Appaloosa Wildmen
The Appaloosa Wildmen are the premier tracking and guide company in the Expanse, founded by a man named Alabaster Fink who counts his membership somewhere between one hundred and five hundred depending on his sobriety at the time of asking. Every member is a local, born and raised in the mountains, vetted personally by Fink on a solo overnight trail run that serves as both evaluation and initiation. Most recruits come back from that run. The ones who do not are not discussed further.
For a contract fee, the Wildmen will get you across the Appaloosa Expanse alive. They serve as guide, valet, and bodyguard rolled into one, cultivating repeat business through a particular trick: they let clients feel like they are learning trailcraft along the way, turning dangerous passage into something resembling a tourist experience. The tips are better when the customer thinks they found the trail themselves. Several outposts dot the Expanse as rest stops for guided travelers. The Last Outpost is the most notable, designed with inflated prices for outsiders and fair rates for locals and Wildmen, a tourist trap wearing mountain hospitality like a borrowed coat.
Recently the Wildmen have diversified into bounty hunting, taking contracts from the Affiliates in Old York and casinos in Aysea. The tracking skills that keep merchants alive in the mountains translate well to finding people who do not want to be found. The organization is composed mainly of Mericans and Retrogrades with solid knowledge of hunting, tracking, and mountain navigation. Fink runs the operation with the kind of casual authority that comes from being the only person who knows every trail, every hidden camp, and every shortcut in a mountain range that kills the unprepared without apology.
For a contract fee, the Wildmen will get you across the Appaloosa Expanse alive. They serve as guide, valet, and bodyguard rolled into one, cultivating repeat business through a particular trick: they let clients feel like they are learning trailcraft along the way, turning dangerous passage into something resembling a tourist experience. The tips are better when the customer thinks they found the trail themselves. Several outposts dot the Expanse as rest stops for guided travelers. The Last Outpost is the most notable, designed with inflated prices for outsiders and fair rates for locals and Wildmen, a tourist trap wearing mountain hospitality like a borrowed coat.
Recently the Wildmen have diversified into bounty hunting, taking contracts from the Affiliates in Old York and casinos in Aysea. The tracking skills that keep merchants alive in the mountains translate well to finding people who do not want to be found. The organization is composed mainly of Mericans and Retrogrades with solid knowledge of hunting, tracking, and mountain navigation. Fink runs the operation with the kind of casual authority that comes from being the only person who knows every trail, every hidden camp, and every shortcut in a mountain range that kills the unprepared without apology.
Structure
The Wildmen answer to one man: Alabaster Fink. He personally vets every recruit by taking them on a solo overnight trail run through the Expanse, evaluating their readiness in conditions that have, on rare occasion, resulted in a trainee not returning. Below Fink, the organization operates through a network of outposts staffed by experienced guides, each capable of independent operation along their stretch of trail. There is no formal chain of command beyond Fink's word; authority flows from knowledge of the terrain and years spent walking it.
Public Agenda
The Wildmen exist to get people across the Appaloosa Expanse alive. Their mission is straightforward: provide paid guide services through the mountain trails, maintain the outpost network that supports safe passage, and cultivate relationships with the small towns and farms along the route. Their recent expansion into bounty hunting has added a secondary purpose of tracking and retrieving targets for external clients, but the core of the organization remains the Expanse and the people who need to cross it.
History
The Appaloosa Wildmen were founded by Alabaster Fink, a local of the Expanse who recognized that outsiders needed professional guidance to survive the treacherous mountain trails. He recruited fellow Expanse locals, primarily Mericans and Retrogrades, building a guide company that grew to somewhere between one hundred and five hundred members depending on who is counting and how sober they are at the time.
For years the Wildmen operated exclusively as a guide service, running contract-based passage through the Appaloosa Expanse and maintaining outposts along the route. Recently they have expanded into bounty hunting, taking contracts from the Affiliates in Old York and casinos in Aysea. The tracking skills honed in the mountains have proven equally effective at finding people who do not want to be found, building the Wildmen a reputation that now extends well beyond the Expanse.
For years the Wildmen operated exclusively as a guide service, running contract-based passage through the Appaloosa Expanse and maintaining outposts along the route. Recently they have expanded into bounty hunting, taking contracts from the Affiliates in Old York and casinos in Aysea. The tracking skills honed in the mountains have proven equally effective at finding people who do not want to be found, building the Wildmen a reputation that now extends well beyond the Expanse.
Mountain guides turned bounty hunters. Fink counts on his fingers.
