Friday, February 19, 2010
Ordus Magistora Illuminati: The Order of Enlightened Magai.
History:
The original founding of the Order has been lost to time. There are two predominately accepted stories as plausible: The most commonly accepted foundation story is that the order was founded by Constantine to combat Zoerasterian mystics as a 'parallel arm' of the official Roman Church. The other story is much older, that the Order was founded around 4000 BCE by Kufu to combat the 'Night Demons' summoned by Sumer that used to stalk the world as we know it. That modern civilization could not flourish until this war had finally ended, and the 'Prophet of Sumer' was entombed for all eternity within the Kufu pyramid in Giza. Most members stick with the first story, as the second is far to frightening to contemplate.
Of course, underneath all of this is a third story - one which is completely discounted by anyone with a shred of reason: the Ordus dates from the beginnings of humanity, when Neanderthalensis and Sapiensis were enthralled to Rhodesiensis. Supposedly the large cranium Rhidesiensis were innate mages, and they either created or enslaved the sub-geni of humanity with Neanderthalensis comprising the working caste and Sapiensis as the crafting / worker caste. As the tale goes, the reign of the Rhodesiensis ended in the last Ice Age when some sort of paranormal event smashed their civilization.
Goals:
To keep most of humanity blissfully unaware of the fact that yes, there are things that go bump in the night - and those things bump hardest against those who are aware of them.
In order to accomplish this the Order
* Keep an eye on the overall state of technology and scientific inquiry - co-opting those who meander into dangerous directions (or in rare cases, removing them).
* Maintain a modicum of stability within the political arena of the mundane world, specifically by preventing the 'outlawed' use of paranormal abilities to 'rig the game'.
* Endeavor to keep the politics of the paranormal world 'out of sight, out of mind'.
* Eliminate anyone or anything which would expose the paranormal to the mundane world beyond the currently engineered level of 'plausibly deniable mockery'. (While the paranormal are powerful, a planetary wide Inquisition would not be a pleasant repeat experience).
* In pursuit of the above, it is the responsibility of all members of the Order to ward humanity against the excesses of forbidden arts: Wu-jen Necromancy, Demonic summoning and trafficking in infernal Grimoires.
Membership:
Roughly 350 in North America, including everyone from Masters to those who are verified precogs to that one guy who's mastered a cantrip. Overall maybe 1500 - 2000 world-wide.
The original founding of the Order has been lost to time. There are two predominately accepted stories as plausible: The most commonly accepted foundation story is that the order was founded by Constantine to combat Zoerasterian mystics as a 'parallel arm' of the official Roman Church. The other story is much older, that the Order was founded around 4000 BCE by Kufu to combat the 'Night Demons' summoned by Sumer that used to stalk the world as we know it. That modern civilization could not flourish until this war had finally ended, and the 'Prophet of Sumer' was entombed for all eternity within the Kufu pyramid in Giza. Most members stick with the first story, as the second is far to frightening to contemplate.
Of course, underneath all of this is a third story - one which is completely discounted by anyone with a shred of reason: the Ordus dates from the beginnings of humanity, when Neanderthalensis and Sapiensis were enthralled to Rhodesiensis. Supposedly the large cranium Rhidesiensis were innate mages, and they either created or enslaved the sub-geni of humanity with Neanderthalensis comprising the working caste and Sapiensis as the crafting / worker caste. As the tale goes, the reign of the Rhodesiensis ended in the last Ice Age when some sort of paranormal event smashed their civilization.
Goals:
To keep most of humanity blissfully unaware of the fact that yes, there are things that go bump in the night - and those things bump hardest against those who are aware of them.
In order to accomplish this the Order
* Keep an eye on the overall state of technology and scientific inquiry - co-opting those who meander into dangerous directions (or in rare cases, removing them).
* Maintain a modicum of stability within the political arena of the mundane world, specifically by preventing the 'outlawed' use of paranormal abilities to 'rig the game'.
* Endeavor to keep the politics of the paranormal world 'out of sight, out of mind'.
* Eliminate anyone or anything which would expose the paranormal to the mundane world beyond the currently engineered level of 'plausibly deniable mockery'. (While the paranormal are powerful, a planetary wide Inquisition would not be a pleasant repeat experience).
* In pursuit of the above, it is the responsibility of all members of the Order to ward humanity against the excesses of forbidden arts: Wu-jen Necromancy, Demonic summoning and trafficking in infernal Grimoires.
Membership:
Roughly 350 in North America, including everyone from Masters to those who are verified precogs to that one guy who's mastered a cantrip. Overall maybe 1500 - 2000 world-wide.
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