Moonshade Order

The **Moonshade Order** is a death cult that worship Vide and serve as the primary antagonists of *Octopath Traveler II*. Each of its members and associates serve as either supporting NPCs or main villains in each of the main traveler’s stories.

## History

The Moonshade Order was founded by Archmage D'arqest, though at some point after his death, Arcanette assumed leadership of the group.

## Story

The Moonshade Order indirectly influenced all of the travelers' journeys in the following ways:

They massacred the Kal Clan and exploited Kaldena's vendetta to dispose of their obstacles by telling her about the Book of Night and Arcanette teaching her about the rite to gain the power of the Shadow, though it was revealed to be flawed and Kaldena lost her humanity and life as a result after a confrontation with Temenos in Rifted Rock.

Choosing Claude for the intended purpose of serving as Vide's vessel before he went into hiding and established the Blacksnakes in the hopes that one of his many children through many different partners would fill the role, though this failed and he was killed by his daughter in Lostseed Castle.

Tanzy was inducted by Arcanette (in the guise of Sister Mindt) herself after her fiance died and she assisted in tracking down the locations of the Sacred Flame under the guise of a troupe manager. However, she was later unwillingly used as the sacrifice by Arcanette to quell Flamechurch's Sacred Flame.

They tasked Petrichor to capture the animal Ochette didn't choose as a child and gave to Harvey, who transformed it into the Darkling of the Sorrowful Moon. Then they tasked him to recreate the Book of Demons by kidnapping Osvald V. Vanstein's family and breaking into D'arqest's tomb to use his remains and the blood of Lumina. While the Book itself was completed, both the Darkling and Petrichor were killed (the former by Ochette and the latter by the Darkling as a sacrifice to quell the Sacred Flame in the Tomb of the Wardenbeasts) whilst Harvey escaped alive after his battle with Osvald in Duskruin Shrine.

The Order also inducted Oboro and his sister Ori to their cause, the former using the civil war in Ku to acquire the Darkblood Blade while the latter uses her position as a scrivener to help find the locations of the Sacred Flames as well as collect and relay information to the Order. Ori attempted to sacrifice herself to quell the flame in Fellsun Ruins, but miraculously survived the attempt while Oboro killed Ageha to snuff out the Sacred Flame at the Tranquil Grotto before heading to Vidania to sacrifice himself, reviving Vide in the process after the main travelers confronted him.

They, through Claude, also drove Trousseau mad to kill people with his Black Blood poison purple rain, which was derived from the Shadow. While he succeeded in eradicating all of the townsfolk and most of his former comrades in Healeaks, he was eventually stopped and killed in Timberain by his former chief Castti Florenz, ending the threat of the poison rain.

The Order itself became heavily crippled after Vide's defeat and the death of many of its members.

## Main Members

* Oboro †
* Claude †
* Tanzy †
* Ori
* Petrichor †
* Arcanette (leader) †
* Trousseau †
* Harvey

## Associates

* Vados †
* Reiza
* Kaldena †

## Trivia

* Like the travelers, the main members of the Moonshade Order has the first letters of their first names spell "OCTOPATH".
	+ Their corresponding protagonists' names spell "OCTOPATH" backwards: **O**boro for **H**ikari, **C**laude for **T**hroné, **T**anzy for **A**gnea, **O**ri for **P**artitio, **P**etrichor for **O**chette, **A**rcanette for **T**emenos, **T**rousseau for **C**astti, and **H**arvey for **O**svald.
* It is currently unknown if the Moonshade Order disbanded after the death of the group's leader. To note, there are townspeople in different towns that are adherent to them as well as Harvey's possible survival.