@part(right-hand, root = "/mit/abstract/Characters/sheet.format")

@subsection [The Right Hand]

The Hand.  That which sets the Human Beings above the beasts.  A
complicated structure, it is composed of many parts with varied
functions, yet it functions smoothly as a whole.  This is the nature
of the Right Hand.  You are a highly successful business, employed in
the redistribution of wealth to those best capable of handling it.
Your prey is those members of society who suffer from excessive wealth
and are without the wit or wherewithall to prevent you from going after
them.

There have been a number of threats to the wholeness of your band,
however.  One of the biggest threats to your solidarity is the
existence of the independents, thieves that haven't yet been brought
into the Right Hand's grasp.  Even if you haven't yet caught them,
you've at least managed to identify them all ... except for one.
Whoever he is, he's good; word is out that the Head of the Hand
refers to him as That Damned Independent.  He's been working the
Clearstone Bazaar, avoiding you all for the last five years, and
rumour has it that he's even managed to break into Clearstone Castle!
Whoever he is, the Boss wants him, and @b[now].  He's put up a reward
for the thief who turns him in, and it's a @b[big] one; he's offering
a larger territory and more control and prestige to whoever tags the
Independent.  In an organization like the Hand, that means money,
power, and everything that comes along with it.  Too bad the
Head chose to bring you to the Castle, there isn't much chance you
could find him -- or her -- up here.

Your problems aren't completely internal, though.  Ever since the
beginning of the war against the Realm, both you and the Realm's
Thieves' Guild have been doing a brisk business in your respective
black markets, in profiteering, and the like.  But, just as the Realm
started the war by desecrating the Clan Shrine and overrunning Clan
territories, the Thieves' Guild is beginning to interfere with your
workings, your turf.  It's probably just the exigencies of war pushing
them to it, but you're not going to let them push any further.  Your
boss, the Head of the Right Hand, has made the opening moves in a bid
to take over the Thieves' Guild, an out-and-out turf war.  He's had
you hit some of the Realm merchants -- an easy enough job, they never
seem to be expecting it.  Some of his moves have been spectacular; you
can feel the Thieve's Guild's morale slipping as they try to figure
out who's behind the mayhem.  It's up to you to make sure morale keeps
slipping, so the Boss can take the Thieves' Guild as swiftly as
possible.  It means more territories opening up, a chance for real
career advancement for someone who does well...particularly anyone who
can discover the identities of the Guild's leaders.

Of course, the big problem has been more the war than the Thieves'
Guild; it's tough to engage in a turf war when there's an entire army
between you and your targets.  Besides, war in general is bad for your
kind of business -- it produces too many paranoid soldiers and stingy
civilians, not to mention putting the economy onto a completely
different footing.  Perhaps more than any other organization in the
Clans, your Hand is sensitive to economic fluctuations.  The Peace
Summit this week may be the perfect opportunity to arrange for the end
of that war, and if the two nations agree to open up trade relations,
so much the better for your plans.  While the Hand is not usually a
political organization, perhaps it's now time for you to become one.

The other assignment you all share on the Castle is far more mundane.
Wars cost money; this is as true for underground turf wars as it is
for official national wars.  Between dealing with the independants and
the Realm's Guild, the Hand's funds have been seriously depleted.  On
a Castle such as this, with legendary artifacts no doubt at every
corner, you and your fellow thieves should be fully capable of
amassing enough funds to win your war.  Money, in many cases, is
power -- and this is one such case.

There are a number of you on the Castle, and rumour has it that the
Head is here as well -- he will probably contact you if he is here.
In any case, Mercy Goldenfield is here.  Mercy is the Right Hand's
financial wizard, the keeper of the books and the records -- in other
words, she gets the Hand's cut of your incomes and is the person
responsible for assigning funds to help you out on your missions.
She'll probably be functioning as the coordinator for the Hand's
affairs for this week.