Guardians of the Veil

• Rote Specialties: Investigation, Stealth, Subterfuge.
• Order Tools: Cloaks, veils or masks.

Atlantean Caste

Visus Draconis, the Eye of the Dragon.

Role

The Guardians of the Veil are the spymasters and secret police of the Pentacle Orders. Where the Adamantine Arrow looks outwards for threats to the Awakened, the Guardians look inward, testing and suspecting everyone, and taking it on themselves to not simply set everyone to the inquisition, but to eliminate those threats they may find.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the Guardians can be divided into two facets: the Exoteric Tenets and the Esoteric Tenets. While the Exoteric Tenets are something known about the Guardians throughout the other Orders, the Guardians keep the Esoteric Tenets a fairly closely guarded secret.

The Exoteric Tenets

These are the philosophies that the Order publicly associates itself with. Those mages who pass the final Veil learn these, and every Guardian adheres to them, although some may come to understand them in different ways from their fellows.

• Paradoxes Strengthen the Abyss as Punishment Answers Pride: To the Guardians, Paradox is the single greatest threat faced by the Awakened. They never accept the trivialization that other mages sometimes ascribe to Paradox - it is not a failed technique or lapse in concentration, it is a moral failing that allows the Abyss to consume yet more of the Fallen World.
• Sins for a Just End Grant Wisdom to the Awakened: The sum total of all Awakened souls are called the Diamond Wheel. As the Awakened as a whole approach a perfected, moral state, it spins faster and faster. This is a matter of quantity as well as quality: the more mages are able to pursue enlightenment, the faster the Wheel spins. As such, rather than permitting all mages to perform the sinful deeds that are called for by living in the Fallen World and fighting the battles they do, the Guardians take on those acts, concentrating the acts of sin into fewer individuals, and thus freeing the Wheel to turn faster, as the load of sin is not "concentrated" among a broader base of Awakened. In essence, the Guardians sin so that others may hone their Wisdom.
• Merit must Guide the Fallen World: Magical understanding and Wisdom contribute to the overall merit of the Awakened. As such, Sleepers are wholly unfit to guide themselves, and the Awakened who would lead them must be held to a very stringent ideal of Wisdom and magical power. Properly speaking, Guardians are generally considered by themselves to be unfit for positions of leadership because of the previous tenet, although some Guardians may work to fulfill the requirements of Wisdom and power if they are best suited for leadership positions. Those who have been tested and passed are sometimes referred to as the "True."

The Esoteric Tenets

These concepts are considered secrets of the Order by the Guardians, primarily because the motivations behind them are easily misunderstood and/or twisted in the public sphere by adversaries. These are considered actively sacred by the Guardians, and well protected from general knowledge.

• All Thrones are False; All Souls are Flawed: Merit must guide the Fallen World, but there is no one with merit. Understanding Paradox to be a moral failing, the fact that every mage risks Paradox reveals that there is none of the Awakened who are worthy. As such, Guardians do not ever experience true loyalty to any leader; they are there to constantly test and castigate those in positions of leadership, not support them.
• There is a Secret Hierarchy of Souls: Though all souls are inherently flawed, some are more flawed than others. Souls pass through successive reincarnational cycles with the intention of honing themselves, causing the Diamond Wheel to spin faster and faster. Not all souls have the same amount of potential: some are simply better than others, and have the potential for greatness, while others - even Awakened souls - are doomed to mediocrity in this lifetime. The Guardian must learn to identify the potential for greatness, and strive to bring them together with others of like potential. Likewise, the Guardians must also identify those infested with mediocrity and prevent them from infecting other souls with their Wheel-slowing uselessness, going to far as killing them and speeding them on to their next incarnation if necessary.
• The Hieromagus will Fulfill the Diamond Wheel: In time, when spins the Diamond Wheel fast enough - caused by there being enough enlightened, Awakened souls in the world at once - the way will be clear for the coming of the Hieromagus, the mage without flaw in his soul. This Awakened messiah will be immune to Paradox, and will explicitly not come from within the Guardians (who are all too flawed to ever produce such a bodhisattva). When he comes, it will be the Guardians who recognize it first, because they will test him and find him perfect. He will gather the Awakened around himself, and form Atlantis anew, and then lead the Awakened to rebridge the paths to the Supernal Realms, and heal the Fallen World.

Praxis

Guardian Legacies

Common

• Bearer of the Eternal Voice: (GoV; Mind/Life/Space)
• Subtle One: (MTA; Mind/Fate/Space)

Uncommon

• Brotherhood of Holy Knives: (Home; Death/Prime/-)
• Eleventh Question: (GoV; Time/Matter/Death+Mind)
• Votaries of the Ordained: (GoV; Fate/-/Space)

Rare

• Cupbearer of Lethe: (Home; Mind/Prime/-)
• Thread Cutter: (L:tA; Fate/Death/-)

The traditions of the Guardians are rooted in code and deep secrecy. Learning them is a process not of just recalling what those traditions are, but of discovering them from the obfuscations put in place by the Order to begin with, leading Guardians to be individuals prone to viewing the world in layers, with a healthy dose of paranoia and the understanding that everyone and everything has secrets.

