The Contramara

The Contramara are a Farisian secret society that fears "the Eye" — the stylized logo of the IRIS, which they know only as an ancient and implacable watcher. They are referenced by Minalan in Practical Adept when he sees the stained-glass eye in the IRIS headquarters: "the Eye that the Contramara fear." What little is on-page portrays them as one of the old hidden factions of Farise, tangled up with the city's smugglers, rival adepts, and the "Iris" criminal gang that serves as the IRIS's cover.

Their place in the Farisian underworld lies one layer beneath the visible factions of the city — they are not pirates, not corsairs, not the Brotherhood of the Rat, but a quieter group whose fears run in a different direction. The IRIS appears to cultivate and manipulate that fear deliberately as part of maintaining its own secrecy.