Every graduate receives their first tailored combat suit, forged at the Forge of Veins beneath Thaloras Fortress. These aren’t garments — they’re living wards woven into cloth.
Material: Shadow-silk spun from void-spiders, threaded with powdered obsidian and blood-iron. The weave hardens against blades and dampens kinetic force like chainmail beneath the skin.
Magical Enchantments:
Silent Step — sound and scent suppression.
Veil Ward — turns the eyes of divination and scrying away.
Blood Pact — the suit recognizes its owner’s essence; no other can wear it without the threads tightening and strangling.
Aesthetic: Matte black or ash-grey, with faint iridescent veins like cracks in volcanic glass. Collars are high, lapels sharp, every stitch a sigil. When viewed in the right light, faint runes shimmer along the seams.
This is not clothing. It is the Veiled’s sacred skin — both uniform and identity.
The relic is each Veiled’s primary weapon, earned in their initiation trial. They are semi-living artifacts, bound through blood to the wielder. No two are alike.
Examples:
Fangblades — short, serrated obsidian daggers that drip venom from the slain beast’s fang.
Ember Chain — a whip forged from dragon sinew, glowing with internal fire.
Frostbrand — a longsword of beast-bone sheathed in eternal ice.
Silent Bow — string of sinew, arrows carved from the predator’s bones.
Bond: The relic grows with its wielder. If the Veiled matures in strength, the relic awakens deeper enchantments, becoming a mirror of their soul.
The relic is the sacred core of a Veiled; to lose it is to be exiled.
All Veiled are trained in the use of conduits, the magical counterpart of firearms:
Wands: Sleek, one-handed, rapid-cast conduits. Favored by those with speed, precision, or lower magical reserves. Equivalent to sidearms. They excel at quick bursts of fire, paralysis hexes, or protective wards.
Staves: Two-handed, heavier conduits for initiates of high magical aptitude. Equivalent to long rifles or heavy weapons. Staves amplify devastating area spells, barriers, or environmental manipulation.
Both are issued upon graduation. Unlike relics, they are standardized and replaceable, though customized runic engravings and focuses are common.
Each operative is outfitted with specialized tools, blending magitech sorcery with special forces pragmatism:
Runed Gauntlets — enhance grip, climbing, and can channel raw spellwork.
Specter Goggles — multi-vision lenses that shift between thermal, spiritual sight, and anti-glamour detection.
Glyph Charges — crystalline explosives that unravel wards or blow open structures.
Shadow Cloak — collapsible cape woven from night-silk, used for short-range teleport blinks or vanishing in darkness.
Soulbind Rope — braided tendon of their slain beast, unbreakable except by fire or acid. Used for capture or traversal.
Blood Kits — ritual alchemy packs, including healing draughts, bone-setting charms, and blood-mark sigils for tracking.
The obsidian mask given at graduation is never optional — it is both armor and oath.
Function: Enhances focus, shields the mind from intrusion, and filters toxins. The interior is etched with runes that sync to the wearer’s heartbeat, sharpening reflexes.
Appearance: Smooth and black at first, but cracks form with each mission, glowing faintly with the essence of the wielder’s relic. No two masks fracture the same.
Tradition: Veiled never reveal their faces in mission. To show one’s face outside the Fortress is a ritual of vulnerability, permitted only in death or brotherhood.
Rank within the Hand is displayed not through medals but through Obsidian Sigils burned into the lining of the suit or mask. These appear as glowing cracks only visible when the wearer channels mana.
Ashborn: No sigil. Initiates wear plain cloth until graduation.
Veiled: One sigil, bound to their relic.
Silent: Two sigils, one for relic, one for mastery.
Blades: Five intersecting cracks, glowing faintly at all times — living runes of command.
⚔️ In short:
The Veiled graduate into a brotherhood armored in living suits, faceless behind obsidian masks, armed with relics, wands, and special-forces sorcery. They aren’t just operatives — they’re mythic predators dressed in elegance, walking arsenals that blur the line between assassin, knight, and warlock.