The Corrupt

"Not long after, Saint Guthlac being awake in his cell between his hours of prayer, he discerned all his cell to be full of black troops of unclean spirits. They crept in under the door, also through chinks and holes, and coming both through the earth and from the sky filled the air, as it were, with dark clouds ..."

– Life of Saint Guthlac

Where does the devil try hardest to spread corruption? Nowhere is the spiritual battle stronger than amid the nuns and monks of Mythic Europe, whose righteousness and piety prevail against the lures of this world. There the agents of the Infernal prowl constantly, seeking a way to enter in and to lead these servants of God to damnation. The role of the religious in education, preaching, and support to communities makes them powerful soldiers of God, yet they are just as powerful a force for damnation, if turned from the love of God and allowed to bring destruction to the souls they tend. Monks and nuns in Mythic Europe face a constant spiritual battle against temptation — temptation that often takes on a tangible form, for many demons prize the corruption of a holy soul above all else. Heresy, the lure of the cardinal sins, and false spirituality are the weapons of the Infernal in this battle.

Corruption can take many forms. Human vice and profligacy are by far the most common; most monastic orders and Church institutions unknowingly harbor individuals prone to vice and human error. Heresy and ignorance are not uncommon, either; folk beliefs exist that the Church authorities look askance at, though many practices founded in popular piety and local custom are simply accepted without much theological scrutiny. Corruption in this chapter, however, means something far more insidious — the wiles of Satan, and the Infernal realm's attempt to tarnish the bride of Christ, the Church, by seducing her to sin. A corrupt order is one that has become institutionally corrupted, and rather than serving the armies of God now fights alongside the forces of hell in the great war for the souls of Mythic Europe.

Telling stories about corruption in the Church is a chance to bring suspense, creeping horror, and shocking revelations in to your saga. Mythic Europe is filled with monasteries and nunneries; who knows what secrets lurk behind their walls? Such stories can contain much interest, but unfortunately have the potential to lead to real world upset among players who may have strongly held religious beliefs. Some players may hold strong opinions about the medieval Church, or the contemporary Catholic Church, and it is important to avoid allowing such feelings to cause bad feeling at the gaming table. Common sense, tact, and sensitivity are called for, and above all a willingness to actually check one's personal prejudices, and rise above them. A useful tip is to cut off any discussion of real religion at the gaming table, and agree to discuss it later, rather than allow a game to be sidetracked and feelings hurt. This is a fantasy game, and the Church of Mythic Europe is not the real Church of our own history.

So why tell stories about corrupt monks? The idea of a corrupt order was a common one in 13th-century folklore, where stories of monkish vice are common. Some notions that today are popularly associated with monastic corruption — such as abuse of children, sexual abuse, nunneries as brothels, and monks torturing innocents in secret crypts — are not actually in keeping with the 13th century; many of these are modern or 19th century anti-clericalist motifs. By avoiding these anachronistic themes, and instead drawing upon older folklore, much potential upset may be avoided. The story of a monk and nun eloping and being pursued by Church officials, or a lax and gluttonous abbot who oppresses his peasants and monks, are favorites of the era. Another intriguing motif is monasteries that are not what they appear to be, but hide which holy or magical secrets. Some monasteries, like Cunfin in the Normandy Tribunal, even conceal covenants of the Order of Hermes (The Lion and the Lily, page 106).

When it comes to the corruption, again it is wise to avoid modern clichés drawn from horror movies and novels. The pentagram is a symbol of the five wounds of Christ, though certainly used in magical practices. Animal and human sacrifice in particular are not common motifs in this context, and many of our modern ideas of Satanism are equally inappropriate as deeply anachronistic. A great deal of valuable insight into medieval concepts of the demonic can be found in the invaluable Realms of Power: The Infernal, but if one recalls that demons are concerned with corrupting souls, not with drinking blood and slaying indiscriminately, it is easy to think of strategies that might create conflict, deprave the innocent, and magnify human vices.

Stories about corruption should be ultimately stories about moral choices that present opportunities for temptation, and the lure of worldly gain, at the expense of a character's soul. Evil can be explicit, but the story will be stronger if the evil can appear sympathetic or appealing, and if the characters are forced to make choices, and to resist temptation, until they see the hand of the Infernal behind the events. Ultimately evil in Mythic Europe is never attractive — Ars Magica is not film noir, and when the situation is fully understood, evil should be shocking, disgusting, and offensive.

One particular area of difficulty for storyguides is heresy, something that lies at the heart of many medieval Infernal plots. Given that the major monotheisms of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all contain Divine truth in Mythic Europe, even where to human reason they appear to be in conflict (see Realms of Power: The Dominion for a discussion of this), it may seem strange that certain ideas are deeply wrong and spiritually damaging. Again, storyguides should be sensitive here, and must decide which ideas are so wrong that they actually endanger a character's soul and cross the line in to Infernalism.

The important concept is "where there is truth, there is error." Demons work in two ways. Firstly, they lead people to commit sin by making them resigned to the prospect of hell, or by making them deny the possibility of hell. Secondly, demons try to subtly pervert the truth, and lead people into beliefs that are mistaken, and hence into wrong behavior that will eventually corrupt them into the service of hell — heresy is an important part of that process. Exactly which heresies are Infernally inspired, however, is hard to judge; some pious people can hold erroneous ideas that are not severe enough in their ramifications to lead those who accept them to hell. A wrong teaching only becomes Infernal when it leads people directly to sinful behavior, and hence to damnation. Being wrong about a religious precept in itself is not enough — it must lead to actual evil actions, and lead others to the same.

There are many heresies in Mythic Europe, some ancient and some quite recent. Most heretics are simply theologians who have made errors, postulating ideas that are incorrect for their religion, or who have been found by their faith to be in error following a ruling on a particular matter. The Christian Church does not execute heretics; those guilty of heresy, however, are frequently handed over by the Church to the state, which does often execute heretics in accordance with the laws of that land. This subtle distinction may prove little comfort to those who refuse to recant their errors and who are sentenced to be burned.

Most heretics are quite unaware they are heretics. Ignorance is the problem, not deliberate refusal of Divine truth. Some are absolutely certain the Church is incorrect on a given matter, and seek to reform the Church. Others merely think for themselves, and through weak understanding of a doctrine have drawn the wrong conclusions. The vast majority of medieval heretics are faithful members of the Church who have strayed into error, or who wish to reform the Church or dispute a particular matter of doctrine. The only large-scale alternative Church to arise through heresy is the religious institutions of Catharism. Once again, it is important to stress that by no means are all heretics allied with the Infernal; indeed, the majority probably serve the Dominion, and a person with True Faith may quite often be guilty of heresy. Heresy is a disagreement with the Church on earth, not necessarily with the Divine.

Where heresy is genuinely Infernal, though, sacrilege and blasphemy usually follow. The desecration or abuse of the holy generally causes strong reactions in Mythic Europe, and is a way in which the Infernal swiftly gains in power.

In this section three of the religious orders of Mythic Europe are briefly presented in more detail, with details of how the observance of the rule and the culture of their monasteries varies from the Benedictine norms presented in Chapter 4: The Rule. Each of the groups is provided as an example of a potentially corrupt order, with information on the nature of the corruption, the demonic influences underlying the order's corruption, and suggestions for using this order as corrupt in your saga. Even if the order is not corrupt in your saga, this material will allow you to represent them. Other orders are discussed in Chapter 4: The Rule and Chapter 8: The Franciscans. The military orders of warrior monks are discussed in Chapter 7: The Templars.

The order of Cluny began as a movement within the Benedictine Order in the 10th century. The Burgundian monastery of Cluny imposed a strict interpretation of the Rule of Saint Benedict, at a time of widespread popular perception of monks as lax, venal, and corrupt. Cluny's founder, the Duke of Aquitaine, chose not to exercise the usual influence that nobles who established religious houses expected to maintain, instead making the new monastery free from secular authority and subject only to the pope. The pope approved this arrangement, and the monastery therefore stands completely independent of the diocese and local church.

