Kin of Grimoire

For other notable groups in Dallurn, see the subsection in Dallurn's entry.

About

The Kin of Grimoire are a mysterious organization which are reportedly seeking to create the ultimate wizard through different means of experimentation. Their members have been modified to tie their astral presence to deeper reserves of their spirit, giving them a prior unseen depth of magic which seems to have both good and bad side effects. On the strong side, their magic seems to be of a high level, breaking rules and imposing outcomes more on theme than anything. On the bad side, those put under such experiments have odd things happen to their bodies. As one ex-member put it, after certain experiments she became 'broken'. It's been said that the Kin of Grimoire have a deeper motive for their Ultimate Wizard. Recently the member Rurose revealed to PARADIGM that the Kin hope to create this wizard in order to combat the return of The Black Wizard Zeref, said to the cause of the end of the last age, and now long since thought a myth. While the Magic Council of Dallurn has ignored signs of his return, the Kin of Grimoire have heeded them and now look to prepare even at the result of criminal activity.

The Story So Far

The discovery of the Kin

The impact of the Kin of Grimoire has been seen across a number of PARADIGM hired incidents. Before they were recognized as antagonists, Dallurnian guild Soaring Heights hired PARADIGM to investigate an increasing trend of thefts across the kingdom that was themed around magical trinkets and storage crystals known as lacrima. What the agents found was a group known as the Elemental Four, wizards who had been left guildless when theirs was forcefully disbanded by the Magic Council, had been persuaded to crime by one of their own, Erigor, who was now a subordinate under a larger organization. When ultimately confronted by PARADIGM, who offered him an opportunity to stand down, he issued a return challenge that resulted in the lacrima's return and three of the four wizards turning themselves in, but Erigor himself leaving the scene in order to return to those who had hired him. Despite very little information given from him directly, his belongings had been scouted during his speeches and what appeared to be a guild crest was found among them which would later reveal his connection to a larger group, the Kin of Grimoire.

The Library and The Runner

In events that first seemed unrelated, PARADIGM was called out by a distress beacon at Dallurn's Library of Infinity, an ancient tower filled with books that was said to have been there well before Dallurn itself was even established, a relic of the prior age. The tower's guardians, magical constructs known as Astral Tomes, had been subdued and reprogrammed by a pair of invaders going by the names Ultear and Melody. Melody held the power to infuse emotion into her target, and share pain inflicted on her body, while Ultear held powers over time that allowed her to disperse magic to the point of non-existence, as well as shift objects to-and-from their former and future states. While the pair had sought to steal the core of Argente, the Astral Tome of Magic, PARADIGM's intervention saved Argente's consciousness by binding it to the tower proper, leaving Ultear to steal only an empty shell of Argente's former core. Because they were able to rescue Argente, she was able to review what had transpired, and told the Agents of Ultear mentioning that they'd be sending Erigor (revealing him as their subordinate) to deal with their 'runner', a Kin who had decided to leave their ranks, and that they'd be meeting him in Clover Town to see to the task.

Upon arrival in Clover Town, PARADIGM found no immediate word of 'Kin' nor Erigor, but were able to stumble into a strange ongoing event. Orphans were disappearing in the night from a foster home run by an old woman named Mother Mae. Upon investigation, the agents found that this seemed to be a willing escape on the children's part, both by how they were escaping, and the horrible finding that the foster home was also a labor shop where children far too young were being put to use. All things tied together when PARADIGM staked out to see how the children were fairing in their flight, finding that not only did they have help in running away into the night, but that said help was none other than the runner-Kin, a girl with odd spacial-prowess giving the name Emilia Reika. While she was very willing to speak to the agents, she admitted that their experiments on her had made her 'broken', moreso than any of the others, that the procedure had caused her an extensive case of amnesia. She knew they were experimenting to create an Ultimate Wizard, but didn't know why, and could only share minor insights. At first this seemed to be a dead end, until her assassin Erigor jumped into the fray despite PARADIGM's presence. He seemed possessed by an unnatural rage, attacking Emilia, the agents, and even the children in collateral damage until his ultimate capture.

