The Silver Torc

The Silver Torc is an infamous and secretive assembly of assassins. Their ultimate goal is as nebulous and malleable as the GM requires it to be - they could simply be killers-for-hire, or they could have Bene Gesserit levels of planning behind the thrust of their daggers.

The cult is divided into three tiers (in ascending seniority): iron, silver, and gold. A member's rank is distinguished by the type of collar they wear, but more on that in a moment...

The Collars

Members of the Silver Torc can be recognised by the unique metal collars they wear. The collars, or torcs, are not only the assassins' namesake; they are also the organisation's insurance policy against betrayal, interrogation, and cowardice.

Each metal collar houses complex machinery composed of springs, gears, weights and a series of sharp blades. The collar's mechanism is tightened by means of a special key, after which there is a certain amount of time before the blades hidden within the collar spring forth and kill whoever is wearing it.

Each collar is unique and has its own key. Removing a collar without triggering a fail-safe mechanism and killing its wearer is extremely difficult; so far no one has been credited with doing so.

Before venturing out on their assignment, a Silver Torc assassin has his/her collar wound by its key to give them enough time to journey out, find their target, complete their mission, and return to their sanctuary, usually with a little extra time just in case.

The lethality of the collars means that a captured Silver Torc agent usually expires before they can be successfully interrogated. They also enforce loyalty - leaving or betraying the Silver Torc almost guarantees a premature death.

The Gardens

The Silver Torc operates from a number of secret enclaves called Gardens. Gardens are small, compact, self-sufficient communities hidden away in valleys, forests, mountains, or ruined fortresses. They are built with defence and aesthetics in mind, being at once difficult to assault and beautiful to behold.

Assassins that are not on assignment spend their time in the Gardens training, working, and resting.

A Silver Torc assassin's training consists mainly of infiltration and "wet work" exercises. Assassins are trained to use swords, daggers, crossbows, and poisons. Some train with other weapons, but the Silver Torc's primary method of assassination is infiltration followed by a quick sword or dagger thrust, and then a quick exit.

Working in the gardens includes tending to the fruit and vegetables that grow there, raising animals, cultivating fish ponds, and some carpentry, masonry, and metal-smithing. Work also includes attending lectures and learning to speak foreign languages.

Resting in the Gardens consists of good food, beautiful courtesans, recreational narcotics, and the relaxing aesthetics of the Gardens themselves. The Gardens were designed to be like a paradise for assassins returning from their assignments, a place where their every need is fulfilled and somewhere they would prefer not to leave.

The Castes

The Silver Torc is divided into three tiers, the members of each tier being identified by the metal that their collar is made from.

The Iron Caste

Essentially the Silver Torc's workforce, those who wear iron collars maintain the Gardens by farming, gardening, fishing, building, repairing, labouring, cooking, and cleaning. Most were born into their position or failed the assassin trials. Long before its current state, the Silver Torc once mounted raids on neighbouring tribes and villages, capturing slaves that would eventually become the foundation of the iron caste.

A subdivision of those who wear iron collars are the concubines, whose collars bear a single precious stone to set them apart from the rest of their caste. The concubines are skilled dancers, musicians, singers, lovers, and conversationalists, and they are spared the labour expected of others in the iron caste. Although they are provided contraceptive herbs, some concubines eventually become mothers either by fluke or by choice; a concubine who becomes a mother may choose to raise her child as a regular member of the iron caste, or remain a concubine and give responsibility of her child to another.

The Silver Caste

The assassins that give the Silver Torc its name are almost all men. Few are literate, but all are fierce and deadly combatants willing to do whatever is necessary to fulfil their assignments.

Indoctrination into the Silver Torc's code of ethics starts as soon as a child is born in the Gardens. Young men from the iron caste have one opportunity to take the assassin trials and exchange their iron collars for those with silver-plated filigree. The trials are difficult, sometimes deadly, and trainees suffer no penalty for quitting at any time (except that they may never attempt the trials more than once).

Members of the silver caste are usually the only ones encountered beyond the Gardens. They are the Silver Torc's assassins, infiltrators, spies, and thieves. The most trusted may also become messengers, carrying encrypted correspondence or escorting members of the golden caste (see below) between Gardens; the majority of the iron and silver castes do not know that other Gardens exist, believing that their paradise is the only one in the world.

The Golden Caste

The Silver Torc is led by members of the highest caste, those who wear collars of gold, electrum, platinum, and glass. Each Garden is governed by between three and five members of the golden caste who run their enclaves, gather information, develop their schemes, and send their assassins out into the world.

Members of the golden caste are not born in the Garden they oversee. They are assigned from, and communicate with, other Gardens to form a decentralised form of authority. A Garden's leaders identify the potential in the children of their own enclaves, exchanging candidates with other Gardens.

The collars of the golden caste have some of the shortest lifetimes, in some cases necessitating a rewinding every eight, six, or four hours.

Adventures with the Silver Torc

As mentioned previously, the Silver Torc's ultimate goal/s are up to the GM - they are a mysterous faction that can be used on random encounter tables, as backstory or background flavour, antagonists in a side-plot, or the bad guys in a major story arc.

If all else fails, roll a D6 on the following table:

1) A political figure, high priest, renowned mage, famous knight, etc. was recently attacked in their home; the assassin was interrupted and driven off (at great cost) by the target's household guard. One of the bodyguards saw a strange silver collar under the assassin's hood. The target fears further attempts on their life and reaches out to the PCs for protection...
2) A PC wakes to find an assassin about to strike! After (hopefully) besting their would-be killer, the PC may ask who is targetting them and why. The assassin wears a silver collar that, upon closer inspection, seems to be far more complex than mere jewellery...
3) In the wilderness/on the road, the PCs come across a deceased member of the Silver Torc (ambushed and overpowered by bandits, half-eaten by a monster, killed by elven forest sentries, drowned in a flood, crushed in a landslide, struck by lightning, etc.); on the corpse is an encrypted message in a locked, water-tight scroll case...
4) The PCs encounter a woman, starving and half-naked in the wilderness. She was a Silver Torc concubine who escaped with her newborn child. Her collar has been somehow tampered with, temporarily delaying its deadly mechanism. She has no knowledge of the outside world and begs for aid in a strange accent. Assassins will be hunting for her and the child...
5) An assassin approaches the PCs with a request for aid - he no longer wishes to do the Siler Torc's bidding; he can direct the PCs to the treasure vaults of the nearest Garden but first they have to find a way to help him out of his collar...
6) A PC wakes to find a silver collar around their neck with no recollection of how it got there - they hear a mechanical click and the collar starts to slowly unwind...

It is important to remember that members of the Silver Torc are generally loyal (brainwashing, self-destruct collars, limited contact with the outside world), specialised (usually assassins), and secretive. The organisation works well when given a large-scale, long-term goal, perhaps one that will soon come to be realised if the PCs don't step in to stop it.