Freed from both local Ecclesiastical and temporal authority, the monastery looked inwards, becoming a powerful force for spiritual rebirth and the purity of the ascetic ideal. Perhaps such freedom from normal channels of authority is dangerous, and tempted the new order to pride, but for the next two centuries the abbey of Cluny stood as a light to the world, sending out monks filled with reforming zeal and determined to cleanse monasteries of corruption, moral laxity, and violations of the austerity of the Benedictine Rule.

By its example, Cluny was to touch almost every religious house in western Mythic Europe, making others examine the fidelity of their community's adherence to the rule they espoused. The papacy, seeing the achievements of Cluny, sent monks from this model house out to other monasteries, and it is a tribute to the zeal of those early "missionary reformers" that they often succeeded in bringing high ideals and reforming zeal to their new homes.

Because of this perceived purity, Cluny was popular with the Church authorities and lay folk, and therefore received a great deal of support and many financial bequests and endowments. The fashionable nature of the Cluniac order provided the seeds of its downfall, though, for by the mid-12th century Cluniac houses were often as rich if not richer than Benedictine houses, and newer reforming movements dedicated to poverty and ascetic rigor (such as the Cistercians) had developed, and become more popular. The Cluniacs, long seen as expressing the best of the reforming movement in monasticism, are in 1220 perceived by many as decadent and lax, perhaps with some justification.

As the austerity and rigor of the early Cluniac communities have softened with years and wealth, Cluny has developed a strong tradition, or feel, of its own. In several ways it varies from its Benedictine parent, and the rule has been modified.

Was There a Cluniac Order?

Technically, the answer is no, there is no such thing as the Cluniac order. All Cluny houses follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, and wear the same black robes as are worn by many Benedictines, though reputedly of better cloth. Cluny is a movement within the Benedictines, not a separate order, but in the 13th century it has developed so far from its Benedictine roots as to be popularly regarded as, and in real terms effectively be, an independent order. Answering only through its own feudal-like structure to the Abbot of Cluny, 13th-century characters will speak of the "Cluniacs" or "Order of Cluny" quite naturally.

Mortuary Masses

The term mortuary Mass can mean any Mass for the remembrance of the dead, that is a requiem Mass, but the term is also used in a far more sinister way in Mythic Europe. It is widely believed that if a funeral Mass is celebrated for a man or woman still living, he will die. Such an activity is classified therefore as murder, but some corrupt priests are known to perform the Infernal rite (as a blasphemous perversion of a holy rite is Infernal) in exchange for money.

Government

The Cluniacs are governed in a manner reminiscent of the feudal system. At the top is the Abbot of Cluny, who holds supreme power. In each Cluniac monastery the abbot (or prior) has a very strong control and imposes his authority more than in many Benedictine houses.

Cluny is the mother house of the entire order, but monks from Cluny departed and either reformed existing monasteries, or founded new houses, and those houses then swore "vassalage" to Cluny, becoming daughter houses and adopting the Cluniac culture. They in turn sent out monks (often in small groups of four) who founded new cells, which in time grew into priories or abbeys, which in turn founded their own daughter houses. An annual payment is made from each daughter house to the mother house, and the mother house supports and assists the daughter, often by sending more monks to expand the community.

It is an oddity of the Cluniacs that the abbots of many of the smaller houses, including all the Cluniac houses in England, take the title prior rather than abbot. This is a show of modesty, abbot being reserved for the Abbot of Cluny and the largest houses. The prior also, by combining the usual duties of abbot and prior in one person, reduces the possibility of factionalism or disobedience and maintains his absolute authority over the monks.

Abbots (or priors) of Cluniac houses are not elected as in Benedictine monasteries, but are appointed either by Cluny itself, or in some cases by the mother house.

Independence

Whereas religious houses are subject to the Ecclesiastical oversight of and visitation by the bishop of the diocese in which they are located, the Cluniac houses are an exception. The right of Cluny to answer to the papacy was later conferred upon the daughter houses, and so the Cluniacs stand outside of the Ecclesiastical structure, with very limited supervision. Even papal legates are by a bull of 1098 forbidden to intervene in or examine a Cluniac House without direct papal instruction.

Secular authority is weak as well. Claims of patrons of monastic houses beyond prayers and spiritual blessings, especially claims to privilege or influence, are fiercely resisted, as is any attempt to tax the monks. Cluniac houses stand apart from local temporal politics. As such, they are in an extremely privileged position,

Frequent Mass

The frequent, indeed often several times daily, celebration of the Mass is one of the most noted features of the Cluniacs, and the Masses are celebrated in settings, that is liturgical frameworks, with an opulence unknown almost anywhere outside of the order. The Mass is as different from Mass at a local church as a cathedral choir is from workers singing in the fields, and the setting (words, music, and format of the holy rite) is designed to evoke wonder and awe, not aid comprehension. With the priest elevating the host behind a rood screen, it is possible that terrible profanation of the body and blood of Christ is occurring, and that the Mass celebrated daily is actually a black Mass, a perversion of the holiest Sacrament. Unlike Benedictine monasteries, almost all Cluniac monks are encouraged to be ordained as priests so they can celebrate Mass, perhaps so the corruption can be more widespread. Another possibility is that the deliberate corruption of the Mass is very subtle, concealed within the unusual setting and ornate ritual that marks the order, and that the heretical elements would only be apparent to someone with a high score in the Theology Ability, studying the rite. However, given the length of time the corruption has existed, if the Cluniacs are the corrupt order, then such perversions must be very subtle and effectively hidden from visitors most of the time.

The Liturgical Hours

The liturgical hours are also celebrated with a great deal more liturgical complexity and splendor than is normal in Benedictine communities. An atmosphere of devotion and ritual wonder is evoked, and it is entirely possible, again, that these services could be corrupted subtly, to denigrate what they are properly intended to exalt; take as example some of the parodies of the Mass performed by the clerical students called the Goliards, to protest the failure of the crusades and financial abuses by the Church. Visitors with excellent Ecclesiastical Latin and a good knowledge of Church Lore might well spot strange features of these services, if such exist. Whereas Benedictine services are usually thirty minutes, the Cluniac version takes a full hour, pushing back other duties. Manual labor is performed by hired servants so as to allow the monks the time to dedicate to prayer, the offices, and celebrating Masses.

Chantries and Masses for the Dead

If there is one thing Cluny in the 13th century is most associated with in the popular mind, it is the dead. From early in the order's history, Cluny has been associated with prayer for souls in purgatory, even, it is believed, plucking some from the very verge of being consigned to hellfire through timely intervention. The daily Masses are almost always requiem Masses, said in memory of the departed, and Cluniac monks ordained (as a majority are) as priests often officiate at funerals. In most Cluniac abbeys books of miracula — ghost stories and miracles of saints — are to be found, recounting local proofs of the eternal world. Another type of work, the mirabilia, contains stories of faeries, magical and unusual natural phenomena, signs and wonders; Cluniac abbeys in particular are associated with these miracles, which happen here more often than in most places in Mythic Europe, presumably because of the spiritual strength of the order. Ghosts are seen in dreams and visions, or appear before the monks at night to plead for prayer, and many a harrowing tale is told by the monks of how a ghost came before them to tell of the pains of purgatory, or worse still, the relentless torment of hellfire.

The Cluniac wealth accumulates through the practice of saying Mass and prayers and distributing alms on behalf of the departed. Widows, widowers, bereaved families, and the deceased themselves through their wills make generous financial provision for the three things that Cluniacs suggest might speed their progress through purgatory, or help them when facing judgment. Firstly prayers should be said for their souls, and secondly Mass must be celebrated for them as frequently as possible. Finally, alms should be given in their name to the poor. As more and more Masses for the dead need to be said, special chapels called chantries are constructed where the monks can celebrate the Masses, and an endless stream of devotions on behalf of the departed are offered up.

The Cluniac emphasis on the dead resulted in the order sponsoring the Festival of All Souls on November 2nd, when the dead are remembered and prayers said for souls in purgatory. Introduced around 1030, it is part of the liturgical calendar across western Mythic Europe.

