Grass Spiders

From The Whereabouts

Exalted:
Grass Spiders

Chapter 2

The Circle With No Name

Background

What They Are

"The violence is so physically graceful, visually dazzling and meticulously executed that our instinctual, emotional responses undermine any rational objections we may have."

-Xavier Morales, reviewing Kill Bill

For starters, refer to pages 68-69 in the Dragon-Blooded 2e book. Broadly, the Grass Spiders are an elite order of assassins and covert operatives, dedicating themselves to a mastery of the clandestine arts. More than half of their jobs are direct contract killings, although exotic thefts, kidnapping, and military intelligence are also common. They also maintain ties to arms and drug trade in the East, though most of these ties are initiated by members, rather than the Elite Fiends. Once again, although it is not a hard rule laid down by the Organization's leadership, there tends to be a strong opposition to slavery within the Organization - the prevailing attitude of the made membership lends itself to a lifestyle of freedom, and slavery is inherently antithetical to those practices.

In some ways, they resemble any other workman's guild - they set price ceilings and floors, collaborate on large projects, and band together to protect one another in times of struggle. In other ways, they are far different - the Grass Spiders live together, train together, fight together, and die together. In many senses, they resemble a family as much as an organization - the bonds between many members extend beyond merely being coworkers, and the Grass Spiders enjoy the off time spent at the range home complex in the company of their surrogate brothers and sisters.

From the outside, the Grass Spiders represent the cleanest solution to a problem (for those willing to pay). They promise a quick, untraceable job, and no unrelated disturbance of the status quo. In an overwhelming number of cases, they have succeeded - although hits have failed in the past, such "saves" are only temporary; fewer than a dozen people have ever permanently escaped a contract on their life in nearly a thousand years of operation. To have the Grass Spiders on one's trail is akin to a death sentence.

What They Aren't

The Grass Spiders are not a business. They do not always work for the highest bidder, nor the same side of a conflict they worked for the previous day. The Three Elite Fiends can and have turned down contracts for reasons known only to themselves, although they've never selected the bids they do accept with any semblance of an agenda - simply, the Three Elite Fiends, and along with them, the Grass Spiders, always act in favor of progressing the arts of assassination and thievery. Just as the progressive artist pushes boundaries and redefines the very nature of his work, so too do Creation's most feared assassins, executing their work with a fanatical devotion to pushing the envelope. That said, the Three Elite Fiends are not bad businessmen - the Order has sizable overhead costs, and such quality work fetches a high price. The Order itself has a considerable stockpile of jade (and weaponry, including some exotic First Age weaponry used in infiltration), and all of its members, if they so choose, are able to drape themselves in the finest silk and drink only the most exotic wine.

The Grass Spiders are not a democracy. Although the Three Elite Fiends don't often get involved in day-to-day affairs, their word is absolute, up to and including having total control over who lives and who dies - even within the Order. Formally, all made members have an equal say in running in the organization - there are no ranks beyond associate, made member, and Fiend. In practice, this isn't the case - many senior members control the flow of services critical to keeping the organization running (medical services, recruitment, training, blacksmithing, spy networks, etc.), and can much more easily hold the ear of the Three Elite Fiends. These members tend to hold more sway in the Order, although the nature of the contract-based work is such that decisions affecting the status of the entire group are not entirely common.

Membership

Associates

Associates make up the majority of the Hallowed Order of the Grass Spiders (between 200-300 people, depending on the season, the demand for work, and one's definition of an associate), despite the fact that they are not officially members. These are individuals, who through recruitment, random chance, or prolonged and increasingly intricate interaction have become the eyes, ears, arms, and legs of the Grass Spiders. They do a majority of the work, collect a majority of the information, and have the most frequently changing ranks.

Associateship spans a wide range of dedication to the organization - some associates only pair up with the Grass-Spiders when the organization needs a helping hand or its mission aligns with their interests. Others, like Naru Irugawa are in the full-time employ of the Order. They live on the range home complex and spend their lives working and training with the Order's made members. Dragon-Blooded associates in this position represent the talent pool from which future inductees into the Order will be drawn.

