Blue Comet Mercenary Guild
One of the mercenary circles who can trace their origins back to the Greater Comet School.
Circle (n) 1) Any round line related to Pi. 2) A mystical symbol. 3) Archaic: Any group of magic users, like a gaggle of geese. 4) Common use:, any group of magicians bound by friendship or other common bond. 5) Traditional: A circle is the magical equivalent of a mercenary's company.
The Greater Comet school was a magical academy of some repute for several centuries ago, specializing in magic and warfare. After violating Guild Law and involving itself directly in The Way of Throne, it was (violently) disbanded by a guild force. The traditions of that school live on in the various Comet groups. (See linked submission).
For reasons of Comet tradition, a mage mercenary company is called a Guild, while its units are called Circles.
The Blue Comet Guild is a based out of what was once one of the lesser Comet Schools in Western Bylarian. The Guild has continued to operate the keep and bailey there. Here the Principals train each other and the Minors in theintricaciess of magical combat. The Guild boasts fifteen Principals and seventy Minors. Many of the Minors are not yet graduated to Journeyman status. These magicers form five Circles. Each Circle is comprised of three Principals, seven Minors in support, 15 Grogs (fighter bodyguards to defend the magicers), and a few support bodies (personal cooks, servants, and supply misers associated with Principals).
Each circle is consigned out to various forces (though the guild will make sure that circles are never facing each other in combat). Each circle performs the traditional role of magic in warfare: scry upon the enemy (to find them or spy on them), keep the enemy from scrying upon their forces, and communicating with the various parts of the force. Using their intellects and education, they will also act as advisors to many military leaders.
Unlike many circles, The Blues will take on a new role when the battle is joined. They shift to preventing the other force from utilizing their magics (having an impressive catalog of counter magics). If there is no magic to be stopped, they can then be utilized as magical diversions (fog, creating illusionary signal horns and flagmen) and magical attack (lighting, fire cones, etc).
Even though the Guild has been successful, they seem to always be impoverished. They are the 'poor cousins' of more famous Comet Guilds like the Azures, Scarlets, and Bloods.
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? Responses (4)
I had to capture this from the chat text while we were discussing this.
Ancient_Gamer: Mmmm... Mages fighting mages to annull their magic and gain the upper hand
Ancient_Gamer: MCM and MCCM (Magic counter measures and magic counter counter measures)
This is so true. Mages are mostly there to keep other magic users from using magic to their advantage. By cancelling each other out, both sides magicians get paid and actually do very little. As long as both sides have mages, warefare proceeds as it did in similar times in our history.
Anyone out there? Is the mercenary trend over?
I'm a fan of mercs myself. I espeically like that this is a purely magic-user organization, and not only that, they focus on the defensive rather than the offensive. A good, solid use of magic and mercenary ideas.
This is a great idea - though of course it only works on worlds where mages are common enough to be used in this manner.
That said, there are a lot of those about.
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