Flame-Touched Trust

The Flame-Touched Trust (sometimes abbreviated as FTT) is a shadow organization that unofficially acts with the approval of The Children of the Flame, but officially doesn't exist. Their entire operation is a carefully kept secret. They are tasked by the Flametongue with seeing out official Children of the Flame duties that are considered to be too unpopular to be done within the public eye, but still necessary for the faith's goals. They primarily operate in a noncentralized fashion, though The Black does keep a headquarters base in Brightburg and that is where many of his meetings take place in secret.

As an origanization serving the Children of the Flame, the Flame-Touched Trust's goals most often align with that of their faith's. More specifically, they receive orders only from the current Flametongue in the faith. However, as the organization's existence is secretive, members of the Flame-Touched Trust have been known to act in their own interests on occasion such as to consolidate power, enrich themselves, or eliminate rivals.

The Trust is run by a small group at the top, and hire most of their people on a job to job basis. The Black at the top, who appoints five leaders called Fingers, who then hire on Spots for their jobs.

The Black is the singular leader of the Flame Touched Trust, and would report directly to the Flametongue. They have complete authority over everyone under them within the Trust, but are still entirely beholden to The Flametongue. Their identity is a carefully guarded secret, most likely only known by The Flametongue and the five Fingers of the Trust. They are appointed by The Flametongue personally and may be anyone they deem worthy and capable. They serve until death.

There are at any given time five Fingers of the Trust. They are appointed by The Black. They do not differentiate themselves and instead are all referred to as “Finger.” They undertake the most high profile and pressing missions entrusted to the Trust and are very skilled assassins, infiltrators, liars, and manipulators. They usually serve for life, except for very rare circumstances, such as moving to another tier of the CotF. Each Finger has a ring that distinguishes them as a Finger: an oval shaped red gem laid in a simple band of varying colour, always worn on the right ring finger. Because Fingers' identities are highly protected secrets, normally even to each other, this is a way for them to identify themselves as friendly to other members of the Trust and their rank.

Spots are the lowest rank of the Trust. They are usually on a “need to know” basis and hired on by Fingers who need more help with a particular job. They may be contracted for an amount of time or on a job-by-job basis and good Spots are often used again in the future. This is what sets them apart mostly from an expendable merc. Some Spots learn too much, and have to be killed for what they know. Conversely, some Spots are let go before they become a liability; this is called “getting to the green.”

The Trust has little reputation to speak of amongst the public, as they are not known publicly. In the underground circles where they tend to hire their Spots from, they are a main source of business though dangerous to work with. They have no issue with disposing of a Spot that is a little too snoopy or greedy. While this is a huge risk, the hired Spots do get paid well, making it worth it for those with little other options except a life of crime.

The Children of the Flame grants them the power to operate within Velysord. This connection is not even known to the Obsidian Order, so even as arms of the same government the two are not allies. FTT members steer clear from the Order just as any criminal organization would, and are granted no exceptions if caught.

The Flame Touched Trust was founded shortly after the theocracy of the Children of the Flame. At first, it was just the leader, The Black, serving as an assassin and spy for the first Flametongue. Over time, as need became larger for the new country, the organization was expanded.