Everything

There are many mortal societies who seek knowledge of the supernatural, but none have the intellectual and academic resources of the Arcanum. Scholars in any field of esoterica are welcomed as members, for the society has found truth in the most unexpected places. Most Arcanists are academics, archeologists, librarians, mystics, and occultists — though there are a growing number who join because a brush with the supernatural sparked unending questions and a thirst for answers. This includes soldiers, spies, hackers, and even the odd bartender.

The Arcanum’s mandate, its “Syllabus,” is clear: the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, for the enlightenment and betterment of its members (and by extension, all of humanity). It accepts that there’s a world beyond what normal people see before them, and that through scholarship one can discover what is purely myth and what is truth hidden in the shadows.

It’s not a hidden society. The public knows of it as a prestigious, if odd, global academic society. It publishes a peer-reviewed journal on the esoteric called Annual Proceedings of the Arcanum. The journal accepts submissions from the public, which the Arcanum uses to discover new candidates, and public knowledge of Arcanists sometimes provides a way into social situations that would otherwise block access to rare texts and secrets.

Hostile encounters with the supernatural have changed the Arcanum’s demeanor. Arcanists are cautious when it comes to research into beings like vampires and werewolves, lest they and their precious research be destroyed. These encounters have left mental (and physical) scars on some members, who see knowledge and the ideal of bettering humanity to be a call for action against humanity’s secret predators.

When it comes to the Arcanum, the theme is one of reckless exploration. The point of the society is the accumulation of knowledge, so its members continue to put themselves into places where they know less than they should. Just like children who explore the woods because the woods are there, and they yearn to know what’s beyond the tree line. And because their mandate is knowledge, not war, Arcanists aren’t (usually) armed and looking for a fight. They know they’re tasty snacks for vampires and werewolves.

The mood is one of raging against the darkness. Sure, they’re tasty snacks, but that will not stop them from fighting to keep the monsters at bay. Since they’re outclassed, that means serving as spies, not soldiers. They also must rage against their own, as those in power would rather not see their society destroyed due to a bunch of dangerous, warmongering upstarts.

The Arcanum is part Victorian lodge, part collection of colleges. It spans across the globe, and its members currently number in the low thousands.

The Foundation House is the cornerstone of the Arcanum. It’s where the most important and sacred business takes place, and it houses the society’s oldest and rarest books and other documents — the pride of its vast collection.

Its location, and even its existence, is a secret to those outside of the society. Neophytes are told that it’s a bit outside of London. (After all, you need to know where to book a flight to if you have to go there.) Then they’re blindfolded before they take the trip. Those who prove they can be trusted get to watch the scenic countryside drive to the Fens of Cambridgeshire, 100 miles north of London.

The Grand Chancellor, Madeleine Beuacourt, resides in the House, along with a number of Journeymen who tend to the House’s vast collection, the Axis Mundi. The Executive Committee runs the high-level Arcanum business here. The third major use for the Foundation House is the stage for the Initiation Rite that prospective Neophytes take to be inducted into the society.

One of the most impressive libraries on the occult and supernatural that any mortal organization has compiled,

the Axis Mundi is the soul of the Arcanum. Name a subject, no matter how fringe, and you will find at least a half dozen books on it in the stacks. Thanks to modern technology, the delicate works are preserved in climate-controlled rooms and the contents of many volumes have been digitized and made searchable — though not all, as this project will take many years to complete. A Chapter House’s Librarian can place a call to the Foundation House if a book is needed, though the curators of the Axis Mundi prefer visitors to come on-site to review a book, when possible. (And they’re worse than debt collectors about harassing those who don’t return books when promised.)

Characters using the Axis Mundi get a benefit on any rolls regarding occult and supernatural research. Given a full day’s access, they get +2 successes on the roll. If they don’t spend that much time going over every possible lead, they can instead spend a number of hours equal to the difficulty of the research roll looking through the books to get +2 dice on the roll — maybe they get lucky and find what they need much sooner.

Because of the collection’s importance to the Arcanum, the Grand Chancellor’s encouraged those who live in the House to engage in physical and combat training. This is certainly no requirement, but over the last decade she has made clear that when a space opens up for, a candidate’s ability to defend the Axis Mundi will be a factor in the consideration. Two of the Journeymen currently living there comes from special forces backgrounds — one from British Special Air Service, one from Czech 601st Special Forces Group — and they hold daily calisthenics and routine weapons training for others.

