Crusading Cavaliers
Standing Against the Tide
Many supernatural creatures dwell in San Francisco and the Bay Area and most of them are not the happyhappyjoyjoy monsters they may think they are. Their crimes against humanity often go unanswered. And the following groups are some of the only ones with the guts to do it. They stalk the monsters of the night for revenge, justice, or even knowledge. These hunters are humans living for humanity, and even if they prove merciful, it is for the virtue of compassion, and not naïve affection for the monsters they spare.
Arcanum
The Arcanum set up base in San Francisco decades ago to monitor the burgeoning supernatural presence of the city. They operate out of a magically and electronically secured library in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, not far from Lake Merced. Their current project of interest is the shapeshifting wolves in the park to the north.
Devaki
The Devaki, also known as the Crusaders, is a private citizen-based militia of vampire hunters. They were originally found only in Kansas City, but are beginning to spread into the Bay Area. Currently, through certain street gangs they are surfacing in Oakland. Right now, they simply keep an eye on vampiric activities, but are training and preparing to attack the Anarchs of the area.
DNA
This high-tech organization of werewolf hunters (Developmental Neogenetics Amalgamated) seeks to capture lycanthropes for biological experimentations. They use incredible gadgetry beyond the ken of normal science, funded and equipped secretly by the Progenitor Technocrats. Their base is in Silicon Valley, north of the town of Palo Alto. They are not aware of their Glass Walker neighbors yet, instead going on forays into Golden Gate Park and Mount Tamilpais Park.
Inquisition
The Inquisition is always a powerful force of hunters with which to be reckoned in any metropolis, and even San Francisco is no exception. The Jesuits helped found this city centuries ago, after all, and never really left. Nowadays, the Society of Leopold leaves observation and auto-da-fés to its cenacles based out of the Church of Saint Francis d’Assisi in the Richmond District of western San Francisco. They have proven quite successful in quelling serious problems. The Society does not realize, however, that these apparent mainstream Inquisitors are actually all dedicated members of the Sanbenito, a radical heretical sect that believes that supernatural creatures can be saved without slaughtering them.
Romani
Various kumpaniyi pass by and through the Bay Area on a regular basis, attracted by so many gaje and their often naïve tolerance of diversity. Only one circulates around the city all the time, however. A band of Urmen called the Misto Droboy (“very lost”) wander in random-seeming patterns about the Bay Area, enjoying close connections to the local “commoner” changelings (especially in the Sonoma and Napa Valleys).
Thal’hun
South of Golden Gate Park in a mansion of the Sunset District dwells the home base of a secret society of sorcerers known as the Thal’hun. Their alien occultism and UFOology sprang up decades ago and their searches for “the truth” spans them across the globe. But the Thal’hun’s main base of operations, libraries, and ceremonies are conducted here.
Special Events
Special events are annual (or more frequent) holidays or special ritual days that the main group or groups observe as a whole community. Attendance and participation is often expected of all members, and sometimes required.
Pentecostal Marches
On the Christian calendar, most holy days are tied to Easter, because Easter (not Christmas) is the most important and sacred of days to the religion. Pentecost falls precisely 50 days after Easter. The Pentecostal Marches then are the Church’s commands for the cenacles of the San Francisco Bay Area. Whereas other cities compel their Inquisitors to observe holy days as times of peace and reflection, the witch-hunters here redouble their efforts in a week-long procession known as the Pentecostal Marches. Efforts to root out and eradicate demons and vampires increase with frightening intensity. Old Testament wrath is the theme. Obviously, this event is not universally observed. Many hunters in Kansas City are not affiliated with the Church. But as the dominant organization, it nevertheless bears note. Over time, witch-hunters outside the Society of Leopold have taken note, and sometimes work with Inquisitors during the Marches.
Delights of the Far East
The “Delights of the Far East” is not so much an event as it is a campaign. The event it mirrors is Chinese New Year (which takes place over two weeks, starting on the new moon that falls in January or February), when the greatest advertising and marketing drive takes place, but the campaign carries on all year. Started in 2008 by enterprising immigrant shen of San Francisco’s traditional Chinatown district, the “Delights” effort hooks Americans by appealing to their ethnocentric expectations, and then bombards the tourists with cultural honesty. Nothing is watered down, not even the spicy food. Every country and culture of East Asia is represented, especially China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philipines, and India, and many more. Representation has been effected through a general clean-up of Chinatown’s appearance, modernizing some of the more rundown sections, as well as a clamping down of tong and other rougher elements of organized crime. (It’s still there, just more urbane now.) Advanced tourism hubs play up East Asia’s burgeoning technology revolution with even more talented tour guides. The purpose, of course, is to broaden acceptance of genuine East Asian immigrants and culture in America. For the Shih and other humans, this helps spread cultural acceptance beyond Chinatown while improving overall prosperity to their “home away from home”, which now is simply home.
“What a wonderful concept! Narrow the field to consider only the werebeasts' eating habits – and make sure said habits do not include you – and I think you’ll acquire funding for another year.”
-- Dr. Irene Crius, Arcanist Chancellor of the San Francisco Chapter House
