Organization
Description:
While commonly thought of as the militant arm of the more scholarly Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece, the Order of the Immovable Anchor is technically a separate sodality. The two groups do work closely together, however, with the Timekeepers often providing archival, research, and analysis services to the latter, while the Anchorites help to subdue, fortify, and guard relics and ruins of interest to the former.
At its core, the primary purpose of the Order is to protect the fabric of reality from unraveling, whether due to the creation of time paradoxes, careless use of Wonders, bumbling explorers in Places of Interest better left untouched, the effects of creatures like angular hounds and frictive emancipators, or other sources.
While the missions of both associations focus on the powers of ancient relics and locations, they differ in outlook. Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece wish to study and experiment with these bizarrities not only to learn better how to harness their power, but also to improve sophonity’s understanding of the universe at large. The Order of the Immovable Anchor, however, knows far too well that Worldsnarls (i.e. anything that would threaten to fray or unravel the fabric of reality) are much easier problems to create than to solve, and that the end to all things might be caused merely by an over-eager Timekeeper with clumsy fingers.
Emblem:
A black ship’s anchor centered on a fractured circle that’s half green and half blue. The anchor is outlined in gold, and the gold seems to “seep” from this outline to slowly fill in the cracks in the emblem.
Motto:
“Reality Will Unravel Before We Do”
Prominent Figures:
Worldwarden
The title held by the Order of the Immovable Anchor’s founder, Argden Kel-Min-Ha, as well as each leader to have succeeded hir.
The current Worldwarden is Bellamie Vorn, a taciturn figure renowned for their quick wit, sharp tongue, and the intricately filigreed iridium walking chair in which they ride like a robed spider. (Rumor has it that Worldwarden Vorn lost the use of their biological legs in the same ruin where the walking chair was discovered and managed to physically wrestle the device into accepting them as its master.)
Waymaker
The Waymaker is in charge of the Order’s chief armory, ensuring that all itinerant Anchorites have the means to protect themselves and others as they patrol in search of potential threats to reality.
The current Waymaker is Tahan Qulla. Despite her trembling hands, stooped frame, and snow-white hair, Waymaker Qulla’s aged appearance belies her near-supernatural faculties with every weapon in the Order’s armory. It is said that the Waymaker once forestalled a rampaging taltherizin with nothing more than a sternly arched eyebrow—a tale believed by any Anchorite caught failing to care for their weapon as thoroughly as they should and forced to face her wrath.
Gatesealer
The Gatesealer is in charge of securing the Order’s network of Worldsnarl vaults. Those that can be safely moved and secured are brought to Anchor’s Rest, chief fortress of the Order. Those that are too difficult to transport (whether they’re too large, or heavy, or delicate, etc.) are instead guarded where they’re located by Anchorite chapters, and vaults are often constructed around them. The Gatesealer is responsible for maintaining the viability of these chapterhouses and their vaults.
The current Gatesealer’s persona is now called [Brittle Water/Third/Kebblite/Semi-localized], though a version of that Sebbinix has held the position of Gatesealer since the Battle of Hegden Pass (where it experienced its first mind-death). Thanks to its ability to distribute aspects of its sensorium and consciousness, every Anchorite chapterhouse is under the watchful “eye” of Brittle Water, and those large enough to house Sebbinix mindfragments can rely on the Gatesealer’s wisdom as well.
Other Information:
Anchorites vs Timekeepers
Over the years, disagreements between the Timekeepers and the Anchorites on the subject of how to handle powerful Wonders and Places of Interest have ebbed and flowed in intensity, only reaching a peak at the Battle of Hegden’s Pass. There, two stars of an Obsidian Egg were activated (see the entry on ‘Battleside’ to learn more about the effects of an eight-star Egg).
When the aftermath was contained and the casualties given what mercies they could, both sides agreed that conflict between them would only endanger the world. The death of a Timekeeper, after all, represents the destruction of knowledge that could prove vital to the safety of the world, while the death of an Anchorite meant the absence of a defender of the Fabric against whatever Worldsnarl might threaten reality next.
And so the organizations agreed to the Hegden’s Pass Accords, a set of guidelines and treaties that would bring them closer together, resulting in an alliance so entangled, most are surprised to learn the two define themselves as discrete groups.
Foundation of the Chapter of the Lost
Not all within the Order were pleased with the Hegden’s Pass Accords, however. The cynics—or realists, as they’d called themselves—in the Order understood the seductive hold that Wonders can pose not only to those with more brains than sense (like the Timekeepers), but to the very weft and warp of the fabric of reality itself.
And so the Assistant Worldwarden at the time secretly laid the foundation for what would become the Chapter of the Lost—an organization within an organization prepared to do whatever it took to keep dangerous Wonders and places of interest not only secure from dangers within and without, but to ensure that these potential Snarls go forgotten, unnoticed, and unfound.
The secret chapter gets its name from the honor bestowed upon members of the Order who not only fall in the line of duty, but do so in a way that their remains are unidentifiable, or no longer perceivable in this universe. To become a member, an individual Anchorite must prove themselves utterly committed to the cause of protecting the Fabric, no matter the cost; have no spouse or children; and be willing to undergo extensive physical changes not only to hide their identities, but also make them better able to survive their mission. Those who join the Chapter of the Lost understand that doing so will mean an end to their old lives. Almost everyone they’ve ever known will think of them as dead.
Adventure Hooks:
The hot springs in the Malachite Gardens are famed throughout the empire for their restorative and medicinal properties. However, even the utmost efforts of the Garden’s healer-florists are unable to calm the madness of a wandering (and somewhat violent) mendicant who not only claims membership in a “secret chapter” of the Order of the Immovable Anchor, but that if the Shattered Serpent’s Son—the Wonder that circles above the Gardens and key to their healing properties—isn’t repaired in ten days time, it will become a Worldsnarl. The healer-florists are fairly certain these claims are naught but the phantoms of a diseased mind, but any adventurers currently visiting the Gardens might want to speak to the “mad” mendicant themselves.
Rumor has it that the overzealous inspectors of the local Anchorite chapter have confiscated the latest acquisition of a wealthy collector of ancient relics. As members of the Order, the inspectors have carte blanche to operate as they see fit in the region, so there’s no legal mechanism by which the collector can reclaim their property. But if someone were to “acquire” said relic from the chapter’s vault and return it to its rightful owner, those noble brigands could expect to be handsomely rewarded for their act of justified lawbreaking in the face of the Order’s overreach.
While at the Emerald Emperox’s Zero-G Masquerade (celebrating the 100th year of the Emperox’s reign), an Anchorite champion runs into some acquaintances—the adventurers. The champion explains that they have reason to believe that a cultist of the Awakened Dreamers has somehow secreted a Calabi–Yau destabilizer into the monarch’s currently-empty throne. When the Emperox takes their seat at the end of the night, the destabilizer will activate, and the consequences will be dire. The Anchorite entrusts a device that should contain the destabilizer to the adventurers and vanishes before they can ask any questions. Question is: how can you trust anyone’s word at a masquerade?
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