Open Syndicate of Sinners

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Delfi

Delfi

Active member
The Distress Factory is the place where Mephistopheles, the Demon Prince sends his signatories once the contract is due, and it’s where you’ve resided for some time (and for eternity), in the Depths of Hell. Whether you regret your choice or not, your soul now belongs to him, and there’s nothing you can do about it…

Or is there?

You can (but you probably shouldn't) join the Syndicate of Sinners, a criminal organization that aims to escape - or take over - Hell.


To sign up to this select group, please fill out this form:

Name:
Race:
Age:
Position:
Terms of Contract: (What you got from Mephistopheles, can serve as bio)
Time in the Syndicate:
Skills:


Rules:
1. No rotation, post as much as you want
2. Ask me if you have any lore questions, but the idea is to build as we go
3. Have fun
 
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Name: Jake. Rumors say it's more complicated, "Jakyrius Tirnagail Everarch III" or something like that, but who listens to rumors? They're probably wrong. His nametag says "Jake."

Race: A subject of some debate. If one took the skin of a bearded dragon and stretched it over a monkey's frame and lopped off the tail, you'd have something like Jake. He stands about 5' tall, if he stands up straight, which he almost never does. More often than not he capers on all fours, with long clawed fingers and similarly shaped feet and toes.

Age: Age? Jake doesn't know what age he is. He's an adult. Numbers are hard. He forgets them.

Position: Janitorial staff. Jake empties the bins. He likes emptying the bins. Sometimes there are good things in there to eat, like leftover lunches or bones or interesting rocks.

Terms of Contract: Jake got a place to stay and a job to do. He had to give up his tail, but he hopes he will find it in a bin some day. He keeps looking. He might have given up something else, but he forgets what that is.

Skills: Jake is quiet. It is easy not to notice Jake. Sometimes people forget he is there. Jake does not mind. He likes thinking by himself. Jake is also good at moving - quickly, if needed, and in many directions. He uses these skills if he needs to run away and hide. Jake does not have skills at fighting.

Time in the Syndicate: Numbers are hard. Someone invited him not too long ago. Jake is bad at saying no, so now he is in the syndicate.
 
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Name: Ludor Belloq
Race: Devil.
Age: Ageless, but young for a devil.
Position: Infernal publican (formerly). Factory foreman (currently).
Height: 6'0 (variable).
Weight: 160 lbs. (variable).
Sex: Male.
Hair Color: Black.
Eye Color: Red-gold.
General Description: A red-skinned young male devil with noble clothing and accoutrement. He has deep-set eyes and small horns which protrude from his forehead. Black bat-like wings lay on his back, often folded against his shoulder blades when not in use.
Time in the Syndicate: A recent addition.

Terms of Contract: Every devil aims to rise above their station. In caste-based Hell, the acquisition of mortal souls in the name of the corrupting devil was a surefire way to the top. Ambitious to a fault, Belloq tirelessly engaged in Faustian bargains with many a heroic mortal, claiming their eternal forms in the halls of an infernal manse, which he painstakingly grew into a veritable palace. Representing the pinnacle of Hellish efficiency, Belloq grew proud, and sought to further secure his advancement - entering into a misguided deal with Mephistophles, the archdevil, erroneously believing he could outfox the old master.

For a time, his power was greatly amplified. But now? Now he pays the price as one of several foremen at the Distress Factory, his wealth eradicated in one fell swoop, and his previous contracts with mortals now at risk of expiring. This embarassment will not stand - but for now, it must.

Personality: Belloq, like many devils, is a professional creature dedicated to ruthless efficiency, coupled with an innate predilection for lying and manipulation. There is no mortal that Belloq would not blink at sacrificing for even the most minor chance at promotion. The absolute egoism of devils is also isolating - just as any success can be achieved with the sweat of his brow and the will to exploit, so too are all failures personal failures, attacks on his ego which cause a torturous seething. Like other Hellish creatures, he is also proud, wrathful, avaricious, envious, gluttonous, lustful, and occasionally slothful - though his eye for efficiency somewhat mitigates the latter, and amplifies all the former. Like most residents of Hell, he has an almost automatic hatred for goodness and the divine.

Unlike some others in the Distress Factory, Belloq's punishment is primarily psychological - trapped in a menial job where he knows he can be so much more, he appears bound by the terms of an Infernal Contract to play out this role for eternity. The Syndicate of Sinners represents an escape, if he is willing to risk everything again.

Abilities: Like most devils, Belloq is capable of using magical abilities. His power has been greatly diminished following his installation at the Distress Factory, as has his influence. He possesses only a meager number of unfulfilled mortal contracts at risk of expiry - preferring to manipulate mortals to do his dirty work. In terms of his physical capabilities, he has the strength and resilience of an average low-level fiend deprived of souls. He can fly using the bat-like wings on his back and use magic to shapeshift, as well as conjure blasts of flame to attack foes - though of course, most residents of Hell are immune to fire, making this more of a way to threaten mortals in the material world than to achieve anything worthwhile in the abyss.

