Green Company
Emerald Company redirects here.
Green Company was a group of soldier-youths and their commanding officers during the Keelan War. They fought for the Pennant Regency in the last century of the Middle Era against the Empire of Velgassi. In defeating Keela, one of the five Harbingers of Vecna, Green Company was instrumental in the delaying of the Ultima War and the survival of the Median Timeline.
There were 73 in all, counting three officers: Captain Savako Hatch, Lieutenant Catalina Brooksong, and Lieutenant Achtel of Kodonholm. Of the 70 cadets of Green Company, two survived the Keelan War: Jerrick Waltraud and Taiyou Mollendorf. Of the 68 casualties, three became some of the youngest heroes in history: Drake Brockenheimer, Quinn North, and Alexandra Silvermoon. The other 65 were pulled from military academies and wizarding schools the land over to fight in a war that would see the end of their short lives.
History
Green Company was born of a need to replenish a casualty-ridden army. The centuries-old Mainland nation of Pennant, had been invaded in Winter 845 ME by the northern Velgassi Empire. The Imperial attack came in the wake of a six-year silence by the northern nation; no one expected a full-scale assault on the border town of Crescent Lake. The Regency Triumvirate sent envoys to the Empire to no avail. Seven seasons later, the Velgassi Empire captured Hundred Rivers and was poised to take Slate.
Fortunately for the Regency, the Orthodox Church denounced the Imperial invasion and sent their holy orders to the nation’s defense in the Summer of 846. Meanwhile, the Orthodoxy sidestepped Siroccan and Volkenburgese complaints that their support of the Regency violated Amendment 7 of the Juriatas Accord. Claiming the Church’s involvement was in the best interest of Tetrarchal doctrines of protection and healing-- domains of Bahamut and Pelor alike-- the High Priests were able to condone their actions by limiting the Orthodox knights in open war. Despite formal protests from the two city-states, the Church continued to back the Regency throughout the conflict.
At first, clerics were only allowed to heal the overwhelmed Pennant soldiers, but it became clear that the Imperial forces would not spare even Church personnel. In Autumn 846, the Third and Fourth Order of Pelor set up a field hospital in the Opal Valley between Pennant’s township of Slate and the razed Crescent Lake, in Imperial control. The Imperial Army charged the field hospital, destroying the two clerics’ Orders without mercy. After the Opal Valley Massacre, the Church of the Tetrarchs threw their entire weight behind the Regency. Sirocco and Volkenburg’s protests were silenced by the Massacre, and the Church continued their declarations that the conflict was not a holy war, but a moral one.
For two seasons, the Regency-- with the Orthodox Orders bolstering their ranks-- held the battle lines at Slate. Though the Imperial march was stymied, it was only a matter of time before the Velgassi war machine penetrated the Regency’s defenses. With that thought it mind, the Triumvirate instituted a nationwide draft. Youths from 16-19 in military academies and wizarding schools-- plus any skilled volunteers-- were put into service in one of three elite companies: Rook Company, Scion Company, and Green Company.
Rook Company began training in the Regency heartland near the city of Galvanheim. They were among the youngest drafted; the Triumvirate wanted them to have the most time to be trained before being placed in active duty. Scion Company and Green Company, however, were the best of the best. Mostly older academy students and prodigies, Scion Company trained at Walnut Ridge, while Green Company made Slate their home. For the Summer of 847, the elite youths trained to become the next wave of Regency defense in the first of three planned seasons.
Green Company’s commanding officer, Savako Hatch, hand-picked every member of his group. A farmer’s son from the village of Cadence, Hatch served as Captain of the Guard at Bastion Castle for two years before accepting the position to train the recruits. He selected youths from all walks of life, from Leomund Magic University’s elite upperclassmen to convicted criminals and thieves. It was no small task to get 70 adolescents to battle as a unit, and infighting was reportedly frequent. Most of the cadets did not volunteer to join Green Company-- ergo, they harbored resentment against the Pennant Regency for drafting them. Savako Hatch was the single, strong thread that kept the short-lived tapestry of Green Company together. His fatherly tone and firm but fair stance on discipline endeared him to the recruits in short order. It was this intimacy with his company that proved to be the undoing of his military career, as Hatch resigned from Regency service in the year after the Keelan War due to the trauma of losing the vast majority of his unit. An aged Hatch went missing, and was presumed dead, during the Dark Age in an attempt to discover the fate of Horizon during the Ultima War.
The Three Warriors
Drake Brockenheimer, son of Heaven’s Anchor fisherman Lucas Brockenheimer and florist Marta Brockenheimer, followed in his grandfather’s footsteps to become a Regency soldier. Two of his three siblings also became part of the Regency military: his elder sister, Maria, was an engineer working in Aegis, while his younger sister Desiree sailed on the PRS Seahawk. The youngest Brockenheimer, Aeron, would later be the only one to survive the Ultima War in the flesh.
