The Stage Setting for Window RPG

7/30/2019 The Stage Setting for Window RPG

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1T H E ST A G E

Stageth e

a . c o n t e m p o r a r y . h o r r o r . s e t t i n g

for th e

w i n d o w . r o l e p l a y i n g . s y s t e m


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TerminusImmortalUnseenShadowgroupsth eForces

th e

Welcome

A KN I G H T S PERSPECTIVE

It seems like all of my life h as been spent as an out sider

looking in. A s a young woman I found myself alone, an d too

often walking through t hose quiet places on th e edge of

night. I have always been attracted to solitude and repelled

from th e busy world th at I was born in to. Yet, as I grow older

I am m ade more and more aware of the ties th at inextricably

bind me with th at world.

My name is Susan D onelly and I serve an ancient C atholic

O rder known as the Knights of St. Jerome. We h ave existed,in on e form or anot her, since before the fall of Rom e. We

have preserved knowledge th at h as been aban doned or

simply forgott en, and for fourteen years I myself hav e

watched a noble, stupid race grow and diminish.

Sometimes the mun dane is not as innocent as it appears to

be. There are countless unseen forces that thrive just

beneath the bright illusion of the everyday. There are things

that lurk in the shadows that h ave been always been th ere.

They have followed us down through the ages, sometimes

preying on us like cattle, sometim es saving us from ourselves,

but always th ere, always waiting.

It h as been a great privilege to have worked with our O rders

greatest in vestigator, Walter De M esnil. An d I have also

been fortunate in th at I h ave witn essed firsthan d th e dark

thin gs and walked away unscathed. Th eir documentation

Welcome


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has been m y lifes work. To understan d me th ough, an dperhaps to understand th e O rder, one m ust first un derstand

who I was and h ow I came to be who I am.

I was born in upstate N ew York in 1969. M y fath er was a

practicing doctor and my mot her h ad been a teacher before

she married. Two years after I was born t hou gh, she was

killed in a car accident. After her death, my father buried

him self in his work.

My mem ories of that t ime, and of my fath er, are haph azard

at best. It seemed to me th at h e rarely ate, and instead

subsisted on cigarettes and a determin ed will. H is practicekept h im busy most of the time an d when he wasnt working

he read or wrot e. He did an ythin g I suppose, to keep from

dwelling on my mo th ers death. A s a result, h e had litt le

time for me wh en I was growing up.

I was ten wh en lun g cancer finally killed h im. It was an agon-

izingly slow death . H e died by inch es at th e age of fifty-two.

I had n o oth er family and was given in to th e States care.

Eventually, I ended up in a C atholic orphanage. By th e time

I was thirteen my father had become a dim memory.

My time with t he C atholics was spent mostly in church or inschool, and t here were many times when the distinction

between the two became meaningless. In the four years that

I spen t as an orph an I discovered a deep love for learnin g

and a respect for God.

In 1983 I was sent t o live with a m an n amed A rthur Parrish

and his wife Eileen. It was while living with th e Parrishs

that I first became aquainted with Th e Knights of St.

Jerome. Both of them were historians for the Order.

Through Mr. and Mrs. Parrish I was eventually able to enter

it as well.

A rthur int roduced me to a Jesuit named W alter de Mesnil

who sponsored my entry int o the O rder. Wh en I was

eighteen I was granted t he rank of Savant Knight of the

Cross and made my first visit to the Vatican City in Rome.

Th ere I contin ued to study and train. In t he summer of 1988

I became a full temple kn ight an d began serious scholarly

work for th e O rder. I was assigned th e task of writing a

general overview of th e O rders activities and in terests for

use in t he in itiation of new memb ers. A fter five years of

research, an d an oth er four spen t as an act ual field researcher,

I have compiled the document t hat you now h old in your

hand.

T his text is drawn primarily from m y original n otes, and I

must em ph asize th at as a first draft it is far from comp lete.

T his version is organized into five sections, each of wh ich

cont ain descriptions of the primary organization s and

individuals who h ave influenced th em. Th e hidden world

aroun d us is defined by conflict. Th ese are wars being waged

over ideology and h istory rath er th an po litical borders.


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TerminusImmortalUnseenShadowgroupsth e Forces

th e

Welcome

T he Terminus is an att empt to define the actions and th e

goals of a select group of individuals operatin g in th eshadows. Th e principle players in t he Termin us are a society

of precognat ives kn own as th e Juvat, a violent splint er group

called the Q uearo Verum, a group of mysterious beings

named th e Matar, and a select n umber of otherwise norm al

people drawn in to t he con flict because they possess th e

potent ial to chan ge the world.

With the exception of the last group, each party is seeking

to cont rol the future. Th e Juvat, the Q uearo Verum, and th e

Mat ar are all current ly trying to affect th e shap e of the

future by seizing control of so called free willed individuals.

A ll three groups believe th at while th e line of the future isnot preordained, most of the h uman populace chooses to

become set in a predictable course of action s. It is this

predictability which allows precognatives to see the future.

T here is free will, but it is rarely exercised. However, th ere

are certain p eople who d o ch oose free will and , as a result,

act in u npredict able ways.

T hese people, usually called Loci, num ber in th e ten s of

th ousands across the globe and h ave the potential to shape

th e flow of history. A s a result, th ere are elemen ts of each

group constantly trying to locate these people to insure their

particular vision of the future.

O f course, just because a Loci acts outside of th e boun dary of

predictability, it doesnt n ecessarily mean t hat th ey can be

used to sculpt that vision of the future. Only a small number

of them can be used or manipulated to alter certain specific

points in time. Th ese Prime Loci are the t ools with wh ich

the Terminus is constructed.

T H E JUVAT

The Juvat are a relatively young organization when com-

pared to th e Knights Of St. Jerome. However, they h ave

been bot h fortunate and successful in th eir evolution.

T hey were first established in t he late 1800s by a group of

mystics who believed th at th ey could con trol th e develop-

ment of the future. Th e original meaning of the n ame Juvat

is unkn own, but it may be a corruption of antiquated Latin

code.

Th e Juvat have been a source of hot debate with in th e

O rder almost since th ey were created. T hey are, in th e mostaccurate term s, a highly rigid and structured fellowship of

precognitives. They are enormously wealthy and have agents

throughout th e world.

Juvat O rgan ization

According to research done by Walter de Mesnil, the first

generation of Juvat were brought together and trained in

France sometime between 1861 and 1863. T hese individuals

became the leaders of the Juvat an d n amed th emselves th e

Advocates. They were all precognitives of the highest orderand had the added benefit of being, apparently, Immortal.

