The Mailed Fist

The Mailed Fist is the largest mercenary outfit on the Elennian Peninsula. Disciplined, highly trained and tactically astute, the warriors of the Fist are a remorseless foe or a powerful ally... for a price.

Membership Requirements:

• Class: Any.
• Level: Any.
• Race: Any.
• Alignment: Tend to lawful (the better to fit in with the strong discipline).
• Deity: Any, though Domi is most represented for skill in combat.
• Deed: Sign a Contract.
• Oath: "I swear to Serve the Fist, L“True Steel for Honest Coin”ive for the Fist, Die for the Fist"
• Creed: “True Steel for Honest Coin”
• Fee: See Below

Background:

• Sphere of Influence: The Elennian Peninsula with branch offices and temporary unit presence as far as Rum and the Southern Continent.

• Ethos': The Fist is a conscientious elite mercenary company that fights on the right side for the right pay. It will not take a job in which the employer is plainly in the wrong. Further, each contract has a morals clause that lets the Fist break the contract if the employer used falsified information to hire the Fist.

The Mailed Fist is a disciplined mercenary outfit. Training is tough, discipline is quick and sure, and morale is high, all of which makes the Mailed Fist one of the best mercenary outfits in the Wold. The Mailed Fist abides by both a kingdom’s local laws in which they operate and the Mailed Fist Code of Justice. Mercenaries accused of crimes involving locals are usually handed over to the local justice system, and breaking the Code is dealt with in the Fist. Justice is swift and sure; rape, unauthorized looting and pillaging, drunk and disorderly, insubordination, desertion, and theft can all lead to a military execution. Whether as a trooper, leader, or a specialist, it doesn't pay to step out of line in the Fist!

The leaders of the Mailed Fist recognize that they can be a great hammer, but all problems are not nails. Sometimes, the Fist is hired for more‘ independent-minded’ work, and this is where their Specialist Program comes in. The Mailed Fist trains and maintains connections with adventurers in every region of the Northern Continent of Yrth. In exchange for training and access to information and equipment, a Mailed Fist Specialist pays a retainer fee and may be called upon by any Mailed Fist Officer on an as needed basis. A specialist failing to answer a call is listed as deserted.

The training, the honorable iron word of their contracts, and their ability to augment their local presence with a core of specialists makes the Mailed Fist the most respected and feared mercenary outfit in the Wold!

==Benefits:==.

Title Min Lvl Reward Cost Cum Cost PC Benefit Specialist 2 Armory 200 200  ? (unknown) Spec 2 4 Team Tactics / Teamwork Feat 3,000 3,200 5,000 Spec 3 8 Team Training 5,000 8,200 10,000 Spec 4 12 Teamwork Feat 3,800 12,000 15,000 Master Specialist 16 Team Captain 5,000 17,000 25,000

Armory: The Mailed Fist keeps a great inventory of arms and armor at The Citadel. All Fist posts possess a special magic item that allows transportation of arms and armor to ensure the right tools are at the right place for the job. A Specialist 2 and higher can swap weapons and armor for any other weapon in the core rulebook. The item swapped must be within like categories of mundane, masterwork, and magical. Magical items swapped must have similar enhancement bonuses, and weapons stored in fist armories never have special qualities. Abusing the system for financial gain is theft (See Background).

Teamwork Feat: The Mailed Fist are masters at disciplined teamwork and have techniques found nowhere else in the Wold. At Spec 2 and Spec 4, the Specialist gains one Teamwork Feat available from the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide. Only APG team feats are available. Teamwork Feats “Lookout” and “Swap Places” are not allowed.

Team Tactics: Mailed Fist techniques enable specialists to utilize their training even with an untrained ally. As a swift action, a Specialist can treat an ally as if they had a teamwork feat the Specialist knows. This effect lasts one round. (Note: only the specialist benefits from the TW feat. A TW feat that benefits an ally only benefits that ally.) This ability is usable once per Specialist rank per day (2/day Spec 2; 3/day Spec3; 4/day Spec4; 5/day Master Specialist).

Team Training: The Specialist may pay to undergo a 5-day advanced training course at The Citadel. The training provides great insight in leading and helping others in battle. At the start of each day, a specialist can go over the ins-and-outs of a teamwork feat with a single ally. For the entire day, that ally is treated as knowing one teamwork feat the Specialist possesses, but only for the purposes of the specialist activating his own teamwork feats. The ally chosen can change each day. This does not replace Team Tactics.

Team Captain: Master of teamwork, the Master Specialist gains the following benefits: - Team Training benefits both the Specialist and the Ally can use the trained feat for his own purposes. They both effectively gain the feat with no conditions. - Team Training effect lasts until a new ally is trained in a feat.

==History==: The Mailed Fist has been around for more than a century, but their influence grew in the decade before the Year of Ascension. Their origins were as an adventuring group hiring out their services to protect Fargunian townsfolk from Minotaur raiding parties. This early success allowed them to set up a tightly run mercenary company operating in Fargunia for several decades.

