Revision as of 09:07, 4 April 2007

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The Order of the Dead Hand

A monastic order of the Bishop's religion. Composed entirely of Ghosts, most of them Nemessaries, remnants from the last crusade centuries before. The Dead Hand acts as the Bishop's main hand in the living world. A vanguard meant to pursue, weather and destroy Gods and Chosen. Arranged in three Circles of thirty members, with the support of three circles of assassins, they dispense divine punishment. Shadowlands, Labyrinth and Void, in each of the Circles. The thirty that Pursue, led by White Sorrow. The thirty that break, led by Obsidian. The thirty that vanquish, led by Alabaster. And outside of it all, the twelve that murder, led by Black Avian.

Shadowlands, Labyrinth and Void, the components of their holy descent in their every Circle, in their every movement.

The Lords

• Alabaster, the Lord Commander of the Dead Hand, was once known as White Fang, an Admiral on the White Sea, three centuries ago, and as a puissant veteran fifty years ago, when his existence as a Dragon-Blooded ended in the climax of the Saint Vicious' crusades. But even as a ghost, retains much of his former puissance. Named Alabaster as he sacrificed his name to Oblivion on the Creation of the Dead Hand, he commands it with the same iron fist as he did his fleet. An Illumminated Ghost, powerful as an Exalt, he commands all the three circles of the Dead Hand, and directs Obsidian, Black Avian, and White Sorrow. Wielding White Oblivion, a Dire Lance of White Jade and Ivory, blade of a strange pale metal, he is the best fighter of the Dead Hand, keeping the mastery of a myriad of combat forms he knew in life, empowered by the Ebon Illumination, with the order at his beck and call... Alabaster is a terrifying foe.

• Obsidian, the Lord Enforcer of the Dead Hand, was once known as Sizard the Mountain, one of the prime bodyguards and enforcers of Whitewall. He died along with Alabaster during the crusades, and walked into the labyrinth for a long, long time, wrestling down many horrors he found there, meeting the whispers and letting them sway him. There, Obsidian forsook what was left of his humanity. Much like his god, he remembers little what it is to be human, and moliated his body into something... else.
  
  He looks much like the mixture between a human and a Mosok, covered in bones and a heavy armor of Soulsteel, where strong animals he has wrestled down with bare hands scream for blood. In each hand he has a great mace of Black Jade and Soulsteel, shaped like the skulls of fierce creatures long gone. He leads the Dead Hand when they have to strike hard, to put out revolts, crush the cults of Gods, and to place the fear of the Shining One in all those they meet.

• Black Avian The Lord Assassin of the Dead Hand was originally a windian Dragon-Blooded, part of the strike in Whitewall during the crusades and the murder of a syndic. After his demise, he moliated his body into the visage of a hawk, with great ruined wings that show his pain and torment for all who behold. His role in the Dead Hand is to lead strikes in the night, strikes to quickly kill, and hit-and-run terrorist strikes like the one he led in Whitewall so long ago. Black Avian uses a great thin and curved Blue Jade Reaver Daiklave, in the fashion of eastern No-Dachis - Resplendent Sky, which focuses the winds under his will.

He met his end in the Dark Angel's hands, his soul devourted during an aerial fight far above Whiteshield..

• White Sorrow: The Lord Pursuer of the Dead Hand is the only one originally human in the Dead Hand's higher ranks. He was there to spirit Vicious' blade away when both met their demises, but only he rose as a ghost. He has been Illumminated by the Bishop, but that does not place him on a greater step than the others - even without illummination, Avian and Obsidian are equally strong if not more, and the way they work, illummination would barely enhance them. Wielding Sorrow Dreamer's Demise and riding a vicious black horse, Sorrow remained the best tracker of the order, the one to hunt running Exalts and gods down for their ultimate illumination... or destruction.

The Order

The Three Shining Circles operate together when taking out Exalted, and rarely if ever are issued alone, as even one of them, when lost, takes over a century to replace. A close formation with Hungry Ghosts as their hounds, they are created to fight Exalts and gods... there are ten of each, and when they split, they tend to split in groups of three of each type, nine of them being more than enough for most conceivably threats...

