Member of the Black Company

As a member of the Black Company you have no past, that’s the rule.  Anyone in the company has no connections to the past and no other agendas than the Company’s or their own.  When you enter the Company your original name does not exist and you take on another.  Most members of the company are men and women (rare though seen before) who enlisted for adventure, to escape from social confines, lost everything, are on the run from their past or know nothing else.  The person who marches with you on your left and bunks next to you on your right are the only family you know now and you will defend them to the death.

The Company is the last freelance mercenary group not under the control of the House of Denieth, once 10,000 strong, now only a paltry 300.  Origins date back to coming to the continent of Kharavoire 500 years before from a land know only through the Annals of the Company, some assume it is on another plane that connected to Kharavoire once briefly around the time the Company arrived.  The Company takes jobs from every source, be they tyrant or saint, but only will follow one contract at a time.  The Company has maintained its honor and reputation that it never breaks a contract, even in the certainty of doom; though there have been some instances where the history is ambiguous at best as to how or why some contracts were nullified. 

The Company motto is “Why fight the battle when you can make the enemy think they have already lost.”  And this should hold true in your unit.  While you are elite mercenary soldiers, your best and most potent weapons are illusions, trickery and deceit.  A bribe here, a kidnapping there, a plant of information here and an ambush there are you’re best friends.  A unit is chasing you down in along the road with 20 more men.  Cut off to the side into a clearing they can’t see and summon 50 illusory companions to trick them into surrendering.  An enemy general has been a thorn in your companies’ side, don’t go after him right out, make the people beg for his head with a large ransom to drop his support then knock him off when he isn’t a problem anymore.  This is the essence of the unit that you have enlisted in.  A group of people who live, breathe and fight for one another and their contract.

Skill Proficiencies: Selection of the background ‘Member of the Black Company’ gives proficiency in Deception and Survival.

Equipment: It also gives proficiency with Short-bows, Short-swords and small shields to any class.  First level characters will start with a 120g commission (and an additional 10g a month), a set of armor (any non-special material type, but plate armor will be available for the cost of half your commission), and weapons at the DMs discretion.  A single potion of healing and other minor miscellaneous travel and camping gear will be provided to each member, as well as non-battle trained mount when traveling with the company as whole unit.  All other items must be scrounged, looted or bought by the character.

Suggested Characteristics

Black Company members are cunning, either naturally or through natural selection as they spend their time in the unit.  They have a drive to survive through nearly any means.  Money, power and temporary failure matter not in the face of death.  The objective can be re-accomplished, money can be earned and power can be re-acquired, but members of the company, well they don't return from death, even with divine intervention.