Fantasy Organization Name Generator: A Name, a Cause and a Rumor

One press names an order, a guild or a cult, then says what it wants, where it shows its sign and what outsiders whisper about it.

Heralds of the Roofless Tower, a brotherhood of mountain hermits. It wants the capital moved back to where it used to be. Its sign is scratched on milestones along the roads it uses. Outsiders say it meets only when it rains.

  • OpeningHeralds of the
  • SymbolRoofless Tower
  • Kindbrotherhood of mountain hermits
  • It wantsthe capital moved back to where it used to be
  • Its signscratched on milestones along the roads it uses
  • Outsiders sayit meets only when it rains
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Every organization name you make is kept here, newest first, up to the last 20. The list stays in this browser.

    Organization Name of the day

     

    Fantasy Organization Name Generator: A Name, a Cause and a Rumor: how it works

    This fantasy organization name generator builds a name such as Order of the Buried Hatchet and says which of nine kinds of body carries it, from a knightly order to a thieves' guild. Then it adds what the group wants, where it shows its sign and what outsiders say. Every name is invented, though one may still match a real group.

    Find the council, then name it

    Reroll Kind until your kind comes up, say a council of nine seats, lock it and press New organization name until the name fits: Conclave of the Vacant Chair, Keepers of the Tipped Scale. Lock Opening instead and every body in a realm shares a style. Print puts 20 on one sheet, enough rivals for one court.

    Three names from one draw

    The name is one pattern: an opening, of the, a symbol. Real orders of chivalry were named this way: the Order of the Star dates from 1351 in France, the Order of the Knot from 1352 in Naples. For a second pattern, keep the last word and add Pact: The Hatchet Pact. For a third, make it plural: Circle of Hatchets. Search a hand-made name first: The Storm Pact is taken.

    Tips

    • The sign is the symbol in the name; Its sign says where it turns up. A buried hatchet stitched inside the left cuff is a planted clue.
    • A rumor may be wrong. Decide whether it really is three people and a great deal of stationery, and who wants that believed.
    • A realm needs rivals. Lock It wants, reroll the rest, and two bodies are after a crown that went missing three reigns ago.

    Questions and answers

    How many organization names can it make?

    64 openings times 172 symbols gives 11,008 names. Times 54 kinds, 80 goals, 60 sign lines and 80 rumors, that is 228,261,888,000 results. Nothing in a row comes up twice until the row runs out, and everyone gets the same organization name of the day.

    Are the names taken from a real group or a published story?

    Not on purpose. All 11,008 names were screened against 48 Wikipedia pages on real orders, secret societies and lodges, then against about 1.2 million fan wiki page titles. One matched and was changed. That is a screen, not a promise: Keepers of the Sealed Gate may still be in use, so search before you publish.

    Can I choose the kind of organization first?

    There is no kind switch yet. The Kind row holds six lines for each of nine kinds: knightly order, monastic house, guild, secret society, spy network, academy, ruling council, cult and rebel band. A shop with a sign over its door is on the fantasy shop name generator.

    More like this

    Random tool Browse Entertainment

    Opening: all 64 openings

    Orders 16

    • Exiled Order of the
    • Free Order of the
    • Honorable Order of the
    • Lesser Order of the
    • Loyal Order of the
    • Noble Order of the
    • Old Order of the
    • Order of the
    • Quiet Order of the
    • Reformed Order of the
    • Restored Order of the
    • Solemn Order of the
    • Sworn Order of the
    • True Order of the
    • Unseen Order of the
    • Venerable Order of the

    Circles and lodges 22

    • Accord of the
    • Alliance of the
    • Assembly of the
    • Chapter of the
    • Choir of the
    • Circle of the
    • Compact of the
    • Conclave of the
    • Concord of the
    • Court of the
    • Covenant of the
    • Gathering of the
    • Household of the
    • Inner Circle of the
    • Kindred of the
    • Lodge of the
    • Moot of the
    • Remnant of the
    • Society of the
    • Table of the
    • Vigil of the
    • Watch of the

