Organisation

Qual-el

CanonOfficial lore from the booksSSGp. 42

Many assassins' guilds operate in the imperial lands, but none is thought as fearsome as Qual-el. It is said to be led by a vampire whose name is not known.¹

Legends

According to legend, Qual-el's members do not kill for money, as other assassins do. They kill only on their master's orders, to balance a cosmic scale, and no red line or ethical scruple is said to hold them back.¹

It is said that a secret ritual is needed merely to reach them. If they refuse the person the petitioner wants dead, the story goes, they take the petitioner's head instead; once the ritual has been performed, a life will be taken in return. There is no way to know what they will ask in exchange for a murder.¹

Rumour has it that Qual-el serves a nameless god of murder, and that the true power behind its daggers lies there. The nameless vampire is said to be that god's prophet, for, as the tale has it, the curse of vampirism began with the first murder.¹

How Qual-el actually operates is unknown.¹

Notes

↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 42

Sources

This article draws on:

SSGLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide(Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 42

Related articles

ConceptImperial operation against the drow citiesA secret plan of the Empire's intelligence service in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, said to have been prepared for forty-one years, to draw the drow up against the dwarves and strike at the ruling houses of the drow cities below in a single night.

OrganisationCult of VoidA cult discovered in 261 AVD whose leaders claimed to carry the souls of the Heralds from before Victory Day; it is remembered only for the ritual massacres it carried out to bring back the "Dark Father".

OrganisationThe Black VeilOne of the oldest assassin guilds in the Empire, ruled from its lair by the adult black dragon Zherkses the Cruel. Membership lasts for life, fear holds the guild together, and its assassins never take contracts inside Vansreik.OrganisationGrey OwlThe secret service of the Empire, whose agents work in the shadows against threats within and beyond its borders and are feared even by the Inquisition.OrganisationHanged DevilsOne of the powerful gangs of the Free Port cities, active in the streets of Neptun, known for ruling by terror and for training several rogues who later became mercenaries.OrganisationThe Boulevard KillersOne of the powerful gangs of the Free Port cities on the western coast, named alongside The Gentlemens and the Hanged Devil.OrganisationThe GentlemensOne of the powerful gangs of the Free Port cities on the western coast, and a rival of the Hanged Devils.OrganisationThe HandA secret organisation founded by high-ranking, influential wizards after open protest against the pressure on mages had failed; its exact workings are not known.OrganisationThieves’ Guild of VansreikThe cruel but all-accepting thieves' guild of Vansreik, which took in the outcast half-elf Kaldor and has its own guild hall and master arcanist.