International Order of Races

The **International Order of Races** is an intergovernmental organization, roughly equivalent to the Order of Owls. Seats on the International Order of Races are determined by the leader of the Order itself.

The International Order of Races is headed by a person who holds the title of Justiciar. The first appointed Justiciar is unknown as the records were destroyed or lost. It is unclear as to who originally founded the Order.

## History

### Early Years

The Order was founded in 1620 when the witch hunts began in Scotland. While it is true that there had been witch hunts and witch trials from 1450 to 1580, the panic and hysteria didn't truly begin to affect the magical community until the witchcraft trials of Scotland, where thousands of magical creatures were persecuted and then hanged or burned at the stake. The community was worried that they would become extinct and became increasingly frightened of humans who, at the time, were less than accepting.

These fears became more founded when Great Britain passed the Witchcraft Act of 1735. This single law sent panic and mass hysteria coursing through the magical community. Finally, the Order had heard enough to declare humans a danger and passed the Statute of Secrecy and all magical creatures went into hiding, becoming nothing more than a myth for centuries.

### The Dark Ages

After the Statute of Secrecy was passed and the community went into hiding, a war broke out between the vampires and werewolves. This war was a result of a long standing distrust of one another and caused a lot of uproar in the community. It was during this period that the Order passed the International Slavery Act which allowed the magical community to take prisoners of war and enslave them. The vampires took advantage of this new law and began to capture werewolves to keep as slaves. This act caused the dawn of a new era, one in which would soon cause the near extinction of the wolves.

### The Revelation

Nine years after the Dark Ages, the magical community had remained hidden for 389 years, fading from memory. They were nothing more than a myth, a fantasy that always seemed to linger in the back of all humans minds. This remained a constant factor until a young vampire prince came into his throne after murdering the old king. When Aoi Rei came into power, the tide began to shift.

In 2009, shortly after he had come into power, the young vampire king revealed to the entire world that he and his half brother were in fact vampires. The magical community was in shock, but were furious. They wanted this new king to be brought to justice for breaking the law of the Statute of Secrecy. The Order was, however, too curious about the interesting reactions from the humans. Instead of arresting the young king for his transgressions, the Order decided to wait and see what happened. To their surprise, not all humans were terrified of the half brothers. Many were curious and wanted to learn more. This was a huge turning point in magical history.

With the change of heart from the non magical world, the Order declared that the Statute of Secrecy would from that point on be revoked and no magical creature would be arrested for revealing their true nature. Some races disagreed with this and chose to go further into hiding.