The Rat Brigade

"Used to be a dozen of us – the best sappers around, now look at us."

The Rat Brigade is a group of three battle-hardened Rattus Faber that work together as an engineer.

Rats In The Locomotive

"Our Sarge kicked the bucket in the Blockade. But the night before, he told each of us he'd left us something in a vault. Old sod must've been loaded. Thing is, we need his account number to get it. He gave part of it to each of us, so there'd be no thieving. Hence our predicament: that last mission, our Lt sold us out. Half the squad died, the rest scattered."

The Brigade didn't always consists of three members. Before that they were known as the Rat Regiment, a mercenary company formed at the start of the Winchester War that offer their services to Tacketies and Stovepipes alike. Because of this they are not respected by both sides.

Eventually they are hired by the Tacketies to sabotage the Governor engine, Her Majesty's Displeasure, during the Blockade of New Winchester. However they are betrayed by one of them. Now half of them are dead, while the other half are scattered across the High Wilderness.

Before the Blockade, Sarge gave each member of the Regiment parts of his Hallidge's account number to the Regiment. He said that he left something in his vault. Now the Rat Brigade attempt to locate the former members of the Regiment to collect their number parts.

Members

• Cinders is the smallest rat and the current leader of the Brigade.
• Albrecht is the agent provocateur of the Brigade. He secretly want to join Winter's Reside.
• Petronella is the mechanic of the Brigade. She loves miniature train.
• Wilma was the strategist of the Regiment and former lover of Cinders. Now she is the pet of one of Perdurance's Debutante.
• Angel was the demo-man (demo-rat?) of the Regiment. He dislike Vianne. He now work as a fire-breather in Polmear & Plenty's Inconceivable Circus.
• Vianne was the medic of the Regiment. She dislike Angel. She is stationed in Magdalene's Chamber of Solace.
• Lt Humphrey is actually not a rat, rather he is a half-hamster. Sarge select him as the leader of the Regiment, because he need the rats to be "respectable". However he betrayed the Regiment at the Blockade of New Winchester to the Stovepipes and now hold a comfortable position in the Windward Company.
• Christobel was the misanthropic long-range gunner of the Regiment. She died in the Blockade.
• Sebastian was the quartermaster of the Regiment and Albrecht's mate. He died in the Blockade.
• Seamus was the navigator of the Regiment. His long-life desire is to return to the Neath through the Avid Horizon. He died rescuing the Regiment in the Blockade.
• Sarge was the one who gathered the rats and formed the Regiment. He died in the Blockade.

Betrayal?

"Cinders' derringer is aimed squarely at the elderly rat's face. The Parsimonious Chairman moves to add a half lump of sugar to his tea, but thinks better of it. The Lt cowers before her.

"It wasn't me!" he squeaks.

Cinders blinks. "You wot?""

It turns out the Brigade and the Windward company had a misunderstanding. It wasn't the Lt that betray the Brigade, it was Sarge: He's the one who made a deal with the Company. The engine that the rat were sabotaging were a decoy, and the Governor escape.

The misunderstanding began when the Windward's engine fires too early and killed half of the Regiment, including Sarge himself. Somehow they thought that the Lt were in on the plan and so they hired him. The Lt claim that he didn't told the rest of the Regiment the truth to honor Sarge's name.