Dark Brethren

The **Dark Brethren** are an organization of demon hunters serving Greatmother Lucaerna. A strange and bizarre group in contrast to the more uniform Illidari, the Dark Brethren represent a small and elite force that serves at the apex of the martial forces under the control of the Greatmother consisting of no more then four of five dozen or so at any one time in contrast to the great bulk of the Temple Guardians which makes up the cult.

## History

The Dark Brethren are a small order, once great, and once linked to the greater Illidari. In the time before the Third Invasion of the Burning Legion, the numbers of the Demon Hunters were consolidated in the Illidari, and many Demon Hunters followed Greatmother Lucaerna as she was as Lucaerna Duskstalker, priestess of the Dark Faith of Elune. As their leader changed, and her goals grew away from the single minded destruction of the legion by influence of the Sayaad Queen Xazariel, the majority of the demon hunters under her rebelled against her, and abandoned her. Those few that remained became the Dark Brethren.

As the Dark Brethren, the ways of the hunters began to return more to the methods of the Long Vigil under the old covenants, away from the methods of the greater Illidari. As the cult began to engage in more lurid and depraved acts, so did the hunters. Discipline began to grow lax, and the single minded focus of the hunters began to wane. The numbers of the hunters dwindled over time, and the military minds of the cult grew miserly with them, reducing their deployments. Some hunters even abandoned the path of the demon hunter as the Greatmother did, taking mates and obtaining blessings until they were ready to join the ranks of the Handmaidens of the Mother.

Nowadays, the Dark Brethren are deployed as the ultimate assassins and agents against desired demonic targets. Just as often, demons which would be of great boon to the cult are hunted down for binding and enslavement.

## Training

Much Like the Illidari from which the Demon Hunters spawned from, the training is deadly and without mercy, and as such, the majority of the Dark Brethren are demon hunters who came from before the formation of the Shadow Cult, with a select few mighty warriors having risen within the perverse ways of the Cult.

Instead of the mass production method of demon hunter training used by the Illidari, the Dark Brethren make use of the ways of the Demon Hunter passed down in the rituals of the Dark Embrace, maintained by the former Covenant of the Dark Embrace. A student is prepared and carefully groomed in physical and mental capabilities. Trained and disciplined until the student is ready to take their mantle. Unlike the Illidari, who hunt down and consume a demon, the new demon hunters of the Dark Brethren make their petition before the Greatmother, who produces for them a demon of their choosing. The demon will be force grown through dark magics, and offered as special tribute to the student. The student shall plunge the ritual dagger into the heart of the Demon, and take it into themselves willingly, and the demon shall will it to by the power of the Mother. Such an action though inflicts tremendous horror at the sight, and the demon hunter master shall quickly take their eyes before they tear them out themselves. The fel power infusing their bodies after ingesting the demon's spirit and essence causes the demon hunter to mutate, gaining demonic features such as scales, horns, or claws. As with all chaos-touched creatures, the forms that these traits will take can be quite unpredictable. It is the practice of the cult to guide the development of these blessings through fleshbinding magic.

After the demon hunter awakens and their spectral sight begins to take effect, they are given tattoos which keep their powers from overwhelming them. The difference between Illidari and Cultsworn demon hunters is that the demon within is linked intrinsically to the Greatmother, and subsequently, so is the demon hunter, sparing them their eventual fate in the Nether upon their death. Arcane energy counters fel energy, thus they mark their bodies with arcane runes to keep the fel forces in check. Keeping their demons at bay with those tattoos and willpower is necessary to not become demons themselves. Each ritual to become a demon hunter is different and, as such, no two sets of tattoos are the same.

The existance is difficult, and the hunter shall always hunger for fel energy and demonic flesh. How they control these passions and channel their development marks how well the Hunter shall do in the cult.

## The Deathless

The Deathless are a select few Dark Brethren who have died in service to the Shadow Cult while under the Marks of the Faith or having consumed the essence of a demon produced by the Greatmother. Upon death, the spirits of the demon hunters and their bound demon are cast into the Nether and drift toward the ethereal beacon that is Lucaerna. Their spirits enter the Mother, and reside in her womb. There they gestate, their bodies building again, until they have matured into a suitable demonic form. When they are ready, they are reborn, and Lucaerna gives birth to them. Each one is a Unique Demon utterly loyal to the cult that retains all of the skills and abilities of the mortal they once were.