“..and a new god shall rise, an abomination born in the newest of lands, essence of evil divine, he shall be the over thrower and destroyer of the human race. — And evil Power will be given him to desolate the whole earth with authority which thou hast not seen before.”
Atharim Prophecy, the 6th Age
THE REMNANT
The Atharim are a secret society. They are the descendants of the ones calling themselves the Remnant, or “Athari” (Ancient Arabic). The Atharim were once concentrated in the cradle of civilization but following the end of the Age of Escape, they scattered themselves across the world, vowing to devote their very existence to the continued eradication of “the gods,” – those immortal tyrants who nearly destroyed the world with their titanic wars – and so forever prevent their return.
ORIGIN
Atharim lore states that once the world was ruled by gods. These immortal beings loved and served the world they created at first. Soon they ceased walking among humanity, befriending the nations, and serving all the world. They became tyrants.They enslaved humanity to turn the earth’s underbelly while they feasted upon their lofty mountains. There was nothing humanity could do; they were irresistibly strong. Even the offspring were terrors.
Then, no longer content with power over mortals, civil war erupted among the gods, and the carnage spilt from the heavens. From the depths of their imaginations they summoned great beasts to shred divine flesh. They crafted weapons such as to shear one another’s souls. The world’s playground became their battlefield, but it was the mortals who suffered the most causalities
It was the Atharim which discovered the weapons which the gods created to kill one another could be wielded by human hands. If the gods could be destroyed, then humanity would be free. Such are the Atharim’s origins: warriors, patriots, and assassins. They heralded the Age of Escape. They saved the world from the gods.
The beasts, creatures, servants, and the weapons created by the fury of the godwars were hunted until they were driven into hiding or destroyed, while the deity offspring were tracked down and eliminated. With the death of the final god so came the passing of the Age of Escape. By the inception of the 6th Age, the Atharim dwindled as their mission was apparently complete. When the next Age was sealed to the turning of the Wheel, the remnant truly became a remnant again; now their own members are unaware of their origins.
The Age of Industry was not immune to the haunts of these creatures. People have seen monsters, creatures, and terrors. Legends exist. Myths abound. Ardent belief remains in some groups to this day. They follow, worship, or fear these creatures, but witnesses are discounted as insane or ignorant. The weird has been ignored by mainstream society where the rationality of logical human beings always justifies the inexplicable.
HUNTERS
Yet the Atharim know their time of slumber has drawn to a close. Prophecy remains, and the signs have been followed. Portends stir in the dark places of the world; omens gather and creatures long thought extinct are emerging, bold and unafraid for the first time in centuries.
All of it heralds what the ancient scrolls foretell: a god has returned, and more will follow: sprung from those old bloodlines as spirits escaping their iron cages….
God, creature, or demon: where they return, the Atharim will be waiting.
HEADQUARTERS
The Atharim headquarters are located within the walls of Vatican City, the only city-state in Europe never to have joined the Central Custody of Dominion.
The Vatican was long been considered a place of historical register, including such honorariums as the papal archives, Vatican Museum, and Vatican Library to name a few. The Atharim headquarters is within the Vatican Historical Society and existed seamlessly within this city of ancients under the authority of a ruling conclave and Regus. It is unknown whether the Catholic Church is aware of the presence of the Atharim.
The Vatican Historical Society is legitimately historical in nature. As charged with governance over the historical integrity of papal and apostolic literature, the Society is also considered to be the Vatican’s foremost experts on eschatology: the study of final events of history, the ultimate destiny of humanity, or more commonly described as “the end times.” Little does the congregation of Catholics realize, but their study of the end times was not to record the apocalypse as assumed but rather to prevent it. If any resource holds the secrets to understanding the Wheel, the Pattern, and the changing of Ages, those secrets are lost among the ancient scrolls in Atharim vaults.
Now, the Atharim quietly opened a second headquarters-
In Moscow.