Origin
The Vermilion Thorns have their origins in the latter part of the Phaedran Era. The famed courtesan-assassin, Red Thorn, fleeing the retribution of the relatives of those individuals she had been hired to kill, went into hiding. Desperate to increase her chances of survival, she recruited and trained several suitable courtesans and assassins, teaching them her trademark techniques. Common bonds formed rapidly, and slowly but surely, in the years following Red Thorn's mysterious death (all that remained of her, was her elaborate mask), the secret society of courtesan-assassins known as the Vermilion Thorns came into being.
Even today, the Vermilion Thorn's veil of secrecy obscures them, and all but a handful of Zandir consider them but a fanciful myth, albeit a popular one.
Organization
The Vermilion Thorns are a small, but intensely close-knit organization, and their numbers do not exceed 60 members. Relationships between various members are decidedly comradely, and they take pains to look out for each other, encouraging and fostering a fierce sense of sisterhood, belonging, and loyalty.
The head of the organization is titled the "Masque", and wears the original mask borne by Red Thorn, passing it down to her privately chosen successor through the ages. It is the Masque's duty to oversee all aspects of the Vermilion Thorns' operations, assuming responsibility for all decision-making, aided by a council of the five most experienced members (often selected from among the retired). The Masque is also aided by a handful of selected specialists, each given charge of a specific aspect of the organization, including Recruitment, Assassination Training, Courtesan Training, Client Affairs, Assignments, and Finances. All other members of the organization are either fully-fledged courtesan-assassins ("Thorns"), or trainees ("Petals").
Modus Operandi
The modus operandi of the Vermilion Thorns is simple and ruthlessly effective: seduce the target, ensure he is alone and unarmed (preferably also inebriated and/or asleep), and slay him quickly and quietly before making a rapid but unsuspicious exit. In all cases, the individual Thorns are expected to remain unsuspected and anonymous, and to fight only when absolutely necessary (choosing flight if at all possible). If captured, the Thorn will commit suicide rather than jeopardize her colleagues or client, but only if escape is not possible.
Becoming a Vermilion Thorn
Prospective Vermilion Thorns are carefully recruited from those few attractive teenage female Serparians who are deemed to the most "appropriate" after careful observation by the Recruitment Specialist. Those selected are approached secretly, and openly offered the chance to join and better their lives. Very few have ever refused the chance to join the fabled organization.
Training is rigorous but fair, and after the hardships the girl's endured on the streets, life in the Vermilion Thorns can seem like a pleasant dream. The training period lasts 2 years, during which the Petal lodges with one of the Thorns (retired or active), receiving free food and board, as well as the chance to learn from the Thorn's experience. In return, the Petal is expected to keep the lodgings clean and well maintained. This period of surrogacy also serves to increase the bonds within the sisterhood.
Leaving the Vermilion Thorns
Eventually, due to age or injury, it is inevitable that a Thorn will have to retire, after which the organization recruits a replacement. Retired Thorns maintain their contacts with the organization, often accepting a Petal as a lodger (see above). The five most experienced retired members form the Masque's advisory council (see above), and the sisterhood continues to support the retired members until they pass away. However, anyone who wishes to leave the Thorns before retirement is subjected to disdain and hostility by her peers, and all her contacts and support are severed. In addition, she is magically oathbound not to reveal or teach anything about the organization to anyone, or to take up the mantle of assassin. Should the oath be broken or dispelled, the Thorns will be instantly alerted to the fact, and will track down and terminate their wayward sister. The magical oathbond also acts as a single magical item for the purposes of determining how many items the ex-Thorn can carry.
Payment in the Vermilion Thorns
All Thorn contract monies are paid directly into the sisterhood's coffers, the sum of which is used to maintain its comfortable lifestyle. Each assassin receives a mere 10% of their last contract as a bonus, and any extra expenses or resources must be requested. Reasonable requests are usually granted, budget permitting, but frivolity is frowned upon.
Relations
The Thorns have many contacts within the higher echelons of Zandu's powerful aristocrats, merchants, and underworld leaders, as these form the client base for most of their contracts. They have a handful of contacts and clients in other major cities across the continent, but their reach and influence are tiny when compared to the Revenants. Relations between the Thorns and Revenants are coldly professional, but if the Thorns were to try and expand their operations, the Revenants would take swift and merciless action to eliminate them.
Notable Vermilion Thorns
Masque - Head of the Thorns
Very little is known about the current head of the Thorns, save that she bears the same beautiful mask and title traditionally borne by all the sisterhood's leaders throughout the ages. She has a husky voice that drips like envenomed honey, and a thick mane of raven-black hair that reaches almost to the floor.
Maraenor - Client Affairs Specialist
Maraenor is a senior figure within the Thorns, and her reputation is exceptional among her peers. She negotiates all the Thorns' contracts, and does so with extraordinary skill complemented by ravishing beauty, and the ability to beguile by scent, for Maraenor is a Batrean, one of the sisterhood's few non-Zandir members.
Kalashara - Petal
As one of the Thorns' newest members, the 16-year old Zandir is relatively inexperienced and over-excitable; a trait that her seniors hope will rapidly diminish. Although she has yet to be sent on any missions, she awaits her first with anticipation, and practices her fighting techniques daily, using paired battle fans.
Homeland: Zandu
"Their death is not so merciless, for they at least experience pleasure before their demise."
Your life was one of struggle and hardship as a Serparian on the streets of Zandu, selling yourself and thieving to survive. Likely you would have died there, had not a mysterious woman approached you in the quiet darkness of the evening, offering you the chance to rise above the filth you had become accustomed to, and join the fabled sisterhood of the Vermilion Thorns. You eagerly accepted, and after several happy years of rigorous training, you graduated from a Petal to a Thorn, undertaking your first few successful assassinations. You support each other in the Thorns, and you live a life of such luxury as you only dared dream of. As a courtesan-assassin, you beguile and seduce, lulling your target before terminating him. Others might call it cold-blooded, but you feel that at least they experienced pleasure before their demise, and you know just how precious such pleasure can be.
Physical Characteristics: 5'6"-6', 90-130 lbs. Copper skin, beautiful sculpted features, dark hair, dark green eyes, skin enhanced with vividly colored pigments.
Attributes:
INT +1
PER +1
WIL -1
CHA +3
STR 0
DEX +2
CON 0
SPD +1
CR +3
MR +1
HP 19
Skills:
Battle Fan +2
Butterfly Pin +2
Assassinate +5
Stealth +3
Locks +3
Etiquette +5
Fashion +4
Dance +4
Music +4
Song +4
Seduce +5
High Talislan, native
Low Talislan, native
Equipment: Fashionable, attractive, and tantalizing apparel of velvet, brocade, and silk, soft slippers, hair confined in silver bands, jewellery worth 100 g.l., beautiful and ornate battle fan, 4 lacquered butterfly pins (worn in hair), pouch.
Wealth: 100 gold lumens in Zandir crescents.