TRAINED TO KILL
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Impure Blade
There are places throughout Dharen’Rhylo that are favored by the Scarlet Knights. The more remote the location the more it suits them. In 1023AB Silvanus was taken to one of those remote locations: a small settlement run entirely by the Scarlet Knights. He was forced to live within a barracks surrounded entirely by water. They wanted to take no chances. According to the Father’s Sword, the feral Wolf Tribe child had been killed. Allowing him to escape a second time would deeply tarnish their reputation.
No vessels were permitted on the island. They controlled when the only boat came and went. The water was ice cold and flowed rapidly down from the highlands. Escape was not an option. The Scarlet Knights knew that Raven Blood was set to retire in the near future. Despite his excellent abilities, age was the only thing he could not overcome. It was clear that he had decided to make Silvanus his newest pet project. No one was more aware of this fact than Silvanus: who was constantly under the man’s thumb.
More than once Silvanus tried to cut Raven’s Blood’s throat. And each time he was unable to use his good hand for nearly two weeks. It was clear to Raven Blood that combat training was not the best place to start. They needed to tame Silvanus. They decided to begin with teaching him proper language. Communication was vital to the young wolf’s future development. They taught him how to speak, how to read, how to write, and how to present himself.
The Wolf Tribe may have learned from the missionaries how to speak, but it only amounted to broken English and a lack of fundamentals. Dharen’Rhylo was a complex society. Silvanus needed to be aware of that were he to truly survive. But more than that, Raven Blood could see that Silvanus wanted power and respect. Silvanus learned the hard way that both of those were earned through pain and suffering. And Raven Blood delivered those in great quantity.
Silvanus discovered just how vicious Raven Blood was. The Al’Mora of his tribe was nothing compared to the aged knight. At least his father offered him some measure of pride and congratulation for his effort. But Raven Blood was not his father, nor did he care to be. He was a cold piece of hardened steel tempered by the hands of the Scarlet Knights. Any humanity he once had was gone: replaced by a sense of authority, duty, and devotion to his War Sage.
This wasn’t an act of mercy. Silvanus was a weapon, and Raven Blood wanted to turn him into the deadliest weapon the world had ever seen. And to achieve that they employed sophisticated methods of manipulation and psychological torture. As the years went by their methods became more and more intense. Meanwhile, Silvanus grew into a young man. He began to speak much more fluidly and showed a greater understanding of the complexities of his duty. Little by little they chipped away at his self-worth. His own personal lust for power and perfection became twisted. Eventually he began to crave the harsh punishment of his training.
That is when Raven Blood began to personally train him. He demanded that Silvanus master a host of different skills and techniques: most notably physical combat and a familiarity with a multitude of weapons. The bolter was a tool for unskilled fools. A true warrior knew how to close the distance and to look their victim in the eyes before and after the kill blow. Silvanus longed to try his custom weapons, but his claws were destroyed during his capture. It was only a matter of time before he began to seek a way to brandish them once more.
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Steel Claws
By 1027AB Silvanus had endured nearly four long years of rigorous reconditioning. With the passing of spring into summer, he had seen his twentieth year. He grew well into his body and bore an intimidating physique. The boy had grown into a towering young man, easily reaching 6’2”. And years of training had transformed him into a marble sculpture come to life. Just like Raven Blood before him, Silvanus was tempered and shaped — molded into a merciless killer that sought only the will of his War Sage.
His skill and cunning with combat and weapons were adept, but still nowhere near where they needed to be. As Silvanus grew, so did the difficulty of his training. When he fought with Raven Blood, he fought with the intent to kill. But each time the wolf only narrowly avoided his own demise.
Throughout the years Silvanus was not permitted to leave the island. He knew little downtime. But yet he dared to dabble with the barrack’s metal smith; expressing his desire to have his claws refashioned. But each time the smith made weapons that had little resemblance to them. He had to return numerous times. On each occasion he gave a different description of the claws. And after several attempts the smith finally made something remarkably close to what he had wanted.
Instead of bear claws at the tip of each finger, the smith fashioned a collection of super-sharp blades fixed into reinforced leather. An additional option was permitted with the new approach. Silvanus could control a blade with each finger just like before, but now he could lock them into place and use them as fixed claws. This allowed him to use his fingers freely if he chose to.
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The knuckles were each capped with a metal spike. More spikes followed and covered the top of each hand. The studded leather connected seamlessly to a metal wrist guard and a forearm plate: providing additional protection in close-quarters combat. Despite their clever design, Silvanus still demanded a few more alterations. He wanted the claws longer and the metal heavier. And when they were completed he saw to it that each blade was etched with numerous wolf motifs. These would become his signature weapons.
