The Demons of the Waste (re: rogue abilities)

A while I ago I read a thread about how to interpret various rogue abilities (stealth, shadowstep among others) in a roleplaying context. As a result it has been churning in my head since and what you can read below is the result of it.

For those that like weaving mysticism and dark magic into their rogue's past and abilities, I present a brief background for a sect of assassins and bodyguards trained by the dark sorcerers of the Tanarisi people. My upcomming character, Safia, will herself belong to this tradition.

Also, comments are most welcome. I'm particularly looking for criticism regarding balance of pros and cons.

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This is a sect of the Waste wanderer culture that serves their clan’s leaders and dark sorcerers. Apart from rigorous training, each aspirant also undergoes a dark ritual. A demonic entity is called forth from the Nether. The sorcerers of the clan tear the demon apart with their combined powers before distilling its essence to its most basic instincts. The demonic essence is then infused into the aspirant. It is to be noted that this is not a possession per se as the dark ritual have all but shred the personality and will of the demon to pieces.

The process is painful and demanding and those who do not die straight away may still die in the next few years as they struggle to find a balance between themselves and the demon in them. An aspirant that lets themselves become lost to their demon are of no use to the sorcerers and are hunted down by the other assassins.

Regardless of the successful merging of the aspirant and the demon, the ritual is a death sentence that will ultimately tear their sanity and/or their bodies apart. Hence the knowledge is kept secret only to those that are initiated into the Dark Arts and the assassins themselves.

The ritual is not all bad though. It gives the assassins affinity with shadow magic and the Dark Arts. They can perform feats of supernatural agility and endurance and their senses and instincts are honed to a level that is almost predatory. Combined with their trainers they make for fearsome bodyguards and assassins for the sorcerers they serve.

In order to control their demon many assassins focus themselves on ritualistic ceremonies, mundane crafts, art, knowledge and/or a hedonistic lifestyle. These distractions serve to create a balance for the assassin, allows them to ride the wave if you will. They retain their sanity and the bloodlust and demonic urges are held back from taking complete control of them.

Very few ever manage to control their demon through sheer force of will. It is rumoured that those that do are called back by their clan to serve the clan as sorcerers themselves.

The noticeable effects of their merging are that they tend to leave a tainted aura behind on any object they use frequently and/or they have close emotional ties to. Their sorcerers usually help them hide their taint and fel presence. Experienced assassins eventually learn to do this themselves.

Physical effects may vary from assassin to assassin. Some undergo slow changes while others have none until their body is torn apart. Effects may include leathery or discoloured skin, discolouration of the irises, fang-like teeth, rough hair growth on various parts of the body, claw-like fingers, loss of speech (and development of rudimentary telepathy as a result), extremely cold or warm skin and corrosive spittle.

The sorcerers usually take advantage of those few that do not develop any obvious physical effects and keep them close and in the open among outsiders.

Is this a guild idea or something the like? But i wouldnt recommend much overuse of this demon method since my char has been under going lots of dark magic like RP. In the corruption event that was few months ago, people started to get a little too OP through this demon method. Since the cultists who corrupted others with demon blood replica made too much freedom on how much you're powers increase when you get it.

And even though my char purified the demon blood in him, he still undergoes some after effects (as it is hardly curable) and he still is faintly corrupt. But back to the text, i agree on that tainted aura thingy there, since bleak dark magic can be quite easily detected by someone who has had any training in magic or the like. If i ever use magic on my char it probably enhances his own body, not shooting chaos bolts on every opponent.

And if you're going to do something like mass production of demonfolk you should definetly put some strict rules on how much you get stronger or change. And even if you were to control the "demon inside you" it would definetly take a pretty long while, and during that time you would have lots of side effects or the like. And i hate the word "Assassin" being used so much, i know it sounds cool an' all mabe but it's really over used and you could use something original if you are going to get all fangs and stuff.

And i've seen like tens of people with "Master assassin" or "Combat master" or "Dark overlord of the fuckin burning mario legion"
and it just makes most of the ppl i know lol pretty bad. So i tend to use names like: Bandit, Duelist or Specialist. But never the less, you're idea is usable if you put some flavoh in it and get people interested about it.

Assassin aka Hashshashin, the OG suicide terrorist. Where are my 40 virgins?!

Kristeas Sunbinder wrote: Where are my 40 virgins?!

Hi sweetie!

Raviran wrote:Is this a guild idea or something the like?

This is not a guild idea. This is a concept idea for anyone who wants to create such a character. It also gives an in-game reason to why your rogue can disappear in front of a crowd of people or why he can jump from shadow to shadow.

