The onyx plate company

Written by Pimenefusarund

The onyx plate company, sometimes called OPC, is a privately owned military group founded in the year 341 4E. It's sometimes referred to as a mercenary group, but this name is less popular amongst its members. Although privately owned and funded, it is in a special contract with the republic. This contract states that the company will be under republic command during times of war, and gives the company special privileges like reduced income taxes. The OPC is often joined by young men, looking for work, but scared for the commitment that is life in the Republic military.

Inception

In the year 298 of the fourth era, a Republic senator met with a dozen mercenaries . He hired them in secret, instructing them to raid military targets on the other side of the Listinian border. The relation between the Republic and Listinia had been degrading for years, and was at an all-time low since the Expansionary War. The senator, hoping that this will undermine the stability of the Listinian border guard and give them an easier time in the inevitable war to come, lends the mercenaries amnesty if they get in too much trouble. When the second finally did break out, the “band” was bolstered in numbers, now counting around forty heads among them. One of which was Torme Qualou.

Siege of Cartbarrow Castle

The second Listinian war started at the end of the year 299 4E. By this time, the “band” was under the leadership of a Jilsker veteran named Kratt. They had stopped raiding military shipments, by recommendation of Torme. But multiple accounts tell that the men were getting restless. Kratt was ready to throw Torme’s recommendations in the wind and raid unsuspecting villages. Torme supposedly spat on the idea of an easy victory and was done with the “weak” leadership of Kratt. He came up with a plan, that would end up bringing the OPC their fame.

It was a damp morning in Summersong. Fog covered the plane. As drops of dew appeared on their cheeks, forty men made ready to become legends. What happened next, we know not for sure, but a single attacker wrote it down in their journal. They attacked in the early morning, at the time the light started filling the sky. The guards were almost done with their shift and not paying attention. They split up into three teams. Two big teams would wait patiently while Torme and Kratt would position themselves at the rear cliff of the castle.

One of the big teams would start their assault. They sat in the woods and hailed arrows at the defenders. Torme and Kratt, rappelled down from the cliff to the northern wall. They killed the guards there and held off the then dazed defenders while the second group of twenty men used two ladders to get onto the wall. They fought through the thinned out keep and captured the lord of the castle. After which they made him order his men to surrender. The castle had fallen. But Kratt had perished, defending the southern wall with Torme. That day, Torme took control of the band and dubbed it the Onyx Plate Company.

Structure, equipment, and the spirit of competition

The OPC consists of around 4000 mercenaries. When a person signs up with the OPC, they agree to sign a ten-year contract. During this time, they will pay off the debt caused by their equipment and training. After they are trained, they will be assigned a band. That band will be their brotherhood until either the whole band gets killed or they step out of the OPC. In times of battle, or during large contracts and operations, these units are grouped into platoons of a 100 and battalions of 1000 men. Since every squad has specialists, these squads are, in most placement strategies, divided.

OPC mercs get the best armor and weapons available. Their equipment is specially designed by Torme and made by the best armorers and blacksmiths in the republic. Units usually consist of specialists who get unique equipment. Things like arbalests, medicine bags, alchemic grenades, etc. While some special mounted units get horses, lances, and training in the mounted arts.

They are also encouraged to complete as many contracts as they can. Bands are ranked in a tier system, designed to reward hard work and skill. High tiers, which can be entered by scoring high on tests, making a lot of money, and doing high-risk contracts, give bands special privileges. Things like higher wages, the permission to accept contracts without the need of an OPC contractor, and better equipment.

Do you sons of bitches think you get all this for free? Your whole band still has 8 years to go before you can resign. Get your shit together and march before I decide you're not worth your training.

— Adriana Redhand

Torme Qualou

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A High-Malen from the city of Triana. Born early in the second Era, Torme spent a lot of his childhood studying and training at an Ell'fycian Academy . When he returned to his hometown, he trained with some of the best Blademasters of his time. He wasn’t yet 1200 winters old when he gained the title himself, which is earlier than most. After almost half a millennium of training and teaching, he set out again. Centuries later, he returned. He brought with him some savings and decided to invest it all. This turned out to be a bad decision, for he lost almost all of it. With just his blade, a small travel bag, and his experience, he set out to find glory elsewhere.

