The Order of Quiet

The Order of Quiet, also known as the Quiet Order or The Silence, is an order of assassins, spies, scouts, and covert operatives loyal to the Muse of God, Hiku of the Crescent Moon. The Quiet are based out of the region of Metahn, but are active across all of Nafena (and some say, beyond). They are some of the greatest masters of stealth in the world, alongside the Healing Church assassins and the Hunters of Norinar - and in terms of personal skill, the Quiet rise above even them. 
The Order is a mixture between god-guided mystical zealots and contract killers. Whenever Hiku wants someone dead, the Order kills them. But when Hiku doesn't need someone dead, she helps the Order receive contracts from those who pray to or contact her. The Order doesn't take contracts against loyal followers of Hiku, but are perfectly willing to work for heathens killing other heathens. Contracts through the Order are expensive, but tend to be worth it; the Order is relentless and extremely dangerous. Outside of contract killing, the Order also teaches spies and scouts for various Orishan states. And lastly, the Order holds tracts of land throughout Nafena, concentrated around usually-hidden mountain fortresses. A few of these include:

• Towasho, which watches over the diamond mines of Kijano
• Chiotoro, which has trains monks and dhampires in Lakrati
• Chiata, which protects the original Cove of Hiku in Hikupa
• Etalia, an isolated mountain fortress near Nomion, in the central mountains
• Etoro, which watches over the Metahn-Nomion border and is the most obvious fortress of the bunch

While this all may seem to be the work of rogues, the Order is open to loyal killers of any kind. Bards, monks, dhampires, paladins, wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, fighters, all are welcome as long as they work with stealth and subterfuge. The greatest assassin-rogue currently living - a Chorical named Chio the Inspired - is a member of the Order.

Structure

The organizational structure of the Quiet Order is neither rigid nor well known.

Rank	Role
Speaker of Silence	Managing the Order as a whole, interpreting the will of Hiku
The Inner Circle	Executing the will of the Speaker, and judging those who break the rules of the order
Castellan	Maintaining and defending the hidden forts and outposts that the Order operates through
Master Assassin	The best assassins, who get the best contracts; also hunt defectors and traitors
Assassin	A full member, a warrior and killer
initiate	An apprentice bound to an Assassin for training

Each fortress has its own internal order, and can include a number of auxiliaries - people who aren't full members but still serve the Order in some capacity. Most auxiliaries are members of the castellan's warband, but they can also include tax officers, doctors, craftsmen, and the like.
While a member of the Order cannot retire, they can become a teacher. Teachers exist outside the ranking hierarchy, and are often loaned to pious kingdoms or clans to train their scouts, covert operations forces, and spies.

Culture

The Culture of the Quiet is surprisingly individualistic for a controlling cult that kills unquestioning for their God. While the daily lives and experiences of the membership are policed and controlled, personal expression is expected (no, demanded!) on the job. Victory comes first, but leave a calling card if at all possible. Let them know that the Muse has performed here, through your passions and interests. While collateral damage is frowned upon, individual expression always comes first - so if you need to blow up those fireworks in a shrapnel bomb in a crowded square to send your message, go for it. But if you are going to be gaudy like that, at least go the extra mile to throw some confetti in there.
You may seem like a calloused attitude towards life. You'd be right. The Order barely consider themselves to be people, and certainly not other people. They imagine the world as fictional, and believe that the world can only be kept from eternal torment and oblivion if it is kept interesting for those beings that watch. Lower echelons think that these beings are the Lunar Pantheon or maybe the Gods, but the theology only gets stranger the deeper in you go - this would be heresy if Hiku didn't make it. The effect of all this detachment, self-alienation, and apocalyptic terror is to help agents detach themselves from the feelings of their own bodies. Through training and drugs, full and master assassins master the art of detachment to such an extent that they are supposedly immune to both torture and magical interrogation. Even the memory-scan of the Divine Contact can be circumvented, by making one's mind such a maze of muddle fiction and reality that it cannot be parsed by the Lunar Gods. This all makes the assassins great at keeping secrets from the Lunar opposition, and it also helps agents suppress any empathy or compassion when the mission calls for horrible deeds.
But it isn't all just brainwashing; the Order has its own cultural quirks as a community. They love tall tales, for one. There are countless legends of assassins who did the impossible; paladins who fought and tamed giant carp or frogs, bards who transcended magic to kill people with a single dissonant "Death note", rogues whose mastery of disguise allowed them to actually make illusory copies in the minds of their foes, monks who could walk on beams of light. These legends filter down into the commonfolk and build the reputation of the order, but this isn't strategy - it is good fun.

Public Agenda

The Quiet Order has many rules, but its main tenets are:

• Never Kill Without Purpose
• Never Disobey a Command from a Superior
• Never Disobey the Muse
• Never Draw Attention to the Order
• Protect the Singing Church of Orisha 
• A Target Marked is Marked Forever
• Have Fun
• Be Yourself

Strangely, those last two are actual rules that are enforced. The servants of the Muse believe that all actions done to make the world beautiful and interesting carry moral value - and both passion and individuality are important elements of making good art. If you can't have fun on the job, spend some time as a teacher or take an administrative position.

"Every Song Needs Its Silence"

Founding Date

1710

Type

Guild, Assassins

Alternative Names

the Quiet Order, the Silence

Leader

Hiku Matsune

Parent Organization

The Singing Church of Orisha

Location

Metahn