Tales, Scripts, and Accounts

Hornets from Jinuwo

Flashy, every single one of them. Aggressive and very likely to pick a fight with a stranger for any reason they can find. Also likely to seduce whoever for the sake of intel, leverage, an alibi or even their own entertainment if they're bored enough. Each of these individuals have a reputation for ostentatiously flaunting their masterpieces whenever given the chance- and I don't just mean their bodies. Artwork of stingers that are either inked or- in more dedicated cases- carved into their skin identify them as the real deal. Part of the swarm and a pawn of the shadows. Most wield compact crossbows and hidden daggers lined with a precautionary coat of poison on the off chance they couldn't finish the job otherwise- not that that's a common occurrence. Even Hornets who are unarmed prove to be dangerously lethal. Give dangerous a weapon and they become a death sentence. Put them in black lace or stockings and leather, they become glamorous death sentences. Seductive huntresses. Hornets wearing whores' nets.

Of course, beauty, blackmail, and blades only get a woman so far. Each gang is told to have a leader. Someone who directs them and gives their fire purpose. The Head Mistress openly admits to being the queen of these Hornets and safely resides in one of her well guarded mansions around Jinowu. Everyone knows where they are. Everyone also knows not to poke the nests. Those who enter the gates with ill intent don't leave alive. Anyone who wishes to tango with the Mistress is welcome to on any of her frequent trips to Neilu, but none can muster the courage. I don't blame them. Her home is where the women buzz about their latest leverage and murdering men. Where they count coins collected from completed contracts, then spend them like pocket change on the latest and greatest concealable weapons they can afford. No sensible person would wanna risk stepping on her toes.

There are a few exceptions to this rule, however. One is the Huntress, leader of the Hounds. While both have been on very... good terms for as long as anyone can remember, those closest to us can press our buttons in the worst ways. Gossip even tells of those two starting bar fights between their own gangs for nothing more than a bit of excitement. I suppose all is fair in love and war. 

Speaking of gossip, Lady Kezhan is another one of the few who the Mistress immensely respects. While Kezhan wasn't truly the original organizer of the Hornets, she might as well be. She supposedly raised most of these hotheads after pulling them from the poorest crevices of the Earth Kingdom to teach them some manners under her roof. In short, she's considered to be a mother figure by many. Of course, most mothers don't teach their daughters to become pickpocketing assassins, but that's a minor detail that tends to be overlooked. Some of these students happen to sway more towards theft than murder. Others, vice versa. But at the end of the day, contracts get completed and that's all the Mistress needs to keep food on the table.

But how does the Mistress obtain these contracts? Who decides what needs to be done? No one seems to know. Loyalty among Hornets is unwavering, for they would never betray one another- let alone someone who holds so much influence over Neilu and the surrounding areas. Not to mention the impending fear she strikes into the hearts of allies and enemies alike. Their beloved leader has personally left traitors pierced by bolts to bleed out in the streets for the early risers to find. Slept with royalty just to rob them blind. And her close companions have a history of leaving corpse trails wherever they go. It's for good reason that not a soul is willing to reveal any specific names or a single shred of useful information.

Countless investigators have devoted many seasons to digging up a never ending rabbit hole of crimes. To chasing their tales while hoping to find solid evidence that could be brought back to Omashu before they meet an untimely demise. Each are driven by an illusion of justice, but only later do they plan for protection. Those who ignore the warnings and seem to get close ominously disappear. Ones who continue without success end up driving themselves mad searching for leads that don't exist. Both are dead ends regardless.

So without deticated detectives who don't fear being dead, it seems we're constantly stuck at a fork in the road that will always lead back to the same place. One where Hornets tell people whatever they want. One where we can either choose to believe their claims at face value or recognize who we're dealing with and be left even more in the dark than we were before. Because if they claim to have committed a crime and truly did, they're simply the criminals we already knew about. And if they're the liars we expect, there's illegal activity being committed by people we do not know. Ones who evade the spotlight.

For example, one piece of recent history that is accepted to be public knowledge is the Hornets taking the fall for King Avni's death after hijacking the Omashu treasury only hours earlier. All this because he came to his senses and openly declared them an enemy of the state. Many believe it was even his wife who killed him. Undercover from the start. Maybe it was a mistress. Or perhaps the Mistress. No one knows because there wasn't any evidence left to be analyzed. There's never such luck in the Shadows cast by Neilu. Tenebrosity hides even the most respected kings as they're killed in cold blood around here. Noble status holds less weight than gold.