Secret Societies

Secyet Societies

~ o ~ v c e b o o k

of

Occult Ovganizations

for

the Nepbi[iwr Gawremastev

published by CHAOSIUM INC. copyright 0 1995 by CHAOSIUM INC.

tered trademark of CHAOSIUM INC.

ed from MULTISIM, and is based upon their original game.

age version of Nephilim has been adapted by CHAOSIUM INC and is copyright 0 in the pyramid is a registered trademark of STEVE JACKSON GAMES INCORPO- n characters in Secret Societies and persons living or dead, especially Newt Gin-

is copyright @ 1995 by CHAOSIUM INC. yright 0 1995 by the original artists.

f material from this book for purposes of personal or corporate profit by photo-

,

or other methods of retrieval is prohibited.

concerning this book as well as requests for free catalogs of Chaosium games to: -A 56th Street, Oakland, CA 94608.

aosium on the internet at [email protected]. You can find Chaosium's World Wide ww.sirius.com/-chaosium/chaosium.html. To subscribe to the Nephilim dis-

to [email protected] containing the message "subscribe nephilim-di- y of the message.

ion 31 03. Published June 1995.

COVER DESIGN E i c

Vigt

INTERIOR ARTISTS:

Jihu Brihges) Keie

cawpbel[

Mark

9 6 e v g

EDITORIAL:

Saw

shirler)

GRAPHIC

DESIGN

auh

LAYOUT

Saw

s6jrLex

PROOFREADING:

Eric

Rowe and

Jeuk;us

T S

Prieurk de Sion

Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia

Backhouse Library (map)

Teutonic Knights

New

Kurkland Base (map)

Thule Bruderschaft

Thule Refuge (map)

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the

Sba&+ws

Fratemitas Satumii

Saturnian Magic (spells)

Kabbalistic Order of the Rosicross Mithradites

Mithraditic Solar-Ka Techniques

Order of St. Sulpice Order des Neuf Soeurs Roshinayas

Sarmoung Brotherhood Sisters of Isis

Wolf in the Fob

Bibliosraph

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Chsrracter

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lnbex

41 44 47 50 55 58 62

64

65 67 70 71 73 74 75 77 78 80 $2 85 $9 92

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HE WORLD OF THE SECRET SOCIETIES is the interface between nor- mal human existence and the magical realm of the Nephilim. The secret

T

societies of the West all exist in this shadow continuum, some (like the Illuminati) concerned primarily with human

politics and finance, others (like the Sar- moung Brotherhood) living a purely mystical and contemplative life. Most of them, how- ever, touch both of these areas as they com- Pete with the Arcana of the Nephilim and with each other for their goals of knowledge and power. All know that the fictions of his- tory are but false fronts, behind which the real wars are fought, the real discoveries are made, and the real power is wielded.

Since the fall of Atlantis, the secret socie-

ties have grown, due to Nephilim patronage or human ambition. Many of them have learned to hate the Nephilim. Worse yet, many of them have learned to fight the Nephilim. These invisible empires rise and fall in combat made even more deadly by

its secrecy.

This sourcebook is for the Nephilim gamemaster to use in devising suitable an- tagonists for the players. Nephilim, despite their mystical power, are surprisingly easy to thwart given humans with sufficient occult knowledge, resources, and will. Many a Nephilim has found itself impossibly at the mercy of a small band of humans armed

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with the proper information.

Fortunately, not all secret societies seek to hamper the Nephilim. Some only op- pose certain Arcana, while others claim to actively help the Nephilim in their struggle against the Templars and other societies. Others might actually seek the aid of the Nephilim in their own occult battles. It is in the interstices of Hermetic politics that the Nephilim find their opportunity - and also their greatest danger.

This sourcebook does not deal directly with the Templars -here they shine in the light reflected from their allies and rivals. Chaosium will be releasing a sourcebook

unkindly meant. I

‘t want to be wed, prose- ken away in a black Lin-

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. cy theories and e vicious lies of don’t give these lence - buy their

devoted exclusively to the Templars and their fiendish machinations in the future. Also in the future will come sourcebooks detailing the Nephilim outside the West, which will no doubt also deal with such secret societies as the Mau Mau, the Leopard Men, the False Faces, the Thuggee and the Triads.

sed bookstores if

Kenneth Hite Halloween, 1994

venting astrology, creating the Tarot deck and giving the secret of hieroglyphics to the Egyptian priesthood. Who Hermes Tris- megistus actually was is a matter of conjecture, although he is almost certainly a “composite” figure of Akhenaton, Imhotep, and an Agarthan Nephilim. Certainly the Hermetic manuscripts are the work of more than one author.

a[

HE SECRET SOCIETES in the Western Tradition are deeply incestuous. They fission and rejoin, cross-fertilize and plagiarize like so many amoebae

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in a stream. Indeed, the “Underground Stream” is a term that is often used for the whole tradition of

mystical resistance to or

rejection of the orthodox

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understand secret societies and the role they play in both Western occultism

and the world of the Nephilim, it is important to realize that many of them draw on four main currents of the Underground Stream. Although there are other important elements to secret societies’ traditions and organization, these four have been central to the mindset, organization and evolution of Western Tradition secret societies.

f l e m c t i c i s w

The term Hermeticism comes from Hermes Trismegistus (“Hermes the Thrice Great”), who was originally the Greek name for the Egyptian god of magic, Thoth. Later, Hermes Trismegistus was considered to be the first sorcerer, using his magics to become “prophet, priest and king” (the “thrice” in “thrice great”). Although the stories vary, he is given credit for designing the Pyramids, in-

In the second or third century A.D., a body of work ascribed to Hermes Trismegis- tus began circulating as the Corpus Hermeticum (the “collected works“ of Hermes). The central work was called the Tabula Smaragdina (“Emerald Tablet”), and was sup- posedly discovered by Abraham’s wife Sarah or by Alexander the Great in a cave in Palestine. The Emerald Tablet contained thirteen precepts which defined the laws of magic and the nature of reality, although their exact order and contents differ depend- ing on the translation.

