Copper Tortoise Conclave
The Copper Tortoise Conclave along with the closely related Iron Tortoise Conclave was a group of alchemists and enchanters centered mostly on Aren, who banded together for mutual protection and as a force within the political landscape of the Mage Wars. They latter formed a quasi-secret society that endued throughout the era of the Alliance. The figure of David alias The Glass Man is heavily associated with the Conclaves and was undoubtedly a member. Later generations would elevate him to near god-like status. The secrets of Alchemical Glass were among the most closely held.
During the Mage Wars, the Conclaves were said to have created a place called The Refuge to relocate their friends and family away from the fighting. The exact nature of the Refuge is known only to full members of the group, but it is generally believed to be a sort of self-sustaining colony accessed by magic.
Organization
The symbol of the group is a small metal tortoise shell with a gemstone in the middle, worn as a pin or broach. Initiates are required to create their own from scratch. Depending on the skills of the specific initiate it would also be strongly enchanted. The group described itself as a sort of society or guild, but in practice seemed like more of a loose association of like-minded makers.
During the Mage Wars, they would band together in different areas and use the power of collective bargaining to insure living conditions for themselves and their kin. For example, an ongoing problem during the war was the forced conscription of any able bodied young men into local fighting brigades. Since the Iron conclave created most of weapons, they could collectively deny service to anyone kidnapping their sons and brothers.
Alchemists who sided with the Mage Towers were typically shunned by and shut out of the conclaves, cut off from the secret knowledge they maintained.
History
Golden Age
During the Alliance Era, the group solidified into a formal collective dedicated “to the advancement, preservation, and continuation of the secret knowledge smithing, alchemy, and enchanting” with membership open only to descendants of the original Conclaves and members of the professions.
As time passed and professional alchemists and enchanters began to fall out of fashion, the group first opened membership to dilettantes and hobbyists, and eventually anyone willing to pay dues. Because the one core aspect of the group centered around maintaining knowledge of the trades, they fashioned themselves into a secret society that wasn’t fooling anyone. Chapter halls were always windowless and members were sworn to maintain the secrets of the initiation rites, but details filtered out anyway by virtue of the sheer quantity of members.
By the early centuries of the Golden Age, the group had evolved into little more than a social club, with chapter houses in every decently-sized town, and even a youth organization called the Tin Tortoise Conclave. While they never regained the sort of political currency the group had during the First Chaotic Period, the group did become a positive force across Aren and throughout the Alliance. They were known for organizing volunteer groups, disaster relief, and fundraising activates for various charitable causes.
Their central tenant was lost to most chapter houses, who's secrets did not extend beyond the admission rites(which were themselves fairly common knowledge to anyone who cares to look). However, several of the core chapters, in Arindell, Sun's Beacon, and Water's Grasp did hold significant texts related to alchemy, enchanting, and magic. These were preserved and copied down through the ages, sometimes being made available to high-ranking members, and sometimes released to the world as a demonstration of what the group held.
Alliance Era
By the end of the Golden Age, the group had obtained a level of credibility simply for having existed in its current form for almost a thousand years. By this time most chapter houses were made of stone, built to last and often hundreds of years old. The Conclave's coffers were also quite large, with investment primarily focused on the long-term continuation of the order. To mark the one thousandth anniversary of The Order of the Copper Tortoise Conclave, a new chapter house was constructed in Arindell, made of monolithic stonework and complete with subterranean vaults. The date of the anniversary became the accepted birthday of the organization, though most historians accept it was chosen effectively at random.
During the Alliance era, the group's fortunes ebbed and flowed, but remained a solid force. The major chapter houses never fell, though smaller groups rose and fell with some regularity. During the Third Age, the order held its first grand gathering in Arindell. Held a year after the start of the Necromanic Wars, the it tried to use the opportunity to claim a position within the political landscape by coming out in opposition against the necromancers. This backfired spectacularly for two reasons. One, necromancers made up approximately 20% of the Conclave's membership(more, in some chapters). And secondly, at this point in the war it was seen as more of an ideological conflict, with opposition against the necromancers in general being viewed as racial in nature. This would mark the closes the order ever came to falling, as millions of members quite immediately.
The Conclave's reputation did eventually recover, though with the necromancers being interned at the end of the war they lost a considerable number of adherents. Eventually the group moved past this and realigned itself as more of a social club with secrets. No further attempts were made to become involved in politics beyond the local level. From the early Third Age forward, the group gave up a centralized ideology and let each chapter decide for itself what to believe. The central tenant of maintaining secret knowledge expanded among some chapters.
During the Fourth Age, the Arindell chapter became heavily associated with the Stormwind Antiquarian Society, primarily at the behest of Herbet Patric Galactis, a prominent member of both groups. While Mr. Galactis would never admit he accessed secret archives of the Conclave when writing the Accepted Histories, he did admit to leaning on the group's internal historians a bit. Being an unbroken lineage, the Arindell chapter could confirm dates better than any other source.
During the Fifth Age, the Conclave gained a favorable association with the Slayer Dragons, when Pendragon Carle Kaleb was anointed. A lifetime member since joining the Tin Tortoises at the age of eleven, Pendragon Kaleb held the order in high esteem and brought the sword Echbalder into the chapter hall on a regular basis. An alchemist himself, Carle is credited with reviving interest in the practice. Though only a hobbyist himself, he created an official alchemy workshole at Valley Gale Keep and appointed a head alchemist to the Order of Slayer Dragons. By the start of the Sixth Age, Arindell had the first full-fledged Alchemist's Guild on Aren since the Mage Wars.
The Guild, however, butted heads frequently with the older, more established Healer's Guild of Arindell, who were loosing business due to the healing potions being produced by the alchemists. As the healer's guild held real political clout, they were able to severely limit the operations of the Alchemist's guild to the point where it was re-absorbed into the Copper Tortoise Conclave by the end of the 8th century.
Long Night
Like every other social construct, the Conclave was devastated by the arrival of Samuel Fate and subsequent fall of the Alliance. Many members leaned on the now ancient history of the order, renewing the practice of alchemy as a tool to fight against Fate. As his stranglehold on the old Alliance territories tightend, they switched instead of attempts either reach or re-establish The Refuge at the core of the group's belief system.
New Day
At the start of the era
