The Iron Falcons are a mercenary group who built the City of Avarice with the immense amount of wealth they have. They will work for anybody who pays them enough, and stop working for them as soon as their payments stop coming in. Many see sellswords as untrustworthy, because they sell their sword to the highest bidder, and the Iron Falcons specifically are seen as dishonorable cutthroats, but none would dare to march on the city of Avarice because all the lords and kings need them. In addition to being sellswords, their city also rests right on the border of the Godscar, protecting the realm from the demons that inhabit it, making them useful to the kingdom.
The members of the Iron Falcons are said to fight with no honor, using every advantage at their disposal to win a fight. The Iron Falcons aren’t nobles or knights, most of them are lowborn peasants who didn’t have a single gold coin to their name before joining up with Iron Falcons. The Iron Falcons also have a reputation for excessive drinking, gambling, and whoring. The members often joke that a boy wants to be a knight, but a man wants to be an Iron Falcon. The Iron Falcons are free men, not swearing any oaths to any lords, once they serve their contract they are free to do what they want.
The Iron Falcons take anyone into their ranks. The recruits are trained for as long as they feel like it, and then they must go into the Godscar and bring back the head of a demon to become a full member. A member could enter the Godscar immediately and skip all training if they felt like it, or they could take months or even years before they take the challenge. Then they are given a five year contract, and paid well at the end of each month. The penalty for desertion is death, but if you fall in battle the Iron Falcons will pay out half your remaining contract to any remaining family. Joining the Iron Falcons is a lucrative job opportunity, as your opportunities for climbing the ranks is only gated by your abilities as a warrior, not the family you were born into. Even after you finish serving with the Iron Falcons, you can easily re-enlist with them, or you can become a private sellsword. Anyone looking to hire a private sellsword would be a fool to turn down an ex Iron Falcon.
The Iron Falcons were founded 150 years ago, by Bjorn Falcon. He was the third son, set to inherit nothing when his father died, so he set out to make his own inheritance, stealing his families adamantine sword, Moon. By the time Bjorn died, he had built a decent mercenary company, but he died never knowing the scale and prestige the Iron Falcons would climb to.
The leader of the Iron Falcons and the City of Avarice, is a human man named Griffin Hardhand. He is in his mid 40’s, and recently took command of the Iron Falcons. After the former leader, Hector Rhan, died under mysterious circumstances, Griffin kind of just took charge of the Iron Falcons. The former leader, Hector, was more concerned with gambling and drinking than leading a mercenary group, and the Iron Falcons have lost a little bit of their reputation in the past 30 years that he had been in charge, but Griffin Hardhand is hellbent on restoring the reputation of the Iron Falcons. Griffin fights with the adamantine sword Moon, which has been passed down from leader to leader.