Raviran wrote:But back to the text, i agree on that tainted aura thingy there, since bleak dark magic can be quite easily detected by someone who has had any training in magic or the like. If i ever use magic on my char it probably enhances his own body, not shooting chaos bolts on every opponent.

Taint can, in my opinion, be felt by anyone. Those with experience and/or knowledge about it just know what it is they are feeling. As for chaos bolts, the way I envisioned it, this infusion of demon essence just gives a reason for rogues to perform some of the feats that the game mechanics all them today (fan of knives, shadowstep, killing spree, stealth etc.).

Raviran wrote:And if you're going to do something like mass production of demonfolk you should definetly put some strict rules on how much you get stronger or change. And even if you were to control the "demon inside you" it would definetly take a pretty long while, and during that time you would have lots of side effects or the like. And i hate the word "Assassin" being used so much, i know it sounds cool an' all mabe but it's really over used and you could use something original if you are going to get all fangs and stuff.

I never said mass production. I didn't specify a specific number and perhaps my writing is unclear but out of all the potential aspirants in a clan, only a few actually manage to make it through the first stage, the training.

After the training we have the merging of the human with the distilled demonic essence. Many lack the force of will, mindset or personality to be able to deal with it, not to mention if their bodies are too weak too contain. After the merging the next few years are crucial as the demoniac either adapts or falls to pieces in the myriad of ways I described.
And finally, only a handful few survive. So we are not talking about an army but a small number of very loyal, very tormented people who have had their lives ruined by their clan elders.

As for using the word assassin, I admit that you should not keep overusing the same word in a text but it is not like I am trying to get it published. I used the word assassin because it aptly describes what they do and what they are good at. They serve their sorcerer in any capacity they are needed and all make use of their assassination protocols every now and then. Ie. assassin is not a title, it is a job description.

I saw a guy named Ezio with "Assassin" as his title who had GHI buffs that described he had the exact weapons Ezio has in AC2. Get my point?

Raviran wrote:I saw a guy named Ezio with "Assassin" as his title who had GHI buffs that described he had the exact weapons Ezio has in AC2. Get my point?

We uh, took that guy into the OTS and taught him otherwise. But I think he went back to that sort of thing, haven't seen him in a while. He was a tough one to get through to >>

He's in TDS now that I noticed. But yeah Assassin's creed does inspire the rogues I see o_o

Using a demonic taint would (as far as i'm aware) lead to dealing with the arcane Fel, rather then the Shadow. Given the shadow itself is a divine magic school in tandem with the Holy Light.

It's a good synopsis however but could use some ironing out of the creases. But if this sect is empowering the use of chaotic demons expect Shadewalker to be lurking at thier back door..

Except Ray the Rumwalker to be lurking at you're back door Jayz...

That's not somewhere you want to be stood *sagenod*

But back to topic, it's interesting to see. However with everything i've done and my knowledge of the magic. I'm firmly of the position that any use of a demonic presence would mean the effects would be Fel in nature.. as the shadow is something different entirely.

If you want to chat about it at some point give me a shout, you might find the whole backstory quite interesting given your concept layout

I'll leave the spoilers off the forums. *nods*

@Raviran - Assassin's Creed was a shitty game and I take offence that my concept should in any way be associated with it.

@Jayse - You are right. I have used shadow and fel interchangably which they are not. My intention was indeed fel since they distill demonic essence. Whether the waste wanderer's have shadow practitioneers or not, I won't say. And since Tanarisi people tend stay, well, in Tanaris, these assassins are seldom met or known of outside that area.

I remember someone back in Vanilla who tried to make Tanaris human guild, possibly with similar ideas.
Think it was Varangeris and Saskia who was behind it, but I haven't seen them around for some time.

Varangeris and Saskia. Now there are two names I haven't heard in a while.

Theres few Tanaris based guilds i know, been part of one myself once. And tanaris is a very good place to RP but it's not for those low lvl ppl idd, I myself allways enjoy desert RP and the like. But AC2 wasn't a shitty game in my oppinion but it's just wrong that when you google assassin you get 100000000 pages of AC. And ppl shouldnt be rip offs and copy something like that. Anyhow back to the topic.

....Noxie has a AC Weapon.....

Because Analeigh made it for her.

I kinda like the inspiration of making a more "magical" rogue with fel inspired abilities. (Same as a rogue RPing as a Light Slayer might very much RP that he uses the Forgotten Shadow for Shadow Step, CoS and such things).

What I raise a huge objection towards is the "Tanaris people" that just seem's like a rip of towards the assassin's cult that existed in our world.
I do this as there hasn't been humans in Tanaris for 20 years in game yet. Doubtful there's even been goblins.
If the goal would be to start a new cult based in it. I very much aprove on the other hand.