Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

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NecropolisV
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Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by NecropolisV » Sat Aug 19, 2017 5:57 pm

Heya everyone, ObsceneOoze back and rolling on Arelith, just using the login i use on most servers now (Apart from NecroDude), and with a fresh character! I joined back to participate in a group concept regarding Sharrans! However, as the acting cleric of the group, I got some idea's of my own to take it a step further and make a player faction that would be tied to the group, yet seperate!

If you feel like rolling up a good ol sharran, or taking your existing sharran and getting involved feel free to chat me up on Discord or send me a message on the forums! (NecropolisV in Arelith Discord, though my actual Discord name is NecroCat)

Anyways, details.

The idea was taken from a few of my favorite fantasy groups i've read about in the many books i've read, and some games i've played!

The Shadow Hand Of Shar

(Edit: everytime you see black hand it should be shadow hand)

Image

Some Basic Recommendations And Info:

Black Hand:

Faith: Shar

Class: Room for several classes for the black hand itself, however certain roles are desired to be filled

Race: Preferred: Human, Drow. Allowed: Any really

Main Server: Both! I'm more than happy to sift between the Underdark, and the surface, and it's preferred that those involved are willing to do so as well, however depending on your role in the faction you might be heavily based in one or the other, the main meeting point between the members will be in the plane of shadows itself, so there's room for either basis in either server

Playing Times: Any work, i'm usually able to be around for any timezone when i'm out of college, and while in college, a certain part of the day i'll be busy for a few days of the week, but outside of that I can be on anytime, i'm more than happy to adjust my sleeping schedule for you guys

Church Of Shar:

Race: Any

Class: Any, but come on you know paladins, and druids won't work for this

Main Server: Again both! However, if you want to stick to one side of the server, your more than welcome to unlike the suggestion for the black hand members, as Black Hand members who generally rule over the church will likely be dipping between both UD and Surface frequently, I know I will!

Alright now to the REAL details

The Church Of Shar:

((Recommended for New PC's looking for some support to get started and build up to be a full fledged member, those who find themselves often alone and without others to travel with, and overall preparing to be used for some evil intrigue shenanigan's))

The church itself will be a loose organization of Sharran allies who work together to spread the worship of Shar in subtle manners, though some members may become known criminals and wanted for their worship and dark workings, many of it's members are secretive, and work behind the scenes, doing the bidding of the Black Hand as directed, but otherwise free to pursue their own interests. The church is comprised of essentially the main muscle and "militant force" of the black hand, utilized to carry out not as intricate, and sometimes overt acts that would otherwise put one of the black hand members at risk of exposure for who they are. Of course, subtlety and secrecy are always preferred, but sometimes, a shove is needed, and the church is there for that, otherwise it's members are sleeper agents of a sort, waiting in secret for the right time to strike to carry out the will of the black hand.

Comprised of priests, warriors, rogues, assassins, shadow mages, normal mages, anyone willing to commit to the worship of Shar and the fulfilling the orders and commands of the black hand, they are not the elite level of the black hand itself, but they are more than skilled to carry out their duties.. Of course.. The Black Hand itself takes apprentices, heirs to their position in the Black Hand, and they are most often selected from among the church members themselves, those who prove themselves the most. One thing is for sure, the Black Hand readily keeps it's church rewarded for their efforts, and even the lowliest of church members if they need something, the church, the hand, will provide, whether it be equipping them, supplying them, or informing them.


The Black Hand Of Shadows Itself:

The elite, the top servants of Shar within the organization, there are only five fingers to a hand, and as such, there are only ever five members of the black hand itself. No one really knows who is in the Black Hand, save for the Black Hand itself, it's members often coming before the church in elaborate disguises, delivering their commands, and sifting in and out of society, leaving their mark wherever they go. It is possible some within the church know who the Black Hand members are, but knowing is to be sworn to secrecy, and to break that secrecy, is to know death, and ruin. The Black Hand are the ultimate weavers of intrigue, and darkness, each fulfilling a role they do best, and have shown to be the top of the crop in their art, not necessarily power, or combat strength, but their ability to carry out the will of shar, and to both lead, act, and deceive without error.

The Black Hand is comprised of five roles:

The Master Of Shadows: A high priest of Shar, walking in strong favor and power with the dark goddess, he is known to many as a face, perhaps many faces, but his true allegiance, and his power is known only to those he selects to know such. He leads the strength of faith within the church, and works unerringly to spread the worship and darkness of Shar wherever he goes, it is his duty to train the strength of his clergy, and prepare them so that one day, one among them, will take his place, as the next master of shadows, the leader of the black hand, and the driving nail of sharran faith in Arelith

The Master Of Murder: An elite killer, and master of poisons, the most elite of trapmakers, the silent wind that leaves only death in his wake. The grandmaster guides the assassins and rogues within the church, he/she carries out the top assassinations for the church, and teaches the newer learning assassins, so one day, when he/she finally meets death, at least one will be prepared to take his/her place in the Hand. He/she too, wears many faces, and he/she might be friends with anyone, but when the time comes to kill, no matter who they are, how he/she might know them, he/she delivers, and no one knows who executed the kill, and more often than not, his/her targets live with nightmares knowing that at any moment he/she could end their life, or perhaps, he/she already has.