The central tenet of the Emerald Tablet is the maxim “As above, so below“, imply- ing the essential interconnectedness of all things in the macrocosm (the world of forms, powers and realities, signified by the motions of the planets) and the micro- cosm (the material world of the Earth and its inhabitants). This sense of interconnect- edness, of a “cosmic web“ linking all things above and below, is the basis of astrology, alchemy, kabbalism, the tarot, and virtually all elements of the Western occult tradi- tion. Hermetic thought influenced the Gnostics, Jews, Christians (St. Augustine quotes the Hermeticum), and pagan philosophers, especially the “neo-Platonists” like Plotinus, Iamblichos and Damascius. Iamblichos wrote a number of works which were suppressed by the Church and lost in the Dark Ages, and only survive in frag- ments today. He described the 22 Arcana and the influences of the planets on magic, implying that he was possibly a Nephilim. Contrarily, both the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Rosicrucians claim him as a member, so the truth must (like so many matters attached to Hermeticism) remain vague.

Hermeticism’s influence did not end with the fall of Rome, however. During the Middle Ages, the Corpus Hermeticum was preserved by the Arabs, and it was trans- lated into Latin in 1471 by Marsilio Ficino, a Rosicrucian adept and Mithradite in the employ of Cosimo de’Medici. This translation sparked an explosion of magical inter- est in the various secret societies and created great consternation among the Nephilim of the time. Using the Corpus, groups like the Rosicrucians, the Golden Fleece, or the Templars were able to apply the Nephilim’s own magical knowledge against them. The Church also panicked, as any increase in magical knowledge or Nephilim activity was bad for its position, and the magical explosion of the early Renaissance rapidly became the great witch hunt, which all sides used against their enemies.

Finally, a Empress Arcanum Nephilim, incarnated in a Swiss classicist named Isaac Casaubon, produced a work “proving“ that the Hermeticum dated only to the 2nd century A.D., and that its magical knowledge was useless. Although this did little to end Hermetic influence on human initiates and secret societies, it did prevent many humans from looking further into Hermetic thought.

Gmsticism

Gnosticism is susceptible to as many meanings and as many interpretations as its ancient cousin and rival, Christianity. The word comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge”, and refers to the core Gnostic belief that the key to enlighten- ment is the attainment of knowledge, whether from secret texts, instruction from a mentor, or sudden personal illumination. This is in contrast to the Christian belief that enlightenment is revealed to all men by God in prophecy, revelation, or Scripture, and not susceptible to purely mortal attainment.

The origins of Gnosticism predate Christianity, with the traditions of a secret knowledge running back into the mists of Egyptian and Sumerian antiquity. It

achieved its first independent form in the schools of thought that gathered in the first century B.C. around what would become the Corpus Hetmeticwm. Many sects and cults in the centuries surrounding the Jesus Incident shared portions of the Gnostic tradition, although the first groups to actually call themselves "gnostics" appcarcd in 8

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the late first century A.D.

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origins and fates, but the general pattern of Gnostic thought and religion was repeated all across the Roman and Persian world. Fundamentally. Gnosticism is the religion of the

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self, as its tenets hold that there exist sparks of divine spirit trapped in the base matter of the Earth which crave reunifi- cation with the pure light of another plane. Each Gnostic is such a spark, indifferent to

the corrupt world and seeking only the necessary knowledge of the method to return

to the divine - to become as God. Many Gnostic sects went so far as to identify the

God of the Old Testament, whom they referred to as the Demiurge. as an evil or cor- rupt being who created the imperfect, evil, material universe. Those who

Christ denied his connection with the God of the Jews, arguing that he was spirit in an absurd house, or a "ghost in the machine" as Descartes was to put Most Gnostic sects argued that not all humanity possessed the divine si

there were purely gross material beings, '-psychic" beings who served the e\ urge, and the "purc" or "elect" or "illuminated" beings, who were destined

accepted simply a it later. ,ark, that ril Demi- to rejoin the "aeons" or perfect beings of spirit. This justified, for some Gnostic orders, the deliberate concealment of the truth from the world at large, and even lying to their own lay members about the or-

der's theology. Some Gnostic sects cre- ated hierarchies of gods and demons, primary among them being Sophia, the feminine principle of Wisdom, which must be rescued by Illumination from the Material.

If Gnosticism ever had a common thread, it was in the teachings of Va- lentinus (loo?-161), who tried to organ- ize the Gnostic mythos through the light of the Jesus Incident, and created the Gnostic schools of Alexandria and Rome which spread throughout the Mediterranean. Gnosticism's other founding father was Mani (21 6-276), who tied the Zoroastrian dualism of Ahriman and Ormazd into the Gnostic cosmology of matter and spirit, creating Manicheanism, the doctrine that God and Satan are equivalent in power, and that Satan has lordship over the material and earthly.

All forms of Gnosticism were roundly condemned by the Church as heretical, and stamped out before they had the chance to cohere into anything like a common theol- ogy. The result of this persecution and scattering was that Gnosticism came to be iden- tified with any rebellion against traditional authority, and that its various sects rang interminable changes on the basic themes until no two Gnosticisms were alike.

Many earthly secret societies and religious cults were wholly or partially Gnostic, from the Druze Muslims to the Joachimite Christians of 14th-century Italy. The Cathars, the best-known Gnostic sect, were rare in that their central group of "elect", the Perfecti, were actually Nephilim, attempting to proceed with their own plans at the expense of the equally Gnostic Templars.

The Gnostic myth is the central, empowering myth of virtually all secret societies, both the selfish and the selfless. It is easy to see how a doctrine putting emphasis on knowledge, secrecy, destiny, and the existence of a chosen few would "supercharge" the ritual of any secret group. And indeed, following the Gnostic formulation, the number of secret societies has continued to increase. Groups like the Templars see themselves as the rightful lords of the earth, due to their superior knowledge of occult matters. Groups like the Mithradites see themselves as benevolent stewards of the Light for humans who are not yet able to know the Truth. It has been theorized that the entire structure of "overt" Gnosticism, every Gnostic sect, creed and secret society, is based on misunderstood eavesdroppings on Nephilim truths.

The irony, of course, is that Gnosticism is "true" (whatever that means) only for the Nephilim. They are spiritual beings trapped in an Orichalka-soaked, hateful world. Their destiny is to be reunited with the light at the end of the Golden Path in Agartha, and only they are capable of its attainment. They are superior in knowledge to the common run of humanity. They must work in secrecy, and learn from each other in complex ritual and initiation. For humans - even enlightened, occult, initiated hu- mans - Gnosticism may be fundamentally self-deception.

concept. However, the body of knowledge which made up the Rosicrucian manifestoes goes back to ancient Egypt and Sumeria. Its name comes from its central symbols, the rose and the cross, which together indicate the central tenet of Rosicru- cianism, the joining or sublimation of the elements into a per- fected whole.

Rosicrucianism is built around three elements, called "magiam, cabala and al- chemiam", which are easily recognizable as the three occult Fciences of the Nephilim.

