The Hurtsickle Society

The Hurtsickle Society was founded by Zoph Sefeed a little over a hundred years ago. Sefeed was not a native Karthack, he was a white man from Vosca who came to Karthack at a young age because he was a talented sorcerer, and chafed under Genosian suspicion.
Sefeed was not merely a sorcerer, he was also a mystic. His interests were not so much in the technical craft of sorcery (though he was prodigiously adroit in that regard) but rather in the underlying theory and implications of sorcery. He founded the Hurtsickle Society with a group of like-minded sorcerers with the intention of reaching deeper into the mysteries of magic and divinity than the average Zoph.
Well, this required some travel, which was the first problem. Zophs generally do not leave Karthack unless it's to burn another country to the ground. Sefeed however sensed that the whole truth could never be found in one land, and so he left to seek it in others. He founded small cabals of mystics in various countries – Illegon, the Reich, Osterbija, Krajina, Kedoua, Berkhuka, even in Helion. And it was in Helion that he found the first piece of his puzzle – the Mekulla. The rare work was nowhere more complete than in the Golden Library, and he was able to gather enough Orredin into his little cabal there that through their combined influence they were able to gain access to a semi-complete copy long enough for him to transcribe it and take it with him.
A side effect of his journey was that the Hurtsickle Society now has splinter groups in almost every kingdom, duchy, even county in Vosca. And when Zoph Sefeed came back to Karthack and was invited to speak with the God-King himself, he found that his sojourn was expected to benefit Eternal Karthack, as well as his own pursuits. So the Hurtsickle Society, originally a mystical cult, became a division of Karthack's intelligence service. The various cabals and circles throughout Vosca began informing Karthack of goings on in their countries.
Zoph Sefeed spent much of his time managing this burgeoning intelligence service, but he also pursued great works of mysticism and magic in his own right. It was he who first made the connection between the Cenj Sultralu and the Mekulla, and his work essentially revolutionized magical theory across Vosca.
=== Trivia ===
In the real world, the Hurtsickle, or Cornflower, is a blue flower native to Europe and Asia Minor. It has long been a symbol of Germanic nationalism. It is not, interestingly, native to Persia, the country for which Karthack is an analogue. This may be a reference to the fact that Zoph Sefeed was also not native to Karthack.Category:Karthack
Category:Magic