So, this thread is more for people who want to keep track of what I've been doing, want to know what's going on, want to add in their own stuff, or want to do something with it in the present day. This was all a historical thing, or so I'm writing it as that, so if anybody wants to add their own stuff in too, please let me know first, because while mostly I only care about the things that affect my own characters it's still something I've been working on for a plot, so it's nice to keep track of it. Right now it's really only useful for backstories and history classes.
Note: this is the way the Crescent Scorpions would be recorded as in history books. Therefore, information may or may not be inaccurate or missing about what ACTUALLY happened in some cases.
What history remembers them as: A number of various nomadic groups of magical creatures, outcasts of their own races, who acted as vigilantes, bandits, murderers, thieves, mercenaries, and generally a pack of villains spread throughout Europe, Asia, and the northern half of Africa. Their various tribes, or "factions", had names such as "Needle Skunks" or "Emerald Spiders" or "Direskull Moonpack". Their peak of strength and numbers, capping at what is guessed to be about seventy-two factions and around two hundred members with countless non-member associates and safehouses/safe-cities, was between 1404 AD and 1434 AD. Their most infamous achievement was the Merrow Genocide in 1409 AD, in which case sixty-eight factions and a hundred and eighty-two of these killers came together and descended upon a settlement of around five hundred in southern Italy, where originally they had been hired to free a bloodline of humans who had the power to produce a chemical that could boost magic and could be liquidized and stored infinitely, but instead of just killing the militant group who had enslaved these people to breed them like cattle for their Magical Boost power, the Scorpions also slaughtered every living thing in that settlement, be it man, woman, child, or animal, before burning it to the ground.
In 1434 AD, the last three known factions of the Scorpions descended on a mountain range in France: the Direskull Moonpack, the Crescent Scorpions, and Ent's Guardian, led by Faction Leaders Darkness, Rekku, and Liken Moss. Eight days later, Liken Moss was seen retreating to the Black Forest, himself and half his faction heavily wounded, the rest presumed dead. They were killed a year and a half later in 1436 AD by Ishiki, the only member of the Crescent Scorpions to show up again throughout history. Rekku showed up in a hospital in Spain about the same time, heavily wounded, his entire faction missing, never again to be fit for combat. He disappeared shortly after to live out his life as a wandering beggar. There are theories about what may have transpired, but the truth itself is not actually known. Nonetheless, that was the end of the Scorpions' era. The organization as a whole fell into obscurity and never recovered.
The most commonly accepted theory is that Rekku and Darkness were planning some sort of magical ritual that could have changed the future of the Scorpions, but the Ent's Guardian's disagreed. They advanced and engaged in combat with the Crescent Scorpions and the Direskull Moonpack, and it is this internal strife that was the downfall of the Scorpions. Because they were a pack of outcasts and murderers, the smaller factions were usually about three or four members and a large faction was considered to be eight or nine members. Only six factions were ever known to reach more than eleven members, the largest two being the Direskull Moonpack at eighteen and the Ent's Guardians at twenty-seven.
List of the strongest factions during their peak of strength, 610-580 years ago:
1. Crescent Scorpions
Faction Leader: Darkness (unknown species)
Highest member count: 4
Based in: Nomadic; traveled across all of Europe and Asia, from Scotland to Japan
2. Ent's Guardians
Faction Leader: Liken Moss (Male Dryad)
Highest member count: 27
Based in: Black Forest Germany
3. Direskull Moonpack
Faction Leader: Rekku (Scottish Direwolf)
Highest member count: 18
Based in: nomadic, but normally found in the western half of Europe
List of the sixteen strongest individual Scorpions during peak years, between the years 1404 AD and 1434 AD:
1. "Darkness" (Species unknown, Faction leader: Crescent Scorpions)
2. Liken Moss (male Dryad, Faction leader: Ent's Guardians)
7: Ishiki (female cat-girl from India, member of the Crescent Scorpions)
13: Ragnarok, the "Death Witch" (female Dark Faerie of Chinese-German descent, member of the Crescent Scorpions)
15: Rekku (Male Direwolf, Faction Leader: Direskull Moonpack)
16: Scorpion Merrow (Species unknown, member of the Crescent Scorpions)
Universal beliefs they held/identifying traits:
1. For every life they took, they must tattoo, pierce, or scar their body as a way of showing respect for the life they took or as a way of keeping count of their murders.
2. Every member of the Scorpions must tattoo somewhere on themselves the clan sigil/emblem/mascot. Sort of like branding themselves. These are called "Penance Markings".
3. Scorpions are not to have loyalties to anybody except themselves and their factions.
4. Those attempting to leave the Scorpions will be hunted down and killed by their own faction at the Faction Leader's discretion.
Customs of the Scorpions:
The Scorpion Games: Every three to five years the Crescent Scorpions would gather to some spot agreed on by the various nomadic Faction Leaders at the time, and they would compete in various contests of strength, exchange news or rumors, and take care of any "official" business.
Bloody Blades: Many times Scorpions would take prisoners they had captured and tie them naked and spreadeagle between two trees and then take turns cutting the prisoner with a knife. This was a game they loved to play where when the prisoner died, whoever delivered the last cut or was in the process of cutting the prisoner was the loser of the game and usually subjected to some horrid punishment. The rules stated every cut must draw blood. This was a game that could go on for hours. The longest recorded instance of this game on a single prisoner was seven hours.
Common Topics of Interest of Crescent Scorpion History
Darkness, the "Immortal" Crescent Scorpion: In all of Crescent Scorpion history, there is no figure more shrouded in mystery and yet so well-known as "Darkness", the leader of the Crescent Scorpions and the strongest of the Scorpions, the only Scorpion known to have lived through the entire 569 years of Crescent Scorpion history. No record of him exists before he appeared as Orion White's bodyguard in 848 AD, and no record of him exists after the end of the Scorpions in the mountains of France in 1434 AD. His species was never identified, and while there are many documented reports of his death, sometimes with as many as a thousand witnesses, he always showed up again later. His powers were never known, and between the years of 857 AD and 1157 AD there are no known records of his existence. From 1157 AD onward, after winning the right to a faction of Scorpions named after the Crescent Scorpions themselves in trial by combat, until the appearance of Scorpion in 1411 AD he never had a faction of more than 3 people, at times being the only member of his Faction. Not for lack of applicants- Darkness hand-picked every member of his faction throughout history and was said to have refused a combined total of over a thousand Scorpions throughout his combined history who desired to follow him and his ideals. The only known Scorpions he accepted as his followers between the years of 1157 AD and 1434 AD were Liken Moss and Rekku, both whom went on to become leaders of their own Factions, Asmodeous Ouroboros and Yuki, both banished, but never hunted down and killed as the laws of Scorpions dictated, Ragnarok the "Death Witch", Scorpion Merrow, both of whom disappeared from history in 1434 AD after heading into the mountains of France with Darkness and Ishiki, the only other Scorpion Darkness was said to have accepted as a follower.