The Law of the Mask: Methods

The basic ways of the Guardians are never committed to writing. Writing is too accessible, ultimately, and provides the unworthy with a means of accessing what is intended for the worthy alone. Thus, the body of oral tradition is referred to as the Law of the Mask: it is learned in layers of storytelling, metaphor and proverb.

• Learning to Remember: Guardians are expected to hone their memory skills, whether through magic or (preferably) mundane methods. In addition to providing a more reliable means of transmitting the Law of the Mask, it also makes the Guardian more of an effective operative and agent in their service to the Order. As such, many Guardians either have the Merit: Eidetic Memory, or they learn the Merit: Trained Memory.
• Parables and Koans: Small tales with layers upon layers of meaning are typical for the Guardians. Contemplation of these tales are intended to help break beyond Quiescent modes of thought to discover Supernal secrets that hide behind the facets of the Fallen World. Plus, many of them serve as excellent codes for communicating concepts - a story is easier to remember than a lecture, after all.
• Oral Histories and Prophecies: The Law of the Mask includes generation recounts of the flight from Atlantis, the establishment of the Order throughout the world and other elements of Guardian history. Many of these stories are transmitted through epic poetry, which draws on the repetition of certain phrases as mnemonic devices. And just as the Guardians recall the past in such terms, they also focus on the future - there are many, many prophecies that have come to the Order's seers over the centuries, and many of them are recounted constantly for wisdom in the issues the Guardians must deal with. In fact, many of the oral histories of the Guardians begin with a piece of prophecy, incorporating the divination that led to that event into its retelling.

The Culture of Secrecy: Behavior

Around all of this, the Guardians maintain what they call the "Culture of Secrecy" - teaching their apprentices to treasure the discovery of information and lore for themselves, rather than having it handed to them, so that they are hungry seekers, rather than the informationally corpulent waiting to have knowledge served up to them by others.

• Anonymity & Reticence: Guardians do not talk about themselves. Generally speaking, those who do are lying, or seeking to use a piece of throw-away information to some benefit. They learn to dissemble well, deflecting questions with questions of their own and taking advantage of the fact that people like to talk about themselves. Guardians tend to avoid lying, not because they are averse to deceit, but because the signs of lying are a form of giving information away as well. This very much applies not just to in-person communications, but other forms as well.
• Habitual Surveillance: Guardians make a habit of being aware of everything. The pieces of information that cross their paths, information that most people ignore, are voraciously devoured for clues and interconnections. While Guardians are taught to downplay paranoia - which is the projection of one's assumptions onto details of the world around them. Instead, they are trained to simply take notice of everything around them, and Guardians on their own frequently play the "spy game" with themselves, looking around and figuring out where in the area they would stage an ambush, hold a private conversation, eavesdrop on someone, drop an item for someone to pick up and the like.
• Levels of Trust: Guardians maintain a subjective hierarchy of levels of trust. They do not give away secrets or trust casually, nor do they do so based on "feeling." These levels are:
  • Grey (Sleeper): Common knowledge, including Sleeper occultism. When revealing such information, Guardians often slightly twist occult lore, in an effort to draw intelligent seekers into further searching for "the real thing," and to send fools away on wild goose chases.
  • Crimson (Sleeper, Labyrinth Status ••• or Other Mages): Anything a Sleeper Retainer would need to accomplish a mission for the order. May reveal some of the morally or legally questionable aspects of the Labyrinth's activities. May be sent to perform some of those activities themselves. Fanatics unlikely to Awaken may even be used as sanctum guards.
  • Black (Guardians Initiates): Fully initiated Guardians learn the Exoteric Tenets, the Law of the Mask and about activities specific to the caucus. Forbidden from learning about other caucuses. Guardians must convince their fellows that they not only are worthy of these secrets, but need to know them.
  • White (Guardians, Status •): Trusted with all but the highest levels of secrets, including the Esoteric Tenets. These secrets are not handed to the Guardian, but gained through personal drive and proving to be worthy.
  • Colorless (Guardians, Status ••••): Secrets so dangerous they must be hidden from the rank and file of the order.
  • True (Worthy Mages): Mages of other orders who have been tested and passed. They may be told more than others, including information needed to remain safe in the event of Guardian purges. (This status is almost never granted to those of the Free Council.)

The Divine Thread: The Caucus

Inspired by Sun Tzu's term for espionage, the "Divine Thread" is the Guardians' activities as spymasters, a vocation they pursue with grace and efficiency. Each caucus is effectively an autonomous spy ring, story circle and place for testing mages. Secret missions are their stock in trade.

