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Ort+Sol: The Viz-Jaq’taar, the Assassins

by - 10 years ago

Nearly two thousand years ago the lands of Sanctuary were thrown into chaos during the Mage Clan Wars. In order to save themselves during the war the beleaguered Vizjerei clan fell back on its trump card, demons. With hordes of demonic soldiers at their beck and call the Vizjerei mages quickly fought back the rival clans, devastating anyone who stood against them. The Vizjerei’s windfall was short lived as the schism formed within the clan and a civil war broke out between their two most powerful mages, the brothers Bartuc and Horazon.

The war between the two brothers left the Vizjerei in ruins. After Bartuc was defeated and Horazon retreated into a self-imposed exile what remained of the Vizjerei leadership quickly decided that the corrupting influence of the denizens of the Burning Hells was too dangerous to ever risk using again. As they began to rebuild their clan the Ruling Council made a new edict that mages were no longer allowed to summon demons or dabble in demonic magics and to enforce this edict they created the Viz-Jaq’taar, the Order of Mage Slayers.

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assassin

Shrouded in Shadows

The Viz-Jaq’taar, or as they are more commonly known as ‘Assassins’, used secrecy as one of their greatest weapons. The Assassins were akin to ghost stories mages told their pupils to keep them inline. If you turned to demonic magic the Assassins would get you. Many magic users didn’t have any idea that the order actually existed and those who did know spoke of them in whispers less they might draw the order’s attention. This fear of the Assassin’s helped to keep mages in check, since so little was known about the order their numbers and capabilities were always shrouded in mystery.

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Diablo Assassin by Artofty

Fighting Fire Without Fire

The Assassins needed a way of combating some of the most formidable beings in Sanctuary while at the same time distancing themselves from the magic that would lead to corruption from demonic influence. The Assassins swore to never directly use magic so that they could avoid ever falling to demonic corruption, but how would they combat powerful mages and the demons they summoned? As a solution the order turned to look within. The Assassins trained themselves in the martial arts and the use of enchanted items to mimic elemental powers. They also learned to focus their mental discipline to further steel themselves against demonic influence among other benefits. Some Assassins were able to focus their mental abilities to the point that they could use it as a weapon to attack the psyche of their enemies putting them into stupors or even controlling their actions for small periods of time. This combination of martial prowess, mental discipline and an arsenal of arcane devices at their disposal made even a lone Assassin more than capable of routing renegade covens or powerful rogue wizards.

The Unseen Watchers

While the Assassin order is relatively autonomous it still works closely with powerful Vizjerei. Shortly before the Star fell over Tristram, high councilor Valthek of the Vizjerei had been working with an agent of the Viz-Jaq’taar to keep tabs on the powerful sorceress Isendra, who was one of the mortal heroes who had defeated the three Prime Evils twenty years ago. Isendra was becoming increasingly distraught over the plight of the local populace around Caldeum that were suffering from an unnatural heat wave. She had become unstable and attempted to use powerful elemental magic to counteract the heat wave but lost control and ended up killing an entire village. For as powerful as she was, Isendra never saw the blade that ended her life. It is this event that raises an interesting question about the Assassin order, do they merely watch and wait until someone strays off the path? Could the unknown spy have saved the village by stopping Isendra before she completed her forbidden spell?

The order must have a very strict code if it prevented one of their members from interfering to save countless lives. Could these ancient ways be one of the reasons why one of the few known members of the order, Natalya, turned her back on the Viz-Jaq’taar? She left to follow the patch of the Demon Hunters and actively hunt the demonic corrupt that was quietly slipping into our world. With the Worldstone gone and the Burning Hells unstable without any leaders what will the Assassins do? Will the order be able to adapt their ways to combat new or unseen threats? Or will they quietly keep watch over their own, making sure no one crosses the line while Sanctuary burns around them?

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Whitney Fairchild

Whitney "Neinball" Fairchild has been involved in the Diablo podcasting community since 2011. He focuses on the analyzing game development and the lore & story of the Diablo franchise.


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