Some of the most notable events of Darkness's career were holding a "mock trial" for a French noble in 1414 AD after tracking down a poacher for him and then helping the poacher escape alive immediately after collecting payment. Darkness accused the French noble of being corrupt and of creating a bad economy for the people under his care, then proceeded to slit the French noble's throat as he made the man's son watch. It is an interesting note the man's son later became the noble who saved the life of and then married the woman who would become Lady Lisandre, thought by some historians to be one candidate for what may have happened to Scorpion Merrow in 1434. Another notable event was his refusal to partake in the Merrow Genocide of 1409. While five other factions also refused, few had Scorpions so well known as infamous and powerful as Darkness, Ragnarok, or Ishiki. Moreover, it is reported that while Ragnarok and Ishiki were absent, Darkness did indeed travel to the site of the Merrow Genocide after the settlement had been attacked and many were dead, where he proceeded to go on a rampage and slaughtered at least fifty-eight Scorpions, including at least twenty-eight Faction Leaders, wounding several others. Only the Ent's Guardians and the Direskull Moonpack escaped the Genocide without losing any members to Darkness. It is assumed that, as they were former followers of Darkness, they knew of his plans beforehand, or guessed them, and had been ready to retreat in a moment's notice. In 1398 Darkness and Ragnarok jointly tracked down a tribe of troublesome and murderous Dark Faeries formerly led by Asmodeous Ouroboros after his banishment from the Scorpions and slaughtered every single one of them. The lucky ones died quickly. Their prisoners were used as tools of experimentation over the course of three months by Ragnarok to develop a spell that could keep her victims alive for up to a week as she tortured them in highly inhumane ways. The most infamous part of Darkness's career as a Scorpion was the mystery surrounding the events of 1434 AD.
Historians and psychologists looking back at Darkness and his behaviors declare him as a hard man with his own sense of justice. Almost every instance where he partook in a game of "Bloody Blades" he opted to go first, with his first swipe, he stabbed the victim through the heart of slit their throat, saving them from hours of torture. Whenever he came across a game already in progress, he would often draw his weapons and attack the players, killing the victim and usually at least one of the players, making sure to wound them all. In over seven hundred kills associated to him over a 37-year period from 1397 to 1434 AD, over eighty percent of his victims were murderers, thieves, corrupt government or religious officials. However, the man was an alcoholic, like Ragnarok, he was still a Crescent Scorpion, still operated outside of the law, and in cases he still tortured his victims in extremely inhumane ways disproportionate to the crimes he was punishing them for, and the only mercy he ever gave people was death. Some historians suggest Darkness only joined with the Scorpions because he still followed the lost religious teachings of Orion White, although in a very violent manner, and because he intended to keep them in check. Reports state that starting in the year 1424 AD his Faction began to hunt down and kill all the other Crescent Scorpion factions and eliminating them violently, giving horrible punishments to anybody unlucky enough to be captured alive or unable to escape the assault. Historians agree this is a legitimate possibility, as in 1434 AD the only remaining factions besides his own seemed to belong to former members of his own faction, and they believe it possible Darkness could not bring himself to kill people he viewed as his children.
The Merrow Genocide (1409 AD, Southern Italy): In 1407 AD, a religious official contacted Liken Moss and the Ent's Guardians in the Black Forest. He offered a contract of assassination to the Crescent Scorpions as a whole organization: in southern Italy there was a settlement near the water where a militant group had captured and enslaved a settlement of people who could a type of magical power boost that could be stored in liquid form and were breeding them like cattle. All attempts to route them had thus far failed. Hearing of the Crescent Scorpions, hearing they were creatures of magic with "low moral standards" (fought dirty) the religious organization who had sent the official believed it may be possible to fight magic with magic. Liken raised the issue with the other Faction Leaders of the time at a gathering two months later, and most agreed to the crusade. Darkness, along with five other Faction Leaders, refused and left in a rage.
After staking out the village for a week in stealth, on June 7th, 1409, sixty-eight factions of Crescent Scorpions, for a combined total of one hundred and eighty-two Scorpions descended on the military settlement in the middle of the night and after nine and a half hours of fighting, the Scorpions were routing the militant group, but they had begun to kill, capture, and torture the citizens who had been enslaved as well, many of them of a single bloodline known as the Merrow Clan, supposedly descended from the sea serpent Leviathan. Three hours after they have killed or begun the torture of the innocents they had recently freed, as half the settlement was burning and the fighting was still waging in some parts of the city, Darkness himself descended upon the Merrow settlement and waged a one-man war against the Scorpions, many who were drunk, incapacitated, or still fighting or hunting down slavers and Merrows throughout the burning city. At his arrival, the Ent's Guardians and the Direskull Moonpack fled Italy as though a demon from hell had appeared and begun to chase them. None were spared the wrath of Darkness's rampage, as he killed any he came across. At least twenty-eight Scorpion faction leaders died at his hands, with many more wounded. All reports afterword suggested there were no surviving members of the Merrow Clan, although two years later Scorpion Merrow appeared as a member of Darkness's Crescent Scorpions, claiming that Darkness had saved her life and that she was the last survivor of the Merrow Clan. These claims were never fully confirmed.
The End of the Crescent Scorpions: somewhere in the mountains of France, 1434 AD: Seven months before the last three factions of Crescent Scorpions headed into the French mountains during the time period of December 1st, 1434 AD to December 9th, 1434 AD, there were several rumors popping up that Darkness was planning something huge. Some suggested that Ragnarok was planning on finally unleashing the magical formula of the Black Plague she had written a magical formula for. Other rumors said he was planning on opening a portal to another dimension where more of his kind lived, and that his kind were coming to descend upon Europe to slaughter all humans. Still other rumors suggested that Darkness was on his way to perform a ritual of necromancy to revive Orion White. The most commonly accepted rumor, however, was that for ten years Darkness, Ragnarok, Ishiki, and Scorpion Merrow had been hunting down and killing all the other Crescent Scorpion Factions out of revenge for the Merrow Genocide, and the only two remaining factions other than his own, the leaders of the Merrow Genocide, Liken Moss of the Ent's Guardians and Rekku of the Direskull Moonpack had called out Darkness, or had been called out, and they were meeting to decide things once and for all. Others suggest Rekku and Darkness had joined forces to take down and kill the Ent's Guardians. There were even rumors that Liken Moss or Rekku, or both, were working with one of Darkness's three female underlings to finally find a way to kill the legendary immortal Scorpion.
Whatever the case, during the first week of December the last three factions of Crescent Scorpions descended on the French Mountains. While details of what happened are not actually known, Darkness and Ragnarok were never seen again, Scorpion Merrow disappeared from history, although she may have gone on to become Lady Lisandre of France, and Ishiki was presumed dead for eighteen months. half of Liken's faction was killed, the rest of them, including himself, wounded, and from there he swiftly retreated to the Black Forest, where he attempted to gather more members and gain strength until he was killed a year and a half later by Ishiki, who died shortly afterword. Rekku's entire faction was presumed killed, himself wounded so horribly he barely made it to Spain, spending the rest of his life as a wandering beggar until he was killed after murdering Lady Lisandre of France in 1444 AD.
Whatever happened, this was the end of the Crescent Scorpions, who had lasted for nearly six hundred years. Any remaining Scorpions dispersed to the metaphorical four corners of the world and this dark and bloody chapter of magical history faded into obscurity.
