The Ninth Cut Host

The Host began as a survival compact among dragonborn warbands with different customs and long memories of grievance. Its origin story places their first oath at the Ninth Cut, a cleared strip on an old survey map, though some historians suspect that the gathering happened elsewhere and the name was adopted later for its usefulness as a symbol. Azakeil Crimzahn turned the compact into a disciplined military force by making captured supplies common property and allowing warbands to keep their banners and internal rites. In its early years the Host fought for food, defensible ground, and recognition. After the watershed siege at the granary, it began campaigning farther afield. Victories brought recruits, weapons, and leverage; occupation brought resentment and repeated uprisings. Twenty years after "a lock," the Host is no longer simply a refuge for displaced dragonborn. It is an imperial project whose commanders disagree over whether conquest is a means to safety or has become the purpose itself. The official history praises unity and battlefield success. The Ash Speakers also preserve less convenient memories: abandoned allies, burned stores, and captains who were punished for refusing orders.

Military Order

The Ninth Cut Host

Among dragonborn facing discrimination, the Host is often seen as proof that they can defend themselves and command respect.

Type: Military Order
Size: 1,300 members
Reach: Global
Base: The Ninth Cut, a fortified staging ground whose location shifts with the Host's campaigns. Its current command camp stands near a major overland trade artery.

Overview

How it began

The Host's own account says it began when scattered dragonborn bands were driven from their old territories by war, famine, and the collapse of local rule. Twenty years ago, after the events remembered in their records as "a lock," Azakeil Crimzahn gathered rival survivors at a cleared military survey line called the Ninth Cut. The name referred to a strip of ground bulldozed of brush and rubble for an abandoned fortification project. Azakeil offered a hard bargain: stop fighting one another, march under one command, and take territory before enemies could take them. The first captains swore their oaths over a map scored through the Ninth Cut. The Host has since grown from a coalition of refugees into a world-spanning force. Its triumphs include defeating several armies that had expected the dragonborn to remain divided, and its setbacks include costly sieges, local revolts, and supply lines stretched beyond what its commanders can reliably defend. The watershed moment came when Azakeil ordered the Host to hold a captured granary through a winter siege rather than abandon it to save the surrounding countryside. The garrison survived, and the Host's rise became undeniable. The countryside did not recover for years. Some call that the moment the Host became a power; others call it the moment it chose conquest over kinship.

How to know them

MottoNo chain shall choose our road.

EmblemA white dragon skull above a red vertical slash, painted on a charcoal field. The slash is said to represent a cut in an old military map, made to mark land the Host intended to take. Each warband adds a small notch for a victory it considers its own.

Colours

Oxide red, Bone white, Charcoal

Signs

A scored map line, representing the Ninth Cut and the Host's first oath
Notched victory marks cut into shield rims
A white dragon skull painted over a charcoal field

DressThere is no standardized uniform. Most members wear practical armor and clothing marked with oxide-red strips, bone-white paint, or the notched emblem of their warband. Captains often carry captured map fragments as status symbols. The variety is deliberate: members are meant to recognize the Host without surrendering their local identity.

Standing

AlignmentMilitaristic and expansionist, with an internal divide between pragmatic rulers and hardline conquerors. Individual members vary widely.

AgeTwenty years in its present form; its oldest warbands claim traditions stretching back many generations.

WealthHigh in captured arms, supplies, animals, and military infrastructure; uneven in coin. The Host can fund major campaigns through tribute and trade, but much of its wealth is tied up in feeding and moving its forces.

What they say they want

Secure a safe homeland for dragonborn and prevent their persecution by foreign powers.

End the instability caused by rival armies competing for control of borderlands.

Protect trade routes and settlements that accept the Host's authority.

Unite dragonborn warbands that would otherwise be divided and vulnerable.

What they are doing now

Secure a continuous chain of forts and supply depots across the central trade routes.

Bring the remaining independent city-states into tributary agreements before they unite against the Host.

Standardize command across the warbands without erasing the customs that make them loyal.

Find and control surviving records connected to the events of "a lock," whose meaning and importance remain disputed within the Host.

Where it leads

A worldwide order governed by the Host, with dragonborn holding the decisive military and political authority. Azakeil describes it as a guarantee of safety and an end to wars of extermination. Opponents within the Host fear that it will simply make subordination permanent, while its most ambitious commanders hope to replace local rulers with Host-appointed governors.

How others see them

Among dragonborn facing discrimination, the Host is often seen as proof that they can defend themselves and command respect. In territories it has conquered, people may praise its patrols and condemn its levies in the same breath. Foreign rulers describe it as an invasion disguised as protection. Merchants value its reliable roads where it has established control, but fear its habit of revising agreements after victory.