Ecclesiastical Influence

A large number of Abbots of Cluny were later to become bishops, and yet retained an affection for and sympathy towards the Cluniac order. The order is also popular with the papacy, and as a result Cluniac abbots can wield additional influence when petitioning the Church. Gaining the favor of a Cluniac prior or abbot gives a +1 bonus to totals for Petitioning the Church (see Chapter 3: The Diocese) over and above the usual bonuses.

Fading Wealth

The abbeys and priories of the Cluniacs were in the past extremely wealthy, and that wealth is displayed in their magnificent buildings, ceremonial vestments, and altar goods. The Cluniac houses are often decorated with somber memorials of the dead, scenes of judgment, even the three corpse kings who remind worshippers that even the greatest must come to the equality of the grave — but they are beautifully decorated. The early chest tombs that in some cases have the artistic innovation of the dead depicted upon their lids, not as they were in life but as a skeleton or shroud-wrapped corpse, are finely sculpted and bedecked with funereal flowers. Exotic incenses, fine stained glass, and jeweled books in large, well-stocked libraries may surprise even visitors used to the riches of many Benedictine houses. The difference is that in Cluniac monasteries the fixtures and fittings are lavish, not the monks' lifestyles — though they are definitely more comfortable than strict Benedictine houses or Cistercian establishments. Yet in 1220 the Cluniacs are in economic disorder, with costs higher than those of other orders owing to their habit of hiring servants to perform many duties, and building large churches and chapels that they then have to maintain. There has been a reduction in the number of Masses said for the dead, not the least because the declining number of monks makes it hard to meet their existing obligations. Other monastic orders like the Cistercians, and more recently mendicant friars of the Franciscan, Dominican, and Carmelite orders, are attracting much of the money that used to come to the Cluniacs. A large number of houses are heavily in debt, in particular to Jewish moneylenders.

The Hermit and the Devils

A Sicilian hermit was high on the slopes of Mount Etna one day when he heard voices from within the fiery volcano. Climbing up he peered over the top, to see a group of demons lounging around below, moaning and complaining. The hermit heard the demons' explanation for their discomfiture; so many souls were being snatched from them and purgatory by prayers, alms, and Masses, leaving them with too few to torment for their tastes. The hermit rushed to tell Odilo, fifth Abbot of Cluny, who in response created the Feast of All Souls on the 2nd of November to save even more souls from the pains of purgatory. Shortly thereafter the ghost of Pope Benedict, saved from purgatory himself by the intervention of Cluny, appeared at the abbey to grant his blessing and authority to the festival. The festival is a Christian one, but perversely this day the Dominion is weaker than usual; Infernal auras increase in strength by one, and some of the dead walk once more.

Story Seed: Fleeing the Mob

A Jewish friend of the covenant is forced to flee after his house is attacked by an angry mob. Not knowing even the accusations against him, he flees to the covenant, but his persecutors are not far behind. His family failed to escape, and he has been forced to leave them hiding in the crypt of a town church. Many powerful men are heavily in debt to him, but the abbot of the local monastery has been making threats recently, and he is more in debt than anyone. Can the characters save their friend?

Entering the Cluniac Order

For a novice to be accepted into a Cluniac house, he is expected to journey to Cluny, and there spend a year to absorb the Cluniac culture and explore his vocation. All Cluniacs are expected to journey to Cluny before taking their vows, or as has been the case for over a century owing to the historically large number of postulants, to journey to Cluny after their vows have been taken to affirm them. Not all Cluniac monks manage to achieve even this lesser goal, but it remains the ideal. The novices are not allowed to fully participate, being barred from chapter meetings and often eating separately and performing menial tasks and manual labor until they have taken their full vows, at which time they are welcomed fully in to the life of the community.

The Demon BaalBaruth, Corrupter of Monks

Order: Spirits of Deceit

Infernal Might: 25

Characteristics: Int 0, Per 0, Pre +1, Com +3, Str +3, Sta +4, Dex +3, Qik +2

Size: 0

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Personality Traits: Trustworthy –5, Deceitful +6

Reputations: Creator of Heresies 7

Hierarchy: 7

Combat:

Dodge: Init +2, Attack n/a, Defense +6, Damage n/a

Fist: Init +2, Attack +6, Defense +5, Damage +3

Soak: +4

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Brawl 3 (dodge), Charm 4 (flatter monks), Civil & Canon Law 6 (heresy), Ceremony 5 (leading), Church Lore 5 (politics), Guile 9 (heresy), Organization Lore: Cluniacs 8 (personalities), Teaching 5 (false doctrine)

Powers:

Change Form, 0 points, Init 0, Corpus: Can take on the form of a human between Size –2 and Size +2. Through long familiarity can adopt the form of the Abbot of Cluny almost perfectly.

Trust of the Innocent, 1 point, Init –1, Mentem: The target of this effect loses all judgment and believes a specific lie (as long as it is passable) until presented with evidence to the contrary. An Intelligence roll against an Ease Factor of 6 is allowed to resist the effect.

Obsession, 1 to 3 points, Init –5, Vim: Blasphemy, Sacrilege.

Coagulation, 3 points, Init –1, Corpus: BaalBaruth may take on a physical body in 25 rounds of manifestation, or may dissolve with a round of concentration.

Forked Tongue of the Serpent, 3 points, Init –1, Mentem: The target believes any lie, no matter how preposterous, until he relates that lie to someone else. At this point he realizes how ridiculous the falsehood sounds, and the demonic Power is broken. An Intelligence roll against an Ease Factor of 9 also reveals the lie to be false, with the first roll allowed an hour after the effect was used, and further rolls permitted every subsequent hour.

The Serpent's Oracle, 2 points, Init –3, Vim: The demon can duplicate the effect of any non-ritual Intellego spell for the cost of 2 Might Points. It may also gain a morsel of future knowledge, understanding the most immediate consequences of any one future action.

Confound the Truth, 5 points, Init 0, Mentem: This power allows the demon to create a perfectly convincing theological and scriptural argument for whatever point he is trying to prove. After reasoned consideration, a successful Intelligence + Theology roll against an Ease Factor of 9 reveals the doctrine to be false, with the first roll allowed a day after the effect was used, and further rolls permitted every subsequent month. It is also possible for someone else to explain the error to the victim, effectively making the roll on the victim's behalf.

Weakness: (Vulnerability) A cross causes a light wound by being presented towards this demon, or a medium wound if he is struck with it, so powerful is BaalBaruth's hatred of the symbol. A relic of the True Cross could banish him back to hell for centuries.

Vis: 5 pawns Mentem

Appearance: In his natural form, and if perceived by Second Sight, BaalBaruth appears as a great black serpent. If he manifests physically he always takes another form, though — a creature with the legs and wings of a very scruffy blackbird, the torso of a muscular man, and the head of a beautiful woman with long flowing black hair, but with a crocodile-like snout. Needless to say, BaalBaruth rarely manifests in this particular form unless he intends to destroy his enemies.

If Cluny is the corrupt order in your saga, then the downfall of one of the holiest orders of the religious is complete, and a major victory has been achieved for the Infernal. Because of the order's standing outside of local diocesan and noble sponsors' control, and the distance of papal authority from the many Cluniac houses, they are able to run their own affairs; once supernatural evil became established it would have been very hard for them to be discovered and purified. The authoritarian structure of Cluny adds to this risk; if the Cluniacs have fallen to the Infernal, the Infernal has powerful strongholds across western Mythic Europe.

If the Cluniacs are corrupt the problem is deeply rooted, and goes back to the development of the cult of the dead and emphasis on purgatory, damnation, and decomposition that marked the order from the time of Odilo, the fifth Abbot of Cluny. At that time the vision of purgatory granted to a hermit is said to have led to the increasing emphasis on celebrating the office for the dead daily, and the construction of chantries. With their eyes so firmly fixed on the agonies of the next life, and the strong likelihood of damnation or at best centuries of torment in purgatory before final acceptance into heaven, a small number of monks began to wonder if there might be a better option.

