Hermetic Order (Civ6)/Civilopedia

Especially in times of great social change, when new knowledge and new ways of being show great potential to change the way that we live, societies often arise based around the cultivation and protection of this secret, world-transforming knowledge. While they might at first look like scientific societies, these orders were different in that they focused on the collection of secret knowledge, not its application. We can see examples of such societies in medieval Europe, Southeast Asia (especially as concerns tantric Buddhism), and East Asia; from ancient times to the present day. Here, the Hermetic Order seeks to model a late medieval alchemical society, as well as mystical/religious organizations that grew up in the later 19th century.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an English group concerned with cultivating esoteric knowledge around the early 20th century. For inspiration, the Order drew upon a variety of sources: medieval European (“hermetic”) magic, Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), Egyptian and Greek myth, and individual revelation. Devotees – most famously the English occultist Aleister Crowley - focused on expanding their mystical knowledge via astral travel, clairvoyance, and other magical practices, and the movement attracted a body of individuals seeking a greater truth that they felt was lacking in an increasingly rational and disenchanted society. The Order drew in a wide body of influential people, including Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes), the English horror author Algernon Blackwood, the Irish author Bram Stoker (creator of Dracula), and others. Chapters of the Order exist today, and the Order’s practices have been influential on the development of many New Age religions, as people still seek a greater truth.