Red Mantis

Some say the Red Mantis are death cultists, others believe they are members of an ancient and incredibly secretive thieves’ guild, and still others think they are fiends from some dark plane beyond our ken. The truth is, the Red Mantis are the most tenacious and efficient assassins the world has ever known. The timeline of recorded history is stained with the blood of their victims.

One rarely has to wonder if an assassination is the work of the Red Mantis; they usually kill with a sacred sawtoothed sabre, so victims often drown in their own blood before their hearts cease beating. No palace, fortress, hidden safe house, or underground cavern is secure enough to keep out the Red Mantis. A hundred years ago, they killed Duke Kotaros of Cheliax, and history is replete with tales of generals and heroes slain in their own tents by the Red Mantis the night before a key battle. Victims of the Red Mantis stay dead—no matter what.

That said, the assassins refuse to take contracts on rightful monarchs, out of respect for their patron deity, Achaekek, viewing monarchs as the mortal parallel of gods.