Vulcus
Villager
The Company's Founding
On the world’s far side, separate entirely from Altera and confined to its own devices, exists the rigged nation of Lunde, a people capable of ruling many nations but incapable of ruling themselves. Largely the only power in its region, its only rivals in a very isolated land stood few and far between one another, and any rivals to Lunde's hegemony were vanquished or vassalized very early in its history. Its existence is likely as of yet unacknowledged by the lords of Altera, its almost alien traditions bereft and unthinkable by Alteran standards. Traitors crucified, soldiers opening their own stomachs with the death of their oath lords; slave trade driving the Empire slower and slower into a chemical form of hedonism and decadence after a millennium of its existence. The Lundics believed they had united the entire world as they knew it in the name of the One True Sun, their monotheistic solar god whom they revere with an unbreakable will.
Centuries upon centuries came and went with endless squalor, Lunde reaching all the shores and corners of its side of the world that it possibly could, yet still had no official contact with Altera, save a sparse few daring traders; knowledge of Altera itself was understood tacitly by Lunde, and at one point it seemed plans for a full-scale invasion were underway. These were cut short - the murder of the senatorial praetor to the disgruntled popular mob realized the severe lack of employment opportunities for legitimate citizens, as slaves from abroad occupied the majority of former artisanry or basic labor positions, numbering well into the tens of millions, and poverty began to become a common occurrence.
The Church of Magnus (the official embodiment of solar worship) attempted to remedy the dissent by calling on all true, loyal Lundic citizens to accept the poverty as a disciplinary test beset upon them by the One True Sun Himself, but not even religion can defy human nature. The Imperial senate even went so far as to pass a motion declaring an active one-third of all current slaves to be freed to combat the unemployment, an act which proved to be grossly expensive. Yet a revolution was truly inevitable; it needed only a catalyst. A veteran legate responsible for the destruction and enslavement of the final opposing realm. A gilded hero, a memory before occurrence.
The Golden Legate united the oppressed mob of the Empire, former slave and shackled slave alike fighting and dying side by side with impoverished freemen. The nobility were swiftly struck down from their decadence, or those who opposed the Legate politically, as many legions were bribed or their commanders betraying the Senate for personal reasons. Amongst those prosecuted were the house of the Comnenii or Komnenoi in late Lundic, and in the ensuing storm of blood the entire senior Sextian line of the clan was destroyed, causing the eldest member of the junior line, Tiberias, to ascend as the family's patriarch. The commonfolk loathed and envied them so for their vast, untapped wealth, as the Komnenoi indeed were amongst the greater houses of the inner city.
This wealth proved the family's final weapon. Rallying the remnants of their house guard and their fleet of mercantile vessels, the family exiled itself even after the halt of the initial bloodshed whilst the city was led by an autocratic proletariat of sorts by the Golden Legate. Their only knowledge of Altera's existence drew clause from rather inaccurate seaward navigation maps which centered primarily on Altera's chief harbor at Port Silver. The relatively calm voyage between many dozens of ships lasted perhaps a year or some, with a necessity to forage food from outlying islands in the last month. Reports by officers noted that approximately a thousand people died on the voyage due to various high seas-complications.
Considered during the length of their voyage, the brothers Tiberias and Ioustinianos discussed and fermented at large the establishment of a mercenary company involving the tactics of the Lundic military, and the thousands of Komnenoi household guardsmen would be amongst its first members and officers. This was deemed the only worthy destiny of the Komnenoi family if they were to live as scions in a foreign land. Suicide was also considered as they all bore an oath to the former patriarch of the family, Demetrios, but granted the circumstances it was deemed unnecessary or harmful to the Lundic folk.
That said, they would place their beloved bastard brother and former legionary Belisar in command of the mercenaries proper whilst they acted as the overall administrators. This company would be called the Latinikon, or otherwise the descendants of Lunde. The renegade fleet anchored a hundred miles southwest of Port Silver, and the renegades opted to abandon their ships (which were equipped for trade rather than combat) and proceed on land northward, where a base fortress has since been established in the mountains.
It was discovered later that the Lundic tongue was surprisingly intelligible with the common human language, though a wide degree of words and phrases are still being exchanged.
The Company's Tactics and Essence
The Latinikon are first and foremost a company of heavy infantry, who utilize very much scarcely-before-seen shock tactics with broadswords and square heater shields. Infantry are further organized into a series of cohorts. Some of the few household guards specializing in ranged combat would become the officers of the peltasts, light infantry armed with javelin and crossbow; likewise knights sworn to the Komnenoi would become the first outriders and lancers of the Latinikon, and would instruct any foreigners recruited as replacements in Lundic ways. Soldiers are drilled daily and disciplined via flogging for the majority of their mishaps, and prayers to their foreign Sun god an absolute requirement. So far, the Arcturian Empire has accepted their faith as it shares common values with that native to Altera.
This ruthlessly effective band of violent foreigners, estimated to number at about 8,000, whom have no known defeats or contract failures thus far will certainly play a distinct role in Alteran history to come.
Though the company is by far noted for its distinct military discipline, its leaders have not entirely abandoned the trades of mercantile and politique.
