Band of the Red Hand

RP Group Leader: Cass
RP Section: The Alliance
“We’ll drink the wine till the cup is dry,
and kiss the girls so they’ll not cry,
and toss the dice until we fly
to dance with Jak o’ the Shadows.
We’ll dance all night while the moon runs free,
and dandle the lasses upon our knee,
and then you’ll ride along with me,
to dance with Jak o’ the Shadows.”
Hoof beats beat all surround us, the sound of arrows replaced the wind and the clash of arms become the music we listen to as we dance with Jak o’ the Shadows. Our brothers stand under the Red Hand, forged in battle we became brothers and sisters in arms and hearts. For centuries our name has lived in the realm of greatness. Now we stand and fight together against the shadow and the injustice of the world.
Can you feel the horse, the arrow, the sword, your brother calling your name for the ranks. To stand and dance with Jak of the Shadows with the Band of the Red Hand. Come join us here in the Band of the Red Hand RP Group and see how well you can dance.
Carai an Caldazar!
What the Band RP Group is:
The Band is the shortened term for the Band of the Red Hand RP Group of the Dragon Reborn Portal Stone World (DR PSW) at Dragonmount.com. Here is where you can create a character based upon the Band of the Red Hand from the Wheel of Time book series, though our Band has some differences to those of the Book. You have the choice of joining the Archers, Cavalry, Scouts, Infantry, Medics, Siege Engineers, and even the service Corp. Or you could have a civilian who lives in the Citadel; the Fortress we have built for ourselves. Man, woman, even child, all kinds of characters are welcome in the Band.
Start out as a Private and rise to the ranks of Captain, Banner Captain and beyond if you can prove that you are prepared to help the RP Group become the best that it can be.
For more information about creating a character feel free to send an e-mail to the RP Group Leader: botrhdiv[at]dragonmount[dot]com
History
Tarwin's Gap. For longer than mankind cared to remember, that pass from the Blight had been a weak point in the Border nations; Malkier had once stood as its guardian, but that nation had fallen long ago, leaving only dust and ashes to protect the world from the Shadow. For decades, it had stood silent; the deep valley avoided. Forgotten by some, but thankfully not by all.
One year the signal fire, that had remained dormant for nearly a century, suddenly flared to life.
So Tarwin's Gap became once more the stuff of nightmares. Shienar stood against hordes of Trollocs and Myrddraal, the armies of men fighting to throw back a tide of darkness. Such a struggle had not been seen in living history; for days the battle raged, before finally the dark wave was thrown back. Each year, the struggle was repeated. Each year, the struggle grew harder. 3 years after the first Battle at Tarwin's, King Easar knew that the Borderlands could no longer stand alone. He sent messengers to the Kings and Queens of the south, and recruiters to seek out willing Free Men; those with no ties to the armies of the south. His call was answered.
Men and women arrived from all over the world, prepared to lay down their lives to protect others. Some came alone, or in small groups, even whole families travelling together. Others came not quite so unassuming, or so innocently, but the Commanders of the Borderland Guard were not so blind as to turn skilled swords away.
So the ranks of the Lord's Army were increased a thousand-fold, and training began in earnest. Archers, infantry-men and lancers honed their skills, while watchers up in the Gap kept their eyes trained to the north. All too soon the signal fires were lit, one by one, across the Borderlands, and as one the men and women of the Lord's Army turned to face The Blight.
The battle raged for 3 days. The gathered defenders had been confronted with a tidal wave of darkness on the first day; Trollocs in their thousands, bellowing and screaming war cries; Myrddraal, like points of inky darkness, worming snake-like through the gathered masses, their eyeless faces glowing eerily in the dawn's light. The sight of such a foe did not break the Lord's Army, however. With a silent command, the first wave of arrows rose up into the morning air from the archers' lines, and the battle began.
The 2 armies met in a crash that shook the earth; lancers and infantry men hacked through lines of Trollocs, horses soon covered with blood. Engineers stood and fired huge baskets of rocks into the face of the enemy from large catapults, while archers stood with them, raining death. Scouts acted as messengers, carrying orders where chaos reigned, while medics gathered those wounded they could from the edge of the battleground. Dawn to dawn. During the night, huge fires blazed, and the fight continued.
Those who survived would remember the noise more than anything. The moans and screams of the wounded and dying echoed across the field for hours into the third night. Uncounted men and women lay dead or wounded, but at the end the horde of the Shadow had been pushed back; pushed back and broken. The battleground was littered, black with Trollocs and Myrddraal, the stench a cloying scent that carried south on the wind.
Many survivors were from the Borderlands, few were from the south. Of the mercenary groups who had joined the fray, tattered remnants remained. Only one Commander of those groups still lived; a woman who had commanded a small but efficient group of men from all walks of life. Seeing the end of her Band, she met with the current leaders of those who had survived from other mercenary groups; an archer commander, a cavalrist, an infantryman, a scout, a medic and an engineer. No other would know what was said that day, but when the meeting came to a close these lost and scattered men and women were joined once more into a whole, albeit a loose whole. They called themselves the Band of the Red Hand. So it began.
I watched from horse back as the various ‘Divisions’ gathered themselves into some sort of order. It still shocked me, what I had done. I’d never been all that good with words, but somehow I’d managed to convince these people to follow me, Ehlana Toredall, former archer, now in Command of a fully fledged army….or at least, the makings of one.
Getting back to the here and now, I found myself surrounded by the Division Heads; Elanor Kigarin, Archer Commander; Schaduw Eler’Ing, Cavalry Commander; Naven al’Baerlon, Infantry Commander; Alaura Greylock, Head Medic; and Cabroci Ramzael, Commander of the Scouts. For all I’d known them for only a short while, the simple fact that they had survived such a fight spoke of their great courage and ability.
“Well, this is it,” I said, looking round to see Owen, my ‘shadow’, my bodyguard and, not least, my twin brother, moving his horse up closer to mine. “We’ll head south, and see how things go. Don’t know about all of you, but I for one want to get far away from this place.” General nods of approval came from all and I signalled for the newly appointed Banner Bearer to lift his charge. A sudden strong breeze lifted the rough white fabric, revealing the red hand imprinted upon it. We were committed now; the Band of the Red Hand rode the lands again.
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Category:Band of the Red Hand