Key members of the Crescent Scorpions throughout history:
Orion White: Male, species unknown. Leader of the Crescent Scorpions when they had started out as a religious group, whose beliefs and teachings have largely been forgotten. Was said to have became the religious leader at age of 9 summers when his mother, the original founder of the Crescent Scorpions, died. At age of thirteen attempted a magical ceremony to attempt to seal away an aspect of the evil in the hearts of humans and non-humans alike, was said to have failed. Had "Darkness" as his bodyguard. Was said to be an exceptionally skilled sage, adept at water magic and highly proficient with various weapons and unarmed combat. Died at twenty-two of pneumonia in the year 857 AD.
Yugopotamia Quill: An Earth Mage/Porcupine Demon who headed the Scorpions in 1032 AD, was said to be the one who turned the Scorpions from a religious organization to the band of thugs and murderers history remembers them as. In actuality, the path had been started years before, but Quill was the last leader of the old way of the Scorpions and the one who lead the coup that massacred the remaining Scorpions who still followed the religious teaching Orion had left them. Headed the Scorpion faction known as "Undead Ferrets". Murdered by another Scorpion in 1057 AD.
"Darkness"- A white-haired immortal humanoid, faction leader, said to be unable to be defeated. Species unknown, powers unknown. Said to be able to read minds and sense people's dark intents from miles away, summons monsters from people's nightmares, possess other beings, was known to be physically stronger, faster than humans, extremely proficient at unarmed combat, weapons master, said to be able to see the future, extremely proficient at magical runes and spells. The most respected Scorpion of them all because of his strength, perhaps the only living Scorpion to have met Orion after Yugopotamia's coup. His Faction, "Crescent Scorpions" (he won the right to the name of the Scorpions themselves by right of trial by combat) only ever consisted of Liken Moss, Rekku, Yuki, Asmodeous Ouroboros, Ishiki, Ragnarok, and Scorpion. Refused to participate in the Merrow Genocide. Fate unknown.
Liken Moss- Male Dryad, immensely powerful Plant Magic user, known for having lime green hair with bright pink tips. Left "Crescent Scorpions" to lead his own Faction, "Ent's Guardians". One of the leaders of the Merrow Genocide. He has entire faction of twenty-seven were attacked and killed in the Black Forest where they made their home by Ishiki, who fought and killed them all single-handed. Ishiki is said to have died of her wounds shortly afterword. Liken Moss died in 1436 AD at the age of 119.
Rekku- Male Irish Direwolf, infamous for his bright red hair and piercing yellow eyes. Left "Crescent Scorpions" to lead his own faction, "Direskull Moonpack". Was extremely bloodthirsty, known to be one of the cruelest Scorpion to have ever lived, but not very bright. Relied almost entirely on his extreme speed and ferocious strength to win fights. One of the leaders of the Merrow Genocide. Was killed by several knights in what is now France in 1444 AD after murdering a noble, Lady Lisandre, after going on a rampage. He died alone at the age of 92, as all the rest of his faction had died ten years prior. Was rumored to be the last true Crescent Scorpion, living as a wandering beggar for the last ten years of his life.
Yuki: Male Japanese Snow dragon. Member of the Crescent Scorpions between 1360 AD and 1390 AD. Was banished by Darkness from the Scorpions, returned to Japan. A few days before the Ent's Guardians, the Direskull Moonpack, and the Crescent Scorpions met in France in 1434 AD, was seen leaving Japan flying in the direction of France. Three weeks later was spotted again leaving southern Italy and flying in the direction of Japan. Whether or not Yuki was involved in the events in France remains unknown. Reports state that while Yuki was unable to speak human language due to being born with defective vocal cords, although he could take a human form and his hearing was perfect, he could "speak" to people by projecting mental images at them directly into their minds.
Asmodeous Ouroboros: Male Dark Faerie, member of the Crescent Scorpions between 1245 and 1284 AD. Was banished by Darkness, founded a wandering tribe of Dark Faeries. Was obsessed with the potential connections between magic and bloodlines and his obsession drove him to become a cruel and merciless tyrannical ruler over his tribe of Dark Faeries. Asmodeous Ouroboros, his wife, and his daughter, Amaya Ouroboros were torn to pieces during a violent uprising of the Dark Faeries they reigned over in 1392 AD. Some reports suggest Darkness of the Crescent Scorpions was present and was the true killer of Asmodeous, after which he kidnapped their daughter, saving her from death at the hands of the vengeful Dark Faeries her father had mistreated, but these reports have been discounted and disproved by three different historians, placing Darkness in Ireland with Rekku three days before Asmodeous was supposed to have been killed in Russia.
Ragnarok, the "Death Witch": Female Dark Faerie, member of the Crescent Scorpions, existence first confirmed in 1397 AD at the age of 18 with the declaration she had killed in excess of one hundred people. Physically, the weakest of the Crescent Scorpions, but was known to use poisons, rituals, curses, and was a master of Ice, Darkness, and Air elemental magic, and was supposedly so potent with casting curses, including those she designed her own, that she earned the title of "Death Witch" at the age of 18 with a rumored kill count in excess of eight hundred corpses. A known sadist, alcoholic, and nymphomaniac. Married to another Crescent Scorpion, Ishiki, and slept with many other women, would sometimes partake in female-exclusive orgies after consuming vast amounts of alcohol. Seemed to have a particular hatred of men, deliberately disobeyed almost any order not given to her by Darkness, was said to be **very** quick-tempered and to only have one emotion: "pissed the f*** off". An exceptional archer. Notable achievements with magic are said to include writing a formula to inflict people with a concentrated and non-contagious form of the Black Plague and creating a spell that could keep a victim alive for several days no matter what form or torment was inflicted upon them. Used this curse to burn several victims to death while using them as target practice. Numerous accounts exist of her sexually assaulting her female victims before granting them a mercifully quick death so long as she was sober, while with her male victims she would first cut off their manhoods before assaulting them with it and then proceeding to then them on fire, using her specially designed curse to keep them alive and burning for up to a week while she danced, drank, and engaged in "physical activities" with various women victims around the burning victim. There are many other various creative methods she used to kill her victims, some more merciful, many of them far less humane, normally enacted just before or just after she had consumed a large amount of alcohol. Historians seem to think much of the "incoherent screaming" she did when with a male or female victim sometimes overheard by nearby allies was suggestive she had been raised in a situation that had been either abusive or negligent, perhaps even a mixture, before Darkness found her. Ragnarok disappeared without a trace after going into the mountains of France in 1434 AD with the other Crescent Scorpions. She is presumed to have been tortured and killed during that time period.
