Sellswords, Colleges, and Other Factions

Sellsword Companies

The Strayblades

Formed at the end of the War of Extinction by warring regiments in the Ember Flats. From across the salted fields the armies of the north and the south battled each other over the magma scarred fortress port of Strayharbour along the Myr Ocean, now known as the Water Divide. The forces among them fought again and again, as the commanders came to know a singular hatred for one another. As the rift of the Fire Divide and Water Divide Opened, Strayharbour was nearly destroyed. With no word from their superiors, they were forced to join band together in order to survive the elemental onslaught, and in the crucible of survival, the bonds of the Strayblades were forged.

The Tyranny of the Sword

A mercenary band founded in the bloody battles that followed the end of the War of Extinction. Defectors from numerous forces stood against their once commanders and kin in arms as the defectors knew the war was done. As the eleman emerged its was members if the Tyranny of the Sword that protected all of those they could against the genocidal actions of the unyielding armies of the Northern and Southern forces. The company still holds to their history and each band is always comprised of members of Kyme's different peoples.

The Silver Collar

A prominent mercenary group known for transport and guard of caravans across the world. Its members are identified by a silver yoke like adornment across their neck. Members of the company live by the code of "Protection paid, is the delivery made."

The Chained Clan

Known as the most brutally efficient of bounty hunters and kidnappers the world over. Marked by chained bands over their armor, particularly the neck and head. Disciples of the Chained Clan practice the art of the submission of their quarry, relying on a mixture of magical ability and savagery.

The Light Outcast

A sellsword company formed from those excommunicated from the Holy Orders of the Lighted Path but still seek to serve their deities. Priests and paladins prevail in the company as the Light Outcast is often sought by those who seek the demise of fiendish or undeathly enemies.

The Shadow Scars

A mercenary guild made infamous by their underhanded, clandestine, and ruthless enaction of contracts. If not for its immense wealth each and every member would be branded criminals and imprisoned across the lands. There is not a relic or asset that they will not attempt to seize upon, as they trade in influence as much as coin. Their members bear a tattoo of a spider with avian wings and a serpentine head.

Guard at the Gate

Known as planar warriors, this sellsword company excels in combating the most dangerous of foes from beyond the Prime. Founded by a group of powerful adventurers known as the Guardians that committed to travel to each of the planes, but came back to the Prime changed. They created the company with the ethos that the Prime must be protected at all costs, and that planar influence is the gravest threat the peoples of the world face.

Bardic Colleges

The Luciph Troupe

Having wandered the world in some incarnation since the beginning of the Age of Earth, the Luciph Troupe always brings out in their shows a ribald danger with a fiendish edge. Created by Luciph Jagah, a bard of unparalleled power and skill whose songs are sung still. Each show of the bands within the Luciph Troupe contains an anthem of Luciph's, "Pity the Fiend" that recounts all the atrocities brought upon the world by its people from a fiend's point of view. The bards of the Luciph Troupe are highly sought for their skills in deal making, deception, and mayhem.

The Luciph Troupe often uses illusions for their fiendish mirth, but some more powerful members have pacted with fiends to share in the show. A tenet of the Luciph Troupe is "A fiend is no friend, just a means to our end." The troupe members are always pressed to keep cultic influence at arm's length, knowing that the survival of the troupe is tantamount. Luciph instilled within the members the guiding principle of "The troupe is for divifiends to share who we are with everyone, for everyone to share with us, but never share our power."

Blackwater Blades

Founded at the end of the War of Extinction by the very forces that had fought over the vital river crossing known as Blackwater Bridge. A dwarven bard by the name of Grorhael Deepchest, inspired his forces against the vampiric blademaster Thalia Voren, when word came of the end, they returned to their homelands. Yet they kept in contact across the years learning to respect one another's prowess and dedication. They chose to return with many of those who served under them and with their union join their talents and to turn a place of death and despair into something worthy of those honored dead.

One of the most storied of Blackwater Blades, Stör Windtalker gained renown with Arkyme's Writ of Ruin as he led his troupe in a lone raid against the Lighted Templars. After massacring village after village, the Lighted Templars force attempted to traverse the mountains, with bound celestials in their midst, in order to assault Duemonte. Yet Stör and his troupe stalled the force enough to allow the armies of Duemonte, the Emperor's Ward to halt the Lighted Templars at Tirisfell.

March the Dead

The most macabre and subtly powerful of bardic colleges, they sing songs to wake the dead. Training their troupes in the necromantic bardic arts they often travel with a cadre of undead that comprise their events and exhibitions. A skeletal juggler or a zombie dog show, all manner of necromancy, the most foul of magics, turned to delight and astound. Centuries ago Thavian Roeser, a refugee of the War of Extinction, wandered into a town where the dead outnumbered the living. Despair was all there was to be had, yet he beat his drum in defiance, and the dead joined him in his song. It is this ethos that defines March the Dead and that which he carried with him until his dying day. He is forever a part of the troupes' act, for he now marches to the drum of his followers.