Golden Erne
The Golden Erne is a fraternal organization with chapters (called eyries) distributed throughout eastern Benacia, northwestern and eastern Apollonia, northeastern Tapfer. It is believed to be connected either to the Antican Diaspora Society or the House of Octavius or both.
Origins
The Golden Erne traces its lineage to the orders of merit of the Dinarchy of Antica, in particular the Order of the Erne, which was second only to the Order of the Imperial Eagle. As the Order of the Imperial Eagle had sided with the dinarchial government during the Antican Revolution, and thus was seen as abandoning the principles of Antican Liberty, the Order of the Erne became the senior-most order of merit to keep the faith. The Children of the Most-Loyal Raptors, a hereditary society for descendants of the old orders of merit, persisted through the late First Republic, the Commonwealth, and the Second Republic.
According to their own lore, the Golden Erne was founded by twelve members of the Children of the Most-Loyal Raptors in the latter years of the Second Republic. At the time, they could see the nation ossify and decline towards its ultimate fate, and set out to prepare the road and ensure that the Antican spirit not be extinguished. In this sense, they credit their own organization with establishing refugia in other countries, such as Myrtilis and Kezan.
From its inception, the Golden Erne was open to all Anticans irrespective of former noble status (the dinarchial orders of merit had automatically conferred the title of Patrician upon the recipient; while during the Republic, such legal distinctions were abolished, it continued to carry social value). In the 1600s AN, as other ethnic groups assimilated under Antican cultural hegemony in the resettlement zones, the Golden Erne began to induct such assimilated non-Anticans into their ranks so long as they made the same oaths to uphold the organization's vision and goals.
Structure
The Golden Erne has a distributed structure, with local chapters named Eyries organized into regional Convocations. There is no official central headquarters.
Degrees
Postulates
- Page: Junior postulate, unable to attend meetings.
- Squire: Senior postulate, able to attend first half of regular meetings only.
Members
- Companion: fully-initiated member, able to attend and participate in all meetings in full.
- Honored Companion: honorary degree, conferred by the Convocation in consultation with two other convocations, for significant contributions to the advancement of the Golden Erne's vision.
- Great Erne: honorary degree, conferred automatically at 30 years of membership.
Eyrie Officers
- Capitalis: Oversees the eyrie's activities, presides over meetings, signs orders.
- Monetalis: Tracks membership, mints membership tokens for inductees, verifies token validity, acts as the eyrie's notary.
- Nidalis: Oversees education, arranges discussion topics, lectures, and trainings.
- Fiscalis: Tracks the eyrie's finances.
- Cardinalis: Directs the eyrie's security, leads the Vigiles.
- Vigilis: Watchman for the eyrie's meetings and meeting spaces.
- Causalis: Advocate in any external legal proceedings, expert on organizational law and procedure.
Member Challenge
At regular meetings, members of the Golden Erne are challenged to produce their membership token: a customized coin whose design is modelled on the old Pecunia, with membership number and other anti-counterfeiting marks that are added during the induction ceremony.
Eye of Providence
The Eye of Providence, or The Eye, is a private security organization associated with the Golden Erne. An outgrowth of the Golden Erne's local watchmen, the Vigiles, the Eye was created to provide professionalized security, intelligence collection, special operations teams, and military-style training for interested parties. It recruits only qualified Golden Erne members into its ranks, but sometimes outsources low-level tasks to other organizations.
