Assassins

[Jewel]

What the public know:

While none are as feared as the Immortal Caliph and her Khadi if anyone was to come close in the minds of Medinaat al-Salaam it would be the Old Man of the Mountain and his relentless Assassins. They seem to exist to disprove the claims of security and control put forth by the Khadi and the Caliph striking the most well protected in the most spectacular manner. Anyone can kill a slave in the street - an Assassin would rather kill that slave's master, in the midst of their guards, at the very steps of the Sultan's palace. That being said some whisper that, with enough coin, even an Assassin's blade can be bought.

The Assassins, and the Old Man of the Mountain, have plagued Medinaat al-Salaam since shortly after the Caliph's rise to power. As such it is assumed the title, and leadership, is either passed down or seized from one 'Old Man' to the next.

What the Assassins know:

There has only ever been one Old Man of the Mountain and the Assassins are his descendants over the centuries. Cursed to neither age nor die so long as a male heir lives the Old Man has waged a war of vengeance against the Immortal Caliph since shortly after her rise to power. Even among the Assassins few known the true nature of his vendetta or the cause of the curse on their bloodline. The curse manifests in other ways as well. Sons seek to betray and slay their parents and the men are marked, and often twisted or deformed, by the dark workings of the curse.

The Old Man surrounds himself with concubines of every origin short of the newfound Yodotai and the latter is likely to change the more they visit Medinaat al-Salaam. Sons are banished from the mountain while daughters are trained in seduction and murder before being sent out into the world to marry. Once they, in turn, bear a son they and that child return to the mountain. These boys are then raised as the Old Man's sons, the generation gap insulating him from their drive to betray, though they are not untouched by the physical manifestations of the curse. Trained and indoctrinated in their youth as fearless and audacious murderers those with the least sign of the familial curse are given a comfortable life, and the chance to raise a family, within Medinaat al-Salaam - further continuing the line of the Old Man and protecting him from death before he finds his vengeance.

The rest, and those not interested in such a life, as well as the returned daughters remain to perpetrate the vicious and spectacular crimes the give the Assassins their fearsome reputation and frustrate the Caliph to no end.

Schools & Paths:
Assassin Keeper
Assassin Slayer
Savant of the Mountain
Path: Assassin Sahir
Path: Heretic of the Self
Advanced School: Assassin Duelist

Advantages & Disadvantages:
Crafty
Dangerous Beauty
Servant: Spy (2 less)
Blessing of Nima
Spy Network (7)

Insensitive
Overconfident