Characters / 7th Sea: Secret Societies

7th Sea - Index
Nations of Thea (Important Figures) - Nations of the Crescent - The Pirate Nations - Nations of Ifri
Nations of Aztaln - Nations of Khitai - Secret Societies - Heroes

Note: Since the secret societies of 7th Sea are secret a great many of these examples are hidden with spoiler text. Those that aren't are generally common knowledge.

The secret societies of 7th Sea provide examples of:

Alnniqabat Lilnnusr (The Guild of the Eagle)

• Heroic Sacrifice: A player can immediately gain 8 Favor with the Guild by taking the place of a rogue assassin's victim. Those who do so are viewed as having a death wish.
• I Want Them Alive!: Capturing rogue assassins is one of the only other ways to earn favor with the Guild. A dead man is worth nothing to the order.
• Who Watches the Watchmen?: The Guild's mission is to monitor the missions of the Assassins to ensure they- and the Guardian of the First Garden- do not stray from the path of righteousness by killing the undeserving or the innocent.

Atoka-ona Farasin (The Hidden Compass)

• Bankruptcy Barrel: The fastest way to gain Favor with the Hidden Compass: Make sure unscrupulous foreign merchants lose everything.
• Benevolent Conspiracy: The Compass exists to secretly prop up the Kingdom of Manden through economic manipulation.
• Toxic, Inc.: The entire goal of The Hidden Compass is to prevent this trope. Manden's economy is run on gold and salt mines, and the Atoka-ona Farasin know that the merchants are perilously close to strip-mining the nation just to keep it from collapsing.

Ch'ewi (The Movement)

• Conflicting Loyalty: Defied. Unlike all other Secret Societies in Seventh Sea, a Hero may be a member of Ch'ewi and one other society.
• Creature-Hunter Organization: The Movement is specifically devoted to hunting and killing the abonsam creatures set free by Mbey.

Children of Esu

• Crossover: The Children met curious new allies while working to undermine the Atabean Trading Company's operations in Mbey: agents of Die Kreuzritter.
• The Storyteller: When not hunting Monsters, the Children are expected to share folklore and stories with young children, teaching them the dangers of the Monsters that haunt Ifri and how to stay safe from them.
• Walking the Earth: The Children take their name from Esu, Ori of Crossroads. They began in Mbey but now travel all of Ifri to seek new folklore and Monsters to defeat.

Die Kreuzritter

• Another Dimension: Die Kreuzritter have an artifact ring which gives agents the permanent ability to step into another dimension through shadows. This allows for a sort of short teleportation.
• Death Faked for You: The public believes Die Kreuzritter's full membership was killed to a man. Actually the hierophant cut a deal with the lesser known members to allow the group to live on. Most of the group, including all the best known members, sacrificed themselves to give the illusion of complete destruction. New members tend to have their deaths faked in similar manners
• He Who Fights Monsters: Die Kreuzritter is well aware of this trope and members try to shy away from it. It doesn't always work.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: In 1E, at least. Well, they found out sorcery is likely going to unleash eldritch abominations upon the Earth. So they're going to do something about it.
• Walking Spoiler: There's a reason this section is almost completely whited out.
• Who You Gonna Call?: Expect them to be any place there's something really bad happening.

The Explorer Society

• Adventurer Archaeologist: The whole point of the Explorers.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: Lots of Syrneth sites are like this, as one might expect for a setting like 7th Sea. Just as problematic, though, is that most of the other Secret Societies think the Explorers are meddling in Things Man Was Not Meant to Know and must be "dealt with." Later in the timeline, the Explorers get understandably touchy about this as they learn just how thoroughly this trope applies to them.
• Precursors: Called the Syrneth, finding artifacts they left behind is The Explorer's Society's bread and butter. The Syrneth are actually about a half dozen different sets of precursors, each with their own style and theme.

