“The Seekers are a loose-knit society of explorers, adventuring scholars, and fortune seekers.” - Seeker explaining to a layman
The eight-pointed star mounted on two circles does not only represent all the corners of the globe but the number eight within it also represents beginnings and abundance. Amongst the Seekers it is known as the ‘Seal of the enlightened’, used in occult rituals.
The symbol is worn in some form or another, depending on rank, but can also be found to identify Seeker lodges. The symbol could, for instance, be a compass on top of the chimney, an imprint on a wall or door, or the design of a chandelier in a common room.
Overview:
Founded in the early 400 CY by Jonus Marius of Seltaren, who gathered together the royal explorers and surveyors who had served the Great Kingdom during its expansionist Era. As the kingdom’s expansion declined, so did the Throne of the Sun’s need for such specialists. Marius gave these individuals a purpose, suggesting they could explore (and consequently plunder) the treasures of the Flanaess together. It is also a common tale that the powerful mage Leomund was the founder of the Seekers.
The Seekers of the Arcane, commonly called simply the Seekers, are a loose-knit society of explorers, adventuring scholars, and fortune seekers. They claim their goal is only to collect, catalogue, and share the lore of ancient sites and artefacts. Some, however, ridicule them as a secretive society of freebooters, tomb raiders, and graverobbers that have spread across the Flanaess like a glorified thieves’ guild.
The faction has set up Seeker lodges around the Flanaess, creating communities of folk that can handle the various aspects of finding, transporting, storing, and cataloguing lore, and this also translates to resources that can be shared among members. The Seekers believe that by pooling their resources and sharing their often hard-won lore, they can, in the words of J. Marius, “enslave the wonders of the past to the ambitions of the future.”
These ‘clubhouses’ are hidden within more mundane establishments, such as drinking houses, a cartography business, libraries, colleges or social clubs. Each Seeker lodge has an informal council composed of retired and highly respected Seekers. Each Seeker lodge services a large area of the Flanaess, so do not expect every town to have a Lodge. Only large cities or vital, and strategic, urban settings meet the requirements a lodge needs. They can be found in such widely separated cities as Gradsul, the Free City of Greyhawk, Irongate, Rel Astra, and Sasserine.
Beliefs:
Knowledge is power: use it to uncover the sins of the past and thereby make a brighter future.
Protect Lore: Protecting lost artefacts and sites of magical power ensures they are accessible to those that might do good with them and learn from them.
Goals:
Recover lost lore from Flanaess’ fallen civilizations.
Uncover lost relics, artefacts, and places of power. Catalogue them and share this knowledge with other Seekers and the trustworthy.
Though some members claim high-minded goals, the primary ambition of most Seekers is personal enrichment, and the order is notorious for cutting corners and damning the consequences of their insatiable curiosity and greed.
Aphorisms
“Fortune to the brave!”
“Archaeologist, expert on the occult, and… obtainer of rare relics.”
“We do not just follow maps to buried treasure.”
Enemies:
‘The Silent Ones’ of Keoland, who strive to keep certain things undisturbed and hidden.
‘The Scarlet Brotherhood’, who share their interest in ancient secrets and ruined tombs.
Membership:
Applicants are trained in a master-and-apprentice system, where the choice of pairing is completely voluntary. Seekers are almost always in need of assistance in the form of uncovering lore, hiring guides, drawing up or tracking down maps, procuring items, and cataloguing artefacts. Thus, it’s fairly easy for them to find like-minded individuals seeking to join or rise in the ranks.
When you become an Inquirer, your work is thus often menial: digging, mining, run errands and other menial or arduous tasks that the higher-ranking members don’t have time for. You are given tasks by an Explorer.
Pursuers must find clues for explorers, search for possible ruins or similar places and spend long hours studying maps and texts. They start maintaining journals of their investigations. You are given tasks by an Explorer.
Once a member has shown promise and perseverance, he will be officially appointed Explorer. They are allowed to do their own research and write all journeys, and items that they catalogue in their journals. No one is under any illusion that some keep secret journals, containing material they are unwilling to yet share, but an official account is an important part of their tradition.
Seekers must establish a safehouse (and later even lodges) in areas rife with untouched tombs, or ruined sites. So that exploration may flourish, and Seekers find refuge. A seeker may find himself entangled in a mystery that they spend more time researching and less in the field. They establish a lodge and become its Master of Lore, or if a vacancy presented itself, take over a lodge.
