Sleepers Awakened

The Sleepers Awakened are religious order of assassins who worship Jabru, God of Death, in the aspect of Jabru Awakened. In this aspect, Jabru's followers intervene in the worlds affairs, removing the murderous, the corrupt, and the careless - those who, if allowed to live, will cause many more deaths than just their own.

History

The Sleepers Awakened have killed a number of major political figures over the centuries, and have cut short several wars over this period. They are, however, outlawed in every kingdom of the Sleeping Lands, and have been hunted nearly to extinction on at least 3 separate occasions. The order is thus very cautious about who they reveal themselves to, and keep their numbers small; at present there are less than a hundred individuals who are sworn members of the order throughout the entirety of the Sleeping Lands, and the vast majority of their contacts believe them to simply be criminals or information brokers.

Ethics

The Sleepers Awakened walk a fine line. Like all followers of Jabru, they believe death is inherently tragic, and try to minimize its impact on the world. But while the Embrace is quite straightforward in their approach, the Sleepers Awakened must weigh their choices carefully. Most of their targets hold positions of power, and when such individuals die unexpectedly, there is always a degree of chaos and instability that can cause more harm than a corrupt leader might have caused if left alive, making their assassination worse than simply allowing them to proceed.
The order has only one law: After each member of the order identifies a target, they must send word to other members of the order before striking. If the others determine that the target's death will cause more harm than allowing the target to live, then the Sleeper who identified the target is penalized. If they were patient, and waited for a response, it will only be a loss of status; if they acted hastily and have already carried out the assassination, they are determined to have dangerously faulty judgement and find themselves the next target of assassination. The result of this is that members of the order are quite conservative in what they believe worthy of a death sentence, particularly in cases where the target must be slain quickly, such as a general ordering troops into a battle that they cannot hope to win.
Most Sleepers also prefer to use more subtle means of assassination. Poisons that simulate a natural death are the preferred weapon of choice, in order to reduce the fallout caused by the target's sudden death. This, of course, depends on the target's role in society. A prolific murderer or bandit is just as valid a target to a Sleeper, and as a more overt assassination will not create anywhere near the unrest caused by the murder of a noble, they often take a more direct approach.

Type

Religious, Sect