Freebooter

I just trust Watchers more than those Freebooters; they only do it for the money, you know. - Villager

Career

Qualifications

There are no real qualifications besides having some fighting experience and a weapon to fight with.

Payment & Reimbursement

When hired by a client they are regularly payed for the amount of time they are hired by them or payed after completing their assignment.

Other Benefits

Some Freebooters are able to achieve fame for their skill and exploits from their assignments making it easier to b hired by those will to pay for their services.

Perception

Purpose

They are often hired by anyone willing to pay for their services when most other means of protection are not available to them, ranging from fighting foes to defending something or someone.

Social Status

Most people do not like them due to the fact they just fight for profit alone and often filled with people that never have the best intentions at heart.

History

Blades of Profit

Across the known world, many choose to fight for a cause that will ensure that the world becomes a much better place to live in; groups such as Watcher Corps and the Wayfarer’s Union are names that make up the gold standard of the idea. However, some choose to follow their own personal causes, whether fame or profit; these individuals are best known as Freebooters. Warriors that anyone pays to serve under them so long as the money keeps coming. Freebooters have had a long history across Embera, often dating back to the time of the Age of Crowns when monarchs and the wealthy hired them to protect their lands from the creatures of the Gloom, causing destruction, badlanders terrorizing their territory or used as muscle to keep discontent populations in line when thing get rough. Many of these freebooter companies were often made by disgruntled soldiers tired of receiving poor pay from their lords and seeking to earn more from those willing to pay more. However, when the Age of Crowns ended and wars began to break out, their number quickly rose, fighting for the highest bidders.
This only became more common during the time of the Great Shrouded when chaos became rampant, with many of these companies scattered all over the continent, traveling to look for safety and profit by offering protection to settlements for food and resources to keep them afloat. They were some of the few capable fighting forces left standing at the time due to their experience and skill in fighting Gloomspawn. However, some of them would also join the Shroud Keepers, though they would come to regret it when they became corrupted by their power and made into enforces to sow terror and suffering wherever they went. This would change when the Dawn Crusade fought back against them. Many companies rallied behind them to end their tyranny, being instrumental in many battles and would later dissolve after the fighting was done being positions in the newly formed Radiarchies of Embera often being in the Watcher Corps and Dawn Keepers. Leaving very few remaining and eventually fading out completely when there was no longer any use for them.

Reemerging Occupation

Freebooter companies have been slowly returning to the continent despite being out of service for centuries. This is mainly due to the escalating events that have to transpire involving the Gloomspawn and the gloom cult that is not too far behind them and the radiarchies being unable to deal with them everywhere. However, their number skyrocketed when the Sundering occurred with the fracturing of the Radiarchy of Ondelenia and later, the founding of the Radiarchy of Renden resulted in companies scattering to be hired by anyone looking for protection in the wake of the devastation that had transpired. This made them commonly used from the point on as the radiarchies' powers began to wain. They can often be found in most places worldwide, used as security measures by the radiarchies and anyone else who can afford them.
This has become all the more desired after the events of the Duskfall and the disbandment of the Dawn Keepers, as a large gap in the defenses of all the Radiarchies can now be found with its Watcher Corps being unable to defend their lands being undermanned. In this turmoil, more and more freebooters have been flocking to current or creating new companies to serve under. They are also given more authority as they work more closely with the government that has hired them. However, many have already begun to question whether these hired blades are even considered reliable, as their ranks are often filled with inexperienced recruits seeking easy money and fame. This can also be said with their leaders, as they only continue when it suits them and may abandon their employers should things get out of hand or their payments are not good enough to fight for.

Alternative Names

Hired Blades

Type

Military

Demand

Common

Legality

Freebooter companies are allowed to be hired all across the continent, but be able to work within the confines of the laws of the Radiarhies to ensure that they do not cause any unnecessary trouble.

Payment in Steel

by midjourney

All that seek to join must prove themselves capable of bearing arms, for no one can give them what to fight with but themselves. - Freebooter Captain

It is a common tradition amongst the Freebooter companies that recruits bring their own personal weapon with them as the company will not give them one. This is essentially an initiation to prove how far they will serve the company by ensuring that they can hold their own in a fight and strike back against all that would harm them. Those who fight and survive their first fight are welcomed into the company as they have proven their steel is true to their cause, while those who run are kicked out as their steel is brittle and will shatter when it is needed the most, being unreliable to have within their ranks.