The Black Hand

The Black hand is a group of freedom fighters that were originally created to rebel against The High King and their invasion of Felle. The original leader of The Black Hand was a human named "Miey Yao", who was one of the leaders of The Three Kingdoms of Nehunov. Once The Tower had taken over the other two kingdoms, Miey Yao was exiled to the continent of Felle, where he lived his life as a farmer. However, The Tower (now known as "The High Kingdom") tried to invade and expand into Felle for more land. This prompted the creation of The Black Hand by Miey Yao, who were freedom fighters against The High King and his invasion of Felle.

However, as time went on, Miey Yao decided that The Black Hand was not violent enough to combat The High Kingdom, and thus they went on to found Steel. Then, a new leader known as "Fang of a Snake", a Tabaxi, became the headmaster of The Black Hand, and converted it into an assassin group. During the end of the 1st age and the start of the 2nd age, they had been a group of contract killers still using the name of Black Hand. This lasted until the death of Fang, when a new leader known as "Yinperios Boleri" became the headmaster of The Black Hand. He used the guild's reputation to further his goals of collecting The 10 Rings of The Isles. However, he was stopped before his goals could fall through, and The Black Hand dissipated into obscurity afterwards.

## Dogma

The original aims of The Black Hand were as followed:

* To repel the reach of The High King and his expansion into Felle
* To work with the citizens of Felle
* To boost the economy of the region
* To not accept trade with The High King
* To remove any infrastructure The High King attempts to place onto Felle.

However, after Miey Yao left The Black Hand, the faction's aims changed under the rule of Fang and Yinperos to:

* To accept contracts of killing towards other's, for the right price
* To accumulate wealth and to spend it to further the goals of The Black Hand
* To kill with efficiency and stealth
* To keep the confidentiality of the clients of The Black Hand in absolute secrecy

These goals remained until the disorganization of The Black Hand.

## Description

During the first organizations of The Black Hand, most members attempted to blend in with the general populous. The goal of this was to be completely obscure if an invasion where to ever take place, so that The High King's men would not know who was a friend or a foe. As time went on, eventually the Black Hand adopted a standard outfit of a darker version of The High King's soldier wear, with dark metal plate being covered by ink stained leather.

This outfit stayed throughout the 3 different leaders of The Black Hand, with minor altercations being added such as the imprinting of a symbol onto the metal, or painting of thieves cant onto the leather.

## Organization

### Initiation

Initiates where expected to pledge absolute loyalty to The Black Hand and it's goals, no matter who stood as your leader or what their goals were. This ritual of pledging your very being to the common good of the faction caused for very few people to join during the first stages of the guild's life, however, as time went on and The High King began to take over more of Felle, more and more began to pledge themselves to the faction in hopes of fighting back against The High King.

### Titles

Many referred to The Black Hand as "The Fingers" during their fight against The High King. This was an attempt to confuse any spies into believing that there were more than 1 faction fighting back against The High King, or that there were more fighting against them than they actually thought.

### Hierarchy

The Black Hand had the following ranks from lowest to highest: Fighter, Captain, Knight, Headmaster

### Structure

The four ranks of the guild each had different tasks, each taking orders from one rank above.

* Fighter
* Captain
* Knight
* Headmaster

Fighter's main goals were to fight against the soldier's of the high king, or to take orders from a Captain. Fighters were what the guild was mostly comprised of, and what most members would start and finish out as when joining the guild. After the 1st leader left, Fighter's main goals were physical labor and to assassinate small targets, or to be guardians of sanctuaries of the faction.

Captains main goals was to relay commands from Knights, or to give orders to Fighters during the heat of a battle. Typically, 1 Captain had a group of fighters who they would be in command of. After the 1st leader had left, the need of a Captain slowly dissipated, and the rank was removed.

Knights were the direct subordinates of the Headmaster. Their goal was to protect the headmaster, as well as give his orders to captains. Knights were seen as the strongest of their profession, and their expertise lied anywhere from the killing of other's, to magic, to carpentry. There were 10 of them, each masters of their craft. After the 1st leader, the title stayed, as well as their goals.

The Headmaster was the main leader and director of the faction, his goals were to direct the guild in a way that supported itself. During the 1st leader, his goal was to repel The High King. The 2nd leader's goal was to gain contracts and kill other's, and the 3rd leader wished to push personal goals.

### Notable Members

* Miey Yao
* Fang of a Snake
* Yinpeiros Boleri

## Spells

* Comet
* Haunt
* Blood Gush

## History

### Founding

The Guild was founded near the middle of the 1st age, as a revolutionary group against The High King. The leader of this was Miey Yao.

### 1st Age

During the 1st age, the guild had fought against The High King and any goals he had. The guild had faced very little interest, causing a small amount of members during the beginning and middle of it's lifetime during this age. But, during the last parts of it's existence in the 1st age, large amounts of people began to join the guild in an attempt to push back The High King. But by this time, Miey Yao had determined that it was too late to push back with such non-violent tenants, and instead left the guild to go on and found Steel. A new leader, named Fang of a Snake, then directed the goals of the guild away from fighting against The High King.

### 2nd Age

During the 2nd age, Fang was still the leader of the guild, and by this point they had become a guild of assassins and contract killers. This time was short lived for The Black Hand, though, as soon Fang was killed by the elf known as Yinpeiros Boleri. Yinpeiros then directed the goals of the guild towards finding the 10 rings of The Isles, while still putting up the front of wishing to be an assassin guild. Soon after all 10 rings where found by the headmaster, however, he was stopped by a group of adventurers, which then lead to the dissipation of The Black Hand.

## Relations

They are at odds with The High King throughout their entire lifespan. After the guild became an assassin's guild, Steel declared them as an enemy, as they betrayed the original goals of The Black Hand.