Within the Juvat a strict hierarchy exists. Advocates occupy

the h ighest positions with A tten dant Juvat just ben eath

th em. A depts are highly skilled precognit ives and exp eri-

enced field workers. Th ey usually are chosen t o recruit Juvat

cells and maint ain cont act with operations abroad.

Terminusth e


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One Attendant is chosen every fifteen years for the position

of A tten dan t D irector. It is this person s respon sibility to

coordinate the activities of other A tten dants, Adepts, and

A pprentices operating within cells out in t he field.

A depts make up the bulk of the Juvat. Th ey are the on es

who actually take an active han d in m anipulating events in

ho pes that t hey can create a specific future. T hey also

contact an d train th e majority of Apprentices.

Apprentices are new members of the organization. They are

the lowest level of the Juvat. Adepts are constantly seeking

out precogn itives for mem bership, but rarely find t hem . As a

result, many A pprentices do not have t he ability to see the

future. O ur best estimate is that only a tent h have abilities

useful enough to give them a chan ce at advancing to th erank of Adept.

Juvat C ell Doctrin e

A t th e turn of the century the A dvocates of the Juvat

discovered that our O rder had been observing th em and

th eir activities since 188 0. A s a result th ey adopted a cell

meth od of operation in 1905. A tten dants were instructed to

con tact and initiate small groups of specialized in dividuals

who believed in, an d agreed with, t he Juvats principle goals.

Mem bers of th ese cells were to be kn own as A depts andA pprentices. No on e within th e cell would know who was

above their recruiter, or who had recruited him. They, in

turn , would event ually separate and organ ize new cells.

T he obv ious advantage of such a system is th e incredible

security th at it creates. It makes it n early impossible for

infiltrators to penetrate very far into the organization. Also,

if any member of a cell is suborned, h e or she is unable to

betray anyone beyond th eir own cell.

Juvat G alleriesG allery is a generic term th at th e Juvat use to refer to

various safehouses scattered across th e globe. T hese sanctu -

aries range from private h omes to corporat e skyscrapers. Th e

very first G allery was an actual art gallery located in St.

Vivien de M edoc on t he coast of France. It was owned by a

man nam ed Elias Talamant es and u sed as a gatherin g place

for th e A dvocates at th e turn of the century.

Every Gallery is owned and maintained by people who are

sympathetic to th e Juvat. Th ey can be used at any time by

members in need. If a member is in danger or in need of

assistan ce, they are trained t o find t he n earest G allery.

The Largest Gallery is in New York City and operates on the

surface as a large and successful inv estmen t firm n amed

Cross & Associates. This the heart of the Juvat administra-

tive n etwork. C ross and A ssociates oversee all finan cial

matt ers ranging from th e acquisition o f property to wiring

money to agents in the field.

Juvat AdvocatesIn t he late 1800s, a mysterious man named G regor

Petrovitch gathered fifteen m en an d women t ogeth er in

Paris, France t o found t he Juvat. T hese individuals each

brought a gifted child with t hem with t he express purpose

of one day controlling the outcome of th e Terminus. Th e

fifteen children would later become t he A dvocates of th e

Juvat.

N ot m uch is known about th e Founders, aside from

Petrovitch on ly a few nam es and some obscure records seem

to exist. There is very little information available concern-ing them . G regor Petrovitch is perhaps the best docu-

ment ed, I have uncovered some records that may have

placed him in a small Russian village th at bordered th e

U kraine in th e year 1742. A t th at time he appeared to be a

man barely forty years in age.

T he following is a list of th e various A dvocates

psuedonymns (coincidentally, each name is taken from a

poem titled: H ymn to A dversity). It is not kn own what

significance t heir n ames may hold.

Virtue C harity Folly Justice

Laught er Pity N oise H orror

Joy Despair Prosperit y Disease

Wisdom Poverty A dversity

Melancholy


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T H E M ATAR

W hat are th ey? W here do th ey come from? Th ese are the

questions th at every Knight begins with wh en studying th e

Matar. Prior to about 1950, we can find no record of them . It

is on ly in recen t years th at th ey have come to th e O rders

at tent ion.

I and a few others are of the belief that th e Matar h ave an

agenda roughly parallel to that of the Juvat. Like that

organization, the Matar seem to be seeking control over the

Terminus. We believe th at th ey are a group of supernatural

entities who h ave taken over certain Prime Loci and ben t

th em to th eir will.

Perhaps as an unint entional side effect of th e conditionin gth at the Matar put th eir hosts through, they have the

uncon trollable ability to lower the ment al balance of

individuals near them . People who maint ain close contact

with t he M atar for any prolonged period of time begin to

beh ave irrationally and act out th eir base aggressions and

desires. It is as if they lose th e ability to d istin guish between

right an d wron g. Th is, of course, renders th em fairly easy to

control with t elepath y. Th ose unlucky enough to become

the servants of the Matar are called the Locura. It is not

uncomm on to find a M atar surrounding itself with as man y

hu man s as possible. To furth er facilitate th is, th ey often pose

as wealth y socialites or import ant businessmen who alwayskeep sizable retinues.

N o on e is certain if the M atar are able to see th e future in

the same way the Juvat does. However, we have noticed

some of the ways in which they attempt to realize their

goals.

First, th e Mat ar are constant ly seeking new Prime Loci to

possess or corrupt. Second, an y Prime Loci th at h as

already been reached by the Juvat is hunted and killed if

possible. Th ird, many M atar seek lesser Loci who h old some

import ant position o f power. If possible, th ey are alsocorrupted. O ne example of th is possession of lesser loci is the

A merican U SN A dmiral, Gregory Rush.

Rush graduated from A nn apolis in 1958 with h onors. As a

young Captain, h e was the U nited St ates Navy liaison

between SEA L Team-1 and th e A rmys Special Forces in

Vietnam for most of th e war. He was present at on e of the

greatest m ysteries of th e ent ire conflict: the disappearance of

two regular Army platoons near Ha Tihn .

After Vietnam, Rush worked extensively around the world

for th e O ffice of Naval Intelligence (O N I). H e worked as a

Station H ead for that agency until 1985. On June 14th of

that year he was traveling from th e U SS Puget Sound to

Seattle, WA. H is helicopter ran into severe weath er and was

forced down on the W ashington coast. Alth ough the

aircrafts wreckage was recovered, the remains of its crew and

single passenger were n ot.

