Agents of The Decider: She’s the most immediate and well-known of Rym’s antagonists in the Third Age, controlling a mob of artificers, slavers, scavengers, and Machines. Her control is based largely on fear from afar, and though you might hear her shouting on the radio, you’re unlikely to ever see her except on the faces of coins or propaganda posters. She’s not someone you want to meet directly, though if you reach the upper reaches of power and influence, she might take you seriously enough to demand an audience, or come deal with you herself. More likely you’ll meet her Arcanar Guild, the mafia artificers responsible for bringing her artifacts and trinkets from out in the wasteland.

      Proxies of Nigh: These are Nigh’s ‘priests’, separating into the Death, War, and Trickery domains. The crystal-fleshed skeletal avians will literally drop from the big bird itself, appearing much like sparkling eggs or pods before they unfold at around 500’ and glide to their target. They show up whenever Nigh’s enormous eyes fix on a point of interest – you can tell they’re coming when the gaze locks and the gigantic aerodyne descends into the troposphere. They often come in trios depending on the situation – an Executioner, Strategist, and Reporter who work together. Proxies terrify most people as they’re representatives of what passes for Rym’s god of death, and though they may not always be there to kill, they represent a sort of miniature inquisition – a judge, jury, and executioner.

      The Decider, Tam-Ara, is the last living survivor of the Automatic War. Her father was a hero of the Creator State’s industrial revolution, the first person to dare a rocket launch into outer space, and when the gods of that era struck his rocket down from the heavens and killed both him and thousands of the spectators who had gathered to watch the event, her anguish became the face of the Creator State’s first open declaration of war upon the divine order. She was made a figurehead of the First Rebuke, the icon of righteous indignation that twisted a young girl into a monster whose pain symbolized the first open resistance against the hollow gods who had killed her father and shattered the dream of space flight. In this case it was the State that fostered and amplified her grief and wrath, who urged her to express her detestation of the enemy in such a sympathetic way that the entire population was motivated to war. This was made even worse by the hand of Aethos, the one god who turned against the rest and who sought to manipulate and empower the Creator State such that they would humble his divine siblings and expose their false divinity, allowing his ultimate rise to power as the last of their kind. He provided the serum of immortality which froze Tam-Ara’s aging and allowed her to remain the Creator State’s symbol of resistance, and the ultimate expression of how mortals might themselves become gods.

      Motivation: The Decider has taken endless years of revenge upon the remnants of the old divine order, those she once held purely responsible for the loss of her father and the oppression of her people. Centuries of false immortality have deadened her grievances, however, and with so little left to destroy she’s turned her focus on reconstructing fragments of the old world. With so many lives at her disposal she now decides the fate of entire countries through the use of these powerful relics, sharing access and knowledge with a select few and commanding the rest to gather what they may, contributing them to her exclusive island domain, the Twin Paradise, in exchange for the chance to live within its luxurious confines. This collection of wonders and weapons is her dragon’s hoard, and she’ll reward any who help to expand it. She has a bounty list of desired objects.

      Anathema: The Decider still loathes the supernatural, the fantastical, and especially the divine, though her focus has shifted gradually to cover those who shelter or nurture such beings, seeing them as the stubborn relics of a departed era. She knows that she’s perceived as a tyrant but her contempt for the old world and its divine order is a necessity, forcing her to be cruel in order to prevent its return. She despises her own façade and the need to rule through power and often insists that she would rather be equitable if only people would get over their own lesser insistences, their pride in the old ways of thinking and their compassion for those who would become even worse than she, if given world enough and time. She’s even come to hate those around her for their cowardly efforts to curry her favor.

      Strengths: The Decider is preposterously powerful in the martial and material sense, a super-soldier of the Bygone with her own private army and a seemingly-endless supply of ancient weapons at her disposal. A goddess in all but name, immortal, highly-intelligent, ruthless and charismatic, she conquered the western half of the continent in less than a decade and has only grown more powerful in the century since. Despite all of this, she seems to have held off the sort of megalomaniacal arrogance and hubris which so often consume dictators of her capability, either through enormous mental discipline or adherence to a twisted code of military honor which resists the absolute corruption of absolute power, at least to some extent. She can, in fact, display rare instances of mercy and even kindness which can still surprise her more ruthless associates.