People

6 ranks

High Fang

Azakeil Crimzahn

Commanding, controlled, and intensely attentive to public loyalty. He can reward courage with lavish generosity, but treats dissent as a danger that must be contained. He is sincere in his fear of dragonborn subjugation and blind to how his methods reproduce it.

High Fang1 member
Azakeil Crimzahn holds final command in war and sets the Host's strategic direction. Custom practice, not a universal legal code, allows a gathering of captains to challenge a command after a disastrous defeat.
War Captains12 members
Each commands a major warband, usually several dozen to a few hundred dragonborn, and controls local recruitment, discipline, and tactical decisions. They bargain collectively with the High Fang during the Moot of Cuts.
Ash Speakers60 members
Veterans who carry orders, settle disputes, preserve each warband's oral history, and speak for rank-and-file members at councils. The title is customary, not a spellcasting role.
Scale Sergeants180 members
Experienced squad and troop leaders responsible for drills, watches, and the enforcement of camp rules.
The Red Tally1 member
A quartermaster's office staffed by clerks, scouts, cooks, armorers, and interpreters. It tracks supplies, obligations, and the population of tributary territories. Its influence is formidable because armies march on its records.
Warband Members1,100 members
The fighting core of the Host, including warriors, scouts, handlers, engineers, and field medics. All are dragonborn; non-dragonborn residents may support the Host but cannot become members.

Other key members

Olyssara Vey First Ash Speaker and mediator at the Moot of Cuts
Krag Torv War Captain and leading voice of the Boundless
Svetlana of the Ninth Cut Keeper of the Red Tally
Dren War Captain and potential successor
Ilyevra Commander of scouts and covert envoys

How they are organised

How it is runDragonborn-only military coalition organized into autonomous warbands under a central campaign command

Who comes nextAzakeil has not named a formal successor. By custom, if he dies or is unable to command, the War Captains convene the Moot of Cuts and choose an acting High Fang. A permanent choice requires the support of most captains and recognition from the Ash Speakers. The process is not guaranteed to be peaceful: a captain who controls the largest army may claim authority before the Moot reaches a decision.

How they recruitProspective members are introduced by a warband member or an Ash Speaker. They share camp duties for a trial period, learn the Host's common signals and rules for dividing supplies, and are questioned about their loyalties and reasons for joining. The final oath is spoken before witnesses from both the recruit's chosen warband and the wider Host. There is no magical test or universal ritual; customs vary by warband.

To join

Must be dragonborn. The Host's charter reserves full membership and command to dragonborn.
Must swear the Host's oath before an Ash Speaker and a representative of the member's chosen warband.
Must accept that captured supplies are divided by agreed rules rather than kept solely by the first band to seize them.
Must serve an initial period of shared duty, which may include patrols, construction, scouting, or camp work rather than combat.
Must acknowledge the Host's right to call members to war, while retaining the right to challenge an order at a Moot of Cuts.

Operations

What they do

Military campaigning and territorial expansion

Recruitment and training of dragonborn warbands

Collection of tribute and management of occupied territories

Scouting, cartography, and the maintenance of supply routes

Negotiating treaties backed by the threat of force

Providing protection to communities that accept Host authority

How they do it

Rapid marches and concentrated assaults against isolated strongpoints

Tributary agreements that exchange protection for supplies, hostages, and access to roads

Recruitment of dragonborn displaced by war or discrimination

Selective alliances with merchants and local rulers, followed by pressure to accept Host oversight

Scouting, mapmaking, and the deliberate disruption of enemy supply lines

Public displays of discipline designed to persuade towns that surrender is safer than resistance

Services for hire

Road EscortA signed supply agreement, payment in goods, or a promise of future service
Can provide guarded passage through territory the Host controls. The protection is reliable while the agreement remains in force.
Moot MediationAn introduction, useful information, and often an obligation owed later
Ash Speakers can carry messages between warbands, arrange a meeting with a captain, and mediate disputes. They do not guarantee the decision will favor the requester.
Field ProvisioningCoin, supplies, or political favor
The Red Tally can arrange food, basic equipment, maps of known roads, and temporary access to a camp. Sensitive military information is never sold openly.
Route SurveyA credible offer of cooperation or intelligence
Host scouts may investigate a route, missing caravan, or suspected hostile force. Their findings are shared with the Host and may influence its next campaign.

What they can do

Can concentrate several warbands rapidly against a threatened crossing or isolated stronghold.

Maintains experienced scouts and a practical map network across several regions.

Can turn a battlefield victory into a working supply route and a tributary agreement.

