When the old Baccus Empire invaded Pendor, among them came the Red Brotherhood, a collection of secret societies, slavers, assassins, and all kinds of criminal masterminds. They quickly spread their influence, they can now be found everywhere dispensing their unsavory services. Despite being such a large group, the Brotherhood did not appear to have a central leader or hierarchy, but are rather a network with several minds and leaders which makes it impossible to get rid of them, as when one leader is down, there are several others to take their place.
Most of time they act behind the curtains, often keeping two faces before the society. One of a legitimate nature and the other which is their real criminal persona, where they perform all kinds of dark deeds in secret.
Comments on the Red Brotherhood
"Everything in this life has a price and nothing is forbidden, so just make your offer." -Red Brotherhood Motto
"We sell desires, I mean, anything you desire can be yours. It’s just a matter of price." -Red Brotherhood Agent
"He knows some folks on the inside at the Brotherhood. Worst infighting he has ever seen. They like to act all organized, but when was the last time you saw more that a couple of them together? That is purely because they cannot stand each other! Bloody staffers hate themselves as much as we do!"
"He heard from a militiaman in Ravenstern that the Red Brotherhood had been organizing dog fights. Although King Gregory was trying to put a stop to it, the Brotherhood was always a step ahead of them. And late into the night, they'd hear the howls and snarls of dogs needlessly killing one another."
"A shadowy merchant in Torbah that one can buy anything from the Red Brotherhood, even objects they don't strictly own. When he asked for the Khan's chalice, the merchant simply laughed and said it would cost 40,000 denars. For the right price, anything could be bought and sold among the Brotherhood."
"The Red Brotherhood only recruits bandits when they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for more men. He should have said the 'top of the barrel', since they are all scum and scum floats to the surface, haha."
"This land is ripe for trade. You will find that the Red Brotherhood is not as powerful here as it is in Barclay. Something tells me this is welcome news to you."
Spawns
They don't field armies, preferring to use assassins when someone poses a problem, they often field small gangs of bandits which ride the countryside looking for slaves, when pressed they claim that this groups had no connection to them or are rogue freelancers. They usually field relatively weak mounted crossbowmen with some poor foot troops, the Red Brotherhood Guildsmen are the only remotely powerful unit they have, with the other one being the Red Brotherhood Thief, that is weaker. They are a good faction to fight reasonably early in the game.
They do often spawn patrols from all Cities, these consisting of:
- 1-4 Red Brotherhood Guildsman
- 1-6 Red Brotherhood Thief
- 4-12 Bandit
- 2-8 Highwayman
- 0-3 Refugee (as prisoners)
Their other spawn is Lothario's Brotherhood, that can either be hired by the player (other monarchs can't hire him) (has no Right to rule requirement) or spawn on its own.
The Slave Traders of Pendor
The Red Brotherhood is a guild of thieves and slavers. You may profit off their slavebrokers (in taverns), but they may also seek to profit off of you. Red Brotherhood Thieves and Red Brotherhood Guildsmen can be encountered; they tend to prefer blunt weapons for taking prisoners.
Red Brotherhood prioritizes making profit, but on the long run, they are scared of the player, as whilst he is growing in power, they know that if he unites Pendor, they will be chased down, as they are murderers and rich due slavery and bullying locals, so even though in taverns they want to make profit and make deals with the player, secretly they're trying to take him down.
"Three bloodyboys beating up a shopkeeper on the steps of his own house! And the town guards… did they do aught to help? No, they walked right on past, as blind as men can be paid to be. Nobody even trusts the sheriff in this town any more." - Well known rumor that proves they bully freely as they do bribe guards, and even sheriffs
"It is you! Listen, {playername}, you need to… no, never mind how I know you. Just get out of town. The Brotherhood are crawling all over this place, and they are aiming for one target: You. Someone is paying top dollar. Now go. You never saw me." - traveler to the player
"Someone is disrupting their harvester gangs. He did not hear the whole discussion, but the name {playername} was bandied about quite a bit." - traveler to the player
Agents
The Red Brotherhood is an organization that, as a whole, thrives off of illegal trade in exotic goods, drugs, slaves and other clandestine ware, and most of this illegal trade is done through the many agents that the Brotherhood has scattered throughout the land, infiltrating and assimilating the local populations to avoid the wary eyes of the law. These agents come from every walk of life, every background, all united by the lure of power and wealth that their position doubtlessly grants them.
