Welcome to the Band of the Red Hand
Our Vision
"The world doesn't need heroes; it needs professionals who get the job done without asking stupid questions. You aren't fighting for ancient prophecies or the favor of gods. You fight for the gold in your pouch and the mercenary next to you.
You have signed on with the Band of the Red Hand, known across the borderlands as the 'Bloody Palms.' Your initiation was simple: you dipped your gauntlet into a bucket of crimson paint and slapped it onto your armor. That red handprint means you are now part of the company. It means you have a family that will never betray you—because under our code, the Hand does not cut the Hand. Once the gold changes hands, our contract is absolute. We do the dirty work lords are too proud to admit needs doing, and we get paid to survive it."
Your Home Base: The Iron Keep
You are stationed at The Iron Keep, a heavily fortified, repurposed border fort chiseled directly into a jagged cliffside. It is a loud, gritty, soot-stained hive of activity:
- The Training Pits: Where recruits bleed to satisfy the drill instructors before they ever see a real battlefield.
- The Armory & Vaults: Heavily guarded sectors where supplies are tracked down to the last crossbow bolt.
- The Mess Hall: A massive tavern space filled with the smell of roasting meat, cheap ale, and mercenaries swapping scars and war stories.
The Leadership Core
When you are in the Keep, you answer to the five officers who keep the machine running:
- General Vorn "The Iron-Kneed" Blackwood: A mountain of a man in scarred full plate with a missing left ear. He doesn't care who started the war; he only cares who has the gold to finish it.
- "Matron" Karenza Vex (Quartermaster): A sharp-featured, humorless Tiefling with filed-down horns. She sits at a desk covered in gold and ledgers, tracking every copper piece. If you lose your sword, you answer to her.
- "The Ghost" Eli Thorne (Chief Scout): A gaunt, sleep-deprived Elf with a heavy tactical crossbow and a raspy voice from an old throat wound. He vets the contracts and knows exactly when a client is lying to the company.
- "Grizzly" Brenda Ochre (Master of Discipline): A massive Half-Orc woman covered in ritual scarring. She runs the training pits and punishes internal rule-breakers with a notched greataxe.
5. "Lefty" Orin Vance (The Spellslinger): An eccentric, slightly unhinged evocation wizard with a glowing, runic clockwork prosthetic left arm. He treats battlefield explosions like a pure engineering problem
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