The Moira Institute is a faction that has been one of the three leading powers of the Mainland. Their official mission is to preserve the knowledge and history of this world, along with being a resource and charity protection service.

History

The Institute was officially created around 800 years ago as an attempt to have a neutral training and education faction between the Nobility/Fellowship and the Temples. They took in children to young adults of all cultures and status to train them, though those of wealthy backgrounds were little more than hostages in a gilded cage. With their academies and universities, research and preserving the recovered relics and knowledge of the past, and making new discoveries, made them the place to be in society. From their roots was born ways to influence future rulers and those in power, and so they are the predominant force in both the Temple circles and councils and the courts of the nobility and rulers.

During this time, such professions as hunters, adventurers, and explorers flourished as they traveled beyond the Mists to bring back ancient knowledge.

It was 100 years ago that the need for more specialized hunters was revealed in a brutal fashion. The first sign of Corruption, or distortion of energy/mana and how it affects reality, was seen in the isle of the fabled Crystal Tower. From it, the aether warding that protected the Mainland was affected, causing Mist and further corruption to happen on the Slumbering Isle and eventually the Mainland. In response, the first Changed Hunters were created to combat such a threat. Currently the Changed Hunters maintain the Mainland, however there are rumors of planning an assault on The Slumbering Isle to claim it. If the hearsay is accurate, there could be an campaign to cleanse the Crystal Tower in the near future.

The Moira Institute built facilities on the Mainland and brought in a population of humanoids to experiment on. These humans soon formed towns and religions and accepted the presence of corrupted and monsters as an accepted fact while the Institute benefited from their distress. The Mainland was isolated from the rest of the world by Aether barrier crafted by the Celestials in some unknown time in the past.

Moira Institute has always remained as a political power, as they control, amongst the general population, who lives and who dies from.

Headquarters

Deep within Netherthorne lies the official or public headquarters of the Moira Institute where their more socially acceptable services and businesses are housed. There are various methods to reach the true Headwaurters where those in power of the Insitute and less savory activities take place, with most regarding magic.

Both the public and true headquarters has conference halls, heavily guarded archives, practice and class rooms for trainees and students, barracks for Hunters to rest in and places for them to socialize with each other. In a heavily separated area of the main headquarters, the Research Division has its facilities to perform their research. Here, there are operating rooms, as well as many hidden storage rooms.

In preparation for the future, the Institute has begun to build fortifications around its Capital to resist even an attack from the awakened Hunters.

Military force

The military force of the Organization are the Hunters and to a lesser degree the Research Divisions creations.

The Silver Reserves are a secret backup unit composed of at least fifty natural born Changed Hunters. They exist to act as a replacement force in case of an emergency, act as extra Hunters in times where there aren't enough Changed, and also to gather up Aberrations. They are kept in Heaven.

The Moira Institute has Zeroes which are sometimes sent into the field to do hard missions.

Research Division

The Research Division (Mad Scientist's Paradise) is a subsidiary responsible to recover fallen entities for research purposes. They also are responsible for the creation of Changed Hunters. For this reason, most beings avoid the Research Division like the plague. They are also working on projects which cannot be revealed to the general public since they would ruin the Institute's appearance as a charity. The retrieval squad usually desecrates Changed Hunter graves and corrupted/awakened kill sites to collect weapons, armors, and research samples. All this is done without the hunter's or humans' knowledge.

Mode of Operation

Corruption-infested or Monster-infested towns contact the Moira Institute through placing a request to a Fellowship member. Should the Fellowship member approve, the Institute dispatches one or more Changed or Unchanged Hunters and Purifiers to exterminate the corruption. In the case of Awakened Hunters, a hunting party is sent.

Upon completion of a job, a handler collects half of the fee. Towns that fail to pay receives no further help, and will be left at the mercy of corruption or wind up being destroyed by destruction squads sent to raze the town.

After a job is completed the Hunter is free to do what they want.

Changed Hunter recruits are usually bought in good health from slavers or taken in as orphans.

Moira Institute has many types of missions including:

Simple monster extermination Corruption extermination and/or purification. It costs 100 gold pieces per corrupt being. Purge mission which require four Changed Hunters or a Zero. For large forces and particularly strong opponents, the Institute has historically sent out teams larger than four. Deserter extermination. May be done as a purge mission, but more often done by an anti-eye. Escort mission - The cheapest service with usually an expendable hunter being sent. A Hunter(s) sent to protect a person or a group of people. Specific warriors can be requested with more money. Also used (for free), by Institute staff when traveling through dangerous territory or giving missions to unstable warriors. Missions can be delivered entirely by one warrior to another, although this is heavily discouraged. Rescue mission - sends a Hunter or multiple Hunter to rescue a person important to the Moira Institute. Suicide mission - missions to get rid of a less useful or rebellious/dangerous Hunter. Usually are impossible tasks which result in death or awakening. Can also involve an anti-eye which kills the unwanted Hunter. Reconnaissance mission - missions that typically involve a hunterwith high perception abilities. Hunters typically accompany other members to track and map out target locations and movements. Often, this is also used to monitor the behavior of the warriors, and to assess ability and tendency for defection. Collection/Infiltration mission - An unconventional mission reserved for special warriors. The Research Division specializes in getting samples to improve research, but often calls upon special warriors to sneak past defenses to retrieve heavily guarded or dangerous samples. Warriors also can be used to spy and gain information impossible for any humanoid to obtain, and work behind the scenes for political advantage.

The Organization charges outrageously high fees for its services but also charges extra if:

Information was withheld concerning a Hunter's mission Any monster, corrupted being, awakened hunter was killed during a mission and was not specified in the request. Anything was purified and cleansed during a mission and was not specified in the request. Facilities

The Moira Institute has research facilities separate from the headquarters on the outskirts of the Mainland. These facilities do research too dangerous to be done inside headquarters and are each responsible for a single project that the Institute has decided to research. Because of these facilities, outskirt towns don't receive help since a Hunter could find out about the facilities if they went on a mission. Many awakened hunters hide in these outskirts to avoid detection and hunting parties at the price of the possibility of being used as an experiment for these facilities.