The Seekers of the Eternal Hour

The Seekers of the Eternal Hour, or often called Seekers, were a group of necromantic mages who rebelled against Reus and The Order.
Originally founded by a small group of researchers who wanted to study the difference between life and death as a scientific interest, members studied all medical and religious texts they could get ahold of, dissecting and vivisecting animals to learn more about anatomy, and practicing and advancing alchemic studies to attempt to extend life. It is believed that a few of the early discoveries the Seekers made actually helped Rodina at large. They disproved the archaic medical treatment of bloodletting which may have saved a few lives as years went on.
As the group grew larger and their knowledge grew, they evolved from a coven of scholars to an outright cult. A perspective member would have to sign a blood pact to the group and swear on their life they would never give away the existence of the group to anyone else. The leaders wondered why Reus had decided for all of them that there must be life and death for mortals, but he could live for eternity, and that was where the seekers found their name. They were literally seeking the metaphorical 25th hour of life, eternity. To break away from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and instead to live forever un-aging.
The Order was quick to catch on to the group's intention and began to quickly crack down on them. It's estimated that out of the 100 or so original members, only 12 survived the prosecution. Those not outright killed, were tortured for information and dealt with. This was all kept under wraps by the Order and the general public had no idea of what had happened, or even the existence of the Seekers. Those who survived the initial purge embraced secrecy to a much higher degree and were much more careful when they took in new members. Many of them also attempted to learn magic for defensive purposes.
Nearly five years after the groups founding, the few remaining members managed to meet up once again and share the research each of them had done. After a week of sharing notes, they attempted something new. Using the magics they had learned, they managed to bring a recently deceased frog back to life, though the frog itself attacked one of the members and was stepped on seconds later. The frog, badly wounded, still continued to crawl after the member it had attacked, never giving up. Eventually they captured the frog and kept it in a jar for weeks, watching it and studying it. The flesh from the creature started to rot and decay, but at a much slower rate, and it never stopped trying to break out of the jar during all that time.
While this was rather comical, all of them realized they had done something no one had ever done before. This creature of theirs was in a state of life and death, undeath. Keeping notes on everything that had transpired that night, all of them felt that the losses and sacrifices they had made had led them to this point. They dubbed this new form of magic, Necromancy.
All of them decided to move to the small farm of Winterhill in Acaron to continue working together while avoiding detection by the Order. By day they would work as farmers and laborers around the farm, while at night they would retreat into the hills and practice necromancy in a small cave together. Weeks of this training resulted in a better grasp of this new magic. Resurrected creatures would no longer attack everyone and could even be given the most basic of orders.
The creatures they had resurrected had no need to eat, but would attack things if ordered and consume their flesh, even up until the point where their stomach would burst open and their jaw would snap off due to continual consumption. It was apparent that they didn't feel pain, or if they did, they didn't care. The creatures could be dispatched if dealt enough physical damage to them.

"Break enough bones, or do enough damage to the head, and the whole thing falls apart. Once the thing goes down and is unmoving, that's it." - Unknown 2nd generation Seeker.

Healing magics, which some of the Seekers had learned to take care of themselves or one another, didn't seem to help the undead, but actually do harm to them. Many theorized that undead were past the point of saving by traditional magic.
As the years passed and the group grew slightly, they had become tired with creating zombified animals and wanted to focus their attention on their true goal once again, humanity. They needed a body to work on, but they had none to use. Victor, one of the newer members, mentioned that there was a small grave site near his farm town about a day away. The seekers had decided to make the trek. They gathered what money they had and purchased cloaks to hide themselves and traveled away from the roads to avoid detection.
When they had arrived in Bellstone they waited until nightfall and snuck into the gravesite. They were greeted with about 10 graves, but really only needed one or two bodies. They started digging while the rest kept watch. Eventually one of the local farmers came out hearing noises and saw lanterns over by the gravesite. He came over and saw two of the men who were keeping watch before they saw him. He walked up to them demanding to know what they were doing there and accused them of being grave robbers trying to dig up his wife. He managed to recognize Victor and told him he was going to call the Order. As he started yelling one of the members clanked him on the side of the head knocking him out.
The Seekers panicked and bickered among one another standing over the unconscious man. Some of the members scolded Victor for not covering his face well enough. The leader said that Victor should be exiled for being seen and made out by someone. The others started to agree, but then Victor brought up a point. The old man had only seen him, and the rest of them were still unknown. He said he had finally felt alive and that he was doing something for the greater good in the Seekers, that his life finally had purpose. He reached over and grabbed a pickaxe from one of the other members and stood over the old man. Victor spoke shakily about how they still needed a body, and the old man was a liability. Everyone looked at one another and then the leader. Even the leader of the group looked a bit anxious, but after thinking for a few seconds agreed that something had to be done. He told them that if they did this, it would change how the group acts forever, but it could be the final step they need to further their research. He looked at each member who slowly nodded, all of them looking worried, almost scared. After getting an approving nod from everyone, he spoke one again.

