Well, once it had been said, it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world.  "We should have a war."  Of course!  And so, the four friends excitedly started to sketch out the plans for the first Mercenary Wars there on an old white-box style Macintosh in the computer lab, much to the annoyance of the lab supervisor.

About this time, it seemed prudent to have a proper name for the group instead of just "the sword-fighting group," as everybody had heretofore referred to it.  So Rillion, doing some not-so-quick thinking, said "How about the Mercenaries of Shadow & Light?"

This seemed a decent idea to everybody (or at least nobody complained audibly).  For Rillion had declared himself a Dark Knight some time before, whilst Pyridan had proclaimed himself a Fire Knight.  And they, being the two founding members of the group, felt that the name they chose for it should in some measure reflect their personas.

Also, it sounded cool.

Lance looking cool just after the first Mercenary Wars. Note that garb is starting to get better. Ben told him not to smile.

As is recounted in the Annals of the Mercenary Wars, the first one was a great success, and became everybody's focal point.  For it was never in question in anybody's mind that there would be a second Mercenary Wars.

However, something tumultuous and disturbing happened that fall; Rillion and Pyridan went to college, as well as Roland.  The leadership fell to Lance during that fall and winter.  He seemed almost relieved when Rillion managed to botch his schooling and return home to a local college for the spring semester.

When he returned, he had changed his persona name to Maelgrim - a Welsh name combining linguistic roots of the welsh words for "savage" and "wolf."  Pyridan had likewise changed his name to Owen Cwiran - pieced together from names found in the Domesday book of 1086.

Cynara and her daughter Gwen (not yet born) at Mercenary Wars 2. Maelgrim threatened many anatomically improbable fates for thos who hit Cynara this war, so she fought as an archer.

Two more Mercenary Wars, followed, as well as the marriage of Rillion and Cynara, and the subsequent birth of their daughter, Gwen.   At the third Mercenary Wars, a young man named Zane attended.  At the time, he seemed merely a nice fellow who had courteously swelled the ranks of attendees to 18 or so.

He proved later to be a boon indeed to the Mercenaries of Shadow & Light.  For in the months following the third Mercenary Wars, Maelgrim grew despondent and apathetic.  And his friends were consumed in the world of academia, and had moved away.

But all hope was not lost.

Our first action shot, in Blur-O-Vision! Isaac and Malcom face off during one of the tournaments at Mercenary Wars 2.