Friend of the blog G.R. Michael over at Numbers Aren’t Real issued a challenge.
In short, the faction needs a brief description, three important figures in it, and three sources of legitimacy. Here are the:
MILLAI HILLS SCAR-NECKS
Scar Necks are bandit clans who live in the wilderness of Defiance and Saral Sar. They swear to oppose the Sun King's law, speak a secret language, and scar their necks distinctly. Their clannishness, violence, disdain for the subjects of the kingdom, and habit of raiding contributes to their unpopularity.
The Millaiado are the largest and most successful Scar-Neck clan in the inner kingdom - despite the centrality of the County of Millai, it is wild, jagged and crossed by only a single road, so there's still a lot of room for them to hide in. They are the envy of all the harried Scar Necks living in the interior, and the peers of the mighty, proud Scar Necks in the exterior.
Cerridvena Lana Millaiado
Matriarch of the Millaiado clan. Grey, leathery, long braids, steady hands. Used to be a real terror in her youth, boasts about that time she garotted a Signatory to death in his thought-secret forest retreat. Now, however, she’s old and tiny, but her steely eyes never waver. Everyone respects her, and half the clan is descended from her.
Family and Hospitality - Granny Cerri is a supreme host, revered and spoken-about by Scar Necks as far as Carathis and Dor for her incredible skills as a host of guests. She is effectively unable to break guest-rights.
Wisdom - Everyone trusts her advice. If her advice ever lead the clan astray, she’d lose her mystique in an instant.
Dark Powers - As Cerridvena’s youthful muscle went away, she kept up her lethality by taking up the Art Without Error. Cerridvena is a Void Astrologer, in particular association with the faction headed by the spirit Onyx Mask Nowhere. Like any Astrologer, if she loses her contacts at court, she’s powerless.
Bryno Torres Carridado
Born in a different Scar Neck clan near Carathis. He travelled here with his two wives and baby son some five years ago. Almost folklorically handsome, (18XHA), with beautiful eyes, curly reddish hair, and a casually graceful manner. He has worked himself into an indispensable niche in the community as a charmer, wheel-greaser, diplomat, conniver, and general smooth-talker.
The halfway man -
Halfway Man - The local Sarali villages don’t exactly know that he is a Scar Neck, or at least, don’t let the thought confront them. This allows him to move casually in both worlds, to his own advantage, and the clan’s advantage - and, when it comes to negotiating protection money, to the advantage of the local villages, too. If forced to confront that he really is undeniably a Scar Neck, the Sarali will reject him.
Well Turned Out - Bryno takes care to cultivate a wardrobe of modern Sarali fashions, along with striving to remain always pristine, perfumed and clean-shaven. This lets him stand out from his roughly-dressed hill-men Scar Neck peers, and allows him to blend even into the high society of Millai County.
Romantic - Bryno has two wives, and has a few other romantic contacts in the surrounding villages - and even one at the county’s Chantry Office. In part, this is a Scar Neck affectation - living against the Sun King’s law can also take the form of deliberately flouting the anti-fornication legislation. But his amorous adventures also confer upon him a somewhat rarified, above-the-crowd status, which the Millaiado envy and admire.
Emlino Barra Millaiado
Eldest son of Cerridvena. Tall, rangy, sunburnt, one eye twisted into a socket by a blade. Strong hands, hair in one long braid. A skilled hunter, personally dangerous man, and the clan’s most usual choice for assassin. Learned everything his mother had to teach on the subject of violence, iterated on it, made it keener. Followed around by a small army of admiring Scar Neck youths.
Reputation - His trophy hall sits at the top of a cliff up a tall, narrow and dangerous ladder. Within, he sits surrounded by army captains’ hats, signatorial gear, the heads of huge beasts, even the dropped dagger of a startled spirit. Emlino’s clan believe he can kill anything so long as he’s given time to plan.
Icy Calm - He never loses his cool. Certainly not in front of his cousins and his clanmates.
Armaments - His armoury sits at the bottom of the same cliff. Eight guns, twenty edged weapons, a big hammer, tripwires, caltrops, a crossbow, grenadoes, and a small cannon. The “mantis-claw” style cazrin blade is for serious matters. A disarmed Emlino is a struggling Emlino.
Relationships Amongst Each Other
Cerridvena loves and dotes on Emlino, her eldest son, of whom she is incredibly proud. She despises Bryno as an upstart crypto-subject interloper, but takes care never to show it.
Bryno admires, respects and almost reveres the famous and terrifying Granny Cerri, whom every Scar Neck knows as the steady hand on the tiller of the Millaiado. He is absolutely terrified of Emlino.
Emlino finds Cerridvena tyrannical, boring and overly cautious. He once thought of her as the pinnacle of humanity, but now has little respect for her. Still, she is his mother. As for Bryno, he is experiencing a rather-out-of-character lust for him, which he has no idea how to handle, and might make him irrational.