"Bound by blood and bound by bone." - The 3rd Seeker Leader

He nodded at Victor who raised the pickaxe and hesitated a moment with it high in the air, and then thrust it down into the chest of the old man, piercing his heart and killing him in a matter of seconds. Everyone watched the blood pour out of the unconscious man as his skin turned white and the life left him. They wrapped him up in cloaks and carried him off back to Winterhill.
When they had arrived a day later they quickly placed the body on a table and took time to recover and rest in their cavern. Most of them skipped farm work another day and many didn't sleep at all that evening. When midnight approached they readied their ritual circle, placed the body in the center of it, and began their chanting once again. At the end, when the candles blew out, they saw the body slowly writhe and move within the wrapping before starting to rise up. Their magic had worked, and the old man was undead, and in their control. The next few weeks they studied their newest feat. The undead was able to move about freely, albeit a bit slow. It lacked any sense of communication, but seemed to be able to take orders easily enough and did them right away. It also seemed to be able to hold and even use weapons. Victor commented how the man when he was alive was hindered by a back back and knees, but this undead moved as if it was years younger. They decided to keep the undead around as both a subject of study, as well as a guardian.
Victor was praised to his dedication to the group by the leader in front of everyone and told them that he expects the same level of dedication from everyone should the call arise for it.
As the years passed the Seekers still operated in secret, slowly adding new members and studying the undead they created. After the third leader of the Seekers died from a heart attack, the remaining members elected Victor as the fourth leader. The body of the former leader was made into a zombie as well to protect and serve the group even in undeath.
As the group grave robbed and kidnaped they came into extra money and goods. They developed a uniform that much better hid their features. A large black cloak and a wooden mask to keep their real self a secret.
Eventually they began to craft magical object to aid their members in their studies. Magical spell books that would not only aid the current member using it, but would act as a guide for new members as well. All of the books were interconnected and notes written in a primary book would be added to the others. Victor ensured that the books would exist to continue the studies of the group, even if they were all wiped out.
Wanting to avoid detection, the Seekers continued to move around the Kingdom of Acaron as the years went by. When the group would grow too large with members, they would cut a section off and send them to another part of the country to continue their studies.
Victor had been the leader of the seekers for nearly 60 years before dying from illness, his second in command Malcom was made the fifth leader. Victor's young son, also named Victor protested his father's body being used for testing, but Malcom and the others agreed that that was always a part of the pact. Victor was a very respected leader by the Seekers and considered the leader that led their group to such major progressions. Victor watched his father be made into an undead skeleton to protect the good of the group, even in death.
A decade passed with Malcom as leader of the group. Studies continued, though they seemed to lose some of the momentum they had with their previous leader, but few had complaints about Malcom. The group had made a few advancements since then, one of them being the Tome Skull. This was a skull that though the combination of magical and physical altercation, was a semi sentient undead that was able to aid and guide it's creator. They were extremely useful in the instruction and guiding of new members, saving existing members months of time.
News had reached the primary Seeker group, that two separate cells of their group had been located and destroyed by the Order. Their old nemesis had discovered their existence once again, and their hunt to kill them all off had sparked once again. Malcom and the others decided that they should stay put while Victor protested and said they needed to move. By this time they were hiding in another farmtown well out of the way, but Victor argued against it, his opinion was once again ignored.
One night as all of them went to their hidden alcove for a meeting Victor saw an ambush that hadn't noticed him yet. He saw thirty Order soldiers led by a paladin ready to move in and corner them. He saw the other members of his group behind him headed towards their cave unaware of the attackers hidden away. Victor was about to say something, but had remembered the way people had always treated him within the group. To him he had almost always been ignored. He thought to himself, what difference would it be this time, and smiled and didn't say a word watching from the bush line as the members entered the cave. He listened in as a few minutes later as yelling and cries of pain echoed from the cavern. He ran off to Malcom's house and found the primary Necrocodex and took it, and fled the area leaving behind his cloak and mask.
Victor stayed undercover for a few years traveling around the country and learning about the structure and society of Acaron a bit more. He would visit libraries and take in what knowledge he could of all sorts of subjects, history, art, science, poetry, and even the Order. Eventually the notes written by other seekers in the prime Necro codex stopped, and Victor figured he was the only seeker left. He knew that it would be up to him to rebuild the order that his father had made great, and that Malcom had let stagnate into nothing. He had learned from the mistakes of past leaders. Hiding out in the countryside would only get you noticed by someone eventually, he needed a place to hide where odd things happened all the time, a city.
Victor went to Beraholm, the largest city in Acaron, and move into a small home there. It was crowded and he would have no issue at all blending in with these massive groups of people. He scouted around the city for days getting a good feel for it's layout and eventually discovered that there was an older section of the sewers that had been abandoned and would be perfect for a hiding location. He set up shop down there and let his rent go overdue. He simply disappeared. In reality he knew that living down here would save him time and money. He would be able to spend all day down here and work as long as he wanted. He cast major illusions on the entrance to this part of the sewers just to be safe. After a few days of cleaning, he was happy with the new location he had built. He was ready to try and find a few new members, but would have to be very careful about it. After a week, he found a few orphans near death from starvation, and promised them a wealth of knowledge and power if they joined his family. The children agreed, and asked for his name. Not wanting to be someone living in the shadow of his father anymore, he named himself as Vraxous, fifth leader of the Seekers of the Eternal Hour.
As decades passed, the Seekers were reborn and quickly surpassed the original group in numbers and in advancements. Vraxous led with a firm grasp and with his cunning and skill avoided detection. There were now over 200 members who lived in plain sight in cities across Acaron and Kyros, though most of them resided in Beraholm.

Notable Members

• Ladros the Vile