Here we have the infamous Blue Hand. Enjoy :) (and criticise) [center] [hider= The Blue Hand] [color=LightGreen][b] Name: [/b] [/color] The Blue Hand [color=LightGreen][b] Summary [/b] [/color] An ancient and secretive Assassin order . [hider=Description] [color=LightGreen][h3][b] Description [/b][/h3] [/color] The Blue Hand is one of the most well known groups in Orvell, when it comes to death, they are experts. While the group are infamous, there whereabouts and places of command are known only to their members, though it is spoken in hushed whispers that they move from abandoned houses to dark sewers and from there into a thick forest caves – forever moving to evade detection. Named after the members during the early years of the order that would stain their hands with the blue pigment of their favoured poison, the order has risen past the gang they once were on the dark streets and alleyways of Orvell's cities, becoming a larger force than ever. [/hider] [hider= Hierarchy] [color=LightGreen][h3][b] Hierarchy [/b][/h3] [/color] The hierarchy of the order is simple enough: Phalanx: A phalanx is a new member of the order, yet to receive the Blue Boss and only just beginning training. The phalanx do not make up the majority of the order, as it is in fact rare for any Blue Hand Hold to have more than 3 Phalanx in training at any given time. Named after the sections that form a finger and sometimes referred to as pinkies - as in the smallest finger on a hand. Unnamed: The unnamed have earned the Blue Boss and received basic training. They are the theoretical spy network of the order and often traffic information, steal from the rich to fund the order and occasionally join their superiors on assignments. At this stage in training the Unnamed is given a number to answer to as well as the option of specialised training in a specialist field known as a shade of (blue) training. E.G. ranged combat, poison, manipulative speech, heavy weaponry or acrobatic movement. They are named after the unnamed finger (ring finger). Insulters: The insulters of the order make up the majority and are given most of the assassination assignments. At insulter status you are given the glove (armour) and the nails (weapons) of the order as well your own name and your Blue Boss gains a line for each level of training you complete in further training and study. Members can remain at insulter level and choose not to rise further through the ranks, accumulating more lines and continuing to accomplish assignments. When 20 lines are reached they are cleared from the Blue Boss and the hand is then filled in with the lines found on the hand, showing the members success in training/study. Insulters are named after the middle finger and are known for cutting the middle finger from their target and placing it in their mouth – giving them the finger. Pointers: Pointers are elite members of The Blue Hand and are the main recruiting body of the order. Trained to kill efficiently the pointers are those that negotiate assignments and confirm targets. There can only be one pointer per hold at any given time, and they conduct the initiations of all members under their hold, as they act the holds leader. Their Blue Boss of the hand is replaced with a Blue Boss of a clenched fist, to show their superiority and power. Pointers are named after the index finger, which is used to point. The Grip: Grips (not to be mistaken for the Order buildings where members are trained and stay - holds) are the five highest ranking members (aside from the palm) of The Blue Hand. Changing members every 10 years - unless a death occurs in which case another is voted in - the Grips govern over the groups of holds and help in the planning and sometimes execution of assignments. Each Grip is in charge of a group of Pointers. Each member is more often than not a veteran, unless a younger Pointer/Insulter shows great promise. Grips are so named as they represent the thumb, which allows the hand to grip – without the thumb the hand becomes useless. The Palm: The palm is the centre of the order, the council per say. It consists of 3 members known as The Hand, The Fist and The Wrist. It is The Hands job to keep the order safe and hidden, they are seen as the ultimate leader of the entire order and are present when a new Grip is appointed. The Fist conducts the most difficult assignments as he is the best The Blue Hand has concerning taking another life, he is the one to suspect when kings die unexpectedly. The Fist is the only one that has authority to allow an Insulter to wipe their 20 lines clean and claim the Patterned Hand. The Wrist connects the hand to the rest of the body, it has connections in every corner of the known world, and is in charge of dealing with anything related to government or marshal law and punishment, keeping the hand off the flame as it were – sometimes through bribery but mostly using blackmail.[/hider] [hider=Areas of Influence] [color=LightGreen][h3][b]Area of Influence[/b][/h3] [/color] The Hand has a presence in most major cities in holds, but their main bases of operation are scattered among the shadows of the land. The Hands members are diverse, many races and backgrounds complete its structure, thus its its influence is vast.