Chantries that Never Sleep
Tourmalae Chantry
The Council of Traditions was founded on traditional principles. Strong purpose is what will break down the walls of the Technocracy’s death grip on the global paradigm. Wild, random attempts to do so will succeed only in causing irritations, and then the irritant will be “handled”. Besides, there is no better way to loosen the Technocracy’s grip on the world then by beating it at its own game of influence and finance. Therefore, the mages of the Tourmalae Chantry became some of the city’s greatest players in politics and finance. Using techniques far harder to duplicate and anticipate by their competitors, these mages quickly swept up their pieces of the pie in Sleeper affairs. But now they have to hold onto what they’ve got. As young blood joins the chantry, they have more opportunities to do more than break even.
Chantryhouse
On Fulton Street, in the Financial District of southern Manhattan, looms the New Trades Focus building. This twenty-six story skyscraper is full of different sorts of businesses, from retail outlets to stock investment offices. Elevators, escalators, and tiresome stairwells connect each floor.
But from the twentieth level and up, the building is closed to the public. Here are condominiums reserved for private lodgings – space for the members of the Tourmalae Chantry to rest. The penthouse in particular was set aside for the Awakened to meet as a chantry, as they do on a regular monthly basis. Offices and private libraries are just down corridors from private domiciles, and the halls look little different than the ones downstairs.
But looks can be deceiving. Décor in the condos can be quite unusual, and the libraries are rife with boggling texts. Doors are often the least of security measures. And everywhere, from the 20th floor and up, a steady thrum of energy supercharges the place with a feeling of industry and power.
Nodes
Maybe that thrum is just the subway tracks located under the street, below the New Trades Focus building. But the Masters of Tourmalae knew what they were doing when they had this skyscraper constructed thirty years ago. Several subway tracks criss-cross below. Though manmade, the powers of mankind’s industry have long had an effect on the environment, good or bad. Thanks to the subtle influence over the city, the Traditions insured these tracks crossed in such a manner that it complimented the flow of Quintessence instead of breaking it. As such, the tunnels actually serve as funneling engines for ambient energies in the earth.
The tower sits upon this nexus. Hermetic glyphs and holy rites help focus that energy upwards into technomantic instruments wired from the base of the building and up to the very roof of the building. The Quintessence thus collected pools in the penthouse: on a table sits a glass sphere plugged into the wall. Electric arcs shoot about the inside of the ball, but this is easily dismissed as one of the many wonders of Tesla. Laying one’s hand on the sphere conducts nothing but Quintessence into the hands and spirit of the Awakened, however.
Defenses
The Tourmalae Chantry boasts powerful but well-hidden wards against a variety of magicks on its Nodes and the 20th series of floors. Armed security guards patrol the lower levels and a surprisingly hi-tech security system laced with magickal and technomagickal alarms laces over the whole building. Since 9/11, the Masters also deemed to set up detection and early-warning systems on the roof (more out of fear of the Technocracy staging a false terrorist attack to take out their greatest enemy in the city). On top of all of this, most private suites and chambers are “wizard-locked” at least. Some are even guarded by terrible spirits and chained demons who stir only to destroy trespassers.
Backgrounds & Characters
All members gain the Chantry Background at *****. All other Backgrounds must be purchased and acquired normally. The chantry commands a communal Level 3 Node of static Centricity.
Custos
The Tourmalae Chantry is understandably cautious about Custos. Acolytes are permitted only after several months of chantry review to insure they will not pose a threat to chantry security. Consors take far longer. Few mages bother getting either as official custos for the chantry, and thus there are almost no non-mages on the 20th floor or above. Technically, all of the employees in the private businesses of this place can be considered Acolytes, and many have been subjected to Mind magick to insure they cause no security threats.
