Genesis Season Lore: The Order Backstory — Strength In Unity

THE ORDER were the first splinter group from the MetaMasons. While they are original believers in the strength of the Dark Shards, they are also confident that true success — both for individuals and for the entire race — relies on cooperation and strong democratic institutions.

During the long interplanetary travel, they’ve rejected the inherent divide between the haves and have-nots, slowly accumulating power through political dealings, equitable food redistribution, and a central focus on oral hygiene.

Backstory — Strength In Unity

As the MetaMason founders hoarded the Dark Shards and learned to cleave great power from their concentrated energy, a few more… egalitarian members of that original group began to look on in dismay. They could see where this was going — immense strength concentrated in the hands of a very few. It was appealing, certainly, but not sustainable.

For the world to have any longevity, for the human race to persist, they knew an equitable balance must be reached. And so, they set out to create a long-term plan that would dispense power amongst the masses. Everyone would be equal. Some would just be more equal than others.

The Order knew that to seize control, they must position themselves as saviors of the people, convert the 99% to their cause, and willingly support distributed power. It wasn’t all lip service — the heads of The Order did offer a future with greater profit sharing and a higher standard of living than any of the other factions. But their message failed to gain traction in a planet dominated by strength and wealth, a world run by centralized corporatocracies. And then… the meteor struck, and everything changed.

In a contained environment, The Order saw their chance. If they could unite the vast majority of the research facility in their cause, they could finally create lasting, sustainable power for themselves. And they did this, not by elevating their own pluralistic message, but by creating accurate propaganda about the alternatives — Chaos was nothing more than survival of the fittest, guaranteed to end in mass death and destruction.

The Meta Masons were totalitarianism personified. The Unspoken hoarded arcane power akin to witchcraft, and the Yami Gang…? Nothing but bulls let loose in a too-fragile china shop. And as they chipped away at the embedded power structures, they slowly infiltrated the masses, promising a higher standard of living for everyone (true) and complete and total equality (not true).

To promote order, they trained centurions to protect the masses from themselves. To promote democracy, they held regular elections and created institutional hierarchies across the research station. To promote peace, they imposed harsh punishments on those who would disrupt the sanctity of the insular society.

As the journey continued, they found their message resonating, and proceeded to amplify it even further — going forward, they would take the best of all possible governmental structures from the destroyed planet and would combine them into a new Bill of Equality, a new governing document that the whole ship would agree to.

If the masses signed this, it would allow The Order to accumulate enough centralized power to make their ascension inevitable. But if it failed… their fragile hold on the people would crumble, and they would find themselves no better than the urchins they promised to elevate.

Darkness for everyone, says The Order. And slowly, the masses started kneeling (nodding their heads).