The Maelstroms, Counter Insurgent Operation Team

WORK IN PROGRESS GOD DAMMIT

The Maelstroms were a group of counter-insurgents formed by Garin in 1045 after his recovery, headed by Garin, they were organized into usually teams of two, called Headhunters. Most of the time, these duos were allowed to do whatever, so long as it was countering pirates. They had a supporting system of sailors and volunteers that the Royal Navy did not officially sanction, something like unrecognized mercenaries. The members, Headhunters, would be given one ship, one home base, one crew, and one support team back at home base, as well as a singular handler.

Overall, the entire system was rather de-centralized outside of certain periods where surviving members could be called in for certain engagements, many of those who served in this operation perished during the Pirate War. Everyone was well aware that this was some of the most dangerous and brutal conditions they’d be made to operate in, and was solely a volunteer force from top to bottom. Most of this was funded from the Dul-Sansiskan coffers to continue the official stance that the monarchy was not stepping into a conflict between two separatists outside their control.

Garin was not lost on the fact that he named this counter-pirate organization after his former pirate crew, whom he had lost to time, it was a symbol of his growth from an upstart little gobshite, to being a proper protector of progress and an enemy of imperialism.

The Maelstroms had twenty-five members, five officers, and ten Headhunter teams:

Garin Dul-Sansiska- Founder and Captain, Codenamed Azazel, reference Garin Dul-Sansiska page

Zazi Rainer- Second in Command and Commander, Codenamed Asani

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/0c/95/bf/0c95bf2bcf16d4ae6ab9ad13a24716dc.jpg Zazi

Malcolm Bayside, Operative Instructor and Commandant, Codenamed Balor, outside of Zara Moon and Cynthia Silvers, Balor taught each and every Headhunter duo personally and drilled into them the importance of their role as soldiers fairly quickly. While a hardass, he was there to break them before the enemy could and ensure that only the best made it past him to be known as Headhunters. Personally, he was a very sweet man who loved openly and lost his family in the Caybourne Uprising and did not want to see such a tragedy unfold once more.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f0/00/8b/f0008b422314bd67e7b8ff63f2b32ded.jpg Malcolm

Morshu Greysands- Chief Information Officer and Lieutenant, Codenamed Iniko, took care of dissemination of information to individual Headhunter teams via a supply of Tempest Hawks and handlers who would contact the headhunters carrying out related tasks.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/08/fd/cb/08fdcbdd43865119ee88bf26a1746875.jpg Morshu

Kirika Ko-Kalsun- Quartermaster and Ensign, Codenamed Delilah, granddaughter of Kavi Ko-Kalsun, she’s a tough woman who had a deep infatuation for Garin Dul-Sansiska.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e3/ad/02/e3ad02acf840a1e8d415c1c6a0654dd6.jpg Kirika

Team Fervus Argenti/Black Silver- Zara Moon and Cynthia Silvers, Codenamed Ghost and Gale (PLACEHOLDERS, Need input) respectively. They spent most of the Pirate War hunting down Cynthia’s former crew, as well as pirates who participated in the attack on Ardent Quay. Their crowning moment in the war was the takedown of Jacques Rosemont, carried out in vengeance for the death of Darius Black. They would be among the few survivors of the Maelstroms, and would go on to found the Barbed Quills.

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Team Fragosus Telum/Roaring Missile- Wood Elf and Dwarf, Keissa One-Leg and Lorham Half-Eyes, codenamed Softwalker and Lightseer, Keissa was a master archer and former Silkstrider missing one leg below the knee from a spider fight, and Lorham was half blind but sturdy. Their major target was Mordeux West, and they would actually find in in 1048AE, but upon attempting at killing him and breaking one of his ships, their ship was rammed and they were taken prisoner. Lorham was forced to watch Silver Tooth rape Keissa and beat her with her own prosthetic leg while she resisted, and then have his eyes gouged and eaten by an orcish cook.

Lorham was killed by having his head broken by a warhammer several times over, his body hung up on the side of the ship as a warning to other would-be bounty hunters. Keissa would be kept as a gimped pleasure slave for a few months, but she eventually managed to cut her own foot off to escape her shackle and toss herself overboard, relishing the moment when a hungry sea beast took a chunk out of her lower body, knowing that she was free from hell as she bled out.

Lorham: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/08/94/72/0894724839430840fe592447a40c4ae4.jpg

Keissa: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e2/50/79/e25079c2e474bd17b1b8e9805ed63534.jpg

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Team Ferus Talio/Barbaric Retribution- Verk Bok-Son and Big Paw, Codenamed Ramrod and Breaker, both couldn’t speak much of any common but they understood each other through shows of strength and brotherly pranking. After hearing of the misfortune fates of their fellow Headhunters, they resolved to hunt Mordeux themselves, abandoning their quest to kill Captain Yolan Verdant. When they eventually caught him in 1049, they butchered, cooked, and ate his crew in front of him for five days while he starved and watched his friends and battle brothers be mercilessly broken and tortured as their bodies were chopped up.

When it came time for him, they first plucked his eyes, and then sodomized him with a broken weapon handle, before carefully butchering his body and eating it. Silver Tooth died shortly into it due to weakness and disease, the two men would then burn his ship and continue to be monstrous fighters throughout the rest of the Pirate War.

