There have been very few women in the Black Company throughout the storied band's four centuries of history. Lady and Sleepy are the most prominent examples: both of them would independently rise to the rank of Black Company Captain, the leader of the group. Other examples are Sergeant Chiba Vinh Nwynn and the briefly-mentioned cross-dressing sisters Guust Nolet and Hika Nolet.
Croaker the Company Annalist told Lady that women joining the group "didn’t happen often. The world don’t have much room for female adventurers. But women have marched with the Company."[1]
Examples[]
Lady joined the Company in Shadow Games and was Captain in Dreams of Steel in Croaker's absence.
Sleepy was a member by the time of the Siege of Dejagore as recounted in Bleak Seasons and was the Company standard-bearer and Annalist for many years until finally attaining the rank of Captain in time for Soldiers Live.
Before them, in Port of Shadows, a formidable sergeant by the name of Chiba Vinh Nwynn was in charge of protecting a dormitory full of vulnerable Tides Elba copy girls. She and her husband were both sworn members by the time of the Battle at Charm, but her husband was killed in that battle. There were some others like her, as Croaker wrote: "There are a few wives in the ranks, mostly women more fierce than their husbands. Sergeant Chiba Vinh Nwynn was the prime example."[2] He also specified: "Sergeant Chiba Vinh Nwynn was the foremost and most ferocious of the Company’s few female soldiers. We had lost her husband at Charm. She was stronger and scarier than most of the men."[3]
Two deceased female soldiers are revealed among the inscriptions found on Outsweeper's Company memorial slabs in Aloe: the sisters Guust Nolet and Hika Nolet. Guust had the inscription "Cross-dressing in plain sight" and Hika's inscription was "Redheaded cross-dressing demon whisperer". Croaker adds a note about them in his Annals: "These sisters had been seriously nasty. Hika may have fallen to friendly fire"[4].
Other important women[]
Some other women were absolutely critical to the Black Company at various points in its history, but were never sworn in officially. One was the young woman Darling; the Black Company was the backbone of her New White Rose Rebellion for several years. Another was Ky Sahra, who fulfilled the functions traditionally reserved for the Black Company Lieutenant despite being technically an outsider.
Other women, like Suruvhija Singh, were wives of members and frequently associated with the Company in a domestic sense, but were not soldiers themselves.
References[]
- ↑ Shadow Games ch. 9
- ↑ Port of Shadows ch. 15
- ↑ Port of Shadows ch. 18
- ↑ Port of Shadows ch. 18