Ishiki: Female cat-girl from Japan, brought to Darkness by Yuki in the year 1399 AD at the age of fourteen. Origins otherwise unknown, but history suggests her parents and the rest of her family had been murdered by demon hunters. Member of the Crescent Scorpions, married Ragnarok in 1404 AD at the age of nineteen. Was said to be considered the "child" or the "pet" of several different Scorpion Factions, including the Crescent Scorpion and the Ent's Guardians. Was said to always be smiling and laughing with every word she said, was only four foot three, was easily distracted, loved to play with fabrics and had a deep love of seafood. History suggests she may have had OCD and ADD, in addition to having the mannerisms of a cat, rather than just being a cat-girl. Aside from being extremely fast, extremely agile, and having three times the natural strength of any normal human, she was extremely acrobatic, preferring to attack unarmed using her body, her knowledge of martial arts, and her cat claws. She loved to dance and loved to get "up close and personal" in combat, desiring to get close enough to her opponents whenever possible so that their sweating bodies would often rub against each other. Combining her natural abilities and her acrobatic gymnastics with her naturally potent Fire Magic, she was easily one of the deadliest of all Scorpions. On the rare occasion she used a weapon she was seen to prefer close-range weapons such as daggers, tonfa, or katara and for ranged weapons she preferred shuriken and throwing knives. On the rare occasion she became completely focused in combat, it's said that not even Darkness was only a plaything to her. She wielded a special type of Fire Magic known as "Innocence Flame" which, according to rumors, could only be used by the pure of heart, and differed only from regular Fire Magic because it would not burn the pure of heart but it was twice as effective and lessened the powers and abilities of those with shadows and corruption in their hearts and souls. There are unconfirmed rumors that Ishiki is the person who burned and scarred Darkness, making her the only opponent Darkness ever faced that left a lasting physical mark. Ishiki was also extremely talented with Healing Magic, which she used to keep the Crescent Scorpions free of scars and injury, which is said to be one of the main factors in her strength. It is believed by many historians that Ishiki may have been the only "good" member of the nomadic Scorpion tribes in history after the coup of Quill in 1032 AD. Ishiki was confirmed to have lost over half of her left arm in the mountains of France during 1434 AD. At that time, her personality was said to have taken a complete change, and she lost her ability to use Innocence Flame and healing magic. In 1436, after having been missing for eighteen months, she entered the Black Forest and took on Liken Moss and the twenty-five Scorpions under his command, eight of them having joined him after the events in the mountains of France a year and a half prior. She successfully killed Liken Moss and all the remaining Ent's Guardians single-handed, wiping out the entire faction without magic, but died of her wounds six days later in a nearby village. Her last words were in Japanese and therefore went unheard, but it seems she spent her final six days in a fever and with tears streaming down her face, asking for Scorpion Merrow, asking if she knew where "Kora" had gone and why "Kora" had left her all alone and if "Kora" was upset. Ishiki was said to have apologized multiple times to "Kora" for sleeping with "Levia-tahn", and promising not to do it again, consistently begging "Kora" to come back to her. It is assumed that "Kora" was Ishiki's nickname for Ragnarok and "Levia-tahn" was Scorpion. Curiously, on her final day, her sickbed mutterings changed, for the first half of the day asking for "Papa", asking if "Papa" if "Mama" was coming back and expressing her concern "Mama" hadn't come back yet. Historians are not sure whether or not "Papa" was her actual father or if she meant Darkness, although who "Mama" might have been is under debate. Some historians suggest "Mama" might have been either Ragnarok or Scorpion Merrow, but if "Kora" was Ragnarok and "Levia-tahn" was Scorpion Merrow then "Mama" would have had to be an entirely different and unknown third person not found in any known records of the Crescent Scorpions. In the second half of her final day she suddenly began to scream in what was interpreted as terror and began to thrash around, expressing concern that somebody was killing "Kora" but her movements were such a danger to herself she had to be sedated. She did not wake up again. Ishiki died in her sickbed in a small farmer's hut near the Black Forest at the age of 49, without even anybody who knew her name by her side. Her body was identified by a passing knight two days later. Her body was given a funeral pyre out of respect for the woman she had been, for the strength she had possessed, and for her services in ridding the world of the Ent's Guardians single-handedly.
Scorpion Merrow: Species unknown, supposedly descended from the sea serpent Leviathan, claimed to be the last living Merrow and the only survivor of the Merrow Genocide in 1409 AD. Appeared on the scene in 1411 AD. Claims were never verified. Member of the Crescent Scorpions, expert swordswoman, used a lot of poisons, potions, and drugs/hallucinogens in her combat style. Rumored to be the only human or even part-human to have ever joined the Crescent Scorpions. Disappeared from history in 1434 AD in the mountains of France. Historians suspect she may have gone on to become Lady Lisandre of France, killed by Rekku in 1444 AD.
Non-Scorpion prominent figures:
Lady Lisandre: A woman of mysterious past, she was found near the base of the mountains in 1434 AD clutching a sword and the arm of a "monster" that historians believe may have been Ishiki's missing arm. Historians believe that Lady Lisandre may have in fact been Scorpion Merrow, although her memory was absent and she had no tattoos or Penance Markings that would mark her as a Scorpion of any Faction. Horribly wounded, she had a long recovery process that left her with health problems for the rest of her life. The noble who discovered her and saved her life fell in love with her during her recovery process despite her supposed physical deformities from her past life and married her. She never appeared in public unless she was covered head to toe with her left eye covered, and was never seen walking on her own. She bore three children, although in 1444 AD she and two of her children were killed by a wandering beggar who was later identified as Rekku. Only her eldest child survived, a young woman named Lorelei who was afterword hidden from the public eye.
A description of Lady Lisandre was found in a traveling entertainer's journal almost fifty years after her brutal murder. Whether it was correct or not is a matter of debate among historians, although little snippets of it have been confirmed in partial in other journals, both medical and of people who were known to visit with Lady Lisandre during the remainder of her short life.
'" had the most unfortunate luck while staying at a noble's mansion in the south of France. By mistake I walked in on the mysterious Lady Lisandre while she was in the bath. What she may have been through in her life, I cannot even begin to imagine. She is five foot six, with shoulder-length brown hair and one half-blind blue eye, Caucasian, possibly of Italian descent. Half of the hair on her head, on her left side, has been burned off, and the skin is black, charred to the feel, extending down to her cheek. Her left eye is missing, and the right side of her face looks as though is has been used frequently as a chopping board. She is missing at least half her teeth and her right ear has a hole in it where it looks as though a bird's talon tore right through it. Her left ear has a few flaps remaining where it was clearly grabbed and torn off her head. Her nose has had a chunk cut out of it, and she appears to have lost a portion of her tongue. Her body has not fared much better than her face. There in not a doubt in my mind there are more scars all over her body than there is flesh remaining. Her right hand has only the thumb, the first two fingers on it remaining. Her left hand has only the thumb and the smallest finger. She only has two toes remaining on her right foot. The other fingers and toes look as though some wild beast mauled her and bit them off, as well as a portion of her hands and foot. Just below her left knee, there in a very jagged nub where the rest of her leg, and therefore her foot, has been torn off. Clearly, by the look of it, not bit off, not cut off, but it looks as though somebody actually grabbed her leg and tore it off sideways like one might tear fabric. She is missing her left breast entirely and her right breast is partially missing. I suppose she might have screamed upon seeing me, but it seems she has great difficulty speaking in anything more than a hoarse whisper. This is quite understandable, as it looks as though her throat has scars from being strangled with a chain, from being mauled by some beast's claws, from being cut multiple times with bladed weapons, both straight and jagged. How a woman like her was able to bear children, or what she might have gone through before her husband found her at the base of the mountains, I cannot even begin to imagine, for not even most soldiers I have come across have taken so many wounds even in war. Truly, I have seen corpses in better condition than this woman living and breathing still on this earth- to say that she has been blessed by whatever god she worships, I truly believe, this is no sort of blasphemy."
