The Sworn Song

Privateers sworn to the Lark, who sing while they stalk, take, and kill — and who are hired precisely because everyone knows they do.

Overview

The Sworn Song are a crew of thieves and killers who took an oath to a god of theft, and the oath is the name. They take contracts, they run heists, and they do black-flag work for parties who need the blame to land somewhere else. What separates them from any other outfit is that they do not attempt to be quiet.

They sing on the job. Not afterward, not in celebration — during. While they approach, while they work, and while they finish. It is unhurried, audible, and entirely unbothered by being heard, and the effect on people who hear it coming is the reason they can charge what they charge. Menace worn as good cheer is far worse than menace worn as menace.

This is not a party. The faith has one commandment and it is reputation, so the singing is a working noise: an advertisement, a threat, and a signature all at once. A crew that sings has never needed to stop singing, which tells you everything about how the last several jobs went.

How they work

• Black-flag operations — jobs run under someone else's colours, so the attention lands elsewhere. Infiltration is a standing capability, not an improvisation
• The dawn chorus — their phrase for a clean job. Arrive at first light, singing, leave with the thing
• Reputation is the asset. They will take a loss to protect it and have
• No morals, real standards. They do not care how. They care enormously whether it worked

Notable Members

• Reva Antonek — captain, and the Lark's avatar in her own estimation

Relationships

• The Lark — the god they are sworn to. The oath is literal

Status

Hiring, and short one operator.