Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Doushen

The Doushen is an Immortal term loosely translated as "those who serve." It is pronounced DOO-shin.

The Doushen was first created by Vladimir's predecessor, Easu, sometime in the 1100's. Easu brought together seven of the most deadly and skilled Dark Ones for the sole purpose of pushing the Crusades forward and leading the humans into an epic battle against the Muslim world. Easu was viciously Christian, and had ties to Pope Urban II. I won't go into the massive history lesson, but I'll just say that when Easu finally stepped down in the late 1400's, Vladimir had other plans for the Immortal zealots that the Doushen represented.

Vladimir is Christian as well, but he was strongly against overpowering other religions. In less than a decade, he swept the Doushen clean and recruited a new set of Dark Ones. The entire focus and purpose of the Doushen changed from defending the Cross to defending and enhancing the Immortal world itself. The new members of the Doushen learned several languages and traveled to other parts of the world to establish trade and connections between Great Hall and other Immortals beyond Europe.

By the time William and Thomas arrived on the scene, the Doushen had completed yet another revamp. They were being trained as investigators, spies, and bodyguards. This ended up becoming their permanent identity. The twins rarely see any Doushen members for most of the story, but once they learn of the group's involvement in the investigation of Jack The Ripper (who ended up being an Immortal), their interest in the group is raised.

The twins make it a personal goal of theirs to eventually join the Doushen; to them, membership into such an elite group would almost guarantee that they would earn the respect of the Immortal government.

Of course, joining Vladimir's inner circle is easier said than done...

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