[Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen] Pylon: Votaries of the Throne

Out of Character (OOC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Story: A Nightmare on Hill Manor
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

Pylon: The Votaries of the Throne

Sources: As scene in the Keys to the Supernal Tarot sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition and adapted for use in our chronicle.

The following is a dossier on a well known Seer Pylon in Colorado Springs, a town under the control of the Throne.  Persephone, Nanashi, Casstiel, Witness and Jack Bismuth have all had dealings with them in the past as far back as 2011.  The in-character knowledge is very limited however.  This is a bit more of a peek but still holds back much.  The vast majority of this info is OOC without ST approval.  I have withheld secrets that will make future plots interesting. 

Seers of the Throne are usually zealous, no matter what their specific code of beliefs encompasses. The Votaries of the Throne, however, regard themselves as “orthodox Seers,” refusing to dress their faith up with anything other than the purest observance to the Exarchs. They proselytize to other Seers, and even to mages of the Pentacle, when they can manage it, but those who will not be converted are the worst form of refuse to them. The Votaries seldom kill, however. A mage that won’t see the truth is, in essence, a Sleeper — and Sleepers are useful.

Philosophy and Beliefs

The Votaries do not believe the Exarchs are omnipotent. If they were, They would simply remake the Fallen World in Their image, and all would be right and good. The Exarchs are as gods to those in the Fallen World, but they are not, in fact, gods. The Votaries feel that belief systems that demand worship due to the omnipotence of the deity are flawed — why would an all-powerful god need worship? No, the Votaries pledge their undying loyalty because they know in their hearts that the Exarchs are the best thing for the Fallen World.

By the same token, the Votaries do not believe in predestination. They find any philosophy in which the end is foretold to be fatalistic in the extreme. The Votaries believe that, with the Seers working toward the proper ends, the Exarchs can prevail over the Oracles and their pawns, but it’s not a foregone conclusion.

This injects both hope and a bit of desperation into the cabal’s dealings. They won’t fight to the death unless there is no other alternative. Instead, they enter conflicts knowing that their masters want them to live, and so take precautions to make sure their enemies die first (if death, in fact, is the goal).

Orthodoxy

The Votaries do not see messages from the Exarchs everywhere, the way some Seers do. They feel that the Exarchs do not wish to deceive them, and thus aren’t going to waste time implanting the cracks in the sidewalk with hidden, heavily coded messages when other options exist. To wit, the Votaries only take their cues from their dreams and from visions achieved using the Vestments (see below). Once they have a goal from the Exarchs, they work to achieve it within any parameters set in place by the vision or dream. If no specific parameters seem to be in place, they use whatever methods are most expedient and efficient. Anything not explicitly forbidden, they feel, is permitted. This, to the Votaries, is the height of Seer Orthodoxy. The Throne is not subservient to the laws of mankind, nor even of human decency.

The Votaries recognize that murder and mind control rob their victims of life and free will, and that doing this makes them monsters. But they also know that failing to take necessary action in service to the Exarchs might set the Exarchs’ plans back, and that would allow the Votaries’ accomplices to damage all of creation. The Votaries, obviously, can’t have that, even if their souls are put at risk.

This means that the Pylon isn't openly hostile to non-Seers mages. They tend to cooperate with cabals of Apostates as far as mutual trust can develop. The also tend to avoid contact with verified Pentacle mages, especially if they are known members of the Five Peaks concilium (Denver). They have developed a few personal and professional relationships with members of certain orders and other Pylons in town.

They know of Jack Bismuth and tend to stay out of his way.  He is an x-factor to Colorado Springs and comes and goes as he pleases.  He also has long-cultivated rapport with the storm spirits of the area which represent a powerful influence on the area.  Gentleman sometimes meets in secret in a public place with Witness and they exchange information that is beneficial to both parties.  There is some mutual respect among fellow spies there and Gentleman and the Votaires have no intention of trying hostilities against the Suspector now Magister.