Th e N avy listed Rush and t he Puget Soun ds Helicopter

crew as: Missing, Presumed D ead. Two mon th s later a retired

U SN Rear Adm iral G regory Evans Rush accepted th e

Pentagon post as Chief of O perations for the O N I. We

believe that th is man is th e same A dmiral Rush who

disappeared in Washington. Family members and co-workers

described Rush as a gaunt m an in h is early sixties, with wispy

white hair. Our agents in Washington D C claim that t he

new h ead of th e O N I is a man in h is middle thirties with salt

and pepper black hair. The physical discrepancies and the

unusual circumstances surrounding the two men lead us to

believe that he was a victim of the Matar. His current

position within the intelligence comm unity gives him th e

power and opport unit y to forward the M atars goals.


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T H E Q UEARO V ERUM

In 1965, an internal power struggle took place within t he

Juvat. Several respected m embers sought t o take a mo re

proactive position against the Matar. To this end, theyformed a secret cabal that they called the Quearo Verum.

Operating outside the scope of their normal activities, these

members of the Juvat began h untin g and killing kn own

Matar. Between 1965 an d 1967 we estimate that they were

responsible for the death s of about forty-eight Mat ar and

nearly one hundred Locura. Eventually, however, the cabal

was un covered and all of th e Q uearo Verum were expelled

from th e Juvat.

In 1982, a disenfranchised Juvat A tten dant named Elisabeth

Malatesta left the organization and began contacting all of

th e former Q uearo Verum. With th e aid of th e cabals oldleaders a n ew Q uearo Verum was created.

Today, they exist as a sort of un derground n etwork. T he

goals are th e same as before, but t heir m eth ods have becom e

much m ore violent and un checked. The group attracts themost volitile elements from the Juvat.

O stensibly, Malatesta runs the group, but ou tside a small

circle of former Juvat all she can really do is point th e

Quearo Verum in certain directions. Her agents are scattered

across the globe and rarely come into contact with each

oth er. A s a result, th e Q uearo Verums operations somet imes

seem ch aotic. St ill, Malatestas campaign of guerrilla war

with t he M atar h as thus far proven t o be very successful. T he

disorganized n ature of th e group is also its protection . N o

one can strike at all of th e Q uearo Verum.


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TerminusImmortalUnseenShadowgroupsth e Forces

th e

Welcome

Imm ortals walk amon g us. Th ey cloak th emselves well, but

have revealed their nature to us in dreams, legends, and

through t heir own guarded writings. Th e A maranth ites are

th e darkness at the edge of night. Respon sibile for th e

vampire myths of Europe and A sia, they have descended th e

great road of history in ou r shadow.

Today, th ey still lurk in sh adows, and from t hose shadows

they reach out to grapple with a history that they are

inextricably bound to. Th e A maranth ites represent a

competitor th at man is unaware of ,and perh aps unprepared

for. It is fortunat e th at mo st of th em are reclusive and p oorlyorganized.

Those who have stood out have pulled the strings of history,

nudging us this way and that. T hey have had a h and in

everythin g from t he fall of angels to th e defeat of Rome. It is

these creatures more than anythin g else that h as consumed

th e bulk of our O rders inquiry. Yet despite t he fact th at we

have in vestigated th em since our inception, we still know

precious little.

Th e A maranth ites could be the greatest windfall that man

has ever known. O r they could herald the coming apoca-

lypse. T hey are a variable t hat could prove disastrous or

fortuitous. And behind every theory, every investigation of

them that we undertake lurks th e question: what should we

do ?

th eImmortal


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N ature of th e Am arant hites

N o one is certain wh ere the A maranth ites came from, or if

th ey were once as hum an as we. Yet th ey are on e of the

oldest races that have shadowed hum anity for untoldcenturies. Mysterious and reclusive, they have nonetheless

left th eir mark upon th e world.

These beings may have given rise to the vampire myths of

A sia and Europe. Th ey are seemin gly immo rtal and possess a

wide range of supern atural abilities. We h ave studied th em

since th e fall of th e H oly Roman Empire, but they have

existed for much lon ger than th at. Study of these

A maranth ites has always been on e of our most important

and h azardous endeavors. As a result, extrem e caution is

always taken wh en dealing with th em. U nfortunately, this

has meant that th eir research has been a long and in volvedprocess. It was no t un til th e 1920s that we obtain ed a fairly

clear un derstanding of th em.

O n January 22nd, 1921, a man n amed William Kanigher

approached our Order with information concerning the

A maranth ites. H e spent several days with Kn ight s who

specialized in studying the immortal. The resulting notes

and depositions that were taken event ually became the basis

for the document entitled: The Bloodless. It is one of two

text s that we use to prepare mem bers for any project

involving the A maranth ites. Th e following is an excerpt

from Kanighers conversations with our Knigh ts.

Beware the eternal m y friend.

It s simple really, in all its w isdom; three words. a w ord of

truth. Beware.. .

I learned a lot of things from Eiran, but thats the one I

remember m ost. Trust is a luxury, he used to say, dont

be so quick to barter yours out. Eternity is dangerous. Its

unequaled in its potential for evil, and in its potential for

power.

Luck ily for people like you and I, etern ity is self dest ruc-

tive. Its just too bad that when they go, theyll probably

take us with them.

A maranthites are a race of imm ortals you see. T hey are

guilded puppeteers, living just below the surface like spiders

in the walls. O f the ones left, m ost are openly against us,

and n early all are insane. Im mortality does that to m ost of

the you see. A fter a thousand years of living the sam e life,

the days becom e slow torture. Eiran used to say that,

On e season piles up on the next; face after face, w ineafter wine, lover after lover. It is difficult to continu e.

Some years. .. But you k now w hat gets me? M ost of them

who havent been killed are obscenely rich and powerful.

T hey disguise themselves as hum an n obles and profit on us.

T hey go to great lengths of excess to amuse themselves.

O nly, they find that each expensive new en tertainm ent has

got to be even m ore twisted, un ique, or dangerous than the

last. Bu t Ill see the end of it. A ll of it. Som e people call

them vam pires, or the B loodless, or Pyreli, or Sith.

W hatever you call them, dont m ake too many assump-

tions. For every rule that you think is binding my friend,

theres a dozen exceptions. Sure, some dont like crosses,

but you k now, a lot of them a pretty religious. A nd those

who have accepted the A rt of Dark and Shadow m ay have

some problems w ith sunlight, but m ost dont.

T he only thing that you can assum e about them is that you

know very little about them.

T hey hide themselves carefully. A fter all, theyre not

stupid. A nd after a few centuries I guess its hard not to be

good at keeping a low profile.

It s nearly impossible to tell the differen ce bet ween one of

them and one of us. T hey appear as hum an as you or I,

and their intellect is unm atched. Plus, every one of them

each other on a personal level. T hey share inform ation

every few decades about the w hereabouts of us hunters. It

mak es my job that mu ch more difficult. T hey are also able

to sense when others of their race are nearby, which mak es

it very difficult to hunt them if you happen to be one.

