Monday, June 15, 2015

City of Curses: Justicars of the Iron Cage

Justicars of the Iron Cage
Justicars of the Iron Cage are the Paladins of the Caged Princess.  The Justicars are a fickle bunch,
caging those they believe have evaded justice.  They police the Wish Quarter- and despise it when outsiders try to enforce their own laws on them.  Justicars will hunt down anyone, and go any while in pursuit of a guilty target.  Shraxes gives others their just due, just as she is punished wrongly by being caged by the Prince and his actions.

Some in the church see them as heretics of after a fashion.  Others call them vigilantes who judge and imprison others illegally.  But in the Wish Quarter, where the Crux City Watch is in the pocket of the hated Prince, they are justice.

A Heresy
The Justicars are a heretical branch of the Church of Shraxes.  They do not believe Shraxes should be freed; instead they insist that the Demon must be the Cage.  Shraxes, to them, is a force that imprisons itself for the sake of the whole.  The Demon that damns itself so that the world may live to see a brighter day.

Justicars operate outside the direct control of the Church of Shraxes.  That said, it isn't uncommon for them to work with the Archwitch or Demon's Orphans from time to time.  Sometimes they even cooperate with the Prince or the police in Crux.  If hunting a particular criminal aligns them with a particular group, Justicars have no problems making deals to get their target.

The Iron Cage
Justicars of the Iron Cage maintain a prison underneath the Wish Quarter.  Called the Iron Cage, its secret location and cryptic nature are something only Justicar known.  But in Crux, there are rumors about it.

The first tale ever told about the Iron Cage is about its first, and most prominent prisoner: the Lady or Lord Ihana.  A fey being, Ihana shifts her gender constantly.  She/he first inspired the Justicars to act.  Protected by the Prince, Ihana had a reputation for eating Tiefling children.  Like most of his/her kind, Ihana is immortal and always eager to make a deal.

Catching the Fey noble wasn't enough though.  They had to invent a prison that Ihana could never escape from.  One unattached to anyone but themselves.  An illegal, secret prison the Justicar alone could be masters of.  Justicars curse their prisoners, afflicting them with something.  No one but the Justicars know the nature of the curse, because no one ever has escaped from the Iron Cage.

That is how the Iron Cage came to be.  Some, like the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, want to shut it down.  It by its very nature is an affront to Ith's sovereignty and power.  But the Prince prevents others from touching it, and the Archwitch works to confound efforts to find it.  When the Prince and those who hate them agree on a thing, it becomes almost impossible to stop.

The Question
The last note on the Justicar is that they have always lacked certainty.  They pursue it as much as they can, of course.  But no one can truly know the mind of another, not without making slaves of them.

This basic uncertainty always picks at the back of most Justicars' minds.  They wonder if their targets are guilty, or if they've misjudged.  Did emotions get in the way?  Did they miss a clue?

As such, the Justicar can and do burn out.  Theirs is a rough profession.  It always is a matter of whether or not those around them survive the fallout.

Justicar Aspects: Justicar of the Iron Cage; Shraxite Vigilante; "I can Smell the Guilt on You."
Sample Justicar Stunt.

Scent of the Guilty: You can smell guilt on others.  You must still make a Notice roll for this, but sometimes you can enter a room and have its rotted stench prick your nose.

Thanks for reading!  As always, please let me know what you thought of this and other stuff- Crux is but one of many things that go through my head!  Criticism and the like are always welcome too.

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