No member may knowingly harm another member and the rule about discoveries is “Knowledge belongs to the first person to hold it clearly in his grasp.” Though members can be of any gender, race or alignment, he or she must have a driving ambition to discover the last secrets of the past (in any way possible) and a willingness to share the information with faction members.
A fee is also required for the use and maintenance of facilities at the Seeker lodge with which the member is affiliated with at the time. The more magnanimous and generous the Seeker, the greater the privileges and interest are accorded to his investigations.)
Membership Ranks
Rank 1: Inquirer Insignia: Star embroidery Renown: 1
Free but spartan accommodations at any lodge.
Serve an Explorer (rank 3) and do menial tasks (7 days a month).
Able to buy any common equipment needed for common guild tasks (incl. illegal items).
Access to a small common library for free.
Rank 2: Pursuer Insignia: Copper Star Pin Renown: 5
Requirement: 3rd Level, skilled in arcana, occult or religion
The member must keep a journal (eventually donate it to a lodge).
Keep assisting an Explorer (rank 3) with research tasks.
Able to buy any uncommon equipment needed for guild tasks (incl. illegal items).
Common Items at a discount price.
Rank 3: Explorer Insignia: Silver Star Pin Renown: 15
Requirement: 5th level, promoted by a seeker
Must start out on your own expeditions and quests.
Receive an unflinchingly (mostly) loyal inquirer.
Able to buy any common (max level 5) magical or occult item needed for guild tasks (incl. illegal items).
Access to the uncommon library (incl. maps) for free (adding a +1-circumstance bonus).
Rank 4: Seeker Insignia: Silver Star ring Renown: 30
Requirement: 10th level, establish safehouse
Must serve 30 (non-consecutive) days per year, administrating your own established safehouse or existing lodge (need not be the same lodge).
Access to the (small) library of Secret Lore (adding a +2-circumstance bonus).
Able to buy any common (max level 10) magical or occult item needed for guild tasks (incl. illegal items).
Receive an unflinchingly loyal and personal servant/chronicler/bodyguard (5th level).
Rank 5: Master of the Lodge Insignia: Gold Star ring Renown: 50
Requirement: 15th level, Free vacancy for the rank
You can borrow a magical item of up to your level and for a total of 30 days per year.
Have access to the Occult libraries of a city lodge, gaining a +4-circumstance bonus on lore checks at a city lodge (gaining access to rare tomes).
Have full responsibility over a city lodge and its surrounding region.
You must stay in the surrounding area of the Lodge for at least 3 months to run the lodge.
Affiliation modifiers:
This system is similar to a dnd 3.5 system.
One time only: | rep |
For each rare language known (Abyssal, Celestial or other rare language) | +1 |
Expert in Lore history (or similar field) | +1 |
Mastery in a Lore skill of a uncommon topic | +1 |
Work as apprentice under an Explorer or seeker for 4 months (7days/ month). | +1 |
Create your own safe house | +2 |
Create your own Seeker Lodge | +2 |
Other positives: | |
Perform various difficult administration tasks for the lodge (Decipher DC 25) and only gained once a month (downtime 1+ week) | +1 |
Complete a mission assigned by a rank 3+. | +1 or more |
Continual reports (DC 20) on important activities (every 2 months) | +1 |
(As a rank3+) give excellent (DC 30) lectures at the lodge (once every 3 months - takes 3 days). | +1 |
Donate a significant, important, and new ‘lore’ to the seeker lodge | +2 |
Deposit a well-written (DC 30) journal about the Seekers personal quest (think holy grail) in a seeker lodge (once every 6 months). | +3 |
Donate a special non-consumable magic item to seeker lodge. | +1 per 2000 gp *Dm depended |
Negatives: | |
Fail to contribute lore in the last 3 months | -1 |
Fail to deposit a well-written (DC 25) journal in a seeker lodge once a year | -2 |
Reveal Seeker secrets to non-members (you are free to reveal secrets you brought to light) | -3 |
Betray or kill another member | -2 per rank |
Lose a magic item borrowed from the Seeker Lodge | -2 per 2000 gp *Dm depended |
Note: The table is constantly under development as it is tested in my pathfinder 2e game.