Mantle

The Mantle, one of the 4 Societies

Not all who followed the Cobra accepted the rebellion's outcome or its continued methods. To many, the instigating Warden's greatest failure was not the rebellion itself, but his claim that the King had been slain. The lie was obvious, but the method was true. They determined to perfect the craft.

A secret brotherhood emerged believing the rebellion could only succeed through silent blades rather than open war. Now turned toward the illegitimate empire instead of the vanished King, their first Marks were the imperial Wardens themselves.

Unable to match such beings in battle, they embraced sacrifice, striking from the shadows where armies could not. Through time the Mantle endured, turning its judgment upon any they deem heirs to the same corruption, heirs of the corrupted themselves, or even any that posed a threat to the Mantle.

It was the mantle that took elemental enchantments to the final level. The lesser elements were mastered long ago, the higher elements still tricky to perfect and unstable. They pushed deeper and developed pure rift enchantments, volatile and dangerous even to the wielder if not intensely trained. These weapons proved useful in allowing trained assassins to have a chance at a Warden. Trained in stealth and illusion magic, if they could only get close enough, a rift-blade was hard to recover from Warden or not.