For the Records of Logres:
Updated from the summary composed in 1962 by my father, Arthur Denniston. Notes taken from that summary are given in quotation marks.
Order: the Abdals (Christianized Sufis)
Domain: the eastern Umma ("the 'stans")
Director: the Caliph
Order: the Arcophoroi ("the Ark-Bearers")
Domain: East Africa
Director: the Cohen Shem
In 1962, we believed the Knights of Solomon, mentioned below, to be an Order. We have since learned they have members from several Middle Eastern and African Orders but are not, themselves, an Order. They appear to be benign."Description: These may be two companies with a shared domain, one order known by two names, or an order and a smaller group within it. The Knights of Solomon are known to us only through the Records of Logres. Contact with the Arcophori, now in Khartoum, was friendly but brief and cautious. They are a group of black Coptic Christians, claiming Jewish ancestry and the guardianship of the Ark of the Covenant."
Order: Brandon's Mariners
Domain: Ireland and, possibly, the Irish diaspora
Director: the Admiral
"Description: The last contact with this order was during the Elizabethan period, when relations with Logres were strained. We succeeded in making a brief contact in 1951, but the Mariners appeared markedly averse to any sustained communication. It would appear that the bad history of Anglo-Irish relations has darkened even this connection."
Order: the Bronze Nagas
Domain: Indo-China
Director: the Nagarishi
Order: los Caballeros de San Diego ("the Knights of St. James")
Domain: the Hispanic world
Director: el Margaro / la Margara
"Description: This order has the largest domain of which we have knowledge, including the Iberian penninsula and all of Latin America. We were directed to them by les Chevaliers de Charlemagne (see below). They are currently headquartered in Mexico City. As a result of our diplomatic investigations, we have established protocols for contacting them at need. They are one of the most forthcoming of the companies we have contacted; their only reservations concerning Logres appear to be our non-Catholic religious status."
Order: les Chevaliers de Charlemagne ("the Knights of Charlemagne")
Domain: France
Director: le Paladin / la Paladinne
"Description: This order has clear records, going back to their founding under the reign of Charlemagne. They were the second order we contacted, and reasonably forthcoming. Like the Caballeros, they seem to regret that we are not Catholic, but we have an established protocol for contacting them. They have, as an ongoing task, the job of monitoring and combating le Prieur de Sion (the Priory of Zion). Le Prieur may have been a pawn or accomplice of the N.I.C.E."
Order: Cohenim Nistarim ("Hidden Priests")
Domain: Jewish Diaspora (See also Eidah Yaakov.)
Director: the Cohen Shem ("Priest of the Name")
A non-Christian Order, unlike the Jewish Christians of the Eidah Yaakov.
Order: the Disciples of Yon (Prester John)
Domain: Mongolia
Director: the Prester
Nestorians.
Order: Eidah Yaakov ("Congregation of Jacob/James")
Domain: Jewry (See also Cohenim Nistarim.)
Director: the Rabbi 'Or
"Description: This ancient order of Christian Jews, last known to us from records dating to the Crusades, is centered in Jerusalem and claims to be the original congregation of St. James the Less, author of the Epistle of James and kinsman of the Lord. Their main concern appears to be the preservation of the Jewish people. They deny affiliation with any gentile denomination. We have established contact protocols."
Order: Geroldseck
Domain: Germany, Austria, and other Teutonic countries
Director: der Herzog / die Herzogin
"Description: Logres records indicate that Lancelot himself was sent by Geroldseck to help found Camelot. We have had little to do with them since. On re-contacting them, we found them greatly reduced in numbers and greatly demoralized, feeling they had failed in their latest task."As of 1975, Geroldseck is much recovered.
As of 2000, Geroldseck is very busy, expanding its operations into the former East Germany and combating the schemes of the CPPU.
Order: the Grandmother Spider Society
Domain: North American Indians
Director: the Medicine Spider
"Description: Guided by clues from the Caballeros, we established the continued existence of this order, but contact was very brief and cautious; no future contact protocol was made and we are unsure if the Society regards either Logres or the Caballeros as allies. We are not even sure if they are Christians, though they appear to be at least nominal Catholics. There may be additional companies among the American Indians; this one may be an amalgamation of several older ones, banding together as the fortunes of their people decayed."We have since determined that the Society is, indeed, a combination of many older Amerind Orders. Most, but not all, are Catholic, but also preserve features of pre-Christian spirituality.
Order: the Logothetes
Domain: the Eastern Orthodox Church
Director: the Demach
"Description: This is a purely monastic company, last known to us from records dating to the Crusades, centered in Istanbul. Besides prayer, their only concern at the moment is fighting Communism. They made it quite clear that our not being Orthodox was a considerable hindrance to any joint action, but we established contact protocols."Through the Logothetes, we have come into contact with the Patmos Vampires. N.B.: These are benign vampires, and have been for centuries, as of last information. See their records under "Supernatural Contacts."
