The Blood of Winter

The Blood is made up of several colored squadrons, each with a squadron leader. These squad leaders rest under the King of Winter, who leads the organization. He is also the one who people approach with contracts. When the King receives a contract, he selects multiple squads that he thinks would be a good fit for the job. These squad leaders then take their squads into the field, cooperating with each other and commanding their squads.

The Blood attracts a very violent and misanthropic kind of person. Many of the Bloodied view violence as the best solution to any problem they find themselves in. They have little trust in other people, even each other with many Bloodied even attack and killing each other if it benefits them. Alongside the violence, the Bloodied also have an intense reverence for the heroes from Mantiran faith, despite very few actually being of the faith. When they join the the Blood, people take a new name after one of the hero-spirits to hearken back to that ancient glory.

The Blood is the most known mercenary troop with the policy that anything goes, and they will always complete the job. While they will take on any job, their policy makes it so that they only really get hired for viscous jobs like raiding villages or assassinating political figures. Additionally, they openly discuss their belief in helping to usher in the Great Winter from Mantiran myth, a prophesied end to all life on the Shalyb Plains. Alongside the grisly jobs they take, this belief makes many fear the Blood as a violent doomsday cult.

The Blood was founded decades ago by a rogue mantepa who received a vision that the Great Winter would come in his lifetime. He viewed this as a good thing and form a group of warriors who were willing to help him in his goal. However, after the mantepa died, the current leader, the King of Winter, took over and refashioned the Blood into what they are now: a mercenary troop in love with Mantiran myths, but focused more on getting paid then ushering in the Great Winter.