As apparitions increased in number, and the dead were seen more and more, both as apparitions and rending the flesh of the living, many monks suffered a crisis of faith. At the end of the 12th century the chronicler William of Newbugh was able to write, "The cadavers of the dead, borne by I know not what spirit, leave their tombs to wander among the living, terrorizing them and destroying them, before returning to their tombs that open for them. This fact would be difficult to accept if it was not for the fact that accounts and examples abound." This rise in the number of the living dead causes the rise in the Order of Hermes of the Ex Miscellanea tradition known as the Donatores Requietis Aeternae. The Cluniacs, masters of the rites of the dead, are frequently called upon to say Mass to keep the dead content, and speed unhappy souls towards their final destination; but if they are corrupt they were partly responsible for this sudden rise in the horrors of the tomb walking the night.

One of the oldest heresies is the belief it is better to be a prince in hell than a peasant in heaven, and this is the promise that has corrupted the Cluniacs. Seeing the endless vistas of the cruelty and horror of death before them every day, a group of Cluniacs began to question right doctrine. In the 12th century a defrocked priest named Peter of Bruyes preached a heretical doctrine, claiming that baptism should be for adults only, that only the New Testament gospels were Divinely inspired and the rest of the Bible was the work of men alone, and that the true Church consisted of the body of believers. He derided church buildings, and, most sensationally, held bonfires where he openly burned crosses, which Peter preached were nothing but a cruel instrument of torture and a bizarre way to commemorate the Christ slain upon one. Denying the value of the Sacraments and the physical nature of Jesus Christ, Peter gathered both popular support and Ecclesiastical condemnation.

The great reforming Cluniac abbot, the head of the order Peter the Venerable, led the Cluniacs in the counter-offensive, preaching orthodoxy to counter the heresy; but in the process many Cluniacs were exposed to the corrupting beliefs. Peter the Venerable recorded Peter of Bruyes' beliefs: "The good deeds of the living cannot profit the dead, because translated from this life their merits cannot be increased or diminished, for beyond this life there is no longer place for merits, only for retribution." The challenge to the Cluniacs and their endless round of requiem Masses was plain, and some Cluniacs felt there was truth in the heretical doctrine. How could one know if the prayers of the living actually helped the dead?

Henry of Lausanne was one of the doubters. He was a Cluniac monk who was expelled from the order for teaching Peter of Bruyes' heretical views — the Petrobrusian heresy. And yet his own beliefs — known as the Henrician heresy were to flourish for some time, spreading among Cluniac houses despite the best efforts of Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter the Venerable. Little is known of the actual content of those beliefs, but if in your saga the Cluniacs are corrupt, then the Henricianism of the 1140s marks the moment when corruption overwhelmed the order; after Peter the Venerable the whole order fell as the head rotted. Cluny, Henry's original home, was the first monastery corrupted.

Faced with the challenge of proving the fates of the dead were affected by the prayers of the living, there were just two options. One was to physically enter purgatory, and this was the first option attempted. Two parties of Cluniacs, with a few brave and devout noble supporters, secretly set out for the two places where a physical transition to the realm of purgatory was known to be possible. One, already mentioned, was the volcano Mount Etna, and the other was the place known as Saint Patrick's Purgatory, in Ireland. Both parties successfully discovered the entrance to the regions and physically entered purgatory, or so they believed, and while none of the Mount Etna party returned to the lands of the living, two of the party who went to Ireland did return.

The two, a knight and a monk, had been separated soon after their entry to purgatory. The knight Owein told his tale to Henry of Satlrey, and he in turn told Marie of France, who versified it. The story is now well known in Mythic Europe including the horrors the knight encountered, and his final escape from purgatory after piously resisting all temptations and crying out to God and the saints.

The monk, Gobert of Eze, had a different experience. Having escaped purgatory driven mad by what he had seen, tortured and confused by evil spirits he lacked the will or faith to resist, he sought out a necromancer who taught him sorcerous arts. His hope was to control the dead who followed him, crying out to him to save them. On his return a few years later to Cluny, he called together the monks who had expressed doubts and told them Henricianism was false, but he also told them of the horrors he had seen, and that the necromantic arts would demonstrate the truth of his assertion. When an impious noble died and was brought to Cluny, he and his followers deliberately corrupted the funeral rites to deny the man Christian burial. This terrible sin attracted demonic attention, and their necromantic rite worked, for that night the shade of the count stood before them and swore to serve them, as the very devils would serve them after their deaths.

It was thus that the houses of God were turned into houses of the worm, and the Cluniacs came to begin to corrupt the liturgy and to adore Satan in the hope of rewards and power in the world to come. As the Cistercian order was growing in popularity and the money supply of the Cluniacs dwindled, there was a strong feeling that God had turned his back on the Cluniacs; now more and more of the monks of Cluny were corrupted by false teaching (for Ability Corruption see Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 91).

The strong hierarchical nature of the Cluniacs has allowed monks to move to monasteries and corrupt them in sequence, with those who resist or show horror being quietly eliminated. This would still prove impossible, were it not for the strong demonic support provided by BaalBaruth, a duke of hell, who supervises the plan and whose particular delight is the corruption of monks. He has assigned a great army of deceivers to work for and control the monks of Cluny, and furthermore has even supplied the True Names of some of his rivals in hell to allow the demon-evoking Goetia of the monks to more effectively control them, or so he claims. The truth may be rather different, but the demons come when bidden, and cringe and fawn before the sorcerous monks.

The corrupt Cluniacs have Favored Abilities of the Goetic Arts of Ablating, Binding, Commanding, and Summoning. A few also possess the Supernatural Ability: Corruption, which they use to good effect to spread their evil. (See Realms of Power: The Infernal, pages 114–120 for information on Goetia.)

The usual methods of the Cluniacs are to persuade certain sinners of wealth or worldly influence that their only chance of salvation lies in supporting the Cluniacs financially and politically; they produce ghostly apparitions if need be to prove their point. Also, the Cluniacs have an uncanny ability to see unconfessed sins; this is in fact the Whispers Behind the Back power of their Infernal allies of the Order of Accusers. The aim of the Cluniac order is to strengthen its own position, and by inculcating a terrible fear of death, terror of judgment, and feeling of despair, not to evoke piety but rather a false reliance upon indulgences and support of the Church militant (in the form of the Cluniacs) rather than genuine repentance and turning to God and his holy Sacraments. A common trick is for a Cluniac confessor to claim no confession is needed, as he can see the secrets of the sinner's heart. Subtly perverting Christian doctrine and encouraging wrong belief, the ultimate betrayal is the provision of perverted Sacraments, for while the correct Sacrament performed by even a totally corrupt priest would still be efficacious and of the Divine, the Cluniacs deliberately use sacrilegious rites. Those administered last rites by one of the corrupt Cluniacs often walk the earth as ghosts, and are bound by their treacherous confessor to serve him in the afterlife, or delivered to the awaiting demons who throng around.

The Cluniacs have subtly altered a number of rites, including the Mass, into blasphemous inversions that count as Profaning the Holy, and create Infernal vis. (See Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 96 for details.) While a relatively small number of Cluniacs is directly involved in the sorcerous binding of demons and necromantic horrors, the ghosts and demons they control have given them power over the whole order, and almost all abbots are now members of the conspiracy. The rest of the monks — the majority — are corrupted by the Infernal auras that increasingly are growing up within the houses, and are giving in to minor vices, sins of the flesh, and especially impiety. The abbots usually keep the auras tarnished as Debauched Auras (Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 14) to allow the maximum ease in corrupting those who might offer resistance if they understood the horrific truth. As most abbots have a demon of the Order of Accusers ready to use Whispers Behind the Back to discover those who might resist dark secrets, not many can hold out for long.

