Organization
The Low is a loose association of underground magimystic societies, individuals, and information. It has been called the magical “Dark Web.”
Description
Martin Rank described The Low as a loose web of underground organizations, fronts, and societies like The Mountaineers. They are fringe groups and individuals that arose to discuss the Lost Collection, and magic in general. Within the last few years, The Low has become more organized, creating strict rules for speaking about magiq to outsiders. According to Constance, there are tiers of access, with more trusted members getting access to highly sought-after content. At least some of the sites in The Low have created rules against speaking of The Low to anyone, backed by threats of permanent expulsion.
One of the websites in the Low is the Lost Athenaeum. It has tiered access. Members with access to lower levels are allowed to use the Athenaeum for research, to read rare works and “forgotten” histories, and to protect websites.
History
The Low was first mentioned by Martin Rank in Fragment Ten, in the thread “The Quiet.” Recruits utilized a spell provided by Constance, taken from the Athenaeum, called the Joradian Non-Material Safeguard, in order to protect the Basecamp 33 Forum.
After speaking with Constance, Recruits realized that The Low viewed the Mountaineers as the “Lestats of the magic world,” in reference to the Interview with the Vampire book series, after they went public with their discoveries.
During the early stages of The Ackerly Green Secret Society, there arose some doubt within The Low regarding the legitimate use of magiq by The Mountaineers.
Some members of The Low host a podcast, known as The Low Report.
After The Monarch Papers
In Martin Rank’s blog post, “A Quick Check-In,” he mentions the Low becoming more difficult to find than before, but that he had also struck up a new relationship with a potential informant who had reached out to Martin over a debate amongst the “Mountaineer Fan Club” over whether the Mountaineers and Martin were real or fiction.
During the events of the Secret Society, the Mountaineers befriended a former member of the Low named SpiritSeer, who had been given the boot when her connection to the Mountaineers had discovered. She was able to maintain connections with other people in the Low long enough to assist the Mountaineers through the provision of the Living Spirit spell, and was also able to use her connections to find the Neithercouriers during the Search for Magiq.
According to SpiritSeer, the Low had been steadily dwindling in numbers and reach since the Day of Change, and by November 2019, a message from Martin Rank to Eaves confirmed that the Low was “essentially done for. Without the unifying force of Monarch’s Mountain, things got more and more locked down and elitist. Whatever’s left of them is probably sequestered away in dark corners of the internet, eating its tail.”