Essos
Sellswords are more common in Essos than in Westeros, as Westerosi lords are more likely to raise feudal levies. Therefore the sellswords found in the previous part are mostly only known around the Seven Kingdoms (if at all), many companies in the East have a much wider renown.
Great Cities
The Golden Company
The Golden Company is considered the finest and most powerful company of the Free Cities, with some also considering them the most honourable. Despite the notorious unreliability of sellswords, the Golden Company is reputed to have never broken a contract. Their motto is "Our word is good as gold", while their war cry, "Beneath the gold, the bitter steel", pays homage to their founder, Aegor Rivers, a Great Bastard known as "Bittersteel".
Up until the Restoration and the subsequent pardon of the Blackfyres and their supporters, the men of the Golden Company preferred to call themselves a free brotherhood of exiles rather than sellswords since their core was still made up of descendants of men who fought for the Blackfyres. However, over the past century a steady trickle of outlaws or men from the losing side of other wars has joined their ranks. It has also been joined by other sellswords simply seeking better opportunities whose ancestors were never from Westeros, so that soldiers from a dozen different lands can now be found in the Golden Company. This trend has only increased since the fifth and last Blackfyre Rebellion, over 40 years ago and came to its natural conclusion with the homecoming of the Blackfyres. After the main bulk of their members with Westerosi origins were invited back into their homeland and settled, even the high-ranking officers of the Company do not descend from Blackfyre supporters.
Their training nonetheless is still highly effective. Unlike most hosts of household knights and feudal levies, the Golden Company are highly disciplined soldiers able to quickly establish orderly camps. In their prime, the Company consisted of ten thousand men. These include five hundred knights, each with three horses, and a similar number of squires, each having one horse, and at least a thousand bows, with a third using crossbows, another third wielding double-curved horn-and-sinew bows common to Essos and the last third armed with a Westerosi-style big yew longbows with an exception of fifty Summer Islanders who use great bows of famed goldenheart.The company also has two dozen elephants.
The high officers display a rude splendour. Like many in their trade they keep their worldly wealth upon their person, including jewelled swords, inlaid armour, heavy torcs, and fine silks. Many wear a lord's ransom in golden arm rings, with each ring signifying one year's service with the Golden Company. The captain-general's tent, made of cloth-of-gold, is surrounded by a ring of pikes topped with the gilded skulls of previous captains-general.
It would seem however that the Company is experiencing a slow, but steady decline. After their last Westerosi leader died from a rotted liver, the golden tent was occupied by Captain-General Moronno, a very fitting name since he was almost comically unfit for the job. Nonetheless, this absolute joke of a Captain stayed in power for four decades before finally dying in his soiled bed. The current Captain-General, a Volantene man by the name of Zyrio Adoryen, seems to be a continuation of this sad trend.
The Second Sons
In the aftermath of the defeat at the Battle of the Redgrass Field that effectively ended the First Blackfyre Rebellion hundreds of landless lords and knights who had supported Daemon I Blackfyre fled across the narrow sea and joined free companies like the Second Sons, the Ragged Standard, and the Maiden's Men.
Amongst the oldest of the free companies, the Second Sons date back to the Century of Blood. The company was founded by twoscore younger sons of the nobility who lacked prospects. Their banner is a broken sword. The Second Sons do not enjoy the shining reputation of and are not as well equipped as the Golden Company, but they have won some famous victories.
The names of every man to serve with the Second Sons is written in a leather-bound book, as well as when they joined, where they fought, how long they served, and the manner of their deaths. A tradition of the company is to sign in red ink. There was a time when each new man wrote his name in his own blood, but that tradition faded as blood makes poor ink.
The infamous Captain of the Second Sons, Mero, had such a poor reputation that none of the Free Cities hired them for decades and since with the reforming of the Great Cities by the Throne the need for the sellswords diminished as a whole, the Second Sons have to compete for contracts as they never had before.
At the moment they are led by Captain Illonaro Baharis, grandson to the Lords of Mother’s Valley and East Andalos. Not a great commander by any means, he seems to focus his efforts on the company’s perception by the outside world rather than with the company itself, otten leaving them stranded in their camps for years at a time.
The Bright Banners
Four hundred years ago, the Second Sons and the Bright Banners were hired to help the guards of Qohor against the khalasar of Khal Temmo. The Qohorik were defeated and the sellsword companies fled the battlefield, but the battle against Temmo's Dothraki was then won by the Three Thousand of Qohor. If the Second Sons managed to salvage their reputation in the following centuries (only to have it shattered again by their Captain Mero and having to rebuild it all over again), the Bright Banners were and are quite an obscure Company that since their embarrassment at Qohor had not distinguished itself in any particularly notable way, neither good nor bad. Their current leader, Captain Conicho, embodies that very well since he too does not stand out in any aspect of life.
