Shadow Master/Shadow Mistress

The leader of The Obsidian Order is always referred to as The Shadow Master or, sometimes, The Shadow Mistress. To outsiders and even the bulk of the organization itself, The Shadow Master's true identity is unknown. It is only the highest ranking members of any given cell that know the secret set of hidden signs in a message that denotes it as an offical order from The Master. There is only a very small group of members in the world that know the actual identity of The Master. This group is called The Circle.
For the most part, there is only one Shadow Master. However, there are times when it is actually The Circle itself that acts as the Shadow Master. This happens when they are inbetween Masters. The Circle will select from amoung themselves who is in charge. The genuine authority and length of service a Master will hold the possition varies based on the whims of themselves and The Circle. The Cirlce will, from time to time, add new members to its ranks, by selecting from the most dedicated of the members of the organization as a whole. Often, these "most dedicated" members are just the oldest children of existing members.
While The Obsidian Order is a clandestine organization, many of their members are in rich and powerful positions. Often The Shadow Master is a royal adviser to one nation or another. Often, The Master will direct his/her followers to make trouble in such a way that financially benefits them more so than it moves forward their idea of "The Will of Talen".
The anonymity of The Master hinders The Order's ability to fully coordinate between the different cells as the leaders of each cell often do not know who to contact when they run into major issues.  Cells occationally get completely destroyed by a nation's military, but they are unable to track down where The Master can be found.  The nearly complete sparation of the "brains" from the "hands" is the primary reason The Order has lasted for centuries.

Related Organizations

• The Obsidian Order