Priest Arnak
These are the "evil high priests" who infiltrate societies to subvert them. Very little is established about their false religion. They commune with the Iron Wind to learn their calling, and thus become assigned to kingdoms marked for destruction. There are six orders of Priests Arnak, split along geographical orientations. They are all thematic with associated symbols, and so distinguished by their signet rings. These are very powerful artifacts which bind them together. The pain of one is the pain of all.
The Priests Arnak often impersonate lovers of knowledge, or even Loremasters, to gain the trust of local populations. Their ranking members are usually Iylari, but they have been known to use mortal races when more effective. In contrast to the evil priests who were extremely subtle, however nihilistic and sinister, each order has a branch of dark assassins called Messengers. These are used as agents of force when the situation calls for something less than an Ordainer. The true servants of the Unlife, the Priests Arnak are absolutists, interested only in utter annihilation.
The Priests Arnak first formed and forged their rings around 4000 Second Age. What happened to form their secret orders has been lost to time, but it was most likely the result of a self-aware manifestation of the Unlife. These would sometimes happen in strange forms, and cults would end up forming around them. "The Silver Dawn" cult of lay healers, for example, would feed souls to a mist. The Iron Wind can be channeled by the priests in the form of a crushing icy wind that they blasted out from themselves. They can also transform targets into iron, and have anti-magical as well as soul destroying powers. The cults are identified by the name of the priestly order, even though the messengers have their own identity. The assassins are utterly subservient to the priests.
While a few of the high priests are over 8,000 years old, most of the founders are dead, perhaps all of them. It was not unusual for proteges to eventually murder the high priests, and replace them, provided they were able to survive putting on the high priest ring. Most of their history is in the form of the things they destroyed. One of the more famous cases was the Shards being awakened to destroy what we call Danjirland, which were once huntable creatures in the forest leading up to the Spider Temple.
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