Soon after their completion he made it a point to wear them at all times. He wanted to be comfortable with their weight and confident in their durability. The metal smith had proved to outdo himself. The steel claws withheld all the punishment that was brought their way. But as they quickly became Silvanus’ greatest asset, they still lacked one thing — the baptism of the kill.
One thing that Silvanus could not shake from his past in the Wolf Tribe was the christening of a new weapon. He had done it before with his bone knife and his previous set of claws. The more he wore the new set, the more he felt their thirst. They yearned to drink fresh blood and he wasn’t going to leave them wanting.
Training with Raven Blood and Silvanus had become extremely dangerous over the years. The Scarlet Knights were skilled indeed, but not all of them were qualified for intense close combat. Silvanus towered over his master and proved to be much more threatening with the addition of metal claws. Anyone who was pitted against him was either overconfident or had a death wish. So it was not necessarily unheard of for someone to be killed in the middle of combat training; although, it was frowned upon.
Raven Blood demanded that only the best-of-the-best train under him. There were those who didn’t measure up. On one occasion Silvanus has the pleasure facing one of those elite soldiers. Perhaps it was fated. For the soldier had grown a bit too bold for own good. The man insisted he face Raven Blood’s new weapon. And Raven Blood watched quietly as the two were pitted against each other. It was the first time that Silvanus was allowed to give it his all. The first time in years he was given permission to hold nothing back.
He could not help but imagine that was dueling Raven Blood himself. All of that pent up tension and rage could no longer quietly stew within him. In a single instant he let it all out. And the poor fool who got in the way was ripped into by those shiny new claws. Blood baptized much more than a pair of metal claws that day. The training ground was bathed in the man’s blood. The poor soldier was barely left alive when the fight was finished.
Silvanus was also covered in the man’s blood: a crimson hue that made the wolf all the more imposing. On that day a name was coined. For the first time his peers began to recognize that Silvanus was more than just a weapon. He was the Blood Wolf.
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The Blood Wolf
Officially, the wolf child that was once Silvanus was dead. He had no desire to ever rejoin his pack. They were as dead to him as he was to them. The upper council of Dharen’Rhylo, the Three Wings, saw great potential in the young man. They had seen him in action, and knew well those Raven Blood had taught were of an entirely different caliber. In time Silvanus was finally allowed to leave the island. But he did so under strict supervision. It was not that they didn’t trust him. It was that he had become an important asset.
Like Raven Blood before him, Silvanus was tasked with hunting down certain individuals. Such individuals ranged from political threats to insurgents who threatened the stability of the church. Silvanus was very good at this job. The Three Wings knew that such qualities were rare. They had quietly considered him to be Raven Blood’s successor, after all that is what he was being trained for. Each year Silvanus showed measurable improvement. And each year his reputation among the Scarlet Knights grew.
It wasn’t until 1032AB that Silvanus was fully recognized for what he truly was. Raven Blood had completely transformed Silvanus into the spitting image of himself. The wolf had become a cold, calculated, and professional killer: a weapon for his War Sage to brandish and unleash upon those unsuspecting of the Scarlet Knights. But Silvanus also had unique assets that set him apart from Raven Blood. He originated from the Wolf Tribes and incorporated their teachings into his technique. But even Silvanus did not want to admit it, nor was he allowed. His origin within the Wolf Tribe was to always be kept secret.
But the common folk of Dharen’Rhylo were not keenly aware of what the Wolf Tribes were. So it was of no consequence to give Silvanus the nickname Blood Wolf. His colleagues had been calling him that for years. When the time came for Silvanus to be officially recognized as a Scarlet Knight, the Blood Wolf nickname emerged once more. When Raven Blood was formally decommissioned, Silvanus was given the title Blood Wolf. From that day forth he was to only be recognized as Blood Wolf among the Scarlet Knights. The name Silvanus was to never be uttered or used again as long as he retained his rank.
Raven Blood vanished without a trace shortly after. Like a wisp of smoke he was there and gone. Silvanus never truly discovered what happened to him. But there wasn’t a day that went by when Silvanus missed him. Raven Blood was like a plague upon his life. Some grew suspicious of Silvanus and quietly accused him of the old man’s murder. Alas, even Silvanus was denied the pleasure of killing that bastard.
While the Scarlet Knights never truly figured out what happened to him. Raven Blood used his superior skills to cloak his identity and leave not a single trace of his whereabouts behind. Not even Silvanus could track him if he tried. Having lived an entire life in servitude to Dharen’Rhylo, the aged knight ventured beyond the borders of the religious country. He quietly walked out of history and forever remained an enigma among his peers.
Unfortunately for the Blood Wolf, he was about to be permanently cemented in history. But for the remainder of the year he enjoyed the fruits of his labors, and found great pleasure in the fear that his name instilled.