Watching you well

Overview

During the Autumn Equinox, the Assembly of Nine asked the Silent Bell to investigate the Hand of Dumon - specifically around their efforts around the Black Plateau. The Silent Bell are a sodality dedicated to Vigilance, keeping a careful watch for threats to the Empire from within and without; this is something entirely within their wheelhouse.

The Hand of Dumon is the name given to a secret society from the Iron Confederacy, apparently made up of sinister worshippers of the wicked Suranni god known as Dumon the Liar. The Suranni seem to believe that Dumon grants wicked powers to his followers, and that in some way, he is ultimately the patron of the Empire's magicians and priests! Originally warned about by the lawkeepers of Arav, the group was initially welcomed into the Empire. Both the Imperial Synod and the Imperial Conclave reached out to their members. Some of the Silent Bell are of the opinion that there was a faction within the Empire that thought to use them to try and weaken the Iron Confederacy, but they're unable to put forward the names of anyone they can prove was involved. In Spring 384YE, the Imperial Senate passed a motion to criminalise both membership of the society, and offering aid to them.

In late 384YE and early 385YE, the Imperial Conclave worked with the Brother of Wizards to help a large number of Suranni magicians escape the Iron Confederacy and find sanctuary in the Empire. There is no doubt that there were sects of the Hand of Dumon among them, but in the end, it was judged that this was a small price to pay for rescuing several hundred families from potential execution or imprisonment. It is to these magicians that the Silent Bell first turn their attention - and they find them more than happy to share what they know with the dedicants of Vigilance.

On the Hand of Dumon

According to the Suranni settlers, the Hand of Dumon are an expansive group, oftentimes referred to as a cult, originally from the Iron Confederacy. There, they are treated as the worst of the worst. The usual sentence when an individual is discovered to be a member is execution by the lawkeeper knights. The Hand of Dumon does not only contain magicians, though that is the most common connection; instead, it is also full of malcontents, agitators, and dissidents with no magical talent. These members are those who wish to see the downfall of the Dukes, not so much so that their "tyranny" can be brought to an end but so that the Hand of Dumon can rule in their stead. They ultimately seek to overturn the social structure of the Confederacy, destroying the temples, and using their magical gifts to rule instead of the Dukes.

There is no particular unity among the Hand of Dumon sects, and according to stories they regularly find themselves working at cross purposes - sometimes intentionally. While some sects may seek unity, others see their fellow Dumonists as rivals for the power they believe belongs only to them. Most sects are organised around a coven - a group of "priests" who believe their particular mastery of magic comes from the wicked god of Lies. There are any number of reasons someone might be motivated to join one of these Hand of Dumon sects, according to the former Suranni wizards. Many are motivated by a sincere belief that they are serving a god who is unfairly maligned, and who wishes to see them gain the power they crave. Others are motivated by hatred of or vengeance against the Dukes or their supporters. Still others feel they have no other choice - this is especially true among magicians who do not have friends or family available to support them. There are even families for whom membership of the Hand is normal - they are following in the footsteps of their ancestors by embracing the dark rites of Dumon.

This disparity and disunity lead to several rough "kinds" of Hand of Dumon members.

The downtrodden are the most common of the Hand of Dumon, making up the vast majority of members. These are the hedge-wizards and the wise-folk, the medicine-peddlers able to do slightly too much with meagre supplies. Separated from the rest of the followers of Dumon, they are harmless. They ultimately want to live their lives free from the tyranny of the Dukes of the Iron Confederacy. They have joined a cult in order to find a commonality, some form of companionship in a hostile land, and whilst their efforts prop up the rest of the cult, they are likely harmless.

Diabolists are the second most common members of the Hand of Dumon. These are the Suranni who genuinely believe that the god Dumon watches over them, grants them power, and protects them from harm. It is the diabolists whom the average Imperial citizen might think of when asked to describe a magician of the Iron Confederacy. Their willingness to curse individuals, settlements, and beyond on the whim of their god is something that even the tamest thresher would look at askance.

