House Scourge

The cold grasp comes for all, sooner or later.

## History

Powerful undead of the former Kou Empire and the remnants of a lesser known undead kingdom founded House Scourge to safeguard themselves and their nefarious purpose from the mortal races. As such they stuck to the sidelines as much as possible during the first void war, picking up the scraps to help bolster their ranks, while hoping that the zenos would manage to wipe out or at least severely weaken the other powers. Over time they have grown bold enough to take matters into their own hands, meddling with and sabotaging the other houses both openly and from the shadows. To those on the outside little else is known about their activities and involvement in recent years.

## Purpose

Self preservation and inevitable domination. House Scourge lies in wait within their fortresses, biding their time for the other houses to make mistakes that they can capitalize upon. None can evade death forever, and the more they resist the more valuable they become once they’ve expired. Meanwhile the members of the house tirelessly amass knowledge and power in secret, relying on misguided agents of the living to do their grave bidding.

## How to Join

Without being undead oneself, seeking to join the House Scourge is no easy matter, and often a deathwish. Their paranoia runs so deep that only the most obviously depraved and insane individuals that look to join are considered without requiring brainwashing or remanimation. Not that there’s many who join willingly. More often their living ranks are filled by the indoctrinated victims of kidnapping, slavery, or prisoners taken from the battlefield.

## Tactics

House Scourge primarily employs small squads of highly specialized units comprised of intelligent undead. These squads are given a degree of autonomy and work to outmaneuver the enemy before targeting their weak spots. Tireless and unflinching they will usually see a task to its end, even if it means their destruction. Normally they try to avoid open combat as much as possible, preferring to pit other forces against each other. However, when push comes to shove, they seek to overwhelm and distract the opposition with legions of undead while taking out strategic targets as quickly as possible. If everything goes well they may end up with more units coming out of a fight then going into it, making them truly a force to be reckoned with.

## Code of Conduct

House Scourge is comprised of a hierarchy based on power and seniority. Each member of the house is pledged to follow the orders of their higher ups, and acquire anything that furthers the houses goals without putting themselves in jeopardy. Beyond that nothing is sacred and anything else goes so long as it doesn’t conflict with the interests of the house. Murder is encouraged, as long as you can get away with it of course.

## Punishments

There’s a wide range of punishments used on subordinates deemed deserving of them, ranging from long term isolation, dismemberment, to being eaten alive by ravenous undead. Sometimes simply bearing witness to another cruel fate is considered breaking enough. It all depends on how great the offense is, who the offender is directly subservient to, and what their mood is. It’s generally ill advised to make mistakes as one is often one too many.

## Day to Day Operations

Considering the undead nature of the vast majority of House Scourge’s ranks, this might as well be called continuous operations. The mages are constantly conducting research and scrying upon the land, artisans toil endlessly to fill vast armories, and soldiers undergo what other races would consider grueling training. Closely monitored living agents are sent out into the open to further the organization's other interests.

## RP Tips

If you want to be affiliated with House Scourge, it's probably easiest that it happens as a part of your backstory. Also, if you aren't some sort of morbid psycho, you will have to be at least undead tolerant and should have some sort reason for aligning yourself with vile undead.