Legio Occulate
Legio Occulate
Truth is nothing but a lie men use to satisfy their own believes Type of characters you can find here: Rogues, Shadow Monks, Zealot Barbarians,Trickery domain Clerics etc. Two types of force – the informers and the enforcers basically. General information:
Legio Occulate is a faction within The Church of Mhim that does not officially exists. One could say, they are more of a boogie man with an unknown agenda and unknown name. Commoners of Acroshia were always quite paranoid, thinkin there is some big bad lurking in the shadows, watching their every steps, abducting uncomfortable people and so on. But this belief is quite off from what Legio Occulate actually is. It is an faction that was formed to control and spy not only on commoners, but on every subject of Acroshia Kingdom including nobles and different factions within the church of Mhim as well. Their main agenda being infiltration and acquisition of information of many kinds. Legio Occulate is also the “drive”, that exists for other high position members of other Legios to actually do their job and not just acclaim their position and comfortably sits there, without much care for their own affairs. As was said, they are the big bad boogie man.
Field of expertise: They do carry out a variety of operations. Namely: Infiltration, espionage, sabotage, framing, many sorts of manipulation (taxes and laws for example), abduction and murder. Legio Occulate operates outside of law. They do not answer for any crimes they would commit for few simple reasons – they are the organization that judge Judges, those law are restrictive in their kind of work and also the main reason: You cannot judge something that does not exists, people who were never born, priest who were never baptized, soldiers that were never hired. This however applies to the organization as whole, not to individuals. They may or may not interfere if some member is caught doing crime activities. That’s basically their ideology: “Don’t get caught.” Legio Occulate places high stakes in its infiltration capability. Members of this Legio are often members of other Legios as well. They have their representative in every organization that holds at least some kind of power. Even if in a sense of “potentiality”. Assassination is something, that actually goes against the ideology of Legio Occulate. As Assassination as the general idea of it, leaves too many unanswered questions. If Legio Occulate need to kill someone, they usually use other means such as framing, abducting or staging scenarios that would lead to death, often letting the other Legios do their job for them. Way more clean, less questions as well.
Hierarchy: The whole Legio Occulate consists of 3 different Conclaves, basically three branches. One for each of the bigger cities and regions around them. Al-Jaran Conclave, Fathi Conclave and Seth Conclave. The one who oversees all has the title of High Lector, but his identity is the most guarded secret. High Lector however work more as an Overseer than someone who actually makes orders. He can, but he usually does not. If High Lector takes personal interest in some matter, it is usually something very big, like High Treason of wealthy and Influencing Noble House or something in those lines. There are three Lectors as well, each for one Conclave, they make for “Council of Whispers” in which they exchange information between those three branches, and decide what action should Legio Occulate focus on most.
Enforcers – Enforcers are the main strike force of this Legio. They are the pawns that will sacrifice their life if needed. Fanatical fleggelants, timed bombs Legio Occulate sends and activates whenever the need arises. It would be false to think that their tasks are always suicidal however. They are resources, and it is always more profitable to keep this resource, than to burn it. Enforcers have two ranks and they are usually called by their rank. Those Enforcers are not “dormant” however. They still gather information, but more in an passive manner. They see, they hear.. they report. And when the order comes, they act. The ranks are: Practical and High Practical. Practical being something in a sense of foot soldier, while High practical act as someone more experienced and also capable of taking initiative and leading small teams. Like field captains/commanders. They are also the muscle. Often brutes.
Informers – Main intel force. Those are the ones that are more subtle in art of active gathering intel. Subtlety, stealth, lurking in shadows and corners, listening to whispers and private conversations behind locked doors. All kind of shady manners. They are also the ones that are the main force behind subtle operations that none can be witness of, like abduction, or actually disposing of witnesses in manner, that would not give birth to many questions. Their part of the Legio Occulate is more active. They have two ranks as well. Explorar and High Explorar.
