The Court of Primordials

The Court of Primordials is a secret society of Dying Man shards that have manipulated humanity from the shadows for centuries. They are led by The Dethroned Queen, whom they believe to be the original Dying Man fragment, and are dedicated to establishing a new world order in which only the strongest mortals may survive.

History
The circumstances behind the Court's founding are shrouded in mystery, but it has been heavily implied to have existed as early as Ancient Greece. The Coward claims that the Court of Primordials originally had thousands of human followers and directly influenced numerous historical events. They have claimed responsibility for many major events, including the assassination of Ramesses III, the formation of the Roman Empire, and the Late Bronze Age collapse. By the Middle Ages they allegedly had taken control over Western Europe and were ready to spread their influence to rest of the world, but ultimately failed due to frequent infighting. The Court was ultimately divided into two separate factions in late 1426 after the Dethroned Queen's third in command, the Ebony Knight, rebelled against her and formed his own army against her. This conflict lasted for about fifty years, and devastated the Court to the point where the few surviving members were forced to retreat to North America. There is very little evidence to corroborate any of this, as the majority of their supposed backstory is contradictory and does not match recorded history. Because of this, most of the group's background is propaganda meant to deliberately keep their origins and true objective a secret, as well as bolster their importance in past world affairs.

Leaders
As stated above, the Court of Primordial is led by the Dethroned Queen and multiple other Dying Man pieces that act as her lieutenants, either out of loyalty or necessity. There are only thirteen of them left in existence following the Ebony Knight's betrayal, many of whom served as the military leaders of the organization during the conflict. Each member is given their own distinct assignments and are responsible for recruiting human followers, mainly through exploiting or brainwashing disillusioned people who are frustrated with their lives into doing their bidding.

The Dethroned Queen
The Dethroned Queen is the power hungry leader of the Court of Primordials. She is an extremely manipulative shard, capable of influencing anyone into working for her without realizing it. Out of all the members of the Court, the Queen is the least active and only intervenes during exceptionally pressing matters. She is one of the most powerful Dying Man shards on Earth, and possesses a vast array of odd abilities that appear to be unique to her, including being able to cause any physical matter to corrode, even organic material, and kill with a single touch. According to her followers, she and her brother are the first Dying Man shards to ever exist after an ancient battle between the original Dying Man and and The Glitch resulted in both entering their current, weakened states.

The Coward
The Coward is the Dethroned Queen's "twin brother", as well as her personal bodyguard and greatest assassin. He used to prefer hiding within the subconscious of his hosts (hence his unusual name), but he has taken a more active and aggressive role in the organization since the beginning of the 20th century. His duties as a member of the Court vary greatly, though his most common role is that of a saboteur who tricks Runners and servants of other Fears into killing their closet allies and relatives. He has also been known to control the actions of his hosts by influencing their unconscious thoughts and dreams when he can't be bothered to fully possess someone else.