Order of the Silver Twilight - Factions & Adversaries
Header Art: Dead Gods (1997) by Wizards of the Coast
This post provides information on the Order of the Silver Twilight, a secret society dedicated to tapping into the secrets of the divine with the hope that one day they might reach divinity. This organization can exist in any world where mortals seek to replace the gods or become one themselves.
Introduction
This secret society was first founded by a cabal of archwizards who thought that the only way to expand their power was to elevate themselves. Their first, and only goal, is to learn the secrets of divinity. Many had hoped that they might unravel the secrets of the gods by working with others of similar intelligence, but as the years passed, they were no closer to unlocking the secrets of the divine. Eventually, they decided that their attempts to unlock the divine through study alone weren't enough and they began escalating. Now, they send their agents out across the world, seeking out divinity shards, capturing those blessed by the divine, or beginning their plans to capture a god for dissection.
History
The society was first founded by Majdi Saif al-Din, an archwizard from the desert lands of Maut, who sought a way for immortal life. While Majdi would eventually turn to lichdom to extend his unlife, he was a major proponent in seeing the creation of the Order before, upon reaching lichdom, he was eradicated. One of the tenents of this organization was to seek divinity through life, and that by wasting time studying undeath, it took away from the organization’s main goal - one where they would rise as living gods.
Majdi didn’t begin the Order by himself, but along with several other wizards that he respected including Thekla of Rina, Mariyka the Moonmage, Shakti Dibeh, and Lyric. This tight-knit group would slowly add more to their number, though they kept their numbers purposefully small as they only wanted a select few to ever join them. They only look for the most gifted and talented to join them, removing any who pose a threat to their existence or no longer seek to unlock divinity.
As the centuries passed, with multiple leaders coming and going throughout its history, the Order has had little success in attaining divinity. They have discovered what they believed to be their solution to attain godhood, though they have been unable to test their theories. They have decided that they can’t simply find a formula that will help them ascend, but rather that they must find a divinity shard, a fragment of a dead god that they can use to empower a ritual. With this shard, they can take on the dead god’s portfolio and power, granting them a domain within the Outer Planes.
Joining the Order
The Order of the Silver Twilight, being a secret order, does not have open membership. Those who somehow hear about the Order and wish to join it must find ways of proving themselves to its members. Though, any who wishes to join must be careful, directly asking to join is a sure way to ensure that you are never invited to join its ranks. One must prove themself through intense study and a yearning for life and power, without resorting to undeath.
Recruitment
The Order requires new members to continue its ultimate goal of reaching and understanding divinity. It is a goal that the Order has been seeking for several centuries, and they have been forced to grow their numbers to try and find a divinity shard. Many within the order believe that their current leader, Hiroto of Silver, is growing their numbers far too large as he nears old age and eventual death. By increasing the number looking for a divinity shard, maybe he can live long enough to ascend.
Despite the increase in numbers, the qualifications for joining the Order have not decreased, as the society only wants those who are powerful in magic to help them further their goals as anyone else would be a hindrance. Recruits must be capable of teleporting across Talia to different sites, as well as have a deep understanding of arcane magic, be able to handle ancient curses, defeat foul monsters, and more.
While such qualifications limit the Order to only very special spellcasters, they have no problem working with mercenaries and sending them into ancient tombs to explore them, while obfuscating what they are specifically looking for. The Order has no shortage of money to help fund these excursions, though it does come with its risks. The more they hire people, the more they make their members known, and the easier that people might guess the secret society’s main goal and ultimate mission.
Goals
The society has only a single goal, to understand how one becomes a god through the power of arcane magic. To this end, they have experimented on powerful high priests, assassinated any who oppose them, and forcibly removed members who would sully their search for godhood by allowing themselves to become undead. Their founder, Majdi, wrote the first and only tenet to their order.
We seek to unravel the secrets and ascend from life to divinity.
This tenet is followed religiously by the Order, even forcing out their founder, Majdi, when it came to light that he became a lich. When Majdi pushed back to try and stay in the Order he created, he was destroyed, as his unlife flew in the face of their only tenet that he wrote. It was here that the Order decided that from here on out, any that would turn to lichdom within their Order would be destroyed completely.
Divinity Shard
The newest focus of the organization is to seek out what are known as divinity shards, pieces or fragments of gods that died on Talia or elsewhere in the multiverse. These shards are just pieces of a god’s soul, with some believing that if they collect enough shards of a single god, and form them together, they can resurrect the god. Unfortunately, the Order has had little success in tracking down these shards, perhaps because other gods have claimed them already, others found them eons ago and ascended, or they are so rare that it is like looking for a needle in a haystack the size of a planet. The Order has even kidnapped high priests and godtouched, seeking divine shards within them, squeezing out as much divine energy as possible.
The dissection of a high priest of Almeari, a god of knowledge and teaching, was what first started them focusing on divinity shards. Within the priest had been a minuscule amount of divine energy, and when questioning the priest, they learned that what they were holding was divine essence placed within the priest by the god Almeari, placing a piece of itself in its clerics. Some thought that if they could gather up enough priests and remove all of the essences from them, they might have enough to help a member ascend to godhood, though that would bring the ire of a god upon them even more so than now. A god might not notice a single priest killed, or enact judgment for their death, but killing a whole sect would bring the divine wrath quickly. They decided the safest way for their Order to continue is to seek out dead gods and claim their shards.