The Council of Whispers:
Three Lectors of three Conclaves that exist within the Shaar. Each accompanied with few of their chosen men. The Council of Whispers bears some resemblance to the Council of War, as there is not much difference between information war and war fought on the battlefield. They can be both devastating and deadly. It is usually held in a pretty private and well guarded place. Oftenly disguised as council of very different kind, like trade or whatever the Lectors deemed most appropriate. This Council have few functions: 1. Ex-change of very classified informations that are too important to be delivered by practicals. 2. Counselling the best course of action for many situations that are too big for just one conclave to manage. It can be something from revoking the trade permit to substitute a high position in other Legio with someone more useful. 3. Managing expenses in Legio Occulate itself 4. Handpicking and nominating candidates for missions or higher positions 5. Handpicking and nominating new Lector if the need arise Recruiting and training of normal members: As secretive as Legio Occulate is, they have very specific means to attain their muscle. They need someone loyal, and none is more loyal than but a little kid that you whipped and condition to obedience. Their members are fanatics that live only for devotion. Its not even something like a choice. It's almost pathological, something they learned to do. One could say, that they are all psychopaths, not born psychopaths'.. but made ones. However they still do tend to keep or somehow manage to make personalities. After all its more believable that way. Legio Occulate is using children, often in cohesion with slave traders. They are buying and taking kids with no future and no family that would ask questions. All of those “kids” that were missing, will lately reappear under new identity, as members of Legio that does not officially exist. As already mentioned, training of one practical or explorar starts at a very early age. They are using quite advanced psychological methods of conditioning to “create” a tool they will be able to use in many ways. They are also not shying from applying fanatical and religious pro-Mhim beliefs strengthened by extreme methods as flagelancy. If there would be one thing that connects each member, it would be self-inflicted scars. Obedience is something absolute. No room for negotiation in this matter.
Recruiting of Lectors: In contrast, Lectors are actually not chosen from Practicals or Explorars. It has one main reason and that is so Practicals and Explorars couldn’t be driven by ambition of attaining position of power. Lectors are strangely chosen from anyone who High Lector deems to be appropriate. They are usually perverse and power-hungry monsters that are given the position they longed for, position they are interested in and position they can manifest the whole of their capabilities as these monsters. There are some prerequisites however. One is obviously the reputation. Lets say Occulate keeps track and if there is a need for a new Lector to take place, they choose someone suitable for that position and someone whom can be trusted in certain ways. Also, Lectors have this “interview” with High Lector that would decide if they are good for that position, or if they die quick and nongalant death. The reasoning for this type of getting new Lectors is quite simple. Legio Occulate needs morbid minds for morbid tasks. Someone who would love their job, revel in it, and someone who would be holding to this position of power by any means necessary, while knowing it is possible only by abiding by the task that was given to them.
Numbers: Overal, around 400 members per Conclave (Around 1200 total) Around 80% of those are enforcers Around 20% of those are informers Acolytes does not count to this number, they usually go around 100 per conclave. The Area of Influence: As was already stated, Legio Occulate tends to work around internal policy. Which means that they do influence others Legio and Noble Houses in Acroshia Kingdom as well. List go on however. From trade, distribution, permits, to high politics. Its still more in a sense of control, defending the kingdom from inside out. Carrying out different tasks if the need arise. Allies and Enemies: They do not really have allies. Shadowy organization as Legio Occulate does not officially exist and only few outsiders know about their existence. It's similar for their enemies as well. Having enemies means they would have to have some open conflict with someone, but they do not. Galdur, Mirin or even demons are not really their problem. They let other Legio deal with it.