Adriana Redhand

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Adriana Redhand is an Onyx Plate Mercenary that has been Torme's right hand since 339 4E. Born in Querenth, she trained with the Republic shock trooper core and actually attended a study in the art of war here at Zoria Falls academy. I gave her a few lectures and she was quite an attentive student. She has lead numerous missions, like the retrieval of the heisted Fount Crystals. Around the troops, her nickname is the princess. This for her peering blue eyes and the need to always appear at her best.

Listinian assault

After twelve years of stagnation, the war between the the Republic and Listinia flared up in a series of violent attacks on Republic soil. Raids by small hosts on homesteads, villages, and some small towns. As many as 32 Republic settlements were plundered. Shortly after that, Listinian armies amassed and crossed the border. The supposed "war" that the senate had previously been using as an excuse for sanctions on Listinia, quickly became very unprofitable. Now, two border cities were under siege by Listinian forces.

Siege of Simmersill

Simmersill is a heavily fortified city on the border between Listinia and the Republic. It is under Republic control now, but this could have been very different. During the Listinian assault, the OPC had its main base of operations in the city. A thousand men were stationed there, as well as Torme himself. The city's defenders, around 3000 men if you include the OPC, were outnumbered more then four to one. The 13.000 men of the Listinian army, the main bulk of the invasion force, had positioned themselves outside the city, surrounding the city and cutting its supplies off. They also used great nets with dead livestock in them to poison the Albe, cutting the city off from even its water supply. Torme quickly ordered trebuchets to be made from the little resources they had left in the city. That, combined with the constant harassment of the siege camp, made for weary attackers when they finally built their siege towers and ladders. A small army of cavalry, scrambled from nearby keeps, had been looming on the horizon and the Listinian general knew that it was now or never. Torme used superior strategy and knowledge of the city to repel the attack after also having levied 2000 more civilians from the city.

The Siege of Kwarthulin

Shortly after Simmersill had been liberated, the 1000 heads strong cavalry unit arrived in the city. Led by Senator Stimenon, this unit joined Torme's Onyx Plate Company. They rode north to the city of Kwarthulin, which was the other Republic city, under siege by the Listinian invasion force. Torme levied 1000 men on their way there, taught them to walk in formation. The journey only took two weeks, but Torme's skill in training was very useful. When they arrived at the city, Torme's host was 6000 men strong. 1000 OPC men, 1000 he took from the Simmersill city watch, 1000 horsemen, and 3000 levied civilians and farmers. He kept the untrained men behind while he quickly assaulted the Listinian siege camp. He took good care of any messengers and scouts the Listinians might have sent and this, together with a good bit of luck, made for a totally surprised Listinian commander. A commander who couldn't get his troops stationed in time and lost half his men, which were only about 8000, to begin with, to the initial shock of the horsemen together with the well trained OPC mercs. But even after they got on their feet, the OPC rolled over them like a dragon over an army of snowmen. The levied civilians did not see action that day. But they did help batter the morale of the Listinian forces that day.

Other notable events

Crystal heist

Decades after the Listinian assault, a group of rogue well-power mages stole all the content of a republic supply cache. In it were, among other things, a load of fount crystals. The Onyx plate company itself was tasked with getting the crystals back. In command of the mission was Adriana Redhand, known among the troops as the Princess. She led forty mercenaries in an assault on the mages' hideout. The mages had set up their camp in a large cave with only one entrance. After taking quickly taking control of the entrance, the OPC troops met heavy resistance. Alchemic grenades and wellpower resisted the OPC at every turn. Only ten survived, and found some of the crystals. Most had been used in unholy experiments.

Cyan Blade

A large part of the OPC command attended a tournament in Simmersill, when a cult known as the Cyan blade attacked the city. The cult members, who numbered in the hundreds, quickly took out the city guard and were planning on overtaking the city for themselves, when the skill and numbers of the OPC mercs surprised them. They were promptly chased out of the city. After years of chasing after the cult, Torme and a few allies finally found the hideout of the Cyan blade cult. The compound quickly got surrounded by a mix of Onyx plate mercenaries, republic troops, and various other allies, but was too heavily fortified to quickly take. Alchemic grenades, automatic fount crossbows, trenches, and trained animals had been positioned around the compound. A direct assault wouldn't do, so the attackers decided to wait it out. After months of siege, when their food stocks had gotten low, the leader of the cult Brandon the blue, made the whole cult drink poison. There were no survivors.