    Keepers and wardens 12

    • Bearers of the
    • Champions of the
    • Custodians of the
    • Defenders of the
    • Guardians of the
    • Keepers of the
    • Protectors of the
    • Sentinels of the
    • Stewards of the
    • Trustees of the
    • Wardens of the
    • Watchers of the

    Seekers and heirs 14

    • Devotees of the
    • Envoys of the
    • Exiles of the
    • Faithful of the
    • Followers of the
    • Friends of the
    • Heirs of the
    • Heralds of the
    • Inheritors of the
    • Orphans of the
    • Pilgrims of the
    • Seekers of the
    • Servants of the
    • Students of the

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page: 64 openings for the first part of a name. The tool builds one organization from six rows (opening, symbol, kind, what it wants, its sign, what outsiders say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: every line ends in of the, so any symbol can follow it, and the name words are capitalized. A line says what the group calls itself and never what it is, because the Kind row does that: no Knights, Council, Guild, Academy, Cult or Temple. No line names a trade, so no Company and no Guild (guilds are six lines of the Kind row, where a guild can sit under any opening; a Guild opening would land on a moon cult or a regency council just as often), and none names a gender, so no Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Sons or Daughters. Left out because they belong to famous published works or real bodies: Fellowship, League, Legion, Priory, Oath, Way, College and House. No word here is used by the shop name page, and no adjective here is used in the Symbol row. Every one of the 172 symbols and all 11,008 names the two name rows can spell were checked by script on 2026-09-19 against the text of 48 English Wikipedia pages. Thirty cover real and invented bodies, among them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_chivalry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastic_order, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-styled_order, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_order_(religious_society), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_society, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_secret_societies_in_North_America, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_fraternal_orders, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_institutes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_new_religious_movements, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_guerrilla_movements and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_espionage_organizations, plus pages on the organizations of well-known novels, comics and games. The other 18 are the character, place and pub-name pages the shop name page was checked against. No symbol and no name matched. A second screen on 2026-09-19 ran all 11,008 names, and the two hand patterns from the guide (The Hatchet Pact, Circle of Hatchets) over all 172 symbols, against the fiction lists built for the language name page: 232 English Wikipedia pages on fictional worlds, 5,177 page titles from 29 Wikipedia categories and about 1.2 million page titles from 39 fan wikis. One name matched a fan wiki page title, Order of the Winter Sun, so the symbol Winter Sun became Midwinter Sun, which was screened the same way with no hit. Seven hand-pattern results matched and are named on the page or in its notes: The Storm Pact, The Shadow Pact, Circle of Stars, Circle of Cinders, Circle of Stones, Circle of Mirrors and Circle of Thorns. A name this natural may still be in use somewhere, so search before you publish. Four groups: orders 16, circles and lodges 22, keepers and wardens 12, seekers and heirs 14. Licence: own work

    ,

    Symbol: all 172 symbols

    Arms and regalia 24

    • Blank Shield
    • Buried Hatchet
    • Empty Helm
    • Furled Banner
    • Grounded Lance
    • Lowered Visor
    • Mailed Fist
    • Mislaid Scepter
    • Notched Axe
    • Paper Crown
    • Planted Spear
    • Plumed Helm
    • Sheathed Sword
    • Single Spur
    • Spent Arrow
    • Splintered Shield
    • Tattered Banner
    • Thrown Gauntlet
    • Unclaimed Crown
    • Unloosed Arrow
    • Unsounded Horn
    • Unstrung Bow
    • Wooden Sword
    • Wrapped Dagger

    Sky, sea and season 20

    • Clouded Sun
    • Contrary Wind
    • Daylight Star
    • Early Dusk
    • Early Frost
    • Ebbing Tide
    • Far Shore
    • Following Wind
    • Late Dawn
    • Late Thaw
    • Long Eclipse
    • Low Horizon
    • Mackerel Sky
    • Midwinter Sun
    • Neap Tide
    • Sinking Star
    • Spent Storm
    • Standing Wave
    • Turning Tide
    • Unnamed Star

