Rogues

Masters of espionage and among the most elite criminals of the land rogues move in the shadows to complete their aims. While not all rogues are criminals near all possess an intimate knowledge of the criminal underground that they freely use to aid their activities.

Career

Career Progression

Thief
Relying on tools and tricks over magical or chemical paths the thief is a highly intelligent practitioner most often found sneaking into restricted areas to steal or take items of renown. Thieves are well regarded among criminal communities and many adventurers are known to value the skills of these quiet burglars. The Road and the Guild make great use of Thieves in their criminal networks to smuggle wares and claim wealth and steal possessions from rivals.
Assassin
Masters of quiet murder assassins strike fast and hard aiming to end a combat before it has a chance to truly start. Assassins specialise in striking at pressure points and often have an intimate knowledge of the mer they target. The most acclaimed assassins of Aesalia are the Knives who are based out of Morilliseum, these assassins were said to be able to find targets anywhere across the land and worked with a ruthless efficiency.
Arcane Trickster
Those rogues not content to merely use scientific developments to aid their craft turn to magic to bolster their power. Known as Arcane Tricksters these rogue-wizards use magic to conceal, deceive and shift focus as they engage in chaotic missions. Arcane Tricksters are often as deadly with a blade as they are with a spell and often earn the distrust of other spellcasters for their devious use of magical power.
Arcane Tricksters use arcan to cast spells in the same way as wizards though their understanding is often less taught in an academic context than through their own practice and learning. As such it tends to be cruder often limiting the range of spells they may comfortably cast.
Following the restriction and criminalisation of unauthorised magic in the empire Arcane Tricksters were put down aggressively and treated as rogue practitioners. This did not stop some academy wizards from practicing similar practices and many criminals actively sought illegal magical tomes to learn the craft of the arcane tricksters of old.
Inquisitive
Not all who think as criminals are so involved and many seek to use their understanding of the underbelly of society to help cleanse it. Inquisitives use powers of deduction to think through problems and mysteries finding the solutions to crimes and learning the mysteries within societies.
Mastermind
Tactical thinkers, masterminds plan elaborate schemes to manipulate the will of the mer often orchestrating great upheavals in communities if not entire societies. Masterminds prefer to work through others often revealing themselves only in moments that suits their grand plan.
Scout
Outriders for mercenaries, armies and parties alike scouts move fast and perceive much of the world at large. Valuable scouts are sought after throughout society for all manner of excursions and as such often command high fees for their services.
Swashbuckler
Attuned to the chaotic life of a sailor swashbucklers move elegantly around a battlefield or deck able to manage the needs of the vessel and their own in tandem. Swashbucklers are commonplace in the Far Isles and around Grismaut but tend to be a rare, and oft more sought out, commodity around the rest of Falarin.
Phantom
Treading a fine line between life and death those rogues named phantoms practice macabre necrotic practices that allow communing with the lingering essences of those who have died to their blades. Some phantoms are even said to trap the souls of the slain in their blade such as that they can commune with them as and when they wish. Phantoms were common place in Morilliseum with several cult orders based around them and numerous members of the Knives following their creed.
Phantoms rarely understood arcan in any depth knowing only of the magical tongue in the context of wider rituals they practiced. Those phantoms who chose a more specific understanding tended to only know those words directly connected to the field of depth that they were immersed in.
Following the restriction and criminalisation of unauthorised magic in the empire the practices of phantoms were put down aggressively and treated as rogue practitioners. The Knives were said to continue the practice in secret though those few caught never admitted any allegiance to the secretive organization.
Soulknife
Often 'awakening' in the corners of the world soulknives are as rare as psionics itself. Those who master this art of murder are feared and marveled for their skills which often lead their opponents baffled and paralyzed in wonderment and confusion. Many of those who follow this path recount encounters with Mind Flayers or Aboleths who awakened their minds in their efforts to scry and feed of them but those lucky few instead cite mysterious masters who offered them the gift.
Following the restriction and criminalisation of unauthorised magic in the empire soulknives were considered apostates in service of the Forgotten One and persecuted by the church. Scholarly circles eagerly sought such figures out however to understand the power that lay within the minds of the mer in hopes of unlocking it for themselves.

Type

Illicit