THE ORDER OF AURELIUS. Buffyverse Term/Concept/Idea/Intratext.
"'And there will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the Anointed, the Master's great warrior. And the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him, and he will lead her into Hell.' As it is written, so shall it be. 'Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his immortal destiny.' As it is written, so shall it be."
The Master: "We live below, giving tribute to The Old Ones. Awaiting that promised day when we will arise. Arise! And lay *waste* to the world above."
Angelus: "Why'd you wanna do that?"
The Master: "Huh?"
"Darla" on Angel
Giles: "Aurelius wrote of the Anointed One, 'The Slayer will not know him, and he will lead her into Hell.'"
The order of Aurelius was a brotherhood of vampires who had faith in the prophecies of Aurelius, describing an Anointed One. This Anointed One was to give the order of Aurelius the power to defeat the vampire slayer, lay waste to the living on the surface of the Earth, and make way for the old gods to return.
Watcher Rupert Giles referred to the Order of Aurelius as "a very old and venerated sect." Exactly how old is open to debate, but dates back to at least the twelfth century. By the late 1700s, the order of Aurelius was legion, and was led by a vampire referred to only as "The Master." He led his followers like a mad evangelist, only without the kool-aid. Angelus was once offered serfdom in the order through his relationship with Darla, but Angelus turned The Master down.
The symbol for the order of Aurelius was a sun and three stars, inside a rune depicting fidelity. This symbol was put on signet rings for members of the brotherhood to wear, so that they could subtly recognize one another without drawing the attention of outsiders.
Some of the prophecies of Aurelius are believed to have come to pass, after a fashion, near the end of the twentieth century in a place called Sunnydale, California.
The Master's great warrior turned out to be a snotty child. The Slayer thought The Anointed was this other beefier guy which she killed, so she was mildly surprised when the snotty child escorted her down into The Master's Lair, where she and the Master proceded to kill one another. This was a key development in The Master's plan for escaping from his undead tomb and returning to power. Aurelius spoke of The Slayer in his prophecies, saying that the Anointed One would "not be known" by Buffy, and that he would lead her into hell. He also mentioned that The Master would kill the Slayer. However, Aurelius didn't mention anything about loyal friends happening by who knew cardio pulmonary resuscitation (see Alexander Harris).
The sect itself wasn't quite legion by the time the Annointed actually arrived. So though a reverent group, time had eroded the Order down to just a few. The Master, Darla, a few extras and some stuntmen. I mean, you'd think more would have shown up to see the prophecy achieve fruition at Sunnydale, but in hindsight the most The Master's interpretation of Aurelius' prophecies did was ruin Buffy's dinner date plans for an evening. Buffy thwarted that particular apocalypse, but the prophecies of Aurelius are open to interpretation.
The last known member of The Order of Aurelius, the vampire Darla, died giving birth to a human child - a warrior. Connor could arguably be the true Anointed One, and the one who claimed to be The Master could have been full of hot air. However, this is apocryphal and speculative.
See also: Anointed One, Apocalypse Plural, Advent of Septus, CPR, and Just How Many Times Did Buffy Actually Die Again?
--Zach Garland