Another practice is that of binding into objects the ghosts of those who have made the mistake of trusting the order, which are then used in a number of ways. One thing that the prior of Thetford, England is experimenting with is binding the spirits of those who have annoyed him into murals that depict their lives. This allows the painting to occasionally display a certain eerie quality of animation, with the spirit's torment pleasingly visible, and also allows the mural to watch over a certain area. (See Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 117.) In other cases the effigies on tombs have been enchanted by binding the spirits of the husband and wife depicted, and their metal or stone effigies can magically be animated to deal with intruders. (This effect uses a particularly unpleasant variant of Virgil's magic, an ancient tradition described in Rival Magic on pages 47 – 74, combined with Spirit Binding in a black and horrible experiment.) Others are less fortunate, their spirits bound into keys, rings, or even doors, to serve the whims of the monks. The monks are not driven by mindless sadism, but by a desire to enhance their status in hell by clearly showing their "demonic" qualities in life. They are also extremely careful to never allow any attempt to corrupt the burial of any person who might be in any way holy, or have died with their sins shriven, lest God visit his vengeance upon them.

A small number of monks remain who are completely innocent, pious, and struggling to reform the order, fully aware that something is terribly wrong, but isolated and frightened. With the absolute authority of the abbot guaranteed by the rule, very few manage any kind of trouble, and bishops and even papal legates have no way of investigating claims, even terrible ones of black Masses, demon worship, and the walking dead. Those who are obviously incorruptible and dangerous are either sent to Cluny, and vanish or die there, or are sent into exile in one of the small cells where three or four monks live far from the rest of the order in some unhealthy backwater.

Discovering the nature of the Cluniac corruption, if it exists in your saga, may be easier than convincing the papacy of the terrible truth.

The Demon Patarus

Order: Accusers

Infernal Might: 15

Characteristics: Int +1, Per +1, Pre +2, Com +1, Str +2, Sta +3, Dex +2, Qik +1

Size: 0

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Personality Traits: Cruel +6, Cowardly +3, Rebellious +2

Reputations: Servant of BaalBaruth 1

Hierarchy: 1

Combat:

Dodge: Init +5, Attack n/a, Defense +9, Damage n/a

Soak: +5

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Brawl 3 (dodge), Church Lore 2 (politics), Guile 4 (gossip), Intrigue (Church) 2

Powers:

To Sin in Dreams, 1 point, Init –1, Mentem: Changes the victim's memories of a period of up to two hours, always in a destructive and unpleasant way, to lead the victim to believe he committed a mortal sin or similar. The effect disappears at daybreak or sunset, revealing the memory as false, but may leave the victim wondering if he is going mad.

Obsession, 1 to 3 points, Init –5, Vim: Obedience, Masochism.

Betrayal of the Heart, 2 points, Init 0, Mentem: Patarus can see into the hearts of mankind and draw forth their most secret thoughts — people's fears and sins. Each use of this Power reveals to the demon one fact about the target that the target would never admit. Truly holy people may be immune to this power if they have no secrets, no matter how petty.

Whispers Behind the Back, 2 points, Init 0, Mentem: Just as the spell Pains of the Perpetual Worry, this power gives the victim a nagging, painful emotion linked to his secret sins — a recurrent sense of anxiety that his secret will be uncovered and a suspicion that everyone already knows it, and is talking about the target behind his back. This Power lasts for a month.

Coagulation, 3 points, Init –1, Corpus: May take on a physical body in 25 rounds of manifestation, or may dissolve with a round of concentration.

Your One True Friend 3 points, Init –1, Mentem: Causes the victim to trust one authority figure and everything he says, regarding him as a true and sincere friend, for the duration of one month. An Intelligence stress roll against an Ease Factor of 9 is allowed if the friend asks the target to act against his best interests, or commit a mortal sin, and this breaks the Power's effect if successful, though the victim may still not realize he was under a Power's influence before.

Weakness: Protected Group: those personally dedicated to Saint Benedict of Nursia, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, or Saint Basil the Great, with a positive score in Devotion, are immune to all Patarus' powers.

Vis: 3 pawns Mentem

Appearance: If materialized, he appears as a thin monk dressed in Cluniac garb, with pale features drawn tight as if consumed by a secret guilt. Two lumps on his head mark his small goat-like horns, and his tongue is that of a serpent, his voice a whining wail. Patarus, like all of BaalBaruth's servants, hates his master and plots to replace him at the first opportunity, but his fear of his demonic master is too great at the moment. He serves his abbot unwillingly, and only through fear of punishment from BaalBaruth.

The Cistercians were, like the Cluniacs, born out of a reforming zeal and a wish to return to the original Rule of Saint Benedict, strictly enforced. At the end of the 11th century, a group of French monks from various abbeys left their houses. All had been involved in reform, and all had found that the Cluniac order was too lax and decadent, and filled with sinful behavior. These monks of good birth and education formed a community of their own at Cîteaux, dedicating it on March 21st, 1098 — the Feast of Saint Benedict.

The Cistercians took off at an incredible rate, and by 1220 have 400 monasteries across Europe. Preferring to build, where possible, in wilderness areas, and working manually while observing the Rule of Saint Benedict strictly, the order is widely seen as exemplary in its piety and the devotion of its monks. Ironically, this support has led to the donation of considerable wealth, and the inevitable reproaches from the laity; they often now regard the new orders of mendicant friars as the reforming, pious, and genuinely spiritual groups, complaining about fat and avaricious Cistercian monks.

The Cistercians enjoy excellent relations with the Knights Templar, and a number of other military orders. This influence and friendship comes about partly through the efforts of one very important Cistercian, Bernard of Clairvaux, because of his and the order's efforts in preaching the Second Crusade.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)

Saint Bernard, the founding abbot of Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy, was one of the greatest Church leaders, dominating Mythic Europe in the first half of the 12th century. He was born in 1090 and entered the abbey of Cîteaux in 1112, bringing thirty young nobles with him, including four of his brothers. Another brother and his father joined him later. Bernard's Mythic Presence and astonishing writing ability drew many to Clairvaux and the other Cistercian monasteries. He defended the Cistercians against the Cluniac order (showing little of the diplomacy for which he was later known), he was involved in ending a papal schism, and he acted as a negotiator between England and France. His strong will, pugnacious nature, and towering intellect allowed him to dominate those around him. He preached the Second Crusade, worked hard for the military orders, and raised vast armies. In his last years. he rose from his sickbed and went into the Rhineland to defend the Jews against a savage persecution. He finally died in 1154, though he was physically frail for most of his life. He was canonized in 1173, and his feast day is August 20th.

Story Seed: The Ring of Saint Bernard

Many stories circulate about how the Templars gave Bernard the personal seal ring of Solomon, which they had found under the temple in Jerusalem. Some rumours claim that one of his assistants stole the ring, and used it to raise monasteries and great abbey churches all over Europe on behalf of the order by commanding demons, but Bernard rebuked him and the devil claimed the unfortunate man. Such romances have nothing to do with history, or do they?

The knowledgeable might wonder if the ring of Solomon refers to Ars Notoria (Realms of Power: The Divine, page 97), or even if the ring allowed the summoning of Architechtus (Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 66). There are legends attached to a number of Cistercian houses claiming they were built for a noble using sorcery to bind demons, but afterwards he repented and gave the building over to the order to save his soul. Sometimes folk tales contain much truth.

The Cistercians split off from the reforming Cluniacs when they became too lax and lost their reforming zeal. Unless noted, the Cistercians are closer to the Benedictine ideal, following the rule as closely as possible and not adopting the unique features of the Cluniac order despite their origins in that movement. A small point, but one worth noting, is that the Cistercians wear white and are known as the "White Monks," whereas the Benedictines and Cluniacs are called the "Black Monks."

Solitude and Retreat

Cistercian houses are often built in beautiful wilderness settings, far from human habitation and away from the bustle of the towns. Moorland, isolated valleys, and forest clearings all have Cistercian houses, and a traveler lost in some bleak place might suddenly stumble upon a paradise of ordered fields, well-tended flocks, irrigation, and verdant vineyards, and then the reassuring sight of the great walls and tower of a Cistercian abbey. The Cistercians do not run schools or provide the welfare services that are associated with other orders, being instead focused on their own spiritual retreat from the world. Some whisper they hide secrets in their isolation.

Manual Labor

Many Cistercians are illiterate, and formal study and learning are not stressed as much as in other orders. Instead, hard physical manual labor takes up most of a Cistercian's day, whether it is working in the fields or on one of the huge but simple abbey churches that they build with their own hands. The Cistercians are very interested in new methods in agriculture, and particularly in rearing sheep. The monks work in the fields of the abbey farms, though they are beginning to employ lay workers to help out, giving rise to monastery villages that are growing into towns.

Adopting the principle "to work is to pray," Cistercians focus their devotion through these efforts. Stories about demons raising their monasteries overnight are probably a tribute to their ingenuity and hard work, and the magnificent abbey churches they have constructed.

Governance

Like the Cluniac houses, the Cistercians stand independent of the local diocesan structure, owing allegiance to the papacy. A strong system of visitation is, however, in place, with each daughter house being visited annually and thoroughly inspected by the abbot of the motherhouse. Unlike the Cluniac order, the government of the Cistercians is not hierarchical. Instead, the abbots gather at Cîteaux every autumn for the annual chapter meeting, where policy decisions are made and conduct and disciplinary hearings are held. Presided over by the abbot of Cîteaux, in many ways this resembles a Hermetic Tribunal, being an almost democratic occasion with opinions freely offered. There is a even a sort of "Peripheral Code," in the statutes agreed to by the chapter, which are written up in the Institutiones Capituli Generalis of 1203. The chapter meeting in recent years has become fractious, with factions developing over how certain aspects of the rule and the statutes should be interpreted; the unity of purpose that marked the early Cistercians has been lost.

Wealth

Ironically, given the criticisms of luxury brought against the other orders by the Cistercians in their initial reforming zeal, the sheer hard work and agricultural prowess of the order has brought them huge wealth. The English Cistercians' large flocks of sheep are proving highly profitable as a source of prized woolen cloth, but with economic success have come accusations of luxury and corruption. The order shows few outwards signs of the wealth, for Cistercian abbeys are magnificent yet extremely austere, often being whitewashed and almost devoid of decoration. They have a simple elegance, though, far from the decoration favored by the Cluniacs.

Ecclesiastical Influence

As well as Saint Bernard, Saint Malachy of Armagh, Saint Almeric, and Saint Stephen the founder (all canonized saints), the Cistercians have produced two popes and a score of bishops and archbishops by 1220. They are currently in favor with the papacy, such that they have a considerable influence when petitioning the Church; gaining the favor of a Cistercian abbot gives a +3 bonus to totals for Petitioning the Church (See Chapter 3: The Diocese) over and above the usual bonuses.

Opposing Heresy

While the Dominican friars are gaining dominance in this field, the Cistercian monks have always been important in the fight against heresy, leaving their monasteries to preach to the laity about error and heresy. They play a vital role in opposing the Cathar heresy in the Languedoc, and continue to collect and read questionable books in order to root out heresies.

The Cistercians, with their retreat from the world, rapidly increasing wealth, and powerful friends in the military orders, are perhaps ideal candidates for the corrupt order of monks, not the least because they are known for their role in fighting heresy and Infernal influence. Who better to corrupt than the Church's watchdog? If in your saga it is the Cistercian order that is corrupt, it is likely recent, the indirect result of the Blessed Joachim of Flora.

The Three Ages of the World

Joachim of Flora taught that God dealt with the world in three dispensations, or ages. The first age was that of God the Father, and was marked by the Jewish Law and the covenant with Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. That age passed with the coming of Jesus Christ, which ushered in the age of the Son when the Gospel and the Church ruled over man. Now, however, the end of that age is almost upon the world, and in these end times the birth pangs of the new age can be discerned. The next age will be the Age of the Spirit, where spiritual illumination will fall upon men and women who have no need of the Church, for they will be guided by the Divine light and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The Church has become degenerate and corrupt, and the age to come will sweep it away and be ruled by a spiritual order of the just, who appear to be monastic.

It is hardly surprising that the Church viewed Joachim with suspicion, but given his immense charisma and clear devotion, he gained an immense following among the educated and uneducated alike of Mythic Europe. For more on his theology, see Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 133, though note that only certain Trinitarian teachings were condemned by the Fourth Lateran Council, not all of his teachings as implied there.

Joachim of Flora

Joachim was a young man from Norman Sicily whose father held high office in the royal court there. As a young man he chose to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and while there was caught up in a terrible tragedy, the nature of which he never revealed. Fortunate to escape with his life, he retreated to Mount Tabor, site of the transfiguration of Christ, where he meditated for forty days and forty nights during the Lent season. During that time a Divine light came upon him, and he felt he could clearly understand the secrets of the scriptures. Convinced of his authority he returned to Italy where he began to preach, drawing crowds. When the Church intervened to stop his unauthorized preaching, he immediately entered the abbey of Corazzo in Calabria, taking the Cistercian habit, and he was ordained a priest in 1168. Though he rose to the position of abbot, some say that the Cistercians refused to accept Joachim and his monks; while his admirers say the rejection was due to the poverty of the abbey, his denigrators claim it was owing to his ideas that were, even then, heretical. The truth appears to be that the Cistercians did receive Joachim, but have since attempted to distance themselves from him.

After petitioning the pope to be relieved of his duties, Joachim set about writing the three books that were to make him famous. The Church was hesitant to endorse Joachim's teachings until the books had been fully studied, but good relations with Popes Urban III and Clement III allowed him to complete his work largely unsupervised. In 1200 he completed his task, dying before his books could be formally read for orthodoxy by Pope Innocent III. The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 was to condemn certain of his Trinitarian formulations, including his famous idea of the three ages of the world, but most of his theology is still considered perfectly orthodox. (If your saga follows history, more will be condemned in 1255, largely as a result of fervent disciples laying claim to his name but not his actual beliefs.)

Joachim has come to be popularly regarded as a prophet, though in fact he always denied that calling, claiming the nature of his divine illumination was actually a clear understanding of the mysteries of scripture. As the Church in Mythic Europe reads holy scripture on a number of levels, including the literal, spiritual, typological (foreshadowing later events), and allegorical, Joachim’s conclusions may be contentious but his method of Biblical interpretation is not necessarily so.

Joachim's fame goes far beyond those who have read his three books. Richard the Lionheart was fascinated by him, and before setting out on the Third Crusade planned to consult him about the end times. According to Roger of Howden, Richard was informed that Saladin was not the Antichrist, but the sixth of seven great persecutors of the Church, and it was Richard's destiny to drive Saladin from the Holy Land and retake Jerusalem. If so, it was a failed prophecy.

A Note on the Illuminati

The term illuminati historically derives from the followers of Joachim of Flora. If players in your saga are likely to link it with later connotations and uses, such as modern conspiracy theory,

Adam Weishaupt's Bavarian Illuminati, or Nesta Webster's paranoid writings, it is probably better to use the term Joachimite, or the slightly anachronistic term Brethren of the Free Spirit.

The Joachimites

In the twenty years since Joachim's death, his followers have become known as Joachimites, and many have adopted even stranger beliefs, such as those of the infamous Brethren of the Free Spirit. Many believe that a future pope will come from their own ranks, though some believed he would be from the Franciscans, and this pope's death would bring in the age of the final Antichrist. Others see the Emperor Frederick II as clearly the final Antichrist, while yet others regard Saladin as the one prophesied. The most dangerous group are those who believe that a pope will be the actual Antichrist, and the Church the whore of Babylon, which is clearly Rome. Some of these claim to have received obscure prophecies attributed to the great Irish Cistercian Saint Malachy, but no such prophecies are officially recognized or known, even in the writings of his close friend Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

All of the interpretations of these "prophecies" agree on two things: that Joachim was in receipt of Divine illumination (his followers are often called illuminated ones, or illuminati), and that the end of the age will come about in 1260. Many expect the Biblical prophecies of the Revelation of Saint John the Divine to play out in the last days, and information on running a saga where the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse roam Mythic Europe can be found in Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 128.

