The Serene Dead

"We're all bound for the headsman's block, my friends.  One way or another, Carrion'll have us all. But just across that barricade and down that street, there should still be an old inn, if the Tambar fuckers haven't burned it down yet. And I'm feeling fucking thirsty!"

Yorath, acting-captain of the Serene Dead, shortly before their assault on the Tambarist barricades in Risevar Town, 14th of Bleakmarch, 1439

During the Tambar Rebellion, House Dillestone's military was stretched perilously thin. The Tambarists seemed to be everywhere, sabotaging supply lines and whittling down Dillestone's troops in vicious skirmishes. Eadvard III  oversaw the war alongside his brother Beltran Dillestone, who saw a need for extra troops to combat the rebels... troops who would be willing to sink as low as the rebels were willing to go, or deeper. Troops who weren't bound by the codes of The Calistan Order, who could be turned loose upon the enemy like the vicious dogs they were.
So they went looking in the jails and offered the condemned men and women within a choice; serve or die.
The Serene Dead are a mercenary company comprised of the survivors of Eadvard and Beltran's initiative during the rebellion. The Dead committed horrendous atrocities against the rebels, infiltrated their cells and butchered them in the night after posing as friends. The Serene Dead are only a shadow of their former selves, having lost four fifths of their number to attrition, violence and desertion during the last few years. The remaining members, some eighty in all, are some of the most vicious fighters and rogues ever unleashed upon Banteave.
After the conclusion of the rebellion, Beltran tasked several bailiffs with rounding up the surviving Serene Dead and bringing them to the Anvil to receive rewards for their services. Those that went seeking their just rewards were never seen again. The rest of the Serene Dead banded together and sent the hands and eyes of one of the bailiffs back to Beltran, encouraging him to forget they ever existed.

Composition

Manpower

The exact count of The Serene Dead is hard to determine. While they numbered less than a hundred at the end of the rebellion, they have since shed a healthy portion of their number while also recruiting other sellswords and criminals into their ranks.

Weaponry

The Serene Dead use whatever they can get their hands on, usually scavenged from the battlefield from the dead. The remnants of the Tambar Rebellion have left them oddly well-equipped for a ragtag band of mercenaries.

Structure

Despite their criminal origins, they still adhere to a chain of command, though the leaders of the Serene Dead have often come into their station through brute force and murder instead of merit.

Tactics

Brutal, dirty and unforgiving. The Serene Dead don't take prisoners, only recruits. They favour ambushes, stealth and intimidation to achieve their objectives, terrorizing the enemy until they're ready for a final, fatal strike.

Training

Most members of the Serene Dead are no strangers to killing, having been pulled from amongst the most violent offenders in the Heartland's dungeons. 
Each and every member of the Serene Dead receives a tattoo of a skeleton dancing upon the gallows, signifying their narrow escape from the noose.

Logistics

Upkeep

The Serene Dead are self-employed and self-sufficient, owing allegiance to no patron now that the rebellion has concluded.

History

The Serene Dead were at the Retaking of Risevar, when the Tambarists were bloodily uprooted from their fortified city districts. Afterwards, the Dead were periodically seen at several major battlefields across the Heartlands in between infiltration and sabotage missions handed down by Beltran Dillestone.

Historical loyalties

In the past, they were put into the field and answered to House Dillestone. However, when Beltran tried to quietly "clean up" the Serene Dead after the rebellion's end, they evaded capture and set out on their own, selling their swords to whomever will pay.
It is believed that their current leader is a man named Yorath.

Type

Special Forces

Founding

2nd of Heatswrath, 1439

Overall training Level

Semi-professional

Assumed Veterancy

Veteran

Used by

• House Dillestone