    Fire and shadow 20

    • Banked Ember
    • Carried Ember
    • Cast Shadow
    • Cold Cinder
    • Distant Beacon
    • Doused Beacon
    • Falling Ash
    • Long Shadow
    • Noon Shadow
    • Passed Torch
    • Shared Hearth
    • Shielded Flame
    • Snuffed Wick
    • Steady Flame
    • Stray Spark
    • Struck Spark
    • Swept Hearth
    • Trimmed Wick
    • Unlit Torch
    • Warm Ash

    Walls and ways 24

    • Back Stair
    • Boundary Stone
    • Bricked Window
    • Burnt Bridge
    • Deep Ford
    • Fallen Pillar
    • Forked Road
    • Hilltop Cairn
    • Hollow Road
    • Lit Window
    • Loose Keystone
    • Low Door
    • Narrow Bridge
    • Postern Gate
    • Raised Drawbridge
    • Roofless Tower
    • Sealed Gate
    • Standing Arch
    • Sunken Spire
    • Unfinished Tower
    • Unmarked Door
    • Walled Garden
    • Winding Stair
    • Worn Threshold

    Keys, books and seals 17

    • Blank Page
    • Chained Book
    • Muffled Bell
    • Sealed Letter
    • Swallowed Key
    • Tipped Scale
    • Torn Page
    • Two-Faced Coin
    • Unbroken Seal
    • Unrung Bell
    • Unsent Letter
    • Unsigned Charter
    • Unspent Coin
    • Unturned Key
    • Unwritten Book
    • Vacant Chair
    • Wrong Key

    Threads, masks and mirrors 15

    • Braided Cord
    • Clouded Mirror
    • Drawn Veil
    • Empty Hood
    • Idle Loom
    • Loose Thread
    • Open Link
    • Parted Veil
    • Plain Mask
    • Smiling Mask
    • Triple Knot
    • Turned Mirror
    • Unbroken Chain
    • Uncut Thread
    • Unpicked Knot

    Root, leaf and claw 32

    • Ashen Thorn
    • Bare Bough
    • Bending Reed
    • Buried Root
    • Climbing Vine
    • Coiled Serpent
    • Deep Root
    • Falling Leaf
    • Flowering Briar
    • Grafted Branch
    • Horned Beetle
    • Laden Bough
    • Lone Sapling
    • Molted Feather
    • Pale Moth
    • Paper Wasp
    • Plaited Wreath
    • Pressed Lily
    • Riderless Horse
    • Shed Antler
    • Single Thorn
    • Sleeping Lion
    • Spiral Shell
    • Spun Cocoon
    • Toothless Lion
    • Turned Leaf
    • Unsown Seed
    • Unworn Laurel
    • Waiting Spider
    • Winter Seed
    • Wintering Bee
    • Withered Laurel

    Hands and faces 20

    • Bitten Tongue
    • Bowed Head
    • Closed Eye
    • Cold Shoulder
    • Dug-In Heel
    • Forked Tongue
    • Furrowed Brow
    • Half-Open Eye
    • Held Breath
    • Helping Hand
    • Inked Thumb
    • Knowing Smile
    • Listening Ear
    • Lone Footprint
    • Offered Hand
    • Pointing Finger
    • Raised Eyebrow
    • Steady Hand
    • Straight Face
    • Unbent Knee