Information and Imagination

With Erigor in hand, PARADIGM had an edge in finding the whereabouts and anticipating the goals of the prior elusive Kin of Grimoire. Despite his prior aggression, Erigor revealed that his induced rage had been from an infusion given to him by Melody under Ultear's orders. Because of this, he willfully gave up all that he knew of the pair and their goals. First, they were heading north to the site of a demon who had once destroyed an entire village but had since been sealed away, and second, revealed that they spoke of a fourth Kin known to him - Rurose, who was on his way to investigate newly discovered ancient ruins said to be from a similar ancient age as the Library of Infinity. Wishing to confront Melody and Ultear with all the information they could, they chose to first chase after Rurose in hopes that handling one Kin would be easier than two, and that he could provide some insights into the intention of the other two.

In finding the man, in contrast of Ultear's criminal behavior, Rurose was an adventurous storyteller and seemed earnestly appalled that his companion's actions turned further and further criminal. He revealed that the Kin were seeking to create their 'Ultimate Wizard' in hopes of countering the return of The Black Wizard Zeref, a figure said to be of myth but the Kin attest to be reality as one who brought an end to the prior age single handedly. He refused to make excuse for Ultear and Melody despite these good intentions, and offered to take PARADIGM to the ruins he was investigating and to freely give up any prize of information on Zeref as an offering of his earnesty. After overcoming several challenges, the involved agents found an ancient tome covered in powerful, though fragmented presence that was disturbing to analyze. PARADIGM had claimed a fragment of Zeref's powers, something claimed to be taboo, and sealed it away in HQ for further investigation.

Witch and Demon

From Rurose, PARADIGM learned that Ultear and Melody would not be looking to unseal the demon of the north themselves. Deliora, the demon in question, was said to be from a Book of Zeref, and the fact that the 'unbreakable' seal was breaking itself was a sign that Zeref's return was itself soon coming. Despite this, the agents had little forgiveness for Ultear's prior actions, and confronted her and Melody in the northern ruined town of Freesia at Deliora's location of sealing. The battle was heated with strong emotion when Melody was knocked early and taken from the battle, leaving Ultear in a rage over both Melody's theft and at the untimely intervention when she wished to confront Deliora personally. By the time she was finally subdued, however, this interaction struck a reaction from Melody, whose emotional power snapped over the battlefield, and used the resulting confusion to flee the scene, leaving Ultear to her capture. This snap also awoke Deliora in the midst of his final awakening, causing him to tear forth from what little remained of the spell that had sealed him, leaving PARADIGM to confront the demon alone after Melody's flight and Ultear's capture. After a hard battle, however, they succeeded in putting the demon down, and found his core to be yet another of the strange books similar to the one they had found in the prior ruins explored with Rurose.

Tying off the Loose Ends

With Ultear in custody and Melody now missing, PARADIGM refocused its efforts on closing out the loose ends lingering in their recent conflicts with the Kin. First, the solidified what would be their final target by interrogating Ultear. She told them that the Kin's true leader was a man by the name of Alistair Gaebolg. By Ultear's word, the man had a deep-seated fear of Zeref's return due to a personal encounter with The Black Wizard himself when Alistair was on a pilgrimage in his magical studies. Since that day, Alistair became obsessed with finding ways to destroy Zeref. The alternative, she claimed, was that Zeref may end up ending the entire age of man, just as he had the last. She revealed that his home of operations is a front of a guild hall in a city on Magnolia Island. The island, separated from Dallurn's rule by the island's young Lord, was the perfect place for the Kin to quietly setup shop outside of the Magic Council's eyes. Her counsel to them was to take their evidence of the Kin's recent foul play and present it to the Lord, who had only middling knowledge of their present affairs in regards to their actual criminal activity.

Second, PARADIGM decided to cut off the Kin's supply of incoming lacrima by following through with a full investigation of Magic and Misc Imports. Prior, Ayame had seen Mother Mae of the orphanage in Clover Town fleeing the town with this company's business card in hand after agents had rescued Emilia Reika. This combined with Erigor's information allowed them to suspect the import company was the Kin's frontal company for smuggling the prior stolen lacrimas to Magnolia Island. Sure enough, on their visit to the warehouse proper, there were immediate signs of nervous and spooked employees as the agents asked them to allow an investigation. Agents allowed those who did not obstruct them to leave the warehouse as they pushed into its backroom, where they discovered none other than Mother Mae herself. Given magical powers by strange experiments inside, she fought PARADIGM with newfound powers of dominating the reality around her in summoning and denial. A strange quirk to her themed powers, however, all could be overridden by making requests polite and following the rules she established. Abusing this, PARADIGM soon bested her and took her into custody along with the others.

