Veil Society

The Veil Society is an ancient secret group of scholars, mystics, and inventors who design and create fantastic technologies decades ahead of contemporary Antarctica. Primarily centered around the concepts and teachings of High Penguin mysticism, the Veil Society invents devices and technology for the sake of inventing; these creations are rarely intended to be used otherwise. A notable characteristic of these inventions are their aesthetic adherence to sacred geometry, with surfaces covered in strange symbols and ornate geometrical patterns of gold or bronze.

While once numbering in the thousands, today Veil Society membership is estimated to be below 100. Over the years, members have been forced into hiding, abandoned the society out of fear, or outright killed by those seeking to access the group's secrets. The SF Paranormal Division is known to actively hunt down suspected Veil Society members in order to capture them and force their secrets out, secrets that are more often than not taken to the grave.

Description
As masters of arcane and sophisticated technology, the Veil Society have accomplished a wide range of technological achievements. These can range from relatively mundane steam-powered mechanisms to complex portal technology. The specific builders of this technology are known as technomancers.

History
The Veil Society has evidently existed for millennia. No technological milestone can be used as reference due to the advanced nature of Veil Society technology. Estimates for the organization's establishment range between 1400 to 1200 BC, but no firm date range can be established. The Veil Society's relationship with the Multiverse leaves potential for even older dates of establishment.

Throughout history, the Veil Society has remained secretive and elusive, rarely interacting with outsiders and even more rarely giving technology. Doing so was not impossible as both Kuruk and Finwë, early kings of the High Penguin Confederacy, were both known to be in possession of Veil Society artifacts.

Sometime during the Wulfen War, Neumenian forces gained access to a small Veil Society vault using information gained during the Khanzem regime. Located in what is today Freezeland, this vault contained technologies regarding anti-gravity and spacecraft research, which was reverse-engineered and ultimately what allowed the Wulfen to construct their lunar base in 1942. It is rumored some of this technology was prototyped aboard the Neptune and was the cause of its disappearance, evidenced by the worried internal Wulfen communications surrounding the ship. The Khanzem documents about this vault were seized during the final Ed Islandian assault on Glatisant, and when the site was investigated it was entirely empty, with the Wulfen taking everything not nailed down. An inscription within the vault written in High Penguinian detailed another vault in the same region, which was soon investigated but was not able to be opened until 1946.

Project Nachtsonne was the name given to the retrieval of artifacts from this vault. Located in the mountains near the present-day city of Bellaghy, a special operations team was sent to investigate and extract as much of the Veil Society technology as possible. This team consisted of two U-boats, the modified Type-XXI U-boat U-2106, with all armament but two of her torpedo tubes removed and canisters typically used to store reload torpedoes were replaced with cargo holds, and the Type-XXV cruiser submarine Leviathan, which carried a single UH-223 helicopter to act as an armed scout. Fitted with one of U-2106 ' s 20mm cannons, the helicopter (with callsign "Pancake") flew reconnaissance missions ahead of the submarine, and would be flown away in the event of a crash dive. After the contents of the vault were investigated and verified, its contents were slowly and very carefully removed to be placed within U-2106. In addition to the technology, gadgets, and related parchment retrieved from the vault, over ⏇10 billion in gold bullion was evacuated from the vault and smuggled back to Ed Island aboard the submarines. After an untold number of photographs were taken of almost every surface in the vault, the entrance to the vault was welded closed and the cave entrance blasted down to prevent any information on the vault from being discovered by the Water Kingdom government.

The success of Project Nachtsonne led to incredible advancements in Ed Islandian technology. By 1960, an Ed Islandian was put into space atop a multi-stage rocket, the military began fielding autonomous aerial drones and laser weaponry, Über Concrete was perfected into a nearly flawless building material, and supersonic passenger aircraft began development. The source of these advancements remained hidden, however, and only high-ranking government officials are aware that much of their developments are based upon High Penguin technology.

There is evidence that the Veil Society managed to gain access to the Borderworld many decades ago, as small structures matching their architectural style have been discovered. Similarly, while no ruins there have been discovered as of 2019, Notron is singled out on several Veil Society orreries leading historians to believe there was some knowledge of life on the planet, if not direct travel. After the liberation of Notron and subsequent annexation as a Shopper colony, Ed Islandian scientists granted access to the planet have begun to scour its landscape for any evidence of ancient ruins.

Technologies Developed

 * Anti-gravity engines
 * Armored exoskeletons
 * Cloaking technology
 * Energy weaponry
 * Nuclear energy
 * Robotics
 * Spacecraft
 * Teleportation

Known Vaults

 * Freezeland
 * United States of Antarctica
 * Bottom of the Southern Ocean
 * Under the Jedi Redoubt, Portal Island

Trivia

 * Although the groups share some similarities, the Veil Society's relations to the Nightwardens is unknown.