Mission 10: A Proper Sendoff

Prelude

Seven years have passed since the events of Mission 9. By and large, the ultimate agenda of the White Veil Society remains unclear. After interrogating the senator captured by the Circle With No Name and following up on information yielded, the Grass Spiders have learned that whatever the White Veil Society's ultimate goals may be, the Society is actively seeking out the Eye of Autochthon. It was noted by Nazareth that Atlas also took an interest in the Eye of Autochthon in his later days, and the Grass Spiders currently believe that the attempted collaboration between the Grass-Spiders and White Veil Society arranged by Atlas may have revolved around finding it.

For the next five years, the Grass-Spiders kept up business as usual, maintaining a low-profile amidst the changes sweeping Creation, all the while maintaining a background effort to further investigate Atlas's last dealings. The Grass-Spiders hope to uncover Atlas's reasons and steps taken in seeking the Eye, believing it will reveal more about the White-Veil Society's agenda. They have been met with considerable opposition, whereupon agents and guards would turn up at the most inopportune moments and even normally-talkative informants were tight-lipped. The efforts remained secondary to daily operations until, two years ago, Leviticus chanced upon three veteran White Veil Society agents while exploring Denandsor, attempting to find a location found sketched in Atlas's journal. Although Leviticus, under strict orders not to escalate the conflict, attempted to make a case for cooperative investigation of the site with the agents, something went wrong.

It isn't truly known who struck first, or why. It might have been personal aggressions or an offhand remark, or it may have been related to Denandsor's bizarre environmental hazards. What is known is that the White Veil agents were apparently outclassed - Leviticus killed all three. Leviticus maintains that he acted in self-defense, although he has privately expressed doubts to Rizuka, admitting his memory of the situation is fuzzy, chalking the haze up to Denandsor's atmosphere.

Retaliation came quickly. Most of the major Grass-Spider informants and associates in Nexus, Marukan, and the Hundred Kingdoms were assassinated, effectively crippling operations in those areas. This sparked the beginning of what members of the criminal underground refer to as the Veil War. For two years the Grass-Spiders and White Veil Society have been engaged in a bloody shadow war, fought in political chambers as readily as dojos.

((I will update more later, but hopefully this at least sets the mood.))