      Flaws: The Decider’s power and agelessness isolate her from the world at large, a fate she accepts with a grim sort of self-pity and a dutiful callousness. She surrounds herself with more Machines than mortals, trusting in their own cold obedience and honesty more than those who fear her, or who seek to earn her affection. This has left her hovering between indulgent melancholy and fierce, furious motivation, often seeking outrage as a solace more than for any real purpose. She fears that she’s becoming more like her mechanical retinue, with only fury and revulsion to raise the temperature of a dispassionate existence. She doesn’t want to feel this way, which only makes it worse, and though she may occasionally lose herself in substances or the heat of unnecessary battle, most of her true motivation has been lost to the centuries of solitude.

      Details: The Decider lives in a fully-exclusive amusement park resort, her childhood solace, now serving as a fragment of colourful comfort in a world that’s moved on. She carries all sorts of complicated relics, wears clothing of the utmost luxury, eats the finest food, and surrounds herself with opulence of every kind, though she will occasionally venture out into the world without anyone knowing, acting out other roles or pretending to be someone she’s not just to experience another life. Her most well-known possession is her disintegration ray pistol, the device she uses for summary executions or just to scare people into obedience, though she also has a third arm mounted behind her which seems to act of its own accord, like a familiar.

      L33 doesn’t remember much of who he was. An adventurer slain by an earlier proxy, of course, but there might have been someone desperate enough to practice magic, or protect someone who did. Did he sacrifice himself? There was someone else, wasn’t there? They were erased, and now all he has is a cold purpose and the unwavering faith brought by terrible loss. L33 wants only peace now, the end of all magic and the final release of death. Though he seems mindlessly loyal to Nigh and its terrible priesthood, this proxy will occasionally hesitate, trembling in his crystal flesh, and shriek glassine notes for a round or two instead of executing his target. It’s hard for even him to understand these atavistic fits, though it may have more to do with his victims. These lapses aside, L33 is a terrifying and extremely effective executioner.

      Motivation: As with all proxies, L33’s motivations are loaded into his dead mind during an activation drop. Like an assassin, he’s given images of his target, a list of their known abilities, and a location. He gets to think about this for the two minutes it takes for him to fall from Nigh, and by then he’s got a plan of action, the proper equipment, buffs, and weaponry. There is a more subtle motivation under this injected purpose, however. L33 wants to be destroyed. He can’t destroy himself, and he’s always matched against weaker targets, but someone might sense the moments where he makes himself unnecessarily vulnerable. Some find this more unsettling than the usual mechanical perfection of a proxy’s guided attack and defense pattern.

      Anathema: L33’s anathema is any magic-user, but clerics in particular. The clerics of any other deity are a priority target, and even the standard priority scale he’s given doesn’t dissuade him from always focusing on clerics first. His crystal flesh is dark-tuned to absorb radiation, but overloads and shatters on contact with radiant energy of all kinds. This form of crystal tuning is common with most executioners, allowing them to absorb energy at night instead of during the day. Most executions are scheduled at night, after all. L33 also gets a bit squirrelly around cheerful people, being as silently dour as befits someone who kills for a living. They get less merciful, non-enhanced beheadings.

      Strengths: L33 is really good at executing people, even as far as tailor-made executioners go. When activated and dropped, he gets right to business, finding the person who’s been marked for death very quickly without causing a major scene, and making it easy on them if they just relax. His domain’s Death Touch ability takes the form of a very quick, effective closure of the forearm scissor, instantly lopping off the head while the hand cradles it from the side. Apparently, it doesn’t hurt at all, he insists, and this is what makes him a good executioner. He wants death to be effective, efficient, and clean.

      Flaws: Aside from the fact that he’s a single-minded, cold, bloodless killing machine, L33 has some serious issues with his past life. Unlike most reincarnated crystalline horrors, he still has some of his memories. Every now and then, they surge up and halt his action, and there’s a 1 in 4 chance that his forearm head scissor will seize up at the mainspring when he performs his Death Touch. When this happens, the Machine will literally crack a smile in a horrid corvid way and then ‘spare’ the victim with a warning issued in a voice that’s different from his regular metallic hiss. Entire crowds have gasped in disbelief at these unexpected mercies, and as a result L33 has the unfortunate nickname of ‘Lee the Merciful’.

