Confessors were an order of women first created during the Great War as a means of ascertaining the truth beyond doubt. They were created by Wizard Merritt using the Shrakiah, tools of great magical prowess. The first Confessor was Magda Searus. The magic of the Confessors destroyed the person touched by their power, in the sense that such a person would lose their free will, and would submit their lives to the Confessor.
The Confessors were soon instigated as the rulers of the Midlands, with their leader, the Mother Confessor, acting as the First Chair of the Central Council. However, after a three thousand year long reign, the Confessors were hunted down and murdered in their entirety, excepting the last Mother Confessor Kahlan Amnell.