Opportunists are those self-serving members who benefit most from the others. These are the ones to proclaim they have received divine information on what tasks must be achieved and send others to accomplish them. The individual groups of the Hand of Dumon rarely have leaders, but where they do, it is an opportunist. They are dangerous, not because of their commitment to the cause - though that in itself is undeniable, but because of their willingness to use their allies to achieve their goals. Where a stereotypical diabolist might use somebody else's blood as part of a ritual, an opportunist would find a way to convince the diabolist to use their own.

The final category is the aberrants, the rarest, and in the opinion of the Silent Bell, the most dangerous. These are the ones whose actions would be enough to make even the most hardened of schlacta faint. Where other followers of Dumon deny that their god is an evil monster and claim this a lie put about by the Dukes and their priests, the aberrants are drawn to the faith precisely because of the god of magic's bloody reputation. They revel in the license they believe their god gives them to commit monstrously cruel acts, like murder and human sacrifice.

From careful discussion with some of the lawkeepers at the Suranni embassy in Sarvos, the Silent Bell believe that the knights are hesitant to execute aberrants. While other followers of Dumon face execution for their crimes, the forge of Evra the Smith is sacrosanct, so it must not be stained with the souls of these monsters. For this reason, the Silent Bell suggest that it is almost certainly the aberrants who make up the most of those "rescued" by the Children of Wrecks from Axiom Prison.

It is important to stress that none of the actual Hand of Dumon members think of themselves in these terms. These are labels the Silent Bell have used to describe the people in the Hand of Dumon, based on what they have been able to learn. Nobody is ever just one thing, and someone who might best be seen as one of the downtrodden could become an opportunist if the right opportunity came along. The analysis helps the Silent Bell understand their enemy and helps them communicate what the Empire is up against with this pernicious threat, it's not something that could be used to split them up individually. Obviously, the aberrants are the most dangerous, but they're often the most clever about concealing their presence - it is not possible to give instructions to single a group out by name without an appropriate opportunity.

Magic and Faith

While many members of the Hand of Dumon call themselves "priests of Dumon" they are often magicians rather than folk versed in liao ceremonies. They favour the magic of Night and Winter, especially curses and enchantments that help them infiltrate and subvert. However, each sect tends to have only very limited access to ritual texts. It is the opinion of the Suranni magicians that the sects of the Hand of Dumon will tend to have no more than a dozen rites that they can perform reliably, and that they are often forced to fall back on the equivalent of arcane projections to work their magic. This, coupled with the difficulty they have gaining access to magical resources, prevents them from unleashing magic on the scale that would force the Dukes to reckon with them. This is a two-edged sword, of course, in that the kind of magic they want to unleash is exactly the kind of magic that would drive the Dukes and the temples to enact terrible retribution in the hope of rooting out the culprits. Perhaps some of the Hand of Dumon see this as a welcome outcome, turning more people against the temples and the rules of the Iron Confederacy.

Some, however, have some training in what the Empire would call liao ceremonies. They are keen to get their hands on Imperial liao to allow them to create auras, through skills such as anointing, hallow, and consecration. Few Suranni outside the Empire have any experience with these potent abilities, and they are often very effective at prompting extreme reactions from people. In the past, the Hand of Dumon have acted interested in the Way, but everything the Silent Bell can uncover suggests this is at best misleading and might actually be downright lies.

Most care little for the philosophies of the spiritual powers they use, and do not differentiate between the seven virtues and malign spiritual presences. Indeed, they are even more enthusiastic about forces such as Hatred, Anarchy, and Vengeance than they are about the seven virtues with the possible exception of Ambition - as these are the powers that best suit their ultimate agendas.

Instead of a spiritual path, many members of the Hand of Dumon see these auras as powers to wield against their enemies. Just another form of magic to study and learn to master; that auras are cast with liao instead of mana or crystals seems to be of little significance to them.