Glass Lightning Chantry
A far more relaxed venue for the Awakened would be the Glass Lightning Chantry. Here sorcerers and technomancers of all nine Traditions are welcome, as are Crafters and Orphans who don’t mind the dominant Traditions. Where the Tourmalae mages are focused on building Benjamins and vying for control of the mayor’s brain, the Glass Lightning folks hang back and enjoy themselves.
Granted, these mages have their share of enemies. And they’ve been forced to fight those foes on a frequent basis. Bonded together, they have survived. Furthermore, they’re willing to join forces with the other two chantries in town to face down the greatest threats facing the Awakened of New York City. But they’re more interested in achieving Ascension on their own and in their own ways than heeding the timetables of the Tourmalae or following the meditations of the Whispering Leaves.
Chantryhouse
In Brooklyn, in the northern Williamsburg District, Long Island University can be found. Not far from the school stands the Glass Bottle, a nightclub and entertainment center rolled into one big ball of fun. Modern music, alternative rock and murky pop mostly, give the club its goth-rave feel. The central chambers of this club, found in an almost suburban district, are dedicated to the bar and dance floor and tables for diners. The leftmost chambers open up into a head-thumping whir of electronic noises – an arcade. To the right of the dance floor sprawls an indoor sports center, including a small basketball court and batting cage.
Stairs lead up to an Internet café with twenty monitors and high-speed connections. However, some have complained that the computers misbehave sometimes, as if they were haunted or just badly set up. So some visitors just “borrow” the connection with their laptops (if they can override the firewalls preventing overuse of the Glass Bottle’s bandwidth). Hallways from there lead to a hostel that provides lodgings for guests (although the chantry screens all guests). Unfortunately for the general public, most of the hostel lodgings are frequently full, due to the fact that the mages also stay in these small but nicely furnished rooms, complete with private bathrooms.
Nodes
The Node of the Glass Lightning Chantry was actually discovered twenty years ago, thanks to adventurous Cultists of Ecstasy, out in the Catskills Mountains. That’s quite some distance from the Big Apple! But thanks to the hi-tech “wizardry” of Virtual Adepts, the Quintessence produced by this faerie-like glen of magic is transmitted via satellites, and beamed directly to the Glass Bottle’s basement. There the energies gather on a dedicated computer console. The monitor is always on and backed up by nearby emergency generators (which are in turn warded against burn-out Effects). The monitor’s screen always appears to be an iridescent screensaver. But the varying colors are actually the wavelengths of Quintessence. Merely touching the monitor’s screen transfers some of that energy into a mage’s Avatar. It’s quite a miracle of magick and science!
Defenses
The Glass Bottle’s first line of security is the bouncers, most of whom are big, muscle-bound Sleepers who are just doing their jobs. Certain private rooms in the hostel are guarded by preventive bans or curses that inflict confusion and madness on trespassers. The Node itself is firewalled beyond mortal comprehension. The Virtual Adepts focused all of their impressive electronic talents to insure not even the Technocracy could hack into their Node. The physical Node is well hidden by illusions and mystickal alarms. The Hollowers of the Glass Lightning also added their two cents to the Node’s protection, summoning and then bribing and cajoling a circle of wraiths called Artificers. These ghosts Inhabit the computer systems, feeding off the Quintessence and enjoying the free rein that the Net offers through here. So yes, the Internet Café really is haunted!
Backgrounds & Characters
All members gain the Chantry Background at ***. All other Backgrounds must be purchased and acquired normally. The chantry commands a communal Level 3 Node of dynamic Wonder.
Custos
Allowing any Custos into the chantry proper demands approval from the Masters, who also review the intended to insure they are not spies or psychopaths. The process takes a far shorter period time of approval or disapproval than the Tourmalae Chantry’s red tape does. But there are still few Acolytes or Consors at the Glass Bottle. Of course, the Sleeper employees of the club are considered Acolytes, and the guarding Artificers are Consors. So there’s hope.