Then Thankasis of Fokos, a spellcaster and strategist, became commander. Within five years the Fist had expanded well beyond the borders of Fargunia, and soon their services were being offered as far as the Floating City in the east and Rum in the west. Thankasis' principle was simple; offer the highest quality service, buy out or force out competition, and organize to meet the demand created.

Today the Mailed Fist is a multi-company organization and is hired by everyone from merchants to governments, and even operates as part of the standing army of Fargunia. They dominate the mercenary market, and take a dim view of rival outfits

Organization:

While most mercenary outfits are one company, the Mailed Fist is several companies strong! The training an internal organization gives commanders flexibility to serve all needs. A buyer can hire a single warrior to stand guard at grain shed for a night, or the entire regiment to assist in the faltering defense of a kingdom! Any righteous fight will be fought, if the price is right.

The Mailed Fist is highly structured from the individual trooper to the regiment. - Trooper: The best asset of the Mailed Fist is the well-disciplined warrior. It takes three years of tough, sometimes brutal training to make a Mailed Fist Trooper, and no Fist leader will use them unwisely. · Legion Fist: Each Legion Fist consists of 4 soldiers plus leader, usually a Lance Corporal or Sergeant and known as the Thumb. The Thumb has command over his Fist regardless of individual rank. Fists are almost always organized by similar weapons; sword, spear, bow, mounted, arcane, healer, etc. · Squad: 2 or 3 Fists (10-20 total) led by Sergeants · Troop: 2 to 3 Squads (20-60 total) led by an Officer, usually Lieutenant. · Company: up to 5 Troops, some specialty fists like Agents, and support personnel (100-300 total). An Officer serves as the Company Commander and has a staff of Sergeants and Officers that includes Recruiter, Information, Planning, Quarter Master, Beast Master and possibly others for various functions. Companies often act independently. There are five companies in the Mailed Fist, each named for a totem animal. · Regiment: The entire Mailed Fist. The commander is the Field Marshal Major and has a General Staff of Field Marshals similar to a company but organizes at the regimental level.

Unit names follow the following pattern: · Companies = Animals (Bear, Eagle, Snake, Tiger, and Wolf) · Troops = Energy Type (Ice, Fire, Thunder, Electric, Acid) · Squads = Number and Weapon Type (1st, 2nd, 3rd; Archers, Swords, Pikes, Cavalry, Arcane, Divine, etc) · Fists = Name of the Thumb. Example: a specific Legion Fist would proudly announce “Tiger Company, Thunder Troop, 2nd Archers, Malloy's Fist!”

Regimental hierarchy follows a standard military rank/path. This generally aligns with a range of PC or NPC levels, but there is some skills overlap that accounts for individual abilities. There are also exceptions for elite units… · Trooper (1-5) · Lance Corporal/ Corporal (3-7) · Sergeant [Squad, Master, Staff] (6-10) · Officer [Lieutenant, Captain] (9-13) · Regimental Officer [Commandant, Field Marshall] (10-20)

Headquarters: Most large towns and all major cities in the Elennian Penninsula (but not in Aisildur) have a Mailed Fist branch office. Offices can be found in other places as well, even as far away as Rum. These small shops serve as recruiting centers for new troopers, business premises for clients to visit, and training and resupply stations for units and specialists on contract. Shops are usually run by a Sergeant, though Lance Corporals or Officers are possible depending on the situation.

While there are temporary camps in many places depending on who is paying the Mailed Fist at any particular time, the only permanent facilities are Company Strongholds and The Citadel.

The Citadel, the oldest of all Mailed Fist strongholds, sits on a cliff overlooking the Plactik Ocean between Wedding City and Ham City in the westernmost part of the Ellenian Peninsula. The current Field Marshal Major is Pavillion Neutronis, the dashing cavalry commander. The Citadel is also the main base for the General Staff and Recruiter Training.

Company Strongholds are: · Wolf Company: Commander: Constance Palance, a tall blond woman who is death with a sword and lance. Housed in The Citadel, the original Mailed Fist stronghold, the Wolf are feared for their prowess at mounted combat. · Bear Company: Commander: Runkuk the Undying, the legendary 7 foot tall barbarian of the Grimmash Tribe. His great height, unruly black hair, and his immense axe, Brainbiter, make him unmistakable. Based in Condor's Keep high in the Windborne Hills, Bear Company is the wild company, home to berserkers, monsters and wild huntsmen. · Tiger Company: Commander: the aging Gunter Farias, a ruthlessly efficient and no-nonsense career soldier. The Tiger's Eye Fortress outside of Edenmoor, houses this predominantly infantry company. · Snake Company: Commander: the beautiful and deadly Merina "Bloodblade" Swain. Based in the fortress of Kranah's Crag outside of Osto, Snake are specialist sappers, engineers, scouts and infiltration experts, though they too have a full military structure. · Eagle Company: Commander: the half-elven mage Torsus Minek, a man short on temper but long on experience. This company, based in the cliff-top citadel the Eyrie, specializes in martial magics. · A new company is rumored under development at The Citadel. Known as Shark Company, it is planned as an aquatic force, and will be aimed at providing protection to shipping lines from pirates and sea beasts.

