The Order

The rumours regarding the mysterious group known only as the Order are as varied and enigmatic as the group itself. None can say for certain what its' goals are, how far its' reach extends or even if the group even actually exists. This ephemeral state of being suits the group just fine as the confusion about what is myth and what is real helps to distract any who would try and discover the Order's secrets. They are content to play the bogeyman of the world, the source of all ills and at the centre of a Grand Conspiracy through which they control every aspect of the world for it reinforces not just a fear of their work but also creates doubt about the veracity of any action which can be tied to them. Yet every falsehood contains a fragment of the truth, the Order has eyes everywhere and influence in all the highest places and while they cannot manipulate the world to their bidding they can certainly pull enough strings to manipulate the course of events more in their favour. To be a member of this group is to live a lie constantly, a web of deception that they must weave while also being deceived by their peers. Only those who stand at the highest echelons of this group are permitted to understand the truth of their mission and granted access to all their collective knowledge and resources and the identity of those beings is the greatest secret of all, even from each other. That is the nature of the Order, the greatest lies ever created to protect a dangerous truth.

Structure

The structure of the organisation is mostly unknown but a few details have emerged after the campaign by Lord Protector Tairn against the forces of the Archmage Isatis. Within the Order exists a council consisting of entities known as Keepers who are responsible for maintaining the cohesion of the complex organisation and are supposedly aware of every secret and operation the Order has. Each Keeper maintains a group of special members known as Speakers who are the mouthpiece of each and are the only people in the group who know the true identity of their Keeper. The Speakers pass down the orders and receive the reports from the various operatives and groups acting as part of the chain of command which varies according to the region or sub-group. There also exists a special group who sit outside the normal chains known as the Candidates, of which the aforementioned Isatis was a part. Each Candidate is also granted complete access to all secrets maintained by the order with the exception of the identity of the Keepers but holds no official authority over any other group. Each Candidate is expected to compete with each other for control over the Order's resources and each Keeper's allegiance in order to eventually come to dominate the Order as a whole behind a single leader. It is theorised that this is to either create some form of ultimate leader through competition naturally or to prepare someone to become a Living God as much as such a thing is possible. Either way the existence of such a system of Candidates is of great concern to the world as a whole.

Public Agenda

There is no public agenda for the Order except for the attempt to confuse the general populace as to what their actual purpose is. As a result such agendas are plentiful, widely exaggerated and almost entirely all false.

Assets

Unknown but includes a hugely efficient resource chain to maintain such an organisation in complete secrecy. The potential assets from influential members could potentially mean that they have access to resources equivalent to that of any of the major nations. Hugely widespread network of operatives and spies across every nation and organisation.

History

No accurate historical record of the founding of the Order exists that can be verified in any meaningful way. The only facts that can be confirmed are that the group was created after the Cataclysm but before the emergence of the Slayer. Whether or not suspicious actions by groups or individuals can be linked back to the Order is almost impossible to determine so very few meaningful events can be attributed to the group and they are only known to have existed through rumour and circumstantial evidence. The emergence of the Slayer in turn muddied the waters even more as the assassinations committed in the groups names often conflicted with each other. The most likely events for which the Order is responsible include the Druacian Revolution, the Fall of the Bastion, the Murder of the Count of Faeldrin, the Plague of the Deep and the Great Collapse among others.
In more recent history the activities of the now Lord Protector Tairn and his conflict against one of the Order's Candidates, Isatis, led to many discoveries about the depths and depravities of the Order's operations. Not only did his long term pursuit uncover the fact that the Isatis, then the Archmage of the Order of Truth, was an order member but that she had killed and raised the Archpriest as her puppet and almost had complete control of the Protectorate at that point. The level of influence and power that she held was an unwelcome wake up call to many who had dismissed the Order before but many still believed that the Order could not exist and that Isatis was merely using the name to inspire fear and respect in her followers and was not part of a wider group. The fact that the only facilities discovered after her unveiling and eventual death at the hands of Tairn were directly related to her and never revealed any information about the wider group helped many deny the existence of the group while others, horrified at the experiments and atrocities being committed, saw it as proof that the Order had to be involved in such barbaric acts. As a result even some of the greatest evidence of the Order's existence is also in question and cannot be reliably called upon.

We are everything, and yet nothing.

Type

Secret, Brotherhood

Alternative Names

The Illuminati, The Rulers, The Great Evil