{ "model": { "rank": 8481, "code": "thing-q276548", "model_id": "vr.tr.secret-society", "name": "secret society", "purpose": "Let an agent explain secret societies, relay history, kinds and legal treatment from historical and sociological sources with attribution, describe the named examples, correct unsupported conspiracy claims, avoid facilitating criminal organisations, and distinguish secret societies from open fraternal organisations, cults, criminal gangs and clandestine political cells.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Society, people and institutions", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "SOC", "domain": "SOC.ORG", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q276548/", "tier": 2, "score": 51, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "magical organization", "hromada", "Rosicrucianism", "Secret societies in Singapore", "high school secret society" ], "aliasCount": 5, "merged": 5, "knownIn": 51, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q276548", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q276548", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T20:31:57Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q276548", "registryId": "vr.tr.secret-society", "name": "secret society", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "SOC.ORG" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q276548/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.secret-society", "name": "secret society", "purpose": "Let an agent explain secret societies, relay history, kinds and legal treatment from historical and sociological sources with attribution, describe the named examples, correct unsupported conspiracy claims, avoid facilitating criminal organisations, and distinguish secret societies from open fraternal organisations, cults, criminal gangs and clandestine political cells.", "definition": "An organisation whose activities, rituals, membership or inner teachings are concealed from outsiders, ranging from fraternal and initiatory orders such as Freemasonry, often described as a society with secrets, and esoteric or magical organisations such as Rosicrucian orders and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, to student societies such as some high school and university secret societies, political clandestine groups such as the Ukrainian hromadas of the 19th century, which met covertly under imperial restrictions, and Chinese secret societies in colonial Singapore, which were suppressed under the Societies Ordinance of 1890; many conspiracy theories about secret societies lack evidence. Criminal societies such as triads are described only at reference level.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a type of organisation.", "affordances": [ "explain kinds and history", "relay legal treatment", "describe named examples", "correct unsupported conspiracy claims" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Secrecy of rites or membership", "Initiation", "Varied purposes", "Subject of conspiracy theories" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; symbols such as the square and compass or rose cross may be used.", "visual_identification": [ "Organisation with concealed rites or membership", "Magical organisation, hromada, Rosicrucianism, secret societies in Singapore, high school secret society", "Open fraternal groups publish membership; cults are high-control groups; criminal gangs pursue crime; clandestine cells are political" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "Premier Grand Lodge of England", "typical_range": "1717", "unit": "year", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Rosicrucian manifestos", "typical_range": "1614-1617", "unit": "years", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Singapore Societies Ordinance", "typical_range": "1890", "unit": "year", "note": "suppressed secret societies" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "fraternal and initiatory orders", "esoteric and magical orders", "student secret societies", "clandestine political societies", "Chinese secret societies and triads" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "organization", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "includes", "target": "Freemasonry", "why": "" }, { "relation": "includes", "target": "Rosicrucianism", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "conspiracy theory", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Laws on associations and unlawful societies such as Singapore s Societies Act", "Freedom of association protections" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Amplifying unsupported conspiracy theories", "Facilitating criminal organisations", "Stigmatising lawful associations" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a secret society is.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a secret society, and how does it differ from open fraternities, cults, criminal gangs and clandestine political cells?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question historical, about joining a lawful group, or about a conspiracy claim needing evidence?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "named", "name": "Named", "description": "Named examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "named-finding", "name": "Named", "description": "Named.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are magical organisations, hromadas, Rosicrucianism, Singapore s secret societies and high school secret societies?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific example?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "fraternal", "name": "Fraternal", "description": "Fraternal orders.", "findings": [ { "id": "fraternal-finding", "name": "Fraternal", "description": "Fraternal.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Freemasonry and similar orders develop, as historians describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "political", "name": "Political", "description": "Political societies.", "findings": [ { "id": "political-finding", "name": "Political", "description": "Political.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did societies such as the hromadas and Carbonari operate under repression?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "law", "name": "Law", "description": "Law and society.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "regulation", "name": "Regulation", "description": "Regulation.", "findings": [ { "id": "regulation-finding", "name": "Regulation", "description": "Regulation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How have governments regulated or banned secret societies, such as in colonial Singapore?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Societies Act (Singapore)?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "conspiracy", "name": "Conspiracy", "description": "Conspiracy theories.", "findings": [ { "id": "conspiracy-finding", "name": "Conspiracy", "description": "Conspiracy.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does evidence say about claims such as Illuminati control, with scholars attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Illuminati?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Esoteric and student groups.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "esoteric", "name": "Esoteric", "description": "Esoteric orders.", "findings": [ { "id": "esoteric-finding", "name": "Esoteric", "description": "Esoteric.", "questions": [ { "text": "What was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "students", "name": "Students", "description": "Student societies.", "findings": [ { "id": "students-finding", "name": "Students", "description": "Students.