Inquisitio Aquila, AKA The Dark Inquisition (Second Edition)

• Dark Is Not Evil: The Dark Inquisition is the reformer and merciful faction.
• Deceptive Legacy: Members of this society know the truth of the Inquisition. It was not founded by the Third Prophet, but existed long before he came. They hunted Horrors and protected the people of Theah from wicked sorcerers. The Prophet merely added all sorcerers to the organization's purview.
• Double Agent: Members of this society gain Favor by working to destroy the false Inquisitors from within- gathering information on upcoming Inquisitiorial raids and plots, or by deposing members of the false Inquisition (via their abdication, dismissal, or other means) and replacing these agents with members of the Dark Inquisition.
• Released to Elsewhere: Invoked literally. One of the ways to spend favor with the Dark Inquisition? Create a safe house which the regular Inquisition cannot find. The Heroes can hold people, objects, and themselves safely in this space without fear of being found. However, the Dark Inquisition may ask for a minor favor in return for this service if they overstay their welcome.

The Invisible College

• Gadgeteer Genius: A number of Invisible College members are this.
• Persecuted Intellectuals: The College has become a haven for those on the run from the Inquisition. Players who take the Doctor, Engineer, Alchemist, or Professor Backgrounds will likely look to this Society for help.
• Psycho Serum: Invisible College Alchemists can produce serums made from sorcerous blood, some of the possible side effects are...unpleasant.

The Knights of the Rose and Cross

• Blue Blood: New recruits are encouraged to find and recruit "Benefactors" (Rich Nobles) into the organization. Benefactors are given deference throughout Theah for their charitable giving to the Knights, but they hold no rank within the Order and commands from them are usually ignored by the actual Knights.
• Heroism Incentive: The only reward that can be purchased in exchange for Favor in Second Edition: Money. Considering what Wealth can be used for in this edition, it's not that bad of a reward.
• The Promise: Knights can take an advantage called The Vow which allows them to use 20 saved experience points to make an in-character vow, the GM MUST allow the vow to come to pass as worded, though there are certain restrictions.
• Right Makes Might: Why the knights do what they do.

La Cosca (Second Edition)

• Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: A Mafia for Heroes in 7th Sea. Break legs, establish rackets, and collect on loans- all to overthrow the Princes of Vodacce.
• Friendly Neighborhood Gangster: This is what happens when you get a collection of nobles, clergymen, bankers, and do-gooder types the Merchant Princes of Vodacce couldn't kill, but could imprison, and put them all on the same tiny island of La Bucca. A Secret Society built on every Mafia trope merged with the morals of Robin Hood.
• Persona Non Grata: The exiles of La Cosca attempted to clean up religion, politics, and financing in Vodacce. Now they are exiled to La Bucca, never to return on pain of death.

Los Vagabundos

• Captain Ersatz:
  • El Vago is modeled after Zorro and, apparently, V of V for Vendetta fame.
  • There's a picture of him in the color section of at least one edition of the main book. The V reference becomes obvious.
• Collective Identity: More than one person has worn the white mask of El Vago.
• Crossover: With La Bravoure de l’Épervier in Montaigne in Second Edition. The Splat rules state that the members of La Bravoure receive Favor for all of the same actions, an have access to all of Los Vagabundos' Rewards at the same cost.
• La Résistance: Against the Inquisition and the Montaignes invading Castille.
• Shrouded in Myth: The mysterious El Vago himself.

Močiutės Skara AKA Grandmother's Shawl (Second Edition)

• Honorary True Companion: The Shawl does not have any rewards it can give, as it devotes itself entirely to charity. However, because of their selflessness, every other secret society counts them as a friend. Members can trade Favor for any reward from any other Secret Society at a 1:1 cost. The GM does have final say over whether any such request will be granted.
• Technical Pacifist: The Shawl does recognize violence may be inevitable, but they prefer things like sabotaging the rations of an entire army, blackmailing warmonger nobles, and kidnapping generals over outright murder when it comes to stopping a war from breaking out.
• We Help the Helpless: As noble as some of the goals of the other Secret Societies may be, Grandmother's Shawl has the most basic mission in Theah: Provide for those who are hungry, hurt, or homeless, and prevent any war from breaking out.

The Most Noble And Ancient Order Of The Post (Second Edition)

• Blackmail: Members may trade Favor to open letters from particular individuals and obtain compromising information.
• Pony Express Rider: Riders are expected to uphold chivalrous ideals and deliver their messages discretely.
• Treasure Map: The real reason this Society has any power, though in this case the treasure IS the map- they have the most accurate maps of secret routes through marshes, mountains and forests in the Commonwealth. Bandits, armies, and smugglers consider these charts to be invaluable.

