Overview
The Children of Prophecy are a small exclusive group that rarely works with any other faction of the world. They were all created by one man who remains nameless and is known only as "Father" or "The Mage." The Children must follow the will of Father without question, though they do have enough freedom to choose how they go about carrying out his wishes. A second internal command that the Children mus follow is the command of their innate prophecy. Every prophecy has a fulfillment, and each Child must strive towards that fulfillment.
The Children were each created using a prophecy, albeit a false prophecy. The Father managed to find a way to write his own prophecies in such a way that it caused a child to simply come into being. These prophecy born children possess power given to them by the prophecy used to create them. The power of the prophecy enables them to perform feats that would be impossible for normal men to perform.
A Child of Prophecy cannot be permanently killed. They can die just as easily as a normal man, but they will always return in some way, whether through resurrection of some kind or through rebirth. The Prophecies will not allow the Children to die while they remain unfulfilled, for a Prophecy must always come true, and the Child cannot fulfill the condition if he is dead. Therefore, the only way to permanently rid the world of a Child of Prophecy, is to have him fulfill the prophecy, then kill him.
Origins
The Children were created in a lab in the mountains. They were created by The Mage as a set of personal bodyguards and errand runners, whether errands consisted of retrieving something or killing something. The first Child appeared terribly disfigured and died within hours of creation. The next two Children appeared properly formed, but their minds were broken and unstable, making them useless to The Mage, so they were sent away. The fourth child was strong and possessed a healthy mind and body, but he would not obey the mage. His powers were sealed and he was sent away. It was only with the fifth child that the formula was perfected.
Distinguishing Traits
It is extremely difficult to tell a Child from a regular person. Many of the differences between Children and normal humans are easily disguised over short periods of time, making them hard to distinguish at first glance. It is easier to tell a Child from a human after spending a long time with them, especially in early life. Children grow faster than normal people, reaching their adult size and maturity by around age ten. Children also have silghtly odd colored eyes, many Children's eyes even change colors depending on random factors. Probably the most obvious traits of the Children are their powers. Each Child has a magical power and is constantly driven to use it. They can hide their powers by not using them, but eventually a Child will be forced to use it's power. The last trait common to all Children is the way they are named. Each Child is named numerically and sequentially. So if a person is named Six, you can bet she is a Child. Most Children simply use a fake name when they don't wish to be identified.
Goals
Each Child must strive towards the goal set forth by the Father. However, as they may go about striving towards this goal in any manner they choose, most Children have their own personal agendas. Different Children may have been given specific goals by the Father as well, and must strive to carry them out. The last thing dictating the Children's goals is the Prophecy that creates them. Each Child strives towards fufillment of the prophecy, where they want to fufill it or not.
Alliances
The Children of Prophecy have no particular alligence with any other faction of the world. They will ally for brief times with other factions, but only when it becomes nescessary. When they do ally with another faction, the Children attempt to squease that faction dry, then leave it behind in the dust. The Children as a whole do not share power, though some individuals may be ok with it.
Even within the Children there are few alliances. The Children seldom trust each other, and for good reason. Each Child has their own agenda and most do not care who gets hurt in the process of achieving said agenda. This being said, Children are more likely to assist each other to achieve a common goal than to assist other factions.
Location
The Children hold no particular political clout or control over any region of the world. They work with equal strength in all provinces and cities, perferring to pull strings from behind the curtain than to step out and make a bold entrance. They may gain control over an area for a brief time, but once their goal is achieved there, they release their control and retreat into obscurity.
Because of the lack of a seat of power, the Children are exceedingly difficult to target. There is no head to the snake that one can chop off, only individual menaces that spring up on occasion, take command, and then vanish suddenly, often with no discernable reason. This is what makes them dangerous.
