Order of St. Dumas (Gotham)

"The blood of the nine shall wash away the sin. The son of Gotham will die and the city will be cleansed"

- One of the Order of St. Dumas cult members.

The Order of St. Dumas is a religious cult led by Father Creel and the main group of antagonists in the first half of the second season of Gotham. The Order protects the family of their patron saint, Saint Dumas. When the Dumas family was banished from Gotham, the order went into hiding, fleeing to Europe with the rest of the Dumas family members, who took the name Galavan.

They invade the city of Gotham to help Theo Galavan get revenge for the mutilation and banishment of his ancestor Caleb Dumas. At Gotham, they complete their ritual, killing eight people as the "blood of nine shall wash away the sin". However, while attempting to sacrifice Bruce Wayne, the son of Gotham, as the ninth victim the order is stopped by a combined force of Penguin, Gordon, Alfred and Selina Kyle, which leads to the deaths of all present cult members, including Creel.

History
After Theo Galavan, assisted by his sister Tabitha and his niece Silver, has prepared almost everything for his overtaking, he is visited by Creel, who tells him that warriors of the order are about to arrive at Gotham, ready to help Theo.

The cultists arrive days later, at the docks of Gotham, where they are greeted by Creel. They are disrupted by a security guard whom they stab to death. They then make their way towards Gotham.

With his followers present, Creel kidnaps and kills eight people in Gotham, planning to fulfill the prophecy. They kidnap a mugger while he tries to rob a woman and kill him at a shrine in the sewers. After the man's death they visit their old abbey, which has been bought by a chinese businessman and has been turned into a brothel. They kill the owner. However, Gordon and the GCPD have found information about the order in the form of the tunic of Theo Galavan which they found at his penthouse. When they arrive at the former abbey, they are greeted by prostitutes, who screamingy exit the building. Gordon enters the abbey and finds the dead owner. He is then attacked by a cultist with a knife. Gordon overpowers the man and stabs him in the thigh with his own knife, but the man shows no sign of pain. The fight continues until the monk decides to flee. Aiming his gun at him, Gordon tells the cultist to surrender but he commits suicide by throwing himself in front of a truck. During the autopsy of the dead cultist, Leslie shows Gordon scarred cuts on the palms and on the back of the body. Gordon says that this fits the description of the order, as the leaders cut themselves and baptize the followers with their blood as a part of a ritual.

While investigating the sewers of Gotham, Gordon and Bullock are followed by a member of the order. Inside a chapel of sorts, they find the victim Father Creel killed earlier, marked on the forehead with blood as the other victims. Before they can plan their next move, they are attacked by the Cultist who followed them. Bullock knocks the man unconscious by smashing him into a pillar, which almost destroys the whole room. While arguing about whether they should interrogate the man or call an ambulance for him, Bullock states that the dead man is the eighth victim of the order.

To get information, Gordon tricks the cultist by blindfolding him, then impersonating a leader of the cult. He learns that the only victim left is the "Son of Gotham". However, GCPD officers bust into the room and the cultist realizes he has been tricked.

After having been cleared of all charges, Theo enters Wayne Manor and kidnaps Bruce, taking him back to his penthouse and locking him away in a cell. However before the Order can slit Bruce's throat and full-filling their prophecy, Silver has a change of heart and stops the ceremony and shortly afterwards James Gordon, Oswald Cobblepot, Alfred Pennyworth and several mobsters storm the place to rescue Bruce and for Cobblepot to get his revenge. The monks are shot down dead, with Father Creel killed by Harvey Bullock. Tabitha and Silver betray Theo and escape, and he is subsequently captured by Gordon and Cobblepot and later killed. What becomes of the Order after this is unknown.

Trivia

 * They might be based on League of Assassins, since Theo Galavan shared some similiarities to Ra's al Ghul.