League of Assassins

== History ==
=== Origin ===
In the 14th Century, a man named Ebenezer Darhk took refuge in a cave in the Arabian Peninsula. Within that cave, Darhk happened upon a pit of green liquid. Weary from his journey, Darhk slept within the pit.
He awoke that night from a dream where he was visited by the Demon Leviathan. In his dream, the Demon told Darhk that he was destined to be an immortal and ascend to carry out the will of the Leviathan across the globe. He ran his hands along his body, finding himself to have been healed of all wounds, and in the best shape of his life thus far.
Darhk journeyed to his home village the next day. Upon arrival, he picked up his hunting blade and slayed his entire village. In the blood of the slain villagers, he wrote out the Three Acts of Ascension that the Demon had whispered to him.
Darhk’s history prior to the formation of the League of Assassins is mostly unknown. He began invading villages in secret, befriending locals who he found formidable, and recruiting them to his cause. Upon recruiting one, he would convince them to kill their entire village, and then he would take them to the pit, granting them healing from all injuries.
However, Darhk soon realized that granting all of his follower’s this power made them equal, and did not make him the Head, and so he challenged them all to combat against him, saying that if they killed him, they would become the new Head of the Demon.
He bested all of his followers in combat. That night, he journeyed to a local village, where he paid a traveler to take him to other countries. Darhk spent the next twenty-five years crossing the continents and finding individuals to follow him. When he had amassed a decent following, he took them all back to the Arabian Peninsula, and on the sight of that cave, they built the city of 'Eth Alth'eban (or the Snake’s Nest in English).
Darhk told his followers of his conquest to control the world, at first from the shadows, but then emerging into the light as the true conquerors of the known world. And on that night, the League of Assassins was born.
=== Reformation Under Kirigi ===
In the 16th Century, a martial arts master from Hong Kong under the name of Kirigi found his way to the League of Assassins. He was welcomed in and began his training, where he very quickly rose through the ranks of the League. He found himself facing the Head of the Demon, Ebenezer Darhk. He was disgusted by Darhk, who was old and addicted to the Lazarus Pit. He challenged Darhk for control of the empire he had built. Darhk laughed and fought Kirigi. When Kirigi lost, he took mercy on him, and kicked him out of 'Eth Alth'eban.
Kirigi wandered the globe in shame of his defeat, and found himself years later in the Himalayas, where he found the golden city of Nanda Parbat. Welcomed in by the monks of the city, they healed him with their mysticism, and granted him with gifts of great strength. One special gift they showed him was that of their own Pit, which they referred to as the Lazarus Pit. Kirigi left Nanda Parbat, after what felt like barely a year, and found that nearly a decade had passed.
He returned to 'Eth Alth'eban, where he found Darhk had grown lazy, and an uprising was brewing within his ranks. Kirigi led the attack against Darhk, decapitating him, before bathing in the Pit himself and becoming imbued with its strength. Kirigi became the new Head of the Demon.
Kirigi installed the current structure of the League of Assassins, delegating the foot soldiers of the League into two chapters: the White Glove and Black Glove. He created the Feet of the Demon, and elected the first Seven Masters, their official name being the Seven Men of Death, as his personal guard. He also began expanding to other continents, assigning trusted masters to begin building their own cities across the globe to bring more to Leviathan.
One of these cities would give way to the Brotherhood of the Monkey Fist, which would later become a rival to the League of Assassins in the form of the Silver Monkey.
Nearly a century later, a beautiful woman by the name of Ruh al Ghul came upon 'Eth Alth'eban, wanting shelter from a group of bandits who had pursued her and kidnapped her son. Kirigi led a team of his finest master assassins against the bandits, killing them in the most brutal fashion they could manage, and returning to the city with her son, Ra’s. Kirigi fell in love with Ruh al Ghul. The first wedding of the League, which would later become tradition, occurred in 'Eth Alth'eban. 
Kirigi would go on to raise her son as his own. When Ra’s was in his thirties, he begged Kirigi to let him take further command of the League of Assassins. When Kirigi refused, Ra’s challenged him for Head of the Demon. Unable to refuse the challenge, they partook. But, shortly before the challenge, Ruh offered to exchange herself in Kirigi’s place. She told Kirigi that if Ra’s were to kill his own mother, it would prove to Kirigi that he has what it takes to be Head, and that the League needed Kirigi more than it needed her. On the battlefield, Ra’s struck down his own mother, thus becoming the new Head of the Demon.
