The Order

The Order is the secret, and apparently powerful, organization behind the Hymn of One, the religion which Bree belonged to. It appears to be a complex organization with multiple factions and positions, and still not fully-explained purposes.

Much of the LG15 Franchise revolves around the mysterious Order and the obscure ceremony that they want Bree or other trait positive girls to perform, apparently to benefit the Elders of the Order.

It is important to note that the concept of The Order and its factions has developed, and perhaps morphed, since Lonelygirl15 started. Sometimes it is difficult to reconcile references in early videos with later videos, though fans have proposed creative ways to harmonize inconsistencies.

Origins
Years ago, Aleister Crowley visited the Temple of Hathor, where he uncovered hieroglyphs that told of a woman living in ancient Denderah who was believed to be a descendant of the fertility goddess Hathor. This woman was widely considered the "fountain of youth." Hathor's daughter gave birth to twenty girls and the bloodline was treated as holy. Apparently these girls and all of their descendants today have those same life-giving qualities in their blood. Upon learning this, Crowley began to track down the girls and exploit them for his own purposes. From there, he founded the Order, wherein he shared his secrets with a group of Elders, who took on the name "The Order of Denderah," and began performing Ceremonies to extend their lives.

Structure and Inner Workings of The Order
The Order is very secretive about its operations. Bree has mentioned that information is often withheld from lower-level members, and that some of these people's lives are dedicated to keeping their business private; however, the following list outlines positions that have been revealed thus far in the series. For more detail, review the individually linked articles.

People

 * The Leaders: Over time, it has been disclosed that the figures of authority within the Order include The Deacons and Elders.   There have also been references to rogue Elders who apparently have not obeyed all the rules of the Order.


 * Aleister Crowley: A historical person who began the Order in search of Hathor's children's eternal blood. The first Elder.


 * Helper. A person who helps someone prepare for the Ceremony.  Lucy was Bree's helper.


 * Watchers. Watchers typically appear in the series as suited men wearing dark glasses, often in pursuit of the show's main characters, and can be identified by a distinctive watcher symbol on their hand. Watchers first appeared after Bree went on the run in November 2006, and were originally described by Gemma as a twisted "Knights of the Round Table" part of the Order (A Watcher (Nov. 17, 2006)). Gemma's description was later contradicted somewhat by Alex, in Proceed with Caution (July 23, 2007). Alex reported that a Watcher's "only mission is to protect girls like Bree. They have no knowledge whatsoever of the Ceremony, they've never even heard of it. They're members of the Hymn of One and they don't know anything about the Order, its intentions, its makeup; they don't even know the Order exists. Be that as it may, Watchers will absolutely use violence if violence is used first, and if that's the case, watch out!"


 * Shadows. Guards for Elders.  First described by Alex in Proceed with Caution (July 23, 2007).  They are physically augmented by a variety of pharmaceuticals, don't need to sleep, are stronger and faster than the average person and usually cannot live past the age of 30. Shadow members have a tattoo on their forearm of the Greek letter tau encircled by the letter omicron.

Branches

 * The Hymn of One contains the believers in its cult-like religion, who are generally not aware of the Order or its activities.  It has been described as the recruitment arm of the Order.  Older lonelygirl15 videos sugggest that many members of Bree's religion (before it was dubbed The Hymn of One) live in communities spread across the globe. There are at least three communities: one in England, one in South Africa, and another in New Zealand.  Although Bree lived in Southern California, no mention of a commune in that location was ever made. However, Bree seemed to live in some type of commune environment before completing the Ceremony in August 2007.  It is also clear that other members of the Hymn of One live in Southern California, because Bree attended summer camp nearby, and the Hymn of One later held recruiting activities in the same area.  Nikki Bower has reported that neither the Hymn of One nor the Order watch the lonelygirl15 videos.
 * OpAPHID - During the period of time in the series where OpAphid was the official ARG of lonelygirl15 (Nov. 2006 - Mar. 2007), OpAphid was represented as a militant enforcement branch of the Order, and often some of the people hunting down Bree. Bree and Gemma both mentioned the acronym OPAPHID in vlogs; in An Awkward Silence, Gemma said that it was a guide to their interactions with outsiders.  Later videos from Tachyon (who opposed OpAphid) revealed that Gemma was an OpAphid agent.  After the crossover between OpAphid and Lonelygirl15 ended in the Spring of 2007, Nikki Bower reported that OpAphid and Tachyon appeared to be missing in action.

Covers
The Order has many fronts to help conceal its true nature. Three of its major covers recently joined together to form the Lullaby Project, the true nature of which is to help find new ways to achieve the eternal life the Elders seem to so desperately want.


 * The Hymn of One is a religious cover for the Order.
 * The Wyman Foundation acts as non-profit research organization, but is truly a cover for the Order
 * Verdus Pharmaceuticals is a major drug company that is also a cover for the Order.
 * LifesBlood Labs is a scientific cover researching regenerative genes for the Order.

Development of The Order Backstory
Bree's early videos mentioned that she had been "religious" her whole life, but did not reveal the name of her religion. She did clarify that her religion was not Christianity.

An organization called "The Order of Denderah" was first mentioned in the video Learning To Drive (Sept. 20, 2006). In that video, Daniel and Bree argued about Bree's ritual and she exclaimed that her parents were "not Order of Denderah!". A few weeks later in his Order Of Denderah video (Oct. 6, 2006), Daniel tried to research the Order of Denderah, for he suspected that it was, in fact, Bree's religion. The concern of many fans through this time period of the show was that Bree's religion was some type of evil cult.

In early November 2006, Gemma announced the existence of "The Order": "It's more like a secret society. It's not a religion after all." She also denied any connection of the Order to Thelema (Learning Egyptian (Nov. 9, 2006)). She did not mention "denderah."

In April 2007, Bree revealed that her religion is called the The Hymn of One, and describes it as a front for the Order... a "recruiting branch." (Losing My Religion (Apr. 3, 2007)).

Then, in About The Gun (Apr. 16, 2007), Bree, Daniel, Jonas stole away in a bunker previously used by the Resistance to the Order, and found a whiteboard containing information about the structure of the Order. The whiteboard helped to confirm many fan theories.

In July 2007, Alex first introduced the concept of Shadows (Proceed with Caution (July 23, 2007)).

Religious Influences of The Order
Although the Creators have claimed that they do not want the Order to be associated with any one religion, many references to existing religions can be found throughout the series. These references include:
 * The picture of Aleister Crowley on Bree's bedroom wall.
 * Bree attended summer camp in the summers of 2005 and 2006 with peers from her religion in which they put on a play about Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth and the adventures that they had.
 * Bree's studies of Enochian in preparation for the ceremony.
 * Bree's mention of her mother's strong belief in free will, as well as other references to the importance of free will in choosing to do the Ceremony.
 * Preparation for the ceremony for Bree included studies on The Zodiac of Denderah.
 * Bree attended a ceremony on the Fall Equinox in September 2006 in which her dad performed.
 * References to Aleister Crowley on the Hymn of One website.

Furthermore, on more than one occasion, Bree expresses reservation about sharing her beliefs with others. Her religion is unusual and sometimes adds to her alienation from her peers.
 * Bree has told viewers that she does not talk about her religion because she expects some people would be very disrespectful of it. (A Change In My Life)
 * Bree mentions that she was once friends with a girl named Cassie, who stopped coming over because the "religion thing kinda freaked her out." (My Helper)

The most logical reason for the religious trappings of the the Order is that they are operating under the guise of "The Hymn of One" to mask their real operations and true intentions.