The duty of a Mord-Sith
Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.
The main duty of a Mord-Sith is to torture people for information that will be valuable to their Lord Rahl, and to protect the Lord Rahl and to keep him from getting killed. They are his only personal bodyguards.
When torturing someone for information, they first break them, so that after they are broken, they have no spirit and no hope for escape. Their own life becomes meaningless to them, and from then on, they do anything asked of them by a Mord-Sith and won't hold back anything.
The Mord-Sith are always alert and ready for a fight. They are never lazy or slow in their reactions to protecting the Lord Rahl. They will give their own lives to the Lord Rahl at any moment, if that means saving his life. They always follow his orders no matter what (unless it's Richard we're talking about!).
Darken Rahl had given the Mord-Sith clearly delineated bounds: master and slave. Richard had wondered if they were testing their limits with him, trying to find where the slack ended. Maybe they were simply gleeful to be able, for the first time, to act as they wished, on whim if they wanted.
Mord-Sith were nothing if not accomplished at testing.
Quotes:
"the Mord Sith of Darken Rahl's reign were nothing but death machines, more or less, but once Richard gained control of D'Hara and he more or less changed the purpose of them, they became vigilant in their defense of the Lord Rahl for completely different reasons ..... they do it for Richard because they want to, not because they are forced to. I think that dedication and loyalty is what people are drawn to now." - Kai'lyn, 08/30/04