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page: 172 symbols for the second part of a name. The tool builds one organization from six rows (opening, symbol, kind, what it wants, its sign, what outsiders say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: two words, a describing word and then one singular thing that can be drawn, because the symbol is also the sign the group shows. Both words are capitalized because they are part of a name. No plain colors or metals, which spell real orders of chivalry such as the Golden Fleece and the White Eagle. No cross, crescent, lotus, wheel, chalice, grail or halo, so no name borrows the sign of a living faith. No rose, thistle, garter, dragon, phoenix, ring, throne, raven or flame by itself, which belong to real orders or famous published ones. Nothing frightening: no skulls, bones or blood. No word here is used by the shop name page, whose signs are tavern beasts, kitchen things and trade tools; this row holds arms, weather, fire, stonework, papers, threads, plants and gestures. Each item carries x.noun and x.plural for the two wished-for name patterns, The Hatchet Pact and Circle of Hatchets. Every one of the 172 symbols and all 11,008 names the two name rows can spell were checked by script on 2026-09-19 against the text of 48 English Wikipedia pages. Thirty cover real and invented bodies, among them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_chivalry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastic_order, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-styled_order, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_order_(religious_society), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_society, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_secret_societies_in_North_America, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_fraternal_orders, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_institutes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_new_religious_movements, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_guerrilla_movements and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_espionage_organizations, plus pages on the organizations of well-known novels, comics and games. The other 18 are the character, place and pub-name pages the shop name page was checked against. No symbol and no name matched. A second screen on 2026-09-19 ran all 11,008 names, and the two hand patterns from the guide (The Hatchet Pact, Circle of Hatchets) over all 172 symbols, against the fiction lists built for the language name page: 232 English Wikipedia pages on fictional worlds, 5,177 page titles from 29 Wikipedia categories and about 1.2 million page titles from 39 fan wikis. One name matched a fan wiki page title, Order of the Winter Sun, so the symbol Winter Sun became Midwinter Sun, which was screened the same way with no hit. Seven hand-pattern results matched and are named on the page or in its notes: The Storm Pact, The Shadow Pact, Circle of Stars, Circle of Cinders, Circle of Stones, Circle of Mirrors and Circle of Thorns. A name this natural may still be in use somewhere, so search before you publish. Eight groups: arms and regalia 24; sky, sea and season 20; fire and shadow 20; walls and ways 24; keys, books and seals 17; threads, masks and mirrors 15; root, leaf and claw 32; hands and faces 20. Licence: own work

    ,

    Kind: all 54 kinds

    Sworn to a rule 18

    • adventurers' guild A hall with a notice board, a ledger of jobs and a bar tab nobody has settled.
    • band of landless knights Knights with no castle who serve whoever feeds them fairly.
    • brotherhood of mountain hermits Each lives alone in a cell on the slope, and they meet for one meal a week.
    • cloistered sisterhood of copyists They copy books behind a wall and know more than the people who wrote them.
    • craft guild Masters, journeymen and apprentices of one trade, with a hall, a seal and a strongbox.
    • guild of hedge wizards Village spell-workers who banded together so the big schools would stop laughing.
    • guild of rat-catchers The least loved trade in the city, and the only one that knows every cellar.
    • knightly order Sworn knights under one master, with a rule, a hall and a cause.
    • knightly order fallen on hard times The vows and the banners remain. The horses were sold two winters ago.
    • knightly order with a single castle One keep, one drawbridge and a rota for who guards it.
    • loose fellowship of knights errant Wandering knights who share one vow and meet once a year to compare roads.
    • merchant guild Traders who fix the market days, split the cost of road guards and argue over weights.
    • monastic brotherhood Men under a shared rule who share their work, their meals and their silences.
    • monastic sisterhood Women under a shared rule who share their work, their meals and their silences.
    • mounted order sworn to patrol the roads Riders who keep the highways safe and take no pay from travelers.
    • silent order of gardeners A vow of silence, a walled garden and a great deal of pointing.
    • thieves' guild Pickpockets and burglars with dues, territories and a firm rule against robbing each other.
    • wandering order of mendicants They own nothing, walk everywhere and live on what is offered.

