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The Middle East may be the cradle of civilization, but it
is a cradle set afloat upon a sea of blood. For thousands
of years the men and women of the Holy Land have met
one another with daggers, swords and stones, murdering
in the name of faith, tribe or creed. Some of the faithful
know that the violence their compatriots pursue only
serves to keep humanity divided and weak in the face of
the greater threat: demons and monsters of the night. For
as long as the faithful have crouched about fires in the
deserts of modern day Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria,
so have monsters haunted the shadows about those fires,
waiting for them to gutter out and die, that they might
fall upon a prey without recourse.
The violence continues to the modern night. A decrease
in sectarian violence within an Iraqi city may only mean
that the Sunni or Shiite militants have utterly wiped out
the other faction within its borders. Palestinian terror-
ists destroy embassies and hotels, and the Israeli military
responds with fighter jets and assault rifles. An American
soldier moves to help a fallen Iraqi citizen only to be hit
in the back of the head with a brick by another (a man
who is riddled with bullets moments after by the Marine’s
squad mate).
Some might expect that the monsters have won the
Middle East, that the people of the region are too busy
fighting one another or plotting terrorist strikes to orga-
nize themselves against the monsters of the night. Those
people haven’t heard of the Ahl al-Jabal, the People of
the Mountain, who test themselves nightly against the
darkness, afraid of death only insomuch as it represents
the end of their vigil.
Early Islam was particularly rife with violent schisms,
often over issues of orthodoxy and leadership. The first of
these, the break between the Shiites and Sunnis, occurred
almost immediately after Muhammad’s death. The latter
upheld Abu Bakr, a compatriot of the Prophet, as the new
caliph of Islam. The Shiites felt that Ali ibn Abu Talib,
the son-in-law of Muhammad, should take up the mantle
of the spiritual leader of Islam. When the Sunni faction
passed up Ali, again, when choosing a successor for Abu
Bakr, the Shiites diverged from the larger faction, becom-
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ing a rallying point for numerous groups of dissent within
the Islam faith. The Shiites upheld the position of Imam,
the holy leader of Islam and direct heir to the Prophet. A
disagreement over the succession of the Imam within the
Shiite populace resulted in a second schism, producing
the Twelver Shiites and the Ismailis. Yet another schism
within the Ismailis produced the Fatimid dynasty of ca-
liphs and the Naziri Ismaili, the most infamous of which
were the warriors of Alamut.
Hasan-i-Sabah, a charismatic and brilliant leader,
formed the sect that would eventually operate from
Alamut. The sect garnered numerous epithets, the most
lasting of which was Hashshashin, the origin of the word
assassin. The Hashshashin served as a combination holy
order, secret society and revolutionary state, with several
independent cells operating within strongholds across
the region, each answering to the highly secure mountain
stronghold of Alamut. They practiced an ascetic approach
to Islam, and each member was slowly initiated into the
deeper esoteric truths (the batin), an initiation that includ-
ed a preliminary period of dissolution of each initiate’s
faith in the larger society and priesthood of Islam. Were
the Hashshashin merely a heretical offshoot of a heretical
branch of a grand heresy within the region’s foremost
faith, they may have been left largely alone. Instead, the
sect, under the orders of Hasan, struck at highly-placed
officials and rulers within Islam (and later, the Christian
Crusaders), killing each in broad daylight with a dagger
to the heart, earning the enmity of much of Islam.
Over time, the Hashshashin weathered heresies of their
own, but it was Rashid ad-Din Sinan, the Shaykh al Jabal
(Elder of the Mountain), the leader of the Syrian Assas-
sins during the Crusades, who was responsible for the
greatest (and least historically known) schism among the
assassins. Sinan followed the lead of his contemporary at
Alamut, Hasan II (Hasan-i-Sabah’s grandson), in rejecting
the overt ritual trappings of Islam. After Hasan II’s own
family murdered him, Sinan refused to follow the orders
of Hasan’s son and successor. He instead clashed with the
dominant Muslim warlord of the age, Sultan Saladin. The
pair shared a particularly vicious rivalry as assassins struck

cmppemjoft!pg!uif!dsvtbeft!.!bim!bm.kbcbm 252
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at the Sultan and the Sultan’s armies overran Hashshashin
strongholds. Yet the two met in 1176, then went their
separate ways, never to clash again.
