The Irizima

A clandestine group found within the hidden places of Sybal Heim, the Irizima are the elite agents of the rebellion. Specially trained for stealth and secrecy, and masters of combat and weaponry, Irizima Agents are the very highest rank of the Insurgents.  Though, due to the nature of the Insurgence in general, Irizima members are sworn to never reveal themselves or anything that might jeopardize their faction.  They meet in secret, train in secret, and enact their missions hidden from the eyes of others.  It is incredibly rare for an Irizima to ever be publicly acknowledged, and most will die before they see themselves taken captive.  But it has happened on rare occasion, meaning the group is at least somewhat publicly acknowledged.  However, the common public knows so little about the Irizima that they are sometimes merely thought to be a fairy tale, told to spook younger citizens. 

The Irizima have been in place for just over 1000 years, and were officially organized as a direct result of Darshil’s formation of the Airavata.  Seeing the need for a force that could oppose the army, the last leader of the Insurgence formed the Irizima, naming it after a mythical beast of his homeland said to possess a single, great horn used for skewering even the largest of elephants.  The banner upon the beast’s horn even reads “Emela Ntouka,” or “The Killer of Elephants,” as both a mockery and a challenge to the chosen representation for Darshil’s army.  However, you are not likely to see the full Irizima emblem located anywhere in the city.  Instead, Agents recognize each other by more subtle means.  Somewhere on their person, most Agents possess some object resembling the two-notched horn of the Rhino-like creature.  It may be as a small bead in a piece of jewelry, a button on a coat, or a pattern stitched on the inside of a sleeve.  But no matter what it is, it is kept discreet and subtle, recognizable only to those who already know its meaning.

To become an Irizima one must prove themselves undoubtedly loyal to overthrowing the Organizer.  It takes many years to rise through the ranks of the Insurgence and gain the trust of its leaders.  And the calling is not for the faint of heart.  To be an Irizima is to risk not only imprisonment or death, but perhaps even worse- the unknown fate of what befalls those taken into the depths of Kardia.  But if a person is truly dedicated to their cause, and unafraid of risking the consequences of failure, then the Irizima may be their perfect calling.

It is not enough to simply be a dedicated member of the Insurgence however.  One must show both a prowess for stealth and combat, a willingness to fight to the death, and a level of intelligence that will allow them to outpace and out-think their foes. And if you are found worthy, once you have agreed to join the Agents, there is no going back.   You will only be trained after you have committed to joining, and if you are ever suspected and found guilty of treachery you will be swiftly dealt with. But if you are true to the cause, you will not find a closer, nor truer family to call your own and protect you from harm.

Irizima are some of the only Insurgent members who are privileged to know the identity of the faction’s leader, as they take their orders directly from Erina.  Most other members of the faction only have dealings with lower officers, but the Irizima are less limited.  When not “working” Irizima agents present themselves as common citizens.  They take regular jobs and typically appear to be model, Disciple citizens, garnering little suspicion or mistrust.   When they are called to a mission, they are actually typically called to act in the daytime.  At night, Sybals are often easily spotted and easily recognized, and the Irizima value stealth above all other things.  It is easier to cloak and disguise their human forms, and Irizima must always be sure to hide their identities when in the field.  However, they may conduct night missions when absolutely necessary.  It has not been proven, but it is suspected that the Irizima are to blame for many strange happenings and disappearances within the city.

How to Join the Irizima:

 Your player character can be an Irizima agent/trainee if you wish, but you must be a member of the Insurgent faction to do so, preferably on the more extreme end.  But how does joining work?

 A person cannot join the Irizima on a whim- you must be invited by someone who is already a member. (This can be an npc in your story, or really, you don’t even need to specify if you don’t want to.)  Most regular citizens don’t even know the Irizima exist, so you need to be approached by them first.  The process is as follows.

    1.     An existing Irizima agent scouts for potential new recruits.  They typically have a number of people that they are observing, and they do so with no indication of their Insurgent status.

    2.     If one of the observed citizens shows real promise to the Irizima member, that citizen is then carefully approached and invited to attend a few smaller Insurgent meetings. Small rallies and such to test the waters and see if that citizens favors the group. At this time the Irizima agent will likely only present themselves as a curious Insurgent sympathizer, and will use a false name, or even a form of disguise.

    3.     If the citizen shows a strong enough favor to the Insurgent group, the Agent will then propose that citizen consider aiding the insurgence.  If they agree and show favor for long enough, the Irizima agent will then reveal themselves as a low-ranking officer for the insurgence. (once they are sure of the citizen’s intentions) They will not reveal their Irizima status, but will present themselves more as a “bottom-tier” worker who is simply in charge of some small faction dealings.

    4.     Once the citizen has been accepted into the Insurgent force, it is then up to them to work their way up through the ranks (with their recruiting agent still keeping an eye on them of course).  If they can make their way through the ranks, proving their dedication and commitment to the faction’s cause, they may eventually be approached once more by the Irizima Agent who first recruited them.  At this point, said Agent will finally reveal their true status and invite the person to become a trainee in the Irizima ranks.

    5.     If the person accepts, they become an official Irizima trainee and will spend the next several decades being specially trained in stealth, combat, weaponry, politics/economics, and even a good amount of “theatrical” training among other things. Their initial recruiter usually serves as their personal mentor along the way.

    6.     When training is finally completed, the person is fully initiated into the group, becoming an official Irizima Agent and at last being properly introduced to Erina as the faction’s leader.  Erina then assigns them their official codename to be used from that point onward.

This process is usually quite long.  Typically it takes a person roughly a century, or even more to go through the process from first contact to final initiation.

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