=== The Reign of Ra's al Ghul ===
Conforming with tradition, Kirigi retired to the role of the Heart, while Ra’s took control as the Demon’s Head. Ra’s bathed within the waters of the Pit that evening for the first time, where he was plagued with dreams of the Leviathan Demon fighting the Bat-Demon Barbatos.
Ra’s was an unconventional leader for the League during this time. Previous heads had scarcely wandered twenty miles from ‘Eth Alth’eban, but Ra’s was an explorer by nature, and he sought to travel, and planned to eventually have the Head seceded by someone of his own blood.
On his travels, Ra’s met a woman named Melisandre, a native of Nanda Parbat. She introduced Ra’s to the mysticism of the city and they were wed there. Melisandre bore a child, Talia. Shortly after Talia’s birth, Ra’s fled in the night with the baby. It is said that Melisandre took her own life the next day.
On the Arabian Peninsula, Ra’s was wandering the village when a merchant named Amina Raatko approached him. He felt attracted to her and he introduced her to the League of Assassins. After months together, she was with child, and they were wed in ‘Eth Alth’eban.
Shortly after the birth of his second daughter, Nyssa, Fadir Nasser, a foot soldier, challenged Ra’s for the Head of the Demon. Ra’s accepted and brutally struck down the man. This event shook Amina so badly that she attempted to flee the city with Nyssa. Ra’s stopped her and simply ordered that she leave Nyssa. Amina agreed and fled the city, leaving her daughter in the arms of the Demon.
After the founding of the United States, Ra’s saw it as a brand new opportunity. He journeyed to the United States himself under the alias of Henri Ducard to begin forging a path for the League there. In the United States, he found new members, and also a new way to finance his operations. Through blackmail and extortion, he gained the funds to expand the League’s outreach even further. He cemented himself and others in his favor into positions of power in the States.
He returned nearly a decade later, bearing an American son named Dusan, to join the League. Ra’s nor Dusan have ever spoken of the boy’s mother, so her identity has been lost to time. As industry took the world by storm, the League began to upgrade their equipment. They also decided to set up a second outpost. In the midst of World War Two, a Chinese sorcerer known as the Accomplished Perfect Physician found the League of Assassins. Severely injured, he asked that they help him find the spiritual island known as Lian Yu. 
The League accompanied the sorcerer to the island in the Indian Ocean, where they found Japanese soldiers had occupied it. After disposing of the hostile soldiers, the Physician set up base on the island, letting them partake of the medicinal plants housed on the island to heal their injuries. Further exploration found a Lazarus Pit occupied the island. The League wanted to stake their claim to the island, and so, they murdered the man, and took over the island, dubbing it Infinity Island.
This brings us to the 1990s. Using the alias of Henri Ducard, Ra’s al Ghul had gotten Bruce Wayne to join up with the League of Assassins. Stripping him of his identity and renaming him Khuffash, due to a shared fear of bats with Ra’s, Bruce proved to be one of the most proficient trainees the League had in decades. Ra’s found him to be a formidable foe, but soon found Bruce’s fatal error: his humanity.
Bruce insisted that they leave Oliver Queen alive and give him a chance within the ranks of the League of Assassins before they kill him. Foolishly, and at the behest of Talia, who had taken Bruce as a lover, Ra’s listened. Oliver and Bruce would both end up betraying him after leaving both of his daughters with child, making them sworn enemies of Ra’s al Ghul. Talia’s child was born, a daughter, Athanasia.
When Green Arrow and Batman debuted, Ra’s recognized their fighting styles in an instant, and he swore that the League would be their victors one day. Until then, Ra’s had to figure out how to keep the League powerful in a world of metahumans.
His first move was to broker a deal with Vandal Savage and Queen Zazzala of Bialya. Zazzala herself was running HIVE, and Ra’s had known Vandal at different points throughout history. The three planned to steal Amazonian technology from the island, but this plan was thwarted by Bruce as well as Superman and Wonder Woman.
