Could anyone give me a link to a site with info about the Order of the Dark Moon? Iv tried looking and cant find anything longer then about two lines :(

"The Dark Moon, an elite order of sorcerer-monks, employ the power of the Shadow Weave to further their Dark Goddess' agenda."*

It is a cult to Shar, who work toward her goals.

Faiths and Pantheons, page 58/ 59.

Don't think there's much information available online, but if you can get your hands on some handbooks somehow then Lords of Darkness and Champions of Ruin have quite a bit of info.

They're a cool group, but have massively high levels of secrecy.

Looked very interesting reading about it...

Dark Moon monks you won't find much on more than what has eben written on the forums here. Other orders such as the Monks of the Yellow Rose (St. Sollars the twice martyred) you'll find a wealth of info on that is actually referenced to FR books.

With any monk though, (and this is my viewpoint on monks) you must remember that the doctrine and dogma they adhere to is what they beleive will allow them to acheive perfection in this realm, and thus they actively persue the dogmaticly driven goals to that end. Also with Dark Moon monks the fact that you are a lawful evil class devoted to the propogation of chaos can be a little tricky too. Post discussion on some of these topics in IRC I would make the suggestion to make a "code" of the order you want to play and adhere to it (the lawfull part of the alignment). The evil will come by itself if you adhere to the Dieties dogma.

Hmm, I already knew all of this but thanks! I guess there isnt much info

the excuse I've heard in the past is that they have published little on the monk orders so that DMs can openly inturpret them. Some say it is because monks dont fit the realm. If you seek info pertaining to EfU, I'd suggest asking the DMs. Also, I think Dholt had an official Dark Moon at some point early in the server. Might wanna try that crazy cat.

I believe that there's in fact two or three pages written about them in the "Lords of Darkness" sourcebook. I'll see if I can dig it up later for you.

Alright then, I'm done. If there's any spelling errors, and all, keep quiet about them, because I'm not pouring over this thing again. >_<

So, without further delays:

The order of the Dark Moon Tharag waited. He told himself for the eight time that his legs did not ache, that his knees did not hurt. Focus, he said to himself. Let them see only what you wish them to see: a humble beggar kneeling in the entrance to a stinking Market Street alley, hoping for a copper coin or a crust of stale bread. He hunched deeper into his cloak of shapeless homespun, smeared with cow dung and straw to give it the look and odour that identified him as one of Westgate’s innumerable mendicants, and rattled his wooden alms bowl convincingly. Tharag prayed silently to the Lady of Loss for patience and was rewarded moments later when a silver coin clanked into his bowl. He caught the scent of costly Sembian perfume and heard the voice he’d been waiting to hear for all afternoon. “For your warmth and comfort,” she said. Tharag did not look up, because an ordinary beggar would not. He merely bobbed his head and muttered his thanks for the charity. She was gone a moment later in a swish of slink, the delicate fragrance of her perfume lingering slightly. Reaching into the bowl, Tharag scooped the coin deftly into his robes, fingering as he did the characters cut deeply into one side. The Thorsar Docks, read the letters. His actions, had they been observed by anyone in the street, would have seemed completely normal, and he took pains to give no indication that the coin had been anything other than a particularly generous gift from a good-hearted lady. But inwardly he smiled. He knew, now, where to find the man he had come here to kill. He did not know why the church of Shar wished this ship captain dead, and he did not care. The Dark Abbot had marked the man for death, and that is all what Tharag, monk of the Dark Moon, needed to know.

The monks of the Dark Moon are an elite sect of Sharran agents. They serve the Mistress of the Night by carrying out tasks that she prefers not to assign to her ordinary clergy. From their temples located in lands where evil rules the day as well as the night, monks of the Dark Moon strike at Shar’s enemies with lightning swiftness and terrifying lethality. Whether her whim is espionage, sabotage, or murder, the lady of Loss can be certain that her monastic order undertakes to fulfill it with extraordinary zeal. The monks of the Dark Moon have proven to be Shar’s ace in the hole on a number of occasions, most particularly when fighting against her hated sister, Selûne, and her rival, the deity Loviatar. In addition to its fortified temples, the sect also maintains shrines dedicated to its patron deity in Underdark caverns, and it has established safe houses and boltholes in the unsavory quarters of larger cities where Sharrans are not welcome. While the monks of the Dark Moon sometimes work jointly with agents and members of the church of Shar, they are not considered part of her normal clergy but rather an autonomous organisation. This status enables the monks to remain free to train in their particular skills, to focus on their devotion to their deity, and to ready themselves for the instant Shar calls them into action.

