The Order
This group is made up of a blend of supernaturals and naturals who
believe that supernatural abilities are a gift that should be used to help
others. While simple in theory in practice debates about the best way to
help others plague the Order and can cause some to believe they have little
direction or impact.
Members of the Order however are unified in their desire to help people and
make the world a better place. Many of them are true and selfless heroes,
although it must be said that glory hounds are often found in their ranks
too. Most of the supernaturals in their number are either new to their
power or possess incredible mental discipline to over the slide into
corruption.
Manifesto
The Order simply wants to make the world a better and more equal place
with less poverty, disease, death, misery, inequality and pain. They try
and prevent others from causing these problems by rehabilitation or finding
ways to weaken or impair their ability to do so, detainment, Venetian oaths,
weakening curses etc.
Order governments tend to operate out of houses, changing which one they use
semi-regularly. They are formed of a small council of elder who make their
decisions. Order governments are very strict with long law books formed for
governing their areas. Generally speaking if something is illegal in the
mundane world, it's supernatural equivalent is illegal as well, using
supernatural abilities to gamble, or get favourable deals and so on are even
crimes, although relatively mild ones. While the most officious of the
factions, they're also often the most willing to be of aid if you have a
good cause.
If someone is accused of breaking the law, they are given a full trial with
an Order judge and a jury of random supernaturals. Putting this trial
together however can sometimes take months and it's not uncommon for people
to be detained longer awaiting trial, than they would have if found guilty.
Their punishments are typically fines or time in specially designed prisons.
Roles
Shieldbearers are the largest military group with The Order and are
responsible for the protection of others.
The Shieldbearers are tasked with handling all the Order's defense and siege
work. Usually deploying in practical street wear, but with a signature coat
or jacket to identify themselves(typically brown) they tend to use heavy
armor and favor emplaced heavy weaponry. They tend to prefer to pick areas
of high value or impact and then set up defenses and emplaced weaponry in
that area to ensure it stays with the Order. They are vulnerable however to
being caught while moving locations. They often take round ballistic
shields with them into battle, using them to cover each other when needed,
or placing them along walls to help fortify an area against weapons fire,
they are usually called 'girls' by the other factions.
Swordbearers are a smaller group with the Order, dedicated to proactive
efforts to deal with threats before the shieldbearers may be needed.
The Swordbearers are the most mobile of the divisions, they tend to favor
fairly light armor and weapons such as pistols and submachine guns. Usually
deploying in practical street wear, but with a signature coat or jacket to
identify themselves(typically brown) they are also the most melee focused of
the divisions and generally try to use their mobility to close and or flank
the enemies before tearing into them in close quarters combat. Swordbearers
are often called 'dogs' by the other factions.
Librarians are the support and investigative arm of the Order, and those
who're less focused on conflict than on research and finding ways to improve
the world through the occult.
History
After the Gods and Fae left earth behind, some of their former students
and acolytes formed several supernatural councils. A druidic council in the
northwest of Europe was initially a small time player in the supernatural
world but eventually grew into a powerful player called The Order who saw to
the destruction of the Western Roman Empire.
Throughout the medieval period they controlled most of Central Europe. The
Industrial revolution led to the decline of the power of the supernatural
and after World War Two the Order was left shattered, broken up into a dozen
smaller fragments which rose and fell over the following decades. One year
after the supposed defeat of Et-Aral however several in the supernatural
community started advocating for greater cohesion, the need to return to
larger, more powerful groups to safeguard the world and The Order began to
regather its strength.