Court of Whispering Leaves
While other mysticks pursue grand Ascension or frivolous self-gratification, the chi’n ta of the Court of Whispering Leaves follow a more humble ideal. This chantry of Asian magi is about finding a new life beyond what one finds familiar. It is about wisely blending the best ideas of Eastern and Western philosophies.
Most of all, this chantry is about seeking Ascension for the individual. It is not that these mages have given up and believe the Technocracy is too strong to conquer. They simply believe in “live and let live”. So when the Technocracy or other forces pose a dire threat even to these reclusive chi’n ta, they willingly fight, joining forces with their sister chantries across the city. For now though, these mages – mostly Akashayana, but with some Dreamspeakers and even Crafters (like Wu Lung) – do what’s right for them, defending themselves as necessary. They are neither crusaders nor sybarites. They are heroes for themselves only.
Chantryhouse
In Manhattan’s rather small Chinatown district, located just north of the Financial District (which is near the southern tip of the island), there is a restaurant of mixed Asian cuisine called the Jade Family. Here diners can sample Cantonese or Szechuan flavors, as well as Japanese and Korean favorites like sushi and kim’chi. This high-rate and popular restaurant even offers spicy Thai curries and other Southeast Asian delicacies.
But it is just a restaurant. Sure, some of the employees live above the restaurant in a number of tiny apartments. The mundane air and reasonable prices (that pale in comparison to the Mandarin Court down the block) keeps locals and tourists alike flocking to its lush interior and attractive Asian decorations. The secret in the finished basement of the Jade Family is missed even by wily sorcerers from other chantries. Downstairs the paneling is layered with silk and lovely art, including tapestries and woodblocks of famous artisans (or works of the mages). The floor is not finished, not in a traditional American sense. Instead, flagstones of pure green jade are set in the soft earth. Here the chi’n ta meet and meditate and gather their strength.
Nodes
The Court of Whispering Leaves commands a Node, and it is located in the cellar. The cellar’s entrance is hidden on the restaurant floor above, and nothing for the restaurant is stored downstairs. That is, of course, out of profound respect for the essence of the chantry…and of the Node. For this place was once the burial ground for Indians long before they traded Manhattan to the European settlers. The Oriental mages who now control this Node use the essence of the ancient cemetery to fuel their purpose. They pay tribute to their own ancestors, and they honor the dead entombed here as the ancestors of the land.
And as ancestors of the land, the ancient natives are regarded as keepers and granters of opportunity to the chi’n ta. Though some criticize the Western negotiation with natives centuries ago as playing on ignorance, the gift of this land is still great, and the chi’n ta at least never forget that generosity. Thus, while meditating here and offering prayers and thanks to their own ancestors as well as the ancestors of the land, the incense they burn turns into smoke of primal power, fueling the mysticks’ reserves of ch’i (Quintessence).
Defenses
The illusion of the mundane that the restaurant fabricates scarcely needs any magickal backing. But to be safe, the chi’n ta reinforced that veil with Mind magicks. The food that the restaurant serves is not tampered with, save by an Awakened chef eager to please perhaps. The only serious defenses that the chantry (and Node) have are spirits and ghosts, which freely inhabit the Indian graveyard…and vehemently attack intruders. The ghosts all believe anyone besides the chi’n ta would not show them the same respect (and they are probably right). The apartments above the restaurant are kept only by the Awakened members of the chantry, not actual employees. As individual lodgings, the mages can construct whatever measures of security they want to guard their privacy.
Backgrounds & Characters
All members gain the Chantry Background at **. All other Backgrounds must be purchased and acquired normally. The chantry commands a communal Level 2 Node of dynamic Wisdom.
Custos
The employees are not Acolytes, but could be considered as such since they’re regularly reviewed by the chi’n ta. The spirits (mostly Ancestor-spirits, not wraiths) that dwell in the burial ground are considered Consors who stay of their own free will. The Jade-spirits that are awakened in each flagstone are also Consors. Otherwise, appealing for any Custos requires careful examination of the intended ally. The chantry is too small to afford an infiltrator.
