The Order of the Silver Dream
The Order of the Silver Dream was founded 2200 years ago by an elf who experienced a mysterious dream about a terrible undead threat growing in the jungles near Cauldron. At that time, Kyuss's dread empire of Kuluth-Mar was rising. The elves did not have the power to directly challenge Kyuss’s empire at that time, but they began to train warriors in mystic and marshal training, developing elite warriors (monks and psychic warriors, arcane archers and bladedancers) The elf who had this first dream of warning is remembered now by the Order only as The First Dreamer (his true name is perhaps known to the eldest of the Order, or perhaps has been lost to time and forgotten). That dream of warning was actually a message sent by the angel Nidrama, who perceived the great threat to the elves of the region posed by Kyuss and his undead.
After Kyuss’s living cultists perished en masse 2000 years ago, and the remaining undead inhabitants of Kuluth-Mar began to spread, the Order was the only thing containing the rampant spread of these undead hordes to the rest of the world. But the containment seemed doomed to fail, so the Dreaming Council was convened, and the most powerful elven wizards and priestesses came together to cast a massive spell to summon a celestial army to aid the elves. Together, the celestial host and the elven armies, lead by the Order’s elite warriors, laid siege to the Spire of Long Shadows, and created the Obsidian Circle that surrounds the Spire to this day. But this required the sacrifice of the celestials and the leaders of the Order.
Then, 690 years ago, Surabar Spellmason’s friend and competitor, Kozomagon Lidu, the leader of Liduton near Redgorge, tried to use the power of a nearby kopru necropolis to help defeat Nabthatoron’s demon army. This backfired, turning all the inhabitants of the town of Liduton into undead of various sorts. Kozomagon herself became a lich, while the town elders became spectres and ghosts, and the populace became ghouls, wraiths, shadows and other lesser undead. While most of these undead seem bound to the now haunted, ruined town, and never leave it, some (newcomers that have taken refuge there) use it as a base from which to strike at the land of the living. A coven of vampires now dwells there, and has members throughout the region.
The Order eventually moved in to try to wipe out the undead of Liduton (now called the Haunted Village). They failed. While some in the Order survived and fled, they've been hunted ever since by the vampires they encountered there (including Mhad, the vampire that is now allied to the Cagewrights).
In turn, the Order has tried to kill the vampires, looking for their hidden coffins and destroying them. This has been a kind of secret guerrilla warfare that few know about. Unfortunately, it is much easier to make new vampires and vampire spawn than to train new mystic warriors, so perhaps the balance has favored the undead.
Now the Necrocants have moved into the Haunted Village and allied with the undead, and have forged an alliance with Thifirane of the Cagewrights as well. This does not bode well for the Order of the Silver Dream.
Values of the Order
The Order values all life, and is against killing unless necessary. However, they generally don't believe in interfering with others killing each other unless it is the helpless and innocent that are being killed. (For example, if a member of the Order captured a living prisoner, he would favor not killing the prisoner, but he would not enter combat with an ally to save an evil prisoner from death if words failed to convince the companion to spare the prisoner's life.)
The Order teaches that all life is one and all life is precious, and that there are forces of death and undeath, evil and destructive beyond mortal comprehension, which are hungry to destroy all that is good in the world. The Order teaches that all living beings should unite to fight this overpowering evil, which according to prophesy is fated to most likely win some day against the living world.
The Order reveres celestial beings as guardians of life against the dark forces.
Headquarters
The headquarters of the Order is the hidden Monastery of the Silver Dream, about one day’s travel from Cauldron. The location is kept hidden to prevent attack from the undead foes of the Order. Even members of the Order are not shown the way to the Monastery until they are deemed powerful enough to resist easy capture or domination by vampires.
Symbols and Dress
The symbol of the Order is a silver representation of an elf sleeping on a quarter-moon. Members of the Order sometimes carry an amulet or ring with this symbol or have the symbol tattoed discretely somewhere on their bodies.
While in the Monastery of the Silver Dream, members of the Order dress in simple white or silver robes. The elders often tattoo themselves with elven and celestial runes on their faces and bodies. However, when traveling, members of the Order often dress like commoners or adopt other disguises as needed. They especially need to be discreet when traveling through areas where their enemy may try to assassinate them. Members of the Order need to avoid giving themselves away too easily to dominated servants of the vampires that hunt for the Order.