    Working unseen 12

    • dining club with a hidden purpose Twelve courses, one toast and a second agenda once the plates are cleared.
    • network of rooftop lookouts They see who visits whom, from which direction and how late.
    • ring of informers People who are paid to notice things, and one person who pays them.
    • secret society Members know each other by a sign and deny everything else.
    • secret society of minor nobles Younger children and spare cousins with time, money and a cellar.
    • secret society older than the city It was meeting on this spot before there were streets to hide in.
    • secret society that meets masked Nobody inside is sure who anybody else is, which suits them all.
    • secret society with a public front On paper it is a charity for retired sailors. The paper is very good.
    • spy network Watchers and listeners who pass what they learn up a chain with no visible top.
    • spy network that reports to nobody known The reports go somewhere. Even the spies would like to know where.
    • web of paid listeners Servants, porters and boatmen who hear everything and sell it on.
    • whispering ring of palace servants Nothing said over dinner stays at the table.

    Schools and seats 12

    • academy of heralds It trains the people who know every coat of arms and every family quarrel.
    • academy with more rules than students The rule book runs to nine volumes and the roll to about forty names.
    • council of elders The oldest heads in the land, who decide slowly and do not change their minds.
    • council of nine seats Nine chairs, nine votes and a long tradition of somebody being away.
    • council of river lords Whoever holds a crossing holds a seat, and the river decides the rest.
    • fencing academy A school of the sword where the final lesson is when not to draw.
    • hilltop academy of star-readers Students chart the sky by night and sleep through the morning lectures.
    • regency council It rules in the name of a monarch who is too young, too ill or too far away.
    • ruling council A small body that governs a city or a realm and answers mostly to itself.
    • town council with grand ideas It governs four streets and a bridge and plans as if it held a kingdom.
    • walled academy A school behind a wall, with its own rules, its own bell and its own feuds.
    • wandering academy with no fixed hall Masters and students travel together and hold lessons wherever they stop.

    Out on the edge 12

    • band of forest outlaws They live under the trees, know every path and share what they take.
    • band of hill rebels loyal to the old line They hold the high ground for a royal house that lost the low ground.
    • band of tax rebels It began with one unpaid tax and now holds three valleys.
    • comet cult It expects a particular comet and has been wrong about the date four times.
    • cult of a sleeping giant It believes a giant sleeps under the hills and works hard to keep the noise down.
    • cult of a talking well The well gives advice. The cult writes it down and argues about the echo.
    • harvest cult Its rites concern rain, seed and the last sheaf of the year.
    • moon cult It gathers by moonlight on a hill and goes home before the dew.
    • mystery cult Its teachings are revealed in stages, and nobody will say how many stages.
    • rebel band Outlaws with a cause, a camp and a price on their heads.
    • rebel band led by committee Every raid is put to a vote, which is why there have been so few.
    • rebel band of dispossessed farmers They lost their fields to a lord and mean to have them back.

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page: 54 kinds, six for each of the nine kinds of body the page covers (knightly order, monastic house, guild, secret society, spy network, academy, ruling council, cult, rebel band). The tool builds one organization from six rows (opening, symbol, kind, what it wants, its sign, what outsiders say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a lower-case singular noun phrase that follows a or an, chosen by its first letter. None of these bodies is a shop. The guild kind was added on 2026-09-19, after a review found that a visitor who wanted a guild name was sent to the shop name page, which has none. A guild here is the body its members belong to (a craft guild, a thieves' guild, an adventurers' guild); premises with a sign over the door, such as taverns, smithies and general stores, stay on the shop name page. The thieves' guild is storybook too: dues and territories, no real method. Cults and spies stay storybook. The cults gather around the moon, a comet, the harvest, a sleeping giant and a talking well, never around a real faith, leader or movement, and the spy networks listen at doors and watch from rooftops, with no real method described. The line under each kind is our own description in plain words, not a historical claim. Each item carries x.kind, the one of the nine kinds it belongs to. Four groups: sworn to a rule 18 (the six guild lines sit here), working unseen 12, schools and seats 12, out on the edge 12. Licence: own work

