(I, uh, had a meeting. And an inspiration from the AMA thread where Binder’s name got mentioned)
The Broken BINDER
Shadow Binder, Broken servant of the Cinder King
Before she was Broken, Binder was named Violet Dancing Glade. Before being Chosen by the Panyar moon-goddess Nyx, he was a libertine and con-artist infamous across the western cities, and the claim that he seduced Nyx into Chosing him was a rumor he never confirmed nor denied. When the nine Chosen rode against the Cinder King, he was one of the least seen, scouting ahead and bringing swift and eternal release to the Cinder King’s lieutenants. According to the Panyar, Nyx guides the souls of the dead into the sky by the light of her moon, and from thence to their eternal rest in the dark between the stars. When Violet Dancing Glade was Broken, the moon shattered, a third of it scattering across the sky and only dull and grey shards; the remainder has shifted from silver to an unhealthy jaundice, and faint crimson glimmers on the ragged edges. He is titled as the Moonbreaker, the Binder of Shadows, and Blood Drinker, but most troops just call him Binder.
Binder is dark-skinned, and his eyes have faded to the black of the night sky. He dresses in fine velvet of sable and midnight blue, ruffles of pale lace, and great flowing cloaks royal purple with ermine trim. His teeth have sharpened and lengthened, jagged and very white. Not the physically strongest of the Broken, Binder is nevertheless one of the most dangerous, twisting the hearts and minds of his enemies with seemingly reasonable words until he moves with a blur of inhuman speed and tears out their throat.
Binder has been kept primarily in the Western Kingdoms, organizing the final extermination of humanity in the fallen cities. He enlists the aid of former power-brokers, using them to keep order among the fallen and to maintain the butchery at a steady pace; maximizing the time the bodies of the dead can serve as viable troops, and forcing the living to tend to the wants and dead of the more intelligent lieutenants. As the Cinder King moves into Aldermark in the wake of Ettenmark Fields, Binder is called to oversee it as well.
HORROR THEMES
Unseen enemies. Perversion of social order. Quislings and traitors. Transgression of boundaries. Pyrhic victories, and destroying the village to save it. The bloody decadence of the rich, and the bloodlust of the mob. Unquiet ghosts of the past.
[i]Since Binder was Broken, the nights have been so much darker. The shattered moon shares only a shred of the light that it did before, and the wind seems full of ghostly howls. But the worst part is getting to places after Binder’s gotten his claws into them; bad enough to have to fight the undead - towns turn against the Legion, or allow us in only to betray us. Our every sin recorded in the Annals seems to be dregged up and thrown in our faces.
- Dame Mikila Savrelli, Orite Legionnaire[/i]
STARTING ABILITY
STRIGA
By draining someone of their blood and then replacing it with a drop of his own, Binder can trap the victim’s soul within their body. Striga can appear in any mission.
BROKEN ABILITIES
AGENTS EVERYWHERE
Binder’s minions fly far and fast, and reaching a location before them is almost impossible. Recon mission engagement rolls take -1d.
DANGEROUS GAMES
Spies assigned to Long-Term Assignments become wounded on a 4/5 as well as a 1-3.
ENTHRALL
When a Striga attempts to persuade or seduce, they gain potency, and resisting with Resolve costs an additional point of Stress except on a critical success.
GEISTS
Binder reaches into the depths of the night sky and cages an especially potent spirit. Geists are capable of appearing on any mission.
MOMENTO MORI
Add an additional penalty of -1 Morale to the priority mission after it is selected, as failures come to haunt the Legion longer than before.
TREACHERY
Binder cause the loss of up to 3 points of Supply, Black Shot, Food Stores, Horses, or Religious Supplies (in any combination), as well as the loss of one Rookie or Non-Legion Personnel, who turns traitor and either flees with or destroy the lost material. If a Rookie is lost, they are treated as having been killed, incurring the Morale loss as well.
VOYNIC
Made by boiling the blood of dozens of victims, Voynics walk and speak as men, but effortlessly reshape their bodies into subtle guises or deadly weapons. Voynics can appear in any mission.
UNDEAD TROOPS
LINE TROOPS
SHADES: Shades are the souls of the dead, now in Binder’s service. Only partially tangible, they move silent and almost invisible through the air and pass through most obsticles as if they were not present. Shades are most often used as scouts and spies, as iron or alchemical salt can force them to disperse.
WIGHTS: Dead men and women fed a small amount of Striga blood arise again as mindless undead, in the thrall of the Striga who raised them. As wights, they decay more slowly, and a recently raised wight may even pass as a living servant. When ordered to attack, they do so with mindless fury and total disregard for their bodies, with startling speed and strength.
ELITES
STRIGA: Once mortal men and women, Striga are now Binder’s diplomats and emissaries, sharp-toothed and dark-eyed as their new master. Faster and stronger than any legionaire, it is the voice of the Striga that is the true danger. With a glance and a word, they can entrance the weak-willed, compelling obedience and warping memories.
GEISTS: Geists resemble shades, in the same way that dogs resemble wolves. Like shades, they fly silent and unseen through the air; unlike shades, they are not easily dispersed, and will hurl objects and weapons at their enemies, or whisper madness to them while they rest.
VOYNIC: Seeing a voynic in it’s natural form is a profoundly unsettling experience, as it resembles nothing so much as a semi-congealed pudding of coagulating blood. In such a shape, a Voynic can slip into and out of almost any location no matter how secure. The true danger of the voynic comes from it’s ability to reshape itself. With only a few moments, voynic can make themselves look and sound like anyone and anything of even approximately the same size and shape, or turn their limbs into deadly arms and armor.
INFAMOUS
SHRIEKER (INFAMOUS GEIST): Where most geists are quiet, Shrieker is anything but. Her horrifying wails and laments can break men’s minds, and her mad fury can tear their bodies to shreds.
VISCOUNT RUBIN ALBREKT (INFAMOUS STRIGA): Viscount Rubin’s name is a curse amongst Orites, for he opened the gates of his city to the Cinder King, ordering his troops to lay down arms and cooperate in their own destruction. Binder rewarded him for this by making him one of his Striga, and now sends him forth to repeat his good work.
RED (INFAMOUS VOYNIC): The voynic known only as ‘Red’ was created by carefully selecting the canniest warriors and most subtle of rogues, boiling their blood slowly to create a creature of surpassing cunning and deadly grace. While all voynic are dangerous, Red in particular takes pains to frame others for the crimes it committs, ensuring that the survivors divide and fall upon one another.
LIEUTENANTS
THE SEVENTH EMPEROR (GEIST LIEUTENANT): The Seventh Emperor of the Old Empire serves at Binder’s side. During Ettenmark Fields, some members of the Legion saw him, dressed in the same arms and armor that the Lorekeeper had described during the story of the Legion’s founding countless times before. Worse than his power as a geist, however, is his knowledge of Old Empire technology, bordering on magical.
ZAYA ISLANOVNA, THE FIRSTBORN (STRIGA LIEUTENANT): The first created of Binder’s Striga, Zaya was his lover in life and remains such in death. Her power is great enough to raise Striga of her own, and rumors say she schemes for a way to kill Binder, taking his blood and power for her own.
SHADOWBINDER’S SHADOW: Binder’s own shadow, risen and given substance and form. What one sees, both see; what one hears, both hear. Binder dispatches his shadow rarely, and rumor claims that capturing it would potentially weaken the Broken - but how can you capture a shadow?
