History Main / SecretCircleOfSecrets

* ''TabletopGame/DarkMatter'', a roleplaying game for the ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'' system based strongly on contemporary conspiracy theory and ''Series/TheXFiles''-like science fiction, had the Final Church, THE worldwide conspiracy for demons and satanists. Basically, pretend that every paranoid rumor regarding Satanism mentioned in the 'Real Life' section was actually true, and you get the gist. There was even a web book devoted solely to the group at the end of ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'''s run, and the group makes a comeback in the ''TabletopGame/D20Modern Menace Manual''.

A Subtrope of ReligionOfEvil. May overlap with TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness. Often found in works of ReligiousHorror. Has connections with the DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment. Often a form of MysteryCult, ApocalypseCult or BreedingCult.

[[folder:Film]]

* Creator/JackieChan stumbles onto one in the ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' episode "The Chan That Knew Too Much". Much of the humor in that episode comes from their deciding HeKnowsTooMuch.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1627 failure to belong to one is among the reasons why Lil' E deems Slick lame.]]

* Even Creator/AgathaChristie used this trope, and like she did with most tropes, had some fun with it. The investigation in ''The Seven Dials Mystery'' leads to the titular secret society, whose members wear masks shaped like clock faces. [[spoiler:It's a society of amateur detectives led by the police superintendent.]]

* SecretTestOfCharacter: When we first see Gil, his father is asking him to figure out what's wrong with the machine he ordered built -- except he's really testing to see if Gil is honest, brave and/or smart enough to tell him it isn't actually possible for it to work the way Klaus said it should.

* The ''Manga/LitchiHikariClub'' has shades of this, especially in the opening, which depicts them from the perspective of an outsider.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The Grey Council from ''Series/BabylonFive'' is the senior level of government for the Minbari Federation. It is comprised of three members of each of the three castes (Worker, Warrior, Religious) [[spoiler: at least until the fifth season when Delenn breaks the Council and reconstitutes it so that the Workers gain a majority over the other two (usually more dominant) castes]]. Unlike the other examples, the Grey Council isn't so much evil as it is manipulative [[spoiler: and ultimately corrupt]]. It meets in secret aboard a warship in deep space, so that its deliberations (and for that matter the identities of its members) remain unknown even to most Minbari. All members wear dark grey cloaks with head-concealing hoods. They also have a habit of withholding information ''[[TooDumbToLive even if doing so is ultimately self-defeating]]''.
* [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Secret Society]], from ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'', of course. They are a bit of a lighter example though. While they do indeed meet up in the dark cellar of Anubis House, chant creepily during ceremonies and wear cloaks, they aren't doing big sacrifices or any dark magic. They are mostly teachers along with a few important figures like a cop and a nurse (as well as the father of who they assume to be TheChosenOne) and their goal is to achieve [[ImmortalitySeeker eternal life]] so each of them can fulfill a more personal goal, such as stopping themselves from dying of a degenerative disease. The most evil thing they did was hide away their supposed chosen one and lie about it to the students, yet they never wanted any of the students to actually get hurt. They are disbanded at the end of the first season when they realized they had the wrong chosen one and their one-hour window to do the ceremony has closed.
* ''Series/ResurrectionErtugrul'': Dragos’ legion counts as this since he and his members operate under aliases around Sogut, doing so while preventing most outsiders from figuring out their true identities in order for them to take over the city and eventually all of Anatolia, plus the fact that his subordinates display an unyielding devotion to him.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' reveals that within the Tal Shiar -- the Romulan SecretPolice -- is an even more secretive cabal known as Zhat Vash, which exists solely to protect a terrible secret capable of breaking the minds of those who learn it.

