The Royal Geographical Order

The Royal Geographical Order is a Learned Society representing geographers and explorers. It was founded over one hundred and fifty years ago for the advancement of geographical science and knowledge (of the known and unknown world) and has been among the most active of the learned societies ever since. The largest geographical society in the world, and one of the largest learned societies as well. It now operates on a regional, national and international scale.

Like many other learned societies, the Order can trace its descent from a dining club, the Raleigh Dining Club. Here nobles and those 'well to do' would dine and converse. Bringing up the problems that flowed from the court's (and government's) lack of knowledge of the world around them, an informal group was forged. Adopting the members of other informal groups that specialized in certain regions of the world, the group expanded quickly. The information was disseminated by the members to various parts of the government. The Group, not yet an order, created a large library containing all the various documents and information they had gathered. It continued this way for fifteen years. Several of the scholars working for the group eventually created the Encyclopedia Geographica, with a compressed learned view of the world. For their service to Crown and Government, the group was given a royal charter, thus making it an Order. All upper echelon members were granted title (though no lands), if they were untitled already; a tradition that continues to this day.

The Order supports research, expeditions, education and training of people who can perform the previous. With its focus on society and environment, Geography is one of the most popular subjects in formal education and highly relevant to both life-long learning and fulfilment from travel.

The Order is funded by a small stipend from the Crown and donations from weathier members. The donations have added up over the years, creating quite a foundation which can distribute funds to the Order's various ventures. These include various chartered houses, chartered embassies in other countries, expeditions to the wilds and other countries, endowments to various colleges/ towers, and various lectures given around the country. The Order is also hires various 'odd jobers' for exploration and information. With its governmental ties, various intelligencers (what we would call Spys and Analysts) are part of the Order's rank and file or utilize the various odd members - using the society as cover)