Disciples of Tolva

"You have our respect. Getting into the Baro's private estate, much less his private vault, is quite an accomplishment, even for a thief of your reputation. Fate clearly smiled upon you earlier tonight. Now she smiles upon you again, for you will have the honor of paying tribute to Tolva, Queen of Thieves. For a man of your skills, this humble offering is nothing you can't regain in a short span of time, so don't be stupid and get yourself killed. If you try to run, you'll find we've got you surrounded and outnumbered. And yes, that includes from above. The Hidden Lady blazed the trails for the Rooftop Highway, so we've got plenty of brothers and sisters above if you think a trip up that drainpipe will be your salvation."

The Disciples of Tolva--also commonly referred to as "Tolvites"--are a sort of boogeyman to the Khezvaran underworld, but one whose existence has been attested to by hundreds of thieves over the years. According to the legends about them, the Tolvites prey upon thieves, smugglers and other criminals who have just completed or are in the process of completing the kind of big heist that would allow a reasonable person with a modicum of self-restraint to retire from crime and live out a comfortable life. When the thief turns down the wrong alley, they suddenly find themself surrounded by veiled Tolvites who calmly deliver their ultimatum: Turn over the loot or die. Those who turn over the loot are allowed to pass unmolested. Those who do not are found dead sometime in the early morning hours.

Culture

Like their namesake, Tolvites always wear veils when conducting their ambushes. Furthermore, the apparent leader of the ambush party is always a woman. These imitations of the Queen of Thieves, along with the reverence with which they speak of her, have led many to speculate that the group is as much a religious cult as a criminal enterprise.

Public Agenda

The disciples of Tolva have never made any attempt to ally themselves with any of the city's other criminal organizations and seem to prey on thieves of all stripes regardless of their loyalties. The only non-criminals they regularly ambush are imperial nobles and officials, who they seem to consider thieves by nature. This may also explain why they are sometimes linked to the (possibly equally apocryphal group),

Assets

Given their ability to know when a thief has accomplished a particularly profitable job and their skill at setting up near-perfect ambushes between the scene of the crime and the loot's intended destination, most people assume that the Tolvites have a very well-developed network of informants among the city's underworld (who are probably blissfully ignorant of who they really serve). Either that, or they have access to magic or other supernatural insight that allows them to choose and ambush their victims. Given that the loot they take--which is often quite distinctive--never seems to find its way into the hands of Khezvaran fences, it's also believed that they have a network of allies beyond the city who handle the exchange of their plunder for hard cash.

History

Stories of the Disciples of Tolva first appeared between the fall of the Dragon Kings and annexation by the Empire, but they became much more active when imperial citizens (particularly imperial nobles, with their incredible riches) began moving to the city in large numbers.

Mythology & Lore

Many rumors circulate regarding the Disciples of Tolva. The most popular and persistent of these include:

1. The Disciples are members of an existing criminal enterprise (which one varies from one telling to the next) who developed the Tolvite rumors as a ruse to allow them to move against other gangs without fear of breaking alliances or inciting hostilities. Attacks against members of their own gang are merely smokescreens or enactments of inter-gang justice. 
2. The Disciples are the funding arm of the equally shadowy Trollslayers rebel movement, using their tribute to fund their plans for revolution. 
3. The reason that valuables stolen by the Disciples never turn up again isn't because they're spirited away to some faraway place, but because the Tolvites hoard their loot in an elaborately-defended vault in the belief that a sufficiently challenging and priceless score will lure Tolva back from the realm of the dead. 
4. The Tolvites have found Tolva's body (which is either perfectly preserved or a moldering pile of bones, depending on the telling), which they keep in their secret lair and worship. The woman who leads the group's ambushes acts as a sort of high priestess. According to some versions of this legend, she wears the same veil that Tolva once wore. They may or may not engage in bizarre blood rituals which they hope will resurrect their Lady. 
5. The group are literally the Disciples of Tolva, serving the Queen of Thieves herself after her return from the Summerland where she was trapped for centuries after death.  
6. The group are literally Disciples of Tolva, but she's a lich-like undead creature rather than a resurrected folk hero.  
7. The Tolvites don't exist. They're just a big fish story that allows thieves to explain why they can't produce any of the loot that they supposedly stole during some daring heist they claim to have accomplished. 

Type

Illicit, Gang

Alternative Names

Tolvites

Deities

• Tolva, Queen of Thieves