Let me preface this by mentioning this is a work in progress and more is sure to come. Also, the name of the Sellsword Company is not accurate as the site and the game does not allow for certain curse words. Lets just say theres children of marriageless conception between Penniless and Sellsword. This is all backstory and fluff for a RP Guild I was intending on creating on PS4 once Text Chat came out. But with my time being limited currently, what I have worked on so far has been sitting in my files on my computer collecting digital dust. So I decided Id share it herefor anyone looking to read other players material. Some of this is still being edited and re-written so bear with me.



Founding Captain Paramount - Edmunt Davins
Founding Captains - Vicious Vik Yeagr, Trant Gumm, Janis Leight, Clitus Harnd

The Penniless *** was created when a local lord found himself losing control of his lands to bandits and raiders. The lord sought help in a tavern of all places when he became desperate to find anyone that would fight for him. Five brave but very drunk patrons offered their services. When pressed if they had experience. Trant, being the loud mouth of the group, told the lord they were captains of a sellsword company. But before Edmunt could salvage the situation the lord asked for the name of the company, so that contracts could be drawn up, and the barkeep quipped that they were the Penniless *** being that they were at the time broke and couldnt even pay their tab. Seeing that there was no way of getting out of the corner Trant had backed them into and saving their chance at work. Edmunt went along with the tall tale and declared himself Captain Paramount.

Though the five companions had lied about being sellswords they were still experienced fighters having spent time in the service to lords, kings, emperors or themselves. Edmunt was once an officer in the legions, Vik an ex cutthroat turned bounty hunter, Trant was a dismissed Knight from Stormhaven, Janis had been an Archer for the legions, and Clitus was a former Kingsguard. And while they hadnt worked in their professions in quite a while before this contract. They were always quick to jump on an opportunity that could pay. And they figured this one would pay quite a lot.

What they hadnt thought about when taking on this task was the large number of raiders they were facing. They numbered in the hundreds and had began swallowing up large chunks of the lords lands as his guards and soldiers began to either abandon their duties or became corrupt due to the influence of the bandits. Taking down the raiders would take guerilla tactics to overcome. And initially the group avoided contact with the raiders fearing theyd make easy targets.

The bandits on the other hand werent as much of an issue as had originally been thought. They turned out to have been employed by the raiders leader going by the name of Warlord Ang. The bandits had been tasked with robbing the local towns in the area in hopes of stealing the local guards monthly pay. Theyd been doing this for quite a while and it eventually had its desired effect. Many guards either left their posts or began taking bribes under the table by the bandits with the very money that was meant for them. The end result was the complete breakdown of any law and order in these areas. The bandits turned out to be only a few dozen and were quickly dealt with when their leadership found themselves hunted down one by one. The remaining bandits began to splinter and fight amongst themselves and eventually either killed each other off or left the area. The few that remained behind were quickly dispatched or sought safety within the ranks of Angs growing army.

In the meantime, Ang began moving his raiders in and either outright killing the guards or offering them a place in his growing army of raiders. It was becoming more apparent by the day that Ang was more ambitious than the run of the mill warlord. He wanted more then to just raze and pillage his way across the lands. He wanted to carve out his own little kingdom. He took women and children hostage, selling some of the women into slavery and others were tossed to his men. Using the children as leverage the men were either lured to their deaths or forced into slavery under Ang.

After word spread amongst some of the locals that the bandits had been dealt with by the Penniless ***. Edmunt and the others suddenly found themselves with new recruits looking for an opportunity to gain some payback against Ang and his cohorts. They still werent enough to take on Ang and his men on the field but they were more than enough to start hit and run tactics on the raiders. Before long Ang found himself losing more men than he could replace. This went on for a few months before the lord demanded that the Penniless *** wrap up the raider issue or lose the contract. Faced with potentially losing a very big payday Edmunt conducted a raid on Angs camp. Slipping into the camp under the cover of darkness they began setting foodstuffs and tents on fire, letting horses loose and slitting the throats of any leader they could identify. While this distraction was taking place Edmunt slipped into Angs tent and killed him with the help of a young woman playing the part of Angs nightly company. Taking Angs head as a trophy Edmunt presented it to the lord as a gift and evidence of the deed. The raiders still persisted for a few more months but the remaining guards and Penniless *** were able to make short work of them whenever they made their presence known. The Penniless *** ranks swelled around this time and they stayed on with the lord acting as guards until the lord could replace those he had lost to the raiders.

