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>A livery badge of the Esoteric Fraternity of the Old and New. Philosophers, artists, warriors and antiquarians unified in the search of truth, to understand the legacy of The World Father and what it means for The New Goddess. You knew more about what happened in that awful cataclysm and the nature of the divine than most.
Indeed, you were once sworn to the Esoteric Fraternity. Nobles, clerics and even wealthy commoners rubbed shoulders in those secretive meetings, the usual stations and duties thrown aside in pursuit of shared learning: the Count of Orvieti always had some new, grotesque trinket from his expeditions into the Charnel Lands; the Abbott of Magliouve would read from chronicles written by monks of secret sects not officially sanctioned by the Church; the wealthiest wine merchant of Boigeau, the city closest to your home, seldom had oddities to show off, but everyone always looked forward to when she would host and uncork an exotic vintage to sample as you all prattled and debated far into the night.
Accusations of witchcraft and heresy were not uncommon, but the Church seldom had reason to chastise you. The discussions and discoveries ranged from harmless inspiration for the more macabre artists amongst you, to legitimate theological and historical discoveries. For the great debate at the heart of the Fraternity was the nature of that cataclysm that had slain The World Father and plunged the world into a century of turmoil… and how that century was ended by the arrival of The New Goddess, descending from far flung stars, resplendent in the Violet Light.
For you, the Fraternity provided both diversion and education. It was fun for such an upstanding knight as yourself to play at conspirator in the shadows, to speculate about sorcery and poke fun at heathens and mad men, but to the devotee in you it lead you to a better understanding of the Weeping Lady and He who had ruled before Her. The Fraternity did not make a sorcerer of you, but knowledge is power, and still you remember how to recognise the warning signs of certain curses and hexes, and the weaknesses of certain foes.