Only the closest followers of Sinan knew what had
occurred between the two men. Sinan, who had learned
that a blood-drinking monster had infiltrated Alamut and
manipulated his former friend, Hasan II, had turned his
attention from murdering enemies of Islam to destroy-
ing those very same monsters and the political figures
he believed to be under their sway. Saladin had seemed
to be just such a figure. Saladin, too, had heard tales of
Sinan’s abilities and worked towards defeating the Hash-
shashin for the same reasons. Once the two learned how
the paranoia engendered by their enemies had poisoned
their efforts, they made a pact to establish a new group
of warriors, a hidden sect dedicated to ridding Islam of
the progeny of Hell.
Saladin continued to wage war against the Christian
invaders, and Sinan traveled constantly between the
mountain fortresses under his banner, dispatching assas-
sins as he always had. Yet the two remained in contact,
through secret missives coordinating strikes against the
greatest enemies of humanity. Eventually their secret war
must have overwhelmed them, exposing them to their
adversaries: Saladin and Sinan died within months of
one another.
Yet their secret society of assassins persisted. Even after
Alamut fell to the raiding Mongols and the Naziri Ismaili
migrated into India (where they remain to this night), the
Ahl al-Jabal (People of the Mountain) continued their
holy war against ghouls, sorcerers, jinni, ifrits, lilitu and
stranger creatures yet. Tonight, unaffiliated cells spread
across the nations in which Islam remains a major reli-
gion. Members are drawn almost exclusively from the
Muslim community, initiated first into the Ahl al-Jabal’s
interpretation of the Ismaili faith, then into the busi-
ness of monster hunting. In the Americas, an increasing
number of Martyrs are drawn from the population of the
prison system, where Islam takes root in followers who
are or (through the overcrowded prisons) quickly become
familiar with the vagaries of violence.
1IJMPTPQIZ
The Ahl al-Jabal largely adhere to the Nazari Ismaili
faith. They practice a form of Islam that largely disre-
gards the importance of the ritual and law of the religion
(though most continue to practice such rites) in favor
of a deeper philosophical understanding of the faith.
Furthermore, they include in their studies Greek philoso-
phy, mysticism and Gnosticism, as well as mathematics,
astrology and various natural sciences. The Ahl al-Jabal
tend to be fiercely loyal to their teachers, the dai, willing

253 bodjfou!cmppemjoft
to perform murder or die at their orders. After all, the dai
hold the secrets of spiritual understanding; the future of
one’s soul is reliant upon them, and dying in their service
is a sacred honor.
The primary tenet of the Ahl al-Jabal that separates
them not only from the Nazari Ismaili but also from the
Hashshashin, is the understanding that monsters haunt the
world. Such creatures, the dai teach, are the offspring of
Satan, and they perform his work by crushing joy, learning
and creativity among the mortal masses. It is the duty of
each Martyr to fight back that darkness so that humanity
may shine more brightly in Allah’s image.
5IF
&OFNZ
Ahl al-Jabal consider their mission a holy one, a matter
of faith. Their chosen flavor of religion, Ismailism, puts
significant emphasis on the subtle, esoteric aspects of
Islam, while the history of abuse the Shiites and Ismaili
have faced have engendered in the Ahl al-Jabal a strong
tendency towards secrecy. Furthermore, the current world
culture tends to turn a suspicious eye on any insular group
of Muslims, especially when they carry weapons and com-
bine their daily prayers with training in multiple forms
of combat. As a result, members rarely coordinate with
outsiders, including most of the major groups of monster
hunters in the world.
The Ahl al-Jabal approach the hunt with a determined
stoicism and quiet faith. They train heavily in the use
of both the kukri and dagger, traditionally utilizing the
larger weapon against monstrous or undead foes and the
dagger against the human enemies of humanity. Ahl al-
Jabal practice the Shiite survival skill known as taqiyya,
a dispensation among the faithful to hide their true
religious beliefs and affiliation when under the threat
of violence or persecution. As the Ahl al-Jabal recognize
that they always face the threat of undead monstrosities
or devil-hearted wizards, they tend to live their entire lives
in secret, letting their guard down only among other Mar-
tyrs. As a result, members come from all walks of life and
may hold down any number of jobs. Other hunters, from
other organizations, sometimes suspect that a few go so
far as to join their groups while hiding who they actually
are, but such must surely be the modern day equivalent
to the prejudice the assassins have always faced.
