Mouton's Sharpshooters
Introduction
The story of Company F, 1st Voltigeurs Battalion 'Julia', known as Mouton's Sharpshooters, starts with their namesake: J.A.A. Mouton, otherwise known as Amaury Mouton.
Jean-Amaury-Achille Mouton was born the third son of a tea merchant by the name of Jacques Mouton. His father, Jean-Claude Mouton had continued his family's successful Tea enterprise, Mouton Delacroix & Cie. He had expanded it, along with his partner Jacques Delacroix, to become one of the most dominate Tea companies in the nation, and had opened branches in Oiseau, Pomerania, and the Tsukinode Empire.
Growing up, Amaury proved to be quite an adventurous and unruly child, often to the chagrin of his old man and his punctilious mother, Cécile. The little rascal was known to cause mischief and play pranks on his aloof parents and neighbors. He once stole a ring from Madame Duvivier and hid it inside cow manure just to watch the stuck-up gentry parade themselves around as if murder had been committed. Another time, he purposely broke a piece off all pieces of fine Tsuki within his estate.
Between these mischievous deeds, his lack of care to education, and tendency to run off from home for extended periods of time resulted in him being sent off to live with his uncle Gaston at age 12, who was supposed to teach the lad to be a gentleman "the hard way". You see, Gaston lived out in the sticks, and was known to be a simple living, bellicose and strict old coot. The Mouton's believed their son would be broken by him and the lack of pleasures that existed in that atmosphere, returning as a proper boy ready to be trained to be a gentleman one day. But alas, they couldn't have been further from the truth, or at least he turned out different that they expected.
Gaston took a liking to the young boy immediately, having heard of his antics against the very people he had found to be boring many years before. He saw a lot of himself in Amaury and was eager to teach him the ways of an outdoorsmen. Though things were rough at first, He taught him all of his tricks and methods that he had learned many years before, and as it turned out, Amaury was more than a willing student and a natural. Aside from the ways of an outdoorsman and hunter, Amaury also grew to be quite the gentleman as well in his own way. Gaston had not forgot the reason he was sent and taught him everything he knew; with the caveat being that Amaury decide for himself what makes a gentleman and leader. It was these 5 years in the wild that forged the boy into a dapper, yet independent young man.
Already during these years, he had won himself some clout as an excellent marksmen and hunter, providing quite the upset in a local competition according to legend, where he beat men with decades of experience at their own game. He had also made quite a few friends among the locals and forged connections that would prove quite useful as time went along. When he turned 17, Gaston decided that the boy was ready to return home, but Amaury wanted nothing of it. He wanted to stay with his friends out here, not in the stuffy atmosphere back home, but his uncle wisely told him that if he wanted to live like him, he would first have to break the news to his parents in person. Thus, with a reluctant heart, he turned home to his parents.
His parents were totally shocked to see what Amaury had become when he returned home. He had not become the prim and proper young gentleman they expected, but rather the opposite. His mother immediately threw a fit and blamed Gaston for failing them with their son, but Jean-Claude, though shocked himself, saw things a bit differently. The young man before him certainly wasn't what he expected but he believed that this was what his son was destined to be all along. He made it clear to his wife that this was what Moona intended for Amaury, and that they should accept it. It took some time for her to be convinced, but she eventually agreed though she never would show much acceptance towards this. The same wasn't true about Jean-Claude, who after a long discussion with his boy, asked him what he wanted to do with his life. Amaury simply told him he wanted to return to his friends along Lake Invictis, but he also told him he wanted to find fortune in life his own way. His father understood his son's feelings, and gave him his full blessing, so long as he regularly wrote to the folks back home and came to visit every once in a while. He also bought him something special: an Abbeville Rifle.
The Abbeville was something of a new technology at this point. It used several revolutionary techniques to achieve incredible accuracy at extremely long ranges, including hexagonal bullets, percussion cap, and even came with a long-range optical scope. Amaury's eyes let up when he first saw the Abbeville, which he would soon name Lucie. With jubilation, he hugged his father and promised that he would hold up his end of the deal with pleasure. It was thus that Amaury returned back to his true home, ready to blaze his own path in life.
He settled down in a village some 10 miles from Lake Invicta, only a few miles from where his uncle and friends lived. Adjusting rapidly to his new life, Amaury built himself a homestead and quickly married a local girl by the name of Jeanette. After spending 3 years as a local trapper and hunter, Amaury dreamed of something grander. He had already built up a reputation as a subliminal marksman, and he wanted to forge a "dream team" with his buddies that would travel the nation together and win all the fame as marksmen as they could. It didn't take much convincing for any of them, and quickly the Champibagne Rifles were formed, and set off on their tour.
One of the more surprising members of this team was Jeanette, who regularly humiliated many local hotshots with her own skill. Jeanette's story is an interesting one, but beyond the scope of this introduction. All that needs to be said is that over the next 5 years, the Champibagne Rifles quickly rose to become the most famous marksmen group in the whole Kingdom. They eventually got into a friendly with some of the army's own best sharpshooters and after a hard fought match, emerged victorious in the seven-round showdown. It was now that a certain Lt. Col. Bernard Labille enters the scene.
You see, Labille had been contracted by his friends in the Aizono Domain to form up a battalion of the best men he could to join in their fight against their rivals. He had already formed 5 companies but needed one more and he desired to have a special company of sharpshooters. He had been scouting these thirteen for a while now, and after their victory over the army itself, he knew he had found the basis for Company F. He just needed to convince them to join him!
This is thus where our story begins: Late one night at a place called Catfish Creek, where the thirteen are enjoying a shad bake and Labille approaches them, presenting them with his offer.
Chapter I: A Noble Proposition
Catfish Creek