Ra’s continued to help his daughters care for their children. It was planned for Nyssa's son Ibn'al'sahim to later infiltrate his father's operations, while Athanasia was ostracized and hid herself from the others of the organization, eventually disappearing. After the Justice League’s founding, he expanded his villainous cabinet with Vandal and Zazzala to form the Light.
=== The Undertaking of Gotham City ===
A man named Edmund Dorrance came to the League seeking asylum. He told Ra’s about the superpowered prisoners in the Peña Duro in Santa Prisca. Ra’s and Edmund journeyed there, where he found that a boy named Antonio had taken military control of the prison, and were now torturing the very guards that had imprisoned them. Ra’s talked Antonio and several of his lieutenants into joining the League of Assassins, but Antonio swore to them he’d be back.
Ra’s learned the source of Antonio’s superpowers came from a drug he called “Venom” which had been engineered within the prison, using chemicals from a corroded Lazarus Pit along with prison drugs, to make the ultimate muscle enhancer. Ra’s had the League established a center there to begin manufacturing Venom, which was overseen by Antonio himself, as well as his lieutenants, Bird, Trogg, and Zombie.
Ra’s began formulating plans for the undertaking of Gotham. He began speaking with Dorrance, who was going by the codename of the Python. He would visit Gotham with Dorrance multiple times over the next few years to begin scouting out plans. Talia accompanied him. Talia also began lurking in the shadows of corporate America. She even got on the board at LuthorCorp under the identity of Miranda Tate. The Light helped engineer the kidnapping of Roy Harper, replacing him with a clone, the first of two moles to be placed in Oliver Queen’s operations.
Meanwhile, Nyssa took up the identity of Sandra Hawke and came to Oliver with his son, calling him Connor. She told Oliver that the League was after her, and she needed to leave Connor with him for his own safety. Connor spied on superheroic operations in the Titans and reported back to the League for a while, before liking his found family in the Titans and cutting his biological family off. He told Oliver he knew something big was planned for Gotham.
After the death of Jason Todd, Ra’s sent Sportsmaster and Cheshire to dig up the boy’s grave. They were stopped by Roy Harper's clone. The two assassins knew the codeword to shut him down and they used this to evade capture.
Ra’s resurrected Jason in the Lazarus Pit, and he became the final piece in the puzzle that led to Gotham’s undertaking. Antonio Dorrance, operating under the codename of Bane, commanded a team of Four Horsemen to bring about Gotham’s Apocalypse. This team included Python, Larissa Diaz aka Copperhead, and the resurrected Jason under the codename of Knightfall.
They lead a full-force attack by the League of Assassins on Gotham. They also set off explosives beneath Gotham, in Old Gotham, that caused buildings and highways to collapse. These explosives also collapsed parts of Gotham’s seawall, flooding parts of the city. The government declared it a “No Man’s Land” and the GCPD instituted martial law.
Meanwhile, the League launched a terrorist attack on Blackgate Penitentiary and Arkham Asylum, freeing all of the prisoners and funneling them into the city. While the Bat-Family scrambled to handle the situation, Bane called for a showdown with Batman. Batman showed up in Times Square to face him, where Bane broke Batman’s back and very nearly killed him, were it not for the Bat-Family’s interference.
The League took control of Gotham for nearly seven months, before President Lex Luthor called off the No Man’s Land order, and Gotham was liberated. Batman suspected that the League of Assassins were behind the attack, but he was unable to prove it.
=== Post No-Man's Land ===
After No Man’s Land, the League of Assassins divided the White and Black Glove into dealing with their two main opponents. The White Glove went after Batman while the Black Glove went after Green Arrow. The White would set up an outpost in Gotham, with the Black in Star City. It would go as far as Komodo attempting to assassinate Oliver Queen whilst he was Mayor of Star City, before being defeated by the new Green Arrow, Connor Hawke.
The League would try again to take Gotham, this time by placing Batman’s son as a mole and using genetically enhanced soldiers thanks to Kirk Langstrom, combined with the Light hijacking Batman’s OMAC Technology. This plan would also fail, and resulted in the capture of Talia al Ghul, the exposure of the Light, and the believed death of Nyssa al Ghul.