The Company’s Religion
Perhaps amongst the only faithful mercenaries in existence, though indeed far from knights, the Latinikon are fervent worshippers of their Sun God. When information of the faith was exchanged with representatives of the Grand Lion Empire, the Emperor accepted them, believing that they worshipped Hartaeth but did not know his name, and only knew him by his sigil - that of the golden sun. It has been noted that a chapel dedicated to the One True Sun may be constructed in the Latinikon’s fortress in the time to come.
Items considered sacred to the Solar faith:
Plant of life (wheat), Lotus of Creation (Blue Lotus), Lotus of Night (White Lotus), Geese (Great Cackler), Ram (Criosphinx), Light / Wind (use solar power and wind power), Cattle (Bull), Tcham metal (red gold/white gold).
Symbol: Sun, obelisk / ben-ben stone.
Offerings:
Gold, silver, lapis lazuli, copper, bronze, lead, ochres; wine, honey, beer, fruit, bread, incense, corn fields, gardens, figs, wax, salt, pigeons, oil, dum palm fruit, fish, clothing (cotton).
Hymns & Prayers to the Sun God
In times of Darkness, and despair:
Great sun, wheel of fire, in your glory,
hear me as I honor you
on this, the shortest day of the year.
Summer has gone, passed us by,
the fields are dead and cold,
all of earth sleeps in your absence.
Even in the darkest times,
you light the way for those who would need a beacon,
of hope, of brightness,
shining in the night.
Winter is here, and colder days coming,
the fields are bare and the livestock thin.
We light these candles in your honor,
that you might gather your strength
and bring life back to the world.
O, mighty sun above us,
we ask you to return, to bring back to us
the light and the warmth of your fire.
Bring life back to earth,
Bring light back to earth.
Hail Sun Ruler of earth
In times of praise and rejoys:
He Who is awakened in strenght, Sun God,
Lord of Eternity, Maker of everlastingness,
Praised, First One,
Prince of Lunde of the North and of the South,
Whose horns are strong, beautiful of face,
Lord of the High White Crown,
Thy Double Plumes are lofty,
Thy Tiara is one of beauty,
And Thy White Crown is high.
Mehen and the Two Ladies, Nekhbet and Uatchet, are the ornaments of Thy face,
And the Crowns of the South and North,
And the Nemes Crown,
And the Helmet-Crown
Are Thy adornments in Thy Temple.
Thy Face is Beautiful,
Benignly Thou receive the Atef Crown,
In the Land of the South and in the Land of the North there is love for Thou,
Thou receive the Crowns of the South and the North,
The Lord of Life receives the Sceptre,
Thou art the Lord with the breastplate, armed with the whip.
Gracious King Who rise like the Sun crowned with the White Crown,
Lord of beams, Creator of Light,
To Whom the Gods give praises,
He Who stretches forth His arm for the ones He loves,
But Who consumes His enemies with flames,
His Eye overthrows the unrighteous,
His dart strikes down the swallower of the ocean,
And causes the serpent nik to throw up what he has swallowed.!
For protection when traveling:
O Sun, Keeper of the Gates of Light, cast down your beams and envelop me in their light and energy, that I may be protected by them. For as Light is victorious over Darkness, so too am I victorious over danger.
For revealing the Sun during a storm or from clouds and darkness:
Hail Sun God, the King of Eternity, O Lord of Lords and King of Kings. I have brought unto you offerings of precious stones, luxurious fabric, and entertaining music at your shrine. I come in peace, O Sun, Guardian of the Dead. May I pass through the Darkness of the Afterlife and be One with you at the horizon of daybreak.
-=-
The Company’s Hierarchy
The Latinikon is a company with a variety of skills under its belt. From the simple mercantilism of goods to lending their swords and lances, the Latinikon are numerous and ruthlessly efficient. The Latinikon completes contracts for various employers and the hierarchy is as follows:
The Latinikon is divided into three divisions, with each their own tasks and duties to fulfill, all of which are overseen by the company’s three patricians. The Elenktes are the high command and central core of the organization, capable of supervising and managing parts of the Latinikon that may not be under their direct jurisdiction. This could mean drafting contracts, arranging trade deals, or providing swords to a needful employer. They serve as a council of sorts, and advise each other on all matters of the Latinikon. Beneath the Elenktes resides the actual militancy itself, the Thema Stratos, wherein reside all the mercenaries and combatants and their commanders. Finally, those concerned with diplomacy, mercantile and other political endeavors fall into the Thema Politikos. Ranks of various types exist within each division.
Each of the three patricians more or less assume wardenship of those divisions; Magister Ioustinianos is the highest ranking individual as he oversees the high command portion of the company; Exarch Belisar is the primary military commander of all the mercenaries, and Magister Tiberias acts as the company’s figurehead with the leadership of the political and mercantile division of the Latinikon.
Current contracts
The Latinikon are currently in a long term contract to the Grand Lion Empire. Minor contracts are still welcome as long as they do not conflict with our main contract. If one wishes to individually join the Latinikon, it is done on an in-character basis, but you are free to PM myself or any other officers (SKiddles and Halarus) and we'll see about taking you on.
Ave Lunde.
Praise the Sun.
Last edited:
