The 7 Hope Crushers
I am replacing the place holder descriptions as I finish them.
The Lord of Wrath was tired of all these pesky rebellions and uprising popping up, and as the Liberated Kingdoms demonstrate, they are becoming increasingly more of a threat. Thus, in order to instil fear and order into his realms and the neighboring ones, he organized the “Hope Crushers”.
Drawing inspiration from how the Lords of Sin were organized and their effectiveness, he employed 7 Commanders. These individuals would be of roughly the same rank as a Marshal, but would not be tied to the military. Their main priority would be patrolling the lands, seeking out trouble makers, and eliminating them. And their authority to command the military's troops gave them extra flexibility should they need to restock their own elite troops, as well as make temporary commands in order to achieve a short term goal. While they technically need the permission of the Marshal before taking or ordering their troops, no Marshal is insane enough to refuse the demands of a Commander.
The Commanders work like Secret Police. They have absolute authority within the Kingdome of Farland, and are even grudgingly given a lot of liberty to act in the other Occupied Kingdoms due to how effective they are. Each Commander chooses how they want to carry out their orders, playing to their specific strengths. They lead relatively small groups referred to as “Crush Troops”, “Crush Forces”, or simply “Crushers”. They each organize their forces how they wish, often adopting terms used in the military.
While all the Commanders are to work together, and they often do, none of them fully trusts each other. To accommodate this, almost all of them have at least one weapon that is magic and/or silvered to adequately combat the other Commanders should the need arise.
I am working on them bit by bit, posting the new info in new posts, then compiling copies of the info here. While the specific stats are posted later in the thread, I'll wait until I have finished them all before placing them here (it will be my finalization, give me personally a sense of accomplishment).
Rravaki is perhaps the closest thing the Lord of Wrath has to a friend. At the very least very close allies, Rravaki would always join the Lord of Wrath's forces when in the demon realms. When he decided to organize his 7 Commanders, Rravaki was the first one he went to.
Rravaki chose 100 of the kingdoms best and most loyal tiefling mages and soldiers (all have at least some magical training). Divided into police forces of 10-5 each, they all investigate reports of insurrection inquisitor-style, with Rravaki directing them all. If they see any cause for an arrest, they make a sudden abduction, and Rravaki tortures the subject for information.
As fierce as they are, they don't tolerate petty squabbles. They only acknowledge tips from named sources, and confirm the legitimacy before investigating. They always make a short investigation before making an arrest, and if they don't see cause for an arrest, they instead arrest and torture the tipper for wasting their time.
Of all the Hope Crushers, Rravaki is the one the Lord of Wrath trusts most. And for good reason, he is the least likely to rebel, for he enjoys torturing the people he captures into submission too much to worry about actually ruling anything.
Rravaki's forces are neatly organized, and are referred to as Takers and Questioners. They are set into ten groups of 10 known as arms, lead by a 1st Questioner and a 2nd Questioner. Each arm is split into two groups of 5 known as hands, each lead by either the 1st or 2nd Questioner. Hands will usually work individually, but Rravaki will sometimes send them in arms for especially large or dangerous raids. If multiple arms are sent on a single mission and Rravaki isn't leading it, he will assign one of the 1st Questioners to temporarily be the Lead Questioner, giving him authority over the other 1st Questioners for that mission only. Rravaki will sometimes send a 1st Questioner in his stead to meetings or to oversee tasks which he can't attend to himself.
A hand has 1 Questioner and 4 Takers. The Takers are always 2 mages and 2 soldiers, the Questioner can be either a mage or a soldier (same states as the respective Taker). The Takers are always to be with their Questioner. If the Questioner dies, the Takers are to finish their mission as best they can, then report to Rravaki to be assigned a new Questioner. Typically a 1st Questioner is replaced by a 2nd Questioner from another arm, while a 2nd Questioner is replaced by a Taker from another hand (who will in turn be replaced by a recruit). Some people have begun referring to Takers and Questioners as “fingers” and “thumbs”, but most of the tieflings hate those terms, so those names are rarely said where they can be heard by untrusted ears.
Thirkua means “Changed” in dragon, his original name has been stricken from all known records. The former Oluk Ork was the Lord of Wrath’s most reliable among his standard forces in the present day. Skilled in combat, cunning in strategy, and devoted to the dark occupation. When choosing candidates for the 7 Commanders, his thoughts kept going back to Thirkua. So when (Mr. Mage) mentioned he was looking for a candidate to try a ritual to turn them into a half-dragon, the Lord of Wrath nominated Thirkua.
Thirkua was beyond thrilled for this opportunity, and gleefully (for an ork) accepted. A deal was arranged with a blue dragon (which was betrayed), and the ritual began.
After the transformation, he changed his name and went through extensive training to get used to his new body. He discovered he like mounted combat, but aspired to something better, something ‘higher’. With help from his kobold Crushers (who found it natural to follow a dragon commander), he began the process of breeding the first ever domesticated Wyverns.
The first successful batch of domestic Wyverns are slightly smaller and weaker than wild ones, but are more docile in the sense they will not constantly try eating their riders (though they will occasionally, and Thirkua leads a hunt to bring it back). They also lack the stinger on the tail, though it is still a powerful appendage. Thirkua aspires to eventually having many different breeds of Wyverns like there are of horses. He currently has small packs of: obedient yet fiercer ones for combat; small faster ones for messages and travel; extra long ones for transporting multiple forces;
Thirkua chose one of the wild Wyverns captured to parent the domestic ones as his steed, but the rest of his Crushers all ride the domestic Wyverns. He stations a squad of 5-10 riders in each major city to be used as messengers. He then leads the rest of his battalion wherever he is needed. The Lord of Wrath has told Thirkua that when open conflict begins again, he will be sent to support the front lines as a quick response force.
The Lord of Wrath has spawned many children, and most of them are in his military in some form or another. However, when he began organizing his Hope Crushers, he decided to enlist the best and brightest of his children. The Cambion Xartuhm is different from the rest of his kin. While most gripe, complain, and openly rebel against their demon father, Xartuhm is strictly obedient and shows the utmost respect for his father. Xartuhm has proven his leadership skills and his abilities in combat countless times, and his ability to adapt to quickly changing obstacles has impressed even the Lord of Wrath.
However, Xartuhm is perhaps far more dangerous to his father than any of his siblings, for Xartuhm has just as much loathing towards him, but knows how to control it. (Dudley has ambitions to overthrow his father some day, but he knows that the best way for that to happen is for him to gain power, and the best way for him to do that, is for his father to give that power to him. And now he has that power.
Xartuhm couldn't rely on the Dark Folk’s loyalty when he eventually turns on his father, so he has chosen Gnolls to be his Crushers. These demon worshipping Hyena-creatures were easy to persuade to begin worshiping Xartuhm. One of their most sought after rites, the possession of a Gnoll by a demon, was easy enough for Xartuhm to arrange. Any Hyena that eats from the corpse of a victim of the possessed Gnoll (referred to as a “Gnoll Fang”) becomes a Gnoll themselves. Thus Dudley is able to create a massive army with little difficulty.
Xartuhm organizes his growing army into packs of up to 50 each, and each lead by a Gnoll Pack Lord, who is merely the strongest Gnoll in the Pack. If a Pack Lord is defeated and replaced by a new Pack Lord, the fallen pack Lord is sacrificed to the Gnoll Fang to bring up more Gnolls. While Xartuhm would never tell them this, it is mainly a way to prevent insurrection among the Gnolls. When a Gnoll pack exceeds 50, half of the pack is made into a new pack. It is up to them to choose who their Pack Lord will be. This often results in the death of a handful of the Gnolls.
Occasionally a Gnoll will develop some magic abilities. These Gnolls are called Gnoll Chiefs, and are automatically moved to the “Chief Pack” (no size limit), the Chief with the strongest magical abilities leading them as the High Gnoll Chief. Challenges for this position were non-lethal competitions, displays of their skill and strength in magical abilities. These challenges were actually encouraged, as it encouraged the Gnoll Chiefs to become continuously more powerful.
The High Gnoll Chief is the highest ranking Gnoll, and the only one who can command the Gnoll Fang. While Xartuhm could with relative ease make more Gnoll Fangs, he kept to one in order to adhere to their cultish beliefs. Besides, one was enough. The Chief Pack works differently than the other packs, as the High Gnoll Chief assigns 2-5 Chiefs to other packs, following the commands of the Pack Lords while still remaining part of the Chief Pack.
Xartuhm keeps most of his Gnolls in hiding. He only takes a single pack as his Crusher forces. He defends his choice in the Gnolls in that the combination of their beastly nature, their pack/tribal society, and their cultish zealotry, makes them the most loyal and dependable soldiers he could possibly have.
Sir Septimus leads inumerous legions of undead through the kingdoms, tirelessly patrolling the lands both day and night. He leads almost exclusively skeletons, preferring them over many other undead because they work just as well in daylight as in the dark. He leads anywhere between 50 to none at all, all depending on how long it is between visits back to the capital to get replacement troops, and if he has any specific plans for where he is going and what he is doing (sometimes he decides to go on solitary missions). He is usually seen riding his skeletal warhorse, who is believed to have been his in life. While he technically is also in charge of several other groups of undead, he leaves the management of these to his Deputy Commander, (Mr. Mage). He also typically lets (Mr. Mage) attend any political business in his stead.
