The Ordo Veritas

The hierarchy of the Ordo Veritas is as deliberate and meticulous as its mission. At its apex sits the Inner Circle, an enigmatic tribunal of elder Inquisitors whose identities remain cloaked even from much of the Order. Beneath them stand the Inquisitors proper — each commanding their own investigations, directing squads of subordinates, and shaping strategy with ruthless precision. Next come the Truthseers: junior investigators apprenticed to the Inquisitors, learning to dissect lies and follow the faintest scent of deceit. The Scribes serve as custodians of the Order’s grim archives, preserving every confession, testimony, and revelation with obsessive care. At the base of the pyramid stand the Agents — the Order’s eyes, ears, and knives in the dark — who move among the populace collecting whispers and delivering verdicts.

To join the Ordo Veritas is to abandon the comfort of ignorance. Veritans learn early to suppress fear and sentiment, to revere evidence above all else. Even among themselves they are sparse with words, favoring silence and observation. Rituals of confession and self-scrutiny reinforce their creed: that no one, not even a Veritan, is above inquiry. This culture of relentless honesty can border on cruelty — yet members see it as a noble burden carried for the good of the Empire.

To the Empire, the Ordo Veritas claims to be a bulwark against corruption and deceit, ferreting out traitors and liars wherever they hide. Yet in quiet, their true purpose seems broader and far more dangerous: to strip away all illusions, even those upon which Imperial power rests, believing that only through truth — however bitter — can the Empire endure.

Their power lies not in armies but in shadows. Hidden vaults brim with forbidden texts, secret testimonies, and damning records of the powerful. Informants are embedded in every major guild and court, while coded messages travel via couriers who do not know whom they serve. Interrogation cells lie hidden beneath city streets, and in the Halls of Echoes, entire libraries of inconvenient truths are catalogued and bound in chains.

Founded in 243 AR, in the wake of the Rift Wars and an Imperial clampdown on dissent, the Ordo Veritas began as a Senate-sanctioned inquest into propaganda and treachery. Its first decades were marked by triumphs: rooting out spies, exposing conspiracies, and restoring order. But over time, its investigations drew ever closer to the Senate itself, and by 317 AR it was officially disavowed. Even so, it did not dissolve. From the shadows it has persisted, occasionally surfacing with revelations too vital — or too dangerous — to ignore. To this day, its existence remains an open secret, a specter haunting both commoners and emperors alike.