Note: this is the way the Crescent Scorpions would be recorded as in history books. Therefore, information may or may not be inaccurate or missing about what ACTUALLY happened in some cases.
What history remembers them as: A number of various nomadic groups of magical creatures, outcasts of their own races, who acted as vigilantes, bandits, murderers, thieves, mercenaries, and generally a pack of villains spread throughout Europe, Asia, and the northern half of Africa. Their various tribes, or "factions", had names such as "Needle Skunks" or "Emerald Spiders" or "Direskull Moonpack". Their peak of strength and numbers, capping at what is guessed to be about seventy-two factions and around two hundred members with countless non-member associates and safehouses/safe-cities, was between 1404 AD and 1434 AD. Their most infamous achievement was the Merrow Genocide in 1409 AD, in which case sixty-eight factions and a hundred and eighty-two of these killers came together and descended upon a settlement of around five hundred in southern Italy, where originally they had been hired to free a bloodline of humans who had the power to produce a chemical that could boost magic and could be liquidized and stored infinitely, but instead of just killing the militant group who had enslaved these people to breed them like cattle for their Magical Boost power, the Scorpions also slaughtered every living thing in that settlement, be it man, woman, child, or animal, before burning it to the ground.
In 1434 AD, the last three known factions of the Scorpions descended on a mountain range in France: the Direskull Moonpack, the Crescent Scorpions, and Ent's Guardian, led by Faction Leaders Darkness, Rekku, and Liken Moss. Eight days later, Liken Moss was seen retreating to the Black Forest, himself and half his faction heavily wounded, the rest presumed dead. They were killed a year and a half later in 1436 AD by Ishiki, the only member of the Crescent Scorpions to show up again throughout history. Rekku showed up in a hospital in Spain about the same time, heavily wounded, his entire faction missing, never again to be fit for combat. He disappeared shortly after to live out his life as a wandering beggar. There are theories about what may have transpired, but the truth itself is not actually known. Nonetheless, that was the end of the Scorpions' era. The organization as a whole fell into obscurity and never recovered.
The most commonly accepted theory is that Rekku and Darkness were planning some sort of magical ritual that could have changed the future of the Scorpions, but the Ent's Guardian's disagreed. They advanced and engaged in combat with the Crescent Scorpions and the Direskull Moonpack, and it is this internal strife that was the downfall of the Scorpions. Because they were a pack of outcasts and murderers, the smaller factions were usually about three or four members and a large faction was considered to be eight or nine members. Only six factions were ever known to reach more than eleven members, the largest two being the Direskull Moonpack at eighteen and the Ent's Guardians at twenty-seven.
List of the strongest factions during their peak of strength, 610-580 years ago:
1. Crescent Scorpions
Faction Leader: Darkness (unknown species)
Highest member count: 4
Based in: Nomadic; traveled across all of Europe and Asia, from Scotland to Japan
2. Ent's Guardians
Faction Leader: Liken Moss (Male Dryad)
Highest member count: 27
Based in: Black Forest Germany
3. Direskull Moonpack
Faction Leader: Rekku (Scottish Direwolf)
Highest member count: 18
Based in: nomadic, but normally found in the western half of Europe
List of the sixteen strongest individual Scorpions during peak years, between the years 1404 AD and 1434 AD:
1. "Darkness" (Species unknown, Faction leader: Crescent Scorpions)
2. Liken Moss (male Dryad, Faction leader: Ent's Guardians)
7: Ishiki (female cat-girl from India, member of the Crescent Scorpions)
13: Ragnarok, the "Death Witch" (female Dark Faerie of Chinese-German descent, member of the Crescent Scorpions)
15: Rekku (Male Direwolf, Faction Leader: Direskull Moonpack)
16: Scorpion Merrow (Species unknown, member of the Crescent Scorpions)
Universal beliefs they held/identifying traits:
1. For every life they took, they must tattoo, pierce, or scar their body as a way of showing respect for the life they took or as a way of keeping count of their murders.
2. Every member of the Scorpions must tattoo somewhere on themselves the clan sigil/emblem/mascot. Sort of like branding themselves. These are called "Penance Markings".
3. Scorpions are not to have loyalties to anybody except themselves and their factions.
4. Those attempting to leave the Scorpions will be hunted down and killed by their own faction at the Faction Leader's discretion.
Customs of the Scorpions:
The Scorpion Games: Every three to five years the Crescent Scorpions would gather to some spot agreed on by the various nomadic Faction Leaders at the time, and they would compete in various contests of strength, exchange news or rumors, and take care of any "official" business.
Bloody Blades: Many times Scorpions would take prisoners they had captured and tie them naked and spreadeagle between two trees and then take turns cutting the prisoner with a knife. This was a game they loved to play where when the prisoner died, whoever delivered the last cut or was in the process of cutting the prisoner was the loser of the game and usually subjected to some horrid punishment. The rules stated every cut must draw blood. This was a game that could go on for hours. The longest recorded instance of this game on a single prisoner was seven hours.
Common Topics of Interest of Crescent Scorpion History
Darkness, the "Immortal" Crescent Scorpion: In all of Crescent Scorpion history, there is no figure more shrouded in mystery and yet so well-known as "Darkness", the leader of the Crescent Scorpions and the strongest of the Scorpions, the only Scorpion known to have lived through the entire 569 years of Crescent Scorpion history. No record of him exists before he appeared as Orion White's bodyguard in 848 AD, and no record of him exists after the end of the Scorpions in the mountains of France in 1434 AD. His species was never identified, and while there are many documented reports of his death, sometimes with as many as a thousand witnesses, he always showed up again later. His powers were never known, and between the years of 857 AD and 1157 AD there are no known records of his existence. From 1157 AD onward, after winning the right to a faction of Scorpions named after the Crescent Scorpions themselves in trial by combat, until the appearance of Scorpion in 1411 AD he never had a faction of more than 3 people, at times being the only member of his Faction. Not for lack of applicants- Darkness hand-picked every member of his faction throughout history and was said to have refused a combined total of over a thousand Scorpions throughout his combined history who desired to follow him and his ideals. The only known Scorpions he accepted as his followers between the years of 1157 AD and 1434 AD were Liken Moss and Rekku, both whom went on to become leaders of their own Factions, Asmodeous Ouroboros and Yuki, both banished, but never hunted down and killed as the laws of Scorpions dictated, Ragnarok the "Death Witch", Scorpion Merrow, both of whom disappeared from history in 1434 AD after heading into the mountains of France with Darkness and Ishiki, the only other Scorpion Darkness was said to have accepted as a follower.
