THE BLACK LODGE
黑结社劇透 - :
It’s all rumor and speculation, but everything fts into a pretty
neat little package at the end. The Black Lodge, in some form or
incarnation, has been around for centuries, if not millennia. They
were around well before the return of magic, and every rumor
states they have rituals that functioned even during the downcycles of magic. They’ve touched and influenced every powerful
group in history, and rather than falling when their puppets were
taken down, they simply shifted their efforts or supported those
who brought down the puppets. They’ve influenced the Templars,
the Illuminati, the Third Reich, the Spanish Inquisition, the Vatican,
the Persian Empire, the USSR, and hundreds of other powerful
entities throughout their long history. If you want the evidence,
dig—but don’t expect to last long once they fnd out you’re getting
close. Just ask JFK.
虽然都只是谣言和猜测，但一切都完美吻合。黑结社以各种形态存在了几个世纪，甚至上千年。他们在魔法回归前就已遍布各地，甚至每个传言都说他们的仪式甚至在法力低潮期也能施展。他们触及并影响了历史上每一个有影响力的组织，当他们的木偶被推翻，他们只是简单地把势力和支持转向那些推翻者。他们影响了圣殿骑士团、光照会、第三帝国、西班牙宗教裁判所、梵蒂冈、波斯帝国、USSR，以及漫长历史中成百上千个强大的组织。如果你想要证据，自己挖掘去吧，但要不了多久他们就会找上你。问JFK。
他们如今在世界上所有重要政府、超企和社会团体里都有自己的成员。都身居高位，但或许不拥有直接的权力。他们不希望成为领袖。他们希望成为王座背后的势力。
劇透 - :
As best as any outsider can tell, the group consists of just shy
of ten thousand initiated members from all traditions and magical
talents. Yes, I said ten thousand. They’ve got a cellular design,
with each cell (which in their case is called a lodge) having seven
members, where each member overlaps with one other cell. Six
members are leaders of a lower-tier cell, while one member is
linked to a higher tier. There are a total of fve tiers. At the bottom is
the Lodge of Nostradamus. These lodges operate on the most local
level—usually a city, sometimes a local corp. Their members are
usually freshly initiated and rise to about Grade 5 before pushing
for the next tier. Above that is the Lodge of Rasputin. They operate
over larger cities, small nations, and corps and subsidiaries of
about A-level. These magi are at least Grade 3 initiates in the
order, and they usually push up to at least Grade 7 before trying
to move upward. Then you have the Lodge of Mordred, running
things across a single major nation or AA or even, ghost forbid,
one of the AAAs. Magic-wise they are at least Grade 6 initiates,
but since this is a frequent stalling point for advancing up in tiers,
members of this tier are sometimes initiated well into the double
digits. Over them is the Lodge of Morgana, which has six lodges,
one per inhabited continent. These members must be at least Grade
9 initiates, though most are in the double digits. This fourth tier is the
end of the rise for any member who is not a fully capable magician,
meaning that adepts, sorcerers, summoners, alchemists, etc. all
stop their progress here. At the peak is the Lodge of Merlin, also
referred to as the Black Council, led by the Penultimate Master,
who, in essence, controls the world. The members of the Black
Council are all double-digit Grade initiates, with the Penultimate
Master demonstrating mastery of all known major metamagics
along with a few known only to the Black Lodge.
外人能够知道的，只是这个组织拥有不到一万名启蒙成员，来自各个流派，拥有不同魔法天赋。是的，我说一万。他们有网状的组织结构，每个网格（叫做结社）有七名成员，每个成员又都处于另一个网格。有六名是更低一级网格的领导者，一名与更高级网格相连。一共分为五级。最底层的是诺查丹马斯结社。这些结社在最局部的地区活动——通常是一座城市，有时是一家本地企业。他们的成员一般都是刚刚启蒙，启蒙至5级后会升至下一级别。下一级别是拉斯普丁结社。他们在大城市、小型国家和A级企业及其子公司活动。这些法师至少是3级启蒙者，他们一般会试图启蒙至7级后尝试继续爬升。随后是莫德雷德结社，负责处理一个大国或一家AA的事务，有时甚至是一家AAA。他们的魔法至少是6级启蒙，但由于许多人在此停滞不前，有些人的启蒙等级会达到两位数。他们之上是莫甘娜结社，共有六个，每个位于一个有人居住的大陆。这些成员的启蒙等级至少是9，但大部分都达到两位数。对于非全才法师，第四级就是他们的终点，即包括修士、巫术师、咒术师、炼金术师等都在此止步。顶端的是梅林结社，也叫做黑议会，领导者是次位大师，次位大师实际上掌控着整个世界。黑议会的成员都有两位数的启蒙等级，而次位大师掌握了所有主要的超魔以及一些仅有黑结社知道的超魔。
>我假设黑结社掌握了基本语言，那么如果顶端的人是次位大师，终极大师是谁呢？
>Mika
>好问题，他们一定很高兴你问了。有人说这是个象征性的称呼——你的“终极大师”是且仅是你自己，所有人包括结社的领导者都需要牢记。还有人说这只是结社的惯常做法，总藏着秘密，总藏着某人在牵动绳索。
>Frosty
劇透 - :
Based on this setup, you can see this puts seven members in
the Lodge of Merlin, six of whom are leaders of a Lodge of Morgana,
where there are six other members in each of the six lodges that
are leaders of a Lodge of Mordred, and so on down the line. Math
it out and you get 1,555 lodges and 9,331 members. The group has
non-initiated members associated with the group who are not part
of a lodge as they wait for a spot to become available, prove their
worth, or simply act as a “mundane” liaison for the organization.
Initiation rituals often involve the frst of many identity changes
for members, as most hide the fact that they are Awakened and
don’t gain the ability to hide their aura until they have studied the
deeper mysteries. Appearing mundane makes it easier to hide
being part of a magical secret cabal, while also making a person
less threatening to the world’s mundies.
Members can come from every metatype except for elves. The
Black Lodge has a long-standing hatred of elves. It’s solely based
on those with exceptionally long lifespans, but the Lodge tends to
view all elves as guilty by association. They keep all elves at arm’s
length, because they can’t tell who has an association with the
ones they really hate. I have heard rumor of a dragon member, but
that is one rumor I have come nowhere near to verifying, or even
getting a good lead on.
根据这个结构，你可以注意到梅林结社里的六位各是一个莫甘娜结社的领导者，而这六个莫甘娜结社里的剩余六位又是一个莫德雷德结社的领导者，以此类推。计算可得一共有1555个结社和9331名成员。组织里还有未启蒙的相关人员，他们不属于结社，要门在等待空位，要么证明自己的价值，要么作为组织的“凡俗”联络员。启蒙仪式通常包括改变成员的身份，他们的身份之后还会多次变更。原因是大部分成员都隐藏自己的觉醒者身份，但在学习更深的神秘前他们没有隐藏灵光的能力。假装成凡俗能更好地隐瞒身处一个秘密魔法社团，也让自己在凡俗世界的眼中不那么有威胁性。
黑结社的成员来自各种泛种族，出了精灵。黑结社对精灵的仇恨由来已久。仇恨只针对那些活过漫长岁月的精灵，但结社会视所有精灵为罪人的同族。他们远离所有精灵，因为他们无法判断谁和他们真正痛恨的精灵有关系。我听说过有成员是龙的传言，但完全无法证实，连一点线索也没有。
