I have a player who wants to multiclass into monk, and has been asking around trying to find out about any monasteries in the area.
I told him he's found out there is rumored to be a monastery in the area with a secret location which was founded by elven mystics hundreds of years ago. So I've decided is that this is none other than the Order of the Silver Dream,which is trying to hunt down the vampire allied with the Cagewrights.
I'm thinking this was an order that was founded after an elf experienced a mysterious dream about a terrible undead threat growing in the jungle (at the time when Kyuss's dread empire was rising about the Spire of Long Shadows). I'm thinking perhaps the dream was inspired by none other than Nidrama. The elf founded an order of mystic warriors (monks, psychic warriors, fighter/monks, bladedancers, arcane archers, paladins/hunters of the dead) to combat the undead which were increasingly infesting the jungles in the region.
During the fabled battle that resulted in the Obsidian circle around the Spire of Long Shadows (see Age of Worms adventure path), the elven Order of the Silver Dream fought alongside celestials to defeat the undead horde, but most of its members were slain. The Order has never quite recovered to its full glory of old, but the few survivers carried on, fighting any great undead menace they discovered in the area.
Later on, when the necromantic catastrophy occurred in the battle against Nabthatoron's demon horde, creating the Haunted Village, the Order eventually moved in to try to wipe out the undead. They failed. While some in the order survived and fled, they've been hunted ever since by the vampires they encountered there (including the one that is now allied to the Cagewrights).
In turn, the Order has tried to kill the vampires, looking for their hidden coffins and destroying them. This has been a kind of secret guerrilla warfare that few know about. Unfortunately, it is much easier to make new vampires and vampire spawn than to train new mystic warriors, so perhaps the balance has favored the undead.
Now the Necrocants have moved into the Haunted Village and allied with the undead, and have forged an alliance with Thifirane as well. This does not bode well for the Order of the Silver Dream.
I have not yet presented any details on the Order besides their name, that they were founded by elves and that they opposed undead. So I still have time to alter the details of their background. Does anyone have suggestions for fleshing out this Order, their customs, dress, beliefs, history, etc.? Have any of you used the Order as allies or a source of information, etc. in your campaigns? Also, any suggestions for revealing this backstory to the player character without derailing the main story line of the campaign?