Originally membership dues were low, intended to cover the guild’s expenses and not much more. It was Ciang who determined that the dues be raised to their extraordinarily high level, forcing out many of the “stew-plate” variety of assassin (one who would kill a man for a plate of stew). The move was quite controversial at the time, many members arguing (but not in Ciang’s presence) that it would prove the death of the guild. Ciang’s wisdom soon became apparent, however.
Assassins were at first required to pay a percentage of their contracts, but this proved too difficult to monitor. Ciang ordered that this practice cease. All members are now required to pay yearly dues that vary in amount, based on rank; the assumption being that a skilled assassin is a rich assassin. Any assassin who has fallen on hard times and can’t afford the dues has only himself or herself to blame. The Brotherhood wants only skilled, disciplined members and can afford to rid itself of drunks, gamblers, or any other person whose personal failings make him or her a failure at the craft. Payment of annual dues is excused only for those injured in the line of duty. Wounded members may come to the fortress on Skurvash and avail themselves of the fine-quality (perhaps the finest available in the Mid Realm) medical treatment. During their recovery period, dues are waived.
Strict rules pertain to the admittance of injured members into the Infirmary. The injury must have been obtained while on a job. The wounds must be honorable in nature and must be honorably obtained. (Being struck over the head from behind by a chair during a barroom brawl, for example, would not qualify. Nor would being knifed by a jealous lover.) If a contract is unfulfilled due to an injury obtained while attempting to fulfill it, the assassin must return the money he or she was paid for the job and complete the contract on personal time, for personal honor.
“Scars Are Still Fresh.”
This pertains to the rite of investiture and refers to the fact that the person has not been a member of the Brotherhood long. Ciang uses this term in reference to Ernst Twist.
Note: Hugh the Hand described his meeting with Twist to Haplo, to whom we are indebted for the story. Haplo recognized Twist as a serpent from Hugh’s description of the peculiar red cast to the man’s eyes, as well as the connection between Twist and Sang-drax.
Given the fact that the serpents could not have been long in coming to Arianus, Haplo found it remarkable that Twist had risen this far in the membership in so short a time. He reasons that the serpents, having seen the vast potential of the guild in terms of furthering their own ambitions for plunging the world into chaos, must have gone out of their way to join. Haplo adds a certain rumor (probably obtained from Hugh the Hand), that an attempt to assassinate Ciang was deliberately staged by the serpents, in order for one of their own to “save” her life and emerge a hero. If this did indeed occur, no record of it exists. Ciang herself would have been far too proud to have publicized it. The fact remains, however, that Ernst Twist rose rapidly in the ranks and is, according to all reports, still rising.
“Sheath to Tip
Make Blade
These terms refer to the various stages of rank of those who join the Brotherhood. A new member—one “whose wound bleeds”—is said to be a
“sheath,” for, just as a sword remains sheathed, the new assassin’s potential is still untried. From “sheath” one moves to “tip”—newly blooded—and then up to “blade,”
“crossguard,”
“hilt.” Such advancements may take years. How they are determined is kept highly secret, but Ciang presumably has final word. Hugh’s rank, “the hand,” is highest, next to Ciang’s own. She is known as “the arm.”
Sponsors
Except under certain circumstances, all current applicants to the Brotherhood must have a sponsor. The sponsor is a person who is willing to literally bet his or her life on the new member, for if any of the Brotherhood’s rules are broken by the novice, retribution is swift and fatal and falls not only on the newcomer, but also on the one who sponsored him or her.
One might imagine that such a rule would discourage old members from sponsoring new ones, but a very handsome bonus is paid to those who bring in “fresh blood.”
In the event that the knife is “sent round” on one member of such a team, the other may claim first right to enact the penalty of death. Such an act may not serve to save the surviving member’s life, but he or she will at least be considered by the Brotherhood to have died with honor redeemed. Teams often work together but are not required to do so. Some may take separate paths and rarely see each other again.
Occasionally, individuals of rare skill and talent are invited by the Brotherhood to join. Hugh the Hand was one of these. A loner by nature, Hugh would never have sought admittance to the Brotherhood on his own. Some say that Ciang herself acted as his sponsor. Others say it was the man known only as the Ancient. Hugh never speaks of it.
A peaceful Arianus will no doubt bring changes to the Assassins’ Guild. But the guild’s demise is not foreseen. The evil serpents’ plot against Arianus has been thwarted for the time being, but not the serpents themselves. As Sang-drax reminds us, their influence has been felt since the beginning of time and will continue to be felt until time’s end. And, until that time, the Brotherhood of the Hand will flourish.
Appendix II
Death Gate Singularities
The Jrandin Rheus, as the Sartan called it, took unified creation and sundered it into independent yet interdependent realms. Most Patryns familiar with the Sartan diagrams of the Sundering and the Sundered Realms, however, seem to be led to a false image of the final nature of that structure—that is, as some series of globes neatly connected by arrows and lines floating in nebulous space. It is not surprising. The Sartan loved symmetry and linearity above all and took comfort in picturing their Jrandin Rheus as some beautifully ordered and balanced thing. The details are a great deal more complex and messy, as we well know.
In fact, all of the Sundered Realms exist in the same place. Viewed in terms of the Probability Wave of Patryn Magic, the unified creation that existed before the Jrandin Rheus was harmonically shifted into several different realities. These harmonic realities manifest themselves into the various partitioned realities that we perceive as fire, water, earth, and sky, as well as such special subrealities we know as the Nexus and the Labyrinth. However, the harmonics of these realities are not entirely separate. The original harmonics that set up the Sundering continue to reverberate between the worlds. Through these harmonics, each of the realms touches the others in special ways that are manifest in our understanding as harmonic paths. These paths take two forms: conduits and Death Gates.
Conduits and Death Gates are quite similar in basic structure but radically different in their form. The basic structure of each is formed by a rotating singularity—a spinning mass of such high gravity that all laws of time, space, and existence have no meaning. It is a place where nothing exists and everything exists. It is a place where perfect chaos and order exist simultaneously in the same space. The contradictions themselves that allow these singularities to essentially be in both disparate existences of different realms at the same time.
The spin of such singularities determines their form (Death Gate or conduit) and their state (barred, open, or stopped).
The form of the harmonic path is determined by the direction and complexity of the spin of the singularity relative to the probability boundary between the two realms. This spin compresses the event horizon surrounding the singularity and gives direction to the Death Gate or conduit.