Finally, the Votaries feel the Awakened are the chosen people, quite literally. Every Awakening is the result of deliberate intervention by either the Exarchs or the Oracles, but there is no way to know which. Meaning that Sleepwalkers and Proximi are slightly stratified above vanilla Sleepers.

Furthermore, it doesn’t matter. The Votaries don’t care who Awakened a mage, they care about what he does with his power now that he is Awakened. Likewise, until a person Awakens, he is not a true person to the Votaries. He is nothing but a tool, to be used, abused, manipulated or even killed as necessary to further the goals of the Exarchs.

History of the Cabal 

The cabal’s formation was nothing short of miraculous. The original three of them represented three opposing Awakened factions: Gentleman was already a Seer, a member of a pylon working to improve the Throne’s corporate dealings in the city; Prism was a Guardian of the Veil, a solitary agent with multiple identities; And Buzzard was a Tremere Lich, waiting until the dust had cleared to drink his fill of the souls of the dying. The three of them met up one night, quite by accident, and engaged in a battle in the middle of a crowd of Sleepers.

Gentleman used his command of Mind to nudge Sleepers toward the other two, while Prism shifted her image from place to place by manipulating light, trying to reach her enemies. Buzzard had aid from the unquiet dead, of course. As the three mages circled each other, they all saw a blast of light, and suddenly all of the Sleepers were transfixed, staring helplessly at the sky.

They were the only three that could move. They looked at the sky, and saw something move in the light. “You,” it said, “I choose to Awaken anew. Too long you have slept, playing at children’s games, blinded by the Lie. But I shall lead you to the Vestments of the Throne, and I shall lead you to two more, to whom I shall also show the truth. And you shall keep my ways.”

With that, the light faded, and the three mages, enemies to the core, sat down together and discussed what they had seen. Despite their differences, they couldn’t ignore what had happened. They left their respective factions and boarded a plane to flee the state. As their plane neared its destination, however, the engines failed and it crashed into a forest. The mages were the only three to survive.

As they wandered from the wreckage, they found a wooden crate, long buried but now unearthed by the impact. Opening it, they found a circlet, a pair of gloves, a belt, a stole and a robe. Analysis showed that these items were, in fact, Artifacts, and the mages decided they were the Vestments to which the voice had referred. They took the items and moved into the nearest city, awaiting their next members. They weren’t long in waiting.

While setting up their sanctum, Buzzard was shot in the back. He fell, calling up spells to defend himself, when his assailant appeared — a man holding a pair of pistols. Buzzard looked at him and saw a light appear around the man, and gasped the word, “lantern.”

The man stopped, and lowered his guns. He had long thought of himself as a “lantern,” of sorts — could this unclean creature possibly recognize that? The rest of the cabal assembled, and agreed to allow this new mage to see the Vestments. Lantern did so, and put them on in the proper order. This, the Seers realized, was their new member. Within a few weeks, the four mages all eceived the same dream, in which the original three bowed down before a glowing, golden lantern. Their newest member, once a Banisher, had been named their leader. Under Lantern’s leadership, they began using their skills to fortify their sanctum, building a base from which to conduct their operations. None of them knew, yet, what those operations would entail, but that wasn’t important, Lantern reminded them.

Their masters would tell them when it was time to take action. For now, they needed to concentrate on their own security and on finding their fifth member. Their fifth member, as it happened, came to them, in part because of their security. A recently Awakened Acanthus working for an alarm company was in the habit of robbing the company’s customers, using her knowledge of the security systems to beat them quickly. She never took much, and never bothered stealing from people who didn’t keep cash or easily fenced goods around. She broke into the sanctum one morning, and was surprised by the reception she received — three men and a woman all facing her down, all armed, and all Awakened.

The Acanthus, whom the others called “Mole” after learning her situation, agreed to join them, despite never having seen a vision. Part of this willingness, of course, was because she was quite aware that these people could kill her and no one would ever know. But another part of it is that Mole wants to believe as they do, wants to experience a dream or a vision, and wants her terrifying Awakening to make some sense. Thus far, nothing she has seen has convinced her, and the Votaries’ methods are unsettling. But they are adamant that she is their fifth, and since she never had contact with other mages, she has nowhere to turn for help, even if she wanted to leave.