Some of the most notable events of Darkness's career were holding a "mock trial" for a French noble in 1414 AD after tracking down a poacher for him and then helping the poacher escape alive immediately after collecting payment. Darkness accused the French noble of being corrupt and of creating a bad economy for the people under his care, then proceeded to slit the French noble's throat as he made the man's son watch. It is an interesting note the man's son later became the noble who saved the life of and then married the woman who would become Lady Lisandre, thought by some historians to be one candidate for what may have happened to Scorpion Merrow in 1434. Another notable event was his refusal to partake in the Merrow Genocide of 1409. While five other factions also refused, few had Scorpions so well known as infamous and powerful as Darkness, Ragnarok, or Ishiki. Moreover, it is reported that while Ragnarok and Ishiki were absent, Darkness did indeed travel to the site of the Merrow Genocide after the settlement had been attacked and many were dead, where he proceeded to go on a rampage and slaughtered at least fifty-eight Scorpions, including at least twenty-eight Faction Leaders, wounding several others. Only the Ent's Guardians and the Direskull Moonpack escaped the Genocide without losing any members to Darkness. It is assumed that, as they were former followers of Darkness, they knew of his plans beforehand, or guessed them, and had been ready to retreat in a moment's notice. In 1398 Darkness and Ragnarok jointly tracked down a tribe of troublesome and murderous Dark Faeries formerly led by Asmodeous Ouroboros after his banishment from the Scorpions and slaughtered every single one of them. The lucky ones died quickly. Their prisoners were used as tools of experimentation over the course of three months by Ragnarok to develop a spell that could keep her victims alive for up to a week as she tortured them in highly inhumane ways. The most infamous part of Darkness's career as a Scorpion was the mystery surrounding the events of 1434 AD.
Historians and psychologists looking back at Darkness and his behaviors declare him as a hard man with his own sense of justice. Almost every instance where he partook in a game of "Bloody Blades" he opted to go first, with his first swipe, he stabbed the victim through the heart of slit their throat, saving them from hours of torture. Whenever he came across a game already in progress, he would often draw his weapons and attack the players, killing the victim and usually at least one of the players, making sure to wound them all. In over seven hundred kills associated to him over a 37-year period from 1397 to 1434 AD, over eighty percent of his victims were murderers, thieves, corrupt government or religious officials. However, the man was an alcoholic, like Ragnarok, he was still a Crescent Scorpion, still operated outside of the law, and in cases he still tortured his victims in extremely inhumane ways disproportionate to the crimes he was punishing them for, and the only mercy he ever gave people was death. Some historians suggest Darkness only joined with the Scorpions because he still followed the lost religious teachings of Orion White, although in a very violent manner, and because he intended to keep them in check. Reports state that starting in the year 1424 AD his Faction began to hunt down and kill all the other Crescent Scorpion factions and eliminating them violently, giving horrible punishments to anybody unlucky enough to be captured alive or unable to escape the assault. Historians agree this is a legitimate possibility, as in 1434 AD the only remaining factions besides his own seemed to belong to former members of his own faction, and they believe it possible Darkness could not bring himself to kill people he viewed as his children.
The Merrow Genocide (1409 AD, Southern Italy): In 1407 AD, a religious official contacted Liken Moss and the Ent's Guardians in the Black Forest. He offered a contract of assassination to the Crescent Scorpions as a whole organization: in southern Italy there was a settlement near the water where a militant group had captured and enslaved a settlement of people who could a type of magical power boost that could be stored in liquid form and were breeding them like cattle. All attempts to route them had thus far failed. Hearing of the Crescent Scorpions, hearing they were creatures of magic with "low moral standards" (fought dirty) the religious organization who had sent the official believed it may be possible to fight magic with magic. Liken raised the issue with the other Faction Leaders of the time at a gathering two months later, and most agreed to the crusade. Darkness, along with five other Faction Leaders, refused and left in a rage.
After staking out the village for a week in stealth, on June 7th, 1409, sixty-eight factions of Crescent Scorpions, for a combined total of one hundred and eighty-two Scorpions descended on the military settlement in the middle of the night and after nine and a half hours of fighting, the Scorpions were routing the militant group, but they had begun to kill, capture, and torture the citizens who had been enslaved as well, many of them of a single bloodline known as the Merrow Clan, supposedly descended from the sea serpent Leviathan. Three hours after they have killed or begun the torture of the innocents they had recently freed, as half the settlement was burning and the fighting was still waging in some parts of the city, Darkness himself descended upon the Merrow settlement and waged a one-man war against the Scorpions, many who were drunk, incapacitated, or still fighting or hunting down slavers and Merrows throughout the burning city. At his arrival, the Ent's Guardians and the Direskull Moonpack fled Italy as though a demon from hell had appeared and begun to chase them. None were spared the wrath of Darkness's rampage, as he killed any he came across. At least twenty-eight Scorpion faction leaders died at his hands, with many more wounded. All reports afterword suggested there were no surviving members of the Merrow Clan, although two years later Scorpion Merrow appeared as a member of Darkness's Crescent Scorpions, claiming that Darkness had saved her life and that she was the last survivor of the Merrow Clan. These claims were never fully confirmed.
The End of the Crescent Scorpions: somewhere in the mountains of France, 1434 AD: Seven months before the last three factions of Crescent Scorpions headed into the French mountains during the time period of December 1st, 1434 AD to December 9th, 1434 AD, there were several rumors popping up that Darkness was planning something huge. Some suggested that Ragnarok was planning on finally unleashing the magical formula of the Black Plague she had written a magical formula for. Other rumors said he was planning on opening a portal to another dimension where more of his kind lived, and that his kind were coming to descend upon Europe to slaughter all humans. Still other rumors suggested that Darkness was on his way to perform a ritual of necromancy to revive Orion White. The most commonly accepted rumor, however, was that for ten years Darkness, Ragnarok, Ishiki, and Scorpion Merrow had been hunting down and killing all the other Crescent Scorpion Factions out of revenge for the Merrow Genocide, and the only two remaining factions other than his own, the leaders of the Merrow Genocide, Liken Moss of the Ent's Guardians and Rekku of the Direskull Moonpack had called out Darkness, or had been called out, and they were meeting to decide things once and for all. Others suggest Rekku and Darkness had joined forces to take down and kill the Ent's Guardians. There were even rumors that Liken Moss or Rekku, or both, were working with one of Darkness's three female underlings to finally find a way to kill the legendary immortal Scorpion.
Whatever the case, during the first week of December the last three factions of Crescent Scorpions descended on the French Mountains. While details of what happened are not actually known, Darkness and Ragnarok were never seen again, Scorpion Merrow disappeared from history, although she may have gone on to become Lady Lisandre of France, and Ishiki was presumed dead for eighteen months. half of Liken's faction was killed, the rest of them, including himself, wounded, and from there he swiftly retreated to the Black Forest, where he attempted to gather more members and gain strength until he was killed a year and a half later by Ishiki, who died shortly afterword. Rekku's entire faction was presumed killed, himself wounded so horribly he barely made it to Spain, spending the rest of his life as a wandering beggar until he was killed after murdering Lady Lisandre of France in 1444 AD.
Whatever happened, this was the end of the Crescent Scorpions, who had lasted for nearly six hundred years. Any remaining Scorpions dispersed to the metaphorical four corners of the world and this dark and bloody chapter of magical history faded into obscurity.