Loose Threads

At present, PARADIGM still seeks to follow up on the issues below:

• From Erigor, they had also learned that the lacrima he had been stealing and smuggling was being sent towards the shore in what he guessed was a larger transit operation to have it sent to the Kin's base of operations, though he was no privy to the specifics.
• After the incident at the foster home, Mother Mae abandoned her station when the authorities started to investigate her 'workshop' in deeper detail. Strangely, she was seen musing over a business card labeled 'Magic and Misc. Imports' as she took flight, and then took a train southwards. Timing and coincidence suggest she may have been approached by a Kin after the incident, and that this company may well be tied to the former smuggling operation. If true, their intent with Mother Mae is unknown.
• After Argente's core was stolen by Ultear, Argente's conscious itself was tied into the Library of Infinity's magic latticework to prevent being stolen along with the physical core itself. Since then, Argente has been stranded inside the tower without the ability to manifest into a true body, something which PARADIGM is hoping to remedy, though Soaring Heights does not have an immediate solution for.
• Ultear has now been captured, and is available for whatever interrogation PARADIGM decides is fitting for one of her crimes.

• Emilia has been taking care of Mother Mae's prior foster children, who have been given temporary shelter at Soaring Height's dormitory at the edge of their hometown. While she initially claimed she was a 'broken' Kin, no investigation has been done to see what that implies or what further insights, if any, might be gathered from her current condition.
• PARADIGM is presently in possession of two of Zeref's 'Tomes', strange sealed books with an imposing and intimidating aura about them that's recognizable over many supernatural senses - magic, ki, etc., not just magic sense alone.
• In speaking to Rurose, PARADIGM learned decisively that the Kin of Grimoire's true base of operations lays on Magnolia Island. When other lose ends are complete or decided irrelevant, it's on this island that agents will likely find an end to this overarching affair.

Members

• Melody - A fairly quiet girl with an expression that never shifts or shows any emotion, her powers contrast heavily with this, seemingly capable of infusing emotions into others and sharing senses to her opponents like pain inflicted upon her.
• Ultear - A decisively acting and assured woman, dressed in flowing gypsy attires, she always carries a crystal orb that floats around her, capable of sending it out at opponents as a weapon. Her main talent seems to be manipulation of time, reverting different outcomes around her, such as the existence of spells incoming at her, or objects dropped from her person returning to her (indeed, her control of her crystal ball seems to be similar). It was recently learned that she can't influence people in this manner, at least to any major capacity.
• Emilia - A perky, if quirky girl, dressed as an elegant dancer, she was met by PARADIGM when she was aiding orphans in escaping bad circumstances at the Mother Mae foster home in Clover Town. Instantly cooperative with the Agents, Emilia revealed herself to be the 'runner' from the group during discussions with them, remembering bits and pieces of her transformation into a member of the Kin, but having a sour taste in her mouth of the affairs she was asked to perform. Few of her powers are known, except that she was seen capable of creating a spacial wall as a barrier, and that she could fade her body mostly out of existence in hiding. She also likes to sing!
• Rurose - A man seemingly locked into the idea of adventure and story telling, he claims that the Kin used to be less villainous than recent times, and hasn't been shown to take personal part in any of their recent crimes. His powers revolve around those of the imagination, tweaking reality in subtle ways by speaking out suppositions or guesswork of the uncertain and having fate favor those ideas and outcomes in small ways.
• Mother Mae (Temporary) - An elderly woman who once was in charge of a sweat-shop orphage meagerly justified in Clover Town, she was transformed into an experimental Kin of Grimoire after being invited to their lacrima smuggling warehouse in one of Dallurn's port towns. She was found with powers of environmental domination, up until the agents discovered that her powers only held sway when they did not properly respect mother's authority and act in according politeness. Presently in the custody of the Dallurnian authorities.

Gallery

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  Melody

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  Ultear

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  Emilia

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  Rurose

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  Mother Mae