A nd that s w here I com e in. M y O rdinate, Eiran, was on e

of them, but he w as one of the twelve charged with killing

them all. H e understood that his best chance of getting at

them w as through us. A nd so he and the other O rdinates

began training people like you and me to hunt the

A m arant hites an d destroy them . H e u nderstood the threat

that his brethren posed to the w orld. H e is the one you have

to thank for the knowledge that I bring.

H e also com mitted suicide a m onth after com pleting my

training.


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10T H E ST A G E

Th e Am aranthites appear totally human upon observation.

T hey rarely use real th eir real names and th ey usually re-

invent th emselves every few decades. In addition to th e A rts

th at th ey use, they also have th e ability to slowly chan ge

th eir appearance if th ey choose, th eir physically forms shift

at about th e same growth rate as a human ch ild. An y

A maranth ite can identify any other of course, but to a

hum an it can be n early impossible to see th e conn ection

between one of them t oday and what th ey may have looked

like a hundred years ago. They can alter skin tone, height,

weight, birth marks, voice intonationeverything really.

T hough n o one within th e Order has seen it first han d,

there are reliable stories that some Amaranthites will choose

to mimic an actual hum an being. On ce the resemblance is

complete they invariably kill the h uman and t ake their

place.

H owever, very few of th em will tolerate anyth ing less than a

perfect form. They are unusually vain in this respect. While

some Amarant hites stay in t ouch with th e ever changing

world around th em, many have become attached to certain

periods in history and continue to wear long outdated styles

and fashions.

A ll Amarant hites seem to h ave the ability to h eal wounds at

a remarkable rate. A scratch might h eal over in a matter of

seconds, a small cut in perhap s only a few min utes. For a

relatively serious injury (like a broken bon e or a bullet

wound), t hey might n eed a few days. H owever, not matter

how grave the injury, an A maranth ite Lord would never

seek the aid of any mo rtal agency.

Caledonian Council

T he journals of C ross Knight Ross, in addition t o th e

testimon y of Mr. Kanigher, are th e primary documen ts used

to familiarize mem bers with t he Bloodless. Th ese two text s

have set the tone of for all of our dealings with this immortal race.

Samuel Ross was the foremost Amaranthite scholar within

our Order. By the time he was thirty, he had wandered allover Europe an d A sia following legends and folklore to find

th e truth behin d the mystery of th e Am aranth ites. His

ent ire life was spent in t he p ursuit of their origins. H owever,

for the purposes of th is docum ent , only a fraction o f his

researches and notes have been included. For a more

detailed accoun t, refer to th e comput er tape files stored in

the Roman archives. W hat follows is mainly an account of

the en d of th e old A maranth ite order.

.. . and so the W ards of A rmere in Scotland actually go

back to Roman times; to the century just before theA m arant hites called their f inal assem bly. T he w all

encircling Loch A rmere was constructed by order of the

Rom an C aledonian G overnor, at t he requ est of a pow erfu l

and influential A maranthite named T hracio.

Physically, the grounds surrounding A rmere are nothing

short of spectacular. Secluded in the highlands beyond

H adrians W all, the Loch is a strong focal point for

poten tial m agicks.

O ddly enou gh, there is no archeological evidence of Scots,

Picts, or even Rom ans between A rmeres wall and the

Loch itself. A n area m easuring roughly tw o hu ndred

kilom eters extends from H adrians wall northward and

encompasses the Loch and its standing wall. I believe that

the area imm ediately surrounding Loch A rmere was

controlled and maintained by the A maranthites for the

purpose of large gatherings. Several m onolithic ston e W ards

still stand w ithin the deteriorating remains of A rmeres

walls.

T hese Wards act like focusing lenses for magicks. T hose

who can contact other minds have a particularly difficult

time within the enclosure created by the W ards. T heir

ability is absorbed and amplified back at them by the

stones. If a mage or gifted individual who is near the

W ards does not attem pt to use their abilities, then the

stones merely create a feeling of un easiness. H owever,

anyone actively using their gifts or engaging in the use of

magicks will have those powers directed back at them a

hundred fold.

A ccording to m y research, T hracio spen t n early seventy

years of study and m editation placing all of the W ards.

T his was done to protect those who would one day gather

in that place.

A t t he t ime, the A maranthites were essen tially peaceful

and well organized, with a central council called the

A llegiantheum, which held an assem bly every few decades.

T hey m aintained a loose policy of secrecy where hum ans

were concerned. T hey also put draconian restrictions on

those A rts which could only be used for destruction.


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11T H E ST A G E

. . . but everything that they had accomplished was overshad-

owed by a current of instability that was sweeping through

some of the older ranks. T hese Fathers and M others had

lived in the times before Greece and Egypt, but even they

could not remember their exact origins.

A long series of execut ions were performed by the

A llegiantheum in the first cent ury before the birth of

C hrist. A t the time, only the very oldest were killed. S uch

drastic measures were deemed necessary because of the

incredible powers that they possessed. A madn ess that

gripped the most powerful was a threat that the

A llegiantheum was not prepared t o face.

But cut ting ou t the root s didnt k ill the spread of the vin e.

A ll of those of fspring that had spread to A frica an d A sia

were slowly becoming aware of the disease that they carriedwithin themselves. T hracio was one of t he first to realize

the possible implications of his immortality.

Five centuries later, in the year 46 6, the inevitable

occurred. A large group of the oldest A maranthites led by

Lord V alkan declared their succession from the

A llegiantheum. A fu ll assembly was called for by the

remaining A llegiantheum. T he area in Caledonia kn own

as A rmere was chosen as the meeting place.

Sam uel Cheever Ross Savant Knight of the C ross 1754

Valkan

O ne of the best documented A maranth ite Lords was an

ancient known as Valkan. He was the leader of a sect of

immortals called the Recreantheum who rebelled against

th eir leaders. At on e time, we had in our possession several

books handwritten by Valkan himself.

A ccording to docum ent s stored in our O rders archives, Lord

Valkan was one of the oldest an d most uncon ventional

Amaranthite Lords. It was believed until early in this

century that h e had been killed sometime in 900 A D by

C atholic Knight s in what is now north ern A ustria. Four of

his books were obtained by the church soon after, and were

eventually passed on to the Knights of St. Jerome in 1183.

A ccording to some sources, Valkan wrot e as man y as twen ty

books, though the C hurch has only ever uncovered solid

evidence of five. The four books once held by our Order

were considered so heretical by the Vatican that they were

sealed and guarded from an y who would seek to use th em. In

the early fifteenth century, however, when two of the books

were destroyed it was decided that copies sho uld be mad e.