    ,

    It wants: all 80 goals

    Things kept safe 16

    • a certain child kept safe until she comes of age
    • a relic kept moving so that nobody can seize it
    • a sealed door kept shut until a day it will not name
    • a sleeping thing under the hill left asleep
    • an old truce held for one more generation
    • the beacon fires kept ready and never lit by mistake
    • the coast watched nightly for a sail that has not come yet
    • the forbidden shelf of the great library kept forbidden
    • the harvest roads kept clear of bandits and tolls alike
    • the last free ferry kept free
    • the last wild herd left to run where it likes
    • the mountain pass kept open through every winter
    • the old border stones left exactly where they stand
    • the old forest left uncut, down to the last tree
    • one small valley left off every map
    • the royal line guarded, including the branch nobody knows

    Things it is looking for 16

    • a crown that went missing three reigns ago
    • a map to the place where its founder is buried
    • a singer who knows every verse of a half-forgotten song
    • a sword that was thrown in a lake, and the right lake
    • a vanished village that still pays its taxes
    • the door that fits a key it has kept for 300 years
    • every surviving copy of one particular book
    • the far end of a tunnel that starts under its own hall
    • the lost second half of its own founding charter
    • the name of whoever betrayed it a century ago
    • one honest witness to something that happened long ago
    • proof that a famous victory was really a draw
    • somebody who can still read its oldest records
    • the true heir, who may not want to be found
    • the twelve pieces of a broken seal, of which it has nine
    • whoever keeps sending it unsigned warnings

    Power and law 16

    • a free city declared where a loyal town now stands
    • a holiday named for its founder
    • a seat on the royal council, and then a second seat
    • an old law repealed before anyone sees it still applies
    • the army kept small and the granaries kept full
    • the border redrawn along the river, as it once was
    • the capital moved back to where it used to be
    • the crown to keep a promise made to it long ago
    • every bridge toll in the kingdom abolished
    • its charter renewed without anyone reading the small print
    • judges who cannot be bought, and a list of those who can
    • the next royal marriage to go the way it has planned
    • the old calendar restored, feast days and all
    • one of its own on the throne, or near enough to whisper
    • the salt tax ended by whatever lawful means remain
    • the two great houses kept quarreling and out of its way

    Wrongs to right 16

    • a broken oath mended before the last of the line is gone
    • a disgraced champion given one fair rematch
    • a feud ended that both sides have forgotten the cause of
    • a ransom paid for someone the kingdom gave up on
    • a ruined hall rebuilt stone by stone, in the same place
    • a stolen bell returned to the tower it was cast for
    • a very old debt repaid in full, with the interest
    • an old apology finally delivered to the right family
    • the common land given back to the commoners
    • the drowned road raised above the marsh again
    • every unjust sentence of the last reign struck out
    • the exiles allowed home and their houses given back
    • its founder cleared of a charge that is 200 years old
    • the old songs sung again in the old places
    • the statue in the square turned back to face the right way
    • the winter stores shared out evenly for once

    Secrets and quiet 16

    • a certain prophecy kept from the person it is about
    • a certain tower to stay locked from the outside
    • a cottage by the sea for every member who knows too much
    • the history books of a rival quietly corrected
    • its membership roll kept secret, even from its members
    • its one great mistake to stay buried
    • its real purpose kept from its own junior members
    • no questions about where its money comes from
    • nobody to look closely at its account books
    • the old name of the city never spoken aloud again
    • one page removed from every copy of the chronicle
    • the rumor about it to stay exactly as wrong as it is
    • time, mostly, and it will not say what for
    • to be left alone, and takes odd steps to ensure it
    • the truth about its founding kept out of the histories
    • the world to forget that it ever existed

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page: 80 goals. The tool builds one organization from six rows (opening, symbol, kind, what it wants, its sign, what outsiders say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a lower-case phrase that follows It wants and takes no full stop, because the tool adds it. Every goal suits all eight kinds, so none mentions a tourney, a lesson, a rite or a raid, and the group is always it. Nothing cruel: the goals are about roads, crowns, charters, debts, secrets and old wrongs, and the member who knows too much gets a cottage by the sea. No line is taken from a published game, novel or film. Five groups of 16: things kept safe, things it is looking for, power and law, wrongs to right, secrets and quiet. Licence: own work

