The Scribes
Left hand of the Church of Thirasmus. Working behind the scenes to keep peace through order.
A cold chill settled deep in his guts. His accounts had been emptied, his own signature on the ledgers. When pressed, the clerk gently informed him that he had visited just two days prior. But two days ago he was in a different town - at a ball! He would find where his money had drained to, and he would take it back.
The Scribes are a secret organisation of spies that operate under the authority of the Church of Thirasmus. On the surface, they appear to be laypeople, diplomats and their namesake, scribes, but instead have training in stealth, deception, information gathering and investigation. They blend in with the Church at large and may often be found supporting on diplomatic missions.
Structure
The full structure of the organisation is obfuscated and compartmentalised. Few members can trace the authority above them more than two degrees of separation and will usually learn of higher ranking individuals on a strictly need to know basis.
Individual scribes have much independence and report loosely to a local supervisor or - more directly - to a regional leader. Usually taking the honoriffic "mother" or "father", these leaders will usually work in parallel with the Church authorities in large cities, no more than four or five per country. While their identity is rarely known, one such leader oversees the scribe activity throughout a whole country.
Highly secret, a small number of scribes known as intercessors act to police the whole Church across the entirety of Sondrana. Their identities, particularly their head, are an absolute secret, but it is believed that they are recruited from the pool of scribes that prefer to remain as active adventurers over settling in a location.
Culture
Careful and calculating, a good scribe never acts without forward planning. They are trained to root out corruption, particularly that which could harm the Church. They also seek to identify planar corruption but will rarely act against it, instead preferring to report their findings for action by the Blades of Harmony.
All scribes are trained as adepts of the Church. They are able to perform the many daily rituals that take place in the temples of Thirasmus and will use this as cover to perform their wider duties.
Scribes are trained to suspect everyone, including each other, so there is a healthy degree of professional competition that has developed as a result.
Assets
Able to dip into the deep coffers of the Church, the organisation has relatively unlimited funds for official activities. However, individual scribes are advised to create their own - preferably multiple - lines of financing, ideally a secret from other members.
Worldember 2022
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Archfey, The Baba, Bag of Bountiful Bread, Ceaseless Slough, Classifications of Powerful Beings, Echo Pastries, The Eldest Tree, Frostbite Jelly, The Hedge, Hollowfolk, Home At The Centre Of The Maze, Languid Lake, Plane of Creation, Recurrants, The Scribes, The Toad Prince, Underbridge, Week of Shadows
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