The Dogs of War were a mercanary company formed by the exiled Kaslander lord, Vetto Barius.
History[]
When Kasland was conquered, Lord Grandioso Carillon, the new Archduke of Kasland, chose the great Castle Barius as his home and base of power in the country. He had the previous resident, Vetto Barius, banished. Barius took his most loyal servants with him and gathered a number of other exiles with him, among them Sir Alvarin Drakis.
The new group became mercenaries, mostly putting down bandits and supplementing small border wars. After defeating one of these bandit gangs Lord Barius personally defeated their leader, Greoff Sturm, and made him an infantry captain in his growing mercenary army. Eventually a magic user was needed to aid the mercenary company, and Barius hired on the mysterious Lady Peral, a witch with whom he quickly formed a sexual relationship, which drew concern from many of the company's oldest members.
A noble eventually hired the Dogs of War to defend his city in northern Feyvern from an impending attack. What was initially thought to be a regular army of the undead was eventually revealed to be a Heretic invasion force led by the dracolich, Loar Netel. At this time the Huxian perrier known as Myst was brought in to the Dogs to aid them. The Dogs of War fought a valiant battle against the Heretics, with Alvarin Drakis killing an undead wyvern, but ultimately the city was lost and Lord Barius, manipulated by Peral, robbed the castle treasury and escaped with his soldiers before Loar Netel destroyed the city.
As time went on the Dogs of War attracted new members, a divine warrior named Loki who was with them briefly, a seductive venomancer named Vyla Mortae, the strange Mountain Dog Yosele. Eventually the Dogs were employed to take the castle-city of Gemalikis in the Doran region. The shifty noble who hired them underestimated the skill of the sellsword company, expecting them to be defeated or even wiped out in the attempt. But the Dogs took the city, and the noble was unable to pay their fee. Barius instead extracted the castle city itself as fee, daring the nobleman to take it from him. The Dogs of War settled in Gemalikis, making it their new base of operations and home for the previously homeless mercenaries.
The Dogs of War continued to take on work and continued to gain new members, including Sir Dameron Gortr, Nirvana's daughter Jao, and a mordeth, Mordred. During this time many of the Dogs had time to settle down and form relationships, some even opening businesses there.
One day, while Drakis was at a joust in Powys, a huge orc army invaded from the sea. The resident Harmonians, Jermenians, and other Volcovians mounted a defense, along with the competing knights banded together to fight the orcish army. After several swift defeats the defenders were pushed back, and the Dogs of War were hired to repel the invaders. In order to help pay for their aid, Sir Kurt Redden of Ikaria pledged to become a Dog of War. The superior tactics of Vetto Barius were immensely helpful in defeating the orcish invaders and keeping them from setting up a lasting presence in Volcove until some time later.
While Sir Kurt went on to have his own adventures, the Dogs of War continued to fight and grow, adding a rifle company led by Emett Walfur. Lord Barius eventually had a copper crown crafted, crowning himself King of Gemalikis and Doran. This event was witnessed by Yarakone, the demonic queen of Revenia.
After a time and Sir Kurt's disappearance, an emissary from the city-state of Donnervogel came to Gemalikis to hire the Dogs of War to re-take the city-state of Ikaria from the allied forces of Kilen'Nindur. The logic of this was that Sir Kurt was the last lord of Ikaria, and as a member of the Dogs of War, his lands would rightfully belong to his mercenary lord/king, Vetto Barius. The Dogs of War assembled, shoring up alliances with New Izul, Porkbellow, and oddly enough Harmonia. They even dabbled in propoganda, painting Kilen as a kidnapper of children.
With war on the horizon, a political dinner was held in Ikaria. The dignitary from Rizgaar, allied with Kilen, began a bidding war with Prince Sonata d'Harmonia for the service of the Dogs of War. Sonata won, but was tricked by the Rizgaaric in to promising a ridiculous amount of gold to the Dogs. A battle was fought outside of Ikaria, to no true end. Lord Barius, ever bitter at Harmonia for his banishment, had Kilen informed of the path the gold couriers would take. The couriers were ambushed, and the gold used by Ikaria instead to pay the Dogs of War to leave. Without the mercenary army Ikaria could not be conquered.