Elwin Denniston, 1975
Order: Logres
Domain: Britain
Director: the Pendragon
"Description: We list ourselves here for completeness and to mention that our own domain is not entirely clear to us. It clearly includes Great Britain and clearly does NOT include Ireland. Pendragon Col. Michael Fisher-King made it clear that we are responsible, in part, for the actions of Britain in its other territories, but what that part is and how we relate to the other companies in those territories is unclear."Since 1962, our "jurisdiction" has been accepted in British holdings in the Carribean and sometimes in Canada, but it is clear we no longer have jurisdiction in India and never did in Australia.
Order: the Magi
Domain: Persia and Magery
Director: the Archmage
"Description: This group is known to us only from our Crusader records. We have been unable to verify their continued existence, though the Logothetes and the Antonines maintain they still exist. They may be Christianized Zoroastrians or simply Zoroastrian. They may or may not be magicians in some sense. The two companies mentioned above maintain they were founded by the Magi who adored the Christ Child."
Order: the Mahatomarishis
Domain: India
Director: the Surya
"Description: This group is the one with which we presently enjoy most contact, followed by the Caballeros. This openness is due entirely to Pendragon Col. Michael Fisher-King and his family, along with the now-retired Vasura, leader of the Mahatomarishis. The order is a group of Mar Thoma Christians, very active on a number of fronts in India."We have since determined that the Mar Thoma group initially contacted is an "umbrella" group that tries to maintain peace and cooperation among several different Indian groups.
Orders: the Nine Auspicious Orders
Domain: China
Directors: various
"Description: This is nine Orders working together, or possibly in turns, dating back to pre-Christian times. We have verified their continued existence; they appear to be centered in either Hong Kong or Pei-King. Some of these Orders are Nestorian Christians with Taoist overtones; others are Christianized Confucians; others we do not know about. Contact was cordial, but they politely declined to establish a protocol for future contact. They said we would encounter one another when it became necessary."
Order: the Oblates of St. Nicholas ("Santa's Helpers")
Domain: Scandinavia
Director: the Oblate General
"Description: We found mention of this group, under the name "Santa's Helpers," in the records left by Pendragon Col. Michael Fisher-King. The Colonel worked with them on two occasions during the War. They appear to be busy working in the Teutonic areas and trying to rebuild Geroldseck."
Order: the Order of St. Anthony
Domain: the western Umma ("Arabia" and North Africa)
Director: the Pillar
"Description: We were referred to this group by the Caballeros, who occasionally contact them through their Iberian members. They are an order of Coptic Christians, with centers in Casablanca and Alexandria. They sometimes work with the Arcophoroi. They take both the Christians and the Mohammedans of Arabia under their protection. They were at pains to point out that their domain does not include the entire Mohammedan 'Umma.'"
Order: il Ordine di Santa Petronella ("the Order of St. Petronella")
Domain: Italy and the Roman Catholic Church
Director: the Cardinal Abbot
"Description: We were referred to this order by the Chevaliers. They are a monastic group, including both monks and nuns, centered in Rome and Vatican City. They appear to form a relatively close-knit group with the Chevaliers, the Caballeros, and possibly the Mariners – in short, the guardians of Catholic Christendom. We are in doubt whether or not the other companies are subordinate to the Petronellans, nor are we clear how they relate to other Catholic areas such as Austria. Perhaps this is a good example of the wisdom of leaving such questions of rank and territory alone."
Order: the Order of the White Cowl
Domain: Russia
Director: the Bogatyr Trietvego Trona ("Hero of the Third Throne")
Order: the Patriarchate of Irem
Domain: Djinnistan
Director: the Patriarch
"Description: Our records from the Crusader period refer to this place and this order as real, and the Antonines concur. We, who have had commerce with elves and eldila, are in no position to say they are wrong, though we have no recent indication of this order's continued existence."
Order: Phos Hellas (the "Light of Greece") (formerly Phos Achaea)
Domain: Greece
Director: the Panhellene
Order: the Dare Lodge
Domain: the United States of America
Director: the President
"Description: This is almost certainly the newest guardian order on Earth, having been founded in 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. The Chevaliers referred us to them. They are centered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under cover of being an eccentric Masonic lodge. They have been quite open and welcomed establishing contact protocols. They say their mission is to promote the spiritual good to be found in the Enlightenment Movement, though they also clearly regard the United States as their territory."
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Copyright © Earl Wajenberg, 2010