Captain Hugh Strangways

Captain of one of London's best-known adventuring companies, whose red bend on silver is seen on commissions from the Marches to the coast. His company has a reputation for finishing what it starts.

Strangways is a younger son of a minor house who took his share of the family money, bought armour and a company charter, and went adventuring. His family were appalled; his company has outlasted their fortune.

The Red Bend Company has taken commissions for twenty years. It has cleared a haunted manor, escorted a bishop through a lost valley, retrieved a stolen relic and fought three skirmishes in a House quarrel it later wished it had avoided.

In 4621 the company is between commissions and Strangways is deciding between two offers: a rich one from a House that wants something done quietly and a poor one from a parish that needs help. He knows which he should take.

In person

43. Tall and broad, with a strong weathered face, a short dark beard going grey and steady brown eyes. He wears polished steel half-plate over a padded gambeson, and a white surcoat with a red diagonal bend, a longsword at his hip.