[UA] Catholic Church and the Order of St. Cecil (was Re: Eternity)

[Chad Underkoffler]

> From: "Tim Toner" <thanatos at interaccess.com>
> Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 21:56:07 -0500
>
> They've also reactivated the Perpetual Societies, which
> is a cool idea in itself.  See, when someone dies, their
> sins are tabulated, and if they're beyond redemption, they
> go to Hell.  Catholics can pray for the souls of the departed,
> and in so doing, mitigate some of the sin.  In the grand 
> tradition of selling indulgences, someone had the clever idea 
> that they could hire people to just pray, all the time.  I've 
> been trying to figure how to shoehorn the concept into 
> a variety of games--right away, it's a good reason for any
> kewl kovert group to avoid the Vatican like the plague.  
> They're a sleeping giant who can obliterate anyone, once 
> sufficiently riled.  In UA, though, we can take the
> idea and run with it a little.  We have a group of people
> who have dedicated their lives to an ideology, and pray in 
> concert, building a vast resevoir of power that waits to be 
> unleashed (and since someone's not doing their job,
> the energy never gets sent to where it's supposed to go, 
> but instead pools in places like Lourdes, etc.  

You had me up to here.

> But they don't have to be praying, per se. They just have
> to be performing a sympathetic action in concert, like 
> perhaps, a toast, or *ahem* a gangbang, or even a group 
> mutilation.  A ritual like this ought to be planned well in 
> advance (like, oh that annual Guinness world's largest toast),

> but if it's done in the right way, I can imagine a little 
> accidental weirdness going off as a result.

This bit I don't like. 

Time to run some Chadly changes on the Perpetual Society Power
Pool Idea. YMMV.

Okay, the OSC is dedicated to bringing down magickal/unnatural
threats to the world, right? They've got access to the Vatican
library. Up til WWII, they were using a heavy-duty artifact (the
Knocking Box) after a fashion. Presumably, they've never really
had an adept in their ranks-- at least not in the PoMo Age.

Enter Father Daniel O'Bedlam. Irish-American. Former cop from
Philadelphia, entered the seminary post-early retirement from
the force due to a bloodbath involving six cops, two adepts, and
an avatar. Recruited *directly* into the OSC, because, you see,
Father Danny gained an magickal insight as he was bleeding out
his life in the ruined nave of St. Christopher's Church. 

Prayer and the focii involved in such-- crucifixes, rosary
beads, holy water, paschal candles, sacred chrism-- becomes a
weapon agains magick and the unnatural when "infused" in just
the *right* way. The tools tap the stored power of prayer saved
up from the constant prayers of the Perpetual Societies-- as
well as the constant world-wide celebrations of the Mass. 

When a guy is able to annoint his knuckles with "activated"
chrism, then punch *through* a Clockwork unharmed (once, mind
you), well, that makes the Order sit up and take notice. Rosary
beads can be used to bind an adept, and drain away any charges
he attempts to use. Holy water is excellent-- not as a
grenade-weapon, as most would think-- but when used along with
the Sign of the Cross, will make the user "invisible" to
magickal effects until the water dries from his forehead.

Of course, these abilities only work:
1. Against the Unnatural.
2. With a successful Pray roll by the user.
3. For devout Catholics.

> Date: 21 Sep 2000 18:04:05 -0000
> From: "Nick Wedig" <mrteapot at disinfo.net>
>
> I'm surprised no one mentioned The Order of St. Cecil in
> this discussion yet.  (BTW: who was St. Cecil?  Was he a 
> real saint?  or, if he's fictional, make up some cool 
> background for him)

"St. Cecil and the Moor" is mentioned as the secret story that's
the basis for the OSC.

Oh, and see above. :)





=====
Chad Underkoffler [chadu at yahoo.com]
http://www.geocities.com/chadu/index.html
"Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three."
  -- Willy Wonka

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