Blackflame Order

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   **𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝕆𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣**

*Blackflame Order is the Ravenguard's official assassination and intelligence organization. Their purpose is to provide Queen Andromeda with any services related to intelligence or dealing with unwanted individuals. Whenever her ravens are unable to gather enough information, the Blackflame Order's spies are surely capable of aquiring it. They also work outside of the monarch's rule, working within Ravenguard for coin though their allegiance is always sworn to the Queen. Having existed for centuries, the Blackflame Order has honed it's practices to a razor's edge and has numerous members spread across the realm. Their members are trained to be one with the shadows and use them to disappear with some masters of the order even doing so quite literally.

The Order was formed quite naturally. The drow have always been known to have numerous spies and assassins in their midst and as the need for their services became more common, it was simply natural for an order to arise. The order hides itself within the Nest, the capital of the Ravenguard empire. It's halls are hidden underground with the locations of it's entrances being held as secrets to keep enemy spies from snooping around. Within it's halls resides a large brazier with an eternal black flame that burns day and night as a symbol of the order. It was lit with dark magic upon the creation of the order and it was said to only go out when the world no longer needed assassins or spies.

Thus the flame burns eternal...*

☬ Order Structure ☬

**☫ Member ranks**
The members of the Blackflame Order are divided into three general ranks of Initiate, Member and Master. Only drow are allowed to join and while they don't have any hard rulings against male members, they are quite rare.

**Initiates** are those that have only recently joined the Order. Their abilities are still poor and they go through rigorous training during which they don't see much daylight. The initiates are often recruited from the streets, having caught the eye of one of the recruiters of the Order while carrying out some form of mischef. After being caught they are brought to the order's public office, located at a tavern just off the Royal palace. It is there that the initiates get their first contact with the order and are offered the chance of a lifetime to become part of the Order. Should they accept it, they are moved to a remote training location of the Order where they will reside for their entire training period. There they will train day and night until they have reached the level of skill demanded from the memberes of the Order. If they fail to reach such levels within a given timeframe or decide to leave themselves, they are expelled from the Order for good. The Order doesn't want quitters in their midst.

**Members**, also called Diciples, are fully-fledged part of the Order and are given access to the Order's secret hideouts. Even after becoming members, they will still go through training when they are not sent on missions, continuously honing their skills. As members of the Order, their eyes and ears are considered the property of the Order. Anything they see or hear must be reported upwards and the violation of this rule will often result in gruesome punishments including but not limited to removing the bodypart with which the member gathered the given information that they didn't report about. Leaving the order at this point becomes practically impossible as any that leave the order must leave their eyes and ears behind since they belong to the Order after they become members.

**Masters** are the cream of the crop. Their skills are honed to near perfection and they are the most capable members of the order. They are sent to the most difficult missions and those of utmost importance. They often are relatively old, having practiced this trade for at minimum 5 decades. To raise to the rank of Master, one also needs to earn the respect of the Order and such a title can only be bestowed upon a member by the Grandmaster, the supreme leader of the Order. The Masters are often given duties to teach and train the members of the order, having first trained a number of initiates to full membership during their own membership.

Finally at the very top of the Blackflame Order sits the Grandmaster. The position is dictatorial, meaning that whoever is in the position has the ultimate final say on the Order. When a Grandmaster dies away, she is always chosen from within the current Masters by vote. The vote is primarily focusing on both the ability to lead as well as skill. More often than not the Grandmaster of Blackflame Order is also the most skilled assassin and spy in the Order and any that surpass the incubent Grandmaster are likely candidates to claim the position later down the line.

**☫ Branches**
The Blackflame Order is divided into three main branches with their own focuses. While all the members are given the same initial training, they all end up specializing in one of the three branches of the Order, furthering their abilities in one field or another. Members are usually not allowed to practice more than one field at a time and only after they have become a Master of one field, they can begin to train in another.

**Hall of Shadows** is specialized in intelligence. Their members are the most skilled in being invisible, hiding in plain sight and gathering intel from their targets. They make the greatest spies of the order and while the others are usually capable of it themselves, the members of the Hall of Shadows stand head and shoulders above the rest. Some of their masters are said to even be able to literally meld into the shadows, becoming one with them which allows them to hide and move around without leaving a trace or making a sound.

**Hall of Death** trains it's members in the arts of assassination. Blades, poison, pyromancy, 'accidents', you name it, they train it. Their members are often required to be largely emotionless, giving their targets no mercy when fulfilling their contracts. In general the most sadistic members of the Order are also found within the Hall of Death.

**Hall of Blades** differs from the other two in not being as concerned about stealth. It's members are more trained towards bodyguard tasks where they guard a target from any attempted attacks or assassinations. Their skills are focused towards hand-to-hand combat and they often wield swords instead of daggers to be able to go head-to-head against any attackers.

Known Members ☬