The vast majority of these agents choose to do business from the local taverns of the various towns and villages, blending in among the crowds, disguised as regular patrons. It is from quiet, darkened corners that deals are made with potential business partners over a tankard of ale, where weaponry, drugs and indeed people are bought and sold at a whim.
However, undoubtedly illegal and sinister their line of work may be, a wise adventurer or noble lord would do well to take note of an agents presence, as due to the constant wars being waged across Pendor, there is always someone who needs prisoners taken off of his hands, slaves to fill his own ranks and weapons to arm them. All of which these agents of the Brotherhood can provide. All that must be decided, is the price.
The following agents have been known to ply their trade from the taverns of Pendor:
- Sift Moonshadow
- Ordis
- Rishard
- Clea Swiftedge
- Borgi the Fat
- Torvan
- Harmand
- Iris the Lotus
- Javen the Blade
- Kravauld
Selling Special Troops
Agents main purpose is to buy prisoners, but they do have another option. Paying them 10 denars will ask them for rumors. Posible outcomes are a flavor text without mechanical intact or selling a random number of one random troop from this table:
| % Chance | Minimum Amount | Maximum Amount | Price per troop | Troop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 3 | 4 | 660 | Bearclaw Berserker |
| 5 | 3 | 4 | 513 | Ravenstern Highlander |
| 10 | 3 | 4 | 670 | Omen Seeker |
| 10 | 15 | 19 | 172 | Melitine Free Brother |
| 10 | 3 | 11 | 19 | Refugee |
| 5 | 2 | 7 | 36 | Maiden Scout |
| 5 | 4 | 12 | 124 | Singalian Spearman |
| 10 | 15 | 19 | 114 | Barclay Aventurier |
| 10 | 15 | 19 | 114 | Mettenheim Avonteurer |
| 10 | 2 | 3 | 215 | Rogue Blackheart Squire |
| 10 | 4 | 11 | 143 | Bounty Hunter |
| 5 | 1 | 2 | 670 | Knight of the Falcon |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 712 | Noldor Ranger |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | 533 | Maiden Adventurer |
Note: if you are unable to pay the price of the whole pack, you won't be able to buy any (example: he offers 3 Maiden Adventurers but you only have 1200 denars, you won't be given the choice of taking 2). Once you decline (or you're forced to decline), he will not offer anymore troops if you ask again for rumors)
Note: if you don't have size for them, you will not be able to buy them.
Since 3.9, Red Brotherhood reps will also rarely be able to sell you 1-2 knights of any of the major Knighthood Orders. The price of these troops ranges from around 600-900 apiece depending on the knights in question.
Selling Mercenaries
Since 3.9.0, they have another feature. They will sell mercenary packs of 30 mercenaries chosen randomly for a high price. Every Red Brotherhood Agent will offer an infinite amount of these packs as long as the player has the money needed. Also, the player can handle a Gold Bar when hiring mercenaries to filter and only get 30 elite ones. In the list below, the price and chances are shown for every troop.
| Troop | Price | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Without Gold Bar | ||
| Mercenary Infantry | 200 | 15 |
| Mercenary Crossbowman | 220 | 15 |
| Mercenary Warrior | 300 | 13.3 |
| Mercenary Armored Crossbowman | 320 | 13.3 |
| Mercenary Horseman | 340 | 13.3 |
| Mercenary Sergeant | 420 | 10 |
| Mercenary Sharpshooter | 450 | 10 |
| Mercenary Cavalryman | 500 | 10 |
| With Gold Bar | ||
| Mercenary Sergeant | 420 | 33.3 |
| Mercenary Sharpshooter | 450 | 33.3 |
| Mercenary Cavalryman | 500 | 33.3 |