Tactics and Activities

Now that the cabal was assembled, work could begin on the Exarchs’ goals. The Votaries receive visions infrequently, instructing them in what the Exarchs want done and how they want it done. Sometimes, the goal is the assassination of a mage in another city. Sometimes, the goal is more altruistic — one vision even required that the Votaries save the lives of a group of Sleepers trapped in a burning building. Sometimes, the goal is purely temporal: take control of a corporation and sell it off; help a young thief establish himself; or bring a serial killer to justice. Very rarely do the Exarchs’ goals involve supernatural beings other than mages, although the Votaries have occasionally run afoul of these creatures while pursuing other goals.

The Votaries employ whatever tactics they feel they must to accomplish their ends, though their tendency is toward using pawns. One of the Vestments, after all, is a Profane Urim, and Gentleman is a Master of Mind, meaning that Sleeper pawns are in great supply. But beyond that, Lantern is adamant that any activity they undertake be untraceable, and so they meticulously scour the scenes of their crimes for physical and, especially, supernatural evidence. Prism removes evidence of magic, Mole blocks the area from Time magic, Buzzard destroys or subjugates any ghosts, and Lantern makes sure that spirits say what he wants them to say. Gentleman, of course, destroys sympathetic connections.

Above all else, Lantern insists that a rational explanation be in place for whatever the Votaries do. In the past, he has set other Banishers up to take the fall after killing mages, and the cabal has been known to make contact with other Seer cabals and send them after their targets. As long as the will of the Exarchs is served, the methods don’t matter.

What this means for Pentacle mages is that an investigating cabal of mages needs to work much harder than usual to find these Seers. They cover their tracks exceedingly well, and their sanctum is heavily fortified and warded. Unlike other Seers, though, the Votaries don’t tend to use the same catspaws for very long or more than once, meaning that trails that might otherwise lead to them stop with secondary pawns. The Votaries would make nasty long-term adversaries, since they can be involved with just about anything in Colorado Springs.

If they have any common thread its that they have hooks and sleeper agents in all major and minor media outlets in Colorado Springs, meaning that they are ideally situated for covering up supernatural events and collateral damage. Most of this effort is on auto-pilot, the agents automatically and unconsciously hide evidence of the supernatural when it comes across their desk.

The Votaries’ Sanctum

The Votaries purchased a building that was once used as the headquarters of a small newspaper. They constructed a wall bisecting the first floor. The back half of the building contains the mages’ living quarters, but the only way to access this area is to walk through the wall. A certain section of the wall is imbued. Beyond is the main part of their Sanctum.

Pylon Member

Lantern

Thyrsus, Pylon Augury

Lantern & Mol

Lantern is muscular and steady, the result of several years of hard labor on a boat. He shaves his head, but wears a full beard to keep his face warm. He has a warm smile and an infectious laugh, but he very rarely has occasion to use either. He usually wears overalls or carpenter pants, and since he spends his days working in the cabal’s shop, he’s usually stained with grease.

Lantern’s Nimbus, predictably, frames him in bright, white light. Powerful magic warps the light, as though the viewer were seeing him through deep water.

Unlike the other members of the cabal, he seems to like Sleepers, and feels genuine regret when he must kill them. He is more beholden to his loyalty to the Exarchs and his fear of his own destiny than to any moral or humanistic concern, however, and so this regret is generally reduced to reading the Sleeper’s obituary and shaking his head sadly. Lantern still thinks of other mages as targets, and so when the cabal involves the Awakened in their schemes, he sometimes goes out of his way to make the plans against them violent.

Mole

The Thief

Acanthus

Mole is in her early 20s. She is of mixed heritage (her mother was Black, her father was White), and she has smooth, light brown skin and braided black hair. She maintains her job at the security agency, and thus dresses professionally most of the time. Her rarely seen Nimbus induces a feeling of being chased. Exits seem far away, the shadows writhe with half-seen monsters.