Key members of the Crescent Scorpions throughout history:
Orion White: Male, species unknown. Leader of the Crescent Scorpions when they had started out as a religious group, whose beliefs and teachings have largely been forgotten. Was said to have became the religious leader at age of 9 summers when his mother, the original founder of the Crescent Scorpions, died. At age of thirteen attempted a magical ceremony to attempt to seal away an aspect of the evil in the hearts of humans and non-humans alike, was said to have failed. Had "Darkness" as his bodyguard. Was said to be an exceptionally skilled sage, adept at water magic and highly proficient with various weapons and unarmed combat. Died at twenty-two of pneumonia in the year 857 AD.
Yugopotamia Quill: An Earth Mage/Porcupine Demon who headed the Scorpions in 1032 AD, was said to be the one who turned the Scorpions from a religious organization to the band of thugs and murderers history remembers them as. In actuality, the path had been started years before, but Quill was the last leader of the old way of the Scorpions and the one who lead the coup that massacred the remaining Scorpions who still followed the religious teaching Orion had left them. Headed the Scorpion faction known as "Undead Ferrets". Murdered by another Scorpion in 1057 AD.
"Darkness"- A white-haired immortal humanoid, faction leader, said to be unable to be defeated. Species unknown, powers unknown. Said to be able to read minds and sense people's dark intents from miles away, summons monsters from people's nightmares, possess other beings, was known to be physically stronger, faster than humans, extremely proficient at unarmed combat, weapons master, said to be able to see the future, extremely proficient at magical runes and spells. The most respected Scorpion of them all because of his strength, perhaps the only living Scorpion to have met Orion after Yugopotamia's coup. His Faction, "Crescent Scorpions" (he won the right to the name of the Scorpions themselves by right of trial by combat) only ever consisted of Liken Moss, Rekku, Yuki, Asmodeous Ouroboros, Ishiki, Ragnarok, and Scorpion. Refused to participate in the Merrow Genocide. Fate unknown.
Liken Moss- Male Dryad, immensely powerful Plant Magic user, known for having lime green hair with bright pink tips. Left "Crescent Scorpions" to lead his own Faction, "Ent's Guardians". One of the leaders of the Merrow Genocide. He has entire faction of twenty-seven were attacked and killed in the Black Forest where they made their home by Ishiki, who fought and killed them all single-handed. Ishiki is said to have died of her wounds shortly afterword. Liken Moss died in 1436 AD at the age of 119.
Rekku- Male Irish Direwolf, infamous for his bright red hair and piercing yellow eyes. Left "Crescent Scorpions" to lead his own faction, "Direskull Moonpack". Was extremely bloodthirsty, known to be one of the cruelest Scorpion to have ever lived, but not very bright. Relied almost entirely on his extreme speed and ferocious strength to win fights. One of the leaders of the Merrow Genocide. Was killed by several knights in what is now France in 1444 AD after murdering a noble, Lady Lisandre, after going on a rampage. He died alone at the age of 92, as all the rest of his faction had died ten years prior. Was rumored to be the last true Crescent Scorpion, living as a wandering beggar for the last ten years of his life.
Yuki: Male Japanese Snow dragon. Member of the Crescent Scorpions between 1360 AD and 1390 AD. Was banished by Darkness from the Scorpions, returned to Japan. A few days before the Ent's Guardians, the Direskull Moonpack, and the Crescent Scorpions met in France in 1434 AD, was seen leaving Japan flying in the direction of France. Three weeks later was spotted again leaving southern Italy and flying in the direction of Japan. Whether or not Yuki was involved in the events in France remains unknown. Reports state that while Yuki was unable to speak human language due to being born with defective vocal cords, although he could take a human form and his hearing was perfect, he could "speak" to people by projecting mental images at them directly into their minds.
Asmodeous Ouroboros: Male Dark Faerie, member of the Crescent Scorpions between 1245 and 1284 AD. Was banished by Darkness, founded a wandering tribe of Dark Faeries. Was obsessed with the potential connections between magic and bloodlines and his obsession drove him to become a cruel and merciless tyrannical ruler over his tribe of Dark Faeries. Asmodeous Ouroboros, his wife, and his daughter, Amaya Ouroboros were torn to pieces during a violent uprising of the Dark Faeries they reigned over in 1392 AD. Some reports suggest Darkness of the Crescent Scorpions was present and was the true killer of Asmodeous, after which he kidnapped their daughter, saving her from death at the hands of the vengeful Dark Faeries her father had mistreated, but these reports have been discounted and disproved by three different historians, placing Darkness in Ireland with Rekku three days before Asmodeous was supposed to have been killed in Russia.
Ragnarok, the "Death Witch": Female Dark Faerie, member of the Crescent Scorpions, existence first confirmed in 1397 AD at the age of 18 with the declaration she had killed in excess of one hundred people. Physically, the weakest of the Crescent Scorpions, but was known to use poisons, rituals, curses, and was a master of Ice, Darkness, and Air elemental magic, and was supposedly so potent with casting curses, including those she designed her own, that she earned the title of "Death Witch" at the age of 18 with a rumored kill count in excess of eight hundred corpses. A known sadist, alcoholic, and nymphomaniac. Married to another Crescent Scorpion, Ishiki, and slept with many other women, would sometimes partake in female-exclusive orgies after consuming vast amounts of alcohol. Seemed to have a particular hatred of men, deliberately disobeyed almost any order not given to her by Darkness, was said to be **very** quick-tempered and to only have one emotion: "pissed the f*** off". An exceptional archer. Notable achievements with magic are said to include writing a formula to inflict people with a concentrated and non-contagious form of the Black Plague and creating a spell that could keep a victim alive for several days no matter what form or torment was inflicted upon them. Used this curse to burn several victims to death while using them as target practice. Numerous accounts exist of her sexually assaulting her female victims before granting them a mercifully quick death so long as she was sober, while with her male victims she would first cut off their manhoods before assaulting them with it and then proceeding to then them on fire, using her specially designed curse to keep them alive and burning for up to a week while she danced, drank, and engaged in "physical activities" with various women victims around the burning victim. There are many other various creative methods she used to kill her victims, some more merciful, many of them far less humane, normally enacted just before or just after she had consumed a large amount of alcohol. Historians seem to think much of the "incoherent screaming" she did when with a male or female victim sometimes overheard by nearby allies was suggestive she had been raised in a situation that had been either abusive or negligent, perhaps even a mixture, before Darkness found her. Ragnarok disappeared without a trace after going into the mountains of France in 1434 AD with the other Crescent Scorpions. She is presumed to have been tortured and killed during that time period.