    ,

    Its sign: all 60 sign lines

    Worn on the person 15

    • carved on a wooden bead at the wrist
    • cast in lead and carried in the left shoe
    • cut into the sole of the right boot, so it prints in mud
    • embroidered on a handkerchief and shown by dropping it
    • enameled on a button, always the second from the top
    • engraved on the back of a belt buckle
    • hung on a cord under the shirt, against the skin
    • inked small behind the right ear
    • pinned under the collar, never on top of it
    • scratched on an ordinary coin carried for luck
    • sewn into the lining of every member's coat
    • stitched inside the left cuff
    • worn as a ring with the face turned inward
    • worn as one earring, never a pair
    • woven into a bootlace in a pattern only members can read

    Marked on places 15

    • carved on a beam in every barn that has sheltered it
    • carved over its own door, where it passes for decoration
    • carved under the table it meets at
    • chalked low on a doorpost and rubbed out by morning
    • cut into the bark of the oldest tree in each town it reaches
    • cut into the third step of every house friendly to it
    • drawn in the dust of a windowsill and gone by noon
    • hidden in the border of a well-known tapestry
    • laid out in white stones on a hillside above the pass
    • painted in one corner of the great map in the palace
    • painted on a roof tile, where only the birds should see it
    • pressed into the mortar of every wall its members built
    • scratched on milestones along the roads it uses
    • set in colored glass in a window that faces no street
    • worked into the ironwork of a gate that thousands pass daily

    On letters and tokens 15

    • burned into the lid of every box that leaves its hall
    • carved into a chess piece carried in place of a letter
    • drawn in the margin of a letter, where a blot might go
    • folded into the way its notes are creased
    • inked where a signature would go, with no signature
    • painted on a river pebble left on the sill as a summons
    • pressed into a disc of sealing wax carried in the purse
    • pressed into the wax of every letter it sends
    • pricked with a pin into the corner of every page it writes
    • printed nowhere; members are expected to draw it from memory
    • stamped on a clay token, broken in two when members part
    • stamped on the blank back of a playing card left at the door
    • struck on the back of medals it awards in private
    • tied into the knot of the ribbon on its letters
    • watermarked in paper that only it buys

    Shown and gone 15

    • chalked on the sole of a shoe and shown by crossing the legs
    • drawn in flour on the table before a meeting and blown away
    • drawn in the air with two fingers as a greeting
    • drawn on a slate, shown and wiped clean in one motion
    • formed by lanterns on a hill, one night a year
    • inked on the palm each morning and washed off at night
    • laid out in pebbles at a meeting place and scattered after
    • pressed into a sweet that the bearer eats after showing it
    • scratched in the dirt with a heel whenever two members meet
    • shaped by the way members stand when they gather at dusk
    • shown once to each new member and never displayed again
    • sketched in charcoal on the hearth and swept up afterward
    • sung, somehow; members insist the tune has the same shape
    • traced in the frost on a window and left to melt
    • traced on the table in spilled water and wiped away

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page: 60 lines on how the group shows its sign. The tool builds one organization from six rows (opening, symbol, kind, what it wants, its sign, what outsiders say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a lower-case phrase that follows Its sign is and takes no full stop. The sign is the symbol in the name, so no line describes a picture of its own; each one says where the symbol is worn, cut, sent or shown. Every line suits an open body as well as a hidden one, so nothing hangs from a gatehouse and nothing is a crime to carry. No line is taken from a published game, novel or film. Four groups of 15: worn on the person, marked on places, on letters and tokens, shown and gone. Licence: own work