Mole is lost, and is looking to the Exarchs for direction. Her faith is, in a way, more pure than that of her cabal-mates, because she hasn’t seen the Exarchs yet, and she never has prophetic dreams. She is the most vulnerable to “conversion” by other mages, and Gentleman is aware of this. He has asked Lantern on numerous occasions to allow him to mentally condition her to be loyal, but Lantern refuses. Mole, he says, will learn in time.

Gentleman

The Spy

Mastigos

Gentleman, Prism & Buzzard 

Gentleman is in his late 30s, and wears a stylish beard with his $300 haircut. His clothes are tailor-made, his shoes are custom designed to allow him to run without losing traction (but still look good), and he carries a specially designed sword-cane. Gentleman’s eyes are blue and cold, and he smiles a bored but polite smile.

Gentleman’s Nimbus makes anyone in his vicinity feel small, weak and insignificant. Gentleman and his compatriots seem to tower over other people, looking down on their lessors with disdain.

Gentleman is bitter that he isn’t in charge of the cabal. He, after all, is the only one of them with the good sense to start out following the Exarchs. Gentleman is, however, completely devoted to the Votaries’ cause, and so he keeps his feelings about Lantern (“lucky bastard”) and Buzzard (“monster”) under wraps. The Exarchs must know what they are doing. Slowly but surely, though, he is coming to feel that the Exarchs are just like his parents — stupid, remote and full of themselves. He desperately wants this not to be so, and so he searches and prays for a vision that will give him some true meaning, and, perhaps, a bit of validation.

Prism

Former Guardian of the Veil, Faceless

Obrimos, Subtle Ones

When she isn’t wearing a disguise, which is seldom, Prism is a plain-looking woman of about 21. Her natural hair color is light brown, and her eyes are actually green, but neither of these traits is usually evident. Prism disguises herself using makeup, clothing and subterfuge. She doesn’t bother with magic, reasoning that mages so rarely bother looking with their mundane eyes that it isn’t worth the effort.

When Prism’s Nimbus flares, the source of her Shadow Name becomes obvious. Light scatters in all directions, objects change color, but she herself turns jet black.

Prism, for her part, is finally happy. In subservience to a higher power, her mind is her own. She is given freedom to make up her own rules, even if she is still following orders. Prism found a cabal that respects her for her talents, rather than constantly mucking about in her mind. For her, being a Votary is the best thing that could have happened.

Prism maintains a deep-seated hatred for the Guardians of the Veil, but she also knows how the order works and so doesn’t go taking revenge on them thoughtlessly. She sometimes uses her Masques to impersonate a Guardian, and since the order maintains such a high degree of secrecy (and since her old masters never disavowed her formally), she is a danger to the Visus Draconis as a whole.

Buzzard

Former Adamantine Arrow

Moros, Tremere Lich

Buzzard is about 40. He is tall and muscular, with grizzled, weather-beaten skin and a toothy, unpleasant grin. He favors black, leather especially, and carries two silver orbs about the size of golf balls that he occasionally imbues with Death spells using the stole. Buzzard’s Nimbus makes him look like a walking skeleton. The flesh seems to shrivel on his bones, and his teeth, always prominent, turn his face into a leering skull.

Buzzard has always been at the mercy of his whims, and he became a lich so that he would have an excuse. His acceptance by the Exarchs just gives more weight to that excuse, allowing Buzzard to continue on, never claiming responsibility for his depravity. Of course, as a young lich, he has to steal souls only infrequently, but if he survives long enough he might find that even the Throne rejects him. This notion terrifies him, but whenever he thinks about it too long, he always returns to the same conclusion: the Exarchs accepted him as he is. Although Buzzard no longer gets the urge to eat or have sex with corpses, he still likes to kill. He follows Lantern’s directives (namely, don’t kill unless it’s necessary), but when it is necessary, he’s always the one with the best plans for murder. The death doesn’t have to be elaborate. It’s not the method, it’s the moment that life ends that excites Buzzard.