Tenants: I. By any means necessary – they tend to carry their missions in extreme standards. It has nothing to do with honor, but a whipped obedience. 2. But an asset – members of this Legio are considered to be tools. However a valuable one. One should not endanger his life if not absolutely necessary. 3. Secrecy in death – If there is a grave risk of revealing any information about Occulate, member is supposed to kill himself (if it will help keep the secret), or do anything necessary to ensure the secrecy. Cutting tongue may ensure nothing will come out as well. 4. Obedience – The main point. Members of Occulate are obedient beyond question. Most of them do not even know tenets, they just know how to “act” in certain situations, what's the protocol and so on.. There is only one punishment for breaking tenants, and that’s death. Not slow, not morbid, not painful, no lashing, just clean death. History: They were established close after three decades of establishing Acroshia Kingdom under the Mhim and Church of Mhim. It was also not something official. From the start, Legio Occulate didn’t even had a name. It was just few fanatical believers situated in Seth, basically “playing” vigilantes, trying to uncover anything and anyone who would go against Mhim himself. The problem is that.. this small group of fanatics got pretty good. More than a good. They did carry out a few framing and assassinations on highly valued targets and members of the new “Acroshia Kingdom”. They also uncovered a few scandalous corruption that could burnish the reputation of Mhim and decided to “deal with the situation” themselves. So yes, from the start? There was “something” like a boogieman prompting enemies of the state to fear the dark. However, at a certain point the grew. In small numbers sure, but still. They did not have hierarchy and soon after they get maybe too many members that could be managed without any efficient hierarchy, there was a bloody internal conflict about “how we should deal with this” and “that”. Leaving soon to be Legio with one indifferent leader, whose name was nothing special. Just “Henry”.. because who in the seven hells would accuse someone named “Henry” of anything. None really knows how or even “if” they made contact with other authorities in Acroshia, however after few decades, they were named and established as a secret organization “Legio Occulate”, with hierarchy and everything a professional organization would have. And so they have operated ever since. Their numbers grew, 2 more conclaves were established, one in Fathi and one in Al-Jaran. More Lectors, which meant there was a need for Council and someone who would actually oversee all. “Just Henry” did manage to put himself into this position, becoming first “High Lector” of the Legio Occulate, a position he (maybe) resides in to this day.
Truth is nothing but a lie men use to satisfy their own believes Type of characters you can find here: Rogues, Shadow Monks, Zealot Barbarians,Trickery domain Clerics etc. Two types of force – the informers and the enforcers basically. General information:
Legio Occulate is a faction within The Church of Mhim that does not officially exists. One could say, they are more of a boogie man with an unknown agenda and unknown name. Commoners of Acroshia were always quite paranoid, thinkin there is some big bad lurking in the shadows, watching their every steps, abducting uncomfortable people and so on. But this belief is quite off from what Legio Occulate actually is. It is an faction that was formed to control and spy not only on commoners, but on every subject of Acroshia Kingdom including nobles and different factions within the church of Mhim as well. Their main agenda being infiltration and acquisition of information of many kinds. Legio Occulate is also the “drive”, that exists for other high position members of other Legios to actually do their job and not just acclaim their position and comfortably sits there, without much care for their own affairs. As was said, they are the big bad boogie man.
Field of expertise: They do carry out a variety of operations. Namely: Infiltration, espionage, sabotage, framing, many sorts of manipulation (taxes and laws for example), abduction and murder. Legio Occulate operates outside of law. They do not answer for any crimes they would commit for few simple reasons – they are the organization that judge Judges, those law are restrictive in their kind of work and also the main reason: You cannot judge something that does not exists, people who were never born, priest who were never baptized, soldiers that were never hired. This however applies to the organization as whole, not to individuals. They may or may not interfere if some member is caught doing crime activities. That’s basically their ideology: “Don’t get caught.” Legio Occulate places high stakes in its infiltration capability. Members of this Legio are often members of other Legios as well. They have their representative in every organization that holds at least some kind of power. Even if in a sense of “potentiality”. Assassination is something, that actually goes against the ideology of Legio Occulate. As Assassination as the general idea of it, leaves too many unanswered questions. If Legio Occulate need to kill someone, they usually use other means such as framing, abducting or staging scenarios that would lead to death, often letting the other Legios do their job for them. Way more clean, less questions as well.
