or write his own name. While by no means a stupid man, his book learning is almost non-existent.

Equipment:

Lem's armour is drab and mostly somewhat old-fashioned. He could probably afford better with what he has saved up, but he is man who finds comfort in the familiar and the reliable. He wears a coat of iron plates covered by rough brown fabric over a knee length mail hauberk. At shoulder he wears a set of spaulders and mail sleeves extend down his arm to his wrist. Mail mitts sewn to the sleeves can slipped over the hand. He wears vambraces and greaves on his forearms and lower legs, they only cover the outer portion of their respected limbs. His head is covered by a mail coif, on top of which he wears a visored sallet. He wears mail sabatons over leather boots to protect his feet. When out of armour he favours plain woollen fabrics and leather jerkins.

Lem wears an one handed arming-sword on one hip and a rondel dagger on the other. His sword is plain with a shark skin grip, the blade has a number of nicks in its edge, but still it has been honed razor sharp. His sword is complemented by a wooden heater shield, painted in the colours of the company. When on horseback he often carries a lance and hangs a horseman's hammer from the pommel of his saddle.

As for the rest of his possessions, Lem has a few more luxuries than the common soldier might expect - a proper camp bed for his tent, a ewer of water to wash with, a mirror with which to shave, a stool to sit upon and a table to eat at. As a leftenant he is afforded the use of two horses, a smoke grey courser called Duchess is his war horse, while for everyday riding he has a chestnut palfrey called Russell.

The Band of Fools

The Story Thus Far...

Spring, Year 833:

• King Adalmar II and his sons die of the Sweating Sickness.
• The Band of Fortune takes contract with one of the claimants, Duke Howard of Northall, in his bid for the throne.
• The Captain of the Band dies of dysentery while encamped at the city of Tradeforth.

The Band of Fools

Contracted Members of the Band of Fortune:

Lem Arronson - 48, Male, Leftenant
Il Sposoletto - 38, Male, Squire
Baldric Durant - 41, Male, Man-at-Arms
Berislav Dąbrowski - 27, Male, Scout/Archer
Sister Margaret - 36, Female, Chaplain/Doctor
Sir Branimir Bradford - 34, Male, Leftentant
Cedric Amberstone - 25, Male, Bowman
Wulfric York - 31, Male, Blacksmith
Brádach MacShana - 62, Male, Infantry
Gerald Gast - 16, Male, Cavalry

The Band of Fools

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!

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World Map - Subject to Change

Map Key

1 - Kingsbury, the capital of the Kingdom of Westar.
2 - Edmunton, a major population centre and port in Westar.
3 - Innsmouth, a major population centre and port in Westar.
4 - Tradeforth, the provincial capital of Northern Westar.
5 - Northall Rock, fortified seat of the Dukes of Northall.
6 - The Skerry Isles, annexed from Ragmark by the Kingdom of Westar 200 years previously.
7 - Forlinger, major population centre and seat of the eponymous Duchy, sat on the shores of the Loch Forr.
8 - Old Neystead, former capital of Westar.
9 - Greenwick, a famously rich agricultural town on the shores of Loch Lantris.
10 - The Grey Drum, a Westar border fortress across the River Wasser.
11 - Port Layton, a trading hub on the border with the Bordian Republic.
12 - Artaeis, the Tranquil Isle, seat of the Patriach of the Westar Clerisy.
13 - Bordia, capital of the Princely Merchant Republic of Bordia, also known as the City-on-the-Isles.
14 - Filante, capital of the Principality of Taratio.
15 - Arlan, capital of the Kingdom of Avaria.
16 - Durranheim, capital of the Kingdom of Ragmark.

Notes of the Wider World and History

Religion and the Clerisy

The predominate religion of the region is the Faith of the Blessed, whose Church is commonly known as the Clerisy. It is headed by the Arch Patriarch in the city of Great Litan, which lies south of Taratio and Bordia. It is monotheistic and believes in a messiah figure that was an incarnation of God who appeared in what are town as the Blessed Lands to the east over 800 years ago - the calendar is taken from the date of their first miracle. The Faith of the Blessed was originally a heretical sect from the the Faith of the Daewa (literally Faith of the People) a religion focused around a series of prophecies about the coming of a future messiah.

The Blessed were initially persecuted in the east and many believers emigrated west to the Kingdom of Litan, where the religion eventually became enshrined as the dominate state religion and a formal church would form under the Arch Patriarchs. After the collapse of the Kingdom of Litan by the Avari invasions, the ancient city of Great Litan has been ruled by the Arch Patriarch as a distinct political entity. Each nation has its own autonomous Patriarch who acts as the head of the Church in that state and is answerable to the Arch Patriarch.

In recent centuries the Arch Patriachs have called for great holy wars and crusades against those still following the Daewa faith in order to recapture the Blessed Lands and the cities of the first prophets. The early attempts to do so were largely successful, but recently the crusades have lost their momentum and their religious motivations have been co-opted by economic and political ambitions.

The Faith takes the symbol of three vertical bars through a circle as its emblem. This represents the spines of the three holy books: The Book of Prophecies, The Book of the Blessed One, and The Book of Interpretations - all connected through the Oneness that is God. However, reform movements have recently plagued the Faith of the Blessed, with many believing the Book of the Blessed One to be the only true teachings of God - the Prophecies being part of the Daewa faith and the Interpretations being set down by the first Arch Patriach long after the Blessed One's death.

World History

For hundreds of years the major power in the region was the Kingdom of Litan, with its warm climate and long stable history it easily dominated the petty kingdoms to the north west that would eventually become Westar. The Litan Kingdom collapsed when the Avars, a nomadic people from across the steppe, invaded over 500 years ago. The peninsula which served as the heart of the kingdom is to this day divided into fractious city states and principalities, such as Taratio and Bordia. The Avars receded to the plains to the north east and eventually intermarried with the local population. Many adopted sedentary lifestyles thus creating the Kingdom of Avari. Tensions between Avars and Litani peoples still run high because to these long ago events.

The collapse of Litan however precipitated shift in the balance of power in the north. Westar, an inland petty kingdom centred around the wolds to the north of Old Neystead, grew through marriage and conquest over the next hundred years or so until it was the dominant political entity. After its initial rapid expansion, its borders would remain relatively stable until the accession of the House of Northall to the throne 200 years ago.

The Northalls were one of two claimants to vacant throne, the rival claimant was backed by the Kingdom of Ragmark. In retaliation to for this the Northalls seized the Skerry Isles from Ragmark in the years following their consolidation of power. The political status of the isles is still a sore subject for both Skerrymen and the people of Ragmark.

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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.

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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.

Character Sheet

Name:

Gender:

Age:

Role/Position: Do you hold any special position in the company? (see above for details)

Appearance: Pictures are optional, descriptions required. Keep your pictures relatively realistic if you please could, yes, that means no anime.

Personality: Keep it relatively brief, feel free to hold some stuff back for organic character growth and reveals. But please check with me if its a major difference what has been put here, i.e. your happy go lucky character is secretly a manipulative sociopath.

History: Same with personality, keep somethings back for surprises later on, again check anything big with me i.e. secretly a descent of powerful nobility.

Skills and Abilities: Give me three things your character is really good at.

Weakness(es): Give me at least one thing your character is really bad at, or a trait hinders them. If you are worried about metagaming or someone using it against you, you can PM this to me too.

Equipment: Tell me a bit about your equipment, primarily armour, weapons, horses etc. (handy guide)

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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.

The Band of Fools - A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay

Oh wow, there sure is a lot a people wanting to join this - I may have to be a little stricter than normal with entry requirements.

The Band of Fools - A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay

I've made a Discord server for people to chat in if you have lots of questions/want to start discussing plot/characters/worldbuilding, come by and hang out with me.

Gonna have lunch and workout then I'll start on the OOC

Hi!

Welcome to the Guild, I applaud your taste in video games.

The Band of Fools - A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay

The free companies used to be pretty democratic about what they did, John Hawkwood (leader of the famous White Company) was elected.

@Trivval

An election may or may not be our major opening plot point...

A suggestion therefore could be that people apply as a lance with the man 'Man-at-arms' being your primary character and you've got a small host of hanger-on NPCs that you can do whatever with. Your 50/100/100 split seems fine, typically you'd see a 1/1/1 ratio or a 1/1/2 with most archers being infantrymen in their own right because they primarily used crossbows.

@Trivval

Yeah I'm aware of the lance system, but wasn't sure if I wanted to introduce it as a game mechanic, don't want to force people to have to make a bunch of NPCs just to play. It might be more of a background thing.

An interesting thing to note about most mercenaries in this era would go out of their way not to fight. This era was the birth of military science, you fought to outmanoeuvre your opponent and fight their ability to wage war, rather than that fight for valor, physical courage or chivalry. Why risk uncertain fortune - defeat, capture, death all could mean you wont get paid.

@Trivval

As I said, we will doing a lot of not-fighting. We may even change sides a few times...

The Band of Fools - A Medieval Mercenary Company Roleplay

With regards to the company, are they organised around Lances (man-at-arms, squire, page, couple of other lighter combatants) or are we just going to be disorganised occasionally-mounted infantry? Late Medieval -> Early Modern military history is a hobby of mine.

@Trivval

I've been thinking about that and it probably would make sense to have general kind of thrust in our troop composition/deployment, at the same time though I want to see what people want to play as well. I was thinking a small core of relatively disorganised mixed cavalry with infantry and ranged support? Something like a 50/100/100 split. Not massively historical I know considering the small size, but if we do well during the campaign the Company may grow and get more formalised.

The other option is that people who don't fit the companies troop composition could potentially play as members of other friendly units.

Oh snap, can we be longbow archers? Those guys were hardcore. Punching holes in chain mail armor at 300+ yards. Plus, they had a reputation of not having formal military training, and were borderline hired mercenaries, as I've been informed.

My experience with RPs and video games (and games in general) has led me to prefer aggressive close-range combat, but picking off game and scouts at range sounds fun too. Depends on what other people decide to be, I suppose.

@Mattchstick

Yeah longbows can and will be a thing. However, there is a debate about how battlefield longbows are used. Very little period art shows it raised for the volley, a lot of historians think it was designed to be used as the enemy closed in to maximise penetration.

And just a general note to everyone about tech and/or historical accuracy, I am not going to be super strict, only where I think it matters. For example since its 13/14th century, as low ranking mercenaries we will not be wearing full suits of white plate armour. However, don't care if you want to wear a Barbute or a Sallet etc. even though those helmet styles don't become fully realised helmet styles until the 15th century.

Right, lots of interest, I should get working on that OOC...