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Existence is war. Among the first of the Diamond Orders to set foot in this part of the world were the Adamantine Arrows. Their martial expertise and unflinching dedication to their cause spelled the untimely end of a great many of the Unnamed Nation before the Martyr's Tree sprouted from the earth. But as opposition defines power, this early sin of Hubris is one they have taken to heart; the local caucus no longer blindly follows the will of the Silver Ladder's thearchs. Enshrined in the silver law of the Precept of War as Recognized by the Martyr's Tree, the council may ask the Arrows to raise their banners for war, but the order to raise them may be issued by the Adamant Sage alone.
They wield this authority with care, these days, holding fast to the notion that the best war is the one you never fight. Enlightenment is Honor are their watchwords now, having learned the lesson they believe the Martyr's Tree was meant to teach them.
Knowledge must be preserved. Sadly, the Mysterium were late arrivals to the area, establishing the first Atheneum in Philadelphia in the late period of colonization near the end of the Unnamed War, what the Unnamed Nation refer to as Gaveston's Great Hubris. Had they arrived earlier, perhaps the world would not have lost so much knowledge and wisdom with the eradication of the Lenape Consilium. As it stands, the Order is left to forever pick truth from fiction, myth from reality, even as they dissect the fruits of the Martyr's tree in their ongoing search for understanding. Knowledge is power, and accordingly their focus for the centuries between then and now has been in unlocking the secret teachings of the Martyr's Tree, and of all the Diamond orders they share the greatest kinship with the Unnamed Nation as a result. Only the Free Council can claim a better relationship born of solidarity rather than a mutual respect for wisdom and fascination with the world's mysteries.
But knowledge has a price. It remains to be seen what the cost of this knowledge will be.
Humanity is magical; human works have arcane secrets. Of all the orders in the Pentacle, the Free Council alone has hands clean of the Martyr's blood. It's debatable whether or not they would have upheld the same colonial supremacy as the Diamond Orders, but certainly their ethos suggests they would have viewed the destruction of a whole human culture, nevermind a unique culture of magical praxis, as the massive sin of Hubris history has proven it to be.
Their arrival in the Delaware Valley was through a door held open by the Unnamed Nation. It was the Unnamed, already given the right of Recognition within the Martyr's Tree consilium who first gave shelter to America's first Free Councilor. He joined the family of the Children of the Tree as an equal, shared in their culture and their teachings, and imparted his own. It's been a partnership of over 200 years, once in which both sides of the exchange continue to flourish.
The local Free Council is on the bleeding edge of every progressive movement in the Delaware Valley. They champion art, technology, education, and human development wherever they may. They rival the Silver Ladder in their acts of charity and their support of the human endeavor. And wherever possible, their Minutemen and their Citizen Agents unite with their Unnamed allies to destroy the followers of the Lie.
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All thrones are false, all souls are flawed. That truth rings in the ears of the Guardians of Philadelphia to this day. They arrived with Gaveston in the second wave of Diamond colonization of the new world. They were spymasters, masters of intrigues subtle and gross, and spun deceptions and webs of deceit in the furtherance of the Ladder's ambitions. They supported Gaveston right up to the end because they forgot that supernal precept.
Since that day, the local Guardian caucus have become a far more esoteric order, embracing the belief that the Hieromagus will fulfill the Diamond Wheel. Their focus turned to matters of supernal study and safeguarding the world from the temptations of Hubris and the threat of the Abyss. They work more closely with the Adamantine Arrows these days, working on joint operations to eliminate threats to the Fallen World and the Supernal alike. They have even forged an on-again off-again partnership with the Mysterium, supporting their studies when they are deemed not to be a threat to the consilium.
Their role as the secret police of the Awakened is still upheld, though they have largely entrusted enforcement to the Sentinels through the liberal rulings of the local Lex Magica. When you make individuals solely responsible for their excesses with the weight of law, few will complain when the Interfector's mask graces another occulted head.
The Awakened are One Nation. Gaveston's Great Hubris was in forgetting this elemental precept. He was much fonder of Imperium is the right of Humanity. The Silver Ladder came to the Delaware Valley with Imperium in mind. Why not? After all, since the 2nd Century BCE the Imperium of Humanity as reckoned by the Awakened of Europe had been painted with the broad brush of empire and war. Greece, Macedonia, Rome, Persia, all flowering blooms of human potential. Why would it be less for England? For France? For the Netherlands? For Spain?
To the eternal shame of the Silver Ladder caucus of Philadelphia, Gaveston learned a humbling lesson when the Martyr's Tree took root. And since that day, the Silver Ladder have redefined what it is to exist in a supernal meritocracy. It is not enough to demonstrate mastery, to wield power. You must wield Wisdom, too. If you would lead, you must compel others to follow. Not out of blind obedience or tradition, but out of the compelling nature of the cause. You must be at the vanguard when you call for war. You must be on the walls when you call for defense. When you call for study, your nose must be in the books. When you call for mercy, you do it with dropped spells and empty palms.
Actions guide words these days. The Silver Ladder is the path to victory, true. But what use is a path to victory if no one will follow you?
Nurture the Soul in all things, the elders of the Unnamed Nation teach their apprentices. For millennia before the arrival of the Diamond Orders, the Supernal held sway in the Delware Valley. A great consilium whose name is remembered only as Tukihëla once spanned across the rivers of the eastern seaboard. As far north as Ontario, as far south as Maryland. It upheld the Supernal with traditions that have also been lost to the fog of history, as the oral tradition of its practitioners ended with their lives. Only the inheritors of their legacies, the Children of the Tree, remain to piece together the truth from the fruits of the Martyr's Tree.
In the centuries since, their studies have brought them into a tenuous harmony with the Diamond Orders, and into fellowship with the Free Council. Together they have demonstrated that humanity is the family of all, seeking first to comfort the afflicted before seeking to afflict the comfortable. They prize Harmony above all things, and will often sit in debate on topics of import for periods of time thought cumbersome and inefficient by their Diamond Order brethren. But when a decision is made by that community, it acts as one to carry it out. Even the detractors and dissenters become zealots for the cause, upholding their precept that the wisdom of the many outweigh the will of the one.