Eventually the Penniless ***, and those who remained on with them would go on to find contracts in other areas of Tamriel facing war and conflict. The *** became a well known fighting force in just a few years as word of their successes spread. But their success would garner the envy of other mercenary companies. And not before long the *** would find themselves caught up in a conflict with numerous other companies all vying for dominance. No lord or king was behind this, instead this was something set in motion by the mercenary companies themselves. It began with a few murders of rival companies men in taverns and trade caravans. It escalated into raids on rival company camps and then full blown battles that would see numerous companies completely destroyed. Though the *** took heavy losses during this time. They were able to come out of this in one piece. But the raids on their camps were still a threat and occured from time to time. In the year 2E 430 a young captain by the name of Geoff Kanters set out to find a safe place for the Company to lay claim. Up until this point the Company moved around setting up camps where ever they saw fit. But the raids began to take a toll on the Companies ability to retain sellswords. Kanters figured the Company needed a fort or fortified camp to better protect it from threats.

Kanters would eventually come upon a province where it wasnt illegal for mercenary companies to set up shop. After scouting the area he located what he felt was the perfect location for a permanent camp for the company. It was a large almost completely circular hill not far from the ocean. But the hill and the land between it and the ocean belonged to a local merchant who refused to sell.

Knowing he would never be able to talk this merchant into selling when it was obvious Kanters was very interested. He began buying information on the merchant looking for a way to blackmail and extort the land from him. Kanters soon learned of the merchants habit of gambling and set out to get himself included in some of the games this merchant participated in.

After getting the merchant extremely drunk he was able to convince the merchant to wager the deed to the lands. When the merchant wasnt paying attention Kanter was able to cheat by using rigged dice. Winning the lands from the merchant. Unfortunately the merchant still had the deeds to the land and when he sobered up he refused to surrender them to Kanter. Forcing Kanter to bribe a local official to notarize forged papers that reflected the exchange of ownership. The merchant, realizing he was being swindled pushed the issue and it was brought before the local lord. Kanter, wasnt sure how the lord might take being offered a bribe and being that he was out of money by this time could only hold his breath and hope the forgery would hold up. For unknown reasons, the lord sided with Kanter and dismissed the merchant. The hill and lands now belonged to the Penniless ***.

Within a months time, the entire company had arrived at the hill and set to work building up its defenses. The hill would be broken into three tiers. With the captains and the command houses on its peak. The hill would have three wooden walls at different intervals up the hill. And each tiers gates being offset from the one below and above it so to slow possible raiders down. Numerous stables would be built at all three tiers and each tier would provide room for not just the sellswords but blacksmiths, woodworkers, clothiers, armorers, enchanters and alchemists. Warehouses were built to house supplies and food. Cooks and Provisioners were hired on as permanent members of the company to help manage the camps needs. There would be room for caravans and traders on the lowest tier in hopes of making the hill self-sufficient. Numerous taverns and inns would eventually sprout up on the lower tiers. The company would hire Imperial roadbuilders to lay cobbled road on and around the hill coming and going from the local town, Goose Step, and to a small port that was being built just for the hill at the nearby beaches. Kanter and the other Captains hoped to hire their own ships to move their men and supplies around Tamriel. The Captains would eventually add guard towers to the walls on all three tiers and would replace the tents with billets that would be rented out to the sellswords who chose to stay there. Farms, training yards and grazing fields for horses would be built just outside the hills walls.

Over time the hill would come to be known as Kanters Hill in honor of Kanter and his efforts to give the Penniless *** a home. The hill is considered to be one of the major factors in the Penniless *** success and longevity. And it has been in the possession of the company for a little over 150 years as of 2E 583.

Many sellsword companies rise and fall with the conflicts they participate in. Usually disbanding after the war if they werent wiped out in the fighting. Some last a few decades before greed and infighting splits them up. Few companies last longer then this and even fewer as long as the Penniless *** have. One of the driving reasons behind the Penniless *** longevity is that no one in the company owns the company. The by-laws of the company prevents anyone from commandeering it. Not even the Captain Paramounts have the power to overrule the company by-laws. Its captains are voted in by the participating members of the company when a new position opens up and the Captain Paramount by his peers. The by-laws strongly protect its members and ensure a fair share of the contracts payments. Many who sign on stay with the
company well beyond their contracts because of this.