    ,

    Outsiders say: all 80 rumors

    Who is in it 16

    • the entrance test is one question, and the answer changes
    • every ruling family has one cousin in it
    • half its members do not know who the other half are
    • half the town belongs and the other half is waiting to
    • it has more ranks than members
    • it has not admitted anyone new in forty years
    • it is three people and a great deal of stationery
    • it lost its membership roll and has been guessing ever since
    • it recruits only people who have turned it down once
    • its leader has been the same person for suspiciously long
    • its members greet each other by pretending not to
    • its youngest member is past seventy
    • membership passes down like a family nose
    • the miller, the judge and the ferryman all belong
    • nobody has ever been allowed to resign
    • you are already a member if you have eaten at its table

    What it owns 16

    • every bridge it built has a room that is not on the plans
    • it buys old letters by the sackful and burns none of them
    • it has been nearly bankrupt for 200 years and doing fine
    • it has never paid a toll and never been asked to
    • it holds the deed to the land under the palace
    • it is rich in everything except coin
    • it keeps its gold in plain sight, painted to look like lead
    • it lends to kings and collects in favors
    • it owns one field in every county and farms none of them
    • it owns the ferry, the ferryman and the far bank
    • it pays its debts early, which worries people
    • it quietly owns the building its rivals meet in
    • its dues are paid in secrets, one a year
    • its hall is rented, and the landlord has no idea
    • its only real asset is a very long memory
    • its treasury is one chest that nobody has dared to open

    Where it came from 16

    • it began as a supper club and got out of hand
    • it claims a founder who, by the dates, was nine at the time
    • it has celebrated its hundredth year at least three times
    • it is older than the kingdom and has the paperwork
    • it split from a rival over the wording of one sentence
    • it started as a joke, and the joke is four centuries old
    • it still obeys its first orders, which make no sense now
    • it was disbanded by royal order twice and did not notice
    • it was founded by accident and nobody felt able to stop
    • it was founded to solve a problem that solved itself
    • it was only meant to last one winter
    • its founder is still alive and rather embarrassed by it
    • its founders never met and wrote to each other for 30 years
    • its founding oath is one line, and nobody agrees on it
    • its real founder was the sister of the one in the portrait
    • the whole thing began as a bet

    How it behaves 16

    • it always leaves a room tidier than it found it
    • it answers every letter, including ones it was not sent
    • it bows to nobody, but nods politely
    • it debates for a year, then acts overnight
    • it has a rule for everything and a rule for breaking rules
    • it has never once voted; it waits until everyone agrees
    • it holds its trials in rhyme
    • it meets in silence and argues by passing notes
    • it meets only when it rains
    • it moves its meeting place every new moon
    • it never forgets a favor and never mentions one
    • it sends a gift to every coronation, and it is a warning
    • it settles disputes with a footrace around the walls
    • its meetings open with an apology and close with a song
    • its members may not lie to each other, so meetings are short
    • its minutes are in a cipher it has forgotten how to read

    How far it reaches 16

    • a word from it can empty a marketplace by noon
    • doors open for its members that stay locked for dukes
    • every road out of the city passes a house it owns
    • it arranged the royal wedding, weather included
    • it could settle the succession tomorrow and prefers not to
    • it has a friend on every ship in the harbor
    • it has chosen the last three kings and regrets two
    • it has never lost an argument with the crown
    • it has someone in every kitchen in the capital
    • it is far less powerful than it lets people believe
    • it is far more powerful than it lets people believe
    • it is the reason the old bridge has never fallen
    • it knew about the flood a week before the river did
    • it writes the prophecies that other people find
    • nothing is built in the city without its quiet approval
    • three rival groups are secretly one group, and this is it

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page: 80 rumors. The tool builds one organization from six rows (opening, symbol, kind, what it wants, its sign, what outsiders say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a lower-case clause that follows Outsiders say and takes no full stop. The group is always it, and no line names a master, an abbot, a captain or a king of its own, so all 80 read the same after a knightly order, a comet cult or a council of nine seats. A rumor may be wrong, and the page says so. Nothing frightening and no real group, leader or event. No line is taken from a published game, novel or film. Five groups of 16: who is in it, what it owns, where it came from, how it behaves, how far it reaches. Licence: own work