From: gt1020a%prism@gatech.edu

    The Hermetic Brotherhood of the Golden Pentalpha, commonly known
as the Pentalphan Society, the Pentalphans, or the HeeBee-GeePee's
(but rarely to thier face...) is a small magical society and school,
based in the city of Tabolport. It was founded about a century ago by
a wizard named Kane who appeared in Tabolport at that time.  He
founded the brotherhood for the same reasons a wizard usually founds
such a group-- to further the study of magic as he felt it should be
studied.  That is, an amoral science, not subject to political,
religious, or ethical standards. The pursuit of knowledge, above all.

  In particular, Kane wanted to find out about the incredible powers
which are present, but almost always undeveloped, in many peoples'
minds. Thus, the brotherhood has gained a reputation for being skilled
practitioners of mental talents such as telepathy, clairsentience, and
psychokinesis. The more powerful Pentalphan wizards can use these powers
only by sheer mental will, although most of the time, some mantra or item
is needed to help the mage focus his concentration.

  With those specialties, it would seem likely that the brotherhood
could become a powerful political "thought police" agency. In order to
keep political and other goals subservient to the quest for knowledge,
Kane is careful to maintain a reputation of neutrality in matters
which could potentially threaten the brotherhoods' priorities.
Individual members are free to hire themselves out for outside jobs
(usually the payment for these jobs is some knowledge or the chance
for some), in fact the HBGP as a whole sometimes makes deals and
treatis with other guilds or organizations, but if the job may
conflict with the brotherhoods goals, a member's loyalty to the
brotherhood must always remain foremost.  There is no official tithe,
but brothers usually give most of their money to the brotherhood out
of free will. A job doesn't have to be approved with the upper
degrees, but whether or not it is, brothers are responsible, first and
foremost, to the brotherhood and its goals and ideals.

    The Pentalphan society practices neutrality in most worldly matters,
fearing that mundane convictions such as politics and religion, if
allowed to take root, would soon grow and overshadow the Society's
primary reason for being -- the acquisition of knowledge. Thus, the
society holds no official "patron deity", rather it honors any deities
who represent magic or the gaining of knowledge of some sort. Individual
members are free to worship any deity, if they choose, or maintain this
impartiality. In politics, the society has gained a reputation for 
neutrality. Although it does choose sides occasionally if the matter is
of great importance and threatens the societies goals, these cases 
are rare.

    The Pentalphan Society is very serious about the brotherhood of
its members. Relations between the Society and outsiders are not
terribly close as a rule, outsiders fear the brotherhood a bit, and
the brotherhood tends to look down on others (especially non-talented
(magically) people and fools. (those who don't take knowledge as
seriously)) Trust between brothers (males and females of any race are
looked on equally -- anyone of intelligence is to be respected.)
though is absolute. Also, sometimes a brother will give his word for
an outsider, in which case a simple ceremony is performed, and then
that outsider is (temporarily, at least) treated as a brother. Of
course, if that outsider does anything against the Society, the
brother who vouched for them is held more than a little responsible.

  Loyalty, trust, and brotherhood is always stressed among members.
This is symbolized by the fact that if a member is killed
unnecessarily (in the brotherhood's judgement) it is considered the
supreme duty of every other member to avenge the killing. A proper
duel arcane is about the only way to kill a member without invoking
this wrath.  Otherwise, whenever a brother is killed, the name of the
responsible party (if it is known, otherwise, "the killer of Joe
Bacillus") is added to "The List". Any brother is obligated to kill
anyone on The List anytime they have the chance.  There are other ways
to get on The List, but they are rare, and usually involve some great
betrayal of the Society. The List is not long....

    Little is known publicly of the society's workings, it is
organized into five divisions. (These five divisions can be thought of
as correlating to the five "points" of a pentalpha -- put a person
inside a pentalpha and you have two "legs", two "arms", and the
"head".) One leg is the students.  This is also called the 1st degree.
To enter the 1st degree, a person must be accepted by the 4th degree.
The 2nd degree, or questers, are students who have reached sufficient
level in their studies and are assigned to a task -- usually finding
some bit of knowledge which the Society didn't know before. When the
task is completed, the quester graduates to the 3rd degree -- the
journeymen.  Five respected journeymen make up the 4th degree, the
council, whose main responsibility is to oversee the 1st two degrees.
5th degree consists of one man -- Kane. Kane is the long-lived mage
who founded the Pentalpha society some decades ago, and has great
power in its running.  Basically, his word outweighs all the combined
"votes" in the whole rest of the Society. He often chooses not to use
this power, though, and routinely delegates power. 

  The poblic can contact the HBGP through a rather unimpressive building
on the edge of the main business section in Tabolport, or through individual
members. The building is faairly small, a couple stories tall, marked
with a pentalpha carved into the wooden door, and not obviously very well
protected-- although it is known that the HBGP has treaties with the local
thieves guild type organizations. There is also a fairly well-established
rumor that the brotherhood owns a large estate in the richer districts of
Tabolport, and that this is -very- well protected. Members tend to dress
in a non-descript, and non-uniform way, the one thing their outfits have
in common is a small medallion, in the shape of a thin gold pentalpha,
three or so inches in "diameter."

  Although it is not really known exactly what the brotherhood's main
activities are, it can be assumed that they mostly have to do with research
and training (all members go through a period of training during which
they are taught methods of magic, as well as how to develop their own.)
In order to enter training (and thus the brotherhood) it is necessary
to get the approval of the higher-ups in the, HBGP; they keep the number
of members down to 40 or 50 by being quite restrictive. The restrictions
are based on ability and attitude, there is no concern for the prospective
member's sex or race. Kane himself is human, although he has more than 
the usual human share of longevity, due to magical activities, it would
seem obvious.