Mercenary Profiles: Ophelia's Outriders

As hostilities heat up across Morgen's World, we take this opportunity to introduce you to a few of the mercenary regiments and free companies engaged by the warring factions. This first installment takes a closer look at one of the rebel's hired forces: Ophelia's Outriders. Known for their ruthlessness, this company was once part of the regular Cthonian military, before that world's cataclysmic demise in 2890. Finding a kindred spirit in their patroness, the exiled sovereign of Nightfall, the Outriders have earned a reputation for brutal efficiency.

Ophelia’s Outriders, the 8^th Cthonian Dragoons

Veteran Mercenary Company

 

Ophelia Caligo, Pacification of Tanit III.

The Caligo family ruled the Rim world of Nightfall for 100 generations. A planet of long nights and little in the way of illumination from its distant sun, Nightfall was a harsh, but prosperous world. Some 50 standard years ago, Ventiss Caligo, a brutal tyrant and last King of Nightfall, was overthrown by his own people, with help from his once‐loyal Palace Guard. Ventiss and his wife were killed in the bloody, year-long revolution. Their son, Argos III, escaped into exile with his own family, though an assassin’s blade found the young heir not long after. His only child, Ophelia, survived and was hidden by the few loyal retainers House Caligo had left.

Instead of living a comfortable, if secluded, life in exile, a young Ophelia took the family’s considerable off‐world fortune and purchased a renowned mercenary company, the Cthonian 8th Dragoons, known more colloquially as the Outriders. A battle-hardened group of veteran mercs, the Outriders had seen action during the Rim Wars and the various corporate brushfire conflicts of the Second and Third Cola Wars. Though skeptical of their new patroness, Ophelia quickly gained the company’s respect when she personally took command of a heavy Minotaur‐class grav tank during the Siege of Draconis IV. A skilled tactician, Ophelia Caligo now commands the loyalty of the Outriders to the last man and the group’s reputation has flourished, their contract fees rising.

Ophelia hasn’t hidden her ultimate intention to take back her family’s throne on Nightfall and spies from that world anxiously watch the Outrider’s progress. There are even rumors that an organized, royalist underground has taken root on Nightfall, eagerly waiting the return of their Princess.