On the Black Plateau

The Silent Bell have been unable to discover anything connecting the Hand of Dumon with the Black Plateau

The Silent Bell were asked to investigate the connection between the Hand of Dumon and the Black Plateau. They have done their best, but they have been unable to find anything of any substance at all. It's never actually possible to say for sure that there are no links, but the Bell can confirm that they have not found any links between the two, and they have devoted considerable time and effort to looking.

An Open Problem

The Hand of Dumon do not appear to have any major plans against the Empire Despite membership being illegal, most of the cult consider the Empire as a potential ally against the Iron Confederacy The Empire has a host of different ways of potentially dealing with the Hand of Dumon if they wished The more effectively the Empire confronts the cult, the more likely they are to turn on their hosts

The Imperial Senate made it illegal to be a member of the Hand of Dumon in Spring 384YE. Where the magistrates come across an individual or group, they bring them to trial, and fine them if found guilty of being a member. The death penalty is reserved for those members who are found to have committed other heinous crimes. This has produced surprisingly little resistance from the Hand.

The Silent Bell believes this is because most of the cult is used to operating in a clandestine way as part of a criminal enterprise. In Suranni lands, being a member of the Hand of Dumon is most often punished with the death penalty. Roving bands of lawkeepers hunt down members of the cult and brutally execute them or imprison them for life in horrific conditions. A fine by comparison, while punitive, does not compare. Indeed, it's likely that some members of the Cult believe the law was passed to placate the Suranni Dukes and their priests and that the Empire "doesn't really mean it".

As a result, many members of the cult continue to consider the Empire - and especially the magicians of the Imperial Conclave - to be their ally in their eternal battle against the Suranni priesthood. They seem convinced that the Empire will eventually go to war with the Iron Confederacy and many of them have talk of returning to their home as liberating conquerors, throwing off the shackles of the tyrannical priesthood, allowing the study of magic to flourish, and ultimately replacing the Dukes with the reign of Dumon's chosen. The ire of the Hand of Dumon is aimed squarely at the Dukes of the Iron Confederacy; they want them cast down, and they believe the Empire is the best way to achieve this.

There are also, however, members of the Hand of Dumon for whom this is all a good deal less personal. They would replace the Dukes of the Iron Confederacy if they could... but they'd be just as happy to take over the Empire or at least achieve power within its structures. They are likely to use the same tactics they used in the Iron Confederacy - terror, subversion, blackmail, curses, murder, and worse. So far, there's no sign of any Hand of Dumon getting into a position of authority, but it may only be a matter of time before they are able to exert influence over an Imperial citizen who will work on behalf of their dark lord.

If they wished, there are several ways the Empire could go about trying to deal with the problem of the Hand of Dumon. The Senate could request an appraisal to identify the major weak points against the cult. Regardless of appraisal, the Senate could instruct the magistrates to treat membership of the cult as a serious crime (which normally carries the death penalty). They - or the Throne - could even declare war on them, which would likely create opportunities to root them out.

The General Assembly of the Synod could use statement of principle to warn citizens to keep watch for suspicious events and potential members of the cult of Dumon, denouncing them and their malign patron. The Imperial Conclave might do something similar with a suitably worded Declaration of Concord that identified the Hand as a threat to the Empire, perhaps even stating the intention to declare any magician found working with them to be a sorcerer.

If the status quo were to change; if it became clear that the Empire was now a profoundly hostile environment for the cult, then any members of the Hand of Dumon within the Empire would likely be left with no choice but to fight back. The Silent Bell have managed to uncover information about the Hand of Dumon without much trouble, but if there were active attempts to infiltrate or persecute the cult, by any means, then they would try to employ the same methods that saw them exiled from Suranni lands. If they were able to access the resources, they would likely employ widespread territory curses, and carry out attacks on travellers or isolated communities looking to kidnap or ransom important people. They would begin to foment dissidence wherever they could, and actively seek to recruit dissatisfied Imperial magicians. After all, once the Empire turns fully against them, they have little left to lose.