Has members with varied dragonborn ancestries and abilities; these are individual traits, not a shared faction power.

Custom feature: The Host's Moot of Cuts lets a sufficient coalition of War Captains challenge a campaign order after severe losses. It is a political tradition, not a D&D 5E class feature or magical effect.

What they have

More than a thousand dragonborn members, with additional followers and auxiliaries in occupied territories

Experienced heavy infantry, scouts, siege crews, and battlefield medics

A mobile headquarters and a chain of captured depots, forts, and supply camps

A network of informants among merchants, prisoners, and local administrators

The Red Tally's detailed records of roads, stores, tribute obligations, and political loyalties

A reputation for surviving campaigns that would break smaller armies

Where they are weak

Long supply lines make the Host vulnerable to sabotage, winter, and coordinated local resistance.

Warband autonomy can make unified strategy difficult, especially when captains disagree about the purpose of a campaign.

Its dragonborn-only membership limits its ability to earn lasting trust among the wider populations it rules.

Its world-spanning ambition creates many potential enemies and requires constant attention to distant fronts.

A revelation that its founding oath was partly coerced could undermine the loyalty that holds its warbands together.

Azakeil's personal authority is stronger than any established succession system.

Territory

Headquarters

The Ninth Cut, a fortified staging ground whose location shifts with the Host's campaigns. Its current command camp stands near a major overland trade artery.

KindMobile military headquarters anchored by a captured citadel and an expanding network of camps

A fortified command encampment built around a captured stone citadel, whose original name the Host has deliberately removed from its maps. Its outer yards hold smithies, animal pens, barracks, and an immense map hall. No single building is considered the seat of power: Azakeil's command tent can be moved, and the captains meet wherever the army is strongest. The citadel's old foundations are respected as useful, not sacred.

Lands they hold

A shifting chain of occupied borderlands and fortified trade routes

Several tributary territories whose rulers retain local authority under Host supervision

Temporary camps and supply depots established along active campaign roads

No universally recognized homeland; this remains a source of political tension

Outposts

Third Mile StoreA crossroads settlement near a major caravan routeStores grain and spare weapons, hosts envoys, and monitors the movement of supplies through the region.
Cleared Crown RedoubtA former border fort overlooking a mountain passControls a strategic pass and offers shelter to scouts returning from distant campaigns.
Fourth Quay CampA river port taken during a recent campaignCoordinates river transport, collects agreed tribute, and watches for enemy agents.

Secrets

The big secret · GM only

The Host's founding account of its unity after "a lock" has been carefully edited. The Red Tally preserves conflicting testimony suggesting that at least one founding warband was not persuaded to join, but coerced after a crisis Azakeil helped create or exploit. The surviving records do not settle what happened. If authenticated, they could expose the Host's foundational oath as partly forced, split the warbands, and give its enemies proof that Azakeil's promise of unity began with betrayal.

What they really want · GM only

Azakeil intends to make the Host powerful enough that no treaty can be imposed on dragonborn without its consent, even if this requires ruling lands whose people never agreed to join.

Dren and his quiet allies seek a defensible homeland with recognized borders, after which they hope to end expansion and make the Host answerable to its member warbands.

The Red Tally wants a permanent system of taxation and civil administration. Its clerks believe stable rule is better than endless raiding, but their plan would bind subject peoples to Host authority more thoroughly.

Ilyevra wants the Host to control the main routes connecting the world's distant regions. She believes whoever controls movement can command rulers without needing to occupy every capital.

Hidden plans · GM only

Azakeil wants a world where no dragonborn child can again be made dependent on another people's protection. He believes that can only be achieved by making the Host powerful enough to dictate terms everywhere.

Several senior captains want to use the events of "a lock" as a legitimizing myth. They intend to suppress evidence that might contradict the official account, regardless of what it actually reveals.

The Host's quartermasters are quietly studying how to make tributary provinces feed the army without depending on constant conquest. Some envision a durable empire; others fear this would turn a warband culture into an extraction machine.

A small circle of veterans wants to secure a recognized homeland for dragonborn, then end expansion. They have begun sounding out foreign powers without Azakeil's consent.

Smaller secrets · GM only

Some warbands quietly let members leave after a campaign, despite the official rule that service lasts until formally released.

The Red Tally maintains an unofficial list of communities that paid tribute early and cooperated, hoping that list could protect them from future reprisals.

Several Ash Speakers teach a version of the Host's history that includes its failures. The captains have not ordered those lessons stopped because doing so might provoke the veterans.

The Host has accepted aid from non-dragonborn allies, while publicly describing those allies as temporary suppliers rather than partners.