• Objectives: The objectives of the caucus' espionage covers four main areas:
  • Defend the Awakened: X
  • Protect the Sanctity of Magic: X
  • Weaken the Enemies of Atlantis: X
  • Prepare the Way for the Hieromagus: X
• The Great Game: X
  • Seers of the Throne: X
  • The Left-Handed Legacies: X
  • Allied Orders: X
  • Sleepers: X
  • Other Supernatural Beings: X
• Tradecraft: X
• Cells: X
• The Caucus as Spy Ring: X
• Agents: X
  • Crown of Roses: X
  • Smoke of Altars: X
  • Ebony Palanquin: X
  • Pomegranate Eaten: X
  • Oubliette: X
  • Battlefield Gull: X
  • Portal Warden: X
• Agent Tactics: X

Organization

X

Status

X

• Neophyte: Neophytes are still in training, often by famuli to whom they are assigned. They are given long-term assignments, usually surveillance of some sort, to which they must dedicate the majority of their time outside of cabal or mundane life demands. Neophytes may be called upon by famuli or magisters for special projects, organized into teams with specific goals.
  • New Initiate (Status -): Must have one Arcanum ••+, six rotes. Gain access to Black-level Secrets.
  • Experienced Neophyte (Status •): Must have one Arcanum •••+, eight rotes. Known to a small part of Order; gain access to White-level Secrets; may be made Cultor or Emissary.
• Famulus: Famuli are proven in skill and dedication. It marks the end of a formal training with superiors; famuli are expected to call upon order members to help them round out any elements of their magical training they are missing, but they no longer actively learn from someone else. They may undertake the official training of a neophyte, however. Often expected to take up titles within the caucus or consilium. They are also expected to plan and execute important tasks within the order.
  • Junior Famulus (Status ••): Must have one Arcanum ••••+ or two Arcanum •••+ each, ten rotes, Politics ••, one other Mental Skill •• appropriate to role in order. Known to majority of Order in region; may be made Interfector.
  • Famulus (Status •••): Known to majority of Order in nearby regions; may be made Susceptor.
  • Senior Famulus (Status ••••): Known to majority of Order in country; gain access to Colorless-level secrets; may be made Epopt.
• Magister (•••••): Must have one Arcanum •••••+, twenty rotes, Occult ••••+, one other Mental Skill ••••+. Exemplar of Order ideals

Each dot in Status grants a discount to purchasing a specific type of Merit, reducing the cost to New Rating x1 for that Merit. The Merits for the Guardians of the Veil are:

• Contacts: Guardians frequently create for themselves vast networks of informants, spies and similar sources of information.
• Occultation: It is very common for Guardians to manifest occultation, fading from Sleeper society.
• Paranoia Merits (Group): Guardians often develop a sort of paranoia that allows them to anticipate surprises and notice everything. With this selection, Guardians get the normal discount on the Common Sense, Danger Sense, Fast Reflexes and Trained Memory Merits.
• Status: Guardians often infiltrate Sleeper government, espionage and military organizations.
• Unseen Merits (Group): Guardians master techniques of moving quickly and without being seen or getting lost. With this selection, Guardians get the normal discount on the Direction Sense, Fleet of Foot and Tunnel Rat Merits.

Factions

• X

Schisms & Heresies

• X: X
• X: X
• X: X
• X: X
• X: X
• X: X
• X: X
• X: X

The Caucus

The caucus functions as an autonomous spy-group, training academy and multi-purpose conspiracy. They also function in a cell structure, forbidding those of insufficient Status to even know other caucuses.

Caucus Titles

• Cultor (Status •): Cultors create and oversee the maintenance of Labyrinths. Though they are not responsible for the ways in which the caucus will use the Labyrinths, they are responsible for seeing that the Epopt's decisions are made manifest in the Labyrinths.
• Emissary (Status •): As many caucuses avoid revealing the identity of their Epopt - or sometimes, even the identities of their membership at all - the emissary acts as the public face of the Guardians to the local Consilium and other orders. Emissaries attend to public and private meetings, even being the one to deliver threats.
• Interfector (Status ••): Executioners, torturers and scapegoats. The usually-masked Interfector is the Consilium's headsman and interrogator, with permission to kill any mage selected by the Hierarch and a majority of Councilors. Interfectors are immune from prohibitions against violence, violating sanctums and similar prohibitions. The Interfector may even be send against other Guardians.
• Susceptor (Status •••): The elite spies of the Order, Susceptors are the field agents of the Guardians, their identities usually known only to Epopts. They eschew long-term strategies in favor of immediate objectives and tending to goals personally.
• Epopt (Status ••••): Master of spies, the Epopt directs the activities of the caucus, remaining in contact with other caucuses to oversee the functioning of the order as a whole. Epopts tend not to be authoritarian, as Guardians who pass through the Veils rarely need such direction. The Epopt acts as the clearinghouse for the intelligence gathered, granting the Epopt a perspective no other Guardian in the caucus has.

