The Veiled Staff

"I thought the name refered to a item, like a staff for someone who wanted to be stealthy. I was wrong...very...very wrong. They call themselves a fellowship, but its more like a "family". Yes THAT type of family. You cant leave...ever...and they want nothing more than the fall of civilsation itself so we can "return to how nature intended us to be".....

REDACTED , survivor of The Veiled Staff

One definition of a cult is "a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal.". The Veiled Saff (TVS) is no exception. They started off as a loose group of rangers and druids, fed up with the growth of the so-called "civilised world" into the wilderness. The oral record of them, before they started to obscure themselves, sates they didn't want to remove civilisation or cities or anything like, just to stop things getting out of hand, for people and nature to live and work together in harmony and thrive, and, for many years that was their goal.
However, in any large enough group, factions started to develop.
The main bulk wanted the urban/suburban growth to stop. They knew that they could not, should not, do anything drastic or it would galvanise people against them. They wanted to show that the natural world was something of wonder and beauty, something that could enhance their lives if they worked alongside it, bringing prosperity to all, with the "Urbanites" (as they called them) protecting the natural world with the natural world in turn providing resources and materials. A balance, almost like a symbiosis.
The faction that later named itself The Veiled Staff, however, thought that this was not going far enough. Civilisation had had its day. Nature was supreme!. It existed long before the birth of civilisation and would continue long after. This decay was inevitable..it WILL happen.. But TVS was not happy at the speed of this and wanted to give nature a helping hand tearing down walls of civilisation.
In many ways, TVS can be thought of as an eco-terroist group, mixed with a cult. Their "public" face is one of nature conservation at all costs. They don't shy away from acts of protest and the like, but, publically at least, they have not done anything terror worthy. They are not stupid. They know that if they tip their hand too soon, things will not go well for them. So they use fronts, puppet organisations and groups to be their public face, to be the ones to "take the blame" whilst they work semi-open towards their goal.

But what turns TVS from an eco-group to a cult based on is the way they treat their members. First off they pick on the vulnerable, the ones who they feel have nothing to lose. They take them in, care for them. Make them feel wanted. That they are the ONLY ones who truly see their worth, that they can help the natural world AND themselves. Each mission that succeeds they are bombarded with love, affection and positivity. Those that fail, even a bit, are treated harshly, in a "look what you made me do" kind of way that so many abusers are want to do.
So far, TVS is luckily in that being a spread out non-centralised cult-like group, with, relatively speaking, few numbers, has worked in their favour. But as more and more of their activities come to light, the pressure is mounting and the "Day of Reckoning" (as TVS calls the day when they finally rise up and bring down civilisation once and for all...or die trying...) is heading their way.

Type

Secret, Occult