Sky- and light-themed names for organizations

[Asmor]

I've seen several posts like this before which always get a great response, so here goes...

A church dedicated to the worship of the sky, and of the sun in particular. Roughly analogous to the medieval Catholic church in Europe in terms of scope, power, influence, etc. There are other religions, but this one is by far the dominant religion of the land.

The campaign: A "Men in Black"-esque sect of demon hunters within the church, tasked with rooting out and destroying evil in all of its forms, but especially undead and evil outsiders. Think Spanish Inquisition in terms of what they're willing, and allowed, to do, and how the common man perceives them.

The complication: The world is rife with secret societies, and there are many even within the Church and the demon hunting sect! Players will be assigned a secret society based on what I think fits them.

So, I need names for the church and the sect of demon hunters, and also some ideas for secret societies within the church.

Here are some examples of what I've got so far:

Veritas Lux Lucis: A poor latin translation of "The Light of Truth," which is tasked with rooting out corruption within the church.

Callers of Dusk: A group working within the ranks of the demon hunter sect to undermine them and bring evil outsiders to the realm.

The Twilight Flame: An order of mages within the church which seeks out dark knowledge for the purpose of using it against evil; fighting fire with fire, as it were. Ostensibly good, but very vulnerable to being corrupted.

The Dawnbringers: Believe that restoring good is at least as important as destroying evil, likely to defend the commoners and put their interests ahead of the church's.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Not quite what you asked for, but you should at least know about this group.

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

 

[Tonguez]

Opus Day - sorry I just had to throw that in

 

[Asmor]

Opus Day - sorry I just had to throw that in

What is it?

Tarionz: Thanks for bringing that up. I don't think I'll use it, but it's very interesting. I love reading about that sort of stuff.

 

[Xer0]

Opus Day - sorry I just had to throw that in

Do you mean Opus Dei?

Asmor, from the Latin, it means "The Work of God" and it's a "secular" organization of Catholics who follow the belief that God calls each and every one of us to strive towards holiness in their daily lives. I say secular in quotes because it's not a Holy Order like the Franciscans or the Jesuits - it's made of both members of the clergy and laypeople.

Not really sure where it fits in here though...

 

[Stormborn]

So, I need names for the church and the sect of demon hunters, and also some ideas for secret societies within the church.

The church could be called something simple and straight forward like:
The Path of Righteousness
The Way of Light
The Ascending Sun
The Heralds of Dawn

or a bit overblown like:

The Exalted and Ancient Temple of the Glorious Light
The Eternal House of the Hours of the Day

or simply be called after a founder/god figure:

The Fellowship of Luminarius
The Assembly of the Ascended One
The Family of Fideous Truthbringer
The Suntouched.


Secret Societies within the church:

The Open Sky: An ancient and heretical sect that went underground within the church centuries ago which basically teaches that the Sun is not a God but simply a ball of light but that the faith and devotion of the pure in the ideals of the church can bring them to salvation.

The Candle Keepers: Evolving out of a group that did just that, keep the candles of the great temple burning and ready throughout the night, this group has become a small cabal of information brokers. They gather secrets and sell them.

The best secret societies are not going to have literal names. Why advertise what you do when you are a secret society? Instead name them for places they originated, rooms they met in, colors they wear, or founders. Other names might be The Brotherhood of the Quiet Room, The Gray Token, The Gardeners, The Whisperers of the Words, Sheliaties (named after their founder Shelia), or the The Painted Pony Club.

The more you develop the theology of the church the better you can define the factions within it. Most of whom will agree with the matters of faith, but not their interpretation or application, while others might be unorthodox to the point of heresy.

 

[Asmor]

Thanks, Stormborn, some great ideas in there. I particularly like the Candle Keepers! They kind of make me think of the Nosferatu from V:tM... Maybe I'll make them all lepers or something.

 

[Tonguez]

Do you mean Opus Dei?

Asmor, from the Latin, it means "The Work of God" and it's a "secular" organization of Catholics who follow the belief that God calls each and every one of us to strive towards holiness in their daily lives. I say secular in quotes because it's not a Holy Order like the Franciscans or the Jesuits - it's made of both members of the clergy and laypeople.

Not really sure where it fits in here though...

Yes Opus Day was a play on words derived from Opus Dei

A fictional version of Opus Dei were the 'bad guys' in the Da Vinci Code

Wikipedia gives the 'official version' but there are rumors (up there with the Vatican-Mafia conspiracy) which suggest Opus Dei is slightly more sinister than the official story which for the purposes of a Fantasy game board should be enough without crossing the ban...