U nfortun ately, whatever secrets Valkan recorded were

destined to go undiscovered as the effort of tran scribing

them drove more than one m onk in to madn ess. Today, in

addition to p artial copies, on ly one of Valkans original

books is in our possession.

Most of what we have been able to piece together on the

true history of the Amaranthites is based on research done

by the Duke H einrich Von G uellum before his death.

U nfortun ately, his main references were letters written

between th e Recreanth eum, and obviously they learned

little from the final Armere assembly, having not attended

them selves. W hat Von G uellum did discover was th at

T hracio an d h is fellows revealed evidence of some imp end-

ing peril, someth ing that th e A maranth ites were intimately

linked to. W hatever th e evidence was, we must assume th at

it was quite compelling, as the Allegiantheum agreed

unanimously to destroy all evidence that their race ever

existed.

A ccording to Valkans estimate, some twen ty-seven t hou -

sand A maranth ites used the A rmere Wards to take th eir

own lives on t hat night, for reasons th at he could n ot

fathom.

Before the end of the council, it was decided that twelve of

the most powerful of the A llegianth eum would stay behind

and become O rdinates, or hun ters. It would be th eir task to

find each of the renegade Recreantheum and execute them .

Once their duty was completed, or if they felt eternity pull

to strong, they would take their own lives.

Loch A rmere Estate

Very few visit Loch A rmere an ymore. Its remote location in

the Scott ish H ighlands prevents most from venturing into

th e area. But during th e mid 180 0s, a large estate was built

on the Lochs shores. Th e man or and surrounding grounds

were constructed at the behest of the Von Guellum family.

Th ey were min or, expatriate nobles from A ustria who had

lost all of their native land h oldings. Th e Loch A rmere

estate remained in their possession until 1915.


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12T H E ST A G E

N estled within a shallow valley, and shielded from view by

th e moun tainous nature of the surrounding land, a low stonewall that on ce encircled th e Loch is usually the first feature

th at one notices upon arrival. Between th e deteriorating

wall and th e Loch itself are a series of stone m egalith s that

we call the Wards of Armere. Each intact stone measures

almost n ine feet tall and th ree wide. On th ese Wards are

faint impressions that the harsh weather has all but eroded

entirely. Th ey are all that remain of the run es that were

carved into them by Amarant hites sometime during the

Roman occupation of G reat Britain.

In 191 5, Duke H einrich Von G uellums wife invited a group

of seemin gly un related individuals from aroun d th e world toth e Arm ere estate. Th e events that tran spired there are

unkn own, but shortly thereafter, the m anor h ouse and part

of the servant s quarters were burnt to th eir foun dation s.

Both D uke Von G uellum, and t he people who were staying

at t he ho use, disappeared short ly after t he fire. Because of

th e anti-G erman sentiments th at W.W.I caused in G reat

Britain, Duch ess Von G uellum soon returned to A ustria. To

this day, no record of her whereabouts has been uncovered.

In 1942, t he A rmere estate was purchased by an A merican

named Patrick Russo. H e had the m anor house and the

servants quarters re-built accordin g to th e original specifica-tions. However, work was halted by th e outbreak of WW II.

A fter th e war, construction was never completed, though

th e estate rem ained t he prop erty of th e Russo family.

Today, the Loch, and t he land surrounding it looks much t he

same as it did a cen tury ago. Th e on ly visible clue to its age

is the manor h ouse and the com plimentary buildings. W hile

th e servants quarters were fully restored, t he ho use proper

has fallen into a serious state of disrepair.

Because of the adam ant denial of th e Russo family, we have

never been allowed to inspect th e estate in depth. H owever,

in 1943, a carpent er who had been in th e employ of the

Russo family, told on e of our investigators th at wh ile the

original house had been burn t to cinders, both t he founda-

tion and a maze-like series of cham bers below it were in

perfect condition. T he man had left the work site because of

unusual goings on that plagued the Loch while he wasth ere. Two weeks later he t urn ed up dead on a pier in

Glasgow.

We believe th at Du ke Von G uellum was in po ssession of one

or more A maran th ite icons or artifacts, possibly even some

of Valkans books. It may be th at h e stored th em ben eath the

house in the catacombs that exist there. If this is so, then

th e Russo family would no w be possession of whatever it ems

that Von G uellum h ad amassed. Th is may explain th eir

reluctance in allowing us to inspect the estate.

Th e Ordinates

A fter the final decree of the C aledonian council, the t welve

O rdinates left behin d began th eir task of hunt ing the

renegade Am aranthites of the R ecreanth eum. Even to th ose

of us within t he O rder, the O rdinates seem more like

myth ical figures th an real ind ividuals. No Kn ight h as ever

discovered ph ysical evidence of them . At most, all we have

ever found are records, person al diaries of people who came

into contact with t hem, or obscure folktales.

However, we must believe that they do exist. We know fromBill Kanighers testimon y that at least one O rdinat e nam ed

Eiran recruited human s as A maranth ite hun ters. We also

believe that h e, or anoth er Ordinate, may have had a han d

in th e development of th e Am erican O ld Families. Un fortu-

nat ely we also kn ow th at Eiran killed himself sometime prior

to 1921. T his leads us to believe that wh atever the

A llegianth eum sought to en d or avoid may still await th em.

Th ey do not con front the Recreant heum directly, instead

choosing to hazard pawns in an old and in tricate game. Th ey

use hum ans to draw the renegades out int o th e open, where

they are vulnerable.

Kanigher on ly knew the n ames of three of the O rdinates, and

we have never been able to discover the names of the others.

Th e ones that we do kn ow are: Eiran, Q uintus, and G insal.


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13T H E ST A G E

TerminusImmortalUnseen

Shadowgroupsth e Forcesth e

Welcome

O LD FAMILIES

Th e th ree bloodlines known as th e O ld Families of A merica

have been a source of interest for our Order since the 19th

century. Alth ough th ey have their origins in th e A merican

Revolution, it was not unt il the 1800s that th ey began t o

draw our attent ion.

Independen t occult investigators and even ghost hun ting

societies are not an unusual phenomen a. both have existed

in varied forms for centuries. It was th e appearance o f not

on ly one, but th ree ent ire families of occult dabblers and

investigators which brought th e O ld Families to th e atten -

tion of our A merican Knights.

Upon realizing that the Pagets, Bishops, and Harpers of New

England were a unique occurrence in almost th e whole of

documented history an in vestigation was initiated. At the

urging of Con sular Abbot Dewitt, an open ended observa-

tion and file was begun. In ad dition , a separate inv estigation

was undert aken con cernin g each familys origins.

