Order of the Purple Crown

The Order of the Purple Crown is a divine order of Diddu that believes in establishing control over the entire world, uniting all lands under one firm theocracy. It is quite possibly the most militaristic of all the divine orders, and certainly one of those least popular with non-members. In fact, most nations have declared the Purple Crown illegal—understandably, since it openly challenges their dominion.

Centers of Influence

The fact that membership in the Order of the Purple Crown is forbidden in most nations prevents the order from acting completely openly. In most nations, the Purple Crown is a clandestine organization, its members keeping their affiliation hidden from the authorities and meeting in secret, knowing the state will impose severe penalties if they're ever found out. Despite this, they have enough unity, support, and careful methodology to continue to pursue their goals, and rarely have many Purple Crown members been discovered. In fact, the Purple Crown has infiltrated many of the very nations trying to suppress it, and placed its members among their government officials. These plants are few enough, however, that they cannot yet work to lift the ban on the order or otherwise act too obviously in the organization's interest without revealing themselves, and for the moment they bide their time, trying to help the order gain more power and work toward its ends through more subtle means.

The Golden Cities are particularly hostile to the Order of the Purple Crown, being jealous of the secrets of their defiance of the mestral changes. In many of the Golden Cities, any members of the Order found there are subject to immediate execution. Nevertheless, even here the Purple Crown has established a foothold, and several dozen Purple Crown members live covertly within the Cities, striving to learn their secrets and to pave the way for their conquest by the order.

There are, however, a handful of nations that do permit the order to operate openly within their boundaries, and there it can act more freely. Furthermore, the Purple Crown does have one overt center of power, the Free City of Kankow. Located on the border between the nations of Arydia, Laja, and Meregand, Kankow is the one place on Diddu where the Purple Crown actually does have political control. Because of this, the order tends to see it as an exemplar of how all of Diddu will be run in the future once its theocracy is established, and the Purple Crown takes very seriously any threat to the city or to its government and routine.

Membership

Joining the Purple Crown is not a simple matter. The order is necessarily secretive about its activities, and in most nations it's not easy to find members to approach. The best a prospective member can hope for is to try to find people who seem sympathetic to the order's goals, drop hints, and hope that they're members of the order and will arrange for a meeting. In those few nations where the Purple Crown is legal and able to operate openly, things are of course a different matter, so much so that many who wish to join the order journey to such a nation, or to Kankow, specifically for that purpose.

With all the opposition it faces, the order thinks it important to ensure that new recruits are genuine in their intent, and not spies from their enemies sent to infiltrate the organization. Even if one manages to find representatives of the order, therefore, it's not easy to gain full acceptance. The Order of the Purple Crown puts supplicants through complicated initiation ceremonies, and requires of them detailed loyalty oaths. Only those who truly adhere to the order's philosophies and really want them to succeed in their goals have much chance of passing these hurdles and gaining admittance into their ranks—and those who try and are exposed as pretenders can expect to meet harsh justice for their fraud.

For all its faults, the Order of the Purple Crown cannot be justly accused of racial or ethnic prejudice. It gladly allows members of all species and nationalities. Nevertheless, most of the Order's members are human, merely because most of Diddu's inhabitants are—or at least, those in civilized areas that are exposed to the Order's doctrines. Still, there seems to be as much opportunity for advancement in the Order's ranks for nonhumans as for humans, and though at the moment the (mortal) head of the order happens to be human, this hasn't always been the case.

A member of the Order of the Purple Crown is sometimes known as a coronate, though this term is rarely used, and isn't popular among the order's members themselves.

Hierarchy

Formally, the head of the Order of the Purple Crown is the god Diddu itself, which members of the Crown refer to as the King. Diddu, however, does nothing directly to guide the order, and it's not even certain he's aware of it. The real main power in charge of the Purple Crown, therefore, is the nominal second in command, an angel known as Adaar who is titled the Heavenly Prince. Even the Heavenly Prince, however, while, unlike Diddu, he is definitely interested in the order's activities, is rarely actually seen, and has little direct influence over the rank and file. The official who in practice is most responsible for directing the order's activities is the Earthly Prince, who is formally ranked just below the Heavenly Prince. (When one speaks of just the "Prince" in reference to the Purple Crown, it is usually the Earthly Prince that is meant.) While the Heavenly Prince has always been Adaar, and likely always will, the Earthly Prince is mortal, and the position is filled by new individuals when the old Prince dies. The current Earthly Prince is a woman named Bodherik Xaal, who has held the position for almost thirty years.

Below the Princes, the various officials of the Purple Crown are designated by various noble titles. The highest officials next to the Princes are called Dukes of the order, followed by Margraves, Jarls, Burgraves, and Barons. Members of the Purple Crown who have no such official leadership position but are still considered to be particularly worthy of honor are designated Knights of the Crown. All members of the Crown that do not have any title or knighthood are known as squires.

Relations

The Order of the Purple Crown has few allies, and counts almost every nation of Diddu as enemies. If it has one particular archenemy, however, it is the Salmigond, which works to frustrate the Crown's schemes at every opportunity, though far more often by sabotage and trickery than by open warfare. The closest thing the Purple Crown has to an ally is the Order of the Blessed Sword; the interests of the two orders do occasionally coincide, but their alliance is shaky at best. The Silken Order sometimes also works with the Purple Crown, but the latter is somewhat mistrustful of the former, and no doubt with good reason; it seems likely that any assistance the Silken Order gives to the Purple Crown is, like much else the Silken Order does, a part of some scheme of its own.