The Windblown
The Windblown are a mercenary company of two thousand mounted horse and foot soldiers. Their standards are fork-tailed blue-and-white banners, with streamers of pale blue silk on their lances. Their command tent is a great grey sailcloth pavilion, their “canvas castle”. It can take the Windblown less than an hour to strike camp.
The Windblown were established around 270 AC. At the age of twenty-three, a nobleman, now known only as the Tattered Prince, had been selected by the magisters of Pentos to become the new Prince of Pentos in 262 AC, only hours after the previous one had been beheaded. The Tattered Prince refused their offer, however, and fled to the Disputed Lands. He never returned to Pentos again, but has continued to long for the city. The Tattered Prince fought in the Disputed Lands as a member of the Second Sons, and later the Iron Shields and the Maiden's Men. Next, together with five brothers-in-arms, the Tattered Prince founded the Windblown. By 300 AC, he was the only one of the founding members still alive.
The Tattered Prince, also known as Rags or Tatters, kept his true name to himself. This later became a tradition for the whole Company and now the men of the Windblown chose their own names, and can change them as they wish. The Prince was a sad-eyed and soft-spoken man with silver-grey hair and in a mail of matching colour. His ragged cloak (which became somewhat of a relic passed from Captain to Captain) is made of different coloured twists of cloths, blue and grey and purple, red and gold and green, magenta and vermilion and cerulean, all faded by the sun. The strips are torn and bloodstained, torn from the surcoats of men a Captain had slain. When the Prince travelled incognito, he wore a brown wool traveller's cloak and often stated that his appearance is so ordinary that all he had to do was remove his "tatters" and become inconspicuous. The Tattered Prince rode a huge grey warhorse. The stallion's spotted hindquarters were covered with the same multi-colored torn rags as his master's cloak. The Tattered Prince sat straight and tall in the high saddle, and his voice was strong enough to carry to every corner of a battlefield. He spoke classic High Valyrian and it is still the closest thing the Windblown have to a company tongue. The Tattered Prince took a dim view of deserters and the Company still deals with them harshly by sending hunters after them. If the deserters are caught, a foot might be chopped off to make sure the deserter in question can never run again. The unlucky ones are given to the company’s torturer.
When in the year 308 AC the Tattered Prince quietly died, the Queen was approached by her Master of Whispers, Varys Blackfyre. He confided in her that the Tattered Prince was in fact his own father. Now that the man was dead and the secret he wanted to keep could no longer harm him, Varys felt it safe to make his true heritage known. And this is how we know that the Tattered Prince was, in fact, the only son of Maelys Blackfyre, better known as Maelys the Monstrous, the last of the Blackfyre Pretenders and the last member of the male line of House Blackfyre. Moreover, Maelys’ wife, Barba Bittersteel, was the only child of Captain-General Aegor Bittersteel of The Golden Company and his wife, Calla Blackfyre, the eldest daughter of Daemon I Blackfyre, the first of the five Blackfyre Pretenders. In short, the Tattered Prince is the great-grandsire of your humble author.
There had been three captains of the Windblown since then, all surprisingly decent men, even if not the best of commanders. Their second one, the benign Captain Denzo D’han, started as their treasurer. His grandfather and his brother both were once chosen as Princes of Pentos (the actual ruling ones, not the ceremonial one that the Tattered Prince once escaped). The next Captain was the learned Captain Donaro, once the Company’s healer.
The current Captain of the Windblown is Gyleno D’han, Denzo’s son. Unfortunately he does not have any particular talents and seems to have been chosen solely due to the respect his father had in his time.
The Ragged Standard
The aforementioned Windblown are not to be confused with The Ragged Standard, an unremarkable Company whose standard has a similar composition to the Windblown’s signature cloak since both are made from mismatched pieces of rags. Their current tenacious Captain is the one-legged Zenio who lost a leg some time ago, but does not let it keep him from leading his man. He is aided in this by his beloved wife and company’s treasurer Ushanora, sister to the current Lord of Vilibosh.
The Iron Shields
The Iron Shields is another otherwise unremarkable company that is mostly known only for the fact that the Tattered Prince was once a member of it. In the recent years they started to gather a peculiar reputation of their own however because of their indolent Captain Lothorio. Not only does he allegedly use magic to do even the most basic of tasks, he also managed to find a moonsinger drunk enough to officiate Lothorio’s marriage with his lover, lady Melala Zalyne, who was (or still is, judging by her preferred choice of attire) a red priestess.
The Maiden's Men
The Maiden's Men were allegedly formed by a Westerosi called Spotted Tom the Butcher who became one of the infamous Band of Nine, the instigators of the War of the Ninepenny Kings. This company has long been known for its unsavoury reputation, but nevertheless did not struggle to find employment due to the undeniable strategic brilliance of most of its previous Captains.