Brief History

Over the course of the last decade, Loviatar has been making inroads into part of Shar’s traditional territory (principally, the domain of Suffering). Due to her ordinary clergy’s apparent lack of success in halting the incursion, Shar decided that she required a different kind of fighting force for certain types of missions. She conceived a disciplined and loyal monastic order that would serve as her elite force when her earthly needs included subtlety, infiltration, or assassination. To create her monastic order, Shar turned to her most trusted and devious mortal servant, Alorgoth. Heeding his deity, the Bringer of Doom journeyed far beyond his normal wanderings in the eastern portion of the continent to the Lands of Intrigue. He went first to the city of Purskul, where he commissioned the construction of an imposing, grim edifice that was to be the order’s first monastery (much to the alarm of other religious factions in the city). While the stonemasons and carpenters laboured, Alorgoth visited the cities of Athkatla, Crimmor, and Keczulla to begin recruiting the order’s first members from among Sharran cells in those cities. He sought among these cults for folk who met three principal criteria. First, they must be young adults. Second, they must not yet have been ordained into Shar’s clergy. Finally, they must have demonstrated some manifestation of sorcerous power of potential. Within the year, he had invoked his particular brand of subterfuge and manipulation to gather several dozen ambitious young men and women who apparently met his requirements, and who were eager to gain the secrets of personal power that their new mentor had promised them. Making their way to Purskul, they entered the monastery and began their training. None of them have been seen since … at least, not in any guise recognizable to those who knew them. The Bringer of Doom made good on his promises to his young disciples, after a fashion. The young adults who followed him to Purskul learned many secrets, but they also paid a high price for their knowledge. Becoming of monk of the Dark Moon requires the utmost dedicated to purpose. Some of the initiates were unable to withstand the gruelling physical punishment and mental rigor demanded of them. Some did not actually possess the sorcerous abilities they had claimed, and a few simply could not reconcile the vile acts they were expected to perform as part of their training with their moral conscience, despite what they had believed was a strong faith in Shar. Alorgoth eliminated these failures as a matter of course. He could not afford to permit the washouts to return home to their friends and family with news of what was taking place inside the forbidding structure. Most of these were killed by their fellow disciplines in the first year of the monastery’s operation, either as human sacrifices during religious ceremonies dedicated to Shar, or as victims in live training exercises. A few Alorgoth destroyed himself, purely for the pleasure it gave him. Shortly after the weak and useless were weeded out, Alorgoth turned the operation of the monastery over to three senior priests of Shar, newly arrived from the Temple of Old Night. The deity had directed these clerics to make themselves available at the monastery to finish the indoctrination of the monks started by Alorgoth, for whom she now had other tasks. Several monks who had worshipped the Lady of Loss likewise joined the priests to continue the martial training of the initiates. The last members of the instructional team to arrive were a pair of sorcerers and an assassin, who would ensure that the monks developed their arcane talents and the killing skills they would require. The initial period of training concluded two years ago, with a “class project”; the infiltration and mass poisoning of the entire retinue of Purskul’s clerics of Chauntea, whose temple has stood empty ever since. By the time the period of instruction was completed, some five years after the monastery was built, Shar possessed a squad of well-trained martial and sorcerous experts, ready to attack, defend, live, and die at her command.

The Organization Headquarters: None. Members: 192. Hierarchy: Militaristic. Leader: Shar. Religion: Shar. Alignment: LE. Secrecy: Medium. Symbol: Shar’s symbol, a black disc with a deep purple border.

Like the church of Shar, the monks of the Dark Moon follow and obey a strict hierarchy. Failure to follow the orders of a superior is grounds for execution. Shar does not reveal all sha knows to her monks any more than she does to her clerics, but this fact does not trouble the members of the Dark Moon order. They have faith that the Dark Deity will reveal exactly what they need to know to serve her well. Most of the monks of the Dark Moon are human, but their numbers also include a few half-orcs, drow, tieflings and a shade or two.