      Details: L33 appears to move in jaunty stop-motion, about 24 FPS. This gives even his simple maneuvers an unsettling quality, like a statue shifting from one position to another as opposed to an ambulatory construct. His forearm scissor is the way in which he performs executions, with lesser scissors for smaller necks. These all glow blue when energized, an extra-heavy dose of dark radiation (necrotic) which results in a clean decapitation every time. The Machine’s dark crystal element covers the remains of what he was, and every now and then if the light is bright enough, one might see the suggestion of a skeleton inside. This is who he was. L33’s voice is a low, dull susurrus, and rarely heard unless he’s having one of his shrieking episodes. He has a sort of air scort to help track targets and to chase or kill their familiars, a model Interceptor.

      Often paired with L33, proxy W21 is dispatched by the War Domain to handle more complicated targets. If, for instance, said target has friends, allies, other party members, etc. As a devotee of War, it’s his pleasure to think up all sorts of deadly combined tactics that turn an ordinary killing into a strategic masterpiece. He also acts as backup, since a single target against a whole party tends to get overwhelmed. W21 works well with most members of Nigh’s Death Domain, acting as the mouthpiece in any circumstances where negotiation might convince a party to hand over the offending member for execution as a preferable outcome to everyone dying in messy combat. Unlike the executioners, strategists tend to be more reasonable, and may even be convinced to good-cop the situation if proper atonement is shown. This is rare, as most are bound by a very strict military code, but most strategists have some discretionary wiggle room as well.

      Motivation: When not looking for his lemmings, W21 is part of Nigh’s brain. In the form of a crystal egg, he helps plot target approach angles and only drops when there’s a low to medium-level cleric spotted by the big bird itself. His motivation is to destroy the target, of course, but more importantly to learn about it and study its weaknesses. This is then added to the lexicon of the War Domain for future proxies to inherit. Because of this, strategists like W21 tend to know what a person’s resistances and weaknesses are, and prepares accordingly. He always wants to do battle with new things, especially visitors from other worlds or creatures not seen since the Bygone. He also collects ties, specifically the high quality retractable ties which serve has his holy symbol. He’s wearing the white tie right now because he’s in a formal ‘mood’.

      Anathema: W21 and the War Domain in general take a dim view of illegal organizations. Bad enough that people misbehave and consort with the enemy individually, but he’s more concerned with how there are entire parties of these people forming, and venturing out into perfect dead, perfectly predictable territory to do unpredictable things. With this in mind, W21 is on the lookout for anyone with a high charisma, enemy leaders especially, and bards. He absolutely despises musicians unless, of course, they’re performing war tunes or military marches. Any of that other nonsense gets shot behind the chemical shed. That also goes for fae, which he (in particular) detests due to his war-like owl nature.

      Strengths: Wise as an owl in the ways of war, W21 always has four plans of action (A – D). If there’s something he doesn’t have a plan for, he’ll make four, and though one of them is always absurd, the other three are almost always terrifying in their depth of knowledge and tactics. This was an ancient mind, perhaps a colonel of the Automatic War, and what’s left is still capable of incredible strategy. He’s especially effective at coordinating these strategies with other proxies, though he’s quite effective even on his own. He also has a third arm which isn’t always obvious, perhaps hidden under a table or beside the sleeve of a regular 2-arm jacket. His head can spin 270 degrees when he’s drawing a bead, fast enough to take the scenic rotational route before firing. He may be a cleric, but he’s dipping into gunslinger.

      Flaws: W21 overcomplicates things. Where a simple shot would do, he’s got to probe, to test, and record what he sees for historical posterity. This can backfire on him spectacularly from time to time, laying all his carefully-laid plans to ruin as if by divine ordinance. He is also breathtakingly arrogant, not so much in word but in deed, silently telegraphing his superiority at every turn. Though he doesn’t often underestimate his enemies or make foolish calculations, he can be thwarted by the sheer audacity of the chaotic, who aren’t bound by the same sorts of conduct rules. In other words, he’s more easily outmaneuvered by people who don’t name their maneuvers. Lastly, he’s always wearing white and tends to stand out in any crowd, or in any dark place.

      Details: Like most proxies, W21 is sternly avian and unnerving to watch in motion. However, he’s also very well-dressed, well-spoken, well-mannered, and obviously wealthy. Unlike the other Domains he’s got access to the War Chest, which means he has money for bribery and fashion if necessary. He’s always wearing expensive military-style parade outfits that would look right at home on a preening medal-stunned junta. His eyes are his most striking feature, shifting between multiple modes to see through darkness or even structures. As with all of the crystalline-fleshed proxies, his movement is segmented into countless tiny facet-adjustments, causing him to sparkle dimly even in low light. His third arm is usually concealed with a Cancelflash.

