The Order of Moloch (also referred to as the Molochim) is an organization of the Baali descended from one of the three progenitors, Moloch. Their goal is to keep the "Sleepers" , enormous infernal creatures of the Outer Dark from before Creation, bound. To this end, they often violently clashed with other infernalists, including other Baali.
Overview
The Order of Moloch was brought forth by Moloch's teachings. Unlike their Nergali cousins, who sought to use infernal means for their own ends, the Molochim sought to use infernalism and depravity only to keep darker forces at bay. After a disastrous civil war against the Azaneali under the command of the would-be Shaitan Azaneal, the surviving Molochim were shattered and fled north. They met with the Dracul, who offered them shelter in exchange for their knowledge to keep Kupala bound. Centuries of strife and secret battle against Infernalists followed. The Order of Moloch found its resources becoming unsustainably stretched with every member who fell in battle. They accumulated the most complete library of knowledge and artifacts in the world regarding the Children of the Outer Dark and infernalism in general, but their ranks of members deplenished too fast. The Order of Moloch believes that most demonic activity on Earth can be traced to the Pentad, a group of five powerful demons (likely the Archdukes). They also revitalized the Path of the Hive by including a heretic movement called the Abelene Heresy into it, which claimed that Abel was the original vampiric progenitor, not Caine, and began to practice Dur-An-Ki.
During the early 21st century, a kamut of the Tal'Mahe'Ra captured Sahar-Hanibaal, the head of the Order, who demanded to be brought before the Seraphim of their sect. He readily accepted to be staked and additionally bound through thaumaturgical means. After numerous interrogations, Sahar-Hannibal was brought before the masters of the sect. He revealed to them that the lost city of Ashur, containing the Maw of the Sleepers, was active again, building up dark power similar in nature to those that had gathered around Knossos and Chorazin. He begged the Tal'Mahe'Ra to investigate and promised to cast his own Order behind them. The following debate was vicious, involving numerous qadi and rawis. It ended when Izhim ur-Baal chose to support the inclusion of the Order of Moloch, granting him the enmity of Seraph Phaedyme.
The protocols developed to insure that the Order of Moloch is not playing some deep game of treachery are harsh: Sahar-Hannibal accepted a full blood bond to the Del’Roh, who functions as his personal patron within the ranks of the Tal’Mahe’Ra, and further thaumaturgical safeguards that bind far more than his will to Seraph Izhim ur-Baal. Every member of the Order was required to accept the blood bond to a patron within the Tal’Mahe’Ra who wasn’t of the anti-infernalist column. The relative shortage of volunteers for such a duty has led to a concentration of the Order’s members around a small pool of domitors primarily from the Old Clan Tzimisce or the True Brujah, bloodlines with whom the Molochim have a shared history of non-hostile relations. The center of their Order remains Tyre, with their residence in Enoch being a structure they believe to have been the original Tower of Babel.
Trivia
- The symbol of the Order is a crescent moon with a curved dagger filling in the open edge of the moon, sunburst radiating away from the dagger.
References
- VTM: The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra, p. 96-97, 98-99, 100-101, 104-105, 213
