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Order of the Diamondback

A Blood Hunter order headquartered at Castle Shain, on the fringes of a great desert. Destroyed by The Dread Gloom.

Overview

The Diamondback trained children (often orphans, bastards, or purchased infants) from the moment they could walk into monster-hunting Blood Hunters, culminating in the Hunter's Bane — a ritual transforming survivors permanently, which many novices did not survive. The order's sigil was a rattlesnake coiled around itself with barbs; its motto, in Draconic: "We are the venom and the verdict. Mutated. Marked. Reborn in blood. We hunt the monstrous so the world may endure."

History

Originally ruled by a single tyrannical Grandmaster (Achulon), the Diamondback was transformed by the War of the Snake — a rebellion led by Quinon Hexshade that killed Achulon and replaced one-man rule with a council of five Grandmasters during the Schism, the broader movement that split the Blood Hunter orders over whether to abandon Abyssal power for draconic magic and collective rule (see Blood Hunters and Hemocraft).

The order — and Castle Shain itself — was destroyed when the ancient black dragon known as The Dread Gloom attacked without warning. Quinon died shielding his students Trout and Rodrick during the escape. Per Additional Materials/Blood_Hunter_Lore.md, this attack "left very few survivors" — consistent with Trout and Rodrick being, as far as either of them ever learns, the last of the order.

Roughly ten years later, Trout and Rodrick — reunited by chance while both pursuing the same bounty — finally killed the Dread Gloom for good near the city of Moonveil, alongside Trout's partner Elysia Moreau. Rodrick died in that fight, making Trout the last Diamondback.

Notable members

  • Quinon Hexshade (deceased) — led the War of the Snake; later trained Trout
  • Trout Brightshield — sole known survivor; later founds the Order of the Stars as a spiritual successor
  • Rodrick (deceased) — Trout's childhood rival and friend; died fighting the Dread Gloom alongside Trout roughly ten years after Castle Shain's fall
  • Grandmaster Achulon (deceased) — tyrannical predecessor, killed by Quinon

See Blood Hunters and Hemocraft for the full roster of Blood Hunter orders and how they relate to one another, per the authoritative Additional Materials/Blood_Hunter_Lore.md. An earlier, secondhand account from Farrow in Older Trout Stories.md names some of these orders differently or gives conflicting fates for a few — see Contradictions and Open Questions.

Sources

  • Quinon backstory.docx
  • Trout Brightshield.md / Trout Brightshield.docx
  • Trout stories.docx
  • Older Trout Stories.md
  • Additional Materials/Blood_Hunter_Lore.md
  • Additional Materials/The_Last_Diamondback_or_Bound_by_Blood.md