Organization
Due to its secrecy, and every member being at least capable of casting powerful magic, the Order of the Silver Twilight has a very loose structure. There are only three positions within the Order, the Order Master, the Members of the Order, and the newly initiated. While many might informally try to categorize others based on seniority, in practice, few pay much attention to how long someone has been working for the Order. The newly initiated are given limited information for their first two years, but once they have proven themselves, are welcomed in and given the same information that every other member receives. Only the Order Master has some rank above the others, and it is largely to help steer the Order’s focus and break up disagreements between members.
Order Master
The current Order Master is Hiroto of Silver, he took up the silver moniker when he became the Order Master, though claimed it was due to his new improvements to liquid silver he developed to help combat therianthropes. He is a brash wizard, with a reckless streak. He has often sent himself, and others, into dangerous tombs or ruins with little in the way of protection to check through as many locations as possible for a divinity shard. Unfortunately, this has ended the lives of several within the Order, but it is a risk they all take.
Currently, Hiroto is spending vast amounts of gold to purchase mercenaries and adventurers to explore more locations, even places they have already explored before. He wants to find a divinity shard before he passes, ensuring that his magically extended life only ends when he ascends to godhood. Many within the Order worry about the next decade and what Hiroto might do if they fail to find such a shard. Already, people are beginning to ask about who will take the position next and what will have to be done with Hiroto.
Members of the Order
If you are not the Order Master or a recent addition to the Order, then you are a member. With no hierarchy within the Order, there is no reason to have different titles and positions. Each member helps where they are the most useful and almost every bit of information is freely shared - probably the only reason why the Order has survived for so long. Of course, not everyone divulges all of their arcane secrets, as many of the wizards have their own experiments they are conducting and their own plots. They will share information they think is useful for the Order and its ultimate goals, but any other experiments they work on are not shared.
In fact, several of the members simply see the Order of the Silver Twilight as a very exclusive club for powerful spellcasters. They have little to no interest in seeking out a divinity shard, but rather see this as an excellent chance to speak to people of similar capabilities to them and share magical knowledge. Though, there are a few who are more militant in their devotion to the only tenet and dislike anyone who isn’t spending all of their effort towards the Order’s goal.
Juniper of Davin - Working with the Order for the last dozen years, Juniper is a godtouched, also known as an aasimar. She was born in Davin, a port city along the Lake of the Drowned God and she believes that she was divinely touched by the god that died within the lake. She, and the Order, think that they can use her divine connection to try and find a divinity shard within the lake, though the lake is almost 500 miles long and almost half that wide, with a depth of over seven miles. It is a lot of area to look for and is populated by a variety of underwater cities that have no love for the surface walkers. While Juniper doesn’t yet realize it, the Order believes she could be a very important key for when they do find a divinity shard within the lake and have great, but deadly, plans for how to use her to unlock its full power.
Luisito the Lurid - A new arrival to the Order, Luisito is an agent of a deity investigating the disappearance of priests by the Order. Luisito is hoping to enact revenge on the Order and destroy it from within, but first, he must finish his initiation. During this time, he will have several tasks to complete like investigating old ruins and even helping others find and kidnap priests and godtouched for further experimentation.
Maester Leyden - A powerful archwizard, Leyden has traveled the world and for over 30 years has been a part of the Order. As he nears his ninth decade, he has become worried that he will be unable to live long enough to see the Order’s goal come to completion. He has toyed with the idea of lichdom, but disregarded it due to the heavy toll it would take and that the Order would hunt him down and destroy him. To further his own life, he has begun the rituals where he will hollow out his form and turn into a living creature made of pure magic known as an incantifer. He will still look alive and living, and will not be bathing his body and soul in negative energy, but it will transform him into an undying creature so long as he can still feed on spells. The knowledge of incantifers may be more secretive than even the Order, something that Leyden only stumbled upon in a great library floating through the Astral Plane.
Adventure Hooks
With the Order sending its members across the world and multiverse, they can be found in a wide variety of places. They are most often drawn to places of ancient history, where stories of fallen heroes, powerful villains, and more were destroyed.
For Hire
The Order is offering a large reward for anyone brave enough to venture into a nearby tomb filled with traps and other dangers. A few other groups have tried to infiltrate it recently, though none ever left the dungeon. The Order believes that there is a half-formed godling within the depths of the tomb, known as an atropal, and that if they can simply make their way down there, they can slay the godling and still its divinity shard. Of course, any adventuring party that makes it that far down will have to be dealt with.
Discovery
One of the Order, Radhika, found a divinity shard but tried to keep it secret from the rest of the Order of the Silver Twilight. They have enlisted the help of several others to protect them and their facility, hiring adventurers to begin lashing out at other members of the Order. If they can be protected for a week, they may have enough time to study the shard and begin the ritual to ascend to godhood. The Order is sending dozens of its members to take out Radhika, with Radhika’s agents and the Order fighting in public, destroying one another in the streets.
Kidnapped
Godtouched and priests have been going missing in the city for the past few months, their bodies appearing a week later with obvious dissection markings across their body. The guards are worried there is a serial killer within the city, and are enlisting the help of adventurers to help hunt down the killer and slay them. In truth, it is an Order member, Cinzina, who has taken it upon herself to try and gather as much divine essence as possible and try to form a divinity shard from the minuscule amounts in the blessed and holy within the city.
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