Order of Adamant

The Order of Adamant is devoted to limiting the abuse of magic through underground groups in Moonshadow. Founded in 417, they earned the enmity of a sect they called the Izengabe ("The Empty, the Unnamed") whose activities they exposed and squelched. Their expertise is much in dealing with the bizarre creatures and plants native to Moonshadow.

Betrayed by one of their members in 479, the Order fled to the shadows to protect itself. Hunted down with lethal efficiency, publicly their numbers were decimated to the point the Academy struck their name from the Register. Traces vanished from common knowledge, entries in libraries coincidentally disappearing and their business contracts drying up. The Adamant remained forgotten to history, little more than a footnote, until Tern Grenvile appeared in late 505 to deliver his awkward message to Larimar Montaigu.

Their lingering presence on Gateway and Mists drew to a climax as they were outmanoeuvred by their shadowy enemies. Grenvile perished under an irregular attack bearing the unique signature of the Izengabe's agents, drawing in Mistian aristocrats and commoner mages alike in the search for a solution to rampant "dreaming plague" and death threats. Due to their involvement via Tiege Soranus's kidnapping, the Order gained brief notoriety from warnings issued to the Purists and their near death.

The Order of Adamant did more than stand as a bulwark in troubled times and wicked places. There are myriad references to "The Adamant" placed throughout their few recovered texts, although nothing actually describes exactly what their namesake is. At best, references correspond to an object which most likely is a gemstone mounted into portable form and accounted the "touchstone and heart of our ideals." It could well be a metaphor rather than a physical object. Whether it is a symbol of the old Order or actually possesses any power is every bit as difficult to discern as whether the Fang is just a symbol or imbued with some essence of Mists proper: the accounts do not in any way agree on that.

The Adamant was obtained before 430 and entrusted with its own caretaker, the Kereit ("Incorruptible"), a position of honour and obligation both. There are various details vaguely associated with the Adamant, particularly the need to "mend the rifts" and "purge the taint" but with the rampant symbolism mentioned here and there, it could be a sign that the Order of Adamant itself was required to stand against the Izengabe. Repeated references to poison and venom among the "deeping-beasts" are littered through the collection.

Any sort of internal structure has not adequately survived among the writings of the Order. The records of in their chapterhouses were destroyed, either by their enemies or a deliberate act, and the only intact chronicles belonging to the Tremayne family do not have great detail. The Kereit had specific responsibility for the Adamant itself, while chancellors protected the interests of the Order's three individual chapterhouses. A chronicler is believed to have served by annotating the achievements of members.

Endowed by a bequeathment from the Tremayne family, the Order of Adamant had greater prosperity for an order of its relative obscurity and small size. Its primary holdings were the chapterhouse at Breteche in Moonshadow (est. 421), Avelinley in Haven, and Triannon on Gateway (est. 465).

Triannon's symbol is a white circle around the triceps, three connected canted squares. A map is enclosed in a locked chest offering an idea of where Triannon is, though this is all encoded. Triannon is marked at a point on the southeastern edge of Gateway Isle approximately an hour from Seal Cove adjacent to the coast and should have a beach landing if markings are correct.

When the Order was betrayed in 479, each of the three chancellors was responsible for managing the dismantling and concealing the contents. Avelinley's chancellor was killed before the task was complete, so much of the collection was lost. Knowledge of Triannon was strictly on a need-to-know basis given by Loirse, the chronicler. No word of Breteche's status has ever been determined. Papers found being delivered to Triannon in 505 amount to records, journals, written accounts, and other semi-sensitive information. Noticeably missing are any names of the chapter members, details covered beyond 491 except for the search for Avelinley and marks of what can be surmised as attacks against the Order or incidents of some note. The last is June 505, Wraith's Watch.

The Order of Adamant came together in 417 at the behest of Alannah Tremayne to investigate questionable activities occurring near the border between Sorcery's Crest and Midnight Lagoon on her behalf. She offered several mages clandestine support in a pursuit that stretched over three years before the local sect was eradicated. Never large, they specialized in tracking and neutralizing the problems stirred up by nefarious activity in eastern Moonshadow by special study of corruption and cultist activities tied to magical abuses.

As they expanded their influence and information network, the Order successfully battled several mages and gained particular skill dealing with some of Moonshadow's stranger denizens, especially used as components as they revealed a group specialized in such things, the Izengabe. This became the Order's primary enemy and finally one of their younger members was corrupted with bribes to reveal the Order's chapterhouses on Gateway, Moonshadow, and eastern Mists to a sleeper agent for the Izengabe. Four of the Adamant and the agent were ambushed, and Order went underground, hunted person by person.

Largely forgotten to history for their deeds, the Order's main collections were shattered and put in the care of the Tremayne family and Loirse Ascant, Order chronicler reported by Tern to be heinously murdered. But they have always kept an eye to the concerns of Mists and the recent troubles led the Order to hope they might extend their help to a new generation, and use their lore for new aims against fell creatures uncomfortably like the ones they have known.