Character: Shrike's discarde materials

Artifact 5: The Golden Asp

"Mistress, killing the Guildsman does have a certain barbaric elegance to it, but wouldn't it be dreadfully ironic to sell him instead?"
"Won't his brethren recognise him?"
"Not when I'm done with him."
Shrike's secret major-domo and most lethal fashion-accessory, the Golden Asp is slyly reticent about how it came to learn of Shrike. It was originally thought to be a piece of a larger sculpture, of a man, his face a mask of terror and agony, grappling with the jewel-eyed serpent around his neck. The statue arrived as an anonymous gift to Shrike, being transported by a caravan that had no record of seeing any employer: only a crate, with a a pouch of silver dirhams and an elegantly-written letter directing the sculpture to be delivered to the Veil-Winged Shrike of Thorns. It animated itself and then sought Shrike out. The details of their conversation are unknown, but since then her management of the temple and the city has noticeably improved, to the awe and approbation of all. All except those who are ruined by ruthless economic policies that drive the city's growth. Shrike, of all her Circle, understands the role that temptation and vice have to play in the human heart; she's also well aware of the dangers thereof. To balance vice operations in Thorns on the knife's-edge of Shrike's tacit acceptance and her furious outrage is a delicate task and requires a veritable genius; those who slip up quickly find themselves ruined and beggared by their competitors, and swiftly on their way to the hard labour camps of debtors' gaol.