[/hider] [hider=Goals] [color=LightGreen][h3][b] Goals [/b][/h3] [/color] The Blue Hand wishes to continue the subtle arts of death, one day hoping to establish its own city dedicated to its name, hidden from the world. As well as this they wish to recover their inheritance and perhaps expand into the mercenary/head hunter business. The Hand reaches for a bright light in the distance.[/hider] [hider=History] [color=LightGreen][h3][b] History [/b][/h3] [/color] The Orders founder was a hunters son, who was intrigued by the alchemy of the hunt. His father used many concoctions of his own design to paralyse his prey and not waste and inch of tender meat. Learning his fathers trade he became an adept hunter and alchemist respectively, and when the old man faded to death, he sought a bigger challenge than the bears he so easily killed. Travelling further into the forest, he searched for adventure and happened upon a camp, embers rose from the scorched earth and corpses littered the floor. When he drew closer a faint voice called to him, and running over to the body on the floor, the man grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close. His breath was foul with an iron stench, blood was seeping from his eyes as he spoke of an ambush and a precious treasure. Finally falling back down into an eternal sleep, he young man found that his clothing was covered in a blue substance from the man's hand. Just then he noticed that a blue path drove its way through the trees and into the wilderness, following it for many hours he arrived at another encampment, the same as the last, however its flames still danced, through the rough foliage he saw a figure retreating into the shadows. Following the mysterious stranger, he stumbled across a small vial, golden rim and silver plating. Inside a blue liquid swayed this way and that, as he opened the clasp the vial exploded as if an ocean wave as blue as the sky had crashed upon a rock and flew up to the clouds and through the vials open lid – he closed the clasp with tremendous haste. His hands now covered in the stuff, he dabbed it onto his already dirtied top, taking a liking to the look – he covered his entire attire in the blue hand prints. Delving deeper into the twisting trees after the dark figure, he found himself on a dirt track and almost jumped for cover, a large wagon swung around the bend to his right and the screech of wheels and startled horses set his nerves twitching with fright. A fat merchant sat upon the wagon, hooded and cloaked, but fat none the less. He hopped rather heavily from the steps and landed with a loud thud, followed by many more smaller thuds as he approached the young man. A bag of gold for the trinket was the other, but the boy refused. Such a magic item was worth many hundreds of bags of many hundreds of gold pieces and this is what he told the lump. So that is what he offered, as much gold as the young man could imagine. So the boy ran, and ran as fast as he could. If the merchant would so easily offer such wealth, it was worth much much more than he said. The young boy ran and the merchant gave chase, as fast as he was, the merchant ran as fast as the next man and was beginning to gain. Screaming foul words mixed in with an incomprehensible language the merchant drew near, the young man pulled the clasp from the vial and sprayed the liquid onto the floor behind him. Slipping and sliding the merchant still ran, picking up speed against all odds, but a small drop of the blue had reached his lips as his shoes threw it up from the ground, and he swallowed it down along with the saliva that had built up in his gluttonous mouth. A hideous scream of distress and horror crashed over the trees and brush and the young man turned to see the fat merchant on his knees in the blueness, his face bright pink, his cheeks bloated and his nails scratching desperately at his throat. Walking slowly over he watched as the fat of the merchants chins dripped from his body, the gelatinousness ooze of his stomach streamed down and mixing with the ocean of blue, forming a pale island around his dying body. As the young man watched the merchant before him withered away to the nothing, until all but his bones were left, and still his skeletal fingers scraped at his face, his ribcage shook with an attempt to breath and his legs squirmed and darted this way and that, finding no grip in the expanse of his watery self. Finally to the young man's relief the remains dropped to the floor with a musical clatter, and he walked away into the trees, compared to the merchant, he was fatter. OR so the story goes, of the poison came to be. From there the young man took on assignments and recruitment, named his group The Blue and they were a fearsome gang. Soon he died and his poison was never found, the gang lived on however and grew to be The Blue Hand after many generations. [/hider] [hider=Plot Hooks] [color=LightGreen][h3][b] Plot Hooks [/b][/h3] [/color] The vial of the creator has been found, or at least rumours suggest so. Take it for yourself or stop it from falling into the wrong hands. You are curious of the orders activity and so are further intrigued when you wake in the night to see a shadowy figure at the foot of a nearby house, the door imprinted with a dark blue hand. The order clashes with the law in a city and a fierce war erupts between the city guard and the Hand. You wish to become a member. [/hider] [/hider] [img]http://i.imgur.com/KskO5Qx.png[/img] [/center]