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| ==5th century BCE Greece== | | ==The Master Thief of Anbar== |
| ===Order of Hunters=== | | <gallery widths="180" position="center" captionalign="center"> |
| <tabber>
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 1.png |
| |-|Akantha the Deceiver=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 2.png |
| [[Akantha]] liked men. They were useful and tragically easy to manipulate. As the faithful wife of [[Macedonia|Makedonia]]'s Leader, she was almost untouchable. Her husband was the perfect cover behind which to weave a web of death and manipulation. Akantha's position gave her immunity to hunt down [[Tainted Ones]], and that, to the [[Pactyas (Ancients)|Huntsman]], made her very useful.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 3.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 4.png |
| |-|Bubares the Conspirator=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 5.png |
| [[Bubares]] always had a gift for discovering the weaknesses in others. What could have been a curiosity, he turned into a career and then, through the Order, into a calling. The Huntsman saw his talent and gave him power to recruit the likeminded. With it all came a singular purpose: finding the Tainted Ones, discovering their weakness, and using it all against them.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 6.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 7.png |
| |-|Echion the Watcher=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 8.png |
| No one noticed [[Echion]]. He was in all ways unexceptional. Then the Huntsman offered him a way to server an exceptional cause — help him find the Tainted Ones. Suddenly Echion's weakness became his power. People still didn't notice Echion, but now he noticed everything...
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 9.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 10.png |
| |-|Konon the Fighter=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 11.png |
| The Huntsman had the plan, and [[Ares]] the god of war had the means to achieve it. [[Konon]] understood the balance. It was his faith that determined his choice of weapon. A [[sword]] would have been deadlier, but his blunt polearm did more damage. The deaths were harder. That pleased Konon and, he thought, probably Ares as well. | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 12.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 13.png |
| |-|Pactyas the Huntsman=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 14.png |
| After the first blow against his temple, he barely heard the roar and the screams. When consciousness returned, [[Pactyas (Ancients)|Pactyas]] opened his eyes to see a huge grey wolf over the last of his attackers, licking gore where once there had been a throat. Nature preserved Pactyas, chose him to be the Huntsman. So he became nature's defender. And few things offended nature more than the Tainted Ones.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 15.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 16.png |
| |-|Phratagounè the Keeper=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 17.png |
| [[Phratagounè]] preferred her animals to people. Animals didn't lie, they were loyal, and they didn't kill without reason. The trick was to give them a reason. That was Phratagounè's gift, and why the Huntsman put his animals in her care. He knew she would teach them loyalty, and that loyalty would teach them to trust him when he sent them to kill the Tainted Ones.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 18.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 19.png |
| |-|Timosa the Physician=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 20.png |
| Few understood that the physician's art lent itself as naturally to talking lives as it did to saving them. [[Timosa]], however, did understand. The Huntsman gave her the opportunity to use her art to reshape the world and wash it clean of the Tainted Ones. He showed her it wasn't the lives she saved that mattered, but the ones she didn't.
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| </tabber>
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| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 24.png |
| ===Order of the Storm===
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 25.png |
| <tabber>
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 26.png |
| |-|Augos the All-Seeing=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 27.png |
| Democracy made the Greek world weak, delivered it into the hands of charismatic fools who ruled the mob with gilded words, no matter how stupid the cause. So [[Augos]] fought back, striking from the shadows. But one blade would never be enough against the tide of mediocrity. Then she found the Order, or it found her - it was a sublime melding of purpose.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 28.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 29.png |
| |-|Megakreon the Unbreakable=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 30.png |
| [[Megakreon]] despised talkers. He'd watched the Greek world consume itself with empty prattle, falling into endless debate and war. When an argumentative noble threw an arrogant final challenge at him, Megakreon answered with his sword. There had been no more debate after that. His superiors hadn't understood, and banished him. But the Tempest understood, and welcomed him into the Order.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 31.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 32.png |
| |-|Nestor the Formidable=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 33.png |
| Wind stinging his face and salt white on his beard, [[Nestor]] shouted his jubilation into the storm. Another vanquished opponent tipped and sank beneath the dark Aegean waves. Nestor had burned his youth marauding across the oceans of Greece. But with each victory he had felt less. Then the Tempest spoke to him of the glory of Greek warships, and the Order's plans. He was perhaps their easiest convert.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 34.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 35.png |
| |-|Phila the Tempest=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 36.png |
| All [[Phila]] wanted was for people to get out of her way. It wasn't their fault they were slower and weaker. She didn't blame them. But if they impeded her, their inadequacy became her problem. And that wouldn't end well for anyone.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 37.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 38.png |
| |-|Sophos the Broker=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 39.png |
| Drachmae was power. To [[Sophos]] that truth was as obvious as the sun. The rich ruled, not emperors. Kings and paupers were all equally held to drachmae's necessity. The Order understood this, which is why the Tempest had come to him. She saw his wealth, and his gift for acquiring it. Sophos knew the Order was using him. What he thought they didn't know, was that he was using them.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 40.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 41.png |
| </tabber>
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 42.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 43.png |
| ===Order of Dominion===
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 44.png |
| <tabber>
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 45.png |
| |-|Amorges, the Tusk of Persia=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 46.png |
| When [[Amorges]] stood against his friend [[Darius]] over the fate of [[Artaxerxes I of Persia|Artaxerxes]], he was fiercely certain. The first death he ordered, he was almost as sure. Then the next, and the next... The years since so stained by necessary death he no longer remembered it all. Now, at the end, certainty had abandoned him. Peace was maintained, perhaps, but Amorges was lost. And too weary to care.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 47.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 48.png |
| |-|Artazostre the Silence=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 49.png |
| Subversion could be messy. Whenever there were problems - and there were always problems - [[Artazostre]] was Amorges's solution. She fixed things, restoring order when the Order created chaos. She would never use those words out loud of course, but they often brought a secret smile to her face as she removed yet another inconvenient corpse or awkward piece of evidence.