Verk: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6a/d6/f2/6ad6f2832ab3cbe5aeb696d5d17fedb2.jpg

Big Paw: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6e/25/08/6e250864f7fcbc8fe3de8eb08dffff4b.jpg

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Team Ambrosius Splendor/Immortal Radiance- Abban Thatcher and Niki the Mourner, codenamed Denzill and Masa, two older half-elves who had survived the Second Demon War together and bonded in kinship as they protected Everglow. Their major missions were the killings of a notable level of former demon worshippers and criminals of a sexual nature hiding among pirate ranks and criminal groups to avoid the dogged pursuit by policing efforts. They would meet their shared end when they blew up Captain Kilika Evershadow’s flagship with themselves on board.

Unable to escape and ensure that Kilika would die, they kept her embattled between them while the fuses burned on the gunpowder stores. Abban would be cut down by Eversorrows, but before she could finish Niko and escape, the entire ship blew apart and killed everyone aboard. This battle, known as The Rainbow Escapade, would take place on 3rd of Lover’s Moon 1050AE.

Abban: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fc/ee/a5/fceea53f9cca41737470dc6595700679.jpg

Niki: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/86/4d/13/864d134e4f1d803ebb0c98dae6c7dc36.jpg

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Team Avaritia Regum/Greed Kings- Shakir and Jarrick, Codenamed Owl and Raptor, were some of the most balls to the walls, craziest sonsabitches that you could have had troving the Sorrows, they didn’t settle for just one target, they were monsters destroying supply depots, attacking escort ships, and picking off whoever got into their crosshairs at any one time. They were not in this for some noble intention either, they were plundering and stashing, selling and conniving. Profiteering out of the war’s expansion and generally being greedy opportunists. However, they also killed many pirates and greatly slowed the churning destruction of Requiem’s initial gains, so it was understood that they would just be allowed to get their slice.

Jarrick: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9f/cb/02/9fcb02cdb4a059d420de9a0f32cb7bee.jpg

Shakir: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a4/4b/0d/a44b0d0117b14fe2780c17e20c15f4cf.jpg

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Team Seniorem Somnium/Elder Dreams, Two old fucks, Traitors

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Team Ferox Sicarious/Wild Killers,

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Team Regum Proditio/Kings of Betrayal, Codenamed Rug and Backstabber

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Team Falsum Fabula/False Fable, Cedric and Azalea, Codenamed Scarecrow and Red Riding Hood, Scarecrow would use a rifled musket and a belt of pistols, while Azalea would stuff her pistols and a blunderbuss with noxious chemical reagents, and fire them at the enemy. They were deadly marksmen and were mostly engaged in the hunt for The Admiral, though they never caught him before his capture. The two hail from Shadowwood, both are half high elf and half wood elf, though only one is freakishly tall at a lanky six foot six, while the other is much more around the standard of a wood elf at five foot five. They were good friends with Cynthia Silvers and Zara Moon, interacting with the duo frequently as their hunting paths crossed in pursuit of their goals.

The duo are known by trademarks, Scarecrow wears beat up older clothing, has long flowing red hair, and utilizes a raven familiar gifted to him by a thankful witch he had aided far in his youth from persecution. This raven lends its sight to Scarecrow to give him a bird's eye view of a situation, and any time it is slain, it comes back to him the next day. It can also pluck the eyes form opponents, cause a distraction, or nab enemy ammo or trinkets for its master. Cedric took to calling the raven Rook, after his former liege-lord's noble house.

Azalea is a powerful alchemist who specializes in gaseous compounds, she used the Pirate War as a testing ground for her myriad of ideas and combinations, her favorite types are those that suffocate her enemies in real time, watching them drown as fluid fills their lungs. But she has also used extremely acidic mixtures that could burn through a person's body in moments and also reactive compounds, like dispersing flammable gases and then sending another round of an incendiary compound to light the entire space a flame in an instant. She also had a stock of alchemical grenades using these same principles. She's exceedingly dangerous and a bit psychotic, as those of the wart found out first hand, she also seems to be protected form her own weaponry by some strange nuance, though nobody has yet to figure out why nothing of her own chemical warfare can ever reach her.

They would go on to survive the entirety of the Pirate War with no noticeable injuries somehow, possibly due to the weird nature of their gifted capabilities, or sheer dumb luck. They would go on to be married soon after, and have enjoyed the life of travelling adventurers and bounty hunters ever since, upgrading equipment to a standard of Scarecrow now using a well seasoned bolt-action rifle, and two break action pistols, wearing belts of ammo for each on his waist. Known as a gunslinger and a sniper, he is a deadly foe to cross, or to never see save for his trademark raven flying overhead. As for Red Riding Hood, she upgraded her guns to a set of flare guns she could pack her prepared rounds of chemical ammunition into, and a break action, single barrel shotgun she can pack with an even higher amount of alchemical death. She is much more in your face and deliberately in the fight, but getting too near her means that you're soon going to lack the ability to breath and start bleeding out of every orifice as you drown from the inside out.

Both use types of grenades, throwing knives, and other pieces of kit while working as well, having learned that over specialization can lead to them getting killed outright.

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https://i.pinimg.com/564x/64/3d/b1/643db13f084ce8a4d4bc81da2ce79cd4.jpg

Team Something Traitors

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