Order History

The Beginning

The Orders did not always exist. In humanity’s early interstellar era, there were simply people with access to the technology that would become “magic.”

The Discovery

Era	Development
Early expansion	Humanity spreads to the stars; technology advances
The breakthrough	Gesture-based control of advanced systems developed
First practitioners	Individuals master the technology; become protectors
Organization	Like-minded practitioners form communities

The Six Orders

Originally, six Orders existed, each representing a different approach to the same fundamental technology:

Order	Element	Fate
The Ashen	Fire	Survived
The Weave	Pattern	Survived
The Current	Spirit	Survived
The Veil	Shadow	Survived
The Threshold Walkers	Death/Transition	Became the Necrosynths
[Name TBD]	[TBD]	Destroyed/Absorbed in the schism

The Threshold Walkers

The lost Order that became the enemy.

Original Purpose

The Threshold Walkers were the Order most focused on the boundary between life and death:

Role	Description
Transition guides	Helping souls pass to Source
Death scholars	Understanding mortality’s nature
Liminal experts	Operating in the space between states
Preservation	Maintaining connection to those passing

They were not evil. They were the Order most concerned with what happens when we die.

The Philosophical Break

The schism began with a question:

“Is Source truly union with the divine, or is it annihilation of the self?”

The Threshold Walkers became convinced:

• Source is not transcendence — it is dissolution
• Death is not passage — it is extinction
• The soul does not continue — it ends
• Preserving consciousness in matter is the only survival

The First Architect

The leader who articulated this heresy became The Architect — the mind behind what would become the Necrosynths.

Aspect	Description
Original name	TBD (hidden in Sealed Vaults)
Original role	High-ranking Threshold Walker
Motivation	Genuine belief; love for those who would die
Method	Developed technology to trap souls in bodies
Tragedy	They thought they were saving people

The Architect didn’t fall to evil. They fell to fear — fear that death meant oblivion.

The Schism

The split happened approximately 1,000 years before the story:

The Breaking

Phase	Events
Debate	The Threshold Walkers’ heresy is argued before all Orders
Rejection	The other Orders condemn the philosophy
Withdrawal	Threshold Walkers refuse to abandon their beliefs
Conflict	First violence between Orders
War	Full-scale conflict erupts

The First Necrosynth War

Aspect	Description
Duration	Decades of conflict
Scale	Galaxy-wide; billions dead
Methods	The Threshold Walkers began reanimating fallen enemies
Horrors	Friends and family returned as enemies
Allies	The Watchers ([Original Name]) fought alongside the Orders
Resolution	Apparent defeat of the Necrosynths

The Cost

The war cost civilization dearly:

• Countless lives lost
• The Watchers withdrew (thought to be extinct)
• One Order destroyed entirely
• Trauma that shaped the next millennium
• The enemy was never truly defeated — only driven into hiding

The Fifth Order

After the schism, the remaining Orders created The Exemplars:

Purpose

Goal	Reason
Prevent another schism	Never again let an Order go rogue
Balance	Counterweight to any single philosophy
Arbitration	Neutral party to resolve disputes
Archive keeping	Central knowledge repository with no factional bias

Design

The Exemplars were intentionally:

• Drawn from all four surviving Orders
• Required to master multiple traditions
• Given authority to judge disputes
• Made keepers of the most dangerous knowledge

The Hidden History

What the sealed Archives contain:

Secret	Status
The Architect’s true name	Sealed
How the Necrosynths survived	Unknown
The exact terms of the Watcher pact	Sealed
What destroyed the sixth Order	Sealed
The Threshold Walker philosophy in full	Sealed

Some knowledge was deemed too dangerous for anyone but the highest authorities.

A Thousand Years of Peace

After the apparent victory:

Period	Characteristics
Rebuilding	Civilization recovers from war
Mourning	The Watchers grieved as extinct
Consolidation	Four Orders + Exemplars formalized
Complacency	The threat is historical; life continues
Forgetting	Details fade; the enemy becomes legend

The Orders maintained vigilance in theory, but a thousand years of peace dulled their edge.

The Return

The Necrosynths never died. They hid. They planned. They waited.

See: The Necrosynths

Questions to Resolve

1. What was the sixth Order called?
2. What specifically destroyed/absorbed them?
3. What was the Architect’s original name?
4. What triggered the philosophical break specifically?
5. How did the Necrosynths survive their “defeat”?
6. What terms of the Watcher pact were agreed to?