* Chaos Cultists from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' (and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'') qualify. [[BloodKnight Khorne's]] worshipers often organize into martial brotherhoods or murder cults, orders devoted to [[TheChessmaster Tzeentch]] tend to be influential secret societies or sorcerous cabals, cults of [[SenseFreak Slaanesh]] are at best bands of artistes and hedonists or at worst mobs of depraved sex-crazed sadomasochists, and [[PlagueMaster Nurgle's]] followers are nihilistic groups spreading disease and despair.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' features the Shadow Cults, an invention of the Mekhet that allows them control over humans (and other fringe benefits) by promising to unearth the secrets of existence. One of them, the Moulding Room, promises to reveal the power behind modern pop culture but is explicitly revealed to be a Situationalist prank -- in other words, founded entirely ForTheEvulz.
** From another ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' game, ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', you have the Guardians of the Veil, who both qualify as this trope ''and'' manufacture this trope for mortals. As the Mage equivalent of the Secret Police, they obviously act in secret, [[spoiler: and also fit this trope by believing in an apocalyptic philosophy that is actively trying to bring about [[TheMessiah the birth of a mage messiah]]]]. But they also like to make mystery cults that deliberately spread disinformation about magic, in order to prevent curious individuals from accidentally discovering ''real'' magic.
** A [[TabletopGame/MummyTheCurse Mummy's]] {{Cult}} also tends to operate in this fashion. Mummy Cults are among the few people in the modern world who know of [[AppliedPhlebotinum Sekhem]] and the Nameless Empire, and also have the ability to direct a Mummy through his Relics. A Cult that abuses this authority, though, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard may regret it]] once the Mummy starts getting its memories back...
* ''TabletopGame/DarkMatter'', a roleplaying game for the ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'' system based strongly on contemporary conspiracy theory and ''Series/TheXFiles''-like science fiction, had the Final Church, THE worldwide conspiracy for demons and satanists. Basically, pretend that every paranoid rumor regarding Satanism mentioned in the 'Real Life' section was actually true, and you get the gist. There was even a web book devoted solely to the group at the end of ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'''s run, and the group makes a comeback in the ''TabletopGame/D20Modern Menace Manual''.

* Subverted with the Lords of Waterdeep from the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] setting, who dress like this trope, engineer secretive political schemes, and conceal their membership from the public, but aren't actually evil and work to ensure their city's security and prosperity.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', there are the Primals, a group who is based in the Inner Planes. They seem to have discovered some big secret of the universe, but aren't eager to share it. (Most assume it has something to do with Elemental powers, given their location and name.) Due to the secrecy, most other folk assume they're up to no good, even though there's no concrete proof.

* The Cult of Kefka in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. They have given their souls to Kefka, and spend all their time walking around thinking about him.
* The story in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' revolves around rescuing the daughter of the President of the United States from a cult called "[[TheIlluminati Los Illuminados]]". Interestingly, the most obvious example of this trope is only in one particular level. The rest of the game involves you fighting villagers and soldiers that have been infected by the cult. Oddly, the Cult seems to have their wires badly crossed about HOW to go about their mission - they actually spend most of the game trying desperately to kill people their principle strategy hinges on being alive.
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' had the Raincoat Cult. As the name says, they didn't wear cloaks, but they did wear masks.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe's Cult of the Damned is a group that worships [[{{Lich}} The Lich King]] in order to achieve eternal life through undeath. In contrast, the apocalyptic Twilight's Hammer cult exists to awaken [[EldritchAbomination the Old Gods]] [[SealedEvilInACan sealed beneath Azeroth's surface]], knowing full well that doing so will bring about the end of the world.

* The first VideoGame/{{Discworld}} videogame is based on ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', mentioned above, and so has a similar secret society.
* The ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series has an evil cult which has a large role in every game except arguably ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''. Hints to some sort of actual religious theory beyond "serve the evil god in exchange for power," appear in [[VideoGame/SilentHill3 the third game]] (for example: that Alessa is both the mother and daughter of God). The third game also has examples of true believers (Claudia) and people mostly in it for power and money (Father Vincent).
* The Keepers from ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' are a rare heroic example, using their ancient knowledge and secrecy to protect the ordinary people from great evils.
* ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' has the Order of the Blessed Agonies.
* When the fans get a hold of the Black Cloak Society in ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'', they usually get this treatment. Creator/AGDInteractive's FanRemake of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestII'' has several hints that they're prepping to survive TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt - possibly the events of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestMaskOfEternity''. AGD puts another example in their version of the game by [[spoiler: having the benevolent monk]] from the original turn out to be running a [[spoiler:FurAgainstFang racket against what turns out to be the FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire]]

* The Masquerade in ''VideoGame/Persona2: Innocent Sin'' certainly qualifies. In this case, they even have different robes to indicate which leader commands them, though they will all take orders from the Joker.

