Acquisition is a murky business. Even more within the walls of war.

The clean up crew. The Stomach Spliters. The Magpie Men. All nicknames for the Night Corps. The little known branch of the military devoted to acquiring lost valuables squirreled away by the fallen— both soldiers and civilians alike. Many are made wealthy by war. More so when nothing is let to be lost.

It’s not uncommon for dying men to swallow watches or medallions. The desperate to consume the sharp edges of gem rings and necklaces. The changes to reacquire the lost valuables came from the devious mind of a former grave robber. Nicknamed “The Beetle” Adlai Constance was a small, wiry man with distinctive oval aviation sunglasses. The last of a long line of enterprising jackals, Adlai followed his family’s tradition of grave robbing. Only back when they were landed gentry, it was called antiquities.

Isolated from the rest of the army, the “Nightcrawlers” as they were often called, kept to their own barracks and mess hall. Their customs were kept secret— save for the infamous corpse gloves of Irina Petravka. A lean, falcon of a woman wore sealed leather gloves during her field duty. Unlike the rest of the Corps who operated with disposables, Irina used her continually stained pair— telling anyone dumb enough to ask why— that it was “none of their fucking business.”

Irina wasn’t the only character to be found amongst the Corps. Aside from Adlai and Irina, you could find Luther Cravelli constantly tinkering with some indiscernible gadget— often apt to smoke or on rather occasions explode. He said he came from a line of Venetian inventors, but the truth of that was anyone’s guess.

The main reason the Night Corps stayed isolated from the masses is the obvious one. Death makes people uncomfortable. Dealing with people whose daily business was intimate with it? The pale specter didn’t stray far from the imagination for average service members when interacting with a Nightcrawler.