The definition of an associate is fairly loose. Generally, the line between associate and contact is drawn at active assistance. The bartender who is willing to kick out a guest in order to shelter a Grass Spider on the run is not an associate, but a valuable connection nevertheless. Likewise, the guard who knows to leave an unsuspecting mark's bedroom door unlocked is probably not rightly considered an associate. On the other hand, the thug who masquerades as a guard and charges into the fight to defend a working Grass Spider from the castle security forces is an associate of the Order. Associates generally work on commission, though the nature of these 'commissions' varies widely - associates who assist directly in jobs are simply paid a cut of earnings. Other associates are 'commissioned' by made members or the Fiends for long-term projects, effectively resulting in a salary.

In game terms, associates, depending on their power and level of involvement, may be represented by Allies, Command, Connections, Cult, or Henchmen.

Made Members

If the associates represent the outer body of the Hallowed Order of the Grass Spiders, its made membership is the heart. These are the Dragon-Bloods deemed sufficiently skilled and creative enough by the Three Elite Fiends to be officially inducted into the Hallowed Order of the Grass Spiders. Being a Terrestrial Exalt is a prerequisite for membership - the unExalted will never be strong enough, and Celestial Exalted invariably become too ambitious and distracted, and lose focus on the art of assassination itself. (For what it's worth, the organization occasionally has fleeting relationships with Celestial Exalted associates. These often end poorly and in bloodshed by both parties.)

Made members carry out the key steps of important contracts - associates may collect the info and grease the wheels, but these Dragon-Bloods are the ninjas slipping past the enemy perimeter to steal the family heirloom and the masquerading dilettantes organizing the collapse of a party host's palace with smuggled cuff link explosives. Their skill in their chosen arts is nigh-unparalleled - they wouldn't have been chosen otherwise. There is more that goes into their recruitment, however - extremely skilled assassins who stick to mainstream methods stand no chance at being inducted. The Grass-Spiders seek to push the boundary of the clandestine arts - those with a penchant for actually pulling off ridiculous, outlandish, and unimaginable jobs are those who end up as made members. As such, the Three Elite Fiends consider them indispensable - to lose one of them would not only diminish the strength of the organization, but weaken the very foundation of the arts of espionage and assassination throughout Creation.

As such, made members are considered untouchable. To harm or kill one outside of a job is certain death. If a mark or his protection fights back against a Grass-Spider and kills him, there is no inherent foul - the Grass-Spider should have done a better job. The untouchability of a Grass-Spider applies to off-duty conditions - anyone who harms or kills a made member in circumstances unrelated to a contract, be they stranger, friend, or even family, is killed without question or hesitation. The deaths are often brutal and public, that others may be discouraged from attempting the same. Almost no position is exempt from this rule - Guild Hierarchs, Lookshy officers, and Realm Senators, among others, have all, on some occasion, been killed for trifling with a made Grass-Spider. There is a very good reason the Lookshy Rangers and less official intelligence organizations operating in the East take a very-cautious, hands-off approach to any contracts directly hostile to the Hallowed Order of the Grass Spiders. Only individuals whose deaths would markedly upset social order and invite large-scale retaliation by a nation could hope to get off scot-free after killing a Grass-Spider. Although this rule does not permit Grass-Spiders to harm innocent individuals, it does apply in criminal dealings, even if the Grass-Spider initiated the conflict. A small-time drug dealer who attacks a Grass-Spider helping himself to the dealer's stash should have known better than to fight back against a member of the Order. That said, most of the Grass-Spiders aren't total pricks, and were once small-time criminals themselves, so this is generally a rare occurrence, and although there is no official punishment, members will call other members out on such petty tyranny. Still, abuses can and do occur - life isn't always fair. Associates receive no such official protection, although harming a particularly valued associate may invite similar retaliation.

The situation gets sticky when two members of the Order become genuinely hostile and aggressive toward one another - generally these things are handled on a case-by-case basis, and members are expected to sort things out amongst themselves.

