Baltika9 said:
Fangshi, how good are the Knights overall? Professional, yes, but how much experience do they have?
A fair amount of general experience fighting and participating in low scale conflicts. A few have some experience in genuine warfare, and participated in the war against Soulblighter, but most do not. As children of the nobility they have all received extensive combat training and most are at least familiar with military theory even if they have little practical experience in proper war.
Nevill said:
As far as mercenaries go, I don't really want to make someone we've never met our partner. In my mind, partners are someone who is 100% solid, like Gareth. I am still unsure about Mayer, but at least we knew what we were getting into with him, and so far he worked himself hard to our benefit. Still I feel we have to be cautious around him.
Can we get a profile on each of the mercenary leaders?
Well I can tell you what your recruiters thought of them if that will help at all. Without actually speaking to them it is about the best you can hope for.
Mercenary captains in general have a great deal of influence on their companies as a whole. They are often the ones responsible for approving membership, setting the rules, dividing the loot and so on. As a result they tend to draw to them like-minded individuals and a company will almost inevitably come to reflect the personality of its leader.
So, most of the captains embody the same values that their organizations readily display.
For example Ada was calm and collected during her interview. She spoke at length about the practical strengths of her organization in simple but clear language. She seemed intelligent if not terribly outgoing and exuded a certain quiet confidence. Her faith came up more than once and is definitely central to her view of the world but she did not seem terribly interested in trying to explain her religion. She also showed no interest in trying to convert others. Given the rather short nature of the interviews there was not a lot of time to get into too many details but she worships a deity known as the Weeping One, a god of suffering and compassion. Ada was careful to stress that her followers will need freedom to pursue their religion if there is to be any hope of integrating your organizations, beyond that she had few real concerns.
Lyssa liked her honesty and intellect and she does not feel that Ada's faith will be a large problem. She is not even sure that the Weeping One is actually real or not.
Berty found Ada to be steady enough, she certainly seemed more grounded than many of the other mercenaries they interviewed. While he was not as impressed as Lyssa he can certainly appreciate the practical angle Ada took to make her case.
Mayer sees her as a liability, her faith will cost you more resources that could be better spent on practical matters.
Skite has dealt with the Doves before though this is the first time he has actually met Ada directly. He was impressed by her professionalism and knowledge of her profession but he is quick to note that her first loyalty is likely to always be to her god unless her nature changes a great deal.
Ta' Blue Bastard showed up drunk and naked. Not that surprising really from what little you know he is always drunk and naked. He complimented Lyssa or her 'great tits' several times, managed to give a count of how many mercs he had and offered to demonstrate his martial prowess by challenging a nearby waiter to a fight to the death. The waiter declined.
Lyssa found him obnoxious and utterly useless. It does not help that he just about threw up on her either.
Berty thought he was a lot of fun, if not the most useful person he has ever met. He can see some uses that the Bastard and his men would excel at but he is willing to admit that the Bastard will be a liability, at least as long as he lives...
Mayer found the Bastard to be quite obnoxious and revolting but none of that matters in the face of the Bastard's brutality and stupidity. Mayer says that you should simply point the Bastard at whatever you need destroyed and let him do his work.
Skite does not think highly of the Bastard but he is willing to concede that the Bastard and his men would make wonderful cannon fodder.
The Cock was vulgar and a bit of a bully but he also displayed a great deal of professional knowledge when he made his case. All of your recruiters agree that he is exactly as he seems, a professional mercenary, good at his job but also lacking any sort of stable moral code. While they all agree on the maul's nature the conclusions they come to are quite different. Lyssa sees him as a liability, Berty and Mayer both see him as a tool, and Skite thinks he would best serve as an example to the rest of his men. Skite suggests you kill him and take his command as long as you are willing to be sufficiently brutal to keep them in line.
Oscar mac Cumhail was well spoken, confident and aggressive in his pitch. He let the past actions of his company speak for themselves and instead he chose to focus on all the things you could accomplish together. He seems to be quite ambitious and your advisers are split on whether or not that is a virtue or a vice. Lyssa thinks he might be useful, Berty is more interested in the applications of his company as a whole than the nature of the man himself. He asserts that Oscar may be no better than dozens of other minor nobles but he is far from the worst example that the tactician has ever encountered. Mayer does not really care about how Oscar behaves, he took one look at the price for the Knights and immediately rejected the idea of hiring them. Skite is a little concerned that Oscar's ambition and confidence, he would say arrogance, might lead to problems later if he is not carefully managed.
Egil had little to say for himself but he spoke at length on the skills his people could bring to your organization. Most of the interview was taken up by Egil demonstrating the various animals he has mastery over, birds, hounds, wolves and he spent an additional ten minutes talking about the best way to control and discipline an elephant. All of your recruiters agree that he knows his business well, once again they draw different conclusions from that fact.
Beyond that he really did not seem that interesting, he appeared competent enough but did not demonstrate a great deal of creative thinking. Berty is convinced that Egil should be able to easily take instruction, he will simply have to be trained like the Hounds train their animals.
The Lady Grey swept into the room with a great deal of arrogance and immediately launched into an aggressive pitch that emphasized her wealth and assets. She even went so far as to claim that her company was the richest in the entire Kingdom. She spent a great deal of time focusing on the economic advantages she could grant your organization, likely because that is all she really has to contribute. Skite made the mistake of asking her how much she would require to join your organization as an employee. She spent the next three minutes coolly dismantling him and stressed that she would accept nothing less than full partnership. Mayer, a far more shrewd negotiator bargained her down to a junior partnership like he has.
Lyssa and Mayer liked her as both are quite used to dealing with headstrong personalities. Grey knows what she wants and what she is willing to do to get it and Mayer can respect that. Lyssa says that Grey is definitely a little cold and likely a little cruel but if you manage her then aquiring her company could be quite useful.
Berty did not like her personally though he will admit that she does bring a great deal to the table.
Skite dislikes her greatly, he says that she is nothing but a unless noble without the knowledge to excel or even to succeed as a mercenary. He says you should not bother with her, nor should you trust her.
Everyone liked Ajiak, even Mayer who thinks the dwarf was a waste of time is willing to admit that he was certainly a 'fine fellow' for what 'little that is worth'. Ajiak was polite, if a bit nervous and made his points clearly even if he did repeat himself a fair bit. He kept his eyes rooted to the floor for most of the interview though every now and then he would scan the room to see if perhaps the 'Heroes' themselves had arrived. He seemed to be under the impression that you would be there in person and he was quite disappointed when he realized that was not the case. Beyond that he seemed like any other normal dwarf, no great ego, no stylish entrance and a great deal of personal humility, it was clear that he was not a mercenary by inclination but rather by necessity.
Lyssa felt a bit sorry for him, Berty saw a lot of potential in him, Mayer is certain he was a waste of time and Skite sees him as a bit of a gamble really. His true worth may only be revealed under pressure.
Not sure if that helps at all, if you want to know something in particular that I did not cover or did not deal with sufficiently then just let me know and I will see what I can do.