| Hassan al-Alamut | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born: | Unknown |
| Died: | 1132 |
| Children: | Fatima, Shala, Haroun, Chandra, Jamilah, Faida, Amal, Adira (adopted) |
| Titles: | Old Man of the Mountain |
| People | |
Hassan al-Alamut, the man who came to be known as the first Old Man of the Mountain, the Swift Dager of Night, the Sinister Hand of Death Himself, [1] or Alamut's Child, [2] had formerly been known just as the Prince. [3]
Prince[]
When Hassan was born his mother died, and since then his father did not marry again. He had an Ashalan as nursemaid. [4] When the Ra'Shari trading caravans entered Medinaat al-Salaam, his father shared his bed with a gipsy woman known as the Grey Woman. Prince Hassan did not trust the Ra'Shari, and he bitterly wondered if his father had never remarried due to his love for this Ra'Shari woman. [2]
Hanan Talibah[]
In 825 [5] the Prince became the lover of Hanan Talibah, who would lead the downfall of the Sultan, the father of Hassan. [3] Hanan was a powerful sahir who had other sahir as followers. She began to help the people of the city and became the most prominent sahir of the city, which at the same time was suffering strange incidents where other sahir were slain. When in 828 [6] the Caliph died in an accident Hassan and the people claimed that Hanan would succeed, and she became the new Caliph. [7]
Cursed[]
His father in 829 began to criticize the Caliph's edicts. Using her wiles and dark magics she placed the Prince under her control. [6] Hassan was manipulated by his lover into slaying his father. He awoke with his hands bloodied alongside his father just in time to be discovered by the Grey Woman. She cast a curse upon him. [3]
"A thousand curses upon you and all in this house! Forevermore! Forevermore, your children will pay for your crime, and none shall survive the wretched fate you have assured them. All the sons, and all the fathers, until there are no more... And you will live to see it done, until there are no more to kill. You will be the last to die."
- The Grey Woman [3]
|
The Prince fled the scene and moved to the desert. [2]
Hidden Mountain[]
In 830 he spent three months wandering in the Burning Sands. After two months he had been attacked by bandits, and wounded arrived to a Hidden Mountain. Hassan was tended by an old yogi called Alamut, who lived there. After he recovered the Alamut began to train him in the secrets of the yogi. In 850 Alamut died and Hassan left the order of Yogi and returned to the Jewel seeking vengeance. [2]
Confronting Hanan[]
Hassan saw the iron fist ruling of the Caliph and her khadi guard on the Jewel. He stablished in the underworld of the city, killing several rivals and earning money to fund his revenge. His activities caught the eye of the Caliph and eventually the arranged a meeting. They were alone and fought in personal combat, but Hanan easily defeated him, with her powers. She spared his life, and Hassan's hope was broken. [8]
Concealed identity[]
Hassan used his wealth to make a new identity, as a rich merchant. He married and had a son, who was born tiny and with a deformed arm. His son grew up with a cruel and hateful demeanor. His wife aged, while Hassan remained young, and after she died Hassan wed again. In 875 a new son was born, which was seen as a rival by the elder one. He enraged and stabbed Hassan in the heart, but did not die. When he recovered from the surprise took the dagger and cut his son's throat. He realized the complete effect of the Grey Woman's Curse. [9]
Meeting the Grey Woman[]
In 878 Hassan sought the Ra'Shari, who had been expelled from the Jewel since the day of his father's death. He eventually met the Grey Woman, but she did not talk with him. Another gipsy told him that he had to wait until the Ra'Shari caravans returned to the Jewel. This day would mark the near end of the curse. [9]
Meaning of the Curse[]
Hassan realized which kind of curse had been cast against him. The fathers of his family would be always killed by their sons. Hassan would live until the rest of his male descendants were dead. He would never age if any male descendant was alive, and no wound would kill him. He would be able to recover, even it was a painful and slow recovery. [10] His sons would bear marks, twisted features, internal deformities, or were slow minded, among others. [11]
Order of the Mountain[]
In 880 Hassan claimed the title of Man of the Mountain [12] and became the patriarch of the cursed lineage of the Assassins, for the next three centuries. In the Hidden Keep of the Assassins he created the Order of the Mountain. His Children fought a silent war across the streets of Medinaat al-Salaam, a feud that had been carried out since one of their own took the very position of power they once sought to overthrow. He waged a war of revenge for centuries. [13]
Immortality[]
Hassan planned to become immortal, so he needed a son alive all the time. The time he did not have any son his body aged again, and when his body resembled the one on his fiftieths he was known as the Old Man of the Mountain. After the death of his second wife he trained his daughters in the art of killing and stealth. [12]
Owl[]
Old Man's Owl
The Old Man had a trademark owl beside him. It used to advice of any danger nearby. [14]
Legend[]
