HammerOne/CircleofFivePlagues

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Created by renowned Sidereal warrior Map of Fury, the circle of Five Plagues were five terrestrial exalted, each a prodigy in his or her own right and all recruited when young students of the Immaculate order. Trained in secret martial arts and bound to secrecy by either ambition or loyalty, the five dragonblooded became a secret weapon to use against all enemies of the Immaculate order and of the Realm. The five assassins became especially adept at taking down influential anathema, far from the borders of the Realm.

The usual tactic of the Five plagues was for wood Aspect and poison mistress Emerald Spider to take care of any henchmen and weaken the anathema, using poisons and her bow. Inhumanly durable Water Aspect Unmovable Toad would draw the enemy's fire away from his circle mates while Air aspect and master acrobat Flying Centipede and Fire aspect and circle sorcerer Burning Cobra would relentlessly attack the enemy, driving him further toward hidden circle leader, Earth aspect Dirt Scorpion, poised to strike the final killing blow. Further aided by the sorceries and strategies of their Sideral Mentor, the Circle of Five Plagues always got their target.

After a number of successful missions, the five plagues where sent on one last fateful mission, deep in the hundred kingdoms of the east where a mysterious entity had begun to amass a great rebel army that could seriously threaten several satrapies in the east. But something went wrong. When the mission was over, the mysterious entity had disappeared, Dirt Scorpion was dead and the four remaining members were had suffered grievous wounds to their minds and bodies that some of them would never get over. The one who suffered the most was Emerald Spider, who had loved Dirt Scorpion and would be haunted by visions of his death for the rest of her existence. Slipping in drink and drug abuse, Emerald Spider left the Immaculate Order and now runs a house of ill repute somewhere in the east, spending most of her days sobbing about her lost love. Burning Cobra, oldest friend of Dirt Scorpion, was equally shattered and retired to the he Blessed Isle, haunted by the nagging suspicion that it was his fault that the mission failed and Dirt Scorpion was killed, something the Fire aspect would never shake. Unmovable Toad was characteristically least marked by the experience and the loss of their leader and after voicing the suspicion that Burning Cobra was to blame, slipped back into the Realm and disappeared into the Bureaucracy. Flying Centipede saw the evidence that pointed to Burning Cobra's failure or betrayal, but felt that someone was amiss. Not willing to simply let it go, the dedicated air apsect stayed near the scene of their last mission, becomming something of a reclusive hermit as the years went by. As for Dirt Scorpion, he found himself in the underworld, amnesiac but possessed by a rage that wouldn't let him slip away. Still possessing a great deal of the martial skills that made him the leader of the Five Plagues, Dirt Scorpion now finds himself a trainer in an underworld army and he is not entirely sure why. All he knows is that someone betrayed him and that that someone will pay.

Circle of Five Plagues

• Councilman Lung -once the Immaculate assassin Unmovable Toad now agent of a darker power.
• Mistress Fo -the sad shadow of the Emerald Spider, a former assassin of the Immaculate Order.
• Poison Mountain -The long dead leader of the Circle of Five Plagues once known as the Dirt Scorpion, now raging through the underworld, seeking his vengeance.
• Burning Cobra Descendant -Grandson of the Original Burning Cobra, this young Dragonblooded is hunting down his grandfather's old circle mates, to seek retribution and closure for his broken grandfather.
• Elder Frost -Once the infamous assassin Flying Centipede, now a reclusive hermit

Notes

The "secret" martial arts, Five Plagues were trained in were actually various animal styles. Burning Cobra was proficient in Snake Style, while Dirt Scorpion combined his mastery of Earth Dragon Style with something like Scorpion 3 by BerserkSeraph. Emerald Spider uses Invincible Spider by DigitalSentience which fits her support role perfectly. As for Unmovable Toad and Flying Centipe, I have yet to come across any styles that fit those animals and what I would like them to do. I realize that a Terrestrial with both a Dragon style and an additional celestial style, might be percieved as "munchkiny" but the intention with the Five Plagues was always to serve as a sort of campaign structure, a hidden storyline, which players could "unlock" during the campaign, slowly making the connections between the different characters who would serve as story hooks (mentors, final enemies etc) rather than conventional antagonists.

Comments

Councilman Lung and Mistress Fo are quite cool, and I'd be curious to see what the other three look like. Very cool concept! - FrivYeti

Thanks a lot, though I don't if I'll get around to statting them out, but I'll post thorough descriptions, maybe someone else will take a stab at the stats. -HammerOne