Mikramurka Coastal Clan Elder Found Murdered in Ritual Sweat Lodge, “Black Dagger” Reported Used in “Gruesome Slaying” (news)
Fact: Not one of ours. Uncertain about all allied clans at this point. Identity of victim has not been, to my knowledge, released.
Rumor: Lodge in question is apparently some ways North of Sundsele, on lockdown by the local law enforcement folks, and the regional Circle of Chiefs for Security(*) has sent a full taskforce to ensure no one tampers with anything on site. Some say Tribal Marshals and/or SARO is involved, too.
Does anyone have more details?
(*) To outsiders: this is a Circle consisting of the Chiefs of local clans that specialize in law enforcement, a co-ordinating body for such things in the region. It is usual they just delegate regional matters to one or two of the clans, and highly unusual they’d send a Circle force with representation for everyone. Circles of Chiefs for This-and-That are how local co-operative bodies are usually organized.)
For those who don’t know why local papers are saying it must’ve been an Amarr agent, black daggers are an Amarr custom, though no doubt there are other peoples who have black knives of some sort in their repertoire of murder tools.
A black dagger, typically constructed out of obsidian glass or dark iron, is an Amarrian implement used to mark a soul as corrupt. It is used most commonly in criminal sentencing performed by the Theology Council, which has the authority to convict a person accused of crimes against God, the Emperor or the Imperial Rite. The dagger is typically used to carve a symbol into the flesh to denote heretics, apostates, and those struck from the Amarr Book of Records.
A person marked with a black dagger by the Theology Council courts can never return to the Amarr faith in this world. The best such an excommunicate can hope for, if they have worked to redeem themselves, is mercy from God when they meet their final judgment. When a black dagger is used for executions, Amarr believe that the soul of the sentenced is sent to God bearing what is essentially a note from the executioner declaring that this person is irredeemable. (ref)
Normally this gesture only has relevance if the one killed was (at some point, in the case of heretics and apostates) an adherent of the Faith; a dead heathen is already guaranteed oblivion and the dagger would have little to no meaning.
There are groups within Amarr that view Matari religion as a heresy rather than an outside religion, however, which would make the symbolism fit.
That said, no one outside of the actual formal Theology Council Courts has the authority to use that symbolism, so whoever did this was not acting within the Amarr authority structure.
If anyone is able to acquire images of the object, I can forward them to the Excubitoris Campus’ archaeology department to see how it fits into the typologies of Amarr ceremonial daggers.
I asked about the dagger in the “other” summit. I seem to be consistently one summit behind, whichever summit is ahead.
Given these daggers are symbols of the Theology Council, doesn’t it seem likely this is an effort to misdirect blame and stir the already boiling pot? If practicing another religion was sufficient basis for such a killing, billions and billions would be required.
I certainly don’t put it past religious fanatics to want to kill billions of people. However, the more something is done, the less “secret society” mojo it can possess.
Floseswin, Metropolis – The notorious Khanid warlord and religious leader Cardinal Duke Alar Chakaid has broadcast messages across Floseswin IV threatening a campaign of terror across the Minmatar Republic. In the broadcasts, Chakaid promises to “unleash ninety-three thousand Black Daggers across the Rebel Provinces where they shall surely seek the dark hearts of the Minmatar blood beasts.” The references to “Black Daggers” and “Rebel Provinces” denote Amarr ceremonial weapons and the Minmatar Republic respectively. Students of Amarr sacred mythology suggest the number ninety-three thousand to have some special significance within Khanid cult practices, though this is unclear.
If this is a thing by the Grande Butte Chakaid, and it is indeed part of the “93000 black daggers” that he was ranting about back then, then I feel a little bit disappointed at the sheer prosaicness and lack of imagination shown by him.
I mean, if it is literal black daggers and not the cybernetically enhanced were-hounds that were reportedly seen on Floseswin last year, then it’s a bit you know, kinda lame.
I mean, “Khanid extremist exacts retribution” is about as newsworthy as “Cold, windy weather forecast on Caldari Prime”, really.
Anyway, I thought he was being held captive on some prison planet run by the Tetrimon, no ?
I have no idea how it happened but I have a sneaking suspicion that Efrit fellow is going to say something along lines of: “Amarr spies are everywhere – they’re even killing our Chiefs in saunas with black daggers! To help combat these spies we’re going to ask for more powers to investigate wherever they may be. Especially Mikramurka.”
So possibly some Amarrian assassination, but if so the use of the Black Dagger kind of implies that the elder in question was part of the Amarrian faith?
Possibly some one else using the Black Dagger to deflect investigation to other quarters (those blades were found by the hundred in space a while back).
So once again not really enough info.
I am not aware that the victim was of my clan, but then again they don’t talk to me much (at all). I will nudge some people that owe me some favours to see if I can find anything more.
It is much less than a billion I concede, but ninety-three thousand daggers still seem more tourist baubles than ritual weapons - to borrow Valerie’s word, “lame.” Cybernetic werewolves are certainly cool, if a bit fanciful.
I’m sticking with “misdirection to stir already boiling pot.”
Vehaima raises a plausible scenario. The central government would grab more power even if this were “legitimate” terrorism, however, so the prime minister cannot be automatically accused.
It’s not a clan, it’s a continent. There’s quite a lot of clans there.
The answer to “does this clan have rivals” is pretty much always “yes”, but rivals that would go to the lengths of a murder with ritual weapons associated to the Evil God? Much less likely.
I don’t know the exact identity or the clan of this victim. My trusted sources say it’s not been revealed though no doubt someone knows and the tabloids have it so cannot say if they have any specific ones.
Travel advisory: foreigners and especially those of Amarr blood might want to avoid the region for a while.
So this is rather strange, I have asked around and it is not that people don’t want to talk about this, it is that they can’t talk about this.
The lockdown surrounding this particular murder is extremely tight and even people that should know something about a serious crime in that area simply don’t.
The only thing that I was told is that the victim had attracted some attention recently for “spending beyond their means”. Make of that what you will.
As has been established, it’s not like Amarr have the exclusive rights to “black daggers.” As a singular example, a Krusual clan in Larkugei is known for using obsidian coloured daggers in ritualistic skinning of local fauna for manufacturing their traditional clothing.
Anyway, asking around by friend of a friend of a friend, word on the vine is that RSS is involved, as in, the murder itself. That’s all I got and obviously I can’t guarantee if that’s true.
I personally picked up several black daggers during those operations against illegal slavers a couple years ago. They’re, yeah, not so rare. The desire to use one for murder might be more unusual than the ability to find and acquire one.
Certain Amarrian ritual items are actually illegal in the area; it is not where they want “Faithful” to settle. I expect Amarrian black daggers to count, if these were such and not some other black knife (or just a knife the rumors say was black but in fact was a standard training kri’tak without insignia, at the way the rumor mill is going, honestly).
Incidentally, the rumor mill also says there’s some consternation among the lovely parts of our community that move things that should not be moved, and that one of them has turned himself in in order to protect himself from his comrades.
Yes, that is very concerning. Especially since it is not that long ago when we had outsiders in the form of Krullefor murdering key victims in a Sebiestor jurisdiction case in the same area.