Few residents of Medinaat al-Salaam rivaled the Immortal Caliph in notoriety, but he came close: Hassan al-Alamut, The Old Man of the Mountain, the Swift Dagger of Night, the Sinister Hand of Death Himself. He was known by all these names. The Daughters of the Mountain attacked the Khadi, followers of the Caliph, but they also were hired for private affairs. [1]
Houses of Dahab[]
In 1105 the Houses of Dahab closed several brothels, which was retaliated by the Order. Fatima, the elder of his daughters, was distinguished in combat, while his second daughter, Shala, felt she was put aside. Hassan met a Merchant King who revealed himself as a Qolat, those who sought the mortals rule over the Gods. The Old Man killed him because he considered himself a follower of the prophet Mekhem. [12]
Children[]
In 1108 omens that the current Age would end reached Old Man's ears. He adopted Adira, a orphan he met in the streets. Hassan knew she would abandon him in the future, but Adira would become his way of redemption. [15] She was devoted to his goal of eliminating the Caliph and restoring him to power. His eldest daughter was Fatima, [16] His son Haroun was born in 1112 and he did not bore any sign of the curse. He grew and showed great aptitudes to became a Children of the Mountain. [15] He had other children, Chandra and Jamilah. [17] His elder daughter Fatima was seen as his natural heir. In 1125 after a successfull mission Hassan gifted her with the Wicked Moon, the legendary dagger of the order. Several of his daughters saw Fatima as a threat and plotted against her. [15] When one of his sons betrayed the family stealing an entire year's proceeds from one of the Order's brothels, his fifth-son Faida quickly took care of the traitor. [18]
Obsidian Mirror[]
In 1130 foreigners arrived the Burning Sands and were taking captives by the Senpet. A Ra'Shari Dancer, Shalimar retrieved a heavy circle of glass. She passed it to the Old Man, who realized the power the artifact possessed. They came to the sewers and showed it to the Assassins, and he foresaw the fall of the Immortal Caliph, Hanan Talibah, and her allies the Senpet. A blood-red Scorpion was clearly visible upon its watery surface. [19]
Assassins' Heir[]
The Old Man trusted only his eldest daughter to do the deed, to kill the Caliph. He tasked her with that mission [20] which marked Fatima as the Assassins' heir, over the rest of his children. [21] Fatima did not return. [22]
Death[]
Old Man's Death
In 1132 his son Haroun gathered all the male Assassins and made a suicidal attack againsta the Senpet garrison of the Jewel. All of them died, but Haroun, who faked his death. [15] Hassan died at the hands of his daughter Fatima, [16] and Adira continued to seek to fulfill his goal, to kill the Caliph. [23] Haroun had faked his death, but he was not a true son of the Old Man, but an infant planted by the Qolat, so no man of his lineage had survived to protect him from death. The forewarning the Ra'Shari had told him three centuries before became truth. His curse had ended. [24]
New Old Man[]
After an internal fight between different factions Haroun took his father's title, the Old Man of the Mountain. [17]
Legacy[]
Sinan's Tale[]
Hassan's history was recorded under the nickname of Sinan by the Caliph Adira, in a book which became the third-most common manuscript in Medinaat al-Salaam. Many of Sinan's tales, including “Sinan and the Wise Men of the Cave,” “Sinan meets the Immortal Man of the Moon,” and, “Sinan and the Sultan of Hearts,” did not end with an obvious moral coda or happy ending like most of the other stories in the book. [5]
Memorial[]
Once every year, on either the anniversary of the Old Man's birth or the Old Man's death, each cell of the True Children of the Mountain sent one member to the abandoned Hidden Keep of the Assassins. [25]
External Links[]
Old Man of the Mountain
- Old Man of the Mountain (LBS - Shadow of the Tyrant)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 153
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 157
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 LBS - The Rise of the Caliph, by Patrick Kapera
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, pp. 156-157
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 155
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 156
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 98
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, pp. 157-158
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 158
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 161
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 169
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 159
- ↑ The Assassins
- ↑ Immortality's End (LBS - The Awakening flavor)
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 160
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Fatima's Tale
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Re-Awakening, Part 1, by Lucas Twyman
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 173
- ↑ The Assassins, by Patrick Kapera
- ↑ Fatima (LBS - Shadow of the Tyrant flavor)
- ↑ Fatima (LBS - Shadow of the Tyrant flavor)
- ↑ Moonless Night (LBS - Shadow of the Tyrant flavor)
- ↑ Starter Quotes (LBS - The Awakening)
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 171
- ↑ Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game, p. 165
| Preceded by: None |
Old Man of the Mountain 880 - 1132 |
Succeeded by: Haroun |
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