Gray Company

From the dust of fallen Nerath, a bleached-out train of grim, armored humans emerges from the Gray Downs like a silhouette in the fog. On the march, Gray Company soldiers intend to reclaim and restore the sundered thrones and monster-infested ruins of their forefathers.
From a young age, the Gray Company’s soldiers heard stories from their grandfathers of how Nerath’s grand pennants flew above every city in the ancient world. Finally grown and trained in combat, these enlistees from the Gray Downs intend to take back their heritage. Halvath Cormarrin, the self-proclaimed successor to Nerath’s throne, is leading the group from the foggy hinterlands across the Nentir Vale and down into the former empire’s foremost lands. Along the way, the company is recruiting new soldiers, plundering ancient ruins, seeking relics such as the lost Sword of Nerath and the Threefold Crown, and hunting down treasure seekers who pilfered fragments of the soldiers’ so-called birthright. According to rumor, the Gray Company didn’t earn its name from its home region, but from its faded banners of long-dead noble houses and its soldiers’ grim moral views.
Keepers of Lost Tradition: By collecting halfremembered verses of ancient epics, crumbling tomes, and fragile artifacts, the Gray Company preserves tiny shards of Nerath’s greatness. The company is fanatical about regaining its inheritance and hunts any creature known to have plundered Nerathan relics. If a thief were to willingly hand over an artifact, and be deemed competent, Cormarrin might recruit the reformed plunderer and offer him or her wealth and status in the restored empire. If such a culprit were to decline the offer, the company would bind the villain, read his or her sentencing and punishment aloud from a moldering tome of ancient law, and then execute the offender.
Soldiering for Tomorrow: Determined to resurrect the glory of ancient Nerath, the Gray Company actively recruits new soldiers. Members sit fireside with potential troops, lacing stories of beloved Nerath with ale and mead. They whisper their hopes about a younger, brighter generation rising from the ruins to bring light to the darkened world. They scorn people who squabble for coin, sell their swords to the highest bidder, or serve the upstart lords of this new age. Despite the members’ vaunted claims of honor and nobility, many Nentir Vale inhabitants believe the Gray Company is nothing more than a gang of bandits seeking legitimacy.
Standing Army: Recruits who join the Gray Company do not leave its ranks. Once inducted and told the fragmented secrets of old Nerath, a soldier is committed for life. Deserters are hunted down and hanged publicly at the nearest crossroads. Warriors make up the company’s rank and file, backed by mages whose ability should not be underestimated. These mist mages can call upon and manipulate the fog that rolls in over the Gray Downs to hamper their enemies. Meanwhile, other mages in the group work to unlock the power of Nerathan magic items and to raise long-dead Nerathan heroes to fight for the empire once more. So far, Nerath’s most formidable magic remains lost. But Cormarrin is sure it’s only a matter of time before his mages unearth that, too.
Heirs to an Empire: Although the group’s power base is located in the Gray Downs, Gray Company chapters have sprouted elsewhere—under the leadership of other so-called princes of Nerath. If united, these separate chapters might be strong enough to accomplish the company’s dream of restoration. However, political power struggles, infighting, and accusations of false lineage have kept the chapter leaders from coming together under a single banner. Some historians quietly say this type of squabbling is what laid Nerath low; so by feuding, the Gray Company is carrying out the empire’s legacy after all.