The Hooded Lanterns are an irregular military force drawn up from remnants of the old Drakkenheim City Watch and veterans of the Westemär Civil War. Led by the grim Lord Commander Elias Drexel, they wish to drive out the monsters and outlaws who infest their nation’s capital and restore the realm of Westemär. Background
Multiple military operations have attempted to retake Drakkenheim over the past fifteen years. Each has ended in miserable failure, and the contaminated ruins have swallowed thousands of soldiers’ lives. What remains of these assaults are merely twisted monsters and undead monstrosities formed from the risen corpses of these regiments. After these disastrous attempts, Drakkenheim was left abandoned while civil war ripped Westemär apart instead. These conflicts also ended in vain, with the royal line of House von Kessel undone by fratricide.
Westemär is slowly disintegrating into a realm of squabbling fiefdoms, yet some amongst the fractured nobility hold a glimmer of hope in restoring the nation and rebuilding the capital. Three years ago, they marshaled up the remnants of the royal guard, the city watch, and patriotic veterans of the civil war to make one last-ditch attempt to retake the city. Although officially dubbed the 4th Provisional Expeditionary Force to Reclaim the Capital, this guerrilla regiment was nicknamed after oil lamps carried by the old city watch: the Hooded Lanterns.
The core members of the Hooded Lanterns are warriors fighting for their homeland. Few honest soldiers survived the civil war, so many veterans have a life of bloody deeds behind them already. On the other hand, new recruits are seldom old enough to have any strong memories of Drakkenheim before it was destroyed. As such, many possess naïve and idealistic notions honed into simmering rage and fury at a golden age stolen from them.