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Rosicrucianism is a system of thought, a conceptual framework for utilizing the Hermetic truths and the Gnostic insights. It is the joining of the traditions of mind, spirit and matter into a common framework blessed by an Unknown Order which directs the course of the Underground Stream.

The term "Rosicrucianism" first appeared in 1598 in Germany, and burst on the European scene a generation later with the publication of the "Rosicrucian Manifes- toes", three heavily symbolic works which drew virtually every element of the West- em occult tradition together into one organizing legend and

The Rosicrucian Order began with the Promethean Brotherhood, and was originally a

human auxiliary to the Nephilim-dominated Prometheans. In Mesopotamia it was

10

-

Semi Sociciics

known as the Sarmoung Brotherhood, and in Egypt it was created as the White Lodge under either Pharaoh Ahmose (1580-1557 B.C.) or Pharaoh Thutmose I11 (1501-1447 B.C.), both of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The Assyrians splintered the Sarmoung Broth- erhood, and the White Lodge went underground following the end of Akhenaton's reign.

Throughout history, the humans running the Rosicru- cian orders began to lose their enthusiasm for selflessly as-

sisting the Nephilim, and began to attempt to achieve sacred knowledge for themselves. These attempts always resulted in splits within orders, with the result that Rosicrucianism, although a system of organizing knowledge, has seldom been able to organize its adherents. The main Rosicrucian brotherhood, the Societae Antiquae Rosae Crucis, has been in continuous existence only since the early 1400s, and has split repeatedly, in addition to taking different names in dif-

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ferent locations and times.

All of this tends to leave Rosicrucianism as what it be- gan as, a system for organizing knowledge, for preparing its holder to use it, and for creating a conceptual framework for increasing it.

Whcre Hermcticism is a theory, Gnosticism is a theology, and Rosicrucianism is a system of thought, Masonry is simply a system of organization. However, it is such a successful system that in less than a century, virtually all Western occult groups were organized in some variation of Masonry, even if they swore eternal enmity to Ma-

sonry itself.

The form is simple, consisting of individual "lodges" in each city or province, un- der the rule of a "grand lodge" in the capital, following

a

series of rituals derived from Scottish Rosicrucian mysticism of the Renaissance. The system of "degrees", in which the Gnostic notion of the exclusivity of Truth is softened to a well-defined in- itiation into greater and greater power and understanding, began with the three de- grees and has expanded to thirty-three or (in some systems) hundreds of degrees. The organization as a whole serves as a "spiritual knighthood" for those who wish to work or think in

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For secret societies, the attractions of Masonry are obvious. The rituals provide a cover for genuine investigations into the occult, the lodges give a ready-made organizational structure, and the degrees serve to keep motives obscure or totally hidden from the law, the Church, or even insufficiently eager fellow-Masons.

The simplicity, purity of design, and smoothness of function of Masonry is both a testament to its architects and the secret of its success.

The roots of Masonry, like so many wellsprings of the Underground Stream, are hidden in the mists of history and controversy. Guilds of "operative" masons, people who actually built structures in stone, have been reliably traced to the tenth century in the English kingdoms, and must have existed in the great civilizations of the past.

"Speculative" masonry, the notion of a brotherhood of like-minded searchers for truth and illumination, goes back much further, at least as far as ancient Egypt, al- though no doubt in considerably different forms from its current nature. Speculative masonry probably had only the most tangential of connection with operative stonema- sonry for millennia, only in such projects as the building of the Pyramids or (tradition- ally) Solomon's Temple.

The major occultation of operative masonry by speculative masonry came in the Middle Ages, as the Templars used stonemasons' guilds to raise the Gothic cathedrals and arcane fortresses that were the nodal points of their occult network. To properly fulfill the Plan, these stonemasons needed to be directed by occult initiates, and so the Templars created the Compagnons des Devoirs, made up of men high in the stonema-

sons' operative guilds who could be trusted to learn the occult secrets of speculative hermeticism.

Following the suppression of the Templars' overt knighthood, their occult director- ate went undercover in many organizations, among them the Compagnons des De- voirs. These masons, both operative and speculative, were the nucleus of the Masonic system, which developed in Scotland between 1314 and 1641, when the first Masonic initiation outside Scotland took place.

For the next seventy years or so, Masonry began to influence and be influenced by the political-religious struggles between the English and the Scots, the Catholics and the Protestants, and it became too unwieldy for the Templars to retain control of. In

17 17, the first Masonic Lodge independent of any of the Compagnons des Devoirs (not all of whom remained Templars) was founded in London at the Apple-Tree Tav- ern as the Grand Lodge of England. Masonry spread like

a wildfire throughout the political-economic structures

of the time. Less than a century later, it was the over- I

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Any hopes for unification died rapidly, as the older secret societies took to using Masonry for their own ends and their own organization, and fighting out their battles

under its roof. English Masonry, the nearest thing to "pure" Masonry left after the defeat of the Scottish Pretender in 1745, was split by the American Revolution, as the American Masons went about founding a Masonic Republic in the face of opposition from the Grand Lodge. By the Wilhelmsbad Congress in 1782, with the reintroduction of overt Strict Obedience Templarism and the foundation of the Illuminati, Masonry was unable to agree even on an overarching goal for itself, or on the truth of its own history. Since then, Masonry has been a form for power to hold, not the power itself.

lodges as easily as i t can of transferable divisions. Generally. however, one of thesc thrce systems is thc basis for most sccret society structures.

The conspiratorial cell is ;I small group of people. ideally no more than fivc. The leader is a member of a cell hierarchically "above", and the other four members arc leaders of cells hierarchically

"below", although practically some of those cells may be

or b k frank. Hence, no betrayal can wipe out an entire level of organi- zation, and no member of the

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fellows to betray. This system has the advantage of redundancy and survivability. but loses something in speed of communications "up" to the head. The other advantage of the ccll system is that fanatics of all stripes can be recruitcd under false pretenses (the "false flag" syndrome) and since they know nothing of the real nature of the director- ate, they can be manipulated into acting against their own ideological interests. It seems that the cell syslem was inventcd by Adam Wcishaupt: certainly the Bavarian Illuminati was the first historical organization purposely organized in mutually igno- rant cells. Purely political-stylc secret societies such 11s the Bavarian Illuminati tend to use the cell system. often concealed within other organizations such as Masonic lodges or corporate boards of directors.