Drake was on the fast track to army officer at the Odiss Pennant Military Academy in Elder City. He would become the only member of Green Company to be promoted to an officer rank during the course of the Keelan War. Drake volunteered to join Hatch’s unit after participating in a war game with the Captain at OPMA. He and the rest of his Alpha Squad were killed in the Astral Plane battling Keela the Green, sealing victory for the Pennant Regency and delaying the prophetic Ultima War.
Quinn North was an only child from a small village near Crescent Lake. Nearly kicked out of the Academy for failing multiple tactical and history exams, Quinn’s strength always lied in “direct military action” (Hatch)-- meaning, physical combat itself. Where Drake was a tactical genius with excellent leadership ability, Quinn was the most skilled combatant of their squad. His swordsmanship prowess caught the eye of Captain Hatch during a training exercise at OPMA. North heard of the training of new cadets to battle the Velgassi incursion and, reportedly to avenge his hometown’s destruction, voluntarily joined Green Company with Hatch’s approval. It was Quinn who dealt the deathblow to Keela the Green in the Astral Plane at the cost of his last breath.
Alexandra Silvermoon was a cleric of Pelor at the Danziger Abbey. Instead of joining the Orthodox Order, she worked in one of the few independent abbeys in the Regency. She was the only female in the Abbey, and as such, received a great deal of attention from the male clerics. Her adventurer father, wary of even holy men, taught her to defend herself with informal lessons. Captain Hatch’s subordinate, Lieutenant Brooksong, was also from Danziger. She was reportedly quite taken with not only Alex’s healing powers, but also her combat prowess and dutiful attitude. Songbrook convinced Hatch to order a Letter of Draft for Alex, and she was conscripted into Green Company forthwith. Alex was killed by Keela the Green in the Astral Plane.
Other Notable Members
Jerrick Waltraud, unbeknownst to anyone in the Pennant Regency, was a defector from Velgassi. AWOL from the Imperial Army, Jerrick used his skills as a 4th Class Imperial Ranger to evade capture as he made his way south from Icon. He slipped past the battle lines in the Opal Valley and snuck into Slate in early Spring 847, but his flight ended there. Jerrick intended to continue into the Regency heartland and lay low, but with all of his money spent, the former Imperial Ranger needed work. He became a part of the Slate militia, lying about his true origins to gain employment. Jerrick caught the eye of Captain Hatch when Green Company arrived in Summer 847, and was subsequently conscripted. Fearing that his identity would be compromised if he did not play along, Jerrick found himself training with the Regency military. His status as an AWOL Imperial would not be revealed until late Autumn, after the Regency withdrawal from the northlands. Regency officers found Drake Brockenheimer’s Alpha Squad encamped in Havenwood during their search for the Labyrinth, arrested him, and kept him in Elder City for two years. He was subsequently released under orders from Savako Hatch, and the two traveled together as mercenaries and adventurers for many years thereafter. Jerrick was nullified in the Writhing Sea in 30 DA.
Pressured into service by her injured father, Taiyou Mollendorf never should have made the cut to join the Regency military. While she was a wily and strong combatant, her mental instability made her potentially dangerous to an organized unit, and she was dismissed from Regency service after the Price Valley Skirmish in Winter 847. Despite her quirkiness, Captain Hatch ordered a Letter of Draft for Taiyou when he saw her disqualified from the Elder City Battle Tournament. During one of the second round matches, Taiyou’s axe slipped from her hands and flew into the crowd. While the misstep was grounds for immediate disqualification, Taiyou did not back down from the fight. She continued battling her opponent, a maul-wielding dwarf, with her bare hands. After scoring several fierce punches on the dwarf’s nose-- all the while avoiding the maul-- she was ordered to stop. Confused, she reportedly stated that the fight was not over yet. Hatch was impressed, and asked Taiyou to join Green Company. Regency officials, desperate for recruits, overlooked Taiyou’s mental problems and approved her Letter of Draft. Taiyou died in Elder City during the Dark Age.
Odessa Rocflight was a powerful wizard prodigy from Leomund University in Mathar Falls. She had the makings of a great headmistress, were it not for her vivacious personality and, of course, her untimely death as a part of Green Company. Odessa was a Regency Citizen, one of the few that were a part of Hatch’s unit. Citizens of the Pennant Regency could not be ordered to report to military service with a Letter of Draft; as such, Odessa was a volunteer. She was the first member of the esteemed Rocflight family to perform military service. Having something of a promiscuous reputation at University, she reportedly attempted to court several members of Green Company, including Drake Brockenheimer and Cato Steward, finally entering into a relationship with Quinn North. Tragically, Odessa was believed to have been pregnant when she was killed along with the rest of Green Company at the Third Battle of Slate.
