ORDER OF FIRST LIGHT

THOUGH NO ONE HAS SO FAR BEEN ABLE TO CONFIRM THIS, THE ORDER OF THE FIRST LIGHT CLAIMS TO BE ONE OF THE OLDEST GROUPS IN HUMAN HISTORY, STRETCHING BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THEY HAVE HAD THEIR HANDS IN THE MASONS, THE ILLUMINATI, THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR... IF THEIR LEGENDS ARE TO BE BELIEVED. THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE KEEPERS OF THE SPARK AND WHEN RESONANCE TORE THE WORLD APART, THEY ASSERTED THEMSELVES QUICKLY AS THE MASTERS OF MAGIC AND MANA. COMPOSED NEARLY ENTIRELY OF THOSE GIFTED WITH THE TALENTS OF MAGES BY THE EVENT, THE ORDER FOUGHT FOR THE SAFETY AND DOMINATION OF HUMANITY, OFTEN WORKING CLOSELY WITH REMNANT GOVERNMENTS TO ESTABLISH SAFE ZONES FOR CIVILIANS, WITHIN WHICH THE ORDER OPERATED WITH NEAR IMPUNITY. THEY ALSO TRACKED DOWN ALL THOSE WITH GROWING MAGICAL TALENT, OFFERING THEM TRAINING IN EXCHANGE FOR JOINING THE ORDER... THOSE WHO REFUSE WERE RARELY TREATED KINDLY. THEIR IMAGE AND POWER WAS SHAKEN BY THE SPLINTERING OFF OF THE NY BRANCH, WHICH FORMED THE GROUP ARMA, WHO LEVELED SEVERAL DAMAGING ACCUSATIONS ABOUT THE ORDER'S TRUE PURPOSES. NOW THE ORGANIZATION SEEMS TO FALTER FURTHER AS WHISPERS THAT THE ORDER IS BEHIND THE HEINOUS EXPERIMENTATIONS ON THE SUPER VIRUSES. THERE IS ALSO NOW GROWING CONCERN FOR THE NUMBER OF MAGUS THAT HAVE SUDDENLY GONE "MISSING" PARTICULARLY IN THE AMERICAS REGION. ARE THE ORDER CULLING THE HERD? SUPPORT IS WANING AND THE GROUP SEEM TO BE GETTING DESPERATE, POSITIONS OF POWER BEING TURNED OVER TO FIND FRESH INSIGHT TO STOP THE PROVERBIAL BLEEDING.