I'LL HAVE YOU DIE FOR THIS (Assassins of Penny Dreadfuls)

 

Alamut stood here, once.

The word Assassin, in variant forms, had already passed into European usage as a term for a hired professional murderer in this general sense. The Italian chronicler Giovanni Villani, who died in 1348, tells how the lord of Lucca sent 'his assassins' (i suoi assassini) to Pisa to kill a troublesome enemy there. Even earlier, Dante, in a passing reference in the 19th canto of the Inferno, completed in 1320, speaks of 'the treacherous assassin' (lo perfido assassin); his fourteenth-century commentator Francesco da Buti, explaining a term which for some readers at the time may still have been strange and obscure, remarks: 'Assassino è colui che uccide altrui per danari' (An assassin is one who kills others for money).

You are not a loser who kills people for money. 

You (and other correctly-minded killers of various sorts) are aware of those freaks and their black pocketbooks that hand out random murders for paltry rewards. You, and all other correctly-minded killers of various sorts, despise them.

The Asasiyun (Those Faithful to the Foundation of the Faith) 

A Nizari Ismaili order founded in 1090 by a man named Hassan Al-Sabah. The order was something akin to a state, scattered across around 200 self-sufficient castles, many captured covertly, across Fatimid and Seljuk territory. The most famous was Alamut - officially, the Kursi Ad-Daylam, a castle of knowledge, learning, and paradisiacal gardens. It was all destroyed when the Mongols came, and scattered the order to the four winds. There is a very small chapter in London - not the only “assassins” in London, but certainly the only Asasiyun. 

The sub-sect who perform the killings are the fida’i, “those who sacrifice themselves”. For them, the use of the word “assassin” in its current meaning is a very dreadful insult. 

Based In: Have tiny sects in nearly every major city between London and Dhaka. 

Symbols: Dagger embedded in the ground, black eagle, blooming flower. 

Membership: Nizari Ismaili men. 

Secret Magic: Entry into locked places through means unknown. 

Wants: The restoration of the Asasiyun to glory and the recapture of their castles in the Levant and Iran. 

By: Try and guess. 

And Also: Most members of the Asasiyun were just fairly ordinary people living under the Order’s protection, the same way most Templars were proto-bankers. 

The Assassins (The Brothers of St. Judas Sicarius)

An extremely radical sect of Catholic Christianity, who have as a patron saint a very, very contentious interpretation of Judas Iscariot. Taking as their warning the great sinner who is chewed this very moment in the teeth of Satan (so says Dante), and taking as their example the ancient sicarii, they kill the enemies of the faith as an act of penitence, expecting this shall condemn them to Hell. 

For them, the word “assassin” is a term of penitence and disgrace, like a noöspheric hair shirt. 

Based In: North Italy, Switzerland,  Austria, the Balkans, with small chapels in Porto, New York and London. 

Symbols: Hands stained red with blood, a sica, thirty pieces of silver. 

Membership: Penitent Christians who consider themselves already damned. 

Secret Magic: To turn a dagger red and blazing, even able to harm demons and angels, like the sword of Shamsiel.  

Wants: To pave the way for goodness on the earth by undertaking evil acts, so that the innocent do not have to.  

By: Try and guess. 

And Also: A few of their members have snuck into the Swiss Guard at the Vatican. 

 

The Assassins (The Last Defenders of Antioch)

Last remnants (so they say) of the Crusader States, especially the Principality of Antioch, around whose founder, Bohemond of Taranto, they have formed a sort of bizarre and extremely specific cult of personality. They wish to destroy the current rulers of the Holy Land (so, the Ottoman Empire), and reinstate the rule of Christendom there. They go about this with all the care and precision of an opiate-dosed bull with flaming branches tied to its horns. The Knights Templar hate the absolute shit out of them. 

For them, the word “assassin” is a self-applied moniker, based on the famous actions of the Asasiyun during the time of the Principality of Antioch.

Based In: Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearics, Ceuta and Gibraltar (and through Gibraltar, now, London). 

Symbols: Hauteville coat-of-arms, Jerusalem cross in sky blue, cruciform sword set with a piece of lapis lazuli. 

Membership: Italian and Spanish Catholics. 

Secret Magic: Rituals to summon and invoke Sahaquiel, an angel, in multifarious ways. 

Wants: The restoration of the Principality of Antioch (this was a more reasonable and achievable goal a few hundred years ago). 

By: Try and guess. 