      The most common proxy deployment is the Reporter, an intelligence-gathering spy. A representative of the Trickery Domain, proxy R13 uses a variety of optical devices and image projectors to gather or alter information. Though most often sent alone, she may join combat proxies from the War or Death division in order to smooth things over, relay data, or even turn a local population against their target. Reporters are not fighters and have no real combat capacity to speak of, though their ability to manipulate knowledge gives them an entirely different form of power. They ‘report’ on the activities of enemy agents or even entire parties, either covertly or from a public-relations standpoint. As they’re able to speak from both sides of their head at the same time, some even believe they have two different personalities. This is nearly the case – they have such a flexible interpretation of reality that they can claim that they’ve always been at war with a faction they consider their most steadfast alley.

      Motivation: R13 wants the truth, even when it’s a lie. While slotted into Nigh, she acts as a translator and a camera, though this instrument-form is much less effective than when she’s walking the earth below, snapping pictures close-up and interviewing those who might know the whereabouts of potential enemies. She’s motivated entirely by the desire to acquire a ‘scoop’ or other vital information for the War or Death domains, often in the form of pictures and direct recorded testimony. She doesn’t care where it comes from, but woe be it to anyone who tries to feed her a false narrative, since that’s her job. She is astonishingly hypocritical, practically as a function, and while she always expects to be first on the scene, she may stage the scene itself, creating fake environments or false witnesses in order for the story to come out the way she wants. She’s also incredibly vain and self-important, though not a verbal way.

      Anathema: R13 despises any narrative that she doesn’t control, or can’t manipulate. Also, musicians, for she may have been one in her previous life, before being executed. Now her goal is to find and destroy others – bards are her favorite target. Unlike most critics, however, she weaponizes scandals or even creates them in order to ruin their reputations or turn their own audiences against them, and anyone who’s a part of their entourage. Mostly this can be done with illicit pictures, illusions, orchestrated betrayals, and bad publicity. She’s not very fond of Free East Radio, either, since they host all sorts of musicians and different opinions that she finds detestable. While most Reporters only gather information for intelligence purposes, she’s most of an anti-bard, focused primarily on eliminating messages of peace and unity, good vibrations, and other nonsense.

      Strengths: R13 knows exactly how to turn people against each other. She’s mastered the stoking of divisions, the enhancement of suspicions, and all the angles of derisions. You definitely don’t want this gadfly chasing your party around because she’ll get the dirt on everyone. If she can’t, she’ll make it up, and while she isn’t able to lie outright, she can twist the truth like it’s 1984. Her secret is staying out of sight and deploying her cluster of Eye Spies, the prying eyes in her mantle. These will saturate the area with total exposure, catching every outrage, every fumble, every mistake, and once she’s had time to stitch the footage together, she’ll use it to warp the opinions of those most gullible. She will rarely if ever confront a party directly, preferring to stay just around the corner, behind a window, or up on rooftops where she can get the best pictures.

      Flaws: R13 has a glass ego, and can’t stand it when people don’t believe her. She doesn’t have any other means of controlling them, and losing that power can be devastating to her entire narrative. Even other proxies find her obsession a bit much, since she’s got the charisma to maintain more of her original (now-twisted) personality than they do. She has an attitude and self-image that can be used against her. Revealing her web of half-truths and misinformation can banish her in much the same was as a cross wards off a vampire, and this is one of the rare instances in which she’ll absolutely blow her stack. Since she’s got no real weaponry (and is actually forbidden to carry it), she needs other proxies or paid agents to accomplish any kind of violence, and can be shut down by a punch in the cranial dome. Her Sanctuary press-shield only goes so far, and like most paparazzi, she needs line of sight to do the real damage.

      Details: Though her persona is female, she wears the form of a peacock – most Reporters do. She’s more graceful than most, and often shows up under an Invisibility cloak because taking pictures doesn’t break it. She needs to use the M-TAC network to send them, however, nothing goes out live. For this reason she tends to stick to populated areas and large cities with an Arcanar Guild affiliate. Her green crystal flesh looks like emerald or peridot supplemented with gold trim, especially around her many eyes. Her Invisibility cloak goes well with various domain powers such as Pass Without Trace, though her Prying Eyes are only semi-translucent and can be spotted by observant parties. Lastly, she’s able to print (mis)-information scrolls directly from the back of her hands, passing out pictures, tracts, leaflets, and other tabloid-type material to get her point across.