Caucus Gatherings

The following are some of the more common elements of Guardian caucus gatherings. Not all gatherings will employ all of them, and many caucuses add others unique to their brotherhood and history.

• Rite of the Diamond Wheel: A ritual, facilitated by an Adept of Prime, which reaffirms the philosophy of the Diamond Wheel to the Guardians gathered, and re-empowers them in both Willpower and Mana for the task at hand.
• Dinner Presentation: Caucus gatherings that include dinners often include a guest speaker of some kind.
• Investiture of the Interfector: When a new Interfector is chosen, he is chosen by surprise - the Epopt suddenly shouts an order to "Seize him!" and everyone gathered (many of whom know to expect it) leap on and subdue the new Interfector. He is dragged before the current Interfector, who waits in proper robes and mask, and forced to kneel. Abuse is then heaped on him, insults and spitting most often, but some caucuses administer a beating. Then, the Interfector pulls him to his feet, removes his mask and places it on the new Interfector. All gathered then turn their back on the Interfector, rejecting him from their company for the ills he must do, and the Epopt banishes him from the gathering. Those gathered are then warned that this could happen to them, and to honor the Interfector for making the sacrifice he has made for them.
• Colloquia: The teachings of the Order are made generally available in the form of workshops and discussion groups, each with a very specific and narrow topic. These colloquia are usually organized either by different cabals (more common in caucuses with all-Guardian cabals) or by the members of the various Factions (much more common in the modern era). Some of the topics include espionage techniques, historical lore, Masque training, the performance of ordeals and the like.
• Rote Training: The Guardians usually assign someone to assisting the mages of the Order in locating and learning rotes they are interested in. This usually happens where the caucus keeps its collection of grimoires, though the one responsible for helping usually also has a rough idea of the rotes known by the majority of the Guardians at the caucus, in order to point out rote mentors if the Order does not have a copy of the rote sought.
• Midnight Assembly: Generally, things wind down around midnight, when the Epopt gathers them to thank them for their attendance, reminding them of their duties. Afterwards, though that is the signal that it is acceptable to depart the caucus gathering, many Guardians stay to socialize with one another, seek out mentors and the like.

Prominent Caucuses

• Project: Chimera: Northern and Central California.
• Caucus Eruditia: San Francisco, California. A tiny, local caucus in the Consilium of the Mists, this caucus' members base their Shadow names and Awaekened identities on Commedia dell'arte archetypes, following some manner of occult inspiration unrevealed to non-initiates of the caucus.

Order Merits

Contemplation of Paradox (•)

Prerequisites: Guardian of the Veil Status •
Benefit: The Guardian may seek Wisdom through the contemplation of Paradoxes that she does nothing to prevent or mitigate, whether she caused it or another. If she contemplates such a Paradox for one day after it is caused, her player may reroll that character's next failed Wisdom roll, keeping the results of that roll. Only one such reroll may be "banked" at a time.

Assassin's Advantage (••)

Prerequisites: Faceless Faction, Guardian of the Veil Status ••
Benefit: May contest a target's Wits + Composure roll with a Wits + Stealth roll when making a surprise attack. Must have studied target for three turns. Additionally, the Guardian may use Arcane Experience to purchase the Masque Merit. No more than half of the cost may be paid for with Arcane Experience.

Inheritor's Privilege (••)

Prerequisites: Inheritor Faction, Guardian of the Veil Status ••
Benefit: May purchase new Artifacts and Imbued Items with Arcane Experience. No more than half the cost of item may be drawn from Arcane Experience. Such items come from the vaults of the Inheritors, who take such items from the unworthy.

Sabbatical (••)

Prerequisites: Messianic Faction, Guardian of the Veil Status ••
Benefit: The Guardian may request a Sabbatical, in order to seek signs of the Hieromagus and realign his Wisdom. For one week, he may not use Masques, engage in work for the Guardians or use any magics beyond the Practices of Knowing, Unveiling and Shielding. If these limitations are observed for at least one week, the Guardian may increase his Wisdom at a cost of (New Rating) in Experience points.

Ordealist (••)

Prerequisites: Ordeal Keeper Faction, Guardian of the Veil Status ••
Benefit: Through the use of one of the Ordeals, the Guardian may use Arcane Experience to increase his Physical Attributes. No more than half of the total cost of the increase may be spent from Arcane Experience.

Network Spider (••)

Prerequisites: Prophet Faction, Guardian of the Veil Status ••
Benefit: The Guardian may use Arcane Experience to increase his Allies or Contacts Merits. No more than half of the total cost of the increase may be spent from Arcane Experience.