Rather embarrassing to admit, but this streak came to a halt with the bold Ser Wendel of House Doggett who somehow managed to get elected as the Company’s Captain in the year 347 AC, but got thrown out ten years later for murder of one of their own.
The current Captain Syricho, son of one of the previous captains, is a man in his prime who seems to try and improve the Company reputation with a method rather unconventional for a sellsword, namely that of his words. Interestingly enough, his mother Lynelle came from a Westerosi House Tarbeck, making Syricho a grandson to the late Lord Harys of Bramhope.
The Gallant Men
In addition to the unsavoury Maiden’s Men, there are also two groups of sellswords keen to make sure everyone knows they are, indeed, men, although their reputation is so unremarkable that we do not even know if they are unsavoury or not.
The Gallant Men are led by Captain Illadhor Vollymion, son of one of their previous captains. Captain Illadhor seems to actually be quite gallant and despite his rather short temper he is known for his honest and trusting nature.
The Men of Valor
Another manly group of men, the Men of Valor, do not live up to their name at all. Their previous captain Nakodos the Brute came into power after orchestrating the death of his predecessor, captain Yaqeo.
After Nakodos’ own death the company is led by their new Captain Tregillo Aneris who seems to be much more interested in being hosted by their prospective employers rather than actually fighting for them. He also recently took a wife who is almost young enough to be his granddaughter. Fortunately for her Captain Tregillo seems like a kind man and Lady Nilora, daughter of Lord Adarano of Vilibosh near Tyrosh, is actually quite fond of her “hubby grandpa”.
The Long Lances
Another group of sellswords, the eight hundred riders strong Long Lances, is either really unimaginative with their name, or is trying to compensate for something. Their current Captain, Adarys Robiras, is married to the company’s spymistress, Lady Aenela Nogarys, sister to the current Lord of the Death Swamps at the Volantene-Essarian border.
Before Adarys, Lady Aenela was married to the company’s previous Captain Lothorio Rhegan, who’s father Gylo Rhegan was also a captain before him.
The Free Company
If the Long Lances at least might have tried to make some kind of wordplay or a tongue-in-cheek joke with their name, the Free Company is without a doubt a sellsword company with a singular lack of imagination. They are currently led by Captain Vareo Narratysbray, called the Bastard of Myr despite the fact that he is actually the bastard of the late (ceremonial) Prince of Pentos (and by extension a grandson of one of Pentos’ previous Magisters). Before Vareo the group was led by Captain Esyrno who is still quite famous for his absolute inability to give a single thought of concern while simultaneously constantly being on the very brink of a meltdown. He once saw (or imagined) his rival and his posse in an empty alley in Myr. Despite standing at just about 6 '10 tall Esyrno inexplicably decided to flee. In full speed he collided head first with a sign of “The Sultry Stiletto” pillowhouse which took his nose clean off his face. It was said that the man became aware of this fact only after being told about it by the Company’s bewildered healer and just shrugged it off.
The Brave Companions
The Brave Companions are a sellsword company of considerably ill repute. Unlike most soldiers, the vile and violent Brave Companions are considered to be malignantly cruel; their reputation is even worse than that of the Second Sons was under Mero. The company comprises criminals and outcasts from many nations. Their diverse ranks are said to include copper men with bells in their braids, lancers astride black-and-white zorses, bowmen with powdered cheeks, squat hairy men with shaggy shields, brown-skinned men in feathered cloaks, swordsmen with fantastic forked beards dyed green and purple and silver, spearmen with coloured scars that cover their cheeks, Myrish crossbowmen, pale Lyseni and dark Dornishmen. This pile of scum gained its notoriety under Vargo Hoat of Qohor who started the group's now signature practice of cutting off the hands and feet of prisoners. For that the Companions are also sometimes called the Footmen or the Toes of the Goat (for their standard which depicts a black goat with bloody horns, symbolising the Black Goat of Qohor).
Currently they are led by Vargo’s son, Captain Casporio. His men are convinced that the man had been bewitched, but he might simply genuinely love his wife. It is unclear however how does his wife feel about him after he had sacrificed their only son to the Goat of Qohor. Since Casporio was born when Vargo was already quite old, two other men led the company after the Old Goat had died. Captain Aryrio Ostar was infamous for his pastime of mutilating any and all priests he could find, regardless of their choice of gods. Captain Rapho that came after him (and who actually raised Vargo’s son Casporio) was a surprisingly gentle man who tried to steer his fellow Companions onto another path and even somewhat succeeded since there were much less reports of atrocities committed by the group in the recent years.