And Also: They have a secret magical castle that floats on a cloud, currently moored above the Atlantic Ocean, very far from land. They nicked it from a Kurdish wizard in 1301. 

The Assassins (The Brethren of Baal-berith) 

A mid-society cult to the veiled devil Baal-berith, a fettering prince of Hell who blasphemously claims to be the grandfather of God and the ruler of the primordial waters. They kill for Baal-berith, or to fulfil their goals to place themselves in positions of kingship -  or sometimes just kill for fun. Their membership is extremely eclectic, extremely awful and extremely internally competitive. 

For them, the word “assassin” is a pejorative label received from other demonic cults operating in western Europe, which they have taken to with great enthusiasm. 

Based In: London, Paris, Nice, Copenhagen, Bremen, and surroundings. 

Symbols: Flies, Goetic Sigil of Baal-berith, blue-black Circle (representing primordial water). 

Membership: Anyone willing to sell their soul to Baal-berith. 

Secret Magic: Supernaturally binding contracts, and opening of gateways into the tehom. 

Wants: Political power on the Earth, (and, secretly, to get one over on Baal-berith). 

By: Try and guess. 

And Also: Many of the Brethren are seeking out paths to eternal life (but not in concert with each other - their temperament ultimately disallows cooperation in this matter). 

The Assassins (of Execution Dock) 

An entirely irreligious (except in a nervous sense at Christmas, Hallowmas and Candlemass) group of thugs operating in the East End, working for the various organised crime clans of east London. An allowed insanity, these half-esoteric half-exoteric maniacs (drunk, high, or just plain crazy) are allowed to gather in a building near the remains of Execution Dock in Wapping, a reservoir of sudden and fearless violence to be tapped for the general community good. Beginning as nothing more than stupid murderers, some dreadful change is taking hold, and they are sliding unstoppably into the arcane world - appearing in hidden places and interrupting occulted meetings when they, surely, could not have. 

For them, the word “assassin” is a term of glory - as much glory as one can achieve when one is face down in a puddle of spilled rum in Wapping, anyway. 

Based In: Wapping (in London) 

Symbols: Butcher’s knife, noose, gibbet. 

Membership: Convicts and career criminals 

Secret Magic: Not that they know it, but their utter fearlessness has attracted the gory eyes of a genuine valkyrie, who watches over them. 

Wants: Money, power, fame, attractive evening company, and so on. 

By: Try and guess, if you think you fucking can. 

And Also: They keep having screaming nightmares about swans, gilded skulls and fairy smiths. 

The Assassins (Iga-ryū)

The Iga School is one of the main traditions of the shinobi - ninjas, we all know what ninjas are. The Iga School were gathered in Edo to guard the castle gates - history records a fading of ninja skills around this time, but it’s more like the bakumatsu is driving them to ever deeper secrecies. There’s not a huge amount of them in London, naturally (in fact, there is precisely one), due to the distance from here to Tokyo. However, due to the ongoing turmoil in Japan, the Iga-ryū are both busy at home and looking for new opportunities elsewhere. 

For them, the word “assassin” is a curious word of foreign origin which, for convenience, is used as a term of art.  

Based In: Edo (it’s still called this, until 1868, upon which it will become Tokyo). 

Symbols: Dark blue cloth - beyond that, no other definite symbols. Why be identifiable? 

Membership: Members of the Iga-ryu families settled in Edo. 

Secret Magic: Walking on water and the summoning of giant animals (the hand-seals are for meditation purposes). 

Wants: The survival of the bakufu (a failing hope), and their own survival into the coming era (a near-certainty). 

By: Espionage and sabotage for hire (They only kill when absolutely necessary.)

And Also: They are intensely studying the occult underworld of Europe - knowing is easily two thirds of the battle. 

Mnemonic Apocrypha (Noncanonical Daemons for the Psychopaladin)

 

The Psychopaladin’s Daemons have been knocking around in my brain (appropriately) since the post was posted. Here are some knockoff versions from the rotten depths of my psyche. 

You can’t use this post without reading the original over on Spiceomancy, so go do that. Danke. 

A reminder from the original post: Daemons start with 2HD, are ostensibly friendly, and whisper lots of (mostly bad) advice in your ear. They inform your personality, or are informed by it: philosophers are still debating this point. Other Psychopaladins can see and hear them, as well as certain sensitive types.

If you're on good terms with a daemon, it will let you cast it like a spell. If you do, roll their HD instead of MD.

