Splintered Mind
| Greyhawk Organization | |
|---|---|
| The Splintered Mind | |
| Type | Monastic order |
| Founded | 581 CY |
| Members | Monks, psionicists, and rogues |
| Leader | Jeddec Al-Beth |
| Symbol | |
| Headquarters | Scant |
| Allies | Cobb Darg, Rakehell Chert |
| Enemies | Scarlet Brotherhood |
The Splintered Mind is a small order of monks, psionicists, and rogues who oppose the Scarlet Brotherhood from a position of secrecy.
History
The man who would one day found the Splintered Mind, Jeddec Al-Beth, began as an agent of the Scarlet Brotherhood himself, a psion trained to destabilize nations. Jeddec was dispatched in 559 CY to the Raker Mountains to incite humanoid tribes to raid the human settlements of the Bone March. The Brotherhood told him that the humanoids would make powerful and easily manipulable allies for their nation, while weakening the region.
Jeddec worked on the project for four years, anxiously reporting to his superiors that the humanoids were untrustworthy and might turn on them as easily as on the locals. His warnings went unheeded for lack of evidence, but proved to be true: when the Bone March fell to the humanoid invaders in 563 CY, only a handful of the Scarlet Brotherhood agents survived.
Haunted by the tragedy, Jeddec threw himself into deeper explorations of the psionic arts, hoping to discover better ways to wrest truths from unwilling minds. His success would overturn his entire belief system. From the minds of his superiors, he learned they had known of the humanoid treachery in advance; Jeddec and his team had been pawns that the Brotherhood elders had willingly sacrificed. Thus it was that Jeddec Al-Beth shifted his loyalties, using his secret new powers to learn the secrets of the order. He began planning his escape, hoping eventually to take this information to enemies of the Brotherhood without his superiors learning of his rebellion. Over the next few years, Jeddec recruited two of his students, Bri-An Liw and Shu Besch, slowly letting them in on his techniques and secrets as they proved themselves trustworthy. These three began to refer to themselves privately as the Splintered Mind.
The three finally escaped in 581 CY, during the chaos incited by the theft of a weeping hexagram from Hesuel Ilshar itself. They fled to Irongate, where they founded their first monastery. They warned Cobb Darg of the Scarlet Brotherhood agents hidden in his city before the assassins managed to strike. After the Greyhawk Wars they moved to Scant in order to be closer to the Scarlet Brotherhood's plots, leaving behind a cell of six of their best students behind to watch over Irongate.
In Scant, they formed an alliance with the city's guildmaster of thieves, Rakehell Chert. There, they work to aid the Free Onnwal Army of Rebellion with their special skills and knowledge.
Members
There are approximately 100 agents of the Splintered Mind. The order consists of fifteen cells scattered across the Flanaess. Each cell contains six members each, who work in pairs to root out and disrupt Scarlet Brotherhood plans.
The elite agents of the Splintered Mind are known as Truth Seekers, who combine the arts of the monk and the psychic warrior. Their primary task is to identify spies and agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood who have infiltrated local governments incognito. They focus their psionic energy into the Clairsentient and Telepathic disciplines.
Headquarters
The rest of the order's members live in a secret monastery near the city of Scant in the occupied land of Onnwal. New recruits are trained there in history, psionics, martial arts, burglary, and espionage. The monastery is also the headquarters of the three eldest members of the order, Jeddec Al-Beth, Bri-An Liw, and Shu Besch. Together, they are referred to as the Splintered Mind Council. They, and only they, know the names and locations of every other member of the order.