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 50.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 51.png |
| |-|Dimokrates the Destroyer=
| | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 52.png |
| The irony wasn't lost on [[Dimokrates]] - he relished it. He knew the truths by which nations were upheld, armies conquered, and kings ruled. They had become his most powerful weapons in serving the Order. With them he had destabilized governments, split families, and nurtured rebellions. The irony so delicious to Dimokrates was what the truths were... Secrets and lies. | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 53.png |
| | | ACMirage The Master Thief of Anbar 54.png |
| |-|Gaspar the Gatekeeper=
| | </gallery> |
| [[Gaspar (Ancients)|Gaspar]] was born a slave, like so many before her. The First Civ had made humanity to serve them, but they weren't gods and weren't infallible. They'd mistakenly made humans tooo much like themselves. Gender, race, nation - studying the First Civ taught Gaspar all distinctions were meaningless. She knew that like her makers, she was destined to surpass them all.
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| |-|Gergis the Herald=
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| The best victories were those won without fighting, and winning by persuasion was [[Gergis]]'s gift. He could convince people to act against their own interests and think it was their idea. Amorges recognized his talent, bringing him into the Order as Persia's most respected diptlomat. After years of watching his beloved country strangled by thoughtless policy, Gergis was easy to convince. | |
| | |
| |-|The Immortals=
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| When Amorges needed a trusted enforcer, he chose two. [[The Immortals]] were twin brothers so potent and similar in combat that many thought them one - a single, unbeatable warrior who could be in two places at once. Seemingly untouchable, wordless, and always masked, they became a fearful legend.
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| | |
| |-|Pithias the Architect=
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| [[Pithias]] saw the man's battered mouth, his teeth uneven after the torturer's blows. As Amorges's foremost planner, he valued balance and order above all things. That he'd wandered into the wrong room wasn't important. That the man screamed when Pithias calmly took up a metal chisel and removed more teeth was similarly irrelevant. All that mattered was that the teeth were now even.
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| </tabber>
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| | |
| ==1st century BCE Ptolemaic Egypt==
| |
| <tabber>
| |
| |-|The Heron=
| |
| Bayek trekked across the vast Egyptian desert to corner Rudjek in the famous Bent Pyramid of Sneferu. Bayek's first kill, the death of Rudjek brought on Anubis's apparent curse on the natron mines.
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| | |
| |-|The Ibis=
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| Medunamun was installed as Oracle of Siwa by Ptolemy. He oversaw the Temple of Amun, but his true interest appeared to be the vault beneath the temple. He brutalized the villagers in an effort to learn the vault's secrets. Bayek killed him in a fury.
| |
| | |
| |-|The Vulture=
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| Aya's first kill. While the Order in Alexandria, Aya came across Actaeon and verified her suspicions when she discovered one of the masks in his apartments. He died a horrible death while wearing the mask. His role in the Order of Ancients is clear, his role in the death of Khemu however, is nebulous.
| |
| | |
| |-|The Ram=
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| He hunted down Aya, the killer of his friend Actaeon, in Alexandria. However, he met his end at her hands.
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| |-|The Hippo=
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| Royal Scribe to Ptolemy, Eudoros was one of the puppet-masters of the pharaoh. He met his death in Alexandria's opulent bathhouse thanks to Bayek's newly acquired hidden blade, although he did manage to exact limited vengeance: the loss of Bayek's ring finger. But was Eudoros in fact The Snake?
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| | |
| |-|The Scarab=
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| Taharqa was the mythical Scarab who haunted Sais and Letopolis. A great man who caused terrible pain in pursuit of a quest to build monuments that would outlive him. In his darkest moments, Bayek understood Taharqa all too well. The man had to die for the blood on his hands, but Bayek prays he hasn't simply carried on the cycle of vengeance.
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| | |
| |-|The Hyena=
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| After her daughter's death, Khaliset became obsessed with trying to resurrect her. With the help of The Order, she discovered an ancient tomb that she believed to possess the power to restore life. Far removed from reality and relentless in her approach, The Hyena's actions harmed every soul in Giza.
