The Seekers are a loose-knit society of explorers, adventuring scholars, and fortune hunters who scour the world of Oris, in search of ancient secrets and lost magic.
Although some members claim high-minded goals, the primary ambition of most seekers is personal enrichment, and the order is notorious for cutting corners and damning the consequences of their insatiable curiosity and greed. For this reason they remain a secret society, working throughout both Corwyn and Azoria in the shadows and pooling information to benefit themselves, regardless of the moral or financial cost.
Seeker interaction is based upon the Lodge, a place where members meet to discuss past and upcoming adventures, share maps, or show off spoils of the latest expedition. Seeker lodges are often hidden behind a mundane front such as a cartography shop or a private social club, and are renowned for their extensive libraries of Seeker journals and other tomes on forgotten lore.
Seekers benefit from anonymity, and the group is only known to those few sages and adventuers woh ar ewell-versed in ancient history, legends, and lore. Exploration of the continent of Azoria and its vast Sanjaara Jungle has also attracted the ire of both the Veiled Society and the Arcanum; two diametrically opposed groups who also share the Seeker’s interest in ruined temples and forsaken tombs.
The Seeker Society on Corwyn
The Seekers Society has existed for centuries. Its history, fraught with the daring exploits of brave heroes, has long enchanted the populace of the Inner Sea. Members include treasure hunters, explorers, tomb raiders, historians, and vagabonds who roam the farthest reaches of the world seeking lost relics of world-shattering power and answers to riddles older than the gods. These heroes brave vine-choked jungle ruins, ascend snow-capped peaks, and comb sun-seared desert sands in search of buried tombs and monuments of bygone ages.
Upon the completion of a particularly notable discovery or journey, society members send a record of their exploits to their venture-captain superior, who in turn reviews it for accuracy before forwarding the manuscript to the masked leaders of the Seekers Society, the cryptic Council of Elders; an inner circle of 10 experienced Seekers who guide the Society’s activities. This guidance is quite subtle, allowing individual Seekers to believe they act of their own accord when they are actually doing the bidding of the Ten. The Society recognizes no formal bylaws, but adherence to a general code of behavior is expected of all members, and reports of activity in contrast to this code are grounds for removal from the organization. The three most important member duties are as follows:
1) Exploration: Seekers are expected to further the knowledge and reputation of the Society by traveling to distant lands, unearthing forbidden secrets, and piecing together the secret history of the world. Agents are encouraged to travel uncharted lands in search of evermore-fantastic mysteries.
2) Reports: In the course of their adventures, Seekers are expected to keep detailed journals, maps, and accounts of their exploits. At the conclusion of a successful mission, the agent sends a copy of his notes to his immediate superior, a regional venture-captain, who makes a full analysis (often involving divination). Especially noteworthy exploits make their way to Alenthas and the Council of Elders, who compile the best tales into irregularly published editions of the Pathfinder Chronicles, which make their way back to venture-captains for distribution to Seekers in the field.
3) Cooperation: The Society places no moral obligations upon its members, so agents span all races, creeds, and motivations. At any given time, a Seekers lodge might house a eithers a wizard, a thief, or a barbarian
Seeker Lodges:
Most Seekers wander the world in search of riches and adventure, settling down only long enough to plan their next caper or fully exploit an ancient ruin of its treasure and secrets. But another class of Seekers exists, a group unknown to the populace at large yet integral to the success of the organization. These are the venture-captains who manage regional affairs and their at-times-considerable cadres of cohorts, retainers, menials, and guardians. Venture captains generally station themselves in Seeker lodges, unassuming locales meant to house the paperwork, plans, and infrastructure of the society while also occasionally serving as temporary residences for wandering Seekers.
The Grand Lodge of Alenthas stands alone among its fellows. Unlike lesser chapter houses in towns throughout the continent, which often mask their purpose behind facades of commerce or domesticity, the Grand Lodge wears its affiliation proudly. The Glyph of the Open Road, so often hidden in a map’s compass rose or a book’s embellishment to show the covert approval of the Order of the Seekers, blazes above the gate of a sheer-walled redoubt in the heart of the city of Alenthas. The wall circles a tall, stout stone tower that dates back to the city’s founding, perhaps the estate of a long-dormant noble house or the one-time bastion of a forgotten government. For the last several centuries, this has been the stronghold of the Pathfinders, the seat of the Decemvirate, and the legendary repository of the order’s treasures and legends.
Members:
Seekers can come from any race or character class. They must have a driving ambition to discover the lost secrets of the past, and they must be willing to share—to a point—information that could help other Seekers on the path to discovery, illumination, and enrichment. Most members consider themselves scholars of the ancient world and fluency with languages (including those that fell out of use centuries ago) is considered a mark of pride.
Titles, Benefits, and Duties:
Members of the Seekers are expected to support the lodges they visit with a tithe equating roughly %10 of their income. This is an informal system, so a Seeker who routinely donates rare books to a lodge library might be held in higher esteem than one who simply drops a few gold coins into the lockbox. All members are expected to keep an explorer’s journal and turn over the journal for transcription once a month. Upon graduation from apprenticeship all Seekers receive a silver ring bearing the eight-pointed star symbol of the order. The ring is worth 200 gp, and identifies the wearer as a seeker. Members are expected not to harm others they know to be Seekers, but mistakes often happen in the field and no one spends a lot of time worrying about those who violate this stricture.
Symbol of the Order
The Symbol of the Seekers is an eight pointed star; representing shining the light of truth and discovery on ancient mysteries.
