Military FAQ
There are a variety of military-type characters on Velgarth. The ones we know the most about are the Guard and the Mercenaries.
Gifts:
Mercenaries, Guard recruits and common troopers might have a Gift of some sort. All of these Gifts are extremely limited or at low strength, otherwise the character would have become a Healer, been Chosen as a Herald or wound up in some similar profession more appropriate to the Gift. Here are the possible Gifts for a military persona:
| Gift | Description |
|---|---|
| Fire Starting | This is not the type of Fire Starting where a merc is going to send his opponent up in flames. This is the type where you probably won't need flint and tinder to get your campfire started. |
| FarSight | This is the low-level sort where something that's just out of view, like someone trying to sneak up for a surprise attack, would be known to the soldier. |
| Healing | This is the low-level, stop the comrade from bleedint to death immediately sort of healing. This is not the major stuff that is performed in the Healing Tent. |
| Fetching | This is not the sort of Gift that would enable you to Fetch a treasure chest from inside a castle. This is the sort where you might be able to Fetch your dagger if you accidentally dropped it in a fight. |
| Animal Mindspeech | This is the rudimentary stuff; you aren't going to be carrying on any long, complicated conversations with this Gift. |
| Mindspeech | This is the type with a very limited range. You might be able to mentally coordinate an attack with another Mindspeaker who is in the same tent, but you would not be able to deliver commands to an entire military unit on the battlefield. |
| Empathy | This is the basic type, where you might be able to tell whether or not a negotiator is sincere or whether an attacker who looks angry is really just frightened. |
| Foresight | This is that limited type that's useful on the battlefield. You might sense a coming shift in battle in time to meet it or to get your unit out of the way of something they won't survive. You are not going to ForeSee a war that will happen five years in the future. Most people with this type of Gift can only see something an hour or less before it happens. |
Valdemar's Guard
Members of the Guard wear blue uniforms. Members of the Palace Guard wear Royal Blue.
Mercenaries
Mercenaries are organized into "companies" that are stationed at various places. The companies we know about are:
- Bornam's Bastards
- Devaril's Demons
- Doomslayers
- Hooters
- Randel's Riders
- Skybolts
- Staferd's Cold Drakes
- Sunhawks
- Wolflings
- Wolfstone's Pack
Other FAQs for the Military Handout
- What qualifies as "heavy weapons" fighting?
- The Society for Creative Anachronism (S.C.A.) combat or another discipline, such as Kendo, would be appropriate. Other forms of armed combat would have to have similar training requirements to these to be considered. Modern saber-style fencing would be acceptable, for instance, but foil fencing would not.
- How do I get training in heavy weapons fighting?
- Find a group and take up fighting under their training. Kendo, the Japanese style of sword fighting takes longer to learn and classes are harder to find.
- What is the S.C.A.?
- The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is a historical re-creation group that attempts to research and re-enact certain aspects of life in medieval and renaissance times. The combat is done with wooden weapons, and armor made to approximate that used in those periods. The S.C.A. can be contacted at
Registrar
P.O. Box 360743
Milpitas, CA 95036-0743or online at http://www.sca.org.