Ssai

Avenging lover who gained a dark lust for bloodshed, and turned it against Trchkithin.

Major favour: You must have an operative within every nation within 1000 map units of any of your cities
Minor favour: At least 1 operative per 1000 troops
Negative favour: A city within 100 units of one of yours is over 2 years old and is not infiltrated
Favour bonus: 20% better evasion for your spies
Dislikes: Trchkithin

Grand objective: Be top assassin, competition is both healthy and lethal
Divine intervention: Complete intel on all the cities of 1 nation per follower


Backstory: In the days of Trchkithin's reign, many lay down their lives in the defence of their homes, and more besides lost what innocence they had with the blood of others on their hands. One such woman was Ssai, the ruler of a small nation, that of Tjace, that found itself caught up in the counteroffensive against the Trchig.
The turmoil of war drew Ssai away from those things that she was fond of, dancing, archery, and singing, as well as from her lover, a man who's name has been lost to history. With his mistress attending to ever more grave matters, he slipped away, turning his back on the chosen and choosing a younger, more carefree partner. They passed their days in each other's companies and their nights in one another's arms, an innocent passion in a time of war, like the single rose amongst thorns.
But their love was not to last. Discovering her lover's treachery, Ssai's heart went cold. Taking her bodyguard's blade, she entered the adulterer's room and shed the blood of her young rival, before turning her attention to him. Only those unfortunate enough to retreive the body would know the truth of what she did to him, but his screams and pleading could be heard throughout the chosen's palace that night.
This one event served to twist her once pleasant demeanor, turning her into a creature of darkness. But as one love falls, so another rises, and her heart turned to the thrill she had experienced creeping into that room, weapon in hand. Over the following weeks she allowed her duties to suffer, lesser men and women taking responsibility for their small army's strategies. More blood was spilt as the Trchig forces pushed against them and their allies, until Ssai raised her head once more. She had spent her time and her subject's lives well, turning her natural talent to training until it came out as polished skill, her blades deadly in her hands and more so in her foes' throats.
Trchkithin's forces had little choice but to retreat from Tjace's borders after their chain of command broke down, individuals turning up dead in the most inexplicable of places.
Ssai lent her skills to the alliance that went after the Trchig homeland, slipping unseen through defences to be the knife in the dark while her allies hammered on stone and shield alike. The Trichig were soon left with little, withdrawing into their fortress cities to weather the assault of the besieging Cayim Amiy and their remaining armies.
In the years following Trchkithin's fall, Chosen and First One alike raced to fill the power vacuum she left behind. Locie was one such individual, a Chosen one of great power who established himself as a warlord in one of the conquered Trchig cities, laying claim to the vast libraries of knowledge left there. In one such tome he found rituals detailing several of Trchkithin's secrets, sorceries to draw power to oneself.
Having spent days preparing to weave the magicks around himself Locie was fatally interrupted by Ssai, the Chosen having snuck into his new city. Despite the First One's power and magicks, the brief fight ended with a knife in his throat, and Ssai standing bloodily over him. Several hours passed as she barricaded the library silently, casting her own magical wards all over as she familiarised herself with Locie's notes.
With the ritual already half-complete, and the knowledge of how to complete it at her fingertips, Ssai plunged her own dagger into her chest, magicks being unleashed all around her as she ascended, abandoning Tjace to fend for itself without a leader.

Written by Strife