Ishiki: Female cat-girl from Japan, brought to Darkness by Yuki in the year 1399 AD at the age of fourteen. Origins otherwise unknown, but history suggests her parents and the rest of her family had been murdered by demon hunters. Member of the Crescent Scorpions, married Ragnarok in 1404 AD at the age of nineteen. Was said to be considered the "child" or the "pet" of several different Scorpion Factions, including the Crescent Scorpion and the Ent's Guardians. Was said to always be smiling and laughing with every word she said, was only four foot three, was easily distracted, loved to play with fabrics and had a deep love of seafood. History suggests she may have had OCD and ADD, in addition to having the mannerisms of a cat, rather than just being a cat-girl. Aside from being extremely fast, extremely agile, and having three times the natural strength of any normal human, she was extremely acrobatic, preferring to attack unarmed using her body, her knowledge of martial arts, and her cat claws. She loved to dance and loved to get "up close and personal" in combat, desiring to get close enough to her opponents whenever possible so that their sweating bodies would often rub against each other. Combining her natural abilities and her acrobatic gymnastics with her naturally potent Fire Magic, she was easily one of the deadliest of all Scorpions. On the rare occasion she used a weapon she was seen to prefer close-range weapons such as daggers, tonfa, or katara and for ranged weapons she preferred shuriken and throwing knives. On the rare occasion she became completely focused in combat, it's said that not even Darkness was only a plaything to her. She wielded a special type of Fire Magic known as "Innocence Flame" which, according to rumors, could only be used by the pure of heart, and differed only from regular Fire Magic because it would not burn the pure of heart but it was twice as effective and lessened the powers and abilities of those with shadows and corruption in their hearts and souls. There are unconfirmed rumors that Ishiki is the person who burned and scarred Darkness, making her the only opponent Darkness ever faced that left a lasting physical mark. Ishiki was also extremely talented with Healing Magic, which she used to keep the Crescent Scorpions free of scars and injury, which is said to be one of the main factors in her strength. It is believed by many historians that Ishiki may have been the only "good" member of the nomadic Scorpion tribes in history after the coup of Quill in 1032 AD. Ishiki was confirmed to have lost over half of her left arm in the mountains of France during 1434 AD. At that time, her personality was said to have taken a complete change, and she lost her ability to use Innocence Flame and healing magic. In 1436, after having been missing for eighteen months, she entered the Black Forest and took on Liken Moss and the twenty-five Scorpions under his command, eight of them having joined him after the events in the mountains of France a year and a half prior. She successfully killed Liken Moss and all the remaining Ent's Guardians single-handed, wiping out the entire faction without magic, but died of her wounds six days later in a nearby village. Her last words were in Japanese and therefore went unheard, but it seems she spent her final six days in a fever and with tears streaming down her face, asking for Scorpion Merrow, asking if she knew where "Kora" had gone and why "Kora" had left her all alone and if "Kora" was upset. Ishiki was said to have apologized multiple times to "Kora" for sleeping with "Levia-tahn", and promising not to do it again, consistently begging "Kora" to come back to her. It is assumed that "Kora" was Ishiki's nickname for Ragnarok and "Levia-tahn" was Scorpion. Curiously, on her final day, her sickbed mutterings changed, for the first half of the day asking for "Papa", asking if "Papa" if "Mama" was coming back and expressing her concern "Mama" hadn't come back yet. Historians are not sure whether or not "Papa" was her actual father or if she meant Darkness, although who "Mama" might have been is under debate. Some historians suggest "Mama" might have been either Ragnarok or Scorpion Merrow, but if "Kora" was Ragnarok and "Levia-tahn" was Scorpion Merrow then "Mama" would have had to be an entirely different and unknown third person not found in any known records of the Crescent Scorpions. In the second half of her final day she suddenly began to scream in what was interpreted as terror and began to thrash around, expressing concern that somebody was killing "Kora" but her movements were such a danger to herself she had to be sedated. She did not wake up again. Ishiki died in her sickbed in a small farmer's hut near the Black Forest at the age of 49, without even anybody who knew her name by her side. Her body was identified by a passing knight two days later. Her body was given a funeral pyre out of respect for the woman she had been, for the strength she had possessed, and for her services in ridding the world of the Ent's Guardians single-handedly.
Scorpion Merrow: Species unknown, supposedly descended from the sea serpent Leviathan, claimed to be the last living Merrow and the only survivor of the Merrow Genocide in 1409 AD. Appeared on the scene in 1411 AD. Claims were never verified. Member of the Crescent Scorpions, expert swordswoman, used a lot of poisons, potions, and drugs/hallucinogens in her combat style. Rumored to be the only human or even part-human to have ever joined the Crescent Scorpions. Disappeared from history in 1434 AD in the mountains of France. Historians suspect she may have gone on to become Lady Lisandre of France, killed by Rekku in 1444 AD.
Non-Scorpion prominent figures:
Lady Lisandre: A woman of mysterious past, she was found near the base of the mountains in 1434 AD clutching a sword and the arm of a "monster" that historians believe may have been Ishiki's missing arm. Historians believe that Lady Lisandre may have in fact been Scorpion Merrow, although her memory was absent and she had no tattoos or Penance Markings that would mark her as a Scorpion of any Faction. Horribly wounded, she had a long recovery process that left her with health problems for the rest of her life. The noble who discovered her and saved her life fell in love with her during her recovery process despite her supposed physical deformities from her past life and married her. She never appeared in public unless she was covered head to toe with her left eye covered, and was never seen walking on her own. She bore three children, although in 1444 AD she and two of her children were killed by a wandering beggar who was later identified as Rekku. Only her eldest child survived, a young woman named Lorelei who was afterword hidden from the public eye.
A description of Lady Lisandre was found in a traveling entertainer's journal almost fifty years after her brutal murder. Whether it was correct or not is a matter of debate among historians, although little snippets of it have been confirmed in partial in other journals, both medical and of people who were known to visit with Lady Lisandre during the remainder of her short life.
'" had the most unfortunate luck while staying at a noble's mansion in the south of France. By mistake I walked in on the mysterious Lady Lisandre while she was in the bath. What she may have been through in her life, I cannot even begin to imagine. She is five foot six, with shoulder-length brown hair and one half-blind blue eye, Caucasian, possibly of Italian descent. Half of the hair on her head, on her left side, has been burned off, and the skin is black, charred to the feel, extending down to her cheek. Her left eye is missing, and the right side of her face looks as though is has been used frequently as a chopping board. She is missing at least half her teeth and her right ear has a hole in it where it looks as though a bird's talon tore right through it. Her left ear has a few flaps remaining where it was clearly grabbed and torn off her head. Her nose has had a chunk cut out of it, and she appears to have lost a portion of her tongue. Her body has not fared much better than her face. There in not a doubt in my mind there are more scars all over her body than there is flesh remaining. Her right hand has only the thumb, the first two fingers on it remaining. Her left hand has only the thumb and the smallest finger. She only has two toes remaining on her right foot. The other fingers and toes look as though some wild beast mauled her and bit them off, as well as a portion of her hands and foot. Just below her left knee, there in a very jagged nub where the rest of her leg, and therefore her foot, has been torn off. Clearly, by the look of it, not bit off, not cut off, but it looks as though somebody actually grabbed her leg and tore it off sideways like one might tear fabric. She is missing her left breast entirely and her right breast is partially missing. I suppose she might have screamed upon seeing me, but it seems she has great difficulty speaking in anything more than a hoarse whisper. This is quite understandable, as it looks as though her throat has scars from being strangled with a chain, from being mauled by some beast's claws, from being cut multiple times with bladed weapons, both straight and jagged. How a woman like her was able to bear children, or what she might have gone through before her husband found her at the base of the mountains, I cannot even begin to imagine, for not even most soldiers I have come across have taken so many wounds even in war. Truly, I have seen corpses in better condition than this woman living and breathing still on this earth- to say that she has been blessed by whatever god she worships, I truly believe, this is no sort of blasphemy."