A cult that hides in plain sight.
Description[]
The Order of the Fallen Star is based in New York City.[1] It attracts power-hungry, elite people like Wallace Larson and Aldrich Ward.[2][3] The cult is extremely secretive and hides in plain sight; most people don't know what or where it is.[1] Most Order members don't know each other.[4]
The Order meets two days after the new moon every month at the grain terminal in Red Hook, New York City.[4] The members wear masks. The signet rings worn by members allows them to unlock access through the elevator. Before entry for a meeting, a member writes a significant, supposedly positive, memory on a piece of paper and puts it into an offering box.[5]
History[]
Very little is currently known about the history of the Order. It existed before Larson, who himself is hundreds of years old, though his family are among the founding members.[2][5]
Three months before Arthur came to New York, the police intercepted one of Charon's rendezvous points and seized items branded with the symbol of the Order. The New York City police department added the symbol to their file on Charon, a person or group associated with the Order; Charon is extremely well-connected and is tenuously connected to almost every trafficking bust the NYC police made between 1932-1934.[4]
Iconography[]
The Order's main symbol is "a star, sort of."[2] This symbol has been seen in multiple places.
- On a medallion on the body of a Larson[2]
- John saw the symbol drawn in ash on the infant held by the woman in the woods outside Arkham[6][7]
- Branded on a number of items seized at the rendezvous point of Charon[4]
Each member of the Order wears a ring, which bears a symbol "similar to the medallion."[5]
In the Red Hook Grain Terminal, paintings of stars, planets, and constellations hung on the wall.[5] One painting in particular depicted a bright light falling from a being; beneath, a group of men seem ready to catch it.[5]
The Order also possesses an offering box. The large box was made of white wood, and had ornate carvings of a creature holding a plate of fruit, an hourglass, and a beating heart. The box had a thin slit on top to drop in parchment where Order members wrote down an offering; Arthur and Noel theorized that the offerings were memories.[5]
Order members also wear masks, each mask unique with various iconography. The mask covers the upper part of the face. These masks include:
- a mask with "a bull with hands stretched out over fire"[5]
- a mask with "a mule's head and peacock tail"[5]
- a mask with "a helmet with horns coming out"[5]
- a mask with "a bull, no fire, carved in a more positive depiction, less menacing"[5]
Known Members[]
- Wallace Larson[2]
- Aldrich Ward, an extremely wealthy, well-connected treasurer of the Freemasons and owner of DB Imports, the largest import and export company in New York. He is an angry-looking, bitter man in a brown suit and a thick mustache and black hair combed to the side.[4]
- Charon, a well-connected person or group who transport illegal goods. Named after the Ferryman in Greek mythology who carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the River Styx.[4]
Known Locations[]
- The Grand Lodge, the Freemasons building in New York City. Has Egyptian iconography and images scattered through some of the depictions on the walls[4]
- The Grain Terminal in Red Hook[4]
Trivia[]
- The mask Arthur wears, "a bull with hands stretched out over fire," is theorized to be the Canaanite god Moloch
- The mask Larson wears, "a mule's head and peacock tail," is theorized to be the Canaanite god Adrammelech