Order of the Hemlock

Order of the Hemlock
Type	Secret occult order
Founded	c. 1694, Verdant, Connecticut
Leader	Marguerite Delacroix (Gen 0) (founder); Marguerite Delacroix (Gen 7) (last active member)
Headquarters	Verdant Scholars Memorial Grove, Verdant
Affiliation	Delacroix Family; Ashburne line
Members	Dissolved 1971
First appearance	Eleanor Ashburne diaries (referenced throughout SSU)

About

The Order of the Hemlock was a secret occult organization founded in Verdant, Connecticut around 1694 by Marguerite Delacroix and others. Its primary purpose was the stewardship and decennial renewal of The Hemlock Veil, the spell originally cast by Eleanor Ashburne in 1667. The Order operated continuously for nearly three centuries before dissolving in 1971 following the death of its last active Delacroix seat-holder. Its dissolution directly caused two missed Veil renewals and the Satanic Panic's unusually harsh impact on Verdant.

The Order is the predecessor organization to House Subconium, which reformed during the Satanic Panic and inherited the Order's archival records and responsibilities. The two organizations are not the same. House Subconium is a successor, not a continuation.

Name and identity

The Order took its name from the Eastern Hemlock trees that densely populate the Verdant region. Those trees are not incidental to the Order's identity. They are the literal substrate of the Hemlock Veil — the trees Eleanor Ashburne's original spell was bound to in 1667. The Order was, in this sense, a formalization of what those trees represented: a living magical infrastructure rooted in the land of Verdant.

Founding

The Order was founded around 1694 by Marguerite Delacroix following the devastation of the 1693 illness that killed a third of Verdant's population, including William Ashburne. Marguerite returned to Verdant in April 1694 with relics and tomes and spoke of the Order of Hemlock, claiming the artifacts would protect the settlement. Eleanor Ashburne was exhausted with grief and suspicious of Marguerite's newly hardened purpose, but the community was drawn to what Marguerite was building.

The Order took on formal responsibility for the Hemlock Veil's decennial renewal, which Eleanor had been managing informally with the community's women since 1667.

Purpose and structure

The Order's primary function was the stewardship of The Hemlock Veil: performing the renewal ritual every ten years at the Verdant Scholars Memorial Grove, maintaining the conditions necessary for the Veil to continue operating, and protecting the knowledge of the Veil's existence and mechanics from those who would exploit or destroy it.

The Delacroix line held a permanent seat within the Order, reflecting the family's historical role as guardians of dangerous artifacts and tactical operatives for the Veil's protection. The Ashburne line represented the Veil's spiritual stewardship. These two roles, preservation and operation, were the Order's twin responsibilities.

The Order's full membership, internal hierarchy, and organizational structure have not been established in canon beyond these family line roles.

Ideology

The Order of the Hemlock believed magic was a living force, tied to bloodlines, land, and natural ley lines — something to be protected and respected. This placed the Order in direct philosophical opposition to the Order of Aetherion, which believed magic was a resource to be extracted, industrialized, and bound into portable artifacts.

The conflict between the two orders was the hidden spine of Verdant's history from the early twentieth century through 1929. The Order of the Hemlock's response to Aetherion's threat was infiltration: Marguerite (Gen 7) spent years as Elias Roarke's lover before using The Anklet of Inevitable Accord to compel his death in 1929.

Key events

Veil renewal stewardship (1694-1967)

For nearly three centuries the Order performed the Hemlock Veil's decennial renewal at the Verdant Scholars Memorial Grove. The renewal schedule ran every ten years from the original 1667 casting. The Order's consistent stewardship kept Verdant protected and functioning throughout this period.

The Aetherion conflict (c. 1905-1929)

The Order's most significant operational challenge came from the Order of Aetherion, a Boston-based rival dedicated to industrializing magic into artifacts. Elias Roarke, Aetherion's leader, moved to Verdant in 1925 with a plan to turn the Hemlock Veil into a town-wide compulsion field. The Order's response was to send Marguerite (Gen 7) as an infiltrator. She spent years as Roarke's lover, and in 1929 used the Anklet to compel him to kill his family and himself. Aetherion collapsed with its leader.

Dissolution (1971)

Marguerite (Gen 7) died in 1969. She was the last Delacroix member with direct knowledge of the Order's history, responsibilities, and the Veil's renewal mechanics. She had deliberately raised her daughter Eloise outside the tradition as an act of mercy, which meant the Order lost its Delacroix seat-holder without a prepared successor.

The Order dissolved in 1971, two years after Marguerite's death. The reasons for the dissolution beyond the loss of the Delacroix seat have not been established in canon. Some residual structure persisted among former members but was insufficient to perform the renewal due in 1971. It was also insufficient for the 1981 renewal.

Legacy and succession

The two missed renewals in 1971 and 1981 left Verdant without its invisible protection for nearly two decades. The Satanic Panic hit Verdant with unusual force as a direct consequence. The town became legible as a target in a way it had not been for centuries.

House Subconium reformed during the Satanic Panic, driven by the urgency of the town's visible vulnerability. The reformed organization inherited the Order's archival records, its responsibilities for the Hemlock Veil, and the institutional memory held by the Delacroix and Ashburne family lines. It performed the 1991 renewal before the town rebranded, ending the lapse.

House Subconium is the Order's successor. It is not the Order continued under a different name. The relationship is one of inheritance, not direct continuity.

Canon notes

The full membership of the Order beyond the Delacroix family seat has not been established
The reasons for the 1971 dissolution beyond the loss of the Delacroix seat have not been established
The Order's internal hierarchy and governance structure have not been detailed
Whether Eloise Delacroix was ever formally inducted into the Order before it dissolved has not been established
The exact renewal ritual performed at the Verdant Scholars Memorial Grove has not been described in canon