Jesus fucking christ, how do I make an Assassin's Guild

>>54387622

Make it something other than an "Assassins' Guild." Give them a reason to exist. Killing people for money isn't one, and you don't need a dedicated guild for that. Hitman services are just a part of general organized crime.

The real Hashishin were religious zealots. "Ninjas" were political assassins trained by noble houses. Gotta have a reason.

>>54387622
Is that from Talisman? I played the game ages ago, and it's the thing that most readily springs to mind with "Crown of Command", but what's a Wanted Poster? I don't remember those.

>>54387742

I dunno it was the first thing that came up after I sifted through all the Assassin Creed and Guild Wars images.

>>54387622
Make it a dysfunctional family of psychopaths who only take jobs for beer money.

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The Priest in Black and White: Men may whisper of the Faceless Men of Braavos, but we are older than the Secret City. Before the Titan rose, before the Unmasking of Uthero, before the Founding, we were. We have flowered in Braavos amongst these northern fogs, but we first took root in Valyria, amongst the wretched slaves who toiled in the deep mines beneath the Fourteen Flames that lit the Freehold’s nights of old. Most mines are dank and chilly places, cut from cold dead stone, but the Fourteen Flames were living mountains with veins of molten rock and hearts of fire. So the mines of old Valyria were always hot, and they grew hotter as the shafts were driven deeper, ever deeper. The slaves toiled in an oven. The rocks around them were too hot to touch. The air stank of brimstone and would sear their lungs as they breathed it. The soles of their feet would burn and blister, even through the thickest sandals. Sometimes, when they broke through a wall in search of gold, they would find steam instead, or boiling water, or molten rock. Certain shafts were cut so low that the slaves could not stand upright, but had to crawl or bend. And there were wyrms in that red darkness too.
Arya: Earthworms?
The Priest: Firewyrms. Some say they are akin to dragons, for wyrms breathe fire too. Instead of soaring through the sky, they bore through stone and soil. If the old tales can be believed, there were wyrms amongst the Fourteen Flames even before the dragons came. The young ones are no larger than that skinny arm of yours, but they can grow to monstrous size and have no love for men.
Arya: Did they kill the slaves?

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>>54387820
The Priest: Burnt and blackened corpses were oft found in shafts where the rocks were cracked or full of holes. Yet still the mines drove deeper. Slaves perished by the score, but their masters did not care. Red gold and yellow gold and silver were reckoned to be more precious than the lives of slaves, for slaves were cheap in the old Freehold. During war, the Valyrians took them by the thousands. In times of peace they bred them, though only the worst were sent down to die in the red darkness.
Arya: Didn't the slaves rise up and fight?
The Priest: Some did. Revolts were common in the mines, but few accomplished much. The dragonlords of the old Freehold were strong in sorcery, and lesser men defied them at their peril. The first Faceless Man was one who did.
Arya: Who was he?
The Priest: No one. Some say he was a slave himself. Others insist he was a freeholder's son, born of noble stock. Some will even tell you he was an overseer who took pity on his charges. The truth is, no one knows. Whoever he was, he moved amongst the slaves and would hear them at their prayers. Men of a hundred different nations labored in the mines, and each prayed to his own god in his own tongue, yet all were praying for the same thing. It was release they asked for, an end to pain. A small thing, and simple. Yet their gods made no answer, and their suffering went on. Are their gods all deaf? he wondered... until a realization came upon him, one night in the red darkness. All gods have their instruments, men and women who serve them and help to work their will on earth. The slaves were not crying out to a hundred different gods, as it seemed, but to one god with a hundred different faces... and he was that god's instrument. That very night he chose the most wretched of the slaves, the one who had prayed most earnestly for release, and freed him from his bondage. The first gift had been given.

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>>54387852
The Priest in Black and White: The Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria that was, but Braavos is the bastard child who ran away from home. We are a mongrel folk, the sons of slaves and whores and thieves. Our forebears came from half a hundred lands to this place of refuge, to escape the dragonlords who had enslaved them. Half a hundred gods came with them, but there is one god all of them shared in common.
Arya: Him of Many Faces.
The Priest: And many names. In Qohor he is the Black Goat, in Yi Ti the Lion of Night, in Westeros the Stranger. All men must bow to him in the end, no matter if they worship the Seven or the Lord of Light, the Moon Mother or the Drowned God or the Great Shepherd. All mankind belongs to him... else somewhere in the world would be a folk who lived forever. Do you know of any folk who live forever?
Arya: No. All men must die.

>>54387742
>>54387809
apparently it's from an expansion, talisman has tons of them.

>>54387866
Man, the faceless men are such a satisfying version of the assassins guild. They are edgy, but have such forced humility I am not that bothered by it. Also their existing dosen't colapse society, as the cost of their service is to high to abuse.

The issue is the serial number is hard to file off. Inserting them into random settings will make people roll their eyes.

Here's my rough draft:

> A ship of hunters blows way off course, are nearly dead by the time they reach a strange shore
> Local tribesmen nurse them back to health
> Slavers raid the tribesmen and take some prisoner
> Hunters attack at night, using their own hunting skills no one has seen before to kill the raiders and free the slaves
> Hunters are hailed as heroes
> Plot twist: the slavers were noble born and sons of the Emperor/King/Sultan and daddy sends his army out to punish the hunters and tribesmen
> The whole entire time the tribesmen and hunters flee and fight off the attacking army
> Beg other tribes for help but no one wants to be seen helping them because fear of the king
> Tribesmen and hunters are bleeding white when they find a natural demiplane to hide out in
> They split into two groups: night time assassins that protect the demiplane and those who live in the demiplane
> Demiplane is nice, but has no way of sustaining itself
> Assassinations and raiding are their main source of income and resources but the overall mission is to target anyone who comes close to discovering the hideout
> Assassins usually recruit from inside but will take in desert refugees and orphans
> The more bloodthirsty and cold members are the demiplane dwellers and not the assassins
> Plot Twist: The demiplane is slowly eroding and the assassins want to bring in outside mages to help understand why but the demiplane dwellers say nuts to that and is causing conflict between the two groups

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>>54387622
Mystical faceless monks.