The Hand is an elite group of legionnaires who protect the Emperor, who are Bladmasters, are spies or all of the above. They are the Emperor's eyes and ears as well as the protectors of his very life.
Most have been hand picked by the leaders of the Hand after years of service in the legions. They are given additional training in the blade or weapon of their choice, hand to hand, and espionage. Only those hand picked by the Emperor protect him at all times. These are the Order of the Gryphon and would willing die to save the Emperor.
These people are very serious, usually do not have families of their own, though their parents (if living) receive a monthly allowance if the member of the Hand dies, and only associate with other Hand members. Their mind set is no one is as good as them, not even the legions they served with before becoming a Hand member. They do not take guff from anyone.
This group of people would work best for an antagonist organization. Your players may not be going after the Emperor, but one of the higher ranked Hand members could be in charge of finding the players and stopping them from doing what ever it is they are doing. This people are specialized in one, if not several, weapons, and can have some thief abilities. Depending upon what you want to use them for possible classes could be simply fighter, or fighter/bard, or fighter/thief, if your system allows such things. They can often speak High King speech along with Ariellan.
Roleplaying Tip of the Week: Pictures. Have your players draw pictures of their characters and if that is not possible, maybe somebody in your group can draw them. (We were so lucky in college that one of our friends was an art major). Baring this, the roleplaying system "Elfquest" has character templates which have figures which you can draw hair and clothes on. Something like that might be just what your players need to feel they can see their character and it will help you greatly as a GM to be able to describe their character during battle.
Tomorrow: Disciples of the Gods
1 comment:
I don't think I'd want to encounter a member of The Hand in a dark alley, but this highly-skilled force of spy/assassin/bodyguards sounds pretty cool. I especially love this type of character if they have a really compelling reason for their devotion to the Emperor. Plus, discovering a super-soldier's hidden vulnerability can be such fun. Valek in Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study reminds me of this type of character & I adore him.
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