The Martyrs also uphold jihad, the holy struggle to
improve society. They believe that each monster they
destroy weakens the influence of Satan in the world.
Furthermore, they know that if they die in the course of
the struggle, they will be reborn into Paradise. The Ahl
al-Jabal do not, however, murder indiscriminately. Like
the original Hashshashin, the Martyrs strive to do the most
good with the fewest possible acts of violence. Rather than
assault a vampire with guns blazing, a tactic assured to kill
at least some of the vampire’s unfortunate slaves if not
a number of innocent bystanders, the Martyr infiltrates
the vampire’s lair, destroying the creature directly, often
as it sleeps. Furthermore, the Ahl al-Jabal recognize that
not every supernatural creature qualifies as a monster.
The Martyrs do their best to explore and understand
their enemies, judging each one on its own merits rather
than murdering every unusual entity they come across.
After all, their own founder was a man of many unusual
and varied talents, yet the world has never seen a Muslim
more devoted to the faith. While the Martyrs are willing
to die in the pursuit of their cause, no member of the
Ahl al-Jabal has ever become a suicide bomber; such in-
discriminate destruction represents everything that their
faith abhors.
Members of the Ahl al-Jabal possess a surprising amount
of lore regarding the supernatural threats facing them in
the World of Darkness. Unfortunately for them, the lore
is spread so widely and so thin, that no individual cell of
hunters benefits from the bulk of it. Most members of
the Ahl al-Jabal recognize that fire and sunlight serve as
the most efficient means of destroying a vampire (as the
light of Allah, they claim, cleanses all inequity). They know
that placing a wooden stake through its heart and cutting
off its head can also destroy a vampire. (They traditionally
utilize blessed stakes made of aspen trees and their kukris
to complete their grim task.)

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cmppemjoft!pg!uif!dsvtbeft!.!bim!bm.kbcbm 254
 Most hunters come to understand that vampires
divide themselves into several social groups, and two
have become particularly loathed within the sect. The
first, the Lancea Sanctum, seems to exult in all of the
worst excesses of Christianity, going out of their way to
inflict harm upon the mortal populace. The second, the
Daeva, work to lead the faithful to sin, making them
drunk without alcohol and inflicting every form of abuse
upon their body and spirit. Such monsters rarely earn
a Martyr’s mercy.
4UBUVT
Status within Ahl al-Jabal results largely from one’s
understanding and acceptance of the faith. Ironically,
though ostensibly an organization devoted to the hunt,
destroying monsters rarely constitutes justification for an
increase in Status on its own. Instead, a comprehensive
insight into the esoteric truths revealed by the faith and
the ability to relate them to others tend to serve as the
primary measures of worth among the Martyrs.
• You’ve been accepted as one of the fidai, the faithful.
Your faith in traditional Islam has been dissolved and
you have begun the study of the batin as well as extensive
255 bodjfou!cmppemjoft
training in the Martyr’s fighting style. You may purchase
the Fighting Style: Two Weapon Merit (p 112, World of
Darkness Rulebook) at half the usual cost in experience,
whether or not you meet the prerequisites. If you fail to
meet the Merit’s prerequisites, you may only use it when
wielding a kukri in one hand and a dagger in the other.
••• You have devoted yourself as one of the rafik,
becoming deeply initiated into the esoteric secrets of your
teachers. You gain a free Occult Specialty in Mysticism,
Gnosticism or Philosophy. Additionally, you acquire a
free dot of Allies (Ahl al-Jabal).
••••• You have risen to the rank of dai and are a
missionary within your sect. You have met with other dai,
and they expect you to travel to a new city and establish a
new cell. It has become your mission to further the faith
rather than risk your existence in the jihad. You gain the
Inspiring Merit (p. 115, World of Darkness Rulebook) for
free, whether or not you meet that Merit’s prerequisites,
but can only use it when interacting with other members
of your sect. If you already possess the Inspiring Merit,
its affects stack, now granting two Willpower points
whether bolstering the spirits of those within your sect
or without.