What’s that lurking in the shadows? A villainous cult? A clandestine intelligence agency? No, it's a secret society, and no, you can’t join.

These surreptitious organizations are a narrative goldmine for Dungeon Masters, but they’re a lot more complex than meets the eye. Would you like to know more? I thought so. Let’s talk about secret societies in Dungeons & Dragons and how to make one of your own.

• The Secret Sauce Behind Secret Societies
• The Who's Who of Secret Societies in D&D
• Creating Your Own Secret Society
• Joining a Secret Societies

The Secret Sauce Behind Secret Societies

What separates a secret society from a cult, a corporation, or an intelligence agency? Secret societies sometimes dovetail into these categories but there are three factors that separate them:

1. They are invite-only. No walk-ins allowed. If there was a public application process, it wouldn’t be that good of a secret society. They will seek you out, not the other way around.
2. The members receive invaluable benefits for their attendance, such as knowledge, magical abilities, or a higher socio-political status. 
3. Secret societies seek specific traits (or assets) in prospective members, such as connections, wealth, ambition, or power. These further the mission of the organization. The League of Malevolence, for example, may seek out notoriously unscrupulous villains, while the Cobalt Soul inducts their most inquisitive and dogged monks into their covert order of expositors. 

The Who's Who of Secret Societies in D&D

While the idea of a well-known secret society is a bit of an oxymoron, there are a few secret societies of note from across the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse that you should know about.

League of Malevolence

You gotta respect an organization that just plainly states what it is, ya know? 

The League of Malevolence is an archetypal consortium of dastardly evil-doers, hellbent on the accumulation of power. With its big Legion of Doom vibes, this secret society is made up of many villains with a broad array of skills, goals, and gimmicks; the power hungry warlock, the ghoulish assassin, or the murderous necromancer, no matter what type of evil you’re looking for, the League has it covered. 

It’s founder, and leader, the vicious sorcerer Kelek, encourages his compatriots to pursue their own evil sidequests, but his deepest desire is to vanquish the legendary wizard Ringlerun and steal his staff of power (but in my headcanon they also used to date). 

Expositors of the Cobalt Soul

Remember to support your local libraries (or else!).

On the surface, the Library of the Cobalt Soul is an ancient repository for knowledge, with Archives located all over Exandria. But within this organization is a secretive sect of highly trained, covert operatives dedicated to uncovering truth and punishing the corrupt. These Expositors answer to no one but the High Curator, and are capable of extracting knowledge from an individual with a single touch. While many secret societies focus on the advancement of their members, the Expositors of the Cobalt Soul focus on the advancement of civilization by punishing the corrupt and championing objective truth. This commitment to truth often puts them at odds with certain governments that employ propaganda and misinformation.

The Expositors give the Library the leverage and latitude it needs to root out corruption and resist outside influence, mainly from the Dwendalian Empire and the often dubious members of the Cerberus Assembly. 

The Shadow Cabinet of the Aurum

War profiteering, but make it fashion! 

Outside of the nobility class, the Aurum holds more political and economic influence than any singular entity in Khorvaire. High-ranking members of the clergy and military, scholars, and merchants are divided into ranks, with Copper rings at the bottom and Platinum rings on top. They regularly host high-profile salons and soirees, but underneath this elite social club is a dark underbelly known only as the Shadow Cabinet. Founded by Antus ir’Soldorak, the Shadow Cabinet only inducts the highest-ranking members of the Aurum, and has its eyes fixed on global economic and political domination. 

The Last War ravaged Khorvaire for a century, and during that time, members of the Aurum grew quite wealthy off the continued conflict, until the Treaty of Thronehold brought the war to a sudden halt. Those within the Shadow Cabinet want to see this war reignited, in hopes that it will make them more money and shatter the outdated nobility class.

The Golden Vault

Everyone loves a thief with a heart of gold.

No definitive details regarding the Golden Vault's origin or purpose exist, only mere whispers that it's headquartered on a good-aligned Outer Plane and that it may be tied to the benevolent machinations of metallic dragons. But while this secretive organization from Keys from the Golden Vault remains shrouded in mystery, and its missions are often illegal and dangerous, the Vault’s motto is quite telling: "Do good, no matter the cost." From the shadows they tip the scales for the forces of good by sending adventurers on high stakes missions involving heists, subterfuge, and espionage. 

Agents of the Golden Vault exist throughout the D&D multiverse, keeping an eye out for potential new recruits. When a team has proven themselves to be both competent and righteously committed to helping people, an agent may invite them to join the Vault’s ranks. Agents of the Golden Vault may be aware of a few other operatives in the area, but this clandestine organization is highly compartmentalized in order to protect its agents and its missions. 

The Oriq

Kids, never get into a teleportation circle with a masked stranger, okay?

Within the walls of Strixhaven stirs a secretive faction of mages called the Oriq. Its members wear enchanted masks that hide their true identities, even from one another. They use their influence to gather forbidden magics and recruit talented, but impressionable, Strixhaven students into their ranks.