There’s definitely an underlying theme to the naming and colouring of these things. In the spirit of early psychology, I decided to guess instead of asking.

1. Armaros - Tangled ball of snakes nailed together by their tails. Argues with itself constantly, theorises wildly, spews endless ideas. If it arrives at a conclusion successfully, it’s horrified, forgets it quickly, and returns to the safety of inchoate wondering. When cast, describe something you would like to have happen, and gain information on [sum] randomly ordered steps towards achieving that.

2. Corus - A fragment of stained-glass window, depicting a knight riding something unclear. Hates the wealthy, hates anyone who succeeds at anything, in fact. This hatred is primarily envy, and if you are given the chance to take something from someone, or assume some part of their life, Corus will scream until you do it. When cast, duplicates an object [sum] times - each duplicate lasts until it is tested in any way (ex. A sword is swung, a key is used on a lock), upon which it functions once, then crumbles into chalk dust.

3. Frederica - A great crested helm of war, with a gorget and an aventail. Proud, haughty, isolationist, well-spoken. Judges your friends harshly, but forgives and smoothes over all of your flaws. Would love nothing more than to stand atop a mountain and look down upon the whole world. When cast, for [sum] hours, the poor, meek and downtrodden automatically fear you.

4. Masseter - Fat dead rat with a big human mouth on the stomach. The mouth is talkative and hungry, a gourmand. Rambles incoherently about the wonders of flavour. Will not be happy unless you regularly eat unusual delicacies. When cast, induces an obsessive craving for something of your choice in [sum] visible creatures.

5. Issachar - An owl with its eyes gouged out. Endlessly curious, and expects you to share in that, even to the point of bodily harm. She expects you to test if that spinning sawblade does in fact cut things, using your fingers, if we’ve got nothing else to feed into it. When cast, gain [sum] rounds of precognition - act out the next [sum] rounds of gameplay - if it’s to your liking, you can declare it to be how things went, and if it isn’t, you can rewind to the point of casting.

6. Forneus - Hideous thing like a deep-sea creature with a glowing mouth and big wet eyes. Declares things to be “hot” or “ugly” in the tone of a priest dividing virtue and sin. Interacting too much with ugly things makes him cry for hours. When cast, makes an object either disgusting and terrifying to onlookers, or wondrous and desirable to onlookers, for [sum] hours.

7. Despite - A pair of clanking spurs shaped like strangling hands. Demands respect and (literal) elevation. Orders you to intimidate people whenever you can. Has a perverse sense of honour, and will get extremely salty if you act against it. When cast, she carries you [sum] feet in any direction quicker than a blink (though she can’t make you intangible). Casting Despite can be done at any time, even on other people’s turns.

8. Dogsbody - Looks like a dead fucking dog, which is something very few people like. Appropriately, very few people like Dogsbody. Denigrates everything. Wants you to eat rotten meat and to make a mess in public places. When cast, [sum] slots of objects are affected heavily by entropy, rendering them useless - wooden things rot and bloom fungi, iron things rust and stone things weather and split, sprouting roots.  

9. Sepharvaim - Resembles a city’s gate in miniature, crowned with little towers topped with eyes. Sneering old money attitude, unironic monarchist. Xenophobic to the point of insanity. When cast, seals the next [sum] doorways or windows you touch - nobody you consider an enemy, consciously or otherwise, can open them until you sleep.

10. Raphael - A glowing trumpet which hovers, ready to be blown. Purist, musical, with a burning voice that stings the ears. Screams so, so loud if you misbehave. Has curious and antiquated standards for misbehaviour. When cast, produces a cacophonous cone-shaped blast of hot air and fire in a cardinal direction of your choice (bring a compass), dealing [sum] damage and igniting all flammables.

11. Berlichingen - An silvered gauntlet with spiked knuckles which replaces your non-dominant hand. Stiff, uncooperative, laconic. Likes to pick things up, does not like to let them go. Occasionally engages in an elderly ramble about old friends like tetanus or caltrops. When cast, suspends an object he is touching in time and space for [sum] hours.

12. Katharsis - A copper krater with a pained looking face on the outside. Is distinctly aware of the contents of all human beings, horrified by this, and intent on spreading the word. She is disgusted by all animals, especially people, who have the temerity to speak. When cast, purges poisons, acids and dangerous liquids from [sum] visible targets. Used on people, this causes painful vomiting.

