Proposed - Order of the Sealed Tower

[Dracos]

The fall of Fars Ia was an event that hit all of halfling kind hard.  Over the course of just over a decade, their homeland had been turned into a burning ash, crushed under the unfeeling feet of the monsters who called themselves the 'True People', the hobgoblins.  To the winds they were scattered, families broken and legacies destroyed.  Even as they worked to preserve it, Knowledge was lost to the flames of war.  Many tried to start anew through the friendship of Brindia.  They accepted that they had no choice but to adapt to the changing times.  Others saw these events in a different light.  They saw their race upon the point of extinction, their quest for enlightenment to be trampled under the uncaring boots of the hobgoblins.  They knew that these were desperate times and to meet them, they would have to change to protect the halfling people.  It was not enough to simply bend and become a part of the new society.  The danger was clear...  what remained of their studies and investigation into the universe would be sapped out.  Their presence, recorded.  And in time, the hobgoblins would come again.  And this time, they would destroy them.

To ensure this would not come about, the Order of the Sealed Tower came about.  Their purposes threefold.

A)To forge a new homeland  for the halfling people.  One that could be preserved better than Fars Ia.  The humans of Brindia did them a great favor by taking them in, but they are unaware of the true magnitude of the threat, the horror that the Hobgoblins truly represent.  Some of them understand, but on only too small a scale.  For them to be safe...halflings must take charge.  They must see to the weakening of the hobgoblin's hold, the training of their people in preparation for the time of war to come, and the placement of halflings in power capable of leading and organizing the country to be strong enough to withstand the threat.  This also includes the formation of nomads...groups whose purpose is to prepare in case of loss.  While they believe this is the time to stand firm... they are a careful people.  No chance is taken with the future of halfling kind.

B)To do whatever is necessary to hinder and eliminate the hobgoblins.  While it is known that overt resistance spells their own doom, those who truly bend to the hobgoblins mark their own death warrant in the eyes of the order.  Subtlety is the name of the game, theft, miscommunication, assassination...all of these are tools of the order in their underground battle against the leadership of the moment.  To this end, they are in constant readiness.  They are the extent of the civilized underbody of the country.  True, not yet does all illegal activity in the Brindia happen at their behest and control... but that day is not far off, and indeed, the secrecy with which they uphold the order is paramount.

C)To retrieve the knowledge of magic to proper hands.  This is not an immediate goal.  They know they cannot simply put the djinn back in the bottle.  But they hold that the only true wielders of magic should be those that follow the path of the faceless lady.  Others cannot be trusted.  They shall misuse it.  The goblins are the worst of the lot, toying with magic directly and immediately.  But even the humans are not truly to be trusted.  And so they encourage the hiding of knowledge to those outside of the halfling race.  In order to preserve it, to allow it to properly grow, it must be retained only by those who would respect its study.  Wizardry is to once again, be the art of their people and only their people.

The society is a very cautious one.  It is rare that message is passed by magical means and often higher ranking members carry items to protect against mental domination, detection, or divination.  While entirely made up of halfings, few even within the order know its true size or scale.  They only know each other by the choice phrase: "In Fars Ia, every halfling was family.  Do you remember that?"  A ridiculous one, but one that goes entirely unnoticed in their discussions.  Members of the order are often experienced in disguise, subterfuge, and deception and even the most skilled of spies into their ways would not last long.  Even halflings who are not part of the order are unlikely to betray it, leaving no opening with which to track them.  Orders are usually passed verbally by traders and travelers, folks already expected to be moving around the country.  When they are sent by paper, the paper is often enchanted and usually destroyed by the receiver immediately.

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Leaving it at about there, no set hierarchy or size or really scale, a clear agenda and set of motives, as well as a generic defined callsign we can use in game (Ignoring this would likely normally change in role playing, I think we'd find it easier to keep it one term).  I don't think anything there really would clash with the other party members outright while at the same time, providing ample direction for skills and also behind the scenes objectives.

[Bjorn]

This all looks great.  I'd suggest rewriting (C) to make clear the Sealed Tower's attitude towards different sorts of magic.  Presumably, what you're getting at is: a) all wizards should be halflings, b) sorcery should be banned entirely, and c) we don't have any stance on divine magic, please don't smite us with thunderbolts you gods.  Also, are you implying an actual hate for the race of goblins per se, or are you just giving them the double-whammy of sorcery plus Empire dislike?

[Dracos]

The latter, if they decided to stop messing with the stuff of the universe and/or rebelled against the Empire, we'd cheer them on.  Taking the view that since Sorcery is directly meddling with magic, it'd reasonably be viewed as far less cautious, far more dangerous, and with possible implications that they likely haven't even considered (as far as halflings are concerned).

I'll rephrase C in a bit.  When my eyes stop crossing at being awake :)