A street gang whose members walk the streets wrapped in crimson shrouds. Rumors say that their numbers include ghouls and zombies.
Gliding through the streets in the dying red of twilight, draped in tattered funeral shrouds like wraiths, these elves strike terror into the hearts of their prey. They are one of the oldest gangs in Stormreach, having first appeared over fifty years ago. They have seemingly been destroyed a number of times during this period, only to rise again after a few years in the shadows. Like the Skullborn of Aerenal, members of the gang engage in ritualistic self-mutilation, using toxic alchemical substances to necrotize flesh and peeling away strips of their face with scalpels. The efforts they put into their appearance do not go unrewarded. Business owners and merchants are occasionally willing to stand up to other gangs who try to squeeze “protection” money out of them, but few are willing to stare down a rotting corpse, especially one accompanied by a true zombie or wraith.
Although extortion is their most common activity, the Shrouds also sell their services as hired muscle and killers for hire, using their wraiths as incorporeal killers. Their leader is a loyal ally of the Quickfoot Gang and refuses any contract that would put her at odds with the Quickfoot Gang’s leader. The Shrouds have also been known to murder people for no apparent reason; when the inquisitive Shurya d’Velderan was asked to investigate one of these deaths, she concluded that it was a ritual sacrifice—one piece in a grand ritual that might take a century to complete.
The Shrouds are familiar with a series of tunnels beneath the city and can move about unseen. Whereas many gangs confine themselves to a single quarter, the Shrouds can appear anywhere. As a result, they have come into conflict with the Bilge Rats, the Titans, and even the Knights of Thrane. Their affinity for undead would seem to make the Shrouds logical allies for the Blood of Vol, but the elves have shown little interest in working with the largely human Seekers of Grindstone.
The members of the Shrouds include a number of undead that have the ability to create spawn. However, this ability affects only elves. Wraiths kill mortally wounded Shrouds to turn them into new wraiths; if this fails, the gang’s leader raises the dead Shroud as a zombie.
The Shrouds are a relatively small gang, but it’s possible that the visible Shrouds are merely the tip of an iceberg. Most assume that the Shrouds are an offshoot of the Aereni Stillborn, but a far darker prospect is that the Shrouds are the descendants of the original elf slaves who remained loyal to the Cul’sir Empire— which would mean that a dark court of wraiths and ghosts has remained hidden in tunnels below the city for thirty thousand years. Whisper and her allies, so the theory goes, are among the few living, corporeal elves of this line, and their sacrifices empower spells cast in the depths. In this case, the horrible disfigurements of the Shrouds might not be caused primarily by necrotizing chemicals, but rather by generations of inbreeding and exposure to negative energy.
The Shrouds are run by an unusually tall elf woman who calls herself Whisper. Nearly seven feet in height and incredibly long-limbed, Whisper is an imposing figure draped in perfumed shrouds. She is a priest of the Keeper, and her talents at intimidation are nearly as impressive as her deadly touch and ability to animate the dead. If it serves the needs of the story, Whisper could be considerably more powerful—especially if she is the emissary of an ancient undead court below Stormreach.
Until recently, Whisper was inseparable from her brother, Rashade. A clash left him dead, but recently he was seen at his sister’s side again, this time fully shrouded in veils. They say his gaze alone strikes foes dead now.