Origin of the Mist Dancers
Jaeserin, the son of a Trilian border captain, spent a portion of his Wandering serving in the Swords of Kerl, a freeband based out of the Thormenalan city of Larmedin. While on his fifth warrant with them, the band found itself locked in a desperate fight with a rival gang that had been terrorizing the city’s waterfront. The outcome of the struggle stood in doubt until a new combatant appeared in a whirl of blades and turned the tide for the Swords. The stranger vanished as soon as the battle had been won. Jaeserin approached Kerl after the fight.
“You must tell me who that was,” he said to the band’s grizzled leader.
“No, I do not, actually,” Kerl responded, laughing. “But I am sure you are wondering why we work this way. Only I know her identity. She only appears in absolute need and then disappears. The impact of surprise and fear is as important as her fighting skill. She has saved me more than once. She keeps our foes who have heard rumors of her constantly looking over their shoulders and second-guessing themselves. And the ones, like today, who have no idea she exists, well…” he said, gesturing to the dead men at their feet, “you can see the worth of her anonymity.”
Indeed, Jaeserin could see exactly that. When he returned to Trilias, he brought this experience to his new duties on the border. He trained one member of his company in secret and had her shadow the group as they conducted their patrols. She would only appear in moments of great necessity and would vanish back into the fox trees when the crisis had ended.
The King was so impressed by the success of this technique that he created an entire corps of these men and women and spread them over his domain in small groups. Answerable only to the King or Queen, the Mist Dancers are charged with being aware of all threats to the realm and to respond instantly to turn the tide of a fight and return to secrecy just as quickly. No Trilian who has not served as a Mist Dancer knows where they are at any moment. But they are glad to see them arrive when they do.
Mist Dancers shave their heads to prevent their white hair from giving themselves away. They paint their bodies in colors that match their surroundings so that their initial charge comes as a complete surprise. The toril they wear over their eyes is also for camouflage. It is a strip of spidersilk, dyed to match the Dancer’s overall camouflage pattern. The Dancer can see through it fine, its purpose is to conceal the shine of the warrior’s eyes. Enemies and friends of Trilias alike find it intimidating, however, and the practice has fed the legend that Mist Dancers fight while blinded.
Mist Dancers operate in groups of six known as rings. Each ring guards a different part of the realm and only the ring and the royal household know their location. Mist Dancers are permitted to accompany freebands, normally after retiring and only when their ring has moved to a new location. They are trained from a young age to disdain possessions or wealth. They are not deliberately standoffish or aloof but often seem so when they first join a freeband as they have no real social experience beyond their ring at that point.
Mist Dancers are trained exclusively with the Herenkal, both as a melee and as a ranged weapon. They travel extremely lightly and can move over great distances at speed, even well inside the Deepwood.
They do not take prisoners. If a problem requires a Mist Dancer solution, they are charged with solving it permanently…
