Overview
The NightVeil is an assassin of myst and shadow. These dreaded Mages are whispered about in the darkest corners of all social classes with fear. NightVeils are the boogy-men and women that are often used in threats but few actually have access to. These Mages are not seen as people by most of society. Many come see them as horror story monsters. Others see NightVeils as tools to be gained. Still yet others see these assassins as a goal to be reached. NightVeils have been hired across the ages for assassinations that many thought impossible. Nobles, Generals, Kings, Emporers and more have all found an abrupt end at the hands of a NightVeil.
NightVeils have a range of specialized abilities and
Spells at their disposal for the uses of infiltrating, manipulating, and killing. They use Air and Dark Myst to Shadow Step, a form of short-range teleportation that allows the caster to jump from one shadow to another. NightVeils also Mind and Air Myst to instill illusions in the minds of passers-by and targets, Air and Body Myst for jumps akin to flight, Body, Death and Dark Myst to form necrotic, weakening claws of darkness around their hands.
Using Dark Myst to blend into shadows or coat a blade with a weakening spell. Using Air Myst to control the field of battle by quickening their own movement or destabilizing opponents with gusts of wind. They use Body Myst to enhance their natural ability beyond natural means or Mind Myst to enhance their cognitive rate. Or they may simply just use Death Myst to kill a target with a touch. They have many, many more tricks that are used to evade, elude, deceive, and murder.
Dread Orders
NightVeils are gathered in organizations called Dread Orders. There are thirteen Dread Orders across Anogwin, some are devout cults that follow the Eternals of
The Dead One or
Skalttra the Mother of Darkness, Titans like
Kelleshkar, Master of Desolation or Gods like
Ravnerra. Other Dread Orders follow no higher power but the primal craving for a challenging hunt ending to merciless bloodshed. While myths and rumors paint NightVeils as blood-thirsty killers that kill anyone on sight in reality they are emotionless and calculating. Dread Orders raise the next generation to become sociopaths, playing a day-to-day role as one of the thousand other faces in the crowd while in truth they have no empathy and have derived satisfaction from playing a game of emotional chess with the lives of innocents as expendable pieces to be set against each other.
Legality
NightVeils are a rare class of Mage that has been outlawed in nearly every nation. Those that have been found to be NightVeils are almost always to be executed on sight. Even children are killed without mercy the moment they are classified as a NightVeil. Parents that try to hide that their child has manifested as a NightVeil are also killed upon discovery. While the connection between a myst-channel and family lineage is tenuous at best no government is willing to take the chance that the same parents will give birth to another NightVeil.
Nobles of devious means are known to hire these Mages to dispose of all types of living inconveniences. As such any noble or high social class individual found hiring a NightVeil is to be stripped of title, status, land, property, funds, and anything else of value as well as imprisoned to have any knowledge of the NightVeils extracted by force. This is done out of the vaguest hope of finding a Dread Order to wipe it out.
Focus Explained
A NightVeil's focus is a complex and costly item in the form of a ring. This ring is know as the Ring of Dark Echoes. The ring is crafted a complex interworking of materials that must be prepared in a very precise manner. The ring is crafted from shaped segments of
Grave Stone, set into interlocking bands of
Umbranite and carved pieces of
Whither Bane Wood, with my circuit lines made from
Ikor Crystal linking to a
Soul Shard.
While the standard cost for each of these materials is costly at best, the requirements of each of these pieces makes it even more costly and difficult to acquire. The
Grave Stone must be collected from the
Dead One's Sickle island contenent, an area related to
The Dead One, the Eternal of Death. The
Umbranite must have been mined from the
Ferborne Mountains, an area related to
Skalttra, the Eternal of Darkness. The
Whither Bane Wood, must be collected from the
Demon's Grasp Islands, a region affected by several negative aligned planes. The
Ikor Crystal must be made from the blood of
Toreanna, the Titan of Pain. Lastly, the
Soul Shard must contain a soul of the NightVeil user's most loved individual.
While the design of a Ring of Dark Echos is entirely upto the creator, it must be closely tied to the goals and desires of its user. The
Grave Stone increases the power of Death Myst in spells and can act as a defense against incoporal undead. The
Umbranite increases Dark Myst in spells and is used to both trigger and resist negative magic effects. The
Whither Bane Wood amplifies all negative alignment elements. The
Ikor Crystal of the Titan of Pain causes intense pain with each magic use channelled through it. The design of the circuits made from the crystal channel the users pain into the
Soul Shard, torturing the loved one's soul. That pain then feeds back into the
Ikor Crystal and grants additional power to the user.
These materials must be shaped over the course of a week, one substance shaped and honed each day. On the sixth day, the materials must be assembled and the ring needs to be finished. First the assembled ring is hardened in
Dread Fire and quenched in
Wraith Water several times before it is covered in laqour to prevent the poisoning from the Whither Bane Wood. These rings must be completed with then five moons are new in order for the focus to be complete.
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