Mediogalti Island

The largest landmass off the western coast of Garund, Mediogalti Island seems at first glance a wild place, made even more perilous by its residents. In its misty jungles, monkey goblins and kobolds hunt—or hide from—ferocious dinosaurs and ruthless lizardfolk, while pirates of all stripes carouse in the deepwater port of Ilizmagorti. Yet beneath the surface chaos, the island is in fact a tightly controlled nation run by one of the most feared organizations on Golarion: the Red Mantis assassins.

Following a vision from their murderous god Achaekek, the Red Mantis fled the Oath Wars in Rahadoum and settled the island in 2559 ar. They quickly began construction on a new headquarters, the Crimson Citadel, deep in the verdant mountains of the island’s interior. After it was finally completed nearly 4 decades later, the cult turned its attention to converting the existing pirate town of Ilizmagorti on the island’s northern shore into a haven for criminals and fugitives, the better to host those looking to contact the assassins with job offers. Though the Red Mantis has little interest in directly governing the affairs of locals, it officially owns all establishments on the island, with proprietors paying for the privilege of operating them. The city’s constantly shifting population of thieves and scoundrels remains astonishingly polite due to the well-known fact that most members of the Red Mantis live covertly among the city’s residents, so any bartender or shopkeeper could be a highly skilled assassin in disguise.

The Red Mantis itself is a mysterious organization, though its agents, when active, are instantly recognizable by their black-and-red armor, mantis-like helmets, and sawtooth sabers. The assassins’ fame comes not just from their incredible reliability, but from the fact that they ensure their clients stay dead, preventing any chance of resurrection.

Their fees vary widely, and

ACHAEKEK

He Who Walks in Blood takes the form of a giant mantis and is the patron god of assassins, especially the Red Mantis. Created by other gods as an implement of retribution against mortals who might challenge divine authority, Achaekek kills with professional detachment and encourages his followers to do the same. He refuses to kill other gods, however, and thus forbids his followers from killing mortal monarchs, seeing them as divinely appointed to their roles.

BESMARA

The freewheeling Pirate Queen is the goddess of buccaneers, privateers, sea monsters, and all those who ply the waves to take their fortune by force.

She encourages her worshippers to defy laws and customs that hold them back from what they desire, yet she demands that they follow the pirate’s code—once signed on with a ship, they must remain loyal to their captains and crews until they reach port.

CRIMSON CITADEL RELATIONS

Relations among the nations of the high seas are tense, to put it mildly. The Free Captains are never more than a wrong word away from knifing each other, and they are even less generous toward outsiders. As for the Red Mantis, only the truly desperate seek dealings with them.

And though they are not xenophobic like the Mordant Spire elves, Hermeans still keep to themselves on their island.

Plenty of people from the mainland admire them and seek them out for their impressive abilities, but many more consider them hopelessly arrogant, if not downright immoral for their pride in their carefully orchestrated bloodlines and eugenics practices.

MORDANT SPIRE while nonnegotiable, are largely symbolic—for the Red Mantis, assassination is a form of worship. All targets are valid apart from rightfully placed rulers of nations; these are exempted by divine law. Rank-and-file agents are self-organized into cells to fulfill various contracts, but all pay deference to the Blood Mistress, who acts as the undisputed voice of Achaekek, and to her Vernai (or “High Killers”), a cabal of mostly female assassin lords.

Only Red Mantis members know the exact location of the Crimson Citadel— would-be clients who seek the cult’s attention instead typically advertise their desires in Ilizmagorti. Yet rumors of the stronghold’s wonders and horrors are still whispered in bars and throne rooms across Golarion. The lower levels, called the Ruby Halls to evoke walls stained with blood, are the cult’s training center, stocked with deadly beasts and traps. The central levels, called the Honeyed Gardens, make up a pleasure palace where the assassins celebrate successful jobs with every vice imaginable, relaxing in the spray of a waterfall of fresh blood. The fortress’s towers, called the Lavish Heart, house the cult’s leadership, while a hidden sanctum called the Iron Heart holds the Sarzari Library, said to be an impressive collection of ancient knowledge accessible only by the Blood Mistress herself.