The military-stylc pyramid is the oldest hierarchical structure known; it is in fact the one that sccms to develop naturally with the evolution of cities and divisions of

labor. Certainly ancient Egypt, Babylonia and China all dcveloped pyramidical hierar- chies. Each member of a pyramid is given a rank, which carries with i t ;I responsibility

to fulfill, authority over those lower in rank and obedience to those above. This system makes for the most efficient use of the society's members, as there are clear chains of command and clear understandings of responsibility. Howcver, the pyramid is very inflexible, resisting both evolution from without and creativity from within. It is also

easy to disrupt by '*striking at the head" as King Philip of France did to the Templars

in the fourteenth century. Most of the "knighthood" style orders arc at least theoreti- cally pyramidical, although after the dcbacle of 13 14. they havc tried (with varying degrees of succcss) to alter the form.

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The Masonic lodge system is the compromise system between pyramid and cell, having some ad- vantages of both and less of the disadvantages of small enough to not endanger the entire system ifde- stroycd, flexible enough to change direction whcn

need be, and strong enough to permit large-scale planning. A network of lodges, when combined with sufficient "lhlse fronts" (orthodox Masonic lodges are the general dc- fault for these) and levels of degrees to provide structure and concealmcnt, is the best compromise system for secret society arrangement so far developed. This is almost ccrtainly why Masonry enjoyed such overwhelming succcss in such a short period of time, and why even now. virtually all of the actual "business" of secret societies is done in the lodge contcxt.

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In order to survive, a secret society, like any other organization, must grow and transmit its beliefs to the next generation. This is one of the weak points of any secret society, since it is impossible to be completely sure that new recruits are suitable material for the organization’s purposes. Indeed, with the intense rivalry in the occult world, new recruits are also potential traitors or infiltrators who could be working for the Nephilim, for a rival secret society, or even for a national government suspicious about all these mysterious goings-on.

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group, artistic community, political movement, or any other group of people that self- selects for interest in things other than the purely mundane business of eating, sleeping and earning a living. Occult secret societies will want to select for people with interest or belief in magic, occultism, spirituality or other supernatural forces. The actual tradi- tion is usually irrelevant - most Western Tradition groups cannibalize each other re-

peatedly, and almost all “self-taught” occultists are eager to follow a teacher who can convincingly allude to Unknown Masters or Gnostic insights. Even active members of orthodox religions can be recruited to secret society ends - Hasidic Judaism started

as a millennia1 kabbalistic society, and there are numerous “Catholic Rosicrucian” or “Swedenborgian Protestant“ orders.

Political-conspiratorial secret societies will want to select for people with a grudge against the status quo - whether “liberal” or “conservative” seldom matters to a group like the Illuminati. The important characteristic of

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a recruit, for either an occult or a political se- cret society, is the combination of a willing- ness to follow orders and doctrine and a desire to know more about the “real truth”, about “things behind the scenes”. One of the most common motivations for both occultists and politically active people is the eagerness to “really know what’s going on“, and to either change it or become part of it, or both. These are the emotions and desires that secret societies feed on in their recruits.

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After the recruit is brought into contact with a “mentor”, he or she is given minor, but important tasks to test willingness to follow orders and competence to do so cor- rectly. Candidates who are either balky or inept are generally eased out of the inner ring, or left to perform meaningless tasks until they leave on their own. More promis- ing candidates are advanced in secrecy (if the fact of the advance leaks in some cases, it actually helps to recruit others, and a leak at this low level can rarely reveal any true secrets). They are given more important tasks, and told a cloaked version of “the real truth”. This is where a false flag can be planted - a Templar lodge can recruit a Rosi-

crucian circle to oppose the Tower Arcanum, tell ing the Rosy Cross rather than the Temple.

Often, the false flag becomes so successful th promising members of this lower order are often “inner circle”, with still more of the truth revealed to them. Also, members of the lower order who have laid themselves open for blackmail by fol- lowing illegal or immoral orders can be safely re- cruited as well, and are often moved into positions suited for their talents. The Templars and Illuminati are masters of the “recruitment by coercion“ strategy, but most secret societies em- ploy it to some degree.

In most cases, coercion is not really necessary - the slow revelation of inner truths has seduced the new member fully, and he or she would do anything their superiors order to advance yet fur- ther into the mysteries. At this point, advance- ment is generally based on merit, although of course, intra-order politics has something to do with it as well. Influential Commanders of the Temple urge promotion for their own recruits at the expense of others, and similar politicking goes on in any other secret society just as it does in corporations, military organizations or any other human society.

Secure communications and reliable transmission of orders and doctrine requires a coherent set of symbols that will be transparent to the initiate and opaque, confusing or misleading to others. Masons have their handshakes of recognition, their code phrases invoking help or warning, and similar means of covert communication. Other secret societies have the same sorts of things, whether passwords (like the Assassins), sigils (like the Or- der of St. Sulpice),

//CCJaracters aye nothing else than certain u~known

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HIOTES’ gypsies) scripts like Eno- chian or the Illuminati codes. Indeed, the Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Druidical Ogham script both began as “secret writing”, known only to the initiates, with mean- ings beyond the simple recording of sounds.

-

Francis Barrett,

The

Maps, 1801

or even secret

The difficulty comes when enough people learn the technique that it becomes fun- damentally impossible to keep a secret. There are hundreds of books, for example, that purport to teach the reader the “se- cret” Masonic handshakes and ritual passwords. Similarly, the Templar cross is so well-known by now that it is useless as a method of covert recognition and is mostly used only as a symbol like a na-

Some things work in the favor of a se- cret society, even when its symbols,

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rapidly than any other single action. These improper uses are often encouraged by secret societies, who make sure that distorted versions of their secrets get into the pub- lic eye to camouflage any real revelations that have occurred.

Also, the commonality of “occult” symbols has essentially created an occult “al- phabet” which any society can interpret in its own fashion. A pentagram, crescent moon, Templar cross and the letter “A“ may mean one thing to a Car-

bonari baraka and its opposite to a Rosicrucian conclave of adept Hence, most secret societies work on a “one-time pad”, with passwords and countersigns being assigned for each agent or for each mission rather than retaining the same ones repeat- edly. Some symbols, such as “danger” or “help” will remain the same across the order, but any more sophisticated message will be encoded so that only the intended recipient can see it.

Finally, the profusion of symbols, signs, gestures, passwords, cryptic phrases, and other impedimenta of occultism helps distract dilettantes from pursuing deeper truths, while drawing in the true seeker of knowledge. Hence, what began as secret symbol becomes shop-window advertising. And what better place to hide something than in plain sight?