The Lord Of Lies: To you, he/she is your best friend, in fact to everyone, he/she is their best friend, everyone knows and loves him, everyone trusts him, he is your favorite face in the crowd, and he/she would never betray you, would he/she? The lord of lies, mixes with any and everyone, gathering intelligence and the secrets of all, delivering them to the Black Hand members to decide their next movements with the knowledge needed, his place in the Black Hand should never be known to any but the Black Hand itself, to the church, he is possibly just another member of their lowly numbers. One thing is for sure, no one expects his/her betrayal, and no one even knows they were betrayed, not by him/her at least, he/she could never do that to them, could he/she?

The Lord Of Loss: The fiercest of warriors, the master of weapons, or the pillar of unending powerful rage that makes this warrior one of the deadliest in Arelith or the Underdark, he is tasked with training the newer generations of warriors, turning them into machines of devastation like himself, and picking the deadliest of them to take his place one day upon his/her death, of no doubt will be a bloody, and deadly occasion. His/her role is to protect the other members of the Black Hand, even if it means sacrificing his/her secrecy as a member, if it is within his power to save a member of the black hand from exposure or death, he/she will do so, for he/she is the lord of loss, and he/she decides, what is lost, not fate.

The Archmage Of Shades: An arcanist of immense power, whether it be in the shadow weave, or just the arcane art itself, they are the magical might of the Black Hand, able to carry out any tasks requiring the intricate and powerful force of the arcane, and tasked with collecting artifacts, lore, and secrets that will empower the Black Hand further, or lead to the churches benefit. It is also his/her task to train the magi and those of sorcerous art within the church, guiding them to achieve their pinnacle of arcane power, and eventually, to choose one to take their place as the archmage within the black hand.

The five fingers of the black hand, and for each finger, there is nail, and that nail is their chosen apprentice among the church.. Only the lord of lies has no nail.. For the next lord of lies is always decided by the black hand itself, when its former expires..

The Black Hand will attempt to sow discord and intrigue in every aspects of the lands they are in, gathering power, forging alliances, making deals.. Slowly either forging a lasting influence of the hand and church into the lands they cross.. Or seizing secret control of it entirely. Some of its members may become exposed with time.. and this of course.. is fine.. they will simply do their duties as new faces they forge, letting their old discovered one fall to a thing of the past.. Some might embrace the act of their discovery and take a more public forceful role in the church of Shar.. Such will be told with time.



Alright, thats the gist of it, the black hand and church is basically going to be a super secretive some not so secretive group of sharrans that works intrigue, influence and power to secure power in all forms for the faith of shar, whether it be organizing and causing the destruction of rival faiths, planting or corrupting corrupt politicians in place of power, or forging deals with existing figures of power to have as much political, religious, and raw strength power they can get before being destroyed. People can seek out the church and hand to make deals for favors, perhaps it being the assassination of a political rival, or the destruction of their progress through revealing their darkest secrets. It could be a beggar on the street who wants to rise to glory, and seeks to make deals with the black hand to help him secure it.. Could be an adventurer who has an ideal or goal they'd like to achieve, but they don't have the strength to do it. All can seek out the hand and church, but every service comes with a price, the price either benefiting the church and hand in some way, whether monetary, or politically, the price is different for all, but all can afford the price, for it is tailored to each individual who seeks them according to a sacrifice of loss they must make that benefits the church.



Alrighty! Hope you who bothered to read through all of this like the idea, and might wanna get involved? Like i said message me! My character is relatively new, meaning this is up for MAJOR development, as it's the plan for the future, and any who want to get their foot in the door early and help it come to be are welcome to! The hand doesn't even exist yet, neither does the church, but if you liked what you read, I welcome you to help me make this come to be! Thank you for your time :D
Last edited by NecropolisV on Sun Aug 20, 2017 3:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Cortex
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Cortex » Sat Aug 19, 2017 6:05 pm

The Black Hand, eh?

