The Frozen Company
Echoes of harsh and cruel whispers bounce through the tightly-knit trees. The steady patter of shoes on crunching snow foretells their coming and the figures between the trees become clearer as they emerge. Sharp and twisted, their armor is made of hazy blue ice with swords to match. One of their hands begins to glow, before a streak of bright white light bursts forth. It strikes a fleeing man in the back and he falls, paralyzed by the incantation's cold grip. Icicles sprout from his back like flowers in a meadow. The remainder of the light dissipates into a thousand snowflakes that flutter away in the wind. Though he's still conscious, the fleeing man is unmoving. His heart is beating rapidly, as the thing he fears most approaches him. Ruthless mercenaries in league with the state that are determined to stop smugglers like him. The Frozen Company.
- An Old Folktale of the Frozen Company.
The Frozen Company is one of the biggest mercenary companies in Naer-til and they are directly associated with the Shelitan Empire. Ancient stories from the misty past of the region speak about how the partnership between the Company and the Empire stretches all the way back to the beginning—the founding of Shelitah’s capital, Sakkan. Regardless of their storied past, they now work together to keep the Empire’s territory safe. The Empire’s expansion has pushed many ethnic groups into smaller and smaller homes, which means that it has many enemies. The Nashites, the Zealots, and the cervid tribes are just a few of those who have been wronged by the Empire’s expansions. Understandably, the Frozen Company works closely with all these minority groups to ensure they will not overtake the Empire. The Company is well known for its trademark tactics: ice and the cold. Though no one except the alchemists of Ardentia know how they’re made, higher-ranking mercenaries carry jagged armor and swords that are made of strong, never-melting ice. Such weapons are rare, even among the Company. As such, only the most important mercenaries are permitted to use them.Structure
Tov Leon
The leader of the Company, nicknamed the Winter Wolf. Fittingly, he has a pet winter wolf that he rides into battle, but more striking than that is the unique double ring on his left hand. Simple, yet beautiful, it looks as though its glassy silver was forged with shards of pure ice. In sharp contrast, Tov Leon’s eyes shimmer with a sinister red hue. He wears a heavy fur coat and dark leather gloves, with long black hair woven tightly into a quilted pattern. To his men, he is a loyal and loving leader that sacrifices himself for their wellbeing. To his enemies, he is a fierce and bloodthirsty foe that will stop at nothing to win.The Company's Leaders
Below the Winter Wolf, there are a handful of very important men and women that have proven themselves to not only be loyal but also very useful to Tov Leon.- Lavon the Pale One – Born prematurely in a small town in the far north, Lavon was born albino. At least, that’s what his parents assumed. There was one remarkable difference that revealed that there was more to the story: his piercing blue eyes. Pigmentation that should be impossible for his condition. Rumors have spread from that unnamed town that says that he was imbued with the eternal power of winter when he was born in the middle of a terrible blizzard. That tale is likely false, but the influences that he has over all-things ice is quite real. He is known for his advanced spellcasting abilities, almost all of which are related to snow and the cold in some capacity. His affinity for frost is likely why he was chosen as the right-hand man to Tov Leon.
- Maija – (pronounced May-ah) – Simply put, Maija is one of the best warriors employed by the Company. Her frenzied rages are enough to strike fear into anyone who is in her path—including her allies. Her expertise is used only on large-scale raids against city-states or to quell giant rebellions across the Empire. When she’s not employed by the Frozen Company, she spends her time running a remote orphanage in the Hathaika Peaks among the Zealots. Long ago, she was taught by the monks to balance all aspects of life. Extreme violence must be counterbalanced with great altruistic acts.
- Shardool the White Lion – A refugee turned hunter, Shardool is a tabaxi from Kambal before the Miasma. He’s an excellent tracker that supplements his natural abilities with the mystic arts to hunt down anyone that the Frozen Company wishes to locate. Due to his narrow skillset, Shardool is rarely employed by the Frozen Company, despite being a high-ranking official within it. When he’s not hunting, he’s using his charm to help Tov Leon at the negotiating table, as the Winter Wolf is not well known for his silver tongue. Many high-stakes conversations were successful because of Shardool’s wits alone.
Frozen Company Specialists
The actual grunt work of the organization is done by several groups of specialists that each deal in a different area.The Voiceless:
Well-informed and tactical assassins that know all the secrets of the Company and as such, take a vow of silence. In fact, the information is so great a risk that they are required to get their tongues removed so they cannot speak and cannot know how to write. Rather, they are trained is a secret sign language that only high-ranking officials know. Though the uses of the Voiceless vary, they are most often used as infiltrators and covert assassins, or as discreet messengers between the leaders of the Company.
The Hailstones:
The remarkable warriors that made the Frozen Company famous. When you hear hushed tales about men with jagged rapiers made of ice, it’s the Hailstones that those stories are about. They are mobile and hard-hitting. Many of them have trained in the arcane arts as well. It is an elite and therefore quite small number of mercenaries that become the Hailstones. That’s where the stories are wrong: they portray the Frozen Company as simply an entire army of these warriors.
The Icecaps:
Tanks that are trained in the art of withstanding a beating. They are used in conjunction with tall and thick fortresses in order to keep the secrets of the Company out of reach from prying eyes. They have ice armor much like the Hailstones, but the Icecap’s armor is far thicker and bulkier. Therefore, they are almost impenetrable and use huge, immobile crossbows as their weapons of choice, perched high on the ramparts of fortresses and castles.
Public Agenda
The Frozen Company has the normal reasons for mercenary companies to exist: exchanging might for wealth. Their motives run deeper than that, however, and those deep desires are difficult and complex. After all, the company is big and it has a lot of leaders that all want their own things. Maija has a different set of desires than Levon does, but they all fight for money. Something unique about the Frozen Company is its close relationship with the Shelitan Empire. In a way, the company is an extension of the Empire and they both want the same thing: to excise and control more land while stopping rebels from toppling what they already have.
As eluded to before, the Frozen Company has more responsibilities than professional war. They deal in many secrets. Lots of which are known to the Empire, yet many of which are hidden from them. Truly, the machinations of Tov Leon are enigmatic and likely aren’t aligned with Emperor Almosin. The company's love of secrecy and discreetness is reflected in their mantra: "Winter (that is, the Frozen Company) is Silence, and Silence is Priceless."
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