I

Enforcing an order is made easier and more difficult simultaneously by the con- straints of secrecy. Without open communications, orders can be ignored simply by claiming that they were never received. The slow communications and imperfect feedback of almost all secret societies

make discipline and obedience more nec- essary than in open societies like corpo- rations. This means that enforcement must be seen to be quick, sure, and un- stoppable.

The most common way of disciplin- ing a wayward member is to have him or her killed. This has the advantage of be- ing unambiguous and impossible to re-

fute. In a secret society, with agents who move through the shadows and out of the light of public scrutiny, arranging a convenient accident or a dagger in the back is usually fairly simple, when the target is a fellow member of the society and has al- ready cut themselves off from conventional life. Killing a family member is not actu- ally a particularly effective means of discipline, although the threat to do so

discourages disobedience.

Many secret societies prefer not to kill disobedient members, either out of squeamishness or because there are not enough members to go killing them off indis- criminately. Disobedience in the lower levels of the organization can be punished by expulsion - the desire to know more and be promoted further is a useful tool for keeping members honest, and eager to obey. Most secret societies gather dossiers on their members, with special attention to material suitable for blackmail. If a member

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Finally, in many secret societies, members are en- couraged to inform on each other, making it much more difficult to conspire with fellow-members to be- tray the group. Adam Weishaupt, for example, brought this technique to :I tine art in the Bavarian Illuminati. For larger organizations, this is

the preferred method or policing, since the number of totally trustworthy operatives is always much smaller than the number of vital tasks to be carried out. By giving mem-

bers incentives to remain loyal to the group and disloyal to their comrades, what the organization loses in esprit de corps it makes up in confidence that any given task will be carried out.

Mysteries

a m

cults

Religious and spiritual secret societies are not the only ones who found or encourage religious movements. In the United States, religious movements are tax-exempt, and make an ideal cover for secret societies interested in fanatical converts, large dona- tions, and (sometimes) political influence. Also, many

sects, cults, or other movements can serve to funnel prospective initiates into the society itself by creating an interest in the supernatural that can be used for mystical ends.

The difference between a “cult” and a genuine relig- ious movement is a sensitive one, but the term “cult”, as

it is commonly used, has a pejorative connotation that implies a transient creation by fanatics or cynics rather than a genuine outgrowth of human spirituality. Others would define cult simply as any religious movement or organization not in the majority pub- lic favor. For this discussion, we’ll use the prior meaning. Certainly secret societies and manipulative Nephilim, for the most part, prefer to work through “cults”, since genuine spirituality is often difficult to control. However, spiritual groups such as re- ligious Rosicrucianism, chiliastic-millennia1 Protestantism, kabbalistic Judaism or neopagan magical circles have many of the same outward appearances (exclusivity, secrecy of doctrine, magico-spiritual orientation, exhausting rituals) as hypocritical or

fanatical cults, and can also often be fertile ground for recruitment either by Hiero- phant Arcanum Nephilim or by human secret societies.

Generally, religious groups founded or co-opted by human secret societies fade out within a decade or so. Groups that survive longer either begin deriving and devel- oping genuine spiritual insights or become secret societies of their own (a common occurrence with magical-neopagan covens or Christian Rosicrucians). In the past, Nephilim would spend centuries trying to sustain such movements, which became the “mystery“ cults of the ancient world. Most of these mysteries were either syncretized out of existence or turned into secret societies (the Orphic Mysteries became the Golden Fleece, for example, and the Mithraic Mysteries became the Mithradites) as

their Nephilim guides lost patience with human limitations. Most modem movements which identify with mystery cults are either self-conscious attempts by a secret soci- ety to restore an ancient tradition, neopagan religious movements with no actual tie to

the ancients, or groups founded by Nephilim to provide hosts and resources for the coming Millennium.

Conspiracy-Htrnters

No organization can keep all of its secrets for long. Even with the discipline of the Templars, the all-seeing Eye of the Illuminati, the sanctity of the Rosicrucians or the

fanaticism of Thule, there will be leaks. Leaks will create leads that interested parties can follow to the true nature of power. As the Templars discovered to their cost in

1314, even occult masters can be destroyed by the actions of suspicious governments, jealous of their usurped power.

Thus, some of the greatest enemies of secret societies and Nephilim alike are the investi- gators of the unknown, journal- ists, authors, mystics or agents follow up on the “unexplain- of the mundane who resolve to able” and the “accidental”. The combination of tenacity, investi- gative skill, and imagination is the most formidable threat that a secret society can face. Hence, investigators disappear, like Ambrose Bierce. They die suddenly, like Morris Jessup. They are made into laughingstocks, like Erich von Daniken. They are driven mad, like Wilhelm Reich. They are bought off, like Carroll Quigley.

Secret societies not only attack the messenger, they attack the message. Any con- spiracy theory or supernatural explanation is denounced as wild-eyed nonsense by so-

ber talking heads. The Illuminati, for example, have teams of historians, bankers and other “experts” ready to refute in proper scholarly form any investigation into links between certain Wall Street brokerage houses and the former Soviet Government. The Thule Bruderschaft’s allies in several capitals obstruct any investigations into the whereabouts of former Nazi officials. An Empress Arcanum Nephilim is prominent as a “debunker” of past life experiences. And, of course, it is rumored that some of the best-known “conspiracy-hunters’’ are actually agents of secret societies whose mis- sion is to fill the air with so much nonsense that the real truth will not be noticed.

Simultaneously, of course, each secret society and Nephilim Arcanum seeks to en- courage those humans who hunt conspiracies to track down and expose its rivals. Re- search into the Prieurk de Sion is strongly supported by the Templars, and even manipulated to imply that the Templars are dissolved and the Prieurk are the ones with the Master Plan. Ironically, many conspiracy-hunters wind up providing camouflage and information for the very secret societies whose machinations they so fanatically despise.

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hese secret societies have already been dealt with in the Nephilim rulesbook section on “Secret Societies”. More details of their history, plans and re- for important or representative operatives of the societies today. The gamemaster should feel free to modify statistics, locations, magic and skills of these gamemaster characters to fit her campaign or just to mess with the players’ heads.

T

sxmsaEmmAdheE A s w e l l gamema&axkaaderziaki$drs e g k n

The Bavarian Illuminati are at a crisis point, although few observers from outside could tell. For two centuries, the Illuminati served as the political arm of the Tem- plars, subverting national governments and setting up puppet regimes in controlled nations like Russia and France, or infiltrating and influencing “looser” societies like Britain and America. However, with temporal success came spiritual drift, and the Illuminati lost their eagerness to turn over their hold on political affairs to their titular heads in the Templar Order.