* ''VideoGame/TheBizarreAdventuresOfWoodruffAndTheSchnibble'': You find one inside the Schnibble Cult.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Broodhollow}}'', the Society of the Skull and Shovels seems like this at first. Brooding chants, dark robes, mystical significance, check, check, and double-check. But then Wadsworth actually gets inside and is shown that it's really just a (seemingly) harmless gentleman's club of sorts.
* A rare heroic example from ''Webcomic/TheSanityCircus'': The Nameless Organisation is concerned with tracking down, monitoring and keeping a lid on [[EldritchAbomination the Scarecrows]], but they do with maximum secrecy and all information is strictly limited. They're even called 'The Nameless Organisation', after all.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' introduces the "Society of the Blind Eye" in the episode of the same name, though they had been hinted at in previous episodes. They turn out to be a MemoryWipingCrew who erase people's troubling memories of the supernatural, which explains the show's ExtraStrengthMasquerade.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Death Eaters behave this way. When they gather, they all wear uniform robes in a cult of personality of sorts for Voldemort. They wear masks as well in a FacelessGoons sort of way.

* The Satanists in Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's ''Literature/GoodOmens'' {{lampshade|Hanging}} and parody this concept, with a coven of secretly Satanist nuns who are doing their best to fulfill the prophecies leading to the conception of the Antichrist, but are [[PunchClockVillain otherwise just decent people]] following the tenets of the religion they were raised in, not that different from anyone else.
* The satanic cults in the works of Dennis Wheatley (mostly based on Aleister Crowley and company), plus Film/HammerHorror versions thereof.
* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/GuardsGuards'' the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night are a secret society behind the plot to summon a dragon and overthrow the Patrician. While the leader is a cunning manipulator, the members are [[MilkmanConspiracy pathetic petty-minded lower-middle class losers who mainly want to get back at people]]. (What they have going for them is ''anger.'') But apparently they aren't as unique as they think... there's a whole street full of secret societies, with all the trimmings.
** The other societies are similar enough that early in the book, two characters exchange esoteric passphrases for ''most of a page'' before one of them says something the other isn't expecting. They then spend most of ''another'' page arguing about whether the good mother makes bean soup for the errant boy or the ill-built tower trembles mightily at the butterfly's passage. Finally the person trying to get in says something that clues the doorkeeper in that he's looking for another secret society that meets three doors down. Not long after, it turns out one of the people already ''at'' the gathering was at the wrong society, only realising it when the ''full'' name of it was mentioned.
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Literature/ConanTheBarbarian novel ''Literature/TheHourOfTheDragon'', the cult of Asura is portrayed as this. While they are secretive, Conan refused to persecute them without actual crimes, and they assist him in regaining his throne. And do not, in the course of the novel, show any sign that the accusations are anything but MaliciousSlander.
* The Darkfriends of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime.'' Since they are all about helping [[GodOfEvil the Dark One]] bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (in exchange for personal power and immortality), membership is banned on pain of death throughout the world, and their cells are even called "circles" with strict limits on who knows whom. One book has a "Darkfriend social" where all the guests wear [[InTheHood obscuring hooded robes]] and masks -- and are still [[NoHonorAmongThieves looking for dirt on each other]].

* ''Literature/FoucaultsPendulum'' is a hardcore postmodern deconstruction of this trope. In addition to numerous literary and historical references to various Secret Circles throughout the ages, two of them feature in the main plot: the first is a generally benign Druidic cult at an alchemical retreat, but the second is a full-on evil secret society [[spoiler:led by a major supporting character, Senor Aglie.]]
* In ''Literature/ShadowKiss'', Mână (the Hand) was a secret society of royals who attempted to use forbidden compulsion techniques to get their way. Their initiation ritual was torturing potential members with magic until compelled to stop.

* What the Sisterhood is accused of being in ''Film/TheSisterhoodOfNight''.

** The 2009 Sam Raimi film ''Drag Me To Hell'' took a lot of inspiration from this film.
* ''Demon Lover'' has the former leader of a devil-worshiping cult summons a creature from the depths of Hell to carry out his revenge against the coven's members.
* ''The Devil's Rain'' was advertised as giving the audience "the first real look into the world of Satanism". Despite the presence of several {{LARGE HAM}}S (including Creator/WilliamShatner and Creator/ErnestBorgnine), it has all the thrilling scares of [[NightmareRetardant cardboard box convention]].
* The 1987 [[TheMovie film parody]] version of ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' featured the [[FunWithAcronyms P.A.G.A.N.S.]] (it stands for "People Against Goodness And Normalcy"), a motorcycle gang-cum-satanic cult whose leader chants in really bad rhyme.

* The cultists in ''Film/TheFinalSacrifice'' are a bunch of machete-wielding madmen in black tanktops and hoods out to TakeOverTheWorld by summoning the spirits of an extinct Native American civilization. [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike and the bots]] can't decide if they're pro wrestlers or if "Canadian rules football is ''quite'' different."