Now, we find the League in a vulnerable position. Ra’s is without his hands, and there are rumors of uprising amongst the Seven Men of Death. He is without both of his moles and on the verge of being discovered by the Justice League at any moment. ‘Eth Alth’eban has been evacuated, and the League is now entirely mobile, due to Tim Drake and Artemis Crock’s infiltration of the League.
== Structure ==
=== The High Command ===
The Head of the Demon- The highest possible ranking within the League of Assassins. The Head of the Demon runs everything and ultimately has the command of all foot soldiers within the League. Usually, the Head of the Demon is won by birthright alone, but there are Three Acts of Ascension one can undergo to become the Head of the Demon.
The Heart of the Demon- When won by birthright, the Heart of the Demon is where the previous Head goes to continue their role. Rather than be killed or become useless, the former Head becomes an advisor to the new Head, and one of the most respected in the League. In fact, in ceremony, the Heart is the leader and eats first during all feasts. When not won by birthright, the Heart can be bestowed upon a child or spouse of the Head.
The Hands of the Demon- The two highest-ranking generals in the League. They do all of the Head’s bidding and directly carry out the Head’s commands. Each resides over their own battalions of assassins. In modern day, the Hands are known as the Black Glove and White Glove.
The Feet of the Demon- Made up of seven commanding assassins, collectively known as the Seven Men of Death. These are the seven who command missions, carrying out the will of the Head which is commanded by the Hands. The Feet also contained the Four Horsemen during Gotham’s Undertaking.
The Back of the Demon- Perhaps the most important outside of the Head, the Back is the Head’s bodyguard, responsible for being beside the Head at all times, always making sure the Head is safe and looked after. The Back usually has the title of Ubu, but variations have been present.
These five pieces make up what is collectively known as the Demon Leviathan. In addition, there is a large body of soldiers who operate beneath the White and Black Glove’s Operatives and beneath the Seven Men of Death and Four Horsemen. They are the foot soldiers of the Demon but are not considered worthy enough to find their way into the High Command, but they can climb up.
== Traditions ==
=== The Three Acts of Ascension ===
As previously mentioned, to become the Head of the Demon there are the Three Acts of Ascension one must undertake.
# The Act of Self-Destruction- Obliterating one’s identity, through faking a death and laying waste to one’s hometown.
# The Act of Self-Mutilation- A physical sacrifice from your body, to prove loyalty to the cause, most commonly a kidney.
# The Act of Self-Exaltation- Destruction of one’s opponents in trial by combat, including the current Head.
The Act of Self-Exaltation can have variations. For example, when Ra’s challenged Kirigi, his mother stepped in to take Kirigi’s place. This is allowed, if someone deemed of the same skillset or importance of the Head agrees to take their place in the duel, they may.
Once all three are completed, the new Head must sleep within the Lazarus Pit. Usually, the Head receives messages in their dreams from the Demon Leviathan.
=== Weddings ===
While marriages in the League are uncommon, they are not obsolete. Marriage ceremonies are only done in ‘Eth Alth’eban if one of the parties is a member of the Head, Heart, Hands, or Feet of the Demon.
During such ceremonies, all members are required to gather and observe the ceremony. They stand together and raise their blades to allow the bride to pass beneath them. To seal the union, a priestess placed the hands of the bride and the groom together, completing their union in the eyes of the Leviathan.
=== Honor Code ===
If an assassin fails their mission, they are first allowed back into the fold. If they have a high rank, they are stripped of it, and of their codename, reduced to a foot soldier. Those who fail their missions usually choose to go underground rather than be deranked.
If an assassin fails a second mission, they are disgraced and ostracized. If an assassin is imprisoned, they become a target, especially if the High Command deems they are a threat to the League’s integrity. Should they get out of prison without giving up the League, they will be contacted if the League desires them to return. If they aren’t contacted, it is implied they are no longer welcome at ‘Eth Alth’eban or any other League of Assassins facility.
=== Recruitment ===
Members of the League are always on the lookout for vulnerable or fragile people to recruit. Occasionally, agents are dispersed to areas of high poverty or crime rates to stake out and find individuals who they believe are desperate or can be easily manipulated into joining their ranks.