Okay so I think I still need to come up with more ideas for Secret Societies and their motives. I need to come up with some that are good, evil and lawful stupid. So any help?

In my plot, the main villain is a society that claims to be working on a solution for The Virus but actually secretly doesn't care about ever solving it.

edited 22nd Oct '10 9:54:57 PM by OOZE

Wait, I was meant to say Stupid Good, I think. Lawful stupid is more of a government thing.

edited 22nd Oct '10 10:03:51 PM by PsychoFreaX

How about one that was founded by a conspiracy theorist with some really wacked-out favorite conspiracy theory — some that makes no real sense at all, like say, "cat's tails are really alien parasites, here to observe us and send information back to their home planet in preparation for a massive trans-galactic exodus."

@Madrugada Still, there should be reasons why the society may NEED to work underground and hide the truth from the world. I mean if your idea happened it will more likely be a more weird version of the climate change issue in the real world. Secret Societies often need a reason to be secret. Hence they are Secret Societies.

There needs to be a reason why they need to work outside the law whether it's for good or bad. Why it will ruin their plans if other people find out.

Maybe Lawful Stupid may work in some way actually. I'll keep thinking.

edited 22nd Oct '10 11:46:28 PM by PsychoFreaX

The standard fits-almost-every situation reason to be secretive is "They'd stop us if they knew we knew!". Paranoia is your friend when it comes to secret societies.

Psycho Frea, good reasons for a group to take its fight underground and become a conspiracy/secret society:

-If the public were told, they would not believe, or may turn on the group as a dangerous element.

-If the public knew they may panic/go pitchforky, and the overreaction may be worse than the initial evil.

BK.

Money. Not especially elaborate or subtle in itself, but if the last few years (see Madoff; Goldman Sachs) have shown us anything, it's that the plans to acquire it can be elaborate, subtle, and incredibly evil.

-Mutual Protection. Some societies form when their ideals contradict prevailing social mores to the point where they would be ostracized/arrested/murdered for publicly espousing them.

-Revolution. Obviously, one cannot plot against the government in public.

-Crime. Making money to the left of the law is something best done behind the scenes.

-Exclusivity & Comradeship. People like feeling superior, and being part of a secret club is a good way to get that. Frat houses use this one.

I used mostly "Exclusivity and comradeship". Keeping secrets is fun and all that. But then I mainly used such things for Worldbuilding rather then plot devices. The one exception I remember was I needed an explanation for background skills the heroine had, and training her in a secret society was a colorful explanation.

edited 30th Jul '12 11:12:07 PM by jatay3

I think most of the RL secret societies are in it for the exclusivity and comradeship, especially the exclusivity and the allure of "us" vs "them" it carries with it.

The members of a secret society could all be total barking mad loonies with room-temperature I Qs but the fact that their society is a secret organisation that doesn't let "just anyone" join gives them the feeling that they're better than the hoi polloi.

Most kids love the whole "we've got a secret club that no one else can join" thing and some those kids grow up to be adults who still love it.

The aims/secondary motives could be anything from philanthropy (anonymous donations to charities etc) to proving that alien interference was behind the deaths of JFK and Roy Orbison. They could even hope to "Take Over The Wooorrrllld!" one day - whether or not they are anywhere near in a position to do so is immaterial. A bunch of old farts sitting around in over-stuffed armchairs sniffing brandy balloons and congratulating each other on how fine they will look once they've taken over all the world governments is just as valid a secret society as one that is actively trying to get its people infiltrated into the right organisations.

You could have the heads of various competing companies all members of a secret society (membership limited to the local equivalent of the Fortune 500) dedicated to staying rich if you wanted.

Have you looked up some of the classic secret societies? The Freemasons, the Illuminati, Majestic 12? The Knights Templar are a bit far back there but a of people believe they were a secret society.

And then there's other groups that few people think of as Secret Societies but fit the bill. The KKK is actually a perfect example. A group of people who dress up, meet in secluded place, often everyone is involved but no one will admit to it for fear of legal reprisal. They believe they are protecting society from the darker elements(in this case, both figuratively and literally).

Interestingly enough, A classic Sherlock Holmes story involved a secret society murdering people in Britain. It turns out it was the KKK. I recognized it pretty quickly but in 1880's England, it was probably a bit harder to spot, as the KKK aren't really native to the UK.

With that said, most terrorist groups are secret societies and you could make the same argument for vigilantes. Secret societies don't have to believe outlandish or crazy stuff, but can be as simple as "We're doing something important/protecting our people, but our ability to do this would be impeded or even impossible under public scrutiny." Often because what they are doing is illegal.

I've been working on a book involving a secret society in 1890's London, who believe they protect Britain from supernatural monsters. They do all of this out the public radar because it's much like our world where nobody actually believes monsters are real(except them) and their standard operating procedure involves torture and murder(because the monsters can possess or otherwise make themselves look human). They believe themselves to be providing a vital public service. Anyone looking at it from the outside sees it as being little more then a criminal syndicate with a rather bizarre motivation. Thus, why they stay hidden. Trying to justify that you killed 15 people because they were demon possessed isn't really going to work in court.

edited 31st Jul '12 10:55:38 AM by hpl