Chapter III: The Black Lotus

Within any great society, there are powerful leaders, those born or chosen to command and to be trusted by the great public. But these are not the men who steer the fate of society; they are but figureheads who the public can relate to, believe in, sympathize with. For if great societies were truly run by “men of the masses,” then society would be no greater than it’s people. And, as a whole, people are shallow, greedy, and short-lived thinkers.

Thus, in the end, there are others. There are strong, wise, and ruthless decision makers who work in the very shadow cast by the king, the emperor, or the lord. In the beginning of most societies, they are the council men who the king consults, but as with Azurat city, a society that has existed for centuries, they have evolved. Now, they are never seen, they are but enigmas chosen by their predecessors and taught their role. Not even the king or his council know they exist, for this keeps them safe from assassins and killers. They work through others, as if they have no body of their own, no physical tangibility.

But, in a physical world, there must be physical actions taken in order to steer its fate. Thus, as a king as his council, the enigmas of society, the true leaders, have the Black Lotus.

The Black Lotus’ actual creation date, the day it was first formed will probably never be known since all who were there are dead and those sorts of facts are seldom deemed important to preserve. They have existed for a great many decades, it is to be sure, for as any secret society develops, it fades more and more away, until it is but a whisper: nothing more than a myth. Where the enigmas of society weren’t even paid an inkling of thought, the Black Lotus society was a name that even radical conspiracy theorists scoffed at. Yet it still existed, like the enigmas. It existed in every great city and some of the lesser cities of the various planes, but no one ever knew. All admitted were classically trained to such a perfection it would make professors at the Maximure University, the greatest university in all the spanning planes, gag. For while the Maximure Unveristy’s professors were the finest man had to offer, the Black Lotus’ tutors were the finest that man superior had to offer.

Unlike the king’s council and Maximure, however, the Black Lotus’ did not produce man’s future leaders. The Black Lotus members were not the kind to be consulted about political matters and territory disputes, the Black Lotus was only instruced. There are only really two instructions, one remains the same everytime and the other is always changing. They are ‘kill’ and ‘who.’

For if there is one thing that man superior has not solved, it’s how best to alleviate the problem of a problematic man. And when a king or some council member senses a terrible tingle in his spine, the feeling that he is not truly in control of the city, he will do all he can to discover the truth. And if there is one thing that can quickly destroy a city, it’s the truth about its beginnings, about the men who formed it, and the fact that they were never buried-anywhere. Thus, a mandate ordered from a group that couldn’t possibly ever have existed reaches the table of a society that only a radical would believe had ever been created and the problem is alleviated. And no one seems to notice.

For if there is one thing that man superior has solved, it’s the fact that most men would rather believe the far-fetched than the unpleasant.

And as for the unpleasant……..

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