Empire MercenaryReport
English：Empire Mercenary · Characters
The samurai-armoured guards standing in the Dancing Skeleton. They come from the United Cities, hired by the Swampers to keep the gangs from wrecking the bar — you cannot hire them, you can only avoid starting anything in front of them.
Empire Mercenaries are not a mercenary company. They are a character type — specifically, the three or four guards standing inside the Dancing Skeleton, the bar in Shark.
What they are doing there
The Dancing Skeleton is the only bar in the game built inside a swamp dome, and it is run by the Swampers. It doubles as the shared living room of the five gangs of the Swamp: Hounds, Stone Rats, Grayflayers and Twinblades all drink there, and even skeletons turn up.
Keeping that mix under one roof without a brawl requires neutral muscle. The Swampers' answer was to bring people in from the United Cities — which is why Empire Mercenaries turn up standing by a bar counter a very long way from home.
It is also a neat sketch of swamp politics: none of the gangs will accept another gang's enforcer, so the only acceptable law is somebody who belongs to none of them.
Stats and equipment
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Race | Greenlander, 50% female |
| Combat stats | 35 (randomised by 5) |
| Weapon | Ancient manufacture; Mercenary Club on the hip |
| Headgear | Hachigane 77% / Side-Angle Hachigane 23% |
| Body | Samurai Armour |
| Shirt | Leather Shirt 71% / Leather Vest 29% |
| Legwear | Samurai Clothpants |
| Footwear | Plated Longboots 50% / Drifter's Boots 50% |
| Inventory | Basic First Aid Kit ×1 |
95% of their armour is Shoddy grade and only 5% Standard — they look better than they fight. A full suit of Samurai Armour is imposing, but at Shoddy grade the protection numbers are poor, and with combat stats of 35 the real deterrent here is that hitting anyone in that bar means offending the entire Swamp at once, not the guards' own ability.
What it means for the player
- They are background order, not a resource. No hiring, no recruiting, no dialogue quest.
- Do not start a fight in the Dancing Skeleton. That bar is where you buy from the Swamper Barman, ask about the local gangs, and find Ears, the Hounds' fixer. Angering the guards cuts all of that off.
- It is also the only place in the game that sells the complete Letters From A Swamper series.
Related entries
Shark, The Swamp, Hounds, Mercenary Guild, United Cities