In fact, the Illuminati and their partners the Thule Bruder- schaft struck for global power themselves in the 1930s and

1940s, cementing their hold over the global economy during the Great Depression and coming within an inch of placing the world under the Eye in the Pyramid. The Templars, fear- ing the consequences to the Plan of a Thule victory, were forced to make common cause with the despised Nephilim to defeat them, and the struggle brought home to the Temple just how little control they had over their former clients.

Over the last two decades, the Templars have been striving to bring the Illuminati to heel, so that its vast political and eco-

nomic power can be used to fulfill the Templar Plan at the end of the millennium. This contest has taken place in the streets of Paris and Berlin, in the corridors of New York and Washington, and in the catacombs of Rome and Moscow. The Illuminati underes- timated the Tem-

plars at first, and a surprise alliance be- tween the Templars and the Knights of Rhodes wrested Russia from Illumi- nati control in the late 1980s.

nati must decide whether to surrender and accept power in the Templar Empire which will occur when the Plan comes to fruition in 2000, or to fight for their independence, leaving themselves in a position to profit from their enemies' weakness and distraction - or be destroyed by the vengeful Knights of the Temple. This battle for the heart and soul of the Bavarian Illuminati, and with it, substantial control over the financial and political structures of the United States and Europe, is perhaps the most important one

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to

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11

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societi

propagate these biabolical teuets."

-

Geovge Washing

Now, the Illumi-

the Templars face on the purely exoteric level.

The main advantages the Illuminati possess are those of the battleground -high finance and low politics. The Templars, masters of mystic warfare that they are, are babes in the woods of international monetary arrangements, government central bank- ing, and insider stock trading. In political chicanery, the Templars are up aga the heirs of Robespierre and Lenin, Franklin Roosevelt and Lord Palmerston. In short, they have their work cut out for them.

The Templar advantages are the advantages of the attacker - surprise and choice. By changing alliances abruptly, the Templars defeated the Illu- minati in 1945 and in 1989. By choosing their ground, the Templars can mas

forces against a vul- nerable Illuminati sa-

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ana

63

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knowledge of magic

and the true currents of earthly power, the Templars can strike blows that the more conventionally-minded Illuminati cannot counter, such as the mystical assassinations of Pope John Paul I, Yuri Andropov or

Kim I1 Sung.

For the Nephilim, this struggle is a great opportunity. By playing both sides against each other, they distract and weaken the Templars at a crucial time. Although the Nephilim understand the battleground even less than the Templars do, the tempta- tion to intervene in secret-society fratricide is too great for groups such as the Emperor and Justice Arcana.

William Howard Kavanaugh 111

Illurninatus Major and Potential Nephilim Ally Male, Age 51

Social Status: 28 Opportunity: 84

Education: 21, MBA, Harvard Business School; JD, Harvard Law Life Experience: 8 7

Culture. American East Coast Establishment Profession: International Banker

Income: $2,250,000 declared, $1 7,500,000 from hidden

Residence: Large house in the Connecticut suburbs Family Relationship: 12, married, kids grown and out of

Possessions: 60-foot yacht, summer house in the Hamp-

Appearance: Graying at temples, distinguished trusts

the house

tons

STR13 C O N 1 3 I N T 1 7

DEX 15 C H A 14 Solar-Ka 31 (awakened) HP 13 Actions 3 d b 0

Skills: Arcanum Lore (general) 1 O%, Art (Evaluate Mod- ern) %%, Bargain 70%, Bribery %%, Business 50%, Computer Use 40%, Finance 85%, History 55%, Law

95%, Politics 95'/0, Psychology 65%, Readwrite (Eng-

lish) 8O%, Readwrite (French) 65%, Readwrite (Ger- man) 65%, Research 65%, Speak (English) loo%, Speak (French) 8O%, Speak (German) 8O%, Speak (Japanese) 65%, Tarot Lore 55%

Weapons: none Magic: none

William Howard Kavanaugh ill i s the protege of a very influential American member ("Philo") of the Council of Thirteen of the Bavarian Illuminati who favors explicitly breaking the illuminati off from the Templars. Kavanaugh has been ordered to make contact with the Nephilim wher- ever and whenever he can, and attempt to work out mutually beneficial arrangements, where possible. Kavanaugh has extensive political and financial contacts, both in the Illuminati and in those groups which are controlled by or heavily influenced by the illuminati. He i s inter- ested in a sufficiently productive relationship that he can be raised to the Council of Thirteen before the end of the century, and use his Nephilim contacts to further his own agenda. He may approach Nephilim or allow himself to be approached by them, depending on how he reads the overall situation. Although he has little mystic insight or interest, he understands power, money and politics better than most.

Charles Harrison

Master Mason, unwitting Illuminati puppet, and "bodyguard" to William Howard Kavanaugh 111 Male, Age 36

Social Status: 11 Opportunity: 33 Education: 14, some college

Life Experience: 58

Culture: Modern American underworld-street culture Profession: Private investigator

Income: $55,000

Residence: Apartment in N e w York City Family Relationship: 5, singles bars

The Templars are not the only organization with an interest in the experience, knowledge and expertise of the Vehm. The Order of Rhodes is also deeply interested

in forging an alliance with the Righteous Judges, given their common hatred of the Nephilim. Many in the Vehm are more sympathetic with Rhodes than with the Tem- ple, given the Templars’ role in crushing the Vehm in the Second World War. Prag- matic considerations also account for much of the Rhodes-Vehm cooperation - since the two Orders have between them the largest databases of Nephilim activity, coop- eration between the two is already occurring as Horsemen of Rhodes and Free Judges

of the Vehm “trade information” over secured, Orichalka-reinforced computer net-

in extremely sensitive cases. Some elements of the Bavarian Illuminati also favor allying once more with the Vehm, given their joint ties to the CIA and the financial-political power structure of Europe. The Stuhlherr of the Secret Tribunal has not committed the Vehm to any one alliance, preferring to wait until more of the Templar Plan becomes known to make a final decision.

