The Noble Expertise of Creating the Remaining Organism is a gentlemen's club. People who don't belong call it the Noble Expertise, or perhaps the Expertise, but the people in the club call themselves necromancers, and the club itself N.E.C.R.O..
NECRO was founded in the great city of Grathen 136 years ago. Its founder was a necromancer named Thrulen Grattleberry. Thrulen had been previously defeated by an army, and was forced to lie low. And so he came to the slums of the city. There, his work was unquestioned. Indeed, people even gave him bodies to dispose of, which never happened out in the country. The people gave him these bodies to dispose of because he had taken up the job in the thieves guild of "evidence disposer," which meant that Thrulen took the corpses and made them disappear. Naturally, Thrulen used the bodies as workers, but the thieve's guild never needed to know that.
One day, Thrulen received a very strange visitor. The visitor himself wasn't strange, it was more the fact that this visitor was in an area of town that people of that ilk never usually trod. The visitor was a noble named Hubert Herothen. Hubert hated the idea of death, and was interested in this necromancy thing as a path to immortality. And so Hubert had begun to ask around on the sly about hints of necromancy and necromancers in Grathen. His inquiries had led him to Thrulen. Though the thieve's guild never asked where the bodies went after they gave them to Thrulen, Hubert did, and was curious to find out that Thrulen had no means of disposing of the bodies. And so, Hubert went to Thrulen to inquire about learning Necromancy. Thrulen agreed to take Hubert on as an apprentice on one condition: Hubert gave Thrulen a sizeable amount of money every month. Hubert agreed.
Thrulen then bought a decent apartment in the better side of town, as well as most of the materials he would need to teach his new apprentice. His contacts among the thieves guild proved helpful in this. And when it was time for Thrulen to teach Hubert about the art of Necromancy, he discovered that Hubert had invited several of his friends to learn with him. And from that day, the Noble Expertise of creating the Remaining Organism was founded.
NECRO's goal has not changed since Hubert walked into Thrulen's warehouse. It has always been to become immortal. At least, that is the Orcen's goal. Thrulen has always been after world domination. He is simply using NECRO to further that particular goal. And one of the things that NECRO has helped with is a two new types of undead (which I will discuss in a moment), that Thrulen believes will greatly help his pursuit of world domination.
Structure of NECRO:
The organization of NECRO takes the form of the Head Orcen, who is in charge of the whole set up. Thrulen Grattleberry has taken this position. Under the Head Orcen is the six Orcens. And under them are the Acolytes. Each Orcen teaches 1-6 acolytes at a time. Under the Acolytes are, naturally, the undead. NECRO also has some ordinary staff, which fit into the chain of command at the same level as the Orcens. The most notable positions among these are gatekeeper (see Headquarters), maid (using the undead just smears blood and guts and bone dust over everything. Besides, the undead just can't tell the difference between 'clean,' and 'dirty.'), and Evidence Disposer (the position that Thrulen held before being Head Orcen of NECRO, it is where NECRO gets its bodies).
NECRO had long since moved out of Thrulen's apartment. It has managed to move into an old temple. The temple complex has an outer wall, a fairly sizeable (for city standards) coutryard, and the main complex itself. The complex has the appearance of a small step pyramid. Each step is five feet high, and five feet wide, and there are ten steps. At the very top is the main entrance to the complex. There is a secret entrance hidden in the gatekeeper's house, located by the main gate, and another connecting to the warehouse that the Evidence Disposer does its work.
The main complex is broken into three main parts: the top floor, the ground floor, and the basement. The top floor is the upper 25 feet of the temple. The first five feet is an antechamber, with a staircase leading into the main area. This is where the legitimate face of NECRO is. It has all the fake trappings that such an organization would need. It is also where the servant's rooms, kitchen, pantries, and other such domestic areas are.
The ground floor is where the main Necromancy is. This area has the Grand Hall, where the member meet. This area has the rooms of the members, where they study for tests or research immortality. And this area has the Ritual Rooms, where its members conduct foul magics for nefarious purposes. It also has the secret passage to the gatekeeper's house here.
The basement is where things get interesting. The old temple had a warren of old tunnels underneath it, which the necromancers appreciated. It is in the basement that NECRO stores its corpes. It also has the the secret passage to the warehouse here. There is also a jail for the virgins, etc., that NECRO needs for rituals. But the main facet of the basement is the Kennels. This is where the undead are kept when they are not being used. They have to be kept somewhere when the tax collectors come around.
NECRO has invented, in its pursuit of immortality, two new types of undead. The first are the Dogs. NECRO has replaced the brain of a normal dog with foul magics. It has made a dog that looks like a normal dog, but understands commands (as in sentences, beyond 'fetch,' 'heel,' etc.) and can signal certain things by pressing its paw on a certain picture. For example, a dog can be commanded to alert the compound if an intruder is sighted. And it alerts the compound by barking and pressing its paw against the symbol for intruder.
The second type of undead is The Semblance. The name is a link to a sub on the monster.
Every organization has enemies. Here are some that NECRO has attracted over the years.
1. Grathen's biggest church: They don't know what NECRO does, but they are pretty sure they won't like it if they knew. They would pay handsomely for some people (aka, PCs) to find out what goes on behind NECRO's walls.
2. Ariel Lorette: Her name is a link to a sub I have written on Ariel.
3. The Beggar's Guild: Nobody believes them when they claim that NECRO kidnaps virgins for nefarious purposes, and has vile abominations as guards. But one of their number was begging in that area, and saw the virgin get dragged into the temple, and saw the abominations. Naturally, he ran and told all his friends, and know the beggars have taken it as their duty to expose NECRO for what they are: foul demons from the seventh layer of hell masquerading in a false image of humans.