White Sentinels
The White Sentinel Grand Company is the Merandure family's most famous condottieri band, thanks in part due to its distinctive white-and-gray armour-and-equipment scheme and illustrious history. The Grand Company's most recent employment by the Grand Duchess of Kaliyev saw the White Sentinels play a central role in averting a full invasion by the Chagoryn Khanate and in the destruction of the Kang Mandate's Western Jun Banner at the Slaughter of Karakhasa.
Equipment
The typical kit of a White Sentinel soldier is that of chainmail with a white surcoat displaying the the eight-pointed star and eye, heater shield, and either a sword or spear. Their vanguards are famed for wearing white sets of plate armour and carrying halberds, shortswords, and crossbows, with the 1st Vanguard Regiment being outfitted with adamantium armour, as a result of General Aroldo Caruzzo's exhortations to the Merandure family after they came into the possession of a large adamantium deposit during a contracted expedition into the Trazon Jungle.
Structure
Whilst formally a condottieri company according to the Frankonian Charter on the Organisation of Mercenaries, the White Sentinels are, in practice, an army. They number around 40000 permanent soldiers, including instructors, blacksmiths, cooks, and other specialists. It is organised into 40 regiments of 1000 soldiers each, which in turn consist of four Companies of 250 soldiers. The smallest unit, the sections, fall under the Companies and number between 20 and 50 soldiers.
The White Sentinels are currently led by Sentinel-General Aroldo Caruzzo, who hails from the city-league of Milevento.History
The White Sentinels, originally known as the Free Companions of Adventure, were founded as an Adventure Company in 2420 AM by John Sharpwood, a knighted Scaelorian adventurer, initially making their name as a small group of skilled problem-solvers. Sharpwood's Company was mainly active in Scaelor, and eventually numbered around 50 renowned adventurers from all around the world. After the consolidation of the Yelanid Alliance in 2431 AM, the Company travelled there, sensing opportunity and glory. Fame and gold was earned in abundance and the Free Companions expanded in number, first to the hundreds, and soon to the thousands. By the end of that century, long after Sharpwood's death, the organisation began to refer to itself an independent army, and rebranded itself as the Great Company.
In the centuries that followed, the Great Company was hired by all manner of states, affluent families, and trade companies. As their reputation widened, so did their expectations of excellence, and naturally their numbers had to be increased and training intensified. They became infamously expensive, and their employment by the Yelanid Grain League in 3031 AM is identified as a primary cause in the Grain League's declaration of bankruptcy the following year. The Great Company's high price eventually meant that only the exorbitantly rich could afford them, which led to them being continously employed by the Seven Families of Frankonia. After some time, in 3451 AM, the Merandure family managed to secure themselves as the Great Company's patrons under a renewable contract with them. This relationship created the White Sentinel Grand Company as it exists now. The Merandures lowered the hiring costs of the Company, since wakes of bankruptcies would reflect badly upon the family itself.
First under the Watching Star.
Founding Date
2420 AM
Type
Military, Mercenary Group
Alternative Names
Free Companions of Adventure and the Great Company (historical), the Grand Company (current)
Training Level
Professional
Leader
Notable Members