The Cistercian Connection

Given their strong involvement in opposing heresy, the Cistercians from the beginning took a great deal of interest in the writings of Joachim of Flora. It was a Cistercian abbot, Tino of Gradara, who first became fascinated. As he read the books for the papal inquiry in 1200, Tino became illuminated, suddenly seeing clearly the truth of the words, and receiving the gift of prophecy. As a boy, Tino had been rescued from a group of Infernal heretics, but in his sudden revelation of Divine truth Tino came to see that in fact the heretics had been truly free, fully participating in the Divine grace of the Age of the Spirit to come. It was not sin that bound mankind, but fear of sin, for grace abounds and therefore the more one sins, the more grace there can be, and the more of God's spirit infuses the world. Furthermore, he realized that he was of God, and God dwelt in him, and that the distinction between God and himself was a false one. This realization of his own Godhood led to a series of explosive mystical experiences, in the course of which he came to realize the Divine within everything.

Far from rejecting the world as corrupt, Tino teaches that one should celebrate it and recognize the Divine immanence the presence of God in everything, even base things. He set up a chamber pot on the altar and praised it, and when that provoked no negative reaction from God, but rather another set of Divine revelations, he realized he must find more converts to bring about the realization of the eschaton — the end of the age — by bring God more fully into the world of matter — the process of immanentization.

So this is Tino's goal, to immanentize the eschaton and bring about the end times, along with a new utopian age of love and peace ruled over by his order of spiritual mystics, the Illuminati, which is hidden within the Cistercian order. In the twenty years since he began he has made astonishing progress, far more than even he could have predicted, in converting abbots and hence houses all over the Cistercian order to his beliefs. Hundreds of monks are now loyal to his ideals, and many are receiving confirmatory secret visions and revelations of their own.

There are three degrees of initiation into the group, though these are not formal ranks as in a mystery cult. The lowest group is those monks who have been exposed to the teachings of Joachim, accept the idea of the coming end of the age, and believe that the institutional Church is corrupt. Many are fervent disciples of the second group, who comprise those who have had a mystical illumination, and who have experienced visions and prophecies of events to come. This group has already cast off the shackles of the Church's teaching, and feels liberated enough to break their vows, scorn the symbols of Ecclesiastical office, and work towards the end of the age and ushering in of the Age of the Spirit. They secretly commit venial sins to demonstrate their freedom and state of grace.

Finally there is the inner circle, who meet in the castle of a sympathetic noble at Saint Croix in the Dordogne each year before general chapter in the autumn. Here they celebrate the most obscene rites, deliberately indulging in horrific orgies of mortal sin to demonstrate their complete liberation from sin and eternal state of grace brought about by gnosis — secret wisdom. They receive "spiritual gifts" — the Maleficia taught by their Unholy Tradition. The inner circle alone celebrate Lucifer as light bringer, and believe that the Antichrist will be a Divine figure who will liberate the world by ushering away the decadent and stagnant era of the Church. Their belief is that disobedience was man's original virtue; this inner circle of some twenty abbots and a few nobles are a genuinely dangerous group, willing worshippers of the devil, believing him to be a servant of God. They do not, however, regard themselves as Infernalists or demon worshippers in any sense; they see their liberation from morality and embrace of sin as a sign of their own spiritual liberation and godliness.

A few of them have noted the similarity in name between Joachim's first monastery, Corrazo, and Chorazon, the city where it is traditionally held the Antichrist will be born. It was this fact that first alerted Tino to the realization that Joachim was an Antichrist; in a manner typical of the man, he immediately took the idea on board and adjusted his theology to fit. Some of his disciples have now performed the black pilgrimage to the ruins of Chorazon in the Holy Land, seeking spiritual visions, and have received further revelations supporting their new beliefs. Recently they have been instructed that the disciples of Saint Francis, the Franciscan Friars, should be recruited subtly into the plan, and some tentative connections have been made.

The following character stats are provided to help storyguides integrate a corrupt Cistercian order in their saga.

Father Tino of Gradara

Characteristics: Int 0, Per –2 (1), Pre 0, Com +2, Str –3 (2), Sta –3 (2), Dex –2 (1), Qik –4 (3)

Age: 86

Decrepitude: 3 (6)

Warping Score: 5 (2)

Confidence Score: 4 (8)

Virtues and Flaws: Diabolist; Senior Clergy; Ceremony, Debauchery, Diablerie, Educated, Enticer of Multitudes, Great Communication x 2, Improved Characteristics, Incantation, Inspirational, Psychomachia; Corrupted Abilities, Diabolic Past, Dark Secret (Infernalist), (False) Visions, Palsied Hands, Plagued by Supernatural Entity, Witch Marks.

Personality Traits: Inspiring +3, Spiritual +2, Charming +1

Reputations: Saint to be (Church) 3

Soak: –3

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Awareness (strangers) 1, Artes Liberales 5 (grammar), Charm 2 (persuade), Civil & Canon Law 2 (heresy), Ceremony 5 (debauchery), Debauchery 9, Diablerie 6, Church Lore 5 (politics), Corrupted Dominion Lore 3 (angels), Incantation 6, Infernal Lore 4 (eschatology), Latin 5 (Rituals), Living Language: Italian 5 (preaching), Organization Lore: Cistercians 8 (personalities), Penetration 4, Psychomachia 6, Teaching 5 (Infernal Abilities)

Vituperation Scars: When preaching, Tino's face takes on a soft, bland look, and his visage dimly radiates a light not unlike that of the moon. When he's sitting still his robes move about as if vermin were creeping around under them. He has a sweet odor associated with him, but to those with True Faith it smells sickly sweet, like decaying meat. His demonic advisor tries to ensure no one that holy gets close enough to notice, though.

Tino's greatest method of recruitment of brothers into his secret group within the Cistercians has been Corruption, an Ability described in Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 91. His books are A Commentary on Isaiah and Jeremiah, a corrupt tractatus on Theology, and Expositio Sybillae et Merlini, a work that claims to discuss the ancient prophecies of the sibyls and Merlin, but which is actually a corrupt summa on Church Lore, designed to subtly influence the reader towards Tino's position. These books are widely copied and distributed within the order, though the author remains anonymous.

The demon behind this elaborate deception is Jaevert, Duke of the False Millennium. Jaevert does not create these heresies, but for centuries wherever a false prophet has announced the end, Jaevert has gained influence and meddled to ensure false doctrines are taught, false hopes are raised, and then they're dashed resulting in cynicism and loss of faith. He often appears to prophets and visionaries in the guise of an angel of light, leading them into corruption and ultimate despair and damnation.

The Demon Jaevert

Order: Duke of the Deluders (Watchers)

Infernal Might: 40

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1 , Pre +2, Com +1, Str +5, Sta +5, Dex +5, Qik +5

Size: +3

Confidence Score: 2 (6)

Personality Traits: Credible +3, Sly +2

Reputations: Duke of False Millenniums 7

Hierarchy: 7

Virtues and Flaws: Corruption, Good Teacher, Noncombatant, Puissant Guile, Puissant Church Lore.

Combat:

Dodge: Init +5, Attack n/a, Defense +9, Damage n/a

Soak: +5

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–8), –3 (9–13), –5 (14–18), Incapacitated (19–23), Dead (24+)

Abilities: Brawl 3 (dodge), Church Lore (eschatology) 8 +2, Ceremony 6, Debauchery 8, Guile 7+2 (prophecies), Incantation 7, Infernal Lore 6 (politics), Intrigue 4 (Church), Magic Lore 4 (prophecy), Psychomachia 6, Theology (end times) 8, Teaching, (corrupt abilities) 6

Powers:

Angel of Light, 2 points, Init 0, Imaginem: Jaevert may appear as a shining angel of light, radiating peace and goodwill. He often appears in this form to impart false prophecies.

The Wordless Conversation, 0 points, Init 0, Mentem: Jaevert may speak directly in to the mind of any creature who he can see (assuming Magic Resistance is penetrated), and may choose to hear any verbal or mental response that the target may make.

Coagulation, 3 points, Init –1, Corpus: Jaevert may take on a physical body in 25 rounds of manifestation, or may dissolve with a round of concentration.

