Ashen Twilight

 

Similar to the other magical brotherhoods of Aorlis, the Inevitable Order of the Ashen Twilight is an old, wealthy institution that champions its world views. To do this, they have infiltrated government and the Church at almost all levels. Their great goal is to recast the world in their own image, a rebirth in chaos, based in necromancy.

  These secret houses pose as beneficial or religious organizations, even friaries. These facades hide interiors of old wealth and decadent beauty. This order disguises its presence, because their civil and religious status is nebulous and often illegal. The Church automatically places the AT under a perpetual interdiction, and automatically will excommunicate known members of the group.   Beneath each house and lodge, the order excavates an intricate tunnel system with different “grottos” devoted to that lodge’s arch-demon patron and other demons and fallen angels. These tunnels have the reputation for unspeakable ceremonies, unhallowed rites, wicked orgies, and human sacrifice.    

Within each house’s cave complex, there is a secret grotto where the order hides all the demons and spirits captured in bottles or bound to items. It also keeps a small library of its most sacred books and scrolls in this space.   The AT is based on the numeral 9 and its special, holographic nature, being that its multiples always resolve back to 9 when its digits are added. For example 9x9=81, 8+1=9.   Its command structure is as follows, also based on 9  

• 1 Dark Chief—Magron
• 9 Archimages aka Secret Chiefs
• 27 Master Mages—1 per lodge
• 81 Journeymen Mages—3 per lodge
• 729 Acolytes—27 per lodge

  At higher levels, the order holds its rituals in Nhetherspeak, the language of Hell.   Among the fallen angels, their primary patron is Gomediell the Entitled, who governs bitterness. Among the princes and kings of the archdemons, Neraffus Double-Dealer, the demon of unclean bargains is a secondary patron. The planet Uulimarr and its governing numinous spirits play a part as well, and its 3 x 3 kamea is regarded as the precursor to 9, the AT’s sworn number.   A 9 x 9 kamea is better associated with the moon, or Lorinae, but here that lunar meaning is stripped away. Mages sigils are based on this chart. When it is transferred into letters, then it is used to derive intelligences' names.