C aptain W illiam Bishop, Sergeant Patrick H arper, and

C olonel Richard Paget all served in th e Con tinent al Army

under Washington. H owever, the only other ment ion of

th em th at can be found during th is time period is an

incidental account wh ich would seem to place each of th em

at th e Battle of Trent on. It is not kn own wheth er or not t he

three had met prior to the war, though it seems unlikely.

Following th e A merican bid for independence, th e th ree

soldiers settled down in parts of New England an d each

began a family.

N ext to n oth ing is really known about th ese men, and it is

their descendants who mainly interest us. Members of each

family hav e served in almost every major war fought by th e

U S. It is during th ese periods th at th ey have had some of

their more interesting endeavors. As a result of their

obsession with t he supern atural, th e O ld Families have

built up quite a reputation within certain circles.

T hey are self styled occult experts and o perators who h ave

man aged to involve th emselves in some of the m ore bizarre

supernatural events in American history.

Despite th eir long tradition of occult in volvement, th ere are

those who would argue that the Old Families rely more on

luck than knowledge. As proof, they point to th e Paget

bloodline. O nly four descendan ts of th is line remain today,

due main ly to the disastrous actions of the family in t he

1920s.

Shortly after W.W.I, a young man n amed Timoth y Coch ran

entered seminary school. H e had served in th e trench es of

the G reat War, and during that t ime spent in France, he had

been a witn ess to an gel manifestation s. H e, and a fellow

soldier n amed Victor Paget qu ickly became obsessed with

understanding the angels that they had seen. However,

soon after their m utual sight ings, Timoth y was woun ded

quite badly and was sent hom e. Upon returning and ent ering

the priesthood we cont acted and invited him t o join our

ranks.

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14T H E ST A G E

H oping that t heir prior relationship would be enough to

make contact with at least one of the Old Families, Presid-

ing Abbot DeW itt sent Timothy to contact Victor Paget in1925. It seemed like an ideal situat ion, using th eir friend-

ship, th e O rder could reveal itself to t he O ld Families in a

slow and con trolled man ner. The fact th at Victor had

essentially isolated himself from the rest of his family also

meant t hat we would not h ave to worry about unwanted

suspicion or inquiry. It was an opportunity that had to be

taken.

Timoth y was led to believe th at h is assignmen t was furth er

study of angels, and for reasons of secrecy, was told not to

tell Victor Paget an ything about th e O rder until a later date.

T his would prove to be a terrible mistake.

W hile working with Paget, the two h ad made inroads into

and an gel worshipping cult in A frica. Timoth y was certain

th at t he cult was in po ssession o f several books of angel

lore. We believe th at th is was the impetus th at prompt ed

him t o attempt an infiltration of th e cult. With out warning,

Timothy suddenly disappeared. Alarmed, Presiding Abbot

DeW itt quietly sent out an urgent message to th e Cath olic

infrastructure in Kansas City: any information about

Timothy Coch ran would be wired to the O rder with all

possible h aste.

A short t ime later Timot hys body was discovered in a local

broth el. His body was covered with t atto os and ritual scars.

T he Kn ight that was sent to claim his body was convinced

th at A frican ritual magic had been used to kill him.

T H E H O ST

T he H ost refers to all th ose n on-corporeal beings that

occupy what is otherwise known as the spirit world. W ith

th e exception of an astral projection , spectral beings are

creatures of varying intelligence who do not maintain amaterial form in their natural state.

O ur O rder has investigated h auntin gs and ot her spiritual

phenomena off and on since we first became aware of them.

H owever, since t he main focus of our energies is directed at

beings and organizations that can be documen ted in a linear

and in ter-related way, study of the H ost has been h aph azard

at best. Still, there are aspects of the Host which lendthemselves to investigation. Those spirits who interact with

one an oth er and pattern them selves after the angels of the

th ree Ch ristian religions are th e subject of a small but

focused group of Knight s.

Th e Seraphim, or A ngelic C hoir, have been of particular

interest t o us as th ey do maintain that they are actually

angels. T he b ulk of research do ne in th is field was th e result

of two different Knight s in separate eras.

Thomas Magnusson was born in 1848, in Girgenti Sicily. A

complete p ersonal file for Magnusson is kept in t he O rders

archives at our library in Rom e, and is available for inspec-

tion. H is lifelong preoccupation with th e Seraphim began in

1868, just as he was ent ering th e sixth year of his studies.

A lthough h e only lived to be forty-eight, h e is the Knight

most respon sible for th eir study.

In 1950, A bbot M arie de Quincey built on M agnussons

work and began to study th e possible aims of the Seraph im.

H er assessment an d th eories are th e basis for th e current

movement within th e Order th at is interested in producing a

more detailed analysis of the Host in general, and the

Seraphim in particular.

T he following is a short excerpt from th e rath er sizable

research that Magnusson did prior to h is death in 1896. Th e

complete an alysis was given to our C onsular A bbots and was

event ually catalogued in our Fren ch Library.

.. . the Seraphim have no true shape or form. T hey are

part of the great H ost of S pirits that cling to the w aking

world and have no doubt given rise to countless legends and

superstitions. T hey are ghosts and specters, but are not the

shades of men . T hey have never been alive, and

certainly have never experienced a physicality that we take

for granted every day.

Yet, the Seraphim confound me. W hereas most of the H ost

are little more than addled brained phantoms upon which

we have foisted our fears, the Seraphim are well organized

and quite capable.


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15T H E ST A G E

TerminusImmortalUnseenShadowgroupsth eForces

th e

WelcomeWe are not the on ly ones interested in th e unkn own. For

centuries there have been societies that dedicated th em-

selves to t he pursuit of th e supernatural and th e paranormal.

However, it is only until recently that governments began

sponsoring such groups. The most notable were the

Victorias Gh ost Hu nt ers of the 1800 s in En gland, but th erewere and are oth ers.

In A merica at the end of th e C ivil War, a group of Secret

Service agents briefly investigated a malignan t substance

called the D arkness. A lth ough th is group was short lived, it

left beh ind a legacy that would, in time, be taken up on ce

again.

In t he early 1980s a man n amed Eliot M organ brought

togeth er a group of federal agent s and began inv estigatin g

th e Darkness once m ore. Th is group, the Shadesmen, was

fated to be short lived an d fraught with in trigue and tragedy.

T he t wo groups mentioned above represent only one aspect

of the governmen t sponsored investigators of th e unkn own:

th e accidental one. N either the 1800 or th e 1980 groups

were purposely designed by th eir govern men ts to seek out

the paranormal. They either stumbled across some aspect of

the supernatural or were covertly formed with their

governm ent s finan ces, but n ot its overt kn owledge. DPL

agencies on th e oth er han d, are groups formed at the express

request of a government.