By far the most bizarre of the Vehm’s contacts is its his- tory of dealing with the Justice Arcanum of the Nephilim. The Vehm and the Justice Arcanum recognized each other for kin- dred spirits as early as the days of Charlemagne, and began to use each other’s services in the elimination of humans or

Nephilim that offended against both codes of honor. The Se- lenim and the Devil Arcanum, and the humans that dealt with them, were the first “common enemies” of the two groups, and whenever either show signs of resurgence, the Vehm and Justice Arcanum trade information and assistance in their sup- pression. As well, the Justice Arcanum has eliminated certain :philim at the request of the Vehm, which is always happy to wo, while not recognizing each other’s jurisdictions as valid in

all cases, have a tacit agreement of mutual non-aggression. Indeed, there are cases of Nephilim being captured by the Vehm who have escaped death by conclusively dem- onstrating their membership in the Justice Arcanum, although it is also known that some Judges of the Vehm have killed Justice Nephilim when the provocation was strong enough.

26

-

sc?crrt

Societies

,

T h e Vcbmbof

i w

V i e w w ~

The Vehm’s headquarters in Vienna since 1661, the Vehmhof is a large chateau with attached park land located between the Kaisergarten and the Danube River. Property of the Habsburg family, it was granted to the Vehm in 1701, and has served as the main repository of Vehm archives, records of trials and confessions, and Nephilim and arcane lore for over three centuries. The Viennese branch of the Credit Suisse is headquartered here as well, serving as a false front for the Vehm and keeping the chateau’s profile low.

The bank’s offices and business areas occupy one wing of the building, with the other wings, the basements, and the outbuildings all used in the maintenance of the Vehm’s archives and administration of its judiciary network. The bank’s higher ofi-

cials are all “Wissende” (knowing) associates of the Vehm, and the Vienna director is a Treufreirichter of the Vehm in his own right. Most of the other bank ofticials and all of

the staff are "Unwissende" (unknowing), and are not allowed access to areas of the building outside their work spaces. Since this is common practice in many European

I

Outbuildings Contain Weapons, Relays, Emergency Generators,

More Security Staff

L'pper T w o Floors

Judges' Chambers

Contain More Archives,

-

Bank Office1

lTTTTiiTT

/

Basement Contains Security Rooms, Utility Rooms

Closed Area - Contains Archives, Archival Workers' Offices,

Judges' Chambers

Identical Door In Row of Offices Leads t o Closed Areas

--I

t-

I

Entry Hall I

\

_{Basement Contains}

VEHM Computers And Tribunal Rooms

Bank Computers

Bank Officers

T T T T T r

\

Upper Fliors Contain Employee And Officer Lunch Rooms,

Kitchens and Staff

banks, few of them ever become suspicious. The security staff is armed with Orichalka handcuffs, and its officers are also Vehm “Schoppen“ (recruits).

In the Vehm wing of the Vehmhof are libraries full of documents and charters con- taining histories of the Vehm and reams of information about the Nephilim, including much information about the Arcana, their methods of recognition and organization. Hence, most higher Judges of the Vehm have knowledge of Arcanum Lore, or access to such information. In addition, there are libraries of occult manuscripts covering various magical arts and techniques, although the Vehm practices very little magic itself. Most of the Vehm’s occult collection centers on the actions of the Nephilim throughout history, and the works of the Vehm and other secret societies against them or on their behalf. Much of this data has been transferred to computer files, and is accessible within 24 hours by computer search techniques. Virtually any member of the Vehm can access this data by computer for use in hunting down or convicting a Nephilim or human Nephilim ally. The Occult Research Potential of the Vehmhof li- brary and archives is at least 25.

The Vehm computers are maintained by Swiss and German computer experts and warded with Orichalka baffles and cables to prevent magical disruption. The Vehm also employs teams of computer research specialists and hackers who search public (and private) databases for any available information about the Nephilim or their hu- man allies. Few of these people are employed at the Vehmhof, however, for reasons of greater security and space considerations. These computer researchers, as well as the Vehm’s more traditional network of Vehmenotes (informers) in the underworld and in police departments all over Europe, make sure that the Vehm’s archive of information is possibly the most complete in the world.

Leopold

von Saubesch

Geheimstribunal Heiligerichter of the Vehm, Archivdirektor of the Vehmhof Male, Age 67

Social Status: 17 Opportunity: 51

Education: 18, Bonn University degree in History Life Experience: 91

Culture: Modern European cosmopolitan Profession: Archivist

Income: $950,000

Residence: A townhouse across the park from the Vehmhof Family Relationship: 15, one son (Wissende) works for Credit

Possessions: Antique harpsichord, library of first editions Appearance: Thin, tweedy, white-haired

STR 9 C O N 1 1 I N T 1 8

DEX 12 CHA 15 Solar-Ka 31 (awakened)

HP 11 Actions 3 db0

Suisse

Skills: Arcanum Lore (General for all Arcana) 55%, Archaeol- ogy 60%, Art (Play Harpsichord) 65%, Astrological Lore 65%, Computer Use 45%, Evaluate Manuscripts 90%, Her-

metic Lore 70%, History (Central European) 90%, Kabbalis-

tic Lore 6O%, Law 40%, Readwrite (German) 1 OO%,

Readwrite (English) 90%, Readwrite (French) 90%, Readwrite (Italian) 80%, Readwrite (Hungarian) 80%,

85%, Readwrite (Latin) 90%, Research 95%, Religion (Catholic) 60%, Scrutinize 90%, Speak (German) loo%, Speak (English) 80%, Speak (French) 80%, Speak (Latin) 80'6, Tarot Lore 75% Magic: Seals 65%

Lower Magic 75% Weapons: None

Letter-Opener with 67 points of Orichalka, which also serves as a Talisman

Von Saubesch is the director of the Vehmhof Archives, and as such controls the clearinghouse of all the Vehm information. H e is completely loyal to the Vehm, and ably coordinates the vast quantities of information that are deposited in his archives, as well as the equally vast quanti- ties that are sent to Vehm agents in the field or to their allies.

Charles Meyer

Treufreirichter of the Vehm and NSA Regional Director Male, Age 49

Social Status: 16 Opportunity: 48 Education: 19, Law Degree from Georgetown Life Experience: 81

Culture: American East Coast Establishment Profession: NSA Regional Director Income: $85,00O/year

Residence: Large house in Virginia suburbs Family Relationship: 12, wife but no children Possessions: H igh-power telescope, state-of-the-art

Appearance: Brown hair, nondescript, middle-aged STR14 C O N 1 4 I N T I 8

DEX 13 CHA 12 Solar-Ka 21 (awakened) HP 14 Actions 3 db +1 d4

Skills: Arcanum Lore (Magus, Chariot, Tower, Jus-

computer setup

tice, Emperor) 3.5'6, Art (Watercolors) 55%, As- trological Lore 65%, Astronomy 6O%, Business 50%, Computer Use 75%, Drive (Automobile) 35%, Electronics (Surveillance) 55%, Intelli- gence Analysis 75%, Law 85%, Listen 65%, Psy- chology 45%, Readwrite (English) 90%, Readwrite (German) 85%, Readwrite (Russian)

45%, Research 55%, Religion (Lutheran) 55%, Speak (English) 90%, Speak (German) 75%, Tarot Lore 65%

Weapons: ,303 Hunting Rifle 75%, 2d6+4 damage Magic: Talisman with 65 points of Orichalka Twelve .303 shells, each with 20 points of Orichalka Cruciform dagger with 119 points of Orichalka

Meyer's position with the National Security Agency allows him access to transcripts or tapes of vir- tually all telephone calls made in Central Europe, or from United States to Europe. He has a se- cure link into the NSA database from his personal computer. His position has made him very valuable to the Vehm, and he has not been personally responsible for carrying out a sentence for some time now.

33

-

Secrct

socicties

Kwisbts

o f

tbs

G O ~ C M

f=leece

The voyage of Jason and the Argonauts has been considered everything from an initiation fable to the first Grail Quest, from a recapitulation of the Zodiacal alphabet to the legend-encrusted history of a Mycenaean pirate expedition. In the tradition of the Nephilim and their eidolons the secret societies, all of these interpretations are true, and none of them are correct.

The original voyage of the Argo to Colchis was a joint human-Nephilim expedi- tion to an Atlantean colony that had survived the cataclysm, with the hope of redis- covering the Golden Path to Agartha. Jason was the human Orpheus, a powerful Nephilim.

that JmoM hoes

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Prometheus, and his Brotherhood had ruled there after the fall. When the Argo reached Colchis, Heracles and Jason quarreled over the proper use of the Golden Fleece (the information left by Prometheus that would enable the reader, hu- man or Nephilim, to reach Agartha). In the struggle, Jason escaped with the Fleece, but lost his Nephilim allies, necessary for its full decipherment from Enochian. Jason was later killed by an unknown assailant (the Knights and Nephilim blame each other, of course) and the Fleece vanished.

Orpheus, upon its reincarnation around 800 B.C., attempted to rediscover the Fleece's whereabouts to continue the work of Jason, and trained a school of initiates in certain techniques which came to be called the Orphic Mysteries. These techniques were primarily meditational, enabling humans to awaken their Solar-Ka, and to pre- pare them for steady association with the Nephilim. Orpheus, unfortunately, was killed by the priestesses of a different Nephilim (possibly High Priestess Arcanum, although they deny it now) to prevent its revealing too much knowledge to humanity, and the Mysteries continued as best they could in its absence. Sometimes, powerful and sympathetic Nephilim (usually of Orpheus' own Magus Arcanum) stepped in to lead the Mysteries, such as the Nephilim known as Apollonius of Tyana (30?-loo?).

Eventually, the Orphic Mysteries dwindled to a single school, which moved around Greece and Anatolia to escape the Church, the Templars, and hostile Nephilim. The Mysteries were removed to Constantinople by the alchemist Byzantine Emperor Heraclios, who renamed them the Equites Iasoni. In Constantinople, the Equites worked diligently to recreate the Golden Fleece from ancient texts and maps, which they had decided would show the mystical location of the Agartha Nexus, where all the Earth's magical fields originate.

The Fourth Crusade of 1204 sacked Constantinople, and many of the Equites fled to Moorish Spain with their knowledge. They inspired a brief flurry of explorations in the Muslim world, including those of Ibn Battuta, Mansa Musa, and others, but were too foreign to be properly incorporated into the Moorish states. They remained in Iberia, however, and switched sides to the Christian kings when they began the Recon- quest. With the rise of Aragon and Navarre, the Equites spread out across the Mediter-

ranean world, seeking out ancient knowledge and creating (beginning around 1300)

the portolan charts, which crisscross the map with a network of fine lines. Many of the portolans were used by navigators, and show wind currents, but the hidden portolans mapped ka flows and mystical energies, all in aid of the Quest for Agartha and the Golden Path.

The Equites soon began to exchange information and support with the Templars, and were explicitly tied to the Templars by the marriage of Duke Philip of Burgundy to Princess Isabella of Portugal in 1429. Prince Henry of Portugal was both a Templar Knight of Christ and an initiate of the Equites Iasoni, and founded a naval observatory at Sagres from which he sent out explorers to search for “routes to India” (an obvious occult metaphor for paths to Agartha). In fact, Henry was later known as Prince Henry the Navigator, and his observatory at Sagres may have been one of the secret backers

of Columbus’ explorations.

Duke Philip, at that time the Supreme Knight of the Equites, reorganized the order along Templar lines, with hierarchical ranks, chains of command, and independent circles of action. He also changed its name to the Order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, and publicized its existence all over Europe, inviting powerful nobles to join. The Knights had a large hand in the exploratory fervor of the time. Together with their allies the Templars, the Order backed the Dutch East India

Company, the British Northwest Company, and the French Compagnie du Saint-Sacrament (tied to the Order of St.- Sulpice, whose Grail Quest had much in common with the Quest for the Golden Fleece of the Knights).

Over the next few centuries, the Order continued its work of mapping the globe, both overtly and covertly. The quest for Agartha was maintained by a select group of initiates, among them St.-Yves-d’Alveydre (1842-1910), whose post- humous book Mission to India in Europe revealed the exist-

ence of Agartha to the world at large for the first time. The modem Knighthood is headed by Alexander Pyro- polous, who began his term as Jason of the Order by moving its headquarters to Delphi in Greece from Lyon, where it had been based since the 15th century. The Knighthood has many Circles, which pursue their own interests, often inde- pendently of each other. The main Knighthood is the Euro- pean group of initiates who continue to plot the mystical cur-

rents on the Earth, piecing together the Golden Fleece from hints and relics. One of the Circles of the Order is a group of scientists tied to the American and French space programs, who map the currents from the various planets to the Earth.

The JASON Society, a group of physicists and astronomers with ties to the Illumi- nati and the Templars as well as their parent Order, is used by the United States Gov- ernment as scientific advisors, and advanced many occult and experimental programs under the cover of SDI research. Some elements opposed to the Illuminati have theo- rized that the JASON Society was behind the failure of the Galileo probe and the Mars Observer, and is using these devices to manipulate the ka-fields on Earth. Even more paranoid investigators claim that the Galileo probe is designed to plunge into Jupiter on December 7, 1999, detonating its plutonium engines in a thermonuclear explosion that would transform Jupiter into a new star, with untold effects on the Earth both