Duplicate the Magi's Transmutation, variable points, Init +1, variable Form: Jaevert can duplicate any Hermetic Muto spell, at the cost of one point of Might per Magnitude, up to level 40. He may not duplicate Ritual effects.

Duplicate the Magi's Control, variable points, Init +1, variable Form: Jaevert can duplicate any Hermetic Rego spell, at the cost of one point of Might per Magnitude, up to level 40. He may not duplicate Ritual effects.

Duplicate the Magi's Perception, variable points, Init +1, variable Form: Jaevert can duplicate any Hermetic Intellego spell, at the cost of one point of Might per Magnitude, up to level 40. He may not duplicate Ritual effects.

Obsession, 1 to 3 points, Init –5, Vim: Spiritual Pride, Enthusiasm

Delusion 1 or 5 points, Init +3, Imaginem: Jaevert can create elaborate illusions. A minor illusion that affects an Individual amount of material (such as the demon himself) costs 1 point, a larger illusion that fills a room costs 5 points. These visions always have a flaw, however (they smell wrong, can only be seen by one target, etc.).

Corrupted Knowledge, 2 points, Init –3, Mentem: When Jaevert spends a season teaching an Ability (of any kind, including Supernatural), he uses this Power to corrupt the knowledge he teaches so he grants the Flaw Corrupted. The Power only inflicts the Flaw if the character being schooled acquires an increase in an Ability score because of the teaching of the demon. Those affected by this Power soon learn they get greater rewards if they use their Ability for selfish or sinful purposes.

Weakness: Protected Group (those who can actually see the future, such as those with premonitions).

Vis: 8 pawns Imaginem

Appearance: Jaevert, if somehow perceived, appears as a featureless black giant torn out of space, the darkness pierced only by hundreds of burning eyes staring out from the eerie silhouette.

One of the smaller orders in Mythic Europe, the Vallumbrosans can be found in the Tribunals of Rome, Iberia, Provencal, Normandy, Rhine and the Greater Alps, but the majority of their monasteries are on the Italian peninsula. Founded in the early 11th century, the name derives from "shadowy valley," Vallombrosa, the motherhouse that is located in the mountains twenty miles from Florence.

Saint John Gualbert was the founder, and his story is well known. When one of his relatives was murdered, he set out to avenge the death by slaying the killer, and came across the man in an alleyway. Even as he raised his sword to strike, the murderer flung himself in to the dirt in the form of a cross, and pleaded for mercy in the name of Christ. Saint John put his sword down, and let the man go. He walked home troubled, and on the way stopped in to a church to pray. As he prayed, the crucifix bowed its head and he realized he had done the correct thing. From that moment on his life was changed, and he chose to enter a monastery.

As with most successful new monastic orders, the Vallumbrosans were reacting against the laxity of Benedictine life, and were far more austere and strict in their application of the rule. So much so, in fact, that they failed to attract many novices, and it was only after the original severity was slightly tempered that the Vallumbrosans began to found new monasteries and spread. The order appeals to the extremely ascetic, some would say masochistic. This has given them a tremendous reputation as spiritual supermen, though from the beginning there has also been controversy and rumors of something wrong with the order.

The Vallumbrosan order is quite distinct in many ways, but like the other orders discussed in this chapter, it is based upon the Rule of Saint Benedict. The differences and unique points are briefly outlined here. The most visible aspects are their tawny brown habits and that Vallumbrosans are never encountered outside their monasteries, apart from abbots who are found occasionally wherever the pope is.

Papal Influence

Whereas Cluniacs and Cistercians have Ecclesiastical Influence, which adds to totals when Petitioning the Church (See Chapter 3: The Diocese), the Vallumbrosan order has always had a strong influence on the papacy. If the papacy or curia are the recipients of a petition, add +5 to the total in addition to the normal bonus for the support of an abbot. This popularity with the papacy may go a long way towards explaining the unpopularity of the order and suspicions voiced about them by other religious and clergy.

Extreme Asceticism and Silence

Vallumbrosans may own no property at all; their poverty is total, apart from their clothing and sandals that are, of course, the property of the order. Silence is enforced at all times, and even sign language kept to the minimum. Those who break the harsh disciplinary code can expect flogging, and self-flagellation is practiced as an ascetic mortification of the flesh. The monks survive on the minimum of food and sleep, and only the hardiest can last for long under this regime.

No Manual Work

The monks are completed dedicated to prayer and devotions, and are forbidden to perform any manual work. A class of lay brothers who perform the farming and other required labor are needed, and they live alongside the monastery but do not take the vows. There are a few Vallumbrosan nuns, but they live in a dwelling outside the monastery, and their primary duties are to cook and do other work for the monks of the adjacent monastery.

Total Retreat from the World

Vallumbrosans are a rigorously enclosed order, who never leave their monasteries under any circumstances. The only exception is that the abbots travel about on monastic business, and often can be found around the papal court. Even the lay brothers are excluded from the chapter and chapel of the full monks, who live lives of almost total seclusion. Visitors are discouraged and no guest quarters are provided, though the lay brothers will put up guests on the monks' behalf, outside the monastery walls. Communication with friends and families is severely discouraged.

It may be tempting to have the Vallumbrosans as the corrupt order, simply because they are a small group whose secretive ways do attract controversy, and who are unpopular in some clerical circles. This is rooted in events in the second half of the 11th century, which are probably little known 150 years later, unless the characters research the history of the order. In the middle of the 11th century a scandal erupted in Florence when it became clear that certain prominent Churchmen were buying and selling Ecclesiastical positions — the sin of simony. An anti-corruption party formed, and the monks of Vallombrosa headed it, led by one monk named Peter. Fighting broke out between the two factions, and the Vallumbrosan monastery of San Silvi was burned down. Since that time fires have been a common problem for houses of this order, and some suspect a curse, yet in fact such fires are usually started by novices breaking under the strain.

When the Bishop Peter Mezzobarbo demanded his accusers face trial, Saint Robert — the founder of the order — ordered the monk Peter to face trial by ordeal. Peter passed completely unscathed through a huge bonfire, and the case was decided in the monks' favor. From that day forward, Peter became known as Peter Igneus, and the bishop was ashamed and confessed to his sin.

If the Vallumbrosans are corrupt, they are a group of diabolists — individuals who have signed pacts with the devil in exchange for worldly power. Such individuals are not given to extreme asceticism — quite the opposite — but investigations of the inside of a Vallumbrosan monastery will find them to be just as austere and terrifyingly disciplined and devout as rumor claims.

The reality is that the lay brothers and nuns who serve the monastery are the real diabolists, and the monks within the confines of the monastery are genuinely pious monks — with the single exception of the abbot, who is actually a diabolist working for the demons. Once incarcerated in the monastery the monks undergo terrible privations, meaningless tasks, and dreadful hunger, cold, and fatigue, until their will finally snaps. Then and only then are they offered the chance to sign a pact with the devil, and become diabolists. Those who do are granted a new Virtue or loss of a Flaw, sometimes several depending on how well they bargain, and join the happy life of the community of lay brothers. Within a few months they are free to leave if they wish, and seek their fortune in the wider world, but most stay in the debauched community that serves the monastery. If they leave, they have seven years to find someone else to sign the pact, or they die, their soul claimed by hell. If they succeed, they earn another seven years' grace, and more Virtues representing Infernal favor. (Rules for generating diabolist characters and diabolic pacts can be found in Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 94.)

The demon behind this elaborate deception is Varriar, Lord of Discipline. When passing in human form he dresses as a Vallumbrosan abbot and uses the name Abbot Curtaigne.

Abbot Curtaigne moves freely among the order's houses, but his influence extends far beyond. Wherever he can promote masochism and false pride in suffering in monks, and in every monastery where just spiritual authority is replaced with sadism and brutality, Varriar can be found, often in human form as a visiting guest, subtly encouraging these horrors. Note that Varriar is determined that none should die as a result of privation and the torturous penances inflicted, as that would make them martyrs to the faith. Rather, Varriar always aims to break the monks' spirit, and cause them to curse God and rebel.