Since the early 1950s there have been DPL agencies. A

byproduct of the Cold War and closely resembling other

espionage groups of the period, DPLs seek to neu tralize

th reats of a supernatural nature. Th e DSI in A merica is a

perfect example. Nearly autonom ous with in th e governm ent

it serves, it engages in covert warfare with an ythin g that it

deems of unknown origin.

T H E D ARKNESST he m ysterious substance kn own as th e Darkn ess was first

recorded in t he lat e 1800s by a group of Secret Service

agent s who h ad been ch arged with th e investigation of

several strange events in New Orleans. Only fragmentary

information con cerning these men has been uncovered,

th ough, due to a disturbin g conspiracy of silence surroundin g

them and their activities. By all accounts, the Darkness

takes form as a viscous black liquid. Each seethin g ten dril is

an ext ension of th e whole. To sever an offsho ot or isolate a

single drop is to confine an aspect of the whole. No matter

how minute, the Darkness survives and propagates. A single

malignan t purpose guides every ounce of it.

In 1865, th e same year that t he A merican Civil War

concluded, the U SSS (U nited States Secret Service) was

founded as a branch of the Treasury Departmen t th at today

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16T H E ST A G E

ho lds the distinction of being the oldest federal law enforce-

ment agency of the U nited St ates governmen t. Founded by

H ugh McC ulloch, with th e consent of President Lincoln, the

Secret Service was originally charged with combat ing coun ter-

feiting, but then began protecting th e President in 1901.

T he first Secret Service C hief was a man nam ed William P.

Wood. H e started with only ten agent s, mostly private

investigators, and b egan trackin g down coun terfeiters. By

1870, th ere were twenty-four agent s working for the Secret

Service, eight of which were ordered by Wood t o investigate

a shipping company headquartered in N ew Orleans. We do

not know exactly why Wood sent these agents to Louisiana,

ho wever, what t hey discovered went far beyond simple

boodling (counterfeiting).

T he ch ief investigator th at Woo d sent to N ew Orleans was a

man n amed Leonard C abbot. We presume th at it was

because C abbot was born an d raised in Louisiana t hat Wood

placed h im in charge. Cabbot, though, was a strange man by

all accounts. According to information t hat we have

gathered about him, he was born in 1840 an d although h e

was a southerner, records show that he enlisted in a volun-

teer regiment in N ew York and fought for th e U nion during

th e war. Afterwards, he worked at Pink erton s Detective

A gency and th en in 1866 was recruited for the U SSS.

A ccording to letters written between Wood an d McC ulloch,

C abbot was competent , but n ot particularly liked by othermembers of Secret Service. We know t hat Wood himself did

not care for C abbot, and h is distaste for the m an m ay have

had m ore to do with C abbots New O rleans assignm ent than

his background or inv estigative prowess.

According to research conducted by Walter de Mesnil in

1973, sometime in th e middle of the 1860s, an A ustralian

cargo ship registered under the name Brittanicus started on a

journ ey th rough th e In dian O cean , from it s h om e po rt in

Perth to N ew Orleans. Sometime after its departure, the

Brittan icus picked up a load o f slaves bound for A merica.

H owever, the ship never reached port as it foundered on th eseas just beyond t he C han deleur Islands in th e G ulf of

Mexico and was never seen again. That was, until the small

island of Jut in the Breton chain was purchased after the war

by a group of freemasons as a retreat. T hey subsequently

discovered the remains of the ship which had been driven

into th e rocks that line the perimeter of th e island. Wh at

they discovered with in t he rotting h ulk would have reper-

cussions that extended well into th e 1980s.

W hat th ey found was an in ky black substance t hat, in

Cabbots words, .. . devours all life. It is a m align and vile

substance that shows all signs of being alive and possessing of an

intelligence, though by what means I do not know. Every time I

think that I understand its nature, the damned stuff confounds me

again. O ne thing is certain though, it is evil.

C abbot an d his fellow agent s uncovered a salvaging opera-

tion t aking place on Jut. Th e freemasons who owned t he

island were h auling heavy wooden casks, such as one might

have found wine stored in, out of the Brittanicus hold, and

were transporting them to a storehouse in N ew Orleans.Shortly after arriving at the city, Cabbot discovered the

Darkness th at th ey contained.

W hile we have discovered much about th e O rigins of th e

darkness in A merica, we have yet to determine what the real

goal of the Brittan icus was, or why t he freemason s were so

intent on salvaging the derelict ship. W hat we do kn ow is

that somehow, C abbot convinced Wood that th e Darkness

was something that had to be contained and, if possible,

destroyed at all costs. McC ulloch was subsequent ly given t he

authority by the Executive Branch to seize th e conten ts of

th e freemasons storeh ouse. A s man y barrels of Darkn ess ascould be found were th en t ransported by secure railroad cars

to an A rmy fort in Vicksburg. To th e best of our kn owledge,

Cabbot never learned th e whereabouts of th e Brittan icus.

A fter some examinations were made by the U S A rmy,

Presiden t G rant created a ancillary group of Secret Service

agents with Leon ard C abbot as its head, whose sole purpose

was to track down an y Darkness in the U nited States.

Over the course of the next few years Cabbot had his family

hom e in Barnett, Louisiana converted into a temporary

ho lding facility for any Darkness th at h e or his men recov -

ered.

For undisclosed reasons, in 1 892, President C leveland

dismantled C abbots group by executive order and h ad all

official records of its existen ce destroyed. A ll of th e Darkn ess

kept at th e Vicksburg fort was transported t o a secure facility


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17T H E ST A G E

in somewhere in C olorado. H owever, we do not believe th at

th is included t he D arkness stored at C abbots house.

Despite all of this, Cabbot and his former agents continued

to in vestigate t he Darkness in private. C abbot h imself

disappeared in the summer of 1900 somewhere in Nebraska.

T H E SHADESMEN

O ne o f the after affects of Leon ard C abbots Secret Service

group was th e creation of th e Shadesmen. In 1985 an N SA

agent n amed Elliot Mo rgan organized a group of investiga-

tors for the sole purpose of cont inuin g Cabbot s work. We

postulate that h e must have uncovered some document s that

escaped Clevelan ds purging, but he was killed in 1 992

before we were able to interview h im. By th en, h is covert

activities within h is own government had branded h im a

traitor.

T he first action he t ook was to bring togeth er a group of well

train ed profession als under h is person al auspices to gath er

information about Cabbot. N one of the agents knew each

oth er personally. Th ey were each carefully screened an d

selected from separate agencies, and th ey were not p aid

directly by the government. Using his authority as a high

level NSA official he began appropriating the excess funding

th at h is department received and started to fund his own

private operation.