Hierarchy: The whole Legio Occulate consists of 3 different Conclaves, basically three branches. One for each of the bigger cities and regions around them. Al-Jaran Conclave, Fathi Conclave and Seth Conclave. The one who oversees all has the title of High Lector, but his identity is the most guarded secret. High Lector however work more as an Overseer than someone who actually makes orders. He can, but he usually does not. If High Lector takes personal interest in some matter, it is usually something very big, like High Treason of wealthy and Influencing Noble House or something in those lines. There are three Lectors as well, each for one Conclave, they make for “Council of Whispers” in which they exchange information between those three branches, and decide what action should Legio Occulate focus on most.
Enforcers – Enforcers are the main strike force of this Legio. They are the pawns that will sacrifice their life if needed. Fanatical fleggelants, timed bombs Legio Occulate sends and activates whenever the need arises. It would be false to think that their tasks are always suicidal however. They are resources, and it is always more profitable to keep this resource, than to burn it. Enforcers have two ranks and they are usually called by their rank. Those Enforcers are not “dormant” however. They still gather information, but more in an passive manner. They see, they hear.. they report. And when the order comes, they act. The ranks are: Practical and High Practical. Practical being something in a sense of foot soldier, while High practical act as someone more experienced and also capable of taking initiative and leading small teams. Like field captains/commanders. They are also the muscle. Often brutes.
Informers – Main intel force. Those are the ones that are more subtle in art of active gathering intel. Subtlety, stealth, lurking in shadows and corners, listening to whispers and private conversations behind locked doors. All kind of shady manners. They are also the ones that are the main force behind subtle operations that none can be witness of, like abduction, or actually disposing of witnesses in manner, that would not give birth to many questions. Their part of the Legio Occulate is more active. They have two ranks as well. Explorar and High Explorar.
The Council of Whispers:
Three Lectors of three Conclaves that exist within the Shaar. Each accompanied with few of their chosen men. The Council of Whispers bears some resemblance to the Council of War, as there is not much difference between information war and war fought on the battlefield. They can be both devastating and deadly. It is usually held in a pretty private and well guarded place. Oftenly disguised as council of very different kind, like trade or whatever the Lectors deemed most appropriate. This Council have few functions: 1. Ex-change of very classified informations that are too important to be delivered by practicals. 2. Counselling the best course of action for many situations that are too big for just one conclave to manage. It can be something from revoking the trade permit to substitute a high position in other Legio with someone more useful. 3. Managing expenses in Legio Occulate itself 4. Handpicking and nominating candidates for missions or higher positions 5. Handpicking and nominating new Lector if the need arise Recruiting and training of normal members: As secretive as Legio Occulate is, they have very specific means to attain their muscle. They need someone loyal, and none is more loyal than but a little kid that you whipped and condition to obedience. Their members are fanatics that live only for devotion. Its not even something like a choice. It's almost pathological, something they learned to do. One could say, that they are all psychopaths, not born psychopaths'.. but made ones. However they still do tend to keep or somehow manage to make personalities. After all its more believable that way. Legio Occulate is using children, often in cohesion with slave traders. They are buying and taking kids with no future and no family that would ask questions. All of those “kids” that were missing, will lately reappear under new identity, as members of Legio that does not officially exist. As already mentioned, training of one practical or explorar starts at a very early age. They are using quite advanced psychological methods of conditioning to “create” a tool they will be able to use in many ways. They are also not shying from applying fanatical and religious pro-Mhim beliefs strengthened by extreme methods as flagelancy. If there would be one thing that connects each member, it would be self-inflicted scars. Obedience is something absolute. No room for negotiation in this matter.
