The Order of the Laughing Boar

Vargo the Trollslayer knew that as soon as word got out about the treasure-filled lost city he'd found, he would become a target for thieves and claim jumpers. To protect his find, Vargo used his first haul to hire a band of warriors to defend Vargo's Hill. Some of these warriors were men and women Vargo knew and had fought alongside in the past, others were mercenaries who Vargo judged as trustworthy. Vargo's judgement wasn't always correct, but the bad apples inevitably met with quick and with messy ends and the hands of those whose loyalty Vargo had won with good treatment and better pay. At some point, the band of warriors started calling themselves "The Order of the Laughing Boar." There are a number of conflicting stories regarding the origin of the name ranging from mildly amusing to disturbingly off-putting.   Regardless of where the name came from, it stuck. During the time when the Sholyom ispans controlled the city, there was very little distinction between the Order and the city guard. As the city grew and the ispan's power waned, the city's most powerful citizens demanded a separation between House Sholyom's private army and the Khezvaran military. As part of the agreement that formalized the separation, the Order's activities were limited to Old Town, which was still considered part of the ispan's personal demesne. Members of the Order replaced the gray cloaks worn by the city guard with brown ones, earning them their "Browncloak" nickname. Over time, the Order of the Laughing Boar came to refer specifically to the elite Browncloaks charged with protecting Castle Vargo and the Sholyom family. As the Order became more exclusive, it also took on many of the trappings of a traditional martial order.   When the Empire came, both the Browncloaks and the Order were officially disbanded during the Peace Tribunals. The small house guard that the Sholyoms were allowed to retain still considered themselves members of the Order and were commonly referred to as Browncloaks, but were not permitted to wear the uniform, display the trappings of the order, or use the name around the imperials or their spies.   During Ilka's travels, when Castle Vargo was leaderless and began to fall to ruin, the already-diminished Order's numbers continued to dwindle. By the time Ilka returned, all that remained of the Order were two dozen cutthroats who use the shambling Castle Vargo as a headquarters for their criminal activities, most of which involved robbery and extortion committed against the citizens of Old Town. These men disappeared shortly after Ilka's return. The exact details of their departure (and whether it was from the city or the mortal plane) are the subject of a number of different tales whose violence and luridness vary according to the teller's opinions of Ilka the Faceless.   Once the remaining dregs of the Order of the Laughing Boar were gone, Ilka began gathering a personal bodyguard. As in other areas, she has been careful to walk a fine line between Mage Law and treason against the empire. Her new bodyguard does not use the name "Order of the Laughing Boar" (at least publicly), but wears a brown cloak (in a slightly darker shade than the disbanded Browncloaks) with a clasp that bears a striking resemblance to a boar's tusk. Ilka's bodyguard consists of exactly the 99 soldiers allowed by Mage Law, though it has been noted that some members of the support staff seem considerably more hardened and battle-scarred than the average blacksmith or cook. Ilka's new Browncloaks keep the peace in Old Town, but so far have not interfered with the rare Imperial Guard activities there or otherwise overstepped the legal boundaries of Mage Law.