New Alternative Assassins
'Sigh. Another mysterious, highly skilled assassin, with a difficult child hood and black clothes. Oh. This one has knives in his belt, not his boot. Well, at least it is not a Drow. '
After having read through some of the many, many submissions on the main site, I have come to this conclusion: The mysterious, wiry and highly skilled assassin with daggers in his boots, a difficult childhood and black clothes... Well, he needs a makeover! It seems everyone else has concluded the same.
But instead of just complaining about it, lets try to improve upon this profession, because they are very handy in any political plot.
Here is an example from history:
Led by Hasan Al Sabah, the 'Old Man of the Mountain', the Hashishin were a cult based at the mountain fortress of Alamut, located in what is modern-day Iran. By all accounts (including that of Marco Polo), these people - from whose name the modern term assassin is derived - were a pretty scary bunch. Hasan's followers were a band of fearless political killers, and his method of indoctrination was pretty unique. He constructed a secret garden furnished with all the paradisical delights of paradise - women, great food and, of course, hashish. After the would-be assassins had experienced a few days of this mediaeval rock star lifestyle they were cast out with a mission, and the promise that if they completed it successfully and then committed suicide, they would return to the paradise.
So, lets break the cliche and create some great alternatives! I hereby challenge everyone to create their own unique strain.
Article Codex
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Country/ State
Operating out of Armudstadt, the notorious city of corruption and deceit and centre of the Kingdom of Dernwich, the Duchampe Society takes its name from its founding father, one Vergrin Duchampe, who lived around the 18th century. Duchampe, an Elvish merchantman - or rather, a leader and 'godfather' of a great deal of lower Elvish merchantmen, was notorious for his skill at wagers.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Regional
The Strangler is a chaos entity worshipped by an assassin cult. Using narcotics in their worship members of this killing cult are very very dangerous.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • World Wide
The Hand are assassins and spys of legend. Each member has super human abilities and skills. They have been known to breach the tighest security. They have been implicated in hundreds of deaths, though no proof of foul play has been found for many of them. However, things are not always what they seem... especially when an Orb is around.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • World Wide
Most Vampires get their own feed and don't care who they get it from. But for the highest Lords of the Vampire hierarchy they have little time to go about the process of obtaining blood and prefer some of a good source, so they get their Quartermasters to take blood of good quaility from important victims.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Country/ State
Perhaps they lack the subtlety of other groups, but the Candles of God have no desire to be subtle. Perhaps they do not keep their secrets very well, but the Candles of God want their voices to be heard. Perhaps they are careless about who they kill, but there shall be no innocent bystanders when the fires of hell consume the unrighteous.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • World Wide
'Sigh. Another mysterious, highly skilled assassin, with a difficult child hood and black clothes. Oh. This one has knives in his belt, not his boot. Well, at least it is not a Drow. '
Organizations • Combative • Regional
The Order of the Dry Bones is an order dedicated to the Destruction of Great Evils. They are the hands of a secret cabal dedicated to destroying Great Evils.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Country/ State
In a land where dueling is common, the Azure Sword ply their trade. While dueling removes most of the need for assasination, there are still those who can not overcome their enemies by sword.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Area
What we need is an alternative to hiring mages that are good enough to deal with the Guild's mages.
Baroness Teysa
NPCs • Mythic/ Historical • Criminal/Espionage
No one finds the Remover of Inconvient Things, The Remover finds you. So be careful about what you whisper in the dark, The Remover may hear it and come.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Local
The part of the body for the soul of the world has been corruped. Woe be to all.
-Wyyrrenek, GreenMan Father 1620
Organizations • Religious • World Wide
To fight the Evil, you must learn of The Evil, master its skills, know its techniques, and be able to use its tools. Only then can you train others to fight The Evil.
—Ilvantus of the Black Robes to the general floor at the Creedos Convocation 1137 DO
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Area
Everyone has strings. You just need to know how to pull them. *cue evil laugh* With this 'string' of agents, who will respond perfectly to my careful manipulation, the safety of the Kingdom is ensured.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Regional
Then all of a sudden, the victim gets convulsions and seizures, eyes bulging and mouth foaming.
Organizations • Criminal/Espionage • Regional
First he becomes sweaty and feverish. Then the boils begin. The boils are beautiful. After that, he finds it difficult to breath, then move, then he drowns in his own blood. Is that sufficient?
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? Responses (4)
Okay. I love this codex. I have from its beginings. No longer are we trapped with the tyranny of the generic fantasy mafia. These groups have color, identity, and real motivations on being assassination based groups.
Very cool. You need to move away from the silly DnD assassin model to something else.
An excellent codex of assassins. Now got a lot more reading to do...