The lawyers of the Banite Church will be contacting you soon.
:)

Gods_Kill_People
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Gods_Kill_People » Sat Aug 19, 2017 6:08 pm

The Shadow Hand is a better title

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Cybernet21
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Cybernet21 » Sat Aug 19, 2017 6:17 pm

Gods_Kill_People wrote:The Shadow Hand is a better title
Maybe the Dark Brotherhood? ;)
My family were all knights,but none protected those who cannot fight for themselves.They all cared about their noble status more than anything else.I would be a true knight,i would train on the ways of the paladin -Arcavius Ryde

TimeAdept
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by TimeAdept » Sat Aug 19, 2017 6:44 pm

The Thirty Five Glorious Fingers To Her Dark Majesty

Gods_Kill_People
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Gods_Kill_People » Sat Aug 19, 2017 6:53 pm

Cybernet21 wrote:
Gods_Kill_People wrote:The Shadow Hand is a better title
Maybe the Dark Brotherhood? ;)
But...what about the sisters of the faith??

Miskol
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Miskol » Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:30 pm

Cybernet21 wrote:
Gods_Kill_People wrote:The Shadow Hand is a better title
Maybe the Dark Brotherhood? ;)
What is the music of life?

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Cybernet21
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Cybernet21 » Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:52 pm

Miskol wrote:
Cybernet21 wrote:
Gods_Kill_People wrote:The Shadow Hand is a better title
Maybe the Dark Brotherhood? ;)
What is the music of life?
Silence,my brother

EDIT:But we should stop derailing the thread ;)
My family were all knights,but none protected those who cannot fight for themselves.They all cared about their noble status more than anything else.I would be a true knight,i would train on the ways of the paladin -Arcavius Ryde

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Opustus
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Opustus » Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:02 pm

A fingerprint could also be a cool symbol! Very criminal.

I've been hankering to try out Arelith's version of SD and already have a character concept in mind. Might be interested to join you at some point. What times do you play? I'm Opustus#4543 on Discord.
Characters: all poor babies suffering from neglect

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Echohawk
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Echohawk » Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:52 am

New character rolling around, would be interested.
Echohawk#0623 Discord
Arelith Discord: https://discord.gg/mAm8M3T
Echohawk#0623
Availability - Whenever, Sweden (GMT+1)

NecropolisV
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by NecropolisV » Sun Aug 20, 2017 3:09 am

Renaming to The Shadow Hand Of Shar ^_^ better title yeah less conflicting with other churches, i'll be on discord soon enough to chat it out with folks interested!

My timezones while im out of college to answer your question are any, when im out of college i can be awake mostly whenever lol

NecropolisV
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by NecropolisV » Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:56 am

Discord is NecroCat#9141

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DeepWebAssassin
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by DeepWebAssassin » Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:19 am

You guys haven't done any contracts in Windhelm lately, have you?

Image

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Opustus
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Opustus » Sun Aug 20, 2017 1:27 pm

I propose a new symbol! Googled Shar and apparently in the people world it stands for wrinkly yet adorable doggie:
Image
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NecropolisV
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by NecropolisV » Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:36 am

DeepWebAssassin wrote:You guys haven't done any contracts in Windhelm lately, have you?

Image


i literally just googled "Black hand" and took the image that looked decent enough, and yeah im aware the hand is very similar to the hand of sithis symbol they use, and their organizational structure XD i DID say i took some inspiration from games, novels, ect. right? Enough jokes, please just post things that contribute to the topic, not mock it, jokes are fun, but it's clogging up the majority of this post.

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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by miesny_jez » Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:25 am

Hi NecropolisV

I like the idea and would be certainly welcomed.. though one question why do You not work it out IC instead of putting it out for everyone to see here in the forums?

There is already a Sharran church in operation... why do You not propose it in IC manner within the church itself? You know the place where to look for

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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by Skeletor » Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:04 pm

Just hope they arent using a piece of scroll, ink and their own hand because fingerprints. Might roll a sharan and contact you soon!

NecropolisV
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Re: Player Faction/Group Concept Idea!- Sharrans! Intrigue!

Post by NecropolisV » Wed Aug 23, 2017 9:52 pm

Ah as to the question, that's entirely because im used to doing this kind of thing for other servers ive played on- most even. Making posts for OOC recruitment to a concept or faction is immensely common in many places, so im kind of just used to doing it- don't get me wrong, i'll be trying to push this IC, but a little ooc bump to let players know whats going on, or if they want to start a new character for it doesn't hurt i'd think.

Also, not all sharrans have to work together, even if i'd prefer it, and chances are, they won't, because naturally, the church is already a thing, has its own thing going on, has its leaders- I don't think the current church is going to be overly fond of, nor its leaders, for a new guy to step in and try to take lead and command from the other leaders, and suddenly try to put out his own structure and ways on them which is exactly what i'd be doing, and since My character really doesn't want to quarrel with other sharrans, it might just seem easier to do their own thing, recruit people for that thing, and just be allies with the current church of shar

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