13. Esther - A figure suggested by veils and silken drapes. Shy and yet megalomaniacal. Believes in a secret cabal of people out to get you (not her, though). Likes to vaguely imply extremely consequential secrets, then never follow up on them. When cast, you become invisible in dim or dark light, and horrifying in bright light, for [sum] hours.

14. Varney - A hovering fanged head with leprous skin and empty eye-sockets. Proud of his fine black hair. Gives not a whiff of shit about the world or rules, and will call you slurs if you’re not on board with his worldview. Will shriek at you to speed up if you’re taking things too slowly. When cast, always go first in initiative for the next [sum] hours, and get a +[sum] bonus to the damage of surprise attacks.

15. Allocer - A lion’s head with half a man’s face. The mane forms a sort of aureole around the sneer, and has something of a luminescence. Utterly immoral, loves cloudwatching, alternates rapidly between dreamy and psychotic. When cast, produces a broad cone of pale white light from the middle of your forehead, for [sum] minutes. It doesn’t blind you, but certainly blinds others.

16. Zebulun - Rotund, mole-like creature with a metal sphere for a head. Blinkered, trusting, believes literally anything you tell him. Possesses Edenic innocence, hasn’t yet heard of evil, and will probably forget tomorrow if you tell him. When cast, for the next [sum] hours, everyone you meet immediately forms a positive, trusting impression of you.

17. Syndesis - A knot tied from ropes that trail in from the corner of your vision. Tense, unimaginably so, but could you just pull that rope? Imagine the release? Gets a little weird about it. Has strongly held opinions about how and when society will collapse, and whose fault it will be. When cast, triggers up to [sum] visible mechanisms, weapons, traps, &c.

18. Tamerlane - A jagged, hooved shadow, with the glinting suggestion of eyes. Nonspecifically foreign, causes distress and panic in nearby xenophobes even if they can’t perceive him. Has extreme political ambitions - you must be king of the world, or nothing at all. When cast, [sum] animals attack an indicated target until they or the target are dead.

19. Natura - A soft-faced cat with no forelegs, bright eyes that gleam in the dark, and a docked tail. Gently patronising, well-read. Makes references, and expects that you will get them. If you ask them questions, they softly shut you up and keep talking. When cast, reveals [sum] facts about visible plants and animals (and, keep it hush hush - daemons, too).

20. Teres Major - A bulky, muscular torso, arms and neck ending in ragged smoky stumps at the atlas and the elbows, smoking entrails hanging low. Heavily tattooed. Has no idea what the fuck is going on, but bets you could lift that box over there above your head. Hype-guy, hypes you up to do clearly impossible things, always egging you on. When cast, take [sum] turns immediately, then save vs. death - if you fail, your spinal column explodes.

And, in the style of the “tag yourself” at the end of the other Psychopaladin post:

Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fate (Peasant Classes)

 Ever been a peasant in a dungeon and wondered how it is you suddenly developed magical powers or sword-training? Me too. Here are some miniclasses to represent the other side of the feeling: 

THE RASCAL

Not every malcontent and ne’er-do-well arrives at the mystery of cipher through skill. Sometimes, a callow youth is just nasty enough to say - “There’s a tendency for me to get away with it.”

+1 Cipher per Template, as per the Rogue.

A - Opportunist 

B - Improbable Survival

When you take Rascal A, you scrounge up a case of Unusual Tools. 

Opportunist

When you’re attacking from a position of advantage (height, hitting someone ankle deep in mud, ambush) get +[level] to hit and +1d6 damage. 

Improbable Survival

You have a new cipher skill: Staying Alive. This allows you to use your Cipher score for things like rolls to clear fatal wounds, saves against getting bits cut off or parts paralysed, &c. 

THE PROFESSIONAL

Back in civilization, you had a job, and you did it well. You were respected, liked, and generally thought of as sensible, dependable, and… it’s all gone a bit to fuck, hasn’t it? 

+1 SKLL per Template. 

A - Specialisation, Cool Head

B - Task at Hand

Specialisation

Gain two additional skills linked to your Profession - these can be linked quite tangentially - a surgeon might get Sewing and Saw Handling, for example, and a musician might get Good Hearing and Poetry. 

Cool Head

A professional doesn’t panic - you get +2 to Saves vs. Fear, and if you rolled an initiative below 10, move to 11. 

Task at Hand

When you successfully use one of your Skills, the feeling of satisfaction is so significant that you can choose one of the following:

• Heal 1d6 missing HP.