The Jolly Fellows
While the Brave Companions, who are often also called the Bloody Mummers for their brutality and outlandish appearance, find this name insulting, the (possibly pirate) sellsword company of Jolly Fellows seem to wholly embrace their aesthetic. They were formed in 258 AC, right before the War of the Ninepenny Kings, by Mero Nine Eyes (also known as Rogo the Red Jester), member of the Band of Nine. Currently they are led by Captain Lyrazo the Silent, a man of a few words and even fewer accomplishments.
The Stormcrows
The Stormcrows, a sellsword company a company of freed men numbering five hundred horses, already was briefly mentioned in this humble chronicle due to their former Captain Daario Naharys, a flamboyant Tyroshi who was inexplicably chosen and invited by the Queen to serve the Crown as the first Lord Paramount of the newly liberated Tyrosh. Since then the Stormcrows were largely irrelevant. At the moment they are led by Captain Aro, a peculiar man of unclear ethnicity who allegedly was an urchin in Volantis before joining the band. Despite his alleged upbringing in Volantis he speaks in a fashion of Lorathi people while worshipping the Harpy of Ghis.
The Stormbreakers
Not to be confused with the Stormcrows, the Stormbreakers were founded by Ser Oscar Tully in the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons and the collapse of the Triarchy. At the time, the free company consisted of men from throughout the Seven Kingdoms. The company may have been named after the victory of the rivermen against the stormlanders in the battle of the Kingsroad, during which Kermit Tully, Lord of Riverrun and Oscar's brother, killed Borros Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End. The victory was all the more important for Oscar as he was knighted on the battlefield. Ironically, in more recent years this company was led by stormlanders of mediocre military talent and practically nonexistent note.
Currently however the Stormbreakers seem to be on the rise due to their absolutely brilliant young Captain Urrigon, a bastard of House Stormhaven through his father, Ser Endrew of Storm’s Call, making him a direct descendant of the Usurper whom he strongly resembles in appearance (but fortunately not in character).
Captain Urrigon won his captaincy from the company’s previous captain, Ser Glendon the Tormentor, when the latter’s tyranny and cruelty became too much to bear even for his own fellow sellswords. An honourable and gracious young man, Captain Urrigon then let his rival stay with the company, although that was most probably done as a courtesy to Glendon’s family and not to the man himself.
The Wolf Pack
Another company formed along with the Stormbreakers in the Wolf Pack that was founded by Hallis Hornwood and Timotty Snow. At the time, the free company consisted only of northmen which are often dubbed "wolves" on account of the sigil of the rulers of the North, House Stark. Currently they are also led by a northman, Captain Harlon Warrick, for his unpredictability and uncontrollable temper known as the Rash. Harlon’s father Duncan actually served as the Captain of another company, the Harborigens that operate in the North in Westeros. When Duncan inexplicably died, the Warrick family left Westeros altogether and ended up in service of the Wolf Pack that in time decided to elect Harlon as their leader for some reason. However, now all were happy with that development. Surprisingly, Harlon’s own wife, Lady Belissa of House Musgood of Drakesgrave, and their only Royce were among the discontented. They left the Wolf Pack and returned to the North where Royce was eventually granted command of Gatehouse Tower of Moat Cailin. Interestingly enough, Harlon’s eldest daughter Lysa stayed with her father and seems to be poised to lead the company after her father’s inevitable end.
The Company of the Rose
The Company of the Rose is another sellsword company operating in Essos that hails from the North. It was founded by men, and according to some accounts also women, of the North who rejected Torrhen Stark's submission to Aegon the Conqueror and thus chose exile over bending the knee. They are currently led by Captain Karlon who is actively aided by his much more talented wife, Lady Ryella of House Blackwood, once known as the Young Raven, daughter of late Lord Brynden and sister of the current Lord Larys, the King of the Woods.
The Company of the Cat
The last, but not least of the sellsword companies operating in the Western part of Essos is another three thousand strong clowder of apparent animal-lovers known as the Company of the Cat, or simply the Cats. After the death of their infamously savage Captain Bloodbeard, the group was led by three rather peculiar men. Bloodbeard’s successor, Captain Essalos, shunned any and all physical contact. After him came the monstrous Captain Jalaquo, a renowned healer that found his delight in conducting his allegedly medical experiments on living people, both slaves, captives and his own underlings alike. When one of those underlings turned to be burlier than his captain and managed to not only defend himself, but also break Jalaquo’s hand so bad it had to be cut off by the company’s healer, Jalaquo was devastated and finally died at the age of seven-and-fifty. He was succeed by the aforementioned healer, a eunuch by the name of Daario.
Captain Daario was succeeded by the company’s current Captain, Sallo the Trickster, late Captain Bloodbeard’s only child who seems to take a lot after his infamous sire.