When he wants more skeletons, he simply goes to the ruins of the old senate building and calls them up from a giant sinkhole. It is public knowledge that corpses are brought to the city and dumped into that sinkhole, but it is unknown just how many bodies are down there. Spies have discovered that in addition to the wagons full of bodies carried through the city, there are many more which are carried in secret.
Few realize that Sir Septimus was the Paladin Sir Cosmas Von Mattian of Daven before he was turned by (Mr. Mage). Gifted to him in life by Seldorius, his axe “Vaeror”, or “Resist”, has an inscription on the blades: “Shor byr shi sajael”, “Thaedys os paer”; “Will not be taken”, “Freedom or death”. Sir Septimus is completely unaware of his former loyalties, so despite (Mr. Mage)’s desire to keep it a secret who Sir Septimus used to be, the irony was for to potent to NOT let him keep the perpetually gleaming and easily identifiable axe. He also rides the skeleton of his old horse.
Cassen Te Zoria is an undersized and underfed albino. Anyone who sees him knows instantly that he has received the worst lot of all the unfortunate souls that suffer in the streets of the occupied kingdoms. This stuttering twig of a man often goes unnoticed by all, even the dark folk seem to avoid him because something about him just seems off. People would probably be more wary if anyone survived that knew he was actually the Lord of Wrath’s 5th Commander.
Discovered by accident by the 7th Commanders as they sought out people who wouldn’t be missed, Cassen showed his true colors as he transformed into a vicious monstrosity of a white bear with glowing red eyes. Eventually subdued, he was tortured and questioned. Half the time he laughed. What he did talk about was the hatred he had for those who hurt him (both present and in the past), and his desires of retribution. He felt that he was wronged by the liberated kingdoms just as much if not more than the occupied kingdoms. His sheer force of will and solid hatred intrigued (Mr. Mage). He offered Cassen the power and authority to carry out his revenge. Accepting, he renamed himself Carver T’Maul, and began special training under (Mr. Mage) where he honed his abilities in bear form and received his Were-Axe, Moonclaw.
Commander T’Maul already had a loyal following of others like him, those turned away from society and help, abandoned in favor of others who would be more “useful” in the struggle against the Lords of Sin. He formed his Crushers from these disciples, and bonded them together through lycanthropy. Though he had them bitten by a werewolf rather than by himself, because he is paranoid of his own raw power and of others using it against him.
While he was organizing them, his Crushers actually named themselves. All of them together are the pack. The pack was split into 13 flocks, each with between 3 and 21 disciples and lead by a shepherd. Each flock would graze in designated locations, while Commander T’Maul and his Herald would visit whichever flock they needed to.
T’Maul’s pack moves among the people unseen and unmarked (T'Maul goes by his original name when under cover). They find their ways into the shelter and confidence of people who oppose the Lord of Wrath, and then gut the operations. This is not to say T’Maul is loyal to the Lord of Wrath. He and his disciples loath everyone of high power, they seek to purge the land of all who oppress. But they tolerate the impenitence of the Lord of Wrath to avoid a war on two fronts. Once the pack becomes strong enough, then they will taste demon blood.
Gorgos was the strongest and most feared minotaur in all of Farland, which was why the Lord of Wrath chose him to be one of his 7 Hope Crushers. Putting him through intense training and magical enhancing, Gorgos grew in power and intelligence. However, this increase in physical and social stature amplified his bloodlust, though directing it towards proving his dominance. He prefers to track down and challenge anyone who might try to oppose the dark forces, but his underlying motivation is to prove he is the strongest there is, except maybe the Lord of Wrath himself.
He leads the smallest force of Crushers, consisting of only 31 Worg Riders. If any die, he pulls new riders from the first military company of Worg Riders he encounters, indiscriminate of the race of the rider. Gorgos honestly doesn’t really want his Crushers, nor feels as though he needs them. He tolerates them because they do make it easier for him to confront his prey, corralling his target so they can’t easily escape after he's found them. The 31st Worg Rider is his Deputy Commander, an ambitious and charismatic goblin, and of an unusually small stature even for a goblin. He has a knack for knowing exactly how to please Gorgos, and Gorgos has seen the value of having a second opinion in select conditions. Plus, if he needs to, Gorgos can send his Deputy to stand in for him in political situations so he can continue a hunt.
Gorgos is easily insulted, and will insist on fighting his prey alone, only calling his worg riders for assistance if it looks as though he might lose. He is by no means a coward, often challenging a dozen or so at a time, and winning. But if he is losing, then OBVIOUSLY his opponent is cheating somehow, and the worgs are merely to punish them.
Gorgos has two magic weapons specifically crafted for him, and he also carries eight throwing swords which he can throw at double the range, though he can throw any short sword at normal range of a throwing sword. All of Gorgos’ weapons are silvered and he keeps them well polished. He enjoys using their glinting reflections in his taunting, and he loves the way fresh blood looks as it trickles down the silver surfaces.