Made members are paid a stipend by the Order amounting to Resources 3. This money is considered a retainer fee and a promise that the members will take no contracts outside of those negotiated by the Fiends (doing this is an extremely poor decision for a Grass-Spider). In addition to the stipend, members collect a significant portion of the what the Order is paid for the contract they carry out. Likewise, members whose services assist in the contract (armoring, healing, etc.) are also often paid out of this sum (there's plenty to go around - the Grass-Spiders don't work cheap). For these reasons, many Grass-Spiders accumulate wealth significant enough that the stipend is a small fraction of their income. In Order to retain membership, a Dragon Blood must accept at least one contract each Realm Year.

Made members receive a sorcerous spider tattoo which can be made to glow a faint green for one mote (it is otherwise invisible, though Charms at or above the level of All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight will reveal it). This tattoo, to those in the know, provides a 2 die bonus to social interactions involving persuasion or intimidation. As such, being formally inducted into the Order is known as "getting your legs".

((This section probably rambles a bit. I was more tired than anticipated while writing. I'll revise later.))

Members

Circles

In addition to the Three Elite Fiends and a large network of associates, five circles make up the core membership of the Hallowed Order of the Grass Spiders.

The Lankhmar Harvestmen

In terms of combined age, the Lankhmar Harvestmen make up the senior-most circle in the organization. Although they are still assigned contracts from the Fiends, they do field work less often than the other four circles in the Order of the Grass Spiders. Many of them carry out internal administrative work, which includes managing the Order's surprisingly vast network of safehouses and associates in the East and Confederation of Rivers, as well as assisting in the development of new charms, spells, Manses, and so forth.

  • Anton (Aspect: Fire) (Player: NPC)
  • Iron Shatters Oak (Aspect: Earth) (Player: NPC)
  • Rizuka (Aspect: Wood) (Player: NPC)
  • Ruk (Aspect: Water) (Player: NPC)
  • Tiamat (Aspect: Air) (Player: NPC)

The Red Hoods

The Minstrels of Eden

The Shaded Templar

The Circle With No Name

The Circle With No Name. From Left to Right: Zealot, Ash, Mesa, Opal, Fay.

The youngest circle in the organization, this circle has been formed from recently made members of the Order.

Defining Quote: "It's not a perfect job, but it's a beautiful job."

Associates

The Grass Spiders' organization, as well as many of the individual members have many influential and notable associates.

  • The Crew of The Geronimo - The crew of Ash's airship are all associates of The Order, though they have varying degrees of involvement with its operations.
  • Nuadha O'Bannon - Everyone's favorite bar-keep and informal leader of the Associate village's militia.
  • Naru Irugawa - The Grass-Spiders' resident astrologer and technology expert. Opal's on-again, off-again girlfriend.
  • Ravenous Moon, Waning Heart - A close ally to Lord of the Ashen Cloud who commands and takes care of his airship when he cannot be on board.
  • Sagacious Mantis - Valen's talented daughter lives within the Associate Village and frequently works alongside The Grass Spiders themselves. (Though rarely with her own mother.)
  • The Sisters - Powerful oracles that the Grass Spiders occasionally consult if they are faced with impossible decisions or riddles.
  • Thanatos & Libitina - Brother and sister pair of morticians from Sijan that specialize in unique funeral rites, perform rites for deceased Grass Spiders and any special acquaintances The Grass Spiders deem worthy.

The Three Elite Fiends

Little is known about the organizations mysterious paragons - they are ancient, powerful masters of disguise. The information shown below represents the forms they most commonly take when dealing with members of their own organization, but they can and do appear in almost any form imaginable, particularly when venturing into Creation to recruit members and negotiate contracts.

The Fallen

Deceased members of the Grass Spiders are given an elaborate funeral performed by the greatest morticians from Sijian before The Three Elite Fiends spread their ashes across the garden of the manse. Betrayed Grass Spiders are almost always avenged, and all Grass Spiders are never forgotten.

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