Hierarchy

The rank-and-file monks refer to one another as “Dark Brother” or “Dark Sister.” Those who aspire to become monks of the Dark Moon must endure a year-long novitiate period during which they endure rigorous mental and physical training, as well as preliminary religious indoctrination under the watchful tutelage of the Dark Fathers and Dark Mothers of the monastry. Iff the novitiates perform well during this time, they earn the chance to become full-fledged members of the order. At that point, they are given their first mission, generally tasks of infiltration, espionage, or sabotage. If the initiates fulfill their individual tasks with distinction, they are made full members of the order. At that point, the intensity of all aspects of training only increases, and the mission they undertake become more demanding and dangerous. Senior monks are known as “Dark Father” or “Dark Mother.” They are generally the most skilled monk/sorcerers in each monastery, responsible for training the initiates and the rank-and-file monks. The most senior monk in a given monastery is “Dark Father Abbot” or “Dark mother Abbess.” They are the leaders of the monasteries, and the hearts and souls of the order. They receive their orders directly from Shar and do not undertake missions personally unless she commands it. They convene once a year at the Temple of Old Night to meet with the ranking clerics of the deity. Motivation and Goals

The monks of the Dark Moon exist to serve Shar. More fanatical than the members of her priesthood, they strive to emulate the important tenets of Shar’s dogma in all things. Hopeless and remorseless, they find spiritual fulfilment in acting as a weapon in the hand of the Mistress of the Night. Their only interest lies in striving for perfection according to their religious beliefs. In practical terms, the monks of the Dark Moon share the same goal as the church of Shar. Their methods, however, are less obvious and more selective. Whereas the priesthood might be engaged in a long-term plan to topple a city government, the monks might be charged with slipping into that city’s chief government building and kidnapping or killing a designated target. A Sharran cell could sponsor a thieves’ guild to undermine a city’s social order and turn worshippers away from good aligned deities towards Shar, even as a squad of Dark Moon monks waylay a cleric of Selûne in that same city, murder him, and leave his body for the morning crows.

Recruiting

The monasteries are highly selective, preferring quality to quantity. Aspirants to the order must meet the criteria established by the Bringer of Doom for the original initiates. The Monks of the Dark moon fear infiltration even more than does the church of Selûne, but the sheer difficulty of the Dark Moon training regimen, coupled with the standard practices of Sharran worship, almost always winnows out any unqualified applicants.

Allies

Shar’s allies are the monks’ allies. The decrees of the deity motivate and drive the monks of the Dark Moon. They do not seek alliances or make enemies except as directed by the Lady of Loss, and then only so that her evil may flourish. Even so, the Dark Abbots and Abbesses do not countenance the purposeful alienation of the common folk who dwell near their monasteries. The work of the Dark Moon is best accomplished under the cloak of secrecy, and blatant maltreatment of commoners merely attracts self-righteous do-gooders who most inevitably be eliminated lest they endanger the security of the order. Some Dark Moon strongholds strive to convince nearby communities that their members are merely a group of peaceful ascetics. Cultivating friendly relations with the native people often provides a level of camouflage that cannot be achieved even through magical means.

Enemies

Shar’s enemies are the monks’ enemies. The Dark Brothers and Sisters strike when and where they are commanded, and do not dwell on ethics or morals exterior to Shar’s Dogma. The Dark Brothers and Sisters harbour special hatred for those who serve Shar’s sister. The Monks’ discipline permits them to resist the temptation to indulge in personal vendettas or any other types of activity nor prescribed by their missions.

Thanks man thats everything I needed to know.

A magical ninja clad in black?

Sounds like the server needs a Van Daam.

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[EDIT] Or better yet!

That part about allies is interesting.

The sharite is the pretend friend who will kill you if the need arises. However quite happy to reap the benefits of that friendship until that time. That right sanctuary citizens live in fear, because that person beside you could be one, and you'd never know.

And also further it shows how impossible to survive it would be for an "open" selune cleric down here in shar's "void".

It would make for an interesting sub-plot for the sharites in santuary to have to go about drubbing out a group of selunites (played by players) that arrive somehow. (probably as a training mission :) ) As long as the people realised they'd be in an almost no win situation down here (ie. characters destined to die)

I'm also interested to know if anyone has considered playing a character that "becomes" corrupt as they play it from in-game influences before, I did see it once on a server but I wasnt around much so I didnt see the stages but was told it was done quite well. It doesnt have to be the story of the "fallen paladin", thats been done to death. Just the story of the normal everyday citizen that becomes a monster in small increments.