Belloq's true strength is in his mind. A relentless and pitiless planner, his schemes play out over the course of eons. Beaten for now, he puts his razor-sharp wits to use in service of the Distress Factory, and himself.
 
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Dahlia.png
Name: Dahlia Daeva
Race: Thiefling
Age: 27
Position: Supervisor

Terms of Contract: A tale of young love, a tiefling and a human prince. The deal offered by Mephistopheles would give Dahlia seven days to secure a marriage, and live a happy life with her husband until it was time to pay the price.

On the day of the wedding the groom didn't show up. Her horns and tail grew back and she was sent back to Hell, alone and betrayed. Dahlia had thought that would be the last deal she'd ever make, but after four years of servitude, the Syndicate was formed.

Time in the Syndicate: Seven years (since it's formation)

Skills: Dahlia can throw darts and knives, but her strongest point is her leadership skills, that have kept her running the syndicate for this long.
 
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Name: Onyx Lén Ashford
Nickname: Nyx
Race: Human (One quarter Arae)
Age: 25
Position: Security guard
Terms of Contract: Freedom of Onyx and her brother, Obsidian's parents, Esther and Silas Ashford, who were imprisoned in hell after Silas made a deal with Mephistopheles. His contract was to have Esther be brought back from the dead, if Silas could beat him in a simple game of rummy. During the game, Silas became more and more desperate, until sometime during the game, he started discreetly marking a few cards so he'd know which ones to draw once the discard pile was re-shuffled into the draw stack.
Unfortunately, Mephistopheles noticed this eventually. Silas was cheating - which was in breach of Contract. Therefore, he imprisoned Silas in hell, punished with daily torture and infinitely regenerative limbs so he would return to health after each torment session.

This all happened when Onyx was nineteen, and she and her brother thought they could create their own contract with Mephistopheles to free Silas and bring Esther back. Mephistopheles agreed, recognizing their ambition but also their foolishness. They would agree to do anything - even the impossible - to get their parents back. The twins were assigned to hunting a copy of the Nemean Lion, and bring its body back to Mephistopheles within the night. Mephistopheles gave them the lion's location and sent them on their way. If they could defeat it, they would get Silas and Esther. If they failed, well, there goes their souls... Nyx and Danny spent the whole night fighting the Lion, but no matter what they did, its fur was unpiercable. Finally, just as the sunlight of the next day shone over them, Onyx lured the Lion to a crag in the mountain-like terrain, where Obsidian pushed a boulder down onto the Lion, shattering its neck. They thought they'd won, but as Mephistopheles smugly stated, it wasn't until after the night ended that the Lion had been killed. They'd failed.

Time in the Syndicate: 5 years
Parents: Esther and Silas Ashford
Siblings: Obsidian Fen Ashford (Nickname: Dan/Danny. Twin brother of Onyx)
 
Riverblade said:
Name: Onyx Lén Ashford
Nickname: Nyx
Race: Human (One quarter Arae)
Age: 25
Position: Security guard
Terms of Contract: Freedom of Onyx and her brother, Obsidian's parents, Esther and Silas Ashford, who were imprisoned in hell after Silas made a deal with Mephistopheles. His contract was to have Esther be brought back from the dead, if Silas could beat him in a simple game of rummy. During the game, Silas became more and more desperate, until sometime during the game, he started discreetly marking a few cards so he'd know which ones to draw once the discard pile was re-shuffled into the draw stack.
Unfortunately, Mephistopheles noticed this eventually. Silas was cheating - which was in breach of Contract. Therefore, he imprisoned Silas in hell, punished with daily torture and infinitely regenerative limbs so he would return to health after each torment session.

This all happened when Onyx was nineteen, and she and her brother thought they could create their own contract with Mephistopheles to free Silas and bring Esther back. Mephistopheles agreed, recognizing their ambition but also their foolishness. They would agree to do anything - even the impossible - to get their parents back. The twins were assigned to hunting a copy of the Nemean Lion, and bring its body back to Mephistopheles within the night. Mephistopheles gave them the lion's location and sent them on their way. If they could defeat it, they would get Silas and Esther. If they failed, well, there goes their souls... Nyx and Danny spent the whole night fighting the Lion, but no matter what they did, its fur was unpiercable. Finally, just as the sunlight of the next day shone over them, Onyx lured the Lion to a crag in the mountain-like terrain, where Obsidian pushed a boulder down onto the Lion, shattering its neck. They thought they'd won, but as Mephistopheles smugly stated, it wasn't until after the night ended that the Lion had been killed. They'd failed.

Time in the Syndicate: 5 years
Parents: Esther and Silas Ashford
Siblings: Obsidian Fen Ashford (Nickname: Dan/Danny. Twin brother of Onyx)
Click to expand...
Hi! Are you on the discord server? We have an OOC chat there, if you wanna say hello!
 
Name: Golian Thunderfoot
Race: Dwarf
Age: 450 (Died around 300 years of age after a mining accident)
Position: Cafeteria Worker
Terms of Contract:
Golian was granted knowledge of all things underground, a sense of where good veins of ore and precious gems lay. He lived the rest of his life as a very rich and well-known Dwarven miner, but it had become an obsession to gather more and more riches as the boon granted by his contract drove him to seek the deepest of veins.

