Dark Orchid Society
A secret Elw nationalist group, the Dark Orchid Society considers the indigenous Elwynnese to be the last uncorrupted bastion of Humanity on the continent of Benacia and are dedicated to the unification of Shireroth under the Banner of Kalir and also to the eradication of all non-human sentient life on the planet.
It was the Dark Orchid Society that approached Daniel Simrani-Kalirion with the proposal to participate in the Coup of 1604 and in the recruitment of Tokaray al-Osman, one of the last surviving members of the Osmanid Faction to lead the attack on the Bailiwick of Mariyechelân which caused the government of Steward Isurui to rapidly collapse.
The Dark Orchid Society retreated into the background during the era of the Coordinated State, although its symbol was adopted as the banner of the Union Defence Force and the Hall of Tranquillity.
Activities
The Dark Orchid Society is suspected of involvement in the poisoning of Noor Bint Simrani-Kalirion, the Queen of Goldshire and husband to the King of Elwynn, an episode that resulted in the miscarriage of their first child.
The Society has agents spread through out the human populations of Eastern Benacia, particularly in Alalehzamin and Utasia, Goldshire, Shirekeep and the Ancient Midlands, where it is believed to have forged links with the Brotherhood of Lest. Its strongest presence however is in the sparsely populated Vale of Angularis where its supporters work alongside brigands such as Sighvat the Yardistani.
After an unsubstantiated rumour of a threat to the life of Queen Noor, following close on the previous miscarriage, resulted in the issuing of the Royal Decree of 18 Araroqpinu 1635 and the deployment of Longship Guards, Cudgellers and local enforcement officers to the Bailiwick of Allswell, the Dark Orchid Society began to step up its activities in the Vale of Angularis.
Under the cover of suicide bombings attempted in against hospitals and the garrisons of Gentlemen-at-Cudgels in Tielon Loki and Azeroth, 09 Elroqpinu 1635, the disparate terrorist groups and brigands sponsored by the society began a steady withdrawal westwards towards the untamed frontier with Minarboria and Tellia. There the Society began to try to organise the militants into the core cadre of what they aspired to have become the Elwwehr, a national liberation army, although shortages of manpower, weapons and munitions, means that this 'army' is scarcely equal to a division of light infantry, currently with around 18,000 men and women under arms, only a third of whom have undergone any formalised basic training. The best that most will hope for is to be given a gun and some rudimentary instruction whilst on the march to the west. The rebels for the most part attempted to travel by night and avoided settlements and main roads, reducing the risk of detection whilst considerably slowing their progress. Under orders from the society, no band is to be greater than one-hundred and fifty men in number whilst on the move until they reach the mustering zone, in an attempt - probably forlorn - to prevent the movement being compromised by having any greater number caught in security dragnets. The rebel groups are cellular in structure and currently known only to the leaders and their handlers who remain concealed in civil society, to limit exposure if any one band is captured and interrogated.
Meanwhile Sighvat the Yardistani remains aloof from this rising tide of insurgency, focusing instead on his own depraved holy war, which for the moment seems to revolve around trying to isolate and storm the Elwynnese administered Tellian enclave of Scoglitto.
Tokaray al-Osman is reported to have parted company with the Dark Orchid Society, at least for the moment, sensing, perhaps correctly, that they are moving too fast towards a direct confrontation with the Kingdom of Elwynn, which can call upon superior firepower, air support, artillery and the massed ranks of the Longship Guards, the Union Defence Force and the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels. As such his priority appears to be to secure the removal of his newly acquired family and retainers out of the Vale.