* Subverted in the short film ''Rings'' of Film/TheRing franchise. Instead, the groups consist of "rings" of teenagers who watch Samara Morgan's cursed videotape and record the supernatural things they witness, this ritual of sorts passing to each group member when the previous panics. One group in Astoria, Washington seem more than willing to sacrifice one member to see the events of the inevitable Day Seven when the victim is killed by Samara's ghost.
* The cultists in ''Film/RaceWithTheDevil'', who chase the heroes across Texas after they witness the cult carrying out a HumanSacrifice.
* Hilariously subverted in ''Film/HotFuzz'' - black robes? Check. Meeting in secret? Check. Killing people off? Check. Being generally evil? Big damn check. Having anything to do with a reasonable, normal, evil bunch of black-clad homicidal night-meeters' goals? [[spoiler: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Noooot quite...]]]]

* In ''Film/TheFactsInTheCaseOfMisterHollow,'' has an investigator researching "paganism" in northern Ontario in 1933. Evidence of a cult's operation is presented piecemeal, via newspaper articles, letters, reference materials and a specific photo, gradually detailing a Greco-Roman MysteryCult that is involved in a spate of disappearances. The viewer is meant to infer that these Keres-worshippers are hard-to-track and have been operating in secret for quite some time.
* ''Film/SoundOfMyVoice'': two undercover documentarians get themselves recruited into a secretive {{cult}} built around a young woman claiming to be a time traveler from a post-apocalyptic future. The first scenes show the two leads running a gauntlet of security measures to meet the cult leader.
* In ''Film/CurseOfTheCrimsonAltar'' centres a witchcraft cult established by Lavinia Morley, a woman executed for witchcraft in the 17th Century, which still operates in the present day. The cult practices HumanSacrifice, but it is unclear what its actual goals are.

* Literature/AngelsAndDemons: The Illuminati are a secret society, originated as a pro-science organization in a time when the Catholic Church was anti-science. It is almost exaggerated, as they have convinced the entire world for 400 years that they didn't exist anymore, and they managed to deeply infiltrate even the Freemasons, who themselves can be considered a secret society of sorts. At the end of the book, [[spoiler:subverted]], though, as it turns out they [[spoiler:indeed stopped existing centuries ago, and their come-back was only feigned by the villain]].

* In ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' comics, the Cabal of Scrier, which worships an ancient alien, and a breakaway cult led by ComicBook/NormanOsborn (the Green Goblin) called the Order of the Goblin.
* The Court of Owls have ruled [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Gotham City]] from the shadows for centuries. They also feature prominently in the animated feature ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanVsRobin Batman Vs Robin.]]''
* The Dark Circle in ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperheroes''. In original continuity they were an ignorance cult that viewed knowledge as dangerous and wanted everyone to act on instinct. In Reboot continuity they were TheManBehindTheMan of the Affiliated Planets, and were mostly working towards power for the individual members [[spoiler: and so that Brainiac 4 could feel something - which she finally did when she sent the AP fleet to a pointless death and killed the rest of the Circle]].

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E8ReptileBoy Reptile Boy]]", a frat house sacrificed people to a demon snake in exchange for the power and wealth of their families.

-->-- ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "[[Recap/AngelS05E12PowerPlay Power Play]]"

-->-- ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "Power Play"

* Showed up at all the time in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Moloch the Corrupter apparently auto-generated them wherever he went. A frat house sacrificed people to a demon snake in exchange for the power and wealth of their families. [[BigBad The Mayor]] was a particularly effective single person version of this, to the point that most of the demons that appeared were working for him. The Harbingers of the First Evil probably qualify, a group of high school cultists tried to sacrifice a fellow student in exchange for money, and on and on. Even [[TheMentor Giles]] was a member of one when he was younger.

* The Circle of Cold Flames from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' are an order of mystics and sorcerers dedicated to overthrowing Heaven and instituting a reign of evil over the earth (and put themselves in control over it all in the end). They go in for all the trappings: {{black cloak}}s, pentagrams, [[VirginSacrifice sacrificing virgins]] to their [[{{Satan}} demonic overlords]], and so on.

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'' the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night are a secret society behind the plot to summon a dragon and overthrow the Patrician. While the leader is a cunning manipulator, the members are [[MilkmanConspiracy pathetic petty-minded lower-middle class losers who mainly want to get back at people]]. (What they have going for them is ''anger.'') But apparently they aren't as unique as they think... there's a whole street full of secret societies, with all the trimmings.

* The first VideoGame/{{Discworld}} videogame is based on ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', mentioned above, and so has a similar secret society.