What insiders say · GM only

Within the Host, Azakeil is admired as the leader who ended the cycle of dragonborn division, but veterans sometimes call his circle the keepers of a useful lie. Among occupied peoples, the Host is known to reward cooperation and punish defiance unpredictably. Many of its soldiers are protective of civilians in their own camps, yet accept violence against communities labeled enemies. The Host's greatest hidden weakness is that it has no agreed answer to the question of when conquest is finished.

Trouble inside · GM only

The central split is between the Boundless, who believe the Host must keep expanding until no foreign power can threaten dragonborn, and the Hearthward, who want to secure a homeland and stop creating enemies. The captains resent Azakeil's increasingly centralized command, yet fear that open opposition will shatter the coalition. The Red Tally's officials favor predictable taxes and stable borders, while raiders and glory-seeking warriors expect fresh campaigns. Some dragonborn from conquered communities see the Host as a shield; others see it as another master. The Ash Speakers preserve warband traditions but disagree over whether preserving a story means telling it honestly.

Crimes · GM only

Plot hooks

5 hooks

1
The Unclaimed Scale
Personal, low to moderateReward: A grateful contact, safe passage, or an introduction to a disaffected warband
A young dragonborn scout asks the characters to recover a family token from a Host camp before their warband discovers they have been secretly arranging their own departure. Helping them could put the characters between the scout and a commander who considers desertion contagious.
2
Names on the Tally
Local, moderateReward: Local support, evidence against an influential officer, or a temporary ceasefire
A village accused of hiding resistance fighters is scheduled for collective punishment. The characters can find out whether the accusation is true, expose the informant who made it, or persuade the Ash Speaker assigned to the case to force a public hearing.
3
The Ninth Line
Regional investigation, moderate to highReward: A dangerous secret, leverage over the Red Tally, or a chance to reshape the Host's history
Svetlana has found two incompatible accounts of the Host's oath after "a lock." She hires the party to retrieve a sealed map from a ruined archive before Ilyevra's scouts arrive. The map could be genuine evidence, an enemy forgery, or both.
4
A Road That Feeds an Army
Regional, highReward: A military alliance, a truce, or influence over an approaching campaign
Krag Torv's warband has been ordered to advance despite a failing supply route. The characters are asked by local merchants to reopen the route, but doing so could strengthen the Host's campaign. They may instead negotiate a supply truce or help Dren prove that the campaign is unsustainable.
5
The Vote Before the March
Campaign-scale, highReward: A change in the Host's direction, powerful allies, or a new enemy among its captains
The Moot of Cuts is about to decide whether to accept a foreign ruler's surrender or demand complete annexation. The characters carry evidence that could tip the vote, but each faction wants a different part of the truth released. Their choice may redirect an army or trigger a succession crisis.

Work they offer

1Escort an Ash Speaker carrying a treaty to a settlement whose elders distrust the Host.

2Recover a missing supply convoy before a rival army captures its stores.

3Track a deserter who stole records from the Red Tally, then decide whether to return the records or reveal their contents.

4Investigate who is sabotaging a border fort and determine whether the culprit is an enemy agent or a Host officer trying to prevent an unpopular campaign.

What gets in the way

The Host's strength depends on keeping proud and culturally distinct warbands pointed outward. A major defeat could turn expansion into civil war.

It promises protection to conquered settlements, but its soldiers often treat tribute, labor, and hostages as the price of that protection.

Dragonborn-only membership gives the faction unity and a clear identity, but makes diplomacy with non-dragonborn subjects inherently unequal.

Azakeil Crimzahn's authority rests partly on victory. A prolonged stalemate could make even loyal captains question whether his rule still serves the Host.

Rumours

1True: The warbands have more freedom to refuse an order than outsiders realize, provided enough captains agree.

2True: Some occupied settlements receive lower tribute if they provide accurate stores and road reports.

3False: Azakeil Crimzahn can compel every dragonborn to obey him through a supernatural bond.

4False: The Host's entire command is secretly controlled by a foreign power.

5Unconfirmed: A founding captain who disappeared after "a lock" is still alive and has proof that the official story was altered.

6Unconfirmed: Ilyevra is mapping a campaign route that bypasses the captains' usual council.

The Ninth Cut Host

The Ninth Cut Host

Overview

How it began

How to know them

Standing

What they say they want

What they are doing now

Where it leads

How others see them

People

High Fang

Other key members

How they are organised

Relations

Operations

What they do

How they do it

Services for hire

What they can do

What they have

Where they are weak

Territory

Headquarters

Lands they hold

Outposts

Secrets

Plot hooks

Work they offer

What gets in the way

Rumours

Media

Turn The Ninth Cut Host into a sheet