Affiliation: Black Orchard
Role: Urban predation / targeted elimination / area denial
Doctrine: Silent. Fast. Final.
The gold standard.
Lightweight, ballistic, modular.
Worn with:
Wilcox G24 mount
Ops-Core AMP headset (NFMI enabled)
Princeton Tec MPLS light
Why:
This is Tier 1 standard for a reason. You don’t beat it, you copy it.
97% of enemies never see them.
The 3% who do don’t live long enough to talk.
Paired with:
ECOTI thermal overlay
Wilcox RAID-X IR/Vis/Illuminator
Why:
This gives them predator vision.
They don’t just see you. They see through you.
No masks like Julius.
They wear:
But the key:
No markings
No unit patches
No identifiers
No names
They are anonymous by design.
The myth is reserved for Julius.
They are the knives.
Loaded with:
Hesco 3810 Level III+ or 4800 Level IV plates
First Spear Tubes quick-release
Spiritus Systems Micro Fight rig
Why:
Light enough to move.
Strong enough to survive.
Fast enough to kill.
This is assault armor, not parade armor.
You get two realistic, terrifying options depending on role:
With:
SureFire SOCOM RC2 suppressor
EOTech EXPS3 + G33 magnifier
PEQ-15 ATPIAL
SureFire M600V
Geissele trigger
Why:
Unkillable platform
Clean recoil impulse
Global special forces standard
Psychological effect: “professionals are here.”
With:
SLH or SRD suppressor
Aimpoint T-2
DBAL-A3
Modlite OKW
Why:
Folding stock
Suppressor optimized
Perfect for vehicles, hallways, stairwells
This is the urban butcher’s rifle.
With:
Trijicon RMR
SureFire X300
Threaded barrel + suppressor (optional)
Why:
Utter reliability
Parts everywhere
No drama
This is not a fashion choice.
It’s a survival decision.
Every Rose carries:
Plus:
Why:
Silent kills
Control kills
Finality
No katanas.
No show.
Just tools.
Standard load:
3–5 rifle mags (Esstac Kywi)
1–2 pistol mags
IFAK (North American Rescue)
CAT Gen 7 tourniquet
Chest shears
Trauma dressing
Flashbang x1
Smoke (white or IR)
Why:
They expect contact.
They expect injury.
They expect to finish anyway.
With:
Encrypted channels
Bone conduction mic
Push-to-talk routed through vest
Why:
You never hear them.
But they hear everything.
With:
Dump pouch
Pistol mag
Rifle mag
Multi-tool
Breaching charge (if assigned)
Flex cuffs
This is for work, not comfort.
or
Why:
Quiet
Stable
Fast
No squeak
They sound like nothing until it’s too late.
They protect hands without killing dexterity.
Hands matter.
Hands do the work.
When a Black Rose unit moves, it looks like:
Shadows detaching from walls
Shapes where there shouldn’t be shapes
Silence where there should be noise
No shouting.
No chatter.
No bravado.
Just:
movement
angles
execution
Witnesses don’t describe individuals.
They say:
“It was like the room turned against us.”
(in-world also whispered as: “Peppermint’s Thorns”)
Strength: 25 total
Status: Off-books, deniable, never acknowledged
Role: Long-range elimination, overwatch, counter-hunter, impossible target removal
Loyalty: Julius alone
They are not a squad.
They are not a platoon.
They are a collection of 25 problems that Julius deploys one at a time.
Among survivors:
“If you see a Rose, you run.
If you hear about a Thorn, you were already dead.”
Among hostile factions:
“The Roses kill.
The Thorns erase.”
Among former military:
“Those aren’t mercs.
That’s a program.”
No one ever claims to have fought a Thorn and won.
They claim to have lost people.
Julius does not recruit skill.
He recruits damage.
Every Thorn has:
Lost a unit
Lost a family
Been burned by command
Been written off
Been left behind
They are:
Snipers who kept shooting after extraction failed
Recon who never got recalled
Operators who completed missions that “never happened”
Julius doesn’t offer them a job.
He offers them a direction.
“You already belong to the dark. I just give it a shape.”
They are not ranked traditionally.
No sergeants.
No captains.
They are known by:
Callsign
Number
Reputation
Examples (use or tweak):
Thorn-01 “Grave” – longest confirmed range
Thorn-04 “Static” – never seen, only effects
Thorn-09 “Hollow” – urban vertical specialist
Thorn-13 “Cinder” – counter-sniper hunter
Thorn-17 “Lintel” – structural overwatch
Thorn-22 “Vane” – weather and wind savant
No one uses real names.
Not even Julius.
Names are for people.
They are tools.
Where the Roses:
Clear
Control
Secure
The Thorns:
Observe
Select
End
They are used when:
A target cannot escape
A location cannot be assaulted
A group cannot be confronted directly
A message must be sent without spectacle
They are precision terror.
This is key for your “never seen before” aesthetic.
They do not look uniform.
But they all share:
matte, light-absorbing surfaces
broken silhouettes
irregular outlines
People describe them as:
“Not shaped right.”
“Too thin.”
“Too still.”
“Like someone forgot to finish drawing them.”
Some wear:
long coats over gear
shredded cloaks
ghillie elements in urban colors
asymmetrical armor plates
They look wrong in cities.
Like wildlife that wandered into concrete.
Each Thorn wears, hidden or visible, a small peppermint spiral.
Not bright.
Not white.
Usually:
scratched into metal
etched into polymer
stitched in black thread on black fabric
It is never prominent.
It is never announced.
It is for the body that finds them.
The Thorns do not joke.
They do not brag.
They do not trade stories.
They do not keep trophies.
They keep records.
Each Thorn maintains:
a personal ledger
a list
a tally
Not kills.
Corrections.
Because in their doctrine:
“We don’t end people.
We end mistakes.”
This mirrors Julius’s mask ledger.
It is not coincidence.
It is indoctrination.
This is crucial.
They do not see him as:
a boss
a commander
a leader
They see him as:
“The Axis.”
The point everything rotates around.
When Julius speaks, they listen.
When Julius moves, they prepare.
When Julius is silent, they become still.
He does not micromanage.
He selects.
That is enough.
The Thorns do not travel together.
Ever.
They arrive:
early
separately
unnoticed
They leave:
late
separately
unremembered
People never report:
“Twenty-five of them showed up.”
They report:
“Something happened… and then they were gone.”
Let NPCs say things like:
“You can’t ambush a Thorn. They’re already behind you.”
“They don’t miss. They correct.”
“One of them waited three days in a church bell.”
“One of them slept in a wall.”
“One of them never moved. The world moved around him.”
These are probably exaggerated.
Which makes them worse.
Because Julius understands something most leaders don’t:
Scarcity creates myth.
If there were 100, they’d be a unit.
If there were 50, they’d be a team.
At 25?
They are a legend with a headcount.
This matters symbolically.
The Roses are the bloom.
The Thorns are the defense.
Julius is the root.
The Black Orchard is not a place.
It is a system.
It grows.
It spreads.
It consumes.
And it is very, very hard to uproot.
What you’ve built here is not:
a PMC
a militia
a mercenary squad
It is a myth-backed, precision death cult built around one man’s philosophy.
That is why it’s scary.
That is why it’s compelling.
That is why it fits Julius.