Hemlock Page 2

About

Hemlock is a group of assassins that work for the government of a third-world country on what would be considered Africa. The country is very violent, and they are sort of the backup police for the more heinous crimes. Spots are coveted, and more initiate hopefuls die.

On the force, you are very likely to die, given the sort of danger you go through. On the force, gender doesn't matter, if you're weaker, then you're weaker.

Each person has two outfits (both with capes), one for the burning hot seasons, the other for the ice-cold seasons (If we're thinking celsius, 0 degree winters and 80-90 degree summers on average). You design these in initiation. You also choose the color that best represents you. Because of the need to keep things fair, only one person is allowed to have a single color. The reason for this is that people who choose the same color are liable to think the same way, whereas the force wants to remain as flexible as possible with as many different opinions as possible. Two people thinking the same thing would tip the scales unfairly, so this is ruled out. The same thing goes for if you design the same outfit as someone already on the force.

The other part of initiation is the fighting part, where you demonstrate your skill in all manner of weapons and fighting. The force meets together after several weeks of initiation and decide who gets the spot. There's rarely more than one, as this happens whenever someone dies.

When training, with, say, swords, if you get cut, you have to keep going. If you kill your opponent or merely disarm him, you win. The amount of brutality is taken into account when deciding who's in, as well as skill, strength, cunning, learning speed, and personality.

Some of the names are made up, others are translations in other languages of words like gun, assassin, blade, and death.

Once the story is written, I'll start posting the chapters, but as of right now, it's just an idea.