Rudiger Feirsinger, Free Lance
Few outsiders make Mousillon their permanent home. Most foreigners resident in Mousillon are members of the dockyard gangs who came in with the ships and for whatever reason never got to leave. A few others, however, are at large in the duchy. Most came there for whatever money they could make, and almost all are actively searching for a way to make it back out through the Cordon Sanitaire. Rudiger Feirsinger is one of them.[1a]
As a soldier in the Empire, Feirsinger was an accomplished horseman in the army of the Count of Talabecland. After many years hunting Orcs and policing the roads, Feirsinger resigned his post and struck out as a mercenary. He came to command a small band of horsemen who earned a reputation as tough and reliable free lances, fighting throughout the Empire. When Archaon’s invasion swept in through the north of the Empire, Feirsinger’s free lances fought in many skirmishes with Northmen marauders around Middenheim. It was during this time, during the short but vicious struggle for the village of Norderingen, that Feirsinger’s life changed.[1a]
Feirsinger has never told anyone what he saw during the battle for Norderingen. It is certain worshippers of the Dark Gods, both Beastmen and Human cultists, overran the town and many Imperial soldiers and citizens died. It is also darkly rumoured Norderingen was one of the towns betrayed to Archaon’s forces by cultists who lived there. In the bedlam of the Storm of Chaos, many towns like Norderingen were lost and many were the acts of cowardice, betrayal, and corruption, and there is no shortage of men like Feirsinger who saw truly terrible things as the invasion tore towards Middenheim. Whatever he saw, Feirsinger escaped Norderingen just before it fell, riding with a few of his surviving mercenaries southwards. He didn’t turn back.[1a][1b]
Feirsinger’s companions died or left the mercenary band as Feirsinger headed eastwards out of the Empire, fleeing from whatever memory the Empire held. He crossed the Grey Mountains into Bretonnia, looking for work. Unfortunately, he quickly discovered that the Knightly Code forbade the employment of mercenaries, which meant there was scant work for a free lance in Bretonnia. Hungry and despondent, he heard of a land where the knights were not so scrupulous, and a worldly soldier might find employment. Feirsinger immediately rode for this land, which the people of Bretonnia called Mousillon.[1b]
Feirsinger is still in Mousillon. He leads a band of mercenaries assembled from some of the duchy’s most dangerous bandits and has even scrounged together enough half-decent horses to offer their services as freelance knights to Mousillon’s nobles. But Feirsinger hates Mousillon with a deep passion, for he has seen enough of its swampy, dreary landscape and ignorant people to understand that there is a curse upon the land. He fights to survive, often accepting food and lodgings in exchange for fighting, and he has done some things for Mousillon’s nobles that even a tough old veteran cannot be proud of. It is only the thought of escaping Mousillon that keeps Feirsinger fighting.[1b]
Feirsinger tried to get through the Cordon Sanitaire shortly after first coming to Mousillon and realising what kind of place it was. He was nearly killed by soldiers from the closest watchtower, and he realises now that he will have to buy his way out. He knows there are some criminals who can get him out for the right price, but Feirsinger’s mercenaries have fought enough outlaw bands to ensure that the price will be very high.[1b]
Though Feirsinger wants to make money and get out of Mousillon, this is not the only thing he really cares about. Whatever he witnessed in Norderingen has left him with an intense and unending hatred of the followers of Chaos. Feirsinger doesn’t really understand what Chaos is, but he knows the taint of darkness when he sees it, and he saw it at Norderingen. Should he ever have the opportunity to get some payback against the followers of Chaos, he will gladly take it, risking his own life and those of his men to strike back at the Dark Gods. Feirsinger feels the touch of that darkness on Mousillon, and he believes he can feel the darkness rising over the duchy. He hears it in the tales of a Black Knight claiming the vacant dukedom and sees it in the webbed feet and suspicious glances of the peasants. If he is given a choice between taking revenge on Chaos and escaping Mousillon, Feirsinger will take revenge.[1b]
Feirsinger is not the only mercenary captain in Mousillon, but he is one of the more experienced hired lances. He is, in fact, just the sort of man Mallobaude wants in his army, and though no noble has tried to hire Feirsinger for that purpose yet, it is only a matter of time. Feirsinger might accept the offer in the hope of finding out more about the Black Knight and whether he is in league with the Ruinous Powers, or he might refuse point blank and end up on the run from one of Mallobaude’s lieutenants with a price on his head. Either way, he could make for an unlikely ally for anyone seeking to stop Mallobaude’s nefarious plans. He could also end up the employer of a group of adventurers, since he is always looking for new recruits, and anyone who brings their own weapons (especially horses) will normally make for an acceptable mercenary as long as they don’t have too many scruples about which battles they fight. And, of course, a group of adventurers are exactly the kind of problem that a noble might hire mercenaries to solve, meaning the adventurers will have to either fight Feirsinger’s mercenaries or convince him that they are somehow on his side.[1b]