Recruiting of Lectors: In contrast, Lectors are actually not chosen from Practicals or Explorars. It has one main reason and that is so Practicals and Explorars couldn’t be driven by ambition of attaining position of power. Lectors are strangely chosen from anyone who High Lector deems to be appropriate. They are usually perverse and power-hungry monsters that are given the position they longed for, position they are interested in and position they can manifest the whole of their capabilities as these monsters. There are some prerequisites however. One is obviously the reputation. Lets say Occulate keeps track and if there is a need for a new Lector to take place, they choose someone suitable for that position and someone whom can be trusted in certain ways. Also, Lectors have this “interview” with High Lector that would decide if they are good for that position, or if they die quick and nongalant death. The reasoning for this type of getting new Lectors is quite simple. Legio Occulate needs morbid minds for morbid tasks. Someone who would love their job, revel in it, and someone who would be holding to this position of power by any means necessary, while knowing it is possible only by abiding by the task that was given to them.
Numbers: Overal, around 400 members per Conclave (Around 1200 total) Around 80% of those are enforcers Around 20% of those are informers Acolytes does not count to this number, they usually go around 100 per conclave. The Area of Influence: As was already stated, Legio Occulate tends to work around internal policy. Which means that they do influence others Legio and Noble Houses in Acroshia Kingdom as well. List go on however. From trade, distribution, permits, to high politics. Its still more in a sense of control, defending the kingdom from inside out. Carrying out different tasks if the need arise. Allies and Enemies: They do not really have allies. Shadowy organization as Legio Occulate does not officially exist and only few outsiders know about their existence. It's similar for their enemies as well. Having enemies means they would have to have some open conflict with someone, but they do not. Galdur, Mirin or even demons are not really their problem. They let other Legio deal with it.
Tenants: I. By any means necessary – they tend to carry their missions in extreme standards. It has nothing to do with honor, but a whipped obedience. 2. But an asset – members of this Legio are considered to be tools. However a valuable one. One should not endanger his life if not absolutely necessary. 3. Secrecy in death – If there is a grave risk of revealing any information about Occulate, member is supposed to kill himself (if it will help keep the secret), or do anything necessary to ensure the secrecy. Cutting tongue may ensure nothing will come out as well. 4. Obedience – The main point. Members of Occulate are obedient beyond question. Most of them do not even know tenets, they just know how to “act” in certain situations, what's the protocol and so on.. There is only one punishment for breaking tenants, and that’s death. Not slow, not morbid, not painful, no lashing, just clean death. History: They were established close after three decades of establishing Acroshia Kingdom under the Mhim and Church of Mhim. It was also not something official. From the start, Legio Occulate didn’t even had a name. It was just few fanatical believers situated in Seth, basically “playing” vigilantes, trying to uncover anything and anyone who would go against Mhim himself. The problem is that.. this small group of fanatics got pretty good. More than a good. They did carry out a few framing and assassinations on highly valued targets and members of the new “Acroshia Kingdom”. They also uncovered a few scandalous corruption that could burnish the reputation of Mhim and decided to “deal with the situation” themselves. So yes, from the start? There was “something” like a boogieman prompting enemies of the state to fear the dark. However, at a certain point the grew. In small numbers sure, but still. They did not have hierarchy and soon after they get maybe too many members that could be managed without any efficient hierarchy, there was a bloody internal conflict about “how we should deal with this” and “that”. Leaving soon to be Legio with one indifferent leader, whose name was nothing special. Just “Henry”.. because who in the seven hells would accuse someone named “Henry” of anything. None really knows how or even “if” they made contact with other authorities in Acroshia, however after few decades, they were named and established as a secret organization “Legio Occulate”, with hierarchy and everything a professional organization would have. And so they have operated ever since. Their numbers grew, 2 more conclaves were established, one in Fathi and one in Al-Jaran. More Lectors, which meant there was a need for Council and someone who would actually oversee all. “Just Henry” did manage to put himself into this position, becoming first “High Lector” of the Legio Occulate, a position he (maybe) resides in to this day.
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