T he first m ission was to investigate certain even ts in

Delilah, N ebraska. Our order attempted to obtain t he

recorded mission reports in 1993, but were deterred when we

discovered that t he N SA had con fiscated all of Morgans

personal docu men ts. We were able to uncover th at the mission

found t he remains of Leonard Cabbot and th e lamp that was

given t o h im in 1891 by the A rchdiocese of Philadelphia.

Sometime during th e mission, th e team also encountered a

man posing as an FBI agent by th e nam e of Jackson C age. Abackground check on h im through th e Nation al Security

Data N etwork traced him back to the U .S. Department of

Special Investigations. We were able to interview h im as

part of our 1992 in vestigation and he told our int erviewers

th at th e Shadesmen were still active, though th ey had

severed all ties with th e N SA .

DPL A GENCIES

DPL (D angerous Phen omena Location) agencies represent a

growing trend th roughout the world. Since th e Victorian age

there have been occasional ghost hunting societies that

have h ad either th e blessing or th e funding of an open

minded governmen t. Th e VGH in Britain was one of the

most ren owned of th ese groups but it cert ainly wasnt the

first. However, not until the early 1950s have governments

themselves created special organizations designed specifi-

cally with the supernatural in min d.

T hese agencies differ from t heir predecessors in t hat th ey are

not m erely concerned with t he investigation and docum en-

tation of th e paranormal, but rather are charged with th e

elimination of supernatural threats. In some cases, they have

even attempted to utilize such phen omena in an attempt to

shift th e all to tenu ous balance of world power. th e govern-

ment sanctioned ghost h unt ers of today resemble not hing

so much as cadres of highly trained soldiers, a far cry from

th eir society club beginn ings.

Every major industrialized nation on earth had created some

sort of DPL agency by th e end of the 19 60s. Th is arms race

can be seen as a byproduct o f the C old War, a time when

paranoia ran unusually deep.

Just as th e mem bers of these agencies began to resembletheir military brethren, so too their tactics began to mirror

th ose of th e elite special forces. O peration s are cond ucted

un der th e heaviest cloak of secrecy, and all too often are

staged on foreign soil.

One of the most active of these organizations is the Depart-

ment of Special Investigations (DSI) in th e U nited States.

The United States DSI was created by President Eisenhower

in 1954 an d was on e of the first of the m odern gho st

hunters. It was one element of a two part program code

nam ed: AVATAR. Project: Blue Book was th e oth er half of

th e operation . Th e A ir Forces half was also twofold. T herewas the official inv estigation of U FOs designed for public

consumption, and t hen th ere was the covert investigative

portion. However, It was decided by President Johnson and

the N ational Security Council in 1968 to close down th e

military aspect of AVATA R. In 1969 P roject: Blue Book was

terminated.


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18T H E ST A G E

T he stated goal of the DS I is th e suppression of paranorm al

activity that would in any way th reaten th eir national

security. This blanket directive has enabled them to, onmore than one occasion, strike out at private citizens and

engage in operat ions across th e globe.

With the en d of the C old War and the Balkanization of the

Soviet Union, the directives and mission goals of many DPL

agencies hav e chan ged drastically. Man y countries have

dismant led their department s, and still others have re-

purposed th eirs. A s a result of th is political uph eaval, those

agencies still operative in t heir original form h ave had t o

become even more secretive . Many agencies have been

attemptin g to gain m ore autonom y by disguising th eir nature

from t heir own government s.

T H E DSI

T he U nited St ates is sectioned into th ree different regional

areas of operation: East Coast, West Coast, and Central.

Each region is controlled by a Field O ffice, there is one in

Washington D C, D enver, CO , and San Francisco, Calif.

Excluding the DC office, Field Offices are usually staffed by

about th irty personn el and one Deputy Director. H owever,

to cover t he vast areas in each region, several Out Region

O ffices are established t hroughout the continen tal U S.T hese O ut Region O ffices almost always consist of no m ore

th an on e or two D SI agent s called RO s (Regional O fficers).

T he R O s are th e investigative arm of the DS Is Special

O perations branch. T hey are charged with th e task of rumor

hunting and the initial investigation of official cases. Their

main purpose is to gather information an d brief their

superiors, and if the case warrants it, call in th e Th reat

Response Teams (TRT). Because of their unique and often

uneventful duties, ROs usually operate under other Federal

or Stat e capacities such as Forest Rangers and G ame

Wardens. T heir employment as low profile governmen tagents allow ROs to operate in relative anonymity and still

receive their pay from th e governmen t. U nlike TRT or clean

up crews, RO s are th e agents most likely to com e into

contact with the public, therefore, they rarely engage in

wet or black operations.

Because of th eir isolation and wide ranging respon sibilities,

RO s are generally th e most high ly skilled operatives in t he

field. Th ey are trained in several different disciplines andon ly become R O s after serving with on e of the T RTs or

clean up crews. Th ey are the men and women who occupy

the strata between the wet field operatives and the upper

echelon staff. In fact, almost every Special O peration s

Executive Officer has been a RO.

A s of 1965, there were three twelve man T hreat Response

Teams under the Special Operations branch of the D SI. On e

was posted at each Field O ffice. However, in 1966 Team -3

was lost in th e Salem Seven in cident .

It is the duty of th e Th reat Response Teams to contain orsuppress threats of a paranorm al natu re. Th e TRTs are

usually called in wh en a R O has determined th at a th reat

exists an d m ust be dealt with as quickly as possible.

SpecO ps recruits most of its members from t he t op five

percent of military academy graduates. Th ese soldiers are

th en cross trained in several different Special Forces

programs. After exten sive cross training th e recruits are

taken to a special SpecOps proving ground somewhere in

the Colorado Rockies. Here the TRT operatives are familiar-

ized with existing an d past supern atural th reats.

T he T RTs are, however, first and foremost fast reaction

forces. Th eir primary function is to con tain or suppress any

th reat of unn atural origin. H owever, secrecy is absolutely

paramount in t heir operations. Th is restriction generally

prevents them from mounting large scale operations with

the use of helicopters and the like. TRTs use unmarked vans

and minivans as transportation whenever possible.

T he clean up crews are groups of agent s who m ove in after

th e T RTs and sanit ize areas. Th eir duties may include th e

disposal of bodies, evidence, or m edia black-out.

The Stage is copyright 1998 by Phillip Challis

Illustrations copyright 1998 by Phillip Challis and Scott Lininger

The Stage is available online at http://www.mimgames.com/Stage

The Window RPG is available online at http://www.mimgames.com/Window

Documents

The Stage Setting for Window RPG