Augurs Mer

The Augurs Mer are an organization of creatures with an interest in mortality and undeath.
The name Augurs Mer was created when looking for something that would mean something along the lines of "those who investigate or question death". Augurs are people who augur, which means foresee or predict but specifically for whether something is or will be good or bad. One would receive this answer of good or bad through the supernatural. Mer is a reconstructed proto-Indo-European prefix for "to die" or "to disappear". Meraugurs didn't sound right as it felt like it would mean "to die while questioning". So it became Augurs Mer, those who through questioning death gain answers.  

History

The Augurs Mer are not even that old. Their predecessor organization was formed well after the Green Mage Covenant was established, which places their creation somewhere in the first millennium AA.  

Grave Keepers

The Augurs Mer originated from an earlier organization called The Grave Keepers, who operated in the Green Mage Covenant which is dominated by the necromancy abhorring Halfling culture. This organization was merely interested in the care for the departed. They tended to graves, studied the decay, and ensured that those who had died remained dead. Over time the organization drew the attention of people with other intentions. The organization failed to adequately supervise the activities of its members causing the entire organization to be accused of supporting necromancy. This led to the dissolvement of the Grave Keepers.  

Reformation

Less than a decade later the Augurs Mer were created. Created by former Grave Keepers that were publicly known to hold strong anti-necromancy values, the Augurs Mer resumed the duties of constructing and caring for tombs, though not directly the departed themselves. Through a policy of absolute transparency the Augurs Mer were accepted in society.  

Recognition and secrecy

The Magocracy of the Green Mage Covenant allowed the Augurs Mer to study the dead for the purpose of constructing better tombs and aiding in the fight against necromancy. This process was again set up with full transparency but the newly acquired insights into death, specifically the power of the soul, were deemed too dangerous for the public. The Augurs Mer were to work with other scholarly institutions to further understand what fate awaits a soul, how resurrection works beyond what we can naturally observe, and what forces can alter a vessel to sustain indefinate undetectable and uncompromising possession. The first two subjects were known subjects of study but the final subject was only known on the higher echelons of the magocracy. Augurs Mer led what was named project Valkyrie. The best, brightest, and most of all discrete of Augurs Mer were selected for the project.  

Beyond borders

Now that the Augurs Mer were once again capable of operating without full transparency they were able to study taboo topics. To avoid controvercy the Augurs Mer decided to expand into other lands, ones where public opinion of their work would be less damaging to their operations. This also gave them the ability to publicly deny any association with those who would perform deeds that were not condoned within the Green Mage Covenant. As they spread they started studying different topics within mortality and undeath. Soon the study of undeath as something of personal interest was accepted. All was tolerated as long as the net result was productive to the cause of the Augurs Mer, though that cause had become somewhat vague and arbitrary at this point.  

Project Valkyrie

The original goal of Project Valkyrie was to create a being that is truly dead but capable of returning to life at its own will. Archeology, specifically in Tamoria were a major part of this project. Though the project was scrapped, it is unknown what achievements had been made.  

Current affairs

As of 2672 AA the Augurs Mer operate throughout most of the Green Mage Covenant, the Daerelos Confederacy, the Kingdom of Zreg, the Kingdom of Bolmar, and the Free Cities. They do not operate in the Adordronic Democracy or the Azeth Divinity. They operate in some parts of the southern continent but are rare there.   To the common folk they are mostly seen as traders, doctors, morticians, scholars, and tomb builders.
Their ever lasting cultural conflicts revolve around the stigma around undeath and resurrection. However, this is totally unnecessary since the stigma comes from resurrections that are orchestrated by the divine, not resurrections by powerful mortals.