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do university secret societies such as Skull and Bones operate, and what bans exist on school secret societies?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Skull and Bones?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should the named examples be separate entries?", "How should historical sources be linked?", "How should criminal secret societies be separated from lawful ones?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organisation or institution", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a secret society, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain secret societies, relay history, kinds and legal treatment from historical and sociological sources with attribution, describe the named examples, correct unsupported conspiracy claims, avoid facilitating criminal organisations, and distinguish secret societies from open fraternal organisations, cults, criminal gangs and clandestine political cells.", "characteristics": { "substance": "social", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "collective" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: magical organization, hromada, Rosicrucianism, Secret societies in Singapore, high school secret society.", "5 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 51 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a secret society, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a social arrangement between people", "physicalCharacter": [ "Acts through people, and only through them.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. Recognised by name, register entry and the people acting in its name, and those change while it stays the same body." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "magical organization", "hromada", "Rosicrucianism", "Secret societies in Singapore", "high school secret society" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 51 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 5 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one secret society from another, and a secret society from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a secret society sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a secret society from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a secret society passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a secret society between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a secret society, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a secret society is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "people-and-responsibility", "name": "People, roles and responsibility", "description": "Who stands in what relation to a secret society.", "rationale": "Social things are defined by the relations people hold to them, and those relations change without the thing changing.", "layers": [ { "id": "roles-and-parties", "name": "Roles and parties", "description": "The roles that exist around a secret society and who fills them.", "findings": [ { "id": "role-assignments", "name": "Role assignments and their validity", "description": "Who holds which role over a secret society, from when, and on whose authority.", "questions": [ { "id": "role-assignments-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a role over a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a role over a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a role over a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "ownership-and-accountability", "name": "Ownership and accountability", "description": "Who answers for a secret society and who may decide about it.", "findings": [ { "id": "accountability", "name": "Accountability and decision rights", "description": "Where responsibility for a secret society sits when something goes wrong.", "questions": [ { "id": "accountability-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes responsibility for a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about responsibility for a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once responsibility for a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "legal-identity", "name": "Legal identity and mandate", "description": "What secret society is in law and what it exists to do.", "rationale": "Legal identity survives changes of name, address, staff and premises, which is exactly why it must be recorded separately from all of them.", "layers": [ { "id": "registration", "name": "Legal form and registration", "description": "Form, register, identifiers and jurisdiction.", "findings": [ { "id": "registration-record", "name": "Registration and identifiers", "description": "What names this body unambiguously in law.", "questions": [ { "id": "registration-record-q01", "text": "What legal form does secret society take, in which register, under which identifier?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "registration-record-q02", "text": "What survives a rename, a merger or a move of premises, and what does not?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mandate", "name": "Mandate and governing instrument", "description": "The purpose it is bound to and the document that binds it.", "findings": [ { "id": "mandate-record", "name": "Mandate and its source", "description": "What it may do, and the instrument that says so.", "questions": [ { "id": "mandate-record-q01", "text": "What is the mandate of secret society, and which founding or governing instrument grants it?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "mandate-record-q02", "text": "What lies outside the mandate, and what should an agent do when asked for it?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "governance-and-membership", "name": "Governance, membership and decision rights", "description": "Who decides in secret society and who belongs to it.", "rationale": "Authority inside an organisation is held by roles, not people, and an agent needs to know which role can commit it.", "layers": [ { "id": "decision-rights", "name": "Decision rights", "description": "Bodies, offices and what each may bind.", "findings": [ { "id": "authority-map", "name": "Who may bind the organisation", "description": "The offices that can commit it and their limits.", "questions": [ { "id": "authority-map-q01", "text": "Which bodies or offices of secret society may take which decisions, and up to what limit?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "authority-map-q02", "text": "What evidence shows that a given person currently holds that office?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "membership", "name": "Membership and affiliation", "description": "Who counts as part of it and on what terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "membership-rules", "name": "Membership and its evidence", "description": "Classes of member, how membership starts and ends.", "questions": [ { "id": "membership-rules-q01", "text": "What kinds of membership or affiliation does secret society have, and how does each begin and end?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "membership-rules-q02", "text": "What may a member do in its name, and what may they not?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a secret society came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a secret society and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a secret society is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a secret society, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a secret society, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a secret society is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }