PRE-GENERATED MAGICAL GROUPS

The following descriptions of existing magical groups may be useful to gamemasters who prefer to work with a pre-devel- oped idea before generating magical groups of their own. Bear Doctor Society

Type: Initiatory Members: 8

Strictures: Belief (see Customs, below), Fraternity, Limited Membership (Salish Bear shamans), Oath

Resources/Dues: High. Members pay half normal dues; com- munity pays the balance. Current dues are 625¥ per month. The society maintains a Bear Lodge 8, as well as a twenty-bed hospital with living quarters for members.

Patron: Salish tribe

Customs: The Bear Doctor Society is a tribal group of shamans devoted to the healing magic at which Bear excels. This partic- ular group is located on Council Island in Seattle, but similar organizations flourish all over NAN territory. Most members are trained doctors or otherwise skilled in the life sciences. The soci- ety keeps up with modern medical practice as well as tradition- al tribal healing methods. Salish patients receive treatment free

of charge, as do any patients who cannot pay. The society is devoted to protecting life and forbids needless killing. The requirements of Bear are viewed as moral obligations.

Children of the Dragon Type: Dedicated Members: 20

Strictures: Attendance, Belief (in the Great Dragon Spirit), Limited Membership (worshipers of the Great Dragon Spirit only), Exclusive Ritual, Fraternity, Oath, Obedience, Sacrifice Resources/Dues: Luxury. Members pay dues of 100¥ per month, with the balance paid by the followers of the group. The Children have an extensive headquarters on Prince Edward Island, equipped with a Rating 9 shamanic lodge and a her- metic library with Rating 8 in all skill areas. Ritual supplies and other gear are supplied by the group for group workings. Customs: The Children of the Dragon are a religious sect wor- shipping a spirit they call the Great Dragon. They maintain that Dunkelzahn, the dragon elected president of the UCAS and assassinated shortly thereafter, was the Great Dragon Spirit incar- nate and that he came to teach the people of the world a lesson in hope and harmony before sacrificing himself to protect all of

humanity, ascending back to the higher planes whence he came. The followers of the group preach a doctrine of peace, brotherhood and working toward harmony for all people.

The inner circle of the sect is made up of magicians, led by David Dragonson, the leader of the Children. Dragonson and the other magicians work to further the group’s goals, to expand their knowledge of the Dragon Spirit and the depths of the metaplanes, and to collect relics of their inspiration, Dunkelzahn. Hermetic Order of the Auric Aurora

Type: Initiatory

Members: 25 (broken into three ranks, known as circles) Strictures: Fraternity, Limited Membership (mages only), Oath, Sacrifice, Secrecy

Resources/Dues: Middle. Dues currently 200¥ per month. Rating 8 hermetic libraries in all skills. Enchanting shop on premises. The Order operates out of its leader’s home, a siz- able storefront near Pacific University. The basement serves as ritual space for the group. The ground floor is a small lore store, where members receive a 25 percent discount.

Customs: Established in Seattle in the early 1990s, this group is devoted to magical research and the development of its members. Though dedicated to the scholarly study of magic, the Order also uses its resources to oppose the use of magic to cause harm. Rumor has it that mages from the Order helped a team of runners to break up a “wiz-kid” gang trying to enforce a magical protection racket in a Redmond neighborhood on the fringe of the Barrens.

The Order prefers a quiet, scholarly approach to magic and frowns on violent shadowrunning. Healing and magical assistance to the needy are the principal pursuits of the mem- bers, along with study and initiation. Though the Order has no formal stricture mandating an ethical code, the group main- tains a high standard of ethics.

Illuminates of the New Dawn Type: Conspiratorial

Members: 500 worldwide

Strictures: Belief (magocratic progressivism), Limited Membership (mages only), Fraternity, Link, Oath

Resources/Dues: Luxury. Dues are currently 200¥ per month, which is enough to sustain the group with money left over for the group’s various “special projects.”

Customs: The Illuminates of the New Dawn (IOND) is the largest public magical group in the Sixth World. They are based out of the Federal District of Columbia in the UCAS, where their Grand Lodge is located. The organization is made up of circles that operate in cities and territories around the world. Smaller circles answer to higher-level circles in larger cities, which ulti- mately answer to the Inner Circle in DeeCee. Each individual circle contains no more than a dozen members; some areas support more than one circle.

Though they seek advancement in the Art, the Illuminates are also political animals, devoted to a belief in the superiority of magic and magicians as a solution to many of the world’s ills. The High Magus of the IOND, Rozilyn Hernandez, ran for president of the UCAS in 2057 but was defeated by

Dunkelzahn. The IOND continues to support programs of covert magical research, acquiring magical lore and artifacts (through legal and illegal means), and political activism. Mitsuhama Research Unit 13

Type: Dedicated/Conspiratorial (protect and promote MCT interests)

Members: 10

Strictures: Exclusive Ritual, Limited Membership (MCT mages only), Link, Oath, Obedience (to corporate superiors as well as to superiors within the Unit)

Resources/Dues: Luxury. No dues. Patron: Mitsuhama Computer Technology

Customs: Funded heavily by MCT and composed of wage mages loyal to the company, Research Unit 13 is a typical cor- porate magical group. It is part of MCT’s internal security oper- ation and serves as a “SWAT team” when magic is used against the company.

Unit 13 also carries out spot checks of site security, using control manipulations and mind probe spells to “validate” employee attitudes, and maintains astral observation of impor- tant or suspect members of R&D teams.

Members are expected to be loyal to MCT. Success is the only measure of status. Failure is not acceptable. Unit 13 will use any means necessary to achieve a desired result. When members come up for initiation, they are expected to offer lav- ish “gifts” to their superiors. The going rate is cash or goods worth 1,000 nuyen times the superior’s initiate grade. Sisterhood of Ariadne

Type: Dedicated (Wicca) Members: 13

Strictures: Attendance (monthly full moon rituals), Belief (Wicca, protect the Earth, uphold rights of women, no harmful magic except to protect self or the Earth), Fraternity (Sorority), Limited Membership (female Wiccans only), Secrecy

Resources/Dues: Middle. Dues are 450¥ per month. The coven has a small house in Snohomish, with enough privacy to do ritual work outdoors. The group buys magical supplies in bulk for the membership. The house has a decent hermetic library (Sorcery 8, Conjuring 4), and the coven owns a shaman- ic lodge (Rating 5).

Customs: The Sisterhood is a coven of witches, women who practice Wicca. Wicca (as practiced by the Sisterhood) is a reli- gion oriented toward the worship of the Earth, or Nature. The Sisterhood is somewhat militant, believing that patriarchy (male rule of society) is responsible for most of the planet’s ills. They believe matriarchy, rule by women, is a more natural and har- monious state. Male visitors are absolutely forbidden at rituals. The Sisterhood opposes ecological pollution and exploitation of the Earth and uses magic to prevent it if gentler means fail.

Though open to both magical traditions, the group tends toward shamanism (only three members are mages). The Sisterhood is loosely affiliated with eco-activist policlubs, including those suspected of “eco-terrorist” activities. Members often provide magical assistance on runs against corps attempting to pollute or exploit resources.

AVATARS

An avatar is a spirit guide, an embodiment of the magical link between an initiate or initiate group and the higher forces of magic. There is some debate as to whether avatars even truly exist. They are more nebulous than spirits and as removed as totems and idols from the affairs of metahumanity.

Each avatar is different, conforming to the outlook and path(s) of the initiate(s) for whom it acts as a patron. Shamans frequently consider their avatar and their totem as one and the same, while a few see the avatar as a messenger or servitor of their idol or god. Mages have been known to see avatars as anything from embodiments of elemental forces to ancient guardians of mystic wisdom.

Avatars rarely take on a defined form. Most commonly, they communicate with those undergoing initiation through visions and dreams, asking puzzling questions and leaving cryptic messages. They follow a trainee’s path toward the high- er mysteries and have been known to provide insight and answers to nudge trainees along. They frequently make appearances during metaplanar quests, where they can be a hindrance or a boon.

Avatars have been known to appear on both the astral and physical planes from time to time, apparently able to take what- ever form they choose. They rarely stay long, lingering only to ask a pointed question or provide an answer for a difficult mystery. USING AN AVATAR

In game terms, avatars are powerful free spirits (see Free Spirits, p. 113). Their interaction with characters should be lim- ited and brief. Using Magical Skills against one or attacking one is usually futile; those who have dared such actions have reported being transported to metaplanes from which they could not escape, or of even temporarily losing their magical abilities. The avatar, of course, removes itself instantly to the metaplanes if in danger.

Each initiate group and self-initiated character has an avatar that acts as their patron to the metaplanes and higher mysteries. Each of these avatars is uniqu, and should feature characteristics appropriate to the initiate(s). The primary agenda of these avatars is unknown, but they clearly strive to serve as a sort of mentor and gateman. They watch closely to see if a character strays from their personal paths and beliefs or otherwise threatens to destabilize their magical link. Likewise, they steer initiates away from mys- teries that are not theirs to investigate.

Group members rarely speak of their avatar to each other, much less to outsiders. This taboo partly arises from those who scorn avatars as superstitions and partly from fear of reprisal from others in the group or the avatar itself. Some believe that avatars are truly free spirits, and so have true names and wish to reveal as little as possible. Theoretically, a magician who gained control of a spirit avatar or disrupted it in some way could wreak havoc upon a group’s or initiate’s magical link. In any case, knowledge of the avatar is often a group’s or initiate’s most sacred piece of knowledge.

Avatars are primarily included for roleplaying opportuni- ties. They can be the devil on the character’s shoulder or the watchdog spirit warning of impending doom. Gamemasters

should take care to use them wisely. They should never be something that the player characters can exploit.

METAMAGIC

Metamagic controls how magic is used. Initiates can learn the following metamagical techniques.

Anchoring attaches spells to specialized foci and delays their activation until a certain event occurs.

Centering assists in channeling magical energy. It can reduce Drain, overcome penalties while using Magical Skills and improve magical effects.

Cleansing clears away astral pollution known as back- ground count.

Divining reads omens and signs to provide insight into future events.

Invoking summons powerful spirits known as great form spirits.

Masking disguises the aura and penetrates such disguises used by others.

Possessing allows an initiate’s astral form to enter and control another living being.

Quickening makes the effect of a sustained spell perma- nent without the use of a sustaining focus.

Reflecting provides a form of spell defense that can turn hostile magic back on its source.

Shielding provides a more powerful form of spell defense to counter hostile magic.