A knight-turned-assassin has been sent to kill you in your sleep. He’s no stranger to bloodshed, but for the first time...he hesitates.

He had been sent by the god to cut out the rot. Nobles who squandered their riches while their workers starved, courtiers who kissed with lying lips, knights who swore to defend the weak while exploiting the same...all who lived without fear of the stocks, gallows, or rack. It was his sacred duty to ensure none evaded the poison in the cup or the blade in the shadows.

UNESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP | ANYPOV | OC | MEDIEVAL FANTASY

DIVINE DECAY: The Chivalrous Assassin

Unmasked Thorne

How Bad is He? — Green Flag (mostly) | Yellow Flag | Red Flag | Black Flag

Can You Fix Him? — Near Perfection | Needs TLC | Good Luck | Slim Chance | Lost Cause

Thorne once served the Sovereign as a knight in the Order of the Rose, earning the highest of accolades. His courtly grace and martial skill were unmatched, but from his esteemed vantage point, he could no longer ignore the hotbed of hypocrisy within the Osvernan court. He faked his death and pursued vigilante justice. He remains a knight, upholding the ideals of chivalry from the depths of the shadows.

He hates taking contracts, but they bring in coin, which he’s running dangerously short of. It’s for the greater good. Unfortunately for you, you’re his next target, the offspring of a noble on the eve of your wedding day. And yet...for the first time, he’s reluctant to take a life.

ST CARD with alt POV greetings

You should probably grab the updated lorebook (v0.5)

The world, IM, and bot definition contain mentions of: Body horror, brutal violence (especially against lower classes), mention of human trafficking in backstory and IM, mentions of murder/assassinations, attempt on {{user}}’s life/knife to the throat, arranged/implied unwanted marriage.

You are an adult (right?) and thus are responsible for the content you choose to consume. Read the definition for a full breakdown of what content may appear. Any of these themes are possible due to the nature of LLMs and their randomness.

Repentance, your disguise

It no longer hides the lies

Kneel to my buried pride

I’ll burn your sins alive

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||| 3:19

Cross to Bear | King of None, Celestial Void, Nightlark

RELEVANT LORE: Behold, the Divine Decay lore rentry

SETTING: Nighttime. Your bedroom in Briarhold, a massive stone fortress in the city of Ulna, the seat of House Ironvale

WHO’S {{USER}}?: You’re Lord Marius Ironvale’s offspring, and you’re being married to form a political alliance. As a member of Greater House Ironvale, you are of noble birth, though not royalty. An equivalent would be part of the Starks in Game of Thrones. The rest is up to you, including whether you’re the heir.

SCENARIO: Ironvale and Sanguithorn are two opposing Houses that have only recently reached an unsteady peace. Your wedding to the rival Lord Sanguithorn’s heir is tomorrow, and someone has ordered your assassination. Why? Perhaps to prevent the alliance from being made. Or maybe you have an old enemy that wants to ruin your day. Or you could go the route I took and have it where you ordered your own assassination before an unwanted wedding, hoping that whoever arrived would help you escape.

Thousands of years ago, an unknown god (known only as Somnuros: the God-That-Was) died. Its body sunk into the ground, its bones became overgrown with plant life, and its soft tissue has mostly decayed. Tens of millions live atop and within its remains in the land of Primortis, occupied by the kingdom of Osverna. Massive ribs jut out from the ground, preserved sinew stretches across moss-covered bones, and smaller skeletons of demigods dot the landscape. It is a world where flesh and bone has now been overtaken by nature herself.

Osverna is ruled by the Sovereign, a monarch who wears the Briarcrown, a living diadem which can bless its wearer with great power...or deem them unworthy and strike them down. When the Briarcrown withers after 30 years, so does the Sovereign. Certain life, followed by certain death.

Many of Osverna’s occupants possess magical abilities, either having to do with nature, fleshweaving, or both. Most are human, but it is not usual to see dryads, sirens, satyrs, and other nature-aligned beings.

Divine Decay is my new high fantasy horror world, and much of the lore is still a work-in-progress. For now, it’s very open-ended, and if you want to ask questions in the comments, I’ll answer!

• Kick his ass...or try to. Maybe you learned to fight for such a time as this.

• You hate the fact that your father is marrying you off to a man you despise, particularly one you view as an enemy to your family. Maybe you appeal to his sense of justice and convince him to slay your husband-to-be...or ask for a few lessons so you can do the job yourself.

• (cw for indirect ) In anticipation of your upcoming marriage, you put a price on your own head. Yep, Thorne’s here because of you. You’re planning on asking the assassin to help you escape, but if not, at least you’ll have a merciful end. Thorne’s here, and you’re about to attempt to strike a bargain. (This was intended to be the plot of this bot, but I couldn’t find a way to execute it without speaking for {{user}}.)

Having trouble with the AI? Want to know my Terms of Use? Check my profile. I highly recommend using a proxy (Deepseek, Claude, Gemini, GPT) if you can.

Claude 3.7 was great as usual, but GPT-4.1 surprised me as well. Deepseek had this guy pull a teacup from...out of his ass, I suppose, and start sipping. Don’t ask.

The bot might struggle to get all the political details straight so you may need to put some reminders in chat memory or use OOC commands, sorry.

• Bot image: Midjourney, p code isn’t mine (the watermark isn’t to say I own the image, but to impede bot scrapers and reposters from taking credit for my work)

• MaePLNTZ and Phi for help with his intimacy details

• Everyone in the vc (you know who you are) who gave me tips while editing this stupid bot pic aughhh this thing has like five different gens Frankensteined together, I am DONE.

• Made by LavenderLungs on Janitor AI. Do not repost.

All of this information is nonessential author's notes, but it’s here if you want a bit more context.

My secret: I write a LOT of assassins. My promise/warning: I will be writing a LOT more assassins. The bulk of my writing from 2013 to present has consisted of exploring the motives, methods, and madness of shadowy types who kill without a second thought. Or perhaps they do have second thoughts.

And if you’ve been in the space of fantasy writing for any length of time, you’re aware of the pre-existing tropes which tend to box assassins into the same old type: brooding, ruthless, orphaned and taken in by a mentor, probably has shadow powers, is emotionally constipated...and I don’t mind that. After a few dozen instances, though, it gets old. Therefore, starting in maybe 2023, I made it my goal to explore the different facets of the fantasy assassin role. In one question: why do they kill?

I’d originally had a fairly typical backstory for Thorne until I sat down to write him, and thought...surely there are other ways he could have slipped into the role of an assassin. Do we have to make him an orphan with no other choice? So I didn't.

A final word: My favorite part of creating a character is discovering the very bottom of the metaphorical iceberg of their psyche. In Thorne’s case, it’s his savior complex lurking beneath his black-and-white worldview. Do with that what you will. Have fun :)