Strangely-Colored Secret Society
The “Strangely-Colored Secret Societies” were a large number of secret societies existing in, or stemming from, the Prime Universe, whose names followed the pattern of “the [Group Type] of the [Colour] [Creatures]”. The Societies' sizes, agenda and dangerousness varied, as did the relationships they maintained with others of their kind, but they were all ultimately descended from the First Horde, with the possible exception of the Secret League of the Orange-Bearded Gnomes.
History
Origins
The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies were formed as splinters of the First Horde, an organisation devoted to seeking out Atlantean technology to effect world domination. The Horde, in a certain sense the “first” Strangely-Colored Secret Society, kept itself supplied in new members via brainwashing of ordinary people; these Horde operatives dressed up in incongruously-coloured animal costumes to preserve their anonymity.
Eventually, the Horde was forced to lay off much of its standing forces due to lack of budget. Having little experience with running a brainwashing in that direction, the Horde imperfectly wiped the subjects' memories of their time with the Horde; as a result, many of the ex-Horde operatives, such as Archibald Fishflipper, retained an urge to look for Atlantis and dress up in weirdly-coloured animal costumes, though they were unable to ascertain why. Many went on to found organisations of their own, such as Fishflipper's harmless Faction of the Fooling Fish, to “scratch the itch”. In addition to the Faction, these included the Mélange of the Mauve Muskrat as well as the Society of the Rhyming Dove.
Also laid off was Professor Scarper, a mad geneticist who had been experimenting with mutagens to turn animals into docile, sentient foot-soldiers for the Horde. The herd of intelligent dromedaries he had already created for the Horde were fired as well, becoming the Drove of the Database-Compiling Dromedaries, while Scarper continued his experiments in secret. The creatures he created had no loyalty to him, but had similar buried instincts to those of formerly-brainwashed Horde agents. Among the additional Societies formed by the mutant animals were the Gang of the Green Gorilla, the Mob of the Maroon Magpie, the Horde of Mad Elephants and the infamous Collective of the Retconning Crocodiles.
The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids was named after the same pattern, although their Cupid Fact File on the Strangely-Colored Secret Societies (#828) did not elaborate on a reason why. The same File made note of the fact that the ever-mysterious Secret League of the Orange-Bearded Gnomes' name followed the same pattern, despite no clear way for them to fit into the First Horde's history. (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies) Pessimist-242 denied to Darius that they had been created by the First Horde directly, but refused to give him any details on the Creator. (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries) Also notable were the Company of Free Genies, similarly founded in the 1960s as a splinter of the First Horde, but whose members had previously been enslaved by the Horde rather than brainwashed members, and who retained no mental conditioning from the experience, assembling into a new organisation for their own benign reasons. (PROSE: The Interlude of Jenny Everywhere)
Later developments
The Drove of the Database-Compiling Dromedaries sought to study the other Strangely-Colored Secret Societies. They abducted members of as many as they could identify. Nonhuman specimens were kept in Research Laboratory 6 while the costumed types were kept elsewhere. The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids eluded them for a long time until Lila and Darius managed to capture Pessimist-242. However, Pessimist was then browbeaten by the captive Green Gorilla into organising a mass “prison break” from Research Laboratory 6, which succeeded. (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
List
Mutants
- the Cohort of the Clockmaking Capybara; (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Collection of the Camouflaged Chameleons; (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- The Collective of the Retconning Crocodiles; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Drove of the Database-Compiling Dromedaries. (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Gaggle of the Golden Goats; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Gang of the Green Gorilla; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Horde of Mad Elephants; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Mob of the Maroon Magpie; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Possé of the Azure-And-Emerald Panther; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Sect of the Silver-Shelled Snails; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Society of the Scarlet Crabs; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Trio of the Talking Turkeys; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Syndicate of the Sleeping Salamanders. (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
Costumed humanoids
- The Faction of the Fooling Fish; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, The Faction of the Fooling Fish)
- the Mélange of the Mauve Muskrat; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies)
- the Society of the Rhyming Dove. (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, The Society of the Rhyming Dove)
Other
- The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Ennead of the Eigengrau Easter Eggs; (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Secret League of the Orange-Bearded Gnomes. (PROSE: The Strangely-Colored Secret Societies, Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
- the Company of Free Genies. (PROSE: The Interlude of Jenny Everywhere)
