A rival lineage that split from the Vigil and now frames protection as a purchasable service.
The account
- 1570–71, the Reward Heresy: Cyprus Hearth-master Anastasios Mavros charged for berths off the besieged island (forty ducats, ten for a child); Warden Brandt forbade it; Mavros left for Candia with three ships and about thirty brothers. At Candia both sides swore never to harm and never to reveal one another.
- Candia → Venice and Corfu (1669) → Trieste and London (1797): marine insurance, then security; by the 28th century the Mavrou trading house on Earth. Petitioned in 2822 for the Templar name and arms; refused.
- 2956: Obolos Security Group hires out escorts and frigates in Stanton, Pyro and on the Perry Line: everything the Charter forbids the Templars.
- Director Calista Mavrou: fifties, grey early, came up through the convoy desks; reads every casualty report; turns an old silver obol from Candia in her fingers. Thinks the Templars vain, not evil. The Marshals: 'half of what they say is true, and the half that isn't is the half that matters.'
- Autumn 2955, the Harbour of the Flare: after Dame Hana Okafor's ship saves two burned Obolos pilots and refuses payment, Mavrou leaves the obol on the seat of the Empty Chair. 'It is not ours, and it is not refused. It waits.' Still there in spring 2956.