His final expedition into the deepest parts of the mines was his last, as he went too deep to dig for a grouping of precious gemstones, and the tunnel collapsed on top of him. After his death, he was spirited away into the service of Mephistopheles as per his contract. He was given the position of a cafeteria worker, a job that is a source of great humiliation for him. As the years ticked on, he has tried multiple times on his own to escape Hell but has failed at every turn. Because he wanted to escape, he was approached 4 years ago to join a group and has been working with them since.

Skills:
Golian is a fierce fighter, favouring Axes or Picks as his weapons. Because of his pact boon, he still retains the power to sense and understand what lies beneath his feet. Golian has access to magic that pertains to the earth, moving rock and shifting sediment. In his private time, he used to make Ale and, ever so often, still does so in hell.

Time in the Syndicate: 4 years
 
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Name:
Cara Auclair

Race:
Human

Age:
28

Position:
Secretary

Terms of Contract:
Oh, what is there to say about revenge? It takes more from you than it’s inclined to return? Or perhaps something more timeworn like a warning to first dig two graves before embarking on your endeavor. It doesn’t really matter, does it? What’s done was done and there isn’t much regret to be had about the entire ordeal.

Still, the story is a simple enough thing: a pair of sisters who lost their parents young, poor but surviving. One of the pair picked up embroidery as a skill to call her own, if only to hide the scars left behind by mending clothes left ragged by years of use. Another, a fine cook at using what scraps and little things she could obtain or grow. Enough to survive, love enough to make things bearable, a job here or there for money to tuck away for an emergency that never seemed far enough away. But, they made it work as well as any might.

Then came a bitter winter following close behind a summer far too wet for a proper harvest. The money went first, followed soon by what meager food the two had gathered and preserved, then it was them and the cold. They did what they could but I think we can all guess what that's worth. Still, salvation came in a strange way; when one sister was attempting to sell her needle work she bumped into a man.

And that well, a rich man proclaiming love at first blush is a story told before is it not? A well to do merchant, a pillar of his community said to give back to the city that had given him so much and who never neglected alms to those in need. He was a smart man, none could say otherwise, and he did fine work sinking his claws deep into the two sisters. Money, a way out of their situation, little touches to show the seriousness of his love. For a time things almost seemed good, the merchant offered the old sister work that kept her close to the younger, and he kept the face of a kindly man who always tried to do right.

Their wedding was in summer amongst the blooms of delicate flowers. Not long after, the merchant offered the older sister a different opportunity, one that would take her further from her sister, but was lucrative. That is when things began their change. It was little things, more blush upon her cheeks than the younger sister was want to wear, high collars that weren’t quite in fashion, long sleeves even as the summer warmth took hold, enough to draw the older sister’s eye.

She confronted the merchant, and what did she expect? He swatted her down, pulled what fragile supports she had to the earth and turned her reputation to tatters with but a few words to the right ears. He was a respectable merchant and she was a poor woman using her brother-in-law's name to scrape by, is it hard to see who people chose to believe? When she was back on the street, cold and hungry with the slush of winter fast approaching, the merchant offered the older sister a second chance. A place in his mansion, a warm bed, a chance for her to set things right.

He sent her sister to give this offer, her eyes distant as she spoke. She wept, because what else could one do? Then, because weeping could not fix this, the older sister called up a devil, who's to say how she learned to do such a thing, she’s never told that story. To the devil she offered a simple bargain, a soul for a soul. The merchant’s for hers.

Mephistopheles accepted with a smile, and was kind enough to allow her the pleasure of seeing the merchant die before he came to collect her.

Time in the Syndicate:
Six Years
 
Name: Democurus

Race: Human

Age: 2030

Position: Accounting

Terms of Contract: Democurus considers it not only a tragedy that he would end up in hell but that he has doomed many others after. He has had many years to consider how this could have possibly happened. Yes he was arrogant and considered himself far smarter and clever than he actually was. That was only one piece of the puzzle. He knew why he was here he had wanted to differentiate himself from his peers. They always argued that you should live a moral life. That you should accept the world with stoic passivity. So he argued that people should merely live their lives without any consideration for the Gods.

But to get the leg up on his peers, he needed to refute the Gods. So yes, he didn't just ask but demanded an interview with one of the lords of hell! Any of them would have been fine but he got stuck with that bastard Mephistopheles. Democurus's interview went well and he even caught the demon in quite a few lies. But the most important was the admission that the Gods had indeed set up Hell to punish sinners, but not only those who had sinned, but those who committed no wrong except enjoying their lives! I didn't trust the demons' feigned horror. But I would never think about not publishing this, and soon to be the foremost philosopher of the age.

It would become a bestseller and I would teach in the market that leading a "moral" life by the standard of the God's was impossible. For a few years, many others and I abandoned the Gods, leading a hedonistic lifestyle until the day I died. On the day of my arrival in Hell I remember Mephistopheles laughter the most. It was the day I swore my revenge and began my punishment, counting and meeting all who arrived in hell due to his ideas.

Time in the Syndicate: 6
 
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