Disbanded Groups
The following is a list of well known organizations that have dissolved over the years:
Brotherhood of Sorcerers
The Brotherhood of Sorcerers was the oldest organization of mages in the Northern Kingdoms. Formed in the aftermath of the non-aggression pact established by the Novigradian Union in the 8th century, it united and had control over most of the magic users, magic academies like Aretuza or Ban Ard, and institutions, such as Rissberg. It was led by the Chapter, which consisted of two main governing bodies that guided magical practice for centuries before dissolving completely as a consequence of the events that transpired during the Thanedd coup in 1267.
Kingslayers
The Kingslayers, also known as Assassins of Kings, were an organization made up of a handful of witchers from the School of the Viper in the service of Nilfgaardian Imperator Emhyr var Emreis. The organization's task was to spread chaos in the kingdoms of the North by killing kings and sorceresses with Letho of Gulet as an informal leader. After the deaths of most its members, the organization was dismissed and ceased to exist, with Imperator abandoning his promise of rebuilding the southern witcher school as soon as it was possible.
Lodge of Sorceresses
The Lodge of Sorceresses arose from the ruins of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers after the incident on Thanedd Island essentially killed the older order among mages. It was a secret organization composed entirely of women mages and even referred to as a sisterhood due to no men being invited, as the sorceresses saw men as too incompetent to handle governing areas of magic. It's unclear what caused their downfall, but the Lodge's fall from power was harsh. Several sorceresses were thrown into dungeons, tortured, and ultimately executed, their portraits destroyed (especially thorough in Nilfgaard) and chronicles manipulated.
Order of Witchers
The Order of Witchers was an attempt made by kings and affiliated mages in the 10th century to create an order of magic-using knights who would help people get rid of enemies they hadn't otherwise been able to subjugate, enclose in reservations, or exterminate – monsters. The final outcome of the mutations disappointed most of the mages, who began to call the result "witchers", charlatans capable of nothing more than mere witchery. A few renegades however, including Alzur, secretly aided the monarchs interested in continuing the experiment, and the final set of Trials and Mutations was established. The Order didn't last long however – its members had abandoned most of the original "knightly" values over time and soon split into a handful of witcher schools, aimed at taking a more professional approach to eradicating monsters.
Wild Hunt
According to tradition and eye witness accounts, the Wild Hunt abducts people, forcing them to join its mad gallopade on the sky. It's harvest is especially rich just before or during a great war. Some of the abductees manage to escape the cavalcade back into the world of the living, but the stories they tell are so extraordinary that they were always considered insane. The Wild Hunt, or Wraiths of Mörhogg as they are called in Skellige, was widely believed to be a group of specters galloping in the sky. They were described by common folk as a cavalcade of wraiths on undead horses galloping across the sky and serving as an omen of war. The Wild Hunt hasn't been heard of since their failed invasion of 1272. With the help of Skellige, the Lodge of Sorceresses, and a few witchers they killed their king and a few of the generals.
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