6.11: Is there an opposition to the Order of the Sponge?

Over breakfast the following day pTravis, Masongill and Lottie have been turning things over. The other insignia has somehow made them ask a question that had not occurred to any of them before. They do not have much to go on and, so far, it seems more a theoretical question, but they realise that they do not know whether the Order of the Sponge has, over its 2,000 year history, acquired any enemies. Is there some antithesis to the Order? 

“I bet there is. I bet it is called something like: The Mire. The Gravesoil Syndicate, or The Mud-born Order. No: The Bog Lords. Or just The Murk-ness. The Filth-bound Covenant? The Mire-breed! Sod-blight. The Bog-soul Cult. The Soil... Weeps.” 

“Hush-hush, Lottie, no more clap-trap!”

“No, I bet it is something to do with sludge. Just listen to the word: SLUDGE!. Er... Children of the Sludge. The Sludge Dominion. The Order of the Black Sludge. Sludge-kind. The Sludge Communion. The Sludgeborne Cabal. Sludge of the Crawling God. Children of the Sludge. The Elders of Sludge and Mire. Eyes of the Sludge-Mother. The Sludge Creed. Servants of the Sludge Spire (imagine that there’s a central location or power structure made of living sludge!). The Sludge Tongue. Yurgh!  The Supreme League of Unrelenting Doom, Grime, and Evil (SLUDGE!). No, it is probably just: The Order of the Sludge Veil! ” 

While Lottie witters on, skimble-skamble with increasing excitement, the other two decide to go and ask Hipparchus. 

Bearding him in his study, they find that Hipparchus is trying to solve two crossword clues. 

“I found a fragment of crossword on the floor outside my study”, he explains. 

The clues he has written out on the blackboard read. 

13 down: Change drs or die – chaos (8) 

12 across: Disaster as endless pot and ecstasy is introduced by jazz fan (11) 

Ignoring this irrelevance, they ask him their question about the Order of the Sponge. 

“I will consult my distributed faculty colleagues” he promises. 

As they leave, pTravis adopts his role as Hipparchus’ factotum and pours him a Bas Armagnac but accidentally pours perhaps a treble. Oh well, he thinks. He will enjoy it guiltlessly.