Not long after the Dogs of War were wracked with death and hardship, some members dying and others leaving the mercenary kingdom. It all came to a head when Sonata, imbittered by the trickery in Ikaria and driven by a Nightmare's possession, attacked Gemalikis, killing many of the Dogs of War. Infantry commander Greoff Sturm deserted, and rifle commander Emett Walfur deserted after stealing the fortune in gold. From here the Dogs of War were disbanded, leaving only a few loyal survivors.
Tactics[]
A student of war, Vetto Barius was a briliant tactician. Among the regular tactics of the Dogs was a three pronged attack. The infantry would prepare to battle with the cavalry, the archers in the back or behind some sort of protection. The archers would rain arrows on the enemy while the infantry charged, so that they could attack while the enemy was disorriented from the arrows. The cavalry would then attack a flank. In this way all three of the main military forces could strike the enemy one after another, giving them no opportunity to rest.
When assaulting a city, infiltrators would be sent more than a day ahead of the main army to scout the city's defenses. Some reported back to Barius while others remained, ready to sabotage the city's defenses and open the gates for the attackers to enter. Similar tactics were used to take castles, with infiltrators either stealthily sneaking inside or slipping in among peasants fleeing from the mercenary army's advance.
Organization[]
Captain-Commander - Lord Vetto Barius. Barius commanded the Dogs of War with the skills and tactics he learned as the lord of the militant Barius family in Kasland,
Infantry[]
While diverse and disorganized, the infantry force of the Dogs of War was very effective against most enemies they combatted, especially after the archers softened them up.
Commander - Greoff Sturm, A bandit lord defeated by Lord Barius in single combat, who spared his life on the condition that he and his group join the Dogs of War. Greoff rose to command the infantry before the Dogs disbanded, and has been in hiding ever since.
Commander's squire - Loki, a young man who was only with the company a short time. He wielded a copy of the Thor's war hammer, Mjolnir.
Yosele, an eccentric Mountain Dog who proved to be extremely skilled (even by his people's standards) as well as intensely loyal.
Deimos, a strange, in-human warrior.
Cavalry[]
The cavalry force of the Dogs of War was much more organized than the infantry, usually charging an enemy's flank while they battled the infantry force, or chasing down stragglers after a battle.
Commander - Sir Alvarin Drakis, of Kasland. His keep was taken from him when Kasland fell, and he joined up with Lord Barius when he began his mercenary group.
Commander's Squire - Myst, The Mysterious Warrior. Myst was a Huxian traveler and perrier who joined the group in Feyvern and served until he was killed by a firestarter. The swift Anubite was squire to Sir Drakis though spent much of his time with the infiltrators.
Sir Dameron Gortr, The Knight of Hell. The Dogs of War were hired to assassinate Sir Dameron after he angered the wrong noble, but when he proved stronger than anticipated they offered him employment instead. Dameron accepted, seeing this as a good opportunity to find strong foes to fight.
Bert Hobbs and Jao, Dameron's companions. Bert was Dameron's squire and Jao a strange fox-girl they met on their travels.
Sir Kurt Redden, The Straw Knight. Kurt offered his service to the Dogs of War to help win their service in the Orc War in Powys, though he never actually served the company in a formal fashion.
Archers[]
Commander - Humphrey, one of the most faithful servants of Vetto Barius.
Commander's Squire - Alan Smith, a student of Humphrey's teaching, though he never showed any skill with a bow.
Riflemen[]
The rifle company of the Dogs of War was added later, and supplemented the archers or acted as a defensive barrier for the command group against attackers.
Commander - Emmet Walfur, A greedy, amoral gunslinger who robbed the treasury of Gemalikis at the first sign of trouble.
Infiltrators[]
Humphrey's infiltrators and spies were an important part of the Dogs of War, providing scout work and sabotaging enemy defenses. They were quite diverse and had many different skills.
Commander - Humphrey. Along with commanding the archer unit, Humphrey instructed the spies and infiltrators of the Dogs, teaching them close-range combat and stealth skills.
Infiltrators - Alan Smith, Arthur & Elliot, Vyla Mortae, Wolt, sometimes Myst,
Magic Users[]
The magic force of the Dogs of War was small, and as shady as any other group in the mercenary army.
Witch - Lady Peral, the Pearl-Eyed Witch, who advised Lord Barius while manipulating him. Barius destroyed her when he regained his mind in a moment of clarity.
Dark Mage - Mordred, a Mordeth, spawned from a Black Unicorn.