Abilene... such a normally innocuous name for an organization, in and of itself not one to inspire fear in anybody.  Though in the land of Corymar, 'Abilene' is perhaps the largest and most fearful of legends and myths across the land, second only to the tales of the gods and their many wars long ago when they walked the land of mortals.  That is, for those whose lives are devoted to the pain, suffering, and exploitation of others, the very mention of 'Abilene' is enough to send a cold chill down their spines.  Named after the port town that the group began in two-hundred and thirty-five years ago, Abilene is a guild of highly trained assassins, marked by a high level of technology despite the widespread use of magic, and known to have never made their existence more than a myth after an isolated incident in which a group of seven assassins, after the slaying of the king of Zeruat, declared the act to be in the name of Abilene, which at the time was one of the towns suffering most from the monarch's cruelty to it's citizens and burdening taxation.  Though the next monarch burned the town to the ground and salted the fields to make it inhospitable, he too met his end by a highly talented assassin in the form of a mysterious black substance that exploded in his face, killing him in an instant.<br/><br/>Since then, Abilene has existed as little more than a legend, a myth reinforced by a number of 'odd' occurrences across the many, many kingdoms of Corymar.  Lords, nobles, merchants, criminals, generals... all breeding pain and suffering across their respective lands, and all meeting their end in some form or fashion, almost without fail.  Ranged weapons, utilizing crossbows and eventually the predecessor of the modern firearm, were the most common implement used for the killings, though frequently mentioned were seductresses, mage's talented in illusion, magical and technological traps, and eventually mechanical wrist-weapons, modern firearms, inhaled poisons, advanced and previously unseen unarmed combat forms, and even seemingly random deaths, though they all seemed to end up bleeding from every orifice with an exploded heart for now reason whatsoever, occasionally without ever having been attacked, it seemed.  The assassinations were all attributed to Abilene in one form or another by much of the populace, the legends making the organization out to be anything from a group of seven men and women, all elves, who have been the assassins from the get-go, to being a secret organization from one of the alternate planes of existence, subtly changing the world to suit their every whim and need for reasons ranging from preparing for a takeover to a sense of guided righteousness to mere and utter boredom and a desire to interfere with the lives of all in Corymar for no foreseeable reason.<br/><br/>However, nobody knows for sure if the group still exists or not... except, of course, for the members of Abilene themselves.  Based out of Waterford, another port town seventy miles from the original site of Abilene, the guild of legend is a well run, well constructed, and<em>very</em>efficient guild of assassins, headed by one Grandmaster and six Masters, with close to a hundred highly trained and talented Journeymen and many, many more Apprentices to the guild.  Entry as an Apprentice into the guild requires proving oneself, unknowingly, to a Master within Abilene, or being a trusted and honorably and righteously guided child of one of the existing members, but the numbers of assassins do not suffer for a lack of members in the slightest.  Each Apprentice is trained in the use of modern firearms, stealth and disguise, assassination and guerrilla tactics, and a number of other skills that they are encouraged to find a focus in to make their usefulness to the guild more unique and diverse.  From traditional mages to disciplined and borderline supernatural warriors to dancers and other showmen, Abilene's assassins each are unique from one another, and as they accept all races and all talents so long as they are trained in the few core principles of the guild, it is rather difficult, nowadays, to connect any slaying of anybody back to the guild, save for a few things that<em>might</em>be coincidentally linked.<br/><br/>The town of Waterford, on the surface, is a large, affluent port town.  Like the rest of the towns throughout the land of Corymar, Waterford was blessed by Calistria, Goddess of Lust, before leaving for here very own plane of pleasure several hundreds of years ago, and as a result the entire land of Corymar is a land filled with such lust and sexuality, where it is not uncommon to have conversations about sex publicly, to see people having sex loudly and down alleyways, and even on rare occasions it's possible to find people walking about naked in the streets, having sex in clear view of the town, and even holding massive orgies in the bars and streets.  In Waterford in particular, there are many, many whorehouses, as they are considered an honorable and blessed profession, the establishments fine if costly, and the women in there the cleanest and most beautiful in the land.  Public shows of sex are also quite common, and it hosts one of the largest temples to Calistria herself in the entire land.  Beyond that though, it has a bustling, massive central marketplace that takes u a large portion of the cities center, high-class housing to the east, low-class to the west, the middle-class establishments surrounding the market, with one of the pleasure districts and temples to the north, furthest from the sea.  To the south is the larger of the two pleasure districts, and south of that along the waterline is the port and more of the mercantile locations.  The city, as it were, was completely normal, if one of the ones better off.<br/><br/>Beneath the city, literally underground and expanding out under the ocean to the south, is the 'true' nature of the city.  The top part is an elaborate and effective cover for the base of Abilene, the main source of revenue and recruitment, and where they bring in all the necessary supplies and equipment to fund the expansive New Abilene, name of the 'guild hall', beneath the surface.  It housed, on average, close to a thousand people, the overwhelming majority Apprentices of Abilene, smiths, crafters, and mages that serve as Associates and allies to the guild, though not part of the guild itself in that they did not possess the proper set of skills and had not become apprentices.  The north held the main gate, leading up into the low-class housing to the East of the city, the south holding the majority of the training grounds for Apprentices and Journeymen alike, the west being the main barracks for all genders and races, while the east was where the many Associates lived, worked, and kept the overall supplies for the entire underground city.  The center of the city was the command center, as it were, where Abilene's Seven Angels, the six Masters and the Grandmaster, resided, and where plans and information were sorted and gathered, and where the majority of the magically inclined Associates and Journeymen worked, though the specific natures of what they were doing were always kept under wraps.  Though underground with ocean over the vast portion of the underground city, the roof was enchanted and magically enhanced, to appear as the sky above, even replicating day and night, and though a giant several mile radius dome it would never break; the wizards and dwarves were to thank for such a feat.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Recently, the death of one of Abilene's Seven Angels spread around New Abilene.  The rumors that started quickly became known as truth; the aged elf had died while en-route to his mark in the western city of Crowheart, known as the City of Slaves for it's heavy practice of submission and servitude by the upper echelons of society.  As per tradition, the last several weeks were spent with the remaining of the Seven working to figure out which of the hundred or so Journeymen were talented enough, capable enough, and trusted enough to become the next Master.  Such an honor came with heavy responsibility, and nothing less than absolute loyalty to Abilene was expected, along with a mastery of the basic skills and arts taught to each Apprentice, and a mastery of their own individual talents that served to make them a unique member of the guild.  They had to be the best of the best... they had to be a master as it were to become one of the Masters.<br/><br/>Which is why for Valencia Shadewalker, waking one morning to find a note on her desk (each Journeyman had his or her own small room, complete with desk, table, kitchen, and everything needed for the tools of the trade) was a sign of something great to come, for missions were always given in person, as were most important matters.  But the note... well, it was quite a simple one...<br/><br/><strong><em>Come to my estate, which I know you know for sure how to find.  It is no hurry, but the matter is of great importance, to you and to Abilene as a whole.  Tell nobody of this message, bring noone, and come fully armed and ready for anything.  I will be waiting for you, Journeyman Shadewalker...<br/><br/>-Master Sunete Voladea, one of Abilene's Seven Angels &lt;3</em></strong><br/><br/>Enclosed in the note is a sketch of a dark haired, dark skinned woman with a smile on her face, a portrait image revealing nothing below her neck, just her beautiful smiling face and long, wavy hair.  Also enclosed is a small coin, unmarked and not at all unique...<br/><br/>(you can decide what her room looks like, and yes it's in the western portion of the city, in the barracks.  Here's to a good game ^_^)