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| |-|The Lizard=
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| Hetepi's dark influence was felt throughout Memphis. Bayek chased him even through the realm of dreams. Hetepi was slain in Memphis's Great Temple, in sight of all the gods.
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| | |
| |-|The Crocodile=
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| Berenike was an elder Greek statesperson and member of the Order of Ancients. A subtle and highly intelligent woman, she cultivated a public image of graceful benevolence while secretly manipulating political and legislative processes to bring about her vision of an enlightened Egypt. Behind the scenes she used Ptolemy soldiers and arena gladiators to enforce a web of ruthless oppression across the Faiyum.
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| | |
| |-|The Jackal=
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| Septimius was a loyal soldier in the Order of Ancients and was one of the conspirators who murdered Bayek's son Khemu. Bayek nearly killed the Gabianiani at the Battle of the Nile but was denied his revenge by Julius Caesar. After this betrayal and the terrible events at Siwa, Aya continues to hunt Septimius down, finally catching up with him in Rome. Septimius was unrepentant, believing that he did his duty to Rome and the order, and would be rewarded in the afterlife.
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| | |
| |-|The Scorpion=
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| Pothinus was among the more restrained members of the Order of Ancients. He favored use of brutality only in the most extreme situations, Nonetheless, he presided over the events that lead to Khemu's death and ultimate responsibility remains largely in his hands. He met Anubis after an unfortunate elephant ride.
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| |-|The Lion=
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| As a high-ranking member of the Order of Ancients Flavius was the murderer of Bayek and Aya's son Khemu. Consumed by madness and a bloodthirsty desire for power, he cut a bloody swath through the Roman province of Kyrenaika with the Oracle's Relic. When Bayek in turn took Flavius' life, the monster showed no remorse for the terrible things he had done. Cold and calculating to the end, he mocked Bayek and expounded the glory of Rome.
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| </tabber>
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| ==9th Anglo-Saxon England==
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| <tabber>
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| |-|Aelfred=
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| [[Grand Maegester of the Order of the Ancients|Grand Maegester]] [[Alfred the Great|Aelfred]], The Father
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| <br><br>
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| Young Aelfred was just twenty-two years old when the title of The Father passed to him from his brother [[Æthelred I, King of Wessex|Aethelred]], conffering a great responsibility which their [[Æthelwulf, King of Wessex|father]] had introduced to the [[House of Wessex|family]].
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| <br><br>
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| A devout [[Christianity|Christian]] since his youth, Aelfred rankled at the heathenish beliefs of the order he now commanded and concocted a grand plan that would rid him of that responsibility once and for all.
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| </tabber>
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| | |
| ===Warden of War===
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| <tabber>
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| |-|Gorm Kjotvesson=
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| [[Maegester]] [[Gorm Kjotvesson|Gorm]], The Keel
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| <br><br>
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| Gorm grew up under the heel and shadow of [[Kjotve the Cruel]]. His father passed down the rigor of The Order and taught Gorm the lessons of a harsh love: pain, humilation, endurance.
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| <br><br>
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| With the loss of his father, Gorm taughr himself pitless hatred.
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| |-|Kjotve the Cruel=
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| [[Palatinus]] [[Kjotve the Cruel|Kjotve]], The Axe
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| <br><br>
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| Tough northern winters and seasons of raiding hardened Kjotve as it hardened many young [[Norsemen|Norse]], but Kjotve always took extra pleasure in his kills.
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| <br><br>
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| A passing trader saw the potential in Kjotve and inducted him into the Order, making the young vikingr [[Norway]]'s first Order member. His natural cruelty served him well as he sought to bring his family and clan wholly into the Order's fold.
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| | |
| |-|Leofgifu=
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| Palatinus [[Leofgifu]], The Scabbard
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| <br><br>
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| Leofgifu, known as The Scabbard, facilitates all of the Order's clandestine military activity in [[Grantebridgescire]]. She procures weapons and issues exceptional orders to select units. Orphaned by the plague, Leofgifu grew up as a [[bandit]], and eventually sought work as a [[mercenary]].
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| <br><br>
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| The Order too notice, as she proved herself as an adept fighter, and soon recruited her to the cause. As a valued mercenary, Leofgifu quickly insinuated herself into a position of command by distributing luxury goods and favors to fellow officers. In turn, these officers turn a blind eye to what they believe to be simple contraband but is in fact an amassing of powerful weapons meant for the Order. | |
| | |
| |-|Hunta, son of Hunta=
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| Palatinus [[Hunta]], The Baldric
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| <br><br>
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| Hunta, a gregarious ''[[wikt:drengr|drengr]]'' from Norway, fancies himself a bit of a skald. His impromptu poems endear him to Norse and Saxon alike, a quality that brought him to the attention of The Order, and he soon joined their ranks.
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| <br><br>
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| Recently, he has, in fact, married into a prosperous Saxon family whose members hold both military and financial clout. Hunta has begun using this familial power to grant small favors as a means of bring as many foot soldiers as he can under his influence.
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| <br><br>
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| He is a successful recruiter for the Order of Ancients and holds the rank of Palatinus.
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| </tabber> | |