• Clear 1 Fatigue. 

• Replenish 1 point of a resource from another class (ex., Rage, Hector Points, MD). 

THE BURL 

Every village has a giant (relatively speaking). That’s you! Strong like an ox! Popular, also like an ox! 

+1 HP per Template.

A - Heft & Haul, +1 MOVE

B - Like In Songs of Old, +1 HRTS

Heft & Haul

You gain +2 Inventory Slots and do +2 damage with melee weapons. 

Like in Songs of Old

You gain +1 Inventory Slot. 

You can perform Feats of Strength (per Rotless).

THE COWARD

The basic stance of the mythological peasant is running the fuck away. You slip easily into this role. 

+1 INIT per Template. 

A - Hit the Bricks, You Rat!

B - Surprise Action

Hit the Bricks

As a full turn, you can run away. When you do this, you are immune to harm for the round. You can keep running away each turn, but you can’t do anything while you do. 

You Rat!

When an attack hits you, another player may choose to have it hit their PC instead. In fiction, this is your character hiding behind theirs. 

Surprise Action

If you attack an enemy after having run away or had an attack redirected away from you, do so as if you were sneak attacking as a Rogue with 3 Cipher. This only works once per enemy. 

THE BRAVE

The other, rarer stance of the mythological peasant is running the fuck towards. You slip easily into this role. 

+1 INIT per Template. 

A - Rustic Charge

B - What a Mad Bastard

Rustic Charge

As a full turn, you can charge. When you do so, you plough headlong into combat, selecting a target and attacking twice at +[templates] to hit and damage. The headlong nature of the charge means your AC is reduced to unarmoured until the beginning of your next turn. You can’t charge without room to run up, and the maniac scream is mandatory. 

What a Mad Bastard

When you fight unarmoured, you add +[level] to hit and damage. 

THE LUCKY ONE

Sometimes, very occasionally, there exists a person for whom everything just seems to go right. 

+1 SAVE per Template.

A - Karmic Surplus

B - Favoured

Karmic Surplus

Your xharisma, if lower than 13, becomes 13, unlocking your race’s special ability. 

When you roll a 7 on a Reaction Roll, the DM ought to roll an extra d4, and add it to the result. 

If there’s a horrible thing doing horrible things to random members of the party, you are always targeted last. This includes attacks in combat. 

Favoured

The DM offers you an obliquely phrased choice between a pair of supernatural powers present in the world or the dungeon. You pick, and a “gift” is given to you - your high karma has attracted attention. Possibly, probably, the gift is not unambiguously good for you. 

Possibly, from here, you can continue into Godchild-proper. 

THE GOSSIP

Nosy, nosy - every village has someone who, in another time and place, would have made for an excellent Inquisitive, but, through no fault of their own, has been relegated to a life of piecing together family drama from third-hand sources.
Well, until now, anyway. 

+1 SNEK per Template.

A - Nosy Parker

B - Relationship Chart

Nosy Parker

If you consider two clues for a full minute, you have a revelation about how they are (or aren't) connected. Every time you do this you have a cumulative 1-in-6 chance of coming down with a splitting migraine, preventing you from doing anything useful until you get a full night's rest. 

If an NPC states something you know is a conscious lie, you may mark them as a liar. If you find out an embarrassing or private personal detail about an NPC, you can mark them as vulnerable. 

You may sneak attack people who are marked even if you otherwise couldn't (and you otherwise couldn’t, with a cipher score of 0, so it’s just a normal attack keyed off your highest stat bonus, dealing 1d8 damage also plus your highest stat bonus.) 

Relationship Chart

When you meet an NPC (not necessarily for the first time), you may intuit (semi-supernaturally, in a sort of sixth-sense sort of way) what their relation, if any, to anyone you have marked is. 

THE REVOLTER

Revolutionary is a little too high-minded, but, back in the day, you could always stir people up to run someone out of town or go get someone away up in them there hills. 

A - Revolting, Mob Thought

B - Ochlocracy, +1 point of Rage. 

Revolting

Oppressors and tyrants will fail to completely punish you - exile instead of death, beatings instead of dismemberment, lashes instead of imprisonment. 

Mob Thought

Each person in your party gives you (alone) +1 to saves vs. fear, darkness, charm, insanity and magic. 

Ochlocracy

When your side starts combat, you get to take a turn before initiative is rolled.