Army of the Night

The **Army of the Night** are the footsoldiers and mercenaries bound by a death oath to the current Black Baron. They were used primarily by the Forlorn during the War of the Eternal Night.

## History

Once sailors, merchants and other variations of First Men, the Army of the Night became a major ally to the dark forces of Mithiël. In his unrelenting search for Eofen, the first Baron sought strength to head-on battle the rapidly marching Union. So he also did; by deceit, lies, and one of the greatest curses ever spoken, the Army of the Night was created.

### Dead Men Tell Tales

Twenty years after the treaty between the First Men and the Augûrs, Mithiël dwelled deep into hitherto unknown magic in order to find a way to end his life. Meanwhile, as the dust was still settling after the war, the atrocities committed by several of the First Men was now to be dealt with. The Houses of Men was yet to be established and when judgment was to be upon the guilty, several found no jury to answer to. Once again was there turbulence amongst the people who all found different loyalties amongst them.

Maintaining the memory of a prophesy, (insert name) was the first to propose to the divided loyalties, later known as houses, that it was not up to them to be judge, jury and executioner, but to Dor. Remembered through the White Peaks, it was agreed that the 'reasonably guilty' would march to Biornyrn in shackles to initiate their sentence in front of their king. As the guilty and their escorts finally settled in the mountain tops, their doom seemed to had come early. As the ground shook and the sky fell, the dawn of night had begun - unbeknownst to them. The forest was bombarded with strange flashes of light, reducing the great mountain to pebbles. The sky above them continued to darken as even the toughest amongst them begged for mercy to Dor. Death either came by the falling mountain, the burning forest, or even other prisoners in their hysteria. Moments later, the forest had been completely submerged in water with no known survivors.

#### Confession by death

Mithiël eventually arrived at the drowned forest where endless bodies floated in the water. To put into words, (insert name) found the resting place of his brethren a few months before Mithiël and cited it as being '*A place where even death had come to drown'.* Mithiël is said to have bargained with death using the Akallnath in order to retrieve the slaughtered soldiers' souls. To do this, Mithiël sacrificed his left eye. Using the Akallnath still took a hefty toll on Mithiël and would, if cast by any other at the time, most likely have killed them.

...

#### The Baron Black

Mithiël, now known Baron Shas (Augyric; *Baron Black*) frowned upon his army and their weakness. He therefore never came to care for them and never saw them as reliable or powerful. This was also due to Mithiël's lack of desire to depend upon others. Frequently this lead to Mithiël killing his own followers in the face of anything that came to give him distaste. As their minds were lost but never truly gone, the mind of the soldiers was always present. As such, several soldiers became mindless rebels against their own leader. Mithiël often found this humoristic and allowed them a battle for their freedom. The battle however, was usually fought against Aradrhas himself. This came to be known as the Game of Pity. Furthermore, they came to see the defeat of the Union as the true requirement for victory and never fully pursued the search for Eofen.

### War of the Eternal Night

#### Secrets to the Union

At the height of the war, several Army of the Night soldiers became scattered after hectic battles with the forces of the Union. The Union took advantage of this during victorious skirmishes and brutally captured them. In an attempt to confide in the Union and as an act of retaliation against Mithiël, several soldiers confessed, mindlessly, to

## Ideology

### Prophesy

As part of a First Men prophesy the unfaithful, ungrateful and lying men would confess of their sins to the late Dor. Once they had confessed, they would then meet their equals. It was unsure to the First Men truly what the prophesy spoke of.

## Characteristics and appearance

The soldiers of the Army has through Mithiël's dark magic avoided the process of aging, similar to that of the Descendants. Standing against the Flow has previously showed great repercussions and could be the reason behind the Army's dark, famine and putrid appearance.