The Oriq was founded by a mage named Extus Narr, a powerful, but extremely petty, jerkwad. He had his heart set on getting a job as Oracle of Strixhaven, but the Founder Dragons went with someone else instead. Like any rational adult, he decided to form a secret society, hoping to use its collective power to conjure a Blood Avatar and destroy Strixhaven. Totally the type of person you want around kids, right? He needs to work on himself.

The Keepers of the Feather

They are, indeed, so Raven.

Within the dreary and hopeless Domains of Dread, the clandestine Keepers of the Feather are an order of wereravens who stand resolute against the tyranny of the Darklords. While they do not remember it, the Keepers first appeared in Barovia, using their natural guile and subterfuge to undermine Strahd von Zarovich, and from the shadows, aid those who would stand against him. Upon realizing that other worlds within the Domains of Dread also suffered under the Darklords, the Keepers of the Feather traversed the Mists, looking to help others fight the same fate.

These wereravens infiltrate humanoid societies, subtly incepting knowledge of the occult, in hopes that this knowledge will be used against the foul Darklords. Not all members of the Keepers are wereravens, but there is a subtle and pragmatic hierarchy, placing wereraven members above the rest. The Keepers may give non-wereravens access to their network of messenger ravens capable of traversing the Mists between domains. If this network were to be discovered, there could be dire consequences.

Creating Your Own Secret Society

When it comes to creating a secret society, absolutely nothing beats that homemade flavor. Here are five questions you can ask yourself to jumpstart the creation of your own hidden order:

1. What Is Your Society's Approximate Alignment?

While I am not the biggest fan of the alignment chart when it comes to player characters, it can be extremely useful when creating a larger organization. Picking one or two adjacent alignments for your secret society can help narrow the scope of what your society stands for, and what they’re willing to do to accomplish their goals.

2. What Are the Goals of Your Secret Society? 

Your secret society should always have one or two ongoing, often lofty, goals at their core. Everything they do, or don’t do, should always be in service of those goals. They should be broad ideas like global domination, or rooting out corruption. The more specific your group’s goals get, the more they veer toward cult or corporation territory. However, at the heart of your secret society should be a leader, or governing body, and they should certainly have a very specific short-term goal in mind, such as Kelek’s obsession with stealing Ringlerun’s staff of power (they should just get back together already, if you ask me). 

3. Who’s in Charge?

Figuring out the power dynamics within your secret society is paramount. You should know who founded your society (and why), and you should know who is in charge currently. The simplest solution for DMs is to have your founder acting as the current leader. Maybe they’re an ancient lich, or an elderly elf, or a floating head in a jar, whatever. Having the founder (or founders) in charge saves you a lot of time sussing out the history and politics of your secret society because power has never changed hands.

4. Is Your Society Operating Within an Existing Organization?

Many secret societies operate independently, using only the resources provided by their members. But many secret societies are born within an existing group. Sometimes interorganizational conflict leads to schisms, creating rogue sects. If your secret society was born within an organization, it should serve as a sort of ideological id of the original organization. 

The Library of the Cobalt Soul, for example, is an overall neutral entity with an altruistic slant, dedicated to truth and rooting out corruption. If the Library knows a member of the Cerberus Assembly is lying about acquiring a powerful artifact, there may be no way to legally expose them. But with the Expositors, they can go outside the law and do what must be done to bring that person to justice. On the flip side, the Aurum’s Shadow Cabinet is so outrageously capitalist that they’re willing to reignite the embers of the Last War in order to make profits and topple the monarchy. 

5. What Is the Role of Anonymity?

Do the members of your secret society know the identities of the other members? Or do they attend their meetings cloaked in illusions or wearing masks, going only by codenames? The way your society uses anonymity can say a lot about their overall reach, and thus, the scope of your story. Generally speaking, the more anonymity is involved, the more power and influence the organization will likely have. Remember, anonymity is a tool (or a weapon).

Joining Secret Societies

There may come a time in your campaign where a secret society seeks out your party as prospective members. If the party accepts the offer, DMs have an interesting opportunity to define what the initiation process may look like and what perks may come with membership.

Some secret societies may have elaborate rituals for new members (cloaks, candles, goblets full of blood from questionable sources, etc.). Whatever ritual or ceremony you come up with, remember, if a secret society has sought out your party, it means they want something specific from them. The invitation alone is an endorsement, so the initiation should not be a test, or any sort of trial where the outcome could result in death or rejection. Your party’s initiation should be focused on connecting them to the society’s other members, and its overall goals, through a shared experience, such as an exchange of secrets, offerings of blood, or gifts of magic items or abilities shared by other members.

If your party accepts the invitation, the secret society could serve as a flavorful (and fruitful) group patron. With a secret society backing your party, they could have access to safehouses, political connections, powerful artifacts, and, of course, a consistent source of income.

Conclusion

A well-crafted secret society can provide your players with a flavorful faction to ally or parlay with, or a deep well of antagonists for them to beat up on. All it takes is a teeny bit of prep. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my Kelek/Ringlerun slash fiction.

Kyle Shire (@kyleshire) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond and a producer for Critical Role. In the past, he worked as a producer, writer, and host for Machinima Studios and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. He's appeared on HyperRPG as the Mayor of Kollok and the Saving Throw Show. He currently lives in Los Angeles.