Those who see the Dead Hand see them, thirty figures clad in dark-brown cloaks, their ends finely trimmed in silver, depicting His Holy Scriptures in flawless high realm, fastened by broochs that bear his true, heinous face – for all those who become of the Dead Hand can see him once, and go on their knees under the force of such a glorious, monstrous visage.

... The SoulBranders are beastmasters, masters of the Savage Ghost Tamer Arts, lead their hounds, Hungry Ghosts picked from the best of the best, to confuse and weaken the enemy, branding their flesh to point their chained animal souls to the right target.

Of these, ten bear copper plate armor reinforced with curse glyphs of shining dark chalcedony. These armors are wholly runed and covered in arcane symbols, depitcting curse, ownership, slavery and death. Hungry death. Their hands are covered in heavy fighting gauntlets, their armor is filled with a slaver's dominative steel chains to hold their thralls, and their visages are uncovered, but branded with marks that still burn like red-hot metal in their faces. Those are the ones who bear the trappings of the Soulbranders.

... The SoulEaters are vampires, leeches, masters of the Essence-Measuring Thiet Arts, able to eat the Essence out of any they touch, draining the Exalts and Gods of any Essence they still have after fighting the hounds by a mere touch of the dented mouths on their hands - without their divinity, they are no threat.

Of these, ten bear crimson plates, wrought from the blood of their victims and reinforced with chalcedony the color of burning fire. These armors have hungry, sharp-toothed mouths, hideous like none above the Labyrinth over their shoulders, on their knees and their elbows. Similarly, Their chests have an even greater mouth sculpted in the armor, whose teeth is jagged like a shark's. Their hands are covered in wicked bone tiger claws tipped by fiery chalcedony, and their faces are covered in a quicksilver mask that has no eyes nor nose – only a hungry mouth,which moves like it is alive, its teeth jagged and runed to the last in foul runes of curse and malady. All the teeth is of bone, darker than the clear ivory of creation. Those are the ones who bear the trappings of the Souleaters.

... And finally the SoulHunters are warriors, masters of violent Terror-Spreading Arts and the Chosen Arts of War, made to fight and kill, hitting hard with arrow and sword and giving the coup de grace on the weakened.

Of these, ten bear plates of brass and bone. These armors are clean, depicting their simple purpose and their incorruptible devotion to He Who Rules Over Death. On their backs rests bows of bone with cords of soul for their strings, and two straight swords lie in sccabards on their waists. Their masks are made of gold, with only the most subtle hint of features, and have slitted black eyes. These are the ones who bear the trappings of the Soulhunters.

The Three Chalcedony Circles complement the threefold symmetry in their own way, unseen by any but their intended targets. Many times, they operate on their own, without support from the Three Shining Circles or even their own peers, to murder Small Gods or kidnap their loved ones - many times in missions known only to those who carry it, Black Avian and Lord Alabaster. The Three Chalcedony Circles comprise of the Iron Shades, all practicioners of the Ghost-Dragon style, wielding steel knifes that fly silently and deadly...

Those who bear the trappings of the Iron Shades sacrifice their names to the Void, and in return receive... nothing. They become nothing, walking shadows that shouldn't be, bringing swift nonexistence to all those that also should not, but are. Idealized and trained by Black Avian, the Iron Shades are shrouded in dark, ragged mantles, cowl pushed heavy over their heads, one can barely see what is beneath... a sleek mask of quicksilver and chacledony, the dark, black chalcedony like blood on the ocean... lines that waves on the sleek quicksilver, like shadows under a flickering candle... their bodies covered in a form-fitting dark zircon armor that disappears under the shroud, reflecting shadows instead of light. Mystic ice-knives come shrieking like birds of prey from their darkness, and each carries a curved reaper daiklave, gusts of eerie wind coming as they are unsheathed.

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