Nymene’s best-kept secret.
A covert group tasked with infiltrating Ivras and securing the Order’s secrets,
created and commanded by the cabinet of the Iron Empress.
May she reign eternal.
Summary
The so-called “faces” of Nymene are Nymenian mages discovered by their government at a young age and determined to be valuable to the Empire. With the ultimate goal of ending Nymene’s dependence on Ivras for magical protection, the faces are raised by Nymene’s elite officers in rigid and rigorous training. They (and their handlers) are trained in espionage, combat, and given specialized skills to collect information on Nymene’s neighbors. The faces are spies, planted in Ivras to appear as regular recruits for the Order, and to smuggle information on Ivras’s mage hierarchy back to Nymene.
This player-made faction is dedicated not only to the mage faces, but also the covert support network of non-mages Nymene has embedded in Ivras. This network is responsible for supervising the faces, performing reconnaissance, and establishing connections for Nymenian officials in Ivras.
Roles
- Faces: Mages, positioned within Ivras’ Order by Nymene to gather information on the Order’s mysterious inner workings. They are often selected at a young age and known to have powers that could aid the Empire. They are trained to be loyal to their nation and handlers, and prepared throughout childhood for their deployment to Ivras, where they will pretend to be a regular candidate for the Order. Each of the faces is given a fictional backstory to memorize in case they are questioned while undercover. They are equipped with a wide range of skills, acquired early in life, that will help them avoid detection and deliver information to their handlers. Ideally, the Faces are intended to return to Nymene after their education, so that they may help the Empire start its own infrastructure for mage containment. The Empire understands, however, that not all of its agents may make it back.
- The faces are usually “early bloomers” or clearly-magical children detected early in life, ideally entering the program during early childhood.
- The first faces left Nymene for Ivras 11 years ago. New faces are still being dispatched in a slow trickle, one or two at a time.
- There are very few faces in the program; the faces all know each other and many grew up together (along with their handlers) but are discouraged from socializing too often in Ivras to avoid discovery.
- Once they enter the program, the faces do not have contact with their families or the Nymene they knew, as if they’d been sent to the Order; they are made to understand that this is for the security and secrecy of the program.
- Handlers: Non-mages, sent to Ivras to support the faces, hand down orders, and send information back to Nymene. Handlers are usually positioned near Namarast or in large cities, with occupations that make travel easy. Their primary objective is to serve as vehicles for intelligence gathered by the faces, covertly delivering the faces’ findings to the Empire, though they also work as spies in their own right, or as plants to solidify a face’s cover story.
Non-Playable Characters
These characters are based in Nymene, and exist for backstory purposes only.
- Commander: A top official in the Nymenian military, and a member of the Empress’s cabinet of closest advisers. She insists that the operation producing the Faces was created at the Empress’s command, but also has taken great pains to ensure no one discusses her pet project with the Empress. The Commander personally briefs all agents before they leave for Ivras, but is unlikely to be known to the average agent outside of this briefing.
- Instructors: The title given to the leaders tasked with training the faces and their handlers.
Members
These characters are based in Ivras, and depending on their role tend to have a fixed "base of operations", so to speak.
However, player characters are not stationary, nor are they in any way barred from traveling and partaking in group-wide events. This faction is meant to provide flavor and interesting motivations first and foremost, the player made characters representing only a small part of the faction's ranks.
Faces
Handlers
The credit for the written material and original faction idea goes to franknsteins and desperish!
Thank you for making this possible.