#basos

THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS* OF SILENCE

*Though they are equal-opportunity and will indeed take genderqueer members.

While wanting someone dead isn't exactly new on Alternia, sometimes you don't want to be connected to their death. Sometimes you want it done quietly, and you want it done without anyone questioning your motives. And, on occasion, the person you want dead is too high up, too well protected, or too high-profile for you to kill without some serious retribution.

Some people would elect to send in the clowns, but clowns make noise. When you want someone gone, and want no trace left behind, you whisper for a mime. The BaSoS will gladly end lives if the price is right, and they will do so while leaving nothing at the scene but the body.

And if the price is high, they may not even leave that.

Secretive to the point individual members don't even know each other (and may, in fact, get sent to attack one another if necessary), the only reason anyone even knows they exist is because they allow it. They have to, or they wouldn't get any customers. Small slips of paper left around the city, mysterious letters in mailboxes, pop-ups on random sites. Such things are slipped into the world as needed, to whoever needs it. And they know who needs it. They hear the whispers, the death threats made under ones breath, all the violence wished on another. They hear all of that and more, and act on it in their own ways.

All agents have their horns removed upon joining. A sets of prosthetic ones is then supplied, and removed when they're "on the job" to keep anyone from identifying them by horn shape. Agents also gain custom made tailor-fit suits (to prevent anyone else from wearing them), facepaint with a design their own (merely cosmetic, to mock subjuggulators), gray contact lenses, gloves... And their knife. No one is exactly sure what those knives are made of, but they reflect absolutely no light, are nearly unbreakable, and never dull.

One does not simply join the Silence, though. Agents are found, not made; they do not train assassins, but scoop in those who have talent, a talent which is further honed during their service. Those who show promise are selected by the Hushed Emissary itself... Who also personally disposes those who fail their task.

THE UNVOICE AND VANISHED ADVISERS

Any and all blood colors can be accepted into the BaSoS, and all of them regardless of their psionic ability are taught to use the so-called "unvoice." ALL trolls have some form of psychic power, great or small, but whether or not they can actually tap into it is a matter of practice. The unvoice uses that power to send long-distance messages to other agents, and the most practiced users can send messages across planets if need be.

The unvoice can also be used as a weapon, as those untrained in understanding it experience significant distress as words are suddenly deleted from their mind, sounds suddenly stop in their ears, spots of light vanish before their eyes. All of these can surprise a listener, but those used to it can quickly figure out what words are lost, what sounds they CAN hear, and what their vision has forced them to focus on.

It's an unsettling, sometimes painful, invasive, and impractical method of communication that requires the trainee to pick up on clues the speaker is using, but no one who cannot decipher the unvoice is allowed to be an agent and the complexity of the "language" itself prevents anyone hijacking their messages from fully understanding them. 

While an agent is expected to complete a contract as quickly as possible, sometimes they may know nothing about their target. In fact, 90% of the time they will not. It is because of this the vanished advisers were created; these skeletal, faceless spirits in Silence gear act as the physical manifestation of the unvoice and relay information about the target to the agent. They will answer only four questions, and only about the target, but their answers are thorough and correct to the point of omniscience... so choose wisely. Failure to slay the target even after consulting the advisers draws the attention of the Hushed Emissary.

On occasion, when the unvoice would not work properly (such as for an extended conversation), agents can use the vanished advisers to communicate with one another.

THE MIRTHLESS MESSIAH

The patron deity of the BaSoS, though few actually pay tribute to it out of fear that it actually exists, because calling out to it for blessings is said to make it angry. It is a creature of death, silence, order, and oblivion, opposed to everything the Mirthful Messiahs preach. While they usher in a world of freedom and madness with their Vast Honk, the Mirthless ushers in absolute order with the Vast Hush. They want only the best bloods under their control, while the Mirthless cares not for blood color, only talent.

It demands nothing from its followers, and nothing is what they deliver: It's believed that every death by their hands serves to make the Mirthless more powerful as it works towards its goal of ridding the universe of chaos by ridding it of life. Dead space is quiet space, orderly space, beautiful space. Utter, perfect silence.

While nihilistic, this belief is shared by many in the Silence, though not all. Some accept for the rewards that come with it, some for the thrill of bigger and better kills. Whether or not the Mirthless really exists and whether or not they believe doesn't matter, because its hand in the universe certainly does:

THE HUSHED EMISSARY

An agent among agents, the Hushed Emissary (or simply Hush) has rarely ever been seen. Some believe it is the ghost of the Mirthless and the god is dead, some say it's either a fragment, a child, a manifestation, or a servant to the god, some think it's the manifestation of the Vast Hush, and some believe it's merely an agent that has made it to the topmost rank in the whole organization. But anyone who has personally seen Hush work can attest to the fact that whatever it is, it is most certainly not a troll.

Being contract killers is fine and good, but sometimes a mission will come down from Hush, whispered to the highest ranking members, who then pass it down through the unvoice until an agent can make sense of the message. A target, chosen apparently at random--anyone from a beggar to a royal--is chosen to die, and the first agent to decipher the whisper is tasked with the deed. Succeeding in these missions grants the reward of ascending the ranks and being offered more high-profile kills and thus receiving better payment. But missions from Hush are rare, and failing them is punishable with things much worse than death.

Hush is said to be the creator of the vanished advisers, and can hear everything they say and is said to them. It's also said Hush hears all the whispers in the world, even those through the unvoice. It may or may not be true, but what IS true is catching its attention is a very, very bad thing... Unless you succeeded on a mission it passed down. A gift, usually something valuable or something murderous, is always found placed near your recuperacoon.

No matter how secure your hive.

THE CENSORS

The close bond between the Censors of the Empire and the BaSoS is a bond hidden to all but the highest members among both organizations. They work in tandem, the Silence eliminating key figures and the Censors making sure they never existed, records-wise. Many Censors frequently employ the Silence and its members, and in fact many Censors are Silence members.