Citizen Victor Tulagi joined Green Company to defend his hometown of Slate, but sadly did not survive the Wolfsbane Coterie’s attack in the Second Battle of Slate. The son of two minor state officials, Citizen Tulagi was a top student at the Lassiter School of Archery when he volunteered to join Green Company. He was a part of the squad assigned to protect the northwestern wall, which had been heavily damaged in the First Battle of Slate in the Spring before Green Company’s arrival. When the Wolfsbane Coterie scaled the broken wall, Victor bravely met Thragg the Bruiser’s headlong charge. Unable to deflect the bigger man’s powerful axe, Victor was killed instantly.
Aiden Zan was a convicted felon from the Pennant Lowlands. Trapped between two worlds, Aiden was the son of a highlander barbarian and a miner from Aegis. When modest iron deposits were found on Echelon’s Spine near Aegis, Lucas Zan-- a personal friend of Savako Hatch-- began an independent operation to mine the ore. A loner, Lucas eventually built a shack near the mountain caves. One day, he found an injured barbarian woman at the cave entrance, and nursed her back to health. Lucas and Shara never fully belonged in each other’s world, though, and even with Aiden’s birth, the two could not reconcile their cultural differences. Shara left Lucas to return to her barbarian village, high atop Echelon’s Spine. Aiden spent much of his adolescence visiting the village, while always returning to stay in his father’s mining shack. A troubled youth, Aiden also frequented Aegis, where he had something of a reputation as a ne’er-do-well. Among several petty crimes, there was also an altercation between Aiden and a blacksmith, and Aiden ended up killing the older man. 17-year-old Aiden was sentenced to spend several years in the Aegis jails. When Captain Hatch heard of his friend’s plight, the Regency officer reached out to Aiden. He offered the youth a choice-- either remain in the jails of Aegis for the remainder of his prison term, or join Green Company. Aiden chose the latter. The town magistrate reluctantly released Aiden into Hatch’s military custody. Aiden’s military career was as short-lived as the Company itself. Always on the cusp of being discharged, Aiden provoked several cadets into fights during the Summer 847 training. Quinn North, Victor Tulagi, and even Taiyou Mollendorf were among the many whom Aiden had to be separated from during the course of Green Company’s training. Though he had a great deal of respect for Captain Hatch, Aiden found assimilating into a team atmosphere difficult. It was only under the command of Drake Brockenheimer in Alpha Squad that Aiden managed a glimmer of unity within the group. He participated in the Second Battle of Slate under Drake’s command, and again during an attack on the second of two Silkwind Coterie forts along the Falstadt Trade Road. He was then placed in Alpha Squad permanently, and seemed to finally find his niche in the Company. Unfortunately, Aiden was killed in Havenwood attempting to leave the Labyrinth there.
Shadax Starwind, nephew of infamous Ultima War hero Kieran Starwind, was a transplanted Sirrocan wizard living in Heaven’s Anchor. He was killed during the Yvel River Egress.
Are Lightbringer grew up in the steps of the Red Order Avengers, knowing only life inside the walls of the Cedras Abbey on Echelon’s Spine. He was lured into a trap in Stray and assassinated there.
Maxim of Elder City, a paladin from the Tenth Order of Bahamut, was something of a religious zealot. Believing Bahamut’s teachings to be superior to the other Tetrarchs, Maxim made it his personal goal to enlighten those around him about the Platinum Dragon’s ways: justice, compassion, good deeds over idle talk, and self-sufficiency. Maxim was among the first KIA at the Third Battle of Slate.
Drynwyn of Elder City was a cleric of Bahamut from the Tenth Order, close friends with Maxim and Alex, and a powerful healer. She was with Green Company when they were annihilated at the Third Battle of Slate.
Citizen Cato Steward offered his services to Green Company not out of national pride, but out of a desire to make his mark on the world. The Steward family had a long line of heroes, including Cato’s father, Balan the Valorous. Though a peerless swordsman with a sharp mind (and sharper tongue), Cato had failed to prove himself a worthy heir. By joining Green Company and fighting the Imperials, he hoped to show his venerated father that he would live up to the Steward name. Cato was killed in action sometime during Green Company's final engagement.
The aptly named Geoff Greenheart was drafted by Captain Hatch after taking second place in the Elsir Vale Battle Tournament, falling in the final round to Cato Steward. Geoff’s swordsmanship was unrefined, but he had enough natural talent to propel himself into the final match. Unfortunately for the commoner, Cato was a much better trained fighter. Geoff scored a few marks against Cato, but the match was decidedly in favor of the Citizen. Despite the loss, Geoff’s blade speed impressed Captain Hatch, and Green Company needed all the talent it could muster. The half-dwarf was killed during the Yvel River Egress out of the Regency northlands.