New setting: Notable brigands and mercenaries

Before the shift, the most notable mercenary company in the known world was the Iron wolves. A group based in the borderlands to the goblin territories.

Much of their fame has derived from the fact that they built a fort in the main mountain pass between the goblin empires and the human lands, completely stemming the tide of goblin raids and invasions north and west.

The mercenary company settled this fort, holding it for two hundred years. A deed that got them labeled as heroes and dauntless warriors, whose name was the cause of many a toast in the taverns of the eastern territories of Elidrophyn.

The fact that the Iron wolves acted under strict regulations, and were trained to perfection before they were allowed to officially wear the crest of the company only served to further this nigh-mythical status.

After the shift, the sea that cut off access to the northern territories from the goblin lands was moved, making the goblins capable of marching their numberless legions around the Wolf pass, surrounding and besieging the Iron wolves’ citadel from both sides.

The citadel fell, and most of the iron wolves with it. It is a battle spoken of as a legendary last stand, where over a million goblins are said to have met their end, thus making it the bloodiest battle in known history.

The few regiments of the Iron wolves who survived were divided, half considered the fact that the city-states that had sworn to come to their aid were to blame for the destruction of their citadel and the death of their commander as they did not show up in their time of need. These regiments seceded from the iron wolves, renaming themselves the Dire wolves, becoming a mighty force of vengeance against the governments of the nations that currently rule the realm.

The dire wolves retain much of the basic code of the Iron wolves, as well as their desire for perfection. But even though they have rules and a code of honor, they have become brigands and bandits; they have infiltrated organized crime and revolutionist movements. Their paths are many and divided, but their goal is one: Take down all governments and avenge the betrayal of the nations.

The remaining half of the old Iron wolves chose to keep the name, and continue their legacy as their old commanders envisioned. Having lost their home, their influence and most of their companions the Iron wolves are beset by strife and hardship, and tend to travel the world in the traditional wolf packs of the Iron wolves; small squads of three or four members, with each pack acting as a separate entity from the main command structure of the company.

The squads are expected to upkeep the old iron wolf code. To never take jobs that include harming civilians, to never slay a non-combatant, and to respect the laws of whatever realm they happen to be acting within.

More often than not, the Iron wolves end up in bitter conflict with their former brothers in arms, the dire wolves.