Named for a famous Christian Saint from the 4th
Century AD, this Episcopalian religious order was
formed in Florida a few years ago and has enjoyed
moderate growth since then. The Order uses a variant
of the old Benedictine Rule to provide its members
(mostly women) with some sort of stability and
religious focus. Not all members take a full triple
vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, but they are
expected to order their lives in compliance with the
Book of Common Prayer: many Sisters are cloistered.
There's nothing particularly abstruse or hidden about
this Order: certainly no one would ever expect it to
be a front for Laurence...
That's wise, because it isn't.
No, it isn't a front for Diabolical activity, either.
Try not to be insulting, OK? The Order of St.
Athanasius is exactly as advertised: a minor
Episcopalian religious Order with no secret links to
the War at all (just like most religious Orders,
churches, mosques, synagogues, stone circles or even
flat rocks). Yes, it may seem like you can't throw a
rock in an organized religious group without crippling
three angels, a Soldier rapid response team and a
secret demonic infiltrator, but that's just...
over-enthusiasm on the part of many GMs. It's
perfectly possible to run a faith without direct
angelic (or demonic) supervision: most do, in fact.
However, judging from most of the IN literature out
there (not excluding the author, of course), such a
happenstance is so unnatural that it should be causing
disturbance. That's fine: in fact, it gives nasty GMs
a fun plot hook. Simply have a Superior send the PCs
to investigate a report that the Other Side has
infiltrated the Order. If your party has female PCs,
well, it's time for an undercover operation: for best
results, use the one closest to being a Kung Fu CB
Mama on Wheels / Motorcycle Aztec Wrestling Nun, or
any Malakite of War Faction (pretty much the same
thing, really). The rest of them ... well, Superior X
can spring for some female vessels and letters of
introduction, right? Bad idea to let the party split
up, anyway.
Or so goes the conventional wisdom, at least. I
personally find it fun to watch.
Anyway, watching the PCs try to fit in (and if
Superior X is Laurence, they had better know the
Benedictine Rule backwards and forwards) with a group
of generally nice, quietly pious (almost forgot: the
Order has a Rule of Silence after Compline) Sisters.
Let them look and sneak around and investigate: the
most heinous thing that they're likely to find is the
Mother Superior's secret chocolate stash (only one per
day, even if that one is a nougat). Or maybe one of
the Sisters reads the occasional romance novel. With
any luck, the PCs should be going nuts in short order.
Now, if they happen to be demons (or just angels with
inappropriate senses of humor / Poor Impulse Control),
this should be time to toss in the infiltration squad
from the Other Side. Why are they there, now?
Because the PCs are, of course: this spy/counterspy
thing's been going on for millennia. They'll be as
ignorant about the utter lack of celestial
interference (although by now that's not strictly
true, is it?) as the PCs, which means that you'll have
two groups of celestials sneaking around. Of course,
both groups will be certain that the presence of the
Other Side means that something is going on after
all...
If this is done right, there'll be angels digging up
the basement for nonexistent secret bases, demons
hypnotizing hapless Sisters to reveal imaginary
Tethers, Gamester/Inquisitor investigations of
everyone who walks within half a mile of the Order
House, and every other damfool idea that the players
come up with. All done quietly, of course, in order
to make sure that the Other Side doesn't catch on.
Try not to culminate with the Order House burning to
the ground, though: this Order actually exists in our
universe, and they seem to be pretty nice people...
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