The Keepers of the Orrery

Deep within Veldonia's revered College of Arcane Lore, away from the hushed lecture rooms and public repositories, there’s a secret society that is rarely mentioned even within the most confidential circles. Only the elite of the college, and perhaps a handful of people outside the college itself, are aware of the existence of the Keepers of the Orrery. This organization is committed to the preservation, study, and guarding of an enormous, secret orrery of unknown origin.

The orrery is no standard celestial chart. The Grand Orrery of Veldonia is said to be an advanced magical contraption that not only tracks the paths of stars and planets but also traces the subtle dance of convergences of the planes and the Aether flows across Iskandria. It is said to be among the only artifacts that can forecast significant celestial events and plane events with uncanny precision.

Origins and Purpose
The origin of the Keepers is shrouded in no less mystique than the Orrery itself. Some say the order existed before the College, established perhaps by the same mages that first learned about or built the device. Others speculate that they came together in the wake of a long-forgotten catastrophe, tasked with deciphering the forces that govern their reality to keep calamity at bay.

Regardless of their origin, their goals have remained unchanged, and are essentially two-fold:

• Observation and Forecasting: The Keepers closely monitor the movements of the Orrery, unraveling its intricate patterns to predict events that run the gamut from slight shifts in the planes to major celestial events like eclipses or Aetheric tides. Insiders keep speculating that the Keepers anticipated the Great Eclipse that sent the world spiraling into a 50-year ice age, but whether or not they did anything with this knowledge, or whether or not they could act to halt it, is a whispered rumor among their midst.

• Maintenance and Defense: The Orrery is a very old and fragile relic that needs continual magical and mechanical repair. The Keepers are schooled in esoteric magical arts and long-forgotten mechanisms to maintain service. They also guard the Orrery zealously, for so potent a tool would be invaluable – but extremely hazardous – in the wrong hands. Some think there are strong wards, even perhaps attuned to the Ethereal Plane, that guard its secret compartment.

Connection to Previous Events

• The Great Eclipse and the Order of the Dawn: Although the common folk and even most historians assume that the reason behind the Great Eclipse is unknown, it is possible that the Keepers of the Orrery had vital information. It is possible that they were the first to grasp the importance of the weakening protective enchantment surrounding the Eclipse Stone. It is even possible that some of them secretly assisted or advised the Order of the Dawn in their pursuit of the Eclipse Stone to bring the fifty-year winter to an end.

• Fatebenders: According to everything that is known about them, the emergence of Fatebenders in the Third Era would fascinate the Keepers. Does the Orrery include the manipulation of fate, or are Fatebenders an unpredictable factor that thwarts their forecasts? It’s possible that a quiet competition or a wary cooperation exists between the Keepers and influential Fatebenders, both looking to learn the strengths the other has.

From the many organizations that exist in Veldonia, perhaps the Keepers is one of the most benign ones, or at least, not purposely attempting to further their own goals. Their existence is, of course, known to the Silvercrest family, who have attempted to leverage their power and use the Orrery to their own means, but so far the Keepers have remained strong, and largely neutral. It is in the best interest of Iskandria that this remains the same in the future.