Order Ophidian

## Legend of the Serpent

Legend says that at the dawn of the planet Earth, a great mountain cracked open like an egg and a vast serpent emerged from the shards, slithering over the horizon and wrapping his great and powerful tail tight around the world. The Serpent threatened to crush the life out of the planet, but the hawk god **Horus** lifted the Serpent from the world in his talons and cast him out into the depths of space to freeze and suffocate.

But the Serpent was cunning, and left behind the seeds for his return, scales that he shed across the world that would one day form a new generation of Serpents to wrap their tails around the world once more, and this time they would succeed in crushing it to death.

## History of the Order

Throughout history there have been those who believed in the legend of the Serpent and longed for his return, so much so that they dedicated their lives to finding the 'Scales That Fell To Earth', humans that held within them the capacity to become the new Serpent.

The more organised among these hunters came together in an effort to coordinate their global efforts, and they formed the **Order Ophidian**, a quasi-religious cult dedicated to bringing about the return of the Serpent. They built their headquarters in Egypt, where they believed the site of the final battle between Horus and the Serpent took place, and spread across the world to hunt down and retrieve the Scales.

Once these Scales were found, they were brought back to the Order's headquarters and forcibly indoctrinated into their ranks, tortured and brainwashed until there was nothing left but their dedication to the Serpent. They then proceeded to send these acolytes back out into the world, where they would infiltrate the most important institutions and spread the Order's influence, symbolically wrapping their tail around the world.

While they made efforts to keep their organisation secret, there were many occasions throughout history where their influence was discovered and purged from the institutions they had infiltrated. These 'inquisitions' thinned their ranks, but none ever came close to wiping the Order out entirely.

The closest the Order came to achieving their goals was in the late 18th Century when, after manipulating events that ultimately resulted in the **American Revolutionary War**, the Order were able to plant a number of Scales within the newly-formed United States government, allowing them to extend their power and influence to the New World.

In the mid-19th Century, the Order attempted a large-scale coup to seize power in the Americas. Dozens of government agents were captured, killed or brainwashed in a single night in **January 1862** that would come to be known as the **Night of the Serpent**.

However, they experienced a swift and brutal counterattack from a group named the **Eagle Society** that had established itself in the early days of the American colonies after identifying the corrupting influence of the Order, and many of their high-ranking agents were eliminated, effectively ending the Night of the Serpent as quickly as it could begin.

The Order retreated back into the shadows to lick its wounds and re-establish its ambitions and plans, and remained quiet and unseen for the majority of the 19th and 20th Centuries, until the birth of the boy who would come to lead them in 1971.

## Nidhogg

A boy, believed to be the direct descendant of a powerful Scale, was born into the Order in 1971. The true identities of his parents remain a mystery to this day, and the Elders of the Order believed him to be the prophesied return of the Serpent.

Over his early years, everything that was childlike and emotional was stripped away through systematic torture, brainwashing and reeducation at the hands of the Order. He was taught to worship the Serpent, to extend the Order's influence around the world, and taught to fight with brutal efficiency. He dedicated his life to the Order, training himself physically, mentally and spiritually so as to one day truly embody the essence of the Serpent and crush the world with his mighty tail.

When the boy did not naturally manifest any superhuman abilities in his adolescence, the Order resorted to subjecting him to a perfected version of the **Ubermensch Formula** used by the Nazi regime in the Second World War. He was transformed into a perfect physical specimen, and combined with his heightened intellect and dark spiritual enlightenment he evolved into a fearsome figure and worthy successor to the role of the Serpent.

Taking on the name **Nidhogg**, he swiftly eliminated the Elders of the Order and took his rightful place as leader. Under his leadership, the Order expanded across the globe, operating from the shadows and infiltrating every major institution across the planet, spreading the Serpent's tail around the world.

## Year of the Snake

On **January 24, 2001**, Nidhogg launched a devastating series of attacks on global infrastructure, using his sleeper agents to wreak havoc across the world. He revealed himself and the Order to the world, and dubbed 2001 as the **Year of the Snake**.

As the year went on, the Order launched multiple high-profile attacks on the world's government and institutions in an unpredictable and seemingly random pattern in an effort to prevent defense or counterattacks. One day there would be a cyber attack on the stock market, the next a political assassination carried out, all giving the citizens of the world the impression that nobody was safe, and anybody could be targeted at any moment.

One of the most devastating attacks in Nidhogg's campaign of terror came just two weeks after the initial assault, when he showed up alone outside the **Union Building**, asking for the presence of **The Union**. When the government-sponsored superteam responded, Nidhogg systematically incapacitated each of them, culminating in a brutal assault against junior team member **Tonatiuh** in which the young man was beaten almost to death. Nidhogg then simply walked away, his message delivered in horrific fashion.

As the year stretched on, Nidhogg's grip on the world grew stronger, and there was a distinct feeling that he was building up to something huge. However, unbeknownst to Nidhogg and the Order, there was a force for good acting in opposition to his regime. A makeshift team made up of immortal monster hunter **Briar Rayne**, former enhanced combatant-turned private investigator **V**, covert operatives **Longsight** and **Scattershot**, Evohuman mercenary **Kildare** and cybernetically-enhanced child soldier **Nanite** had been working in the shadows-behind-the-shadows, infiltrating the secret society and quietly eliminating its key operatives.

They operated without backup or representation so as to remain untainted by the Order's influence, and their work had successfully weakened Nidhogg's stranglehold on the institutions of the world. On **Christmas Day 2001** the group finally made their move, assassinating a number of high-ranking members of the Order, draining their bank accounts and halting their ongoing cyber assaults.

His position threatened, Nidhogg retreated to his stronghold in Egypt in an effort to regroup, but he was confronted there by the group responsible for his downfall. Attacking in a blind rage, he fought against the group in a violent and prolonged battle, but was ultimately subdued and taken into custody by **UNION**.

The Year of the Snake was over, and the combined forces of the newly-formed **Raptors** and UNION's military and political might quickly wiped out the remnants of the Order Ophidian.

While a few members remain dedicated to the cause, they are spread too thin to carry out any further attacks, and are no longer considered to pose any significant threat to the **Unified Nations** or any institutions it represents.