Order of the Scarab

D&D 3e (3.0/3.5) Rules

by Terry Doetzel

This idea started as a fairly "Neutral" Knighthood, but has evolved into a vaguely sinister organization with antipathy towards the Wizards of High Sorcery.

• Organization is based in Khur.
• Rogues, tomb raiders, merchants, mercenaries and mystics.
• Have developed a sufficient power base to loan money and peddle influence in the various cities of Khur.
• Based on favours between "men of power".
• Long been involved in the trade of illegal magical artifacts.
• Claim to have been a surviving remnant of the Order of the Divine Hammer, stretching back to the days of Istar, but in reality were the imaginings of a renegade citadel mystic named Lakira Asheem. Shamelessly exploiting the dead to give them more grandeur.
• Lakiria Asheem is a handsome woman of elder years with a shameless lust for power. Having no magical talent herself, she ruthlessly ensures that it does not creep into her own organization, and seeks to hoard magical items.
• Loyalty inspired by rituals, alcoholic drinking, initiation. Ideals that bind them together are the idea of secret truths privy only to members of this group, and the freedom from the corrupt secrets of the wizards.
• Keepers of the mysteries are mystics that gain the magic domain. While mystics with the magic domain are frowned upon in the DLCS, they have the spells necessary to create Scarabs of Protection and Golembane Scarabs from the DMG. Plus, Scarabs seemed to fit with the Khurish society.
• They are eager to aid and recruit adventurers and to offer loans in exchange for a favour. It is also a good place to buy and sell magical items.

Goals:

The immediate goal is to seize control of Zhakar Keep. They hope to claim the dwarven citadel as a stronghold, and are amassing arms and troops to do so. There is also a strong desire to seize access to the wizard artifacts of the Zhakar dwarves.

The Organization:

Headquarters: Various chapterhouses, Abbey of Secrets. Old fortress abbey belonging to the Order of the Divine Hammer held by petty warlords after the cataclysm and eventually abandoned. Now in the process of being restored as a prelude to the invasion of Zakhar Keep.

Members: close to a thousand

Hierarchy: Webbed, threaded together by the Keepers of Mysteries

Leader: Lakira Asheem

Religion: None. Worship of Hiddukel and Shinare is common among members.

Alignment: LE, N, NE

Secrecy: Medium

Symbol: A bronze scarab (1st echelon), a bronze scarab with a quartz carapace (2nd echelon), a gold scarab (3rd echelon), a gold scarab with a lapis lazuli carapace (4th echelon) and gold scarab beetle overlaying a silver hammer (5th echelon).

The Order of the Scarab possesses a 6th Echelon, known as the Keepers of Mysteries. These are the mystics with the magic domain which serve as the "spiritual advisors" to each of the various chapter houses and serve Lakira Asheem directly. There is a secret 7th echelon which is deliberately kept secret from the rest of the membership.

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