Politics: The Fist has never, under any circumstances, fought battles in its own self-interest and they maintain an unswerving adherence to their creed: "True Steel for Honest Coin”. Even during the pitched battles that marked the Year of Ascension, the Fist refused to fight because neither side was prepared to pay. This made a lot of important people very angry, but the wisdom of their decision can be seen in retrospect; they have preserved their air of total neutrality in political events. Because they are strictly neutral politically, relations with most local governments are generally cordial and constructive. Only Aisildur completely refuses them access. Relations with organized adventuring groups (especially the Woldian League of Adventurers) are frosty but not openly hostile.

Of special consideration during contracts is precedence of jurisdiction; does the law of whatever land supersede the code of the Mailed Fist? This is a political question because if the Mailed FIst can’t maintain understandings with the various governments then they won’t be able to get the jobs! Fortunately, the Mailed Fist has already settled the matter with the major governments in Yrth. The Citadel. The Field Marshal Major is also Lord of the Citadel in Faragunia, and has the power to judge and sentence anyone in his domain. Because of this, all Mailed Fist capital crimes and executions happen at The Citadel. Local Governments. Every trooper knows that in any crime involving a local, the local government has jurisprudence. After any local punishment is over, the trooper then has to face the Mailed Fist! Non-judicial. Officers are the sole arbiter of violations of the Mailed Fist Code (except for capital crimes). Punishments can include docking pay, restrictions, extra duty, and other hardships. For more minor infractions, the Sergeants usually don’t let it get to the Officers, preferring a right cross and a warning to endless paperwork.

Politics:

It has not escaped the attention of even the dullest of Woldian leaders that in the past decade or so a major Woldian player has emerged. Given the size and effectiveness of the Fist, they would make a formidable foe were they ever to unite regiments and launch an assault on a kingdom. These fears have been calmed somewhat by the Fist's unswerving adherence to their creed: "You pay, we fight". The Fist has never, under any circumstances, fought battles in its own self interest. At least not publicly. Even during the pitched battles that marked the Year of Ascension the Fist maintained their position, refusing to fight for either side because neither was prepared to pay. This made a lot of important people very angry, but the wisdom of their decision can be seen in retrospect; they have preserved their air of total neutrality in political events. It is perhaps fortunate for the Fist that the armies of Marteaus never offered to pay for their services.

Even so any leader would be a fool to allow a fortress full of well armed, highly trained troops to exist within their borders without some kind of concrete assurance of non-aggression. It is for this reason that each commander of the local regiment is oath-bonded to never attack or indirectly cause harm to their local government.

In this way the Mailed Fist have set up fortresses in a number of kingdoms, and their services are allowed in a number of others (such as the Emerald Kingdom). Only Aisildur completely refuses them access. Their relations with local governments are on the whole cordial and constructive.

Even this has not prevented whispers of conspiracy in certain quarters. What is to stop the regiments from swapping over, and attacking governments with whom they have no agreement, it is asked. Imagine if all the regiments grouped together to form a single mighty army. What if they fancied taking over a kingdom for themselves? Of course, this sort of thing would never happen in the real Wold. The Fist's raison d'etre is commercial, and the moment they show political aspirations of their own, their commercial downfall is assured.

It is interesting to note that at one point the Chancers' Club's Inner Circle had concerns that Thankasis might be an agent of some kind, and that the entire Fist might be nothing more than an elaborate front designed to place standing armies within the borders of governments across the Wold. These fears have been largely discounted by most as being totally without foundation, though there are some who still view the Fist's Commander in Chief with deep suspicion. Why, they ask, has he seemingly not aged a day in the last 15 years? Others argue that he has done nothing wrong, is simply a highly successful businessman, and that keeping one's youthful good looks is hardly a crime.

The Fist take a dim view of business rivals, and relations with such adventuring outfits as the WLA are frosty. They are not openly hostile, however.

Benefits:

• Prestige: Fist members command instant respect. They are recognized as hardy, well disciplined warriors, and though their morals may be questionable the aura of power by association they project is enough to prevent most from making insulting remarks. Those few that do tend to be very drunk, and sometime later, very dead. There is also the issue of job satisfaction. Mailed Fist recruiting posters bear the slogan "Join the Fist. See the Wold. Crack some skulls. It's a man's life in the Mailed Fist." There are plenty who find this reason enough to join.
• Information: As a senior officer in the Fist there is little in terms of Woldian current events that escapes your attention. Knowledge is power, and power is money. Keeping abreast of events large and small enables the Fist to be in the right place at the right time to provide their services.
• Financial: As a member of a standing army, members are entitled to pay. This varies by rank (see Organization). Also troops have access to free arms and armour, starting with a chain shirt for lowly new recruits, up to suits of magical full plate for senior officers. New items are granted at promotion ceremonies.
• Training: Members are put through a punishing basic training regime. All members that sign up for a tour of duty gain a choice of the Toughness or Great Fortitude feats, or Improved Great Fortitude if the recruit already has both of those. Also, upon gaining an officer rank, the Leadership feat is gained.