Red Priests

The Red Priests are the semi-mysterious masked police of Ortuxl. Every evening at sundown, they blow their magical death whistles to signify the beginning of curfew, and every morning at dawn, they likewise signal the end of curfew. Anyone found outside in the streets during curfew is subdued and brought before a magistrate. Often the punishment is a period of bloodletting in the crows' cages.

The Priests are rarely seen in groups of more than one or two, except when there is a public disturbance or a conflict between clans. Ordinary police work is handled by the armed retainers of the various clans that police their own areas. When the Priests do make an appearance, the result is often bloody.

The Priests are dressed in ceremonial rusty-red bandages similar to those shown on engravings and statues of Overseers. The bandages are easily concealed beneath ordinary clothes, and it is said that the priests walk among the citizens during the day incognito, listening for voices of dissent.

When it is time to act, they don skull masks of red-lacquered wood and move with deadly speed. They usually fight open-handed or wielding spiked chains or tiger-claw-like knuckle dusters. In a fight, they seldom take prisoners, and they leave the mutilated corpses where they fall as an example to everyone else.