Esoteric Orders

 

The Children of the Sun

The Children of the Sun are a loosely organized pseudo-religious Azanist cult that first appeared in the early 15th century in central Golanicja. Their membership, while secret, is thought to be largely made up of the bourgoisie in the coastal cities and towns surrounding the Hidden Sea.

Sometime in the late 14th century a radical epistomological trend toward rejecting anything that could not be directly witnessed or derived from first principles became fashionable among the Golanicjan upper classes (not the nobility). Being seen as a 'free-thinker' who was skeptical of so-called 'masters' who claimed knowledge of things they could not know first-hand became extremely fashionable in certain circles, but at the same time was an affront to much of the established order. Several city councils came to be influenced, if not overtaken, by adherents of this philsophy, and a period of mass book-burnings began. This ended in religious conflicts, academic conflict, riots, and even a few violent purges, and by the early 15th century the radical elements of these loose groups were forced to share their ideas in secret.

The Children of the Sun was formed as a clandestine network of so-called intelligentsia who claimed to believe only in provable truth. Of course they believe all sorts of things that are provably false (ie: that the Cure spell is a necromantic enchantment, and those subjected to it will rise as undead after death), and they refute all sorts of things that are provably true (ie: that the moon Tear orbits a planet called Vehira, which itself orbits Azane). Regardless, the Children of the Sun are rumoured to be heavily invested in spreading their faith in truth to the ruling houses of Golanicja and the rest of the world.

The Council of Cloves

It is not clear whether this is a real organization or a myth that was created to threaten and intimidate. In different places it is also referred to as the Council of Gloves or the Council of Loaves. Whatever name is attributed to this mysterious group, it is universally described as some sort of assassin’s guild. They conduct murder for hire, but are also said to engage in both strategic assassination to achieve political goals, as well as ‘ethical’ assassination to mete out justice when weak, decentralized legal systems fail.

Typically, the Council is said to be controlled by a group of twelve individuals. While the entire organization is referred to as the ‘Council’, this steering committee is also referred to as the ‘Council’, creating confusion and further obfuscating the nature of the organization and its structure. Seats on this Council are said to be held by powerful people; one in each of the world’s largest and most influential cities. Some say that seats on the Council are not granted when a city reaches a certain size and influence, but rather that a city can only surpass a certain size and influence it if has a seat on the Council.

Some say that the Council is actually a Cult of Loab, and assassination contracts are often said to be referred to as ‘Appeals’. Some extremely zealous interpretations of this group and how it operates, espouse the belief that Loab herself possesses or otherwise embodies individuals to carry out specific murders when ‘appeals’ are made to her ‘priests’ - the rumoured twelve members of the Council.

No concrete evidence and no reliable first hand testimony has ever been presented to lend credence to the rumors of this group’s existence.

The Covenant of Bones

The necromancers responsible for the attempt to raise an undead army in Grey Moss.

The Cult of Mol-Imit

The Cult of Mol-Imit - if it exists at all - is a highly secretive organization dedicated to the worship of the Infernal Queen of the Damned, and perhaps to the study and discovery of powerful necromantic rights that might allow for immortality as a vampire, lich or other powerful undead creature. Many speculate that the Cult of Mol-Imit is a myth perpetrated by the Order of Lisaea in order to justify their sometimes overzealous purges. No one knows where their temples are, what their symbols are, or how they organize. Even under torture, alleged members of the Cult of Mol-Imit refused (or were unable) to divulge information about the group behind its existence.

The Eight Blades

The Eight Blades are a group of eight individuals each recognized for being the preeminent Master of one of the eight principle bladed weapons; the knife, the dagger, the short sword, the rapier, the scimitar, the long sword, the bastard sword or the great sword. They are titled, respectively according to the order of the weapons listed above, Master of the First Blade, Master of the Second Blade, etc, up to Master of the Eighth Blade. They do not bother to refer to themselves as ‘grandmasters’, as each exceeded that informal designation long ago.

There are only three ways to become a member of the Eight Blades, the most obvious path is to challenge the standing Master of the weapon in question to single combat and win. This is the rarest path, as the members of the Eight Blades are truly without equal. The second path, which is the most common, is for the successor to be appointed to the position by the current Master upon their retirement - this honour is almost always bestowed upon the top student of the Master in question, who is usually not wrong about who is the best candidate to succeed them. The third path only happens when one of the Eight dies unexpectedly or otherwise leaves the position vacant. When this happens, literally anyone can claim the vacant position. Usually the first people to claim the position are - again - the former Master’s students, but this often results in successive challenges, and a lot of deaths before someone finally manages to secure the title and hold it against enough challengers that other aspirants begin to have second thoughts. On occasion, potential successors uncertain of their skill compared to their peers have been reluctant to claim the title, hoping for potential challengers to lay claim and get themselves killed until the serious threats to their claim are eliminated.

The Kovstepovi Archaeological Society

Part academic society, part cult, the Kovstepovi Archaeological Society is focused on the discovery, unearthing, protection and study of Forsaken ruins, culture and artifacts. The public facing elements of the organization provide funding for academic research and archeological excavations, as well as financing for expeditions to explore and discover new sites. Internally, they are rumoured to operate more like a secret cult, worshipping the Gnomic incarnations of the Siblings and the Versai based on their own interpretations of ancient writings reportedly discovered in forsaken tombs and temples they have allegedly discovered but not revealed publicly.

Both the Kovstepovi Archeological Society and the Timekeepers are organizations with a public face, and a secretive inner circle dedicated to exploiting the knowledge and treasures of Forsaken ruins. The two groups are enemies, and are always working covertly to undermine one another’s goals.

The Thrall

Lord Grigor Orsum was said to have been the head of this secret order of vampires, or at least one of the most powerful members of an inner circle.

The Timekeepers

The Timekeepers are a trade guild of machinists, mechanics and engineers, trained in the specialized crafts of making, assembling and maintaining clockwork devices. Training in these arts, beyond the most rudimentary practices, is very hard to gain access to, and the vast majority of mechanical devices are simple wind-up or gravity powered clocks or geared mechanisms for assisting in physical labour.

While the main function of the small and distributed organization of the Timekeepers is as a guild or trade union for these specialists, there is also a more important and less well known side to their work. At the upper levels of the organization the Timekeepers are overseen by an elite collective of powerful wizards, engineers and scholars with a special interest in unlocking the secrets of ancient Gnomic clockwork devices and contraptions. They have scouts scattered around the world, seeking lost Forsaken ruins and evaluating the development of the skills of the more common tradespeople that comprise the bulk of their group. Occasionally they will find a promising new talent, and attempt to indoctrinate them into their inner circle.

The Vassals of Zul

An ruthless covert branch of the guerilla organizations that grew around Dugasa Zul. The Vassals of Zul are said to be ultra elite warriors and assassins working alone or in very small squads. It is beleived that only lizari are every accepted into the group. It is unknown if the group continued to exist following the death of Dugasa Zul.