Rilasciare

• Bomb Throwing Anarchist: A great deal of effort is taken to show the reasons why the Free Thinkers are anti-authoritarian. That said, their lack of cohesiveness and tendency to be generically anti-authority is also recounted in great detail. And all the explosives skills are in their splat book (two of three new skills listed are "Arson" and "Bomb-Making.").
• La Résistance: Against any form of authority, primarily the Montaigne and Vaticine Church.
• Torches and Pitchforks: Agents of Rilasciare can spend Influence to summon mobs of angry peasants. The peasants will follow one command given to them ("Torch the church" or "Attack the garrison") but once the order is followed, the mob will go about its own business.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Rilasciare barely has any connection between the different groups, so organizing anything becomes difficult.

The Riroco (Second Edition)

• Berserk Button: The surefire way to piss off the Riroco: own a slave. Any slaver fortunate to be taken alive is branded with an X across their cheek.
• Ghost Crew: The Riroco's numbers are too few to wage an open war against the ATC. They've summoned the ghosts of their ancestors en masse to help crew their ships and take the fight to the company.
• Hunter of Monsters: The Rahuri award Heroes with favor for killing large sea creatures that threaten their villages. Then there's the influence they award for attacking theAtabean Trading Company.
• La Résistance: Heroes can gain favor by attacking any ATC operations they find, disrupting ATC trade, or bringing proof of the company's atrocities back to Theah. In exchange, the heroes may be given an audience with a Rahuri cacique or even journey to the Isle of the Dead to enlist the aid of an ancestor.

Sophia's Daughters

• Gut Feeling: Scrying sorcerers can tell if a person is a hero or villain automatically; it's a pretty bad Game-Breaker.
• Magic Mirror: Female scrying sorcerers can look into any reflective pool of fresh water and see other places, more powerful ones can see into the past and future as well.
• With Friends Like These...: As of Second Edition, Sophia's Daughters has developed an ideological divide. The two sides still work together, but they are moving toward a splitting up of the Daughters...
  • Desideratta of La Passione believes that Vodacce's women must be prepared to take their rights by force. Those aligned with her can spend Favor to summon a squad of masked courtesans, much like Rilasciare's mobs. Unlike Rilasciare's mobs, these courtesans will follow multiple commands and have special abilities.
  • Teofila di Tamamello of the Vaticine Church believes in reforming Vodacce from within by educating any woman they can and teaching the next generation of Vodacce noblemen to respect the nation's women more. Members can trade Favor to summon a single, powerful Agent with specializations in any sort of combat you need. The more Favor you spend, the more powerful this Agent will be.

Novus Ordum Mundi There's nothing here to see, just move along...

• Always Chaotic Evil: All the other Secret Societies can have Hero members. Given what the NOM asks of you simply to survive as part of it? Yeah, you ain't remaining a Hero for long.
• The Illuminati.
  • NOM is the product of an ancient conspiracy concocted by the servants of some Senators who thought it'd be a cool idea to make a pact with some demons in exchange for horrible magic powers. The servants were understandably annoyed by this, and so they made a deal with each other (after killing their errant masters) that they would do everything they could to keep Théah on a tight leash and make sure the world leaders don't screw it up, and that's why the setting doesn't have fuel-efficient vehicles. NOM, combined with the fact that Théah used to be overrun by insectoid/lizardlike people, adds a strange tinfoil hat flavor to this swashbuckling RPG.
  • Of course, ruling all of the nations in secret is not enough for these people. They have their fingers in several other pies, such as Sophia's Daughters and The Invisible College.
    • As a matter of fact, they just pretty much ate the whole pie as far as The Invisible College is concerned. Alvara is their de facto leader, and everyone looks up to him and just eats out of the palm of his hand, but little do they know that he's using their well-meaning organization to further his own goals.
    • Oh, and it gets better! He is not only bending The Invisible College to his will, but he has made himself the leader, more or less, of NOM, which is supposed to be leaderless. Not bad for a scholarly old Castillan gentleman (who once roasted an inquisitor alive in its own armor).
• Walking Spoiler: At least the other Walking Spoiler factions are known to exist. The above organization is supposed to be secret to the players.