Everything

From deep within the bayous of Louisiana

and the Mississippi backwaters, spirit drums sound the pulse of hungry life. Pounding like thousands of racing hearts, they echo with the ghosts of ancient natives and murdered slaves. Louder and louder, they shout out one to another, resounding across the islands of the Caribbean and down into Central and South America – harbingers of wild, blessed ecstasy and the wet, red work of bitterness and revenge.

Named for the spirit drums held sacred by Caribbean cultures, the mages who call themselves Bata’a possess the unique power to simultaneously stir the souls of men to the heights of love and grateful awe and to plunge them into depths of horrified agony. Largely misunderstood or misrepresented by outsiders, these practitioners of Voudoun, Candomblé, and even Spanish Catholicism trace their descent back to seven African tribes enslaved to work the farms and plantations of the New World. As the old ghosts tell it, these slaves brought their own spirits and traditions with them, only to find common interest and customs with the native Carib and Arawak islanders. Over time, these cultures blended, incorporating Catholicism into their own magical spiritualism. The result produced a new society, both mundane and magickal, that empowered the slaves in certain places like Barbados, Bermuda, and Haiti to overthrow their false masters and exact revenge for those murdered in the struggle.

Though their homelands have been ravaged by conquest, slavery, piracy, war, corruption, disaster, and poverty, the Bata’a still keep faith with in Les Invisibles: the powerful spirits who permeate the land and its people. These folk revere, worship, and serve Les Mysteres – also called the Loa or orishas – and attribute their magickal abilities and powers to them… and only them. “Magick” comes through communion – a respectful exchange of powers and offerings. For the Bata’a, either you believe in the holy rites or you can count yourself amongst les idiots, the fools who dismiss or trivialize the spirits and their Arts.

Beyond the silly stereotypes of “voodoo” lies a survivor’s creed of reverent assimilation. Bata’a make the best of whatever they have to work with: French saints, African gods, Germanic hexes, Spanish goods, Native spirits, and the heartbeat of the people, mirrored in the drums, a pulse that cannot be stilled by any force on Earth. It’s this heartbeat that gives the sect its name, and it’s that defiance that gives the Bata’a their independence. For though they might strike alliances with the Verbena and Dreamspeaker Traditions, bond with Hollow Ones, and even tolerate the presence of crusty old Crusaders, these mystics are ultimately their own people. Even their ties the Loa are based on mutual respect, not abject servitude.

Where there’s faith and passion, freedom finds a way.

Organization: A deliberately informal sect, the Bata’a work mostly on a local level, with few titles beyond mae-de-santos (momma saint) and pae-de-santos (papa saint), both given to

Stereotypes

The Traditions: Useful allies, but too devoted to their own interests to be reliable friends for ours.

The Technocracy: Pretty new chains, same old slavers.

The Disparate Alliance: Our allies understand the weight of someone’s boot on your neck. Still, too many of them would become conquerors if they could… and some of them have been conquerors before. A useful alliance for now, but not one I think will last.

respected members. Because Bata’a don’t discriminate between hedge wizards and true mages, the group enjoys an incredibly large membership drawn from related faiths throughout the world. Ronde des Ames – the “Chain of Souls” – unites all localized links into a spiritual network; tied together by gossip, spirit messengers, and – these days – phone calls and the Internet, these links circulate information, rituals, and news. In the early 21st century, the Chain sustains a growing political activism. Though the Bata’a once focused on the seven Rangi (“colors,” or families) and localized Marassas (male-female partnerships, representing the father and mother figures of a given group), the sect now pursues a more unified global agenda. Especially since the Technocratic purge and the dreadful Tempéte – the Avatar Storm – Bata’a now recognize that division means extinction… or, as history has shown, even worse.

Initiation: In order to be considered for membership, a person must be truly devoted to the Loa. This candidate must seek out a known member of the Bata’a and petition him for instruction. Very often, especially for white students, this request isn’t granted unless the would-be initiate has connections or introductions through reputable sources. Once accepted, the candidate pledges to sacrifice all her time and money for a year in service to her teacher and the Craft. At the end of that time, if she shows talent, devotion, and common sense, she becomes a hounsis (initiate) and begins to learn about Les Invisibles, leading up to her first possession. Following a lengthy seclusion of prayers, fasts, and purification, the initiate receives a potent mixture of alcohol and hallucinogenic herbs and left to the mercy of Les Mysteres. If she survives, she becomes Bata’a.

Affinity Spheres: Spirit or Life. Focus: Based in the sublime union between flesh and spirit, Bata’a Arts require two things: a ritual calling upon Legba, the guardian of crossroads; and a rite designed to induce a trance state and open channels between minds, bodies, and spirits. In certain cases, a practitioner may choose to create a gris-gris: an item blessed by and infused with the energy of a Loa. Such items are used only in cases of dire urgency and limited time. Faith is the heart of this invisible family, with common paradigms insisting that Creation’s Alive, Everything is Chaos, and this World of Gods and Monsters demands good friends and willing allies.

Voudoun, faith, medicine-work, craftwork, High Ritual, and crazy wisdom form the core practices within the Bata’a. Some members also favor gutter magick, shamanism, weird science, dominion, maleficia, and various martial arts. One works with whatever’s available. So long as the spirits are served respectfully, a practitioner can rely upon them to aid her.

Organization

A deliberately informal sect, the Bata’a work mostly on a local level, with few titles beyond mae-de-santos (momma saint) and pae-de-santos (papa saint), both given to