The Nameless

The Nameless are a secret order within the Church of the West, sanctioned by the Hierarch yet otherwise unknown to the faithful. They conceal themselves among other penitent orders, or pass as common folk, existing solely to serve God in Heaven and His Church. Each member endures torment in their induction and bears the terrible Vestis Doloris, that pain may remain with them always. Among the few scholars who have dared to speculate on their existence, the Nameless are regarded as a cult - one believed to be sponsored either by God in Heaven Himself, or by one of His Heralds.

The core beliefs of the Nameless center upon the total abnegation of the self, accomplished through the mechanism of torment. Each inductee - whether willing or conscripted - endures weeks or months of torture, designed to dissolve identity and fashion an empty vessel, a pure instrument of the Divine. When this process is complete, the Nameless are trained to assume false identities, donning personae as one might don a garment, with no attachment to meaning or self. Their agents move unseen throughout the world, inhabiting lives that are not their own, and executing the missions of their superiors without judgment or intent. For one without self, there can be no sin and no guilt; they may become anyone, do anything, and yet remain pure - perfect agents of God in Heaven.

A Thousand Faces

The Church in the West has embedded agents of the Nameless throughout the societies of the world. Their gift of assuming new personae is perfected for infiltration, and once embedded they are nearly undetectable. Even in such roles they retain their signature garment - the Vestis Doloris - concealed beneath their clothing, or donned only when utterly alone.

Many among the Nameless did not volunteer for the order. Rather, they were chosen for mortification by the hidden leaders of the cult. Such individuals are taken in secret and subjected to months of purification: endless torments designed to shatter the mind and annihilate the self. The order selects its victims carefully, striking at moments when their absence will pass unnoticed, and often dispatching other agents to provide cover for the disappearance.

When at last the inductee is emptied of self and sin, they are taught to re-adopt their former life and returned to the world - yet with a new purpose animating every action. How many such agents now walk among the faithful cannot be known. Those who are unmasked cannot be interrogated, for no force on earth may compel the hollow and nameless soul to speak, unless God in Heaven Himself so wills it.