As part of this security, the Axis Mundi is not connected to any computer network. And the House does not send documents containing dangerous information over the Internet.

The Arcanum is spread out all over the globe. To manage this wide network, many cities and populous regions have a Chapter House. These Houses are headquarters (and sometimes living accommodations) for local Arcanists, and they function as a line to the Foundation House and the Grand Chancellor — both in terms of accountability and resources. Chapter Houses are expected to publish reports, and their members are expected to contribute both to the Annual Proceedings of the Arcanum (the society’s publicly available academic journal) and to the Axis Mundi collection.

Each Chapter House has leeway to organize itself however it sees fit, so long as it continues to be a productive

The Arcanum’s new recruits are given the title of Neophyte once they accept the offer to join, but they aren’t truly considered part of the society until Initiation. A group of them are gathered to the Foundation House to meet with the Grand Chancellor and take in the sheer weight of history and knowledge that is the Arcanum. When they arrive, they’re told that the Initiation will take place the following day, led by the Mystagogue of the Initiation — not a held position; anyone high enough in the society may be asked to lead the ritual.

That evening, the initiates are invited to casually enjoy the fourth floor lounge. Only they and servant staff are there, and the Neophytes are given some time to talk among themselves. At this point, the Initiation has begun: the food and drink are laced with a powerful hallucinogen and a mild narcotic.

Surreal dreams flood their minds. One Neophyte spoke of a vast maze and an owl that screamed challenges as it assaulted his flesh. These dreams are perhaps the most pleasant portion of the ritual, for when they wake, they’re each alone and naked in a wooden coffin. Initiates invariably scream and try to claw out as the drugs begin to wear off and the horror of dying inside a coffin comes fully to mind.

Only then are initiates allowed out, to find they’re on a small isle. Once all are gathered, they’re lead to the water. Arcanists in robes stand on the opposite end of the shore, waiting for the initiates to enter the water and be baptized.

The Mystagogue delivers the new Neophytes through the end of the ritual, and declares: “New Brothers and Sisters of the Arcanum, you have died and been reborn. Now cleanse yourselves and join us.” Then are they welcomed into the fold.

member of the society. Its members have titles and roles like any other lodge or organization: Treasurer, Librarian, Secretary, Security Officer, and so on.

Common to all Houses, though, is the role of Chancellor: the House’s administrator. The Chancellor’s functions are to make the Grand Chancellor aware of all pertinent news and to act as the proxy for the Grand Chancellor.

Because of the size of the network, some Chapter Houses are designated as “primary” Houses in a vast area. The primary American Chapter House is in Georgetown, and all other American Houses report to the Georgetown Chancellor, who reports to the Grand Chancellor. The European Union moved their primary House in 2007 to Paris, after the London House was attacked by assailants presumed to be vampires (likely mistaking the London House for the Foundation House).

The politics in a region can make this complicated: the Islamabad House reports to the Dubai Chancellor, even though New Delhi is much closer. Likewise, the Taipei Chapter House sends reports directly to the Foundation House, despite the Shanghai Chancellor’s protests.

Colonies are, in a sense, proto-Chapter Houses. When several Arcanists live and work in an area not near a Chapter House, they’re still treated as an extension of whatever Chapter House is nearest (local politics notwithstanding).

If a Colony exists for long enough and its members can present a case to the Executive Committee, it may be promoted to a full Chapter House. The last time this happened was in 2004, when Macau lobbied to be a separate Chapter House rather than attached to Hong Kong. Sometimes these divisions are amicable, but they’re just as often politically charged.

Lodges are groups of Arcanists, men and women who go out to conduct field research. A House assembles some Lodges for a particular endeavor, and others are long-standing groups who find comfort and success in continuing to work together. Lodges report to a Chapter House, though their travels may take them far from that assigned House. Other Houses are expected to provide hospitality to a traveling Lodge.

Lodges accomplish the Arcanum’s chief goal of researching and collecting knowledge on the supernatural, so every Chapter House is involved. Smaller Houses can only afford to support one Lodge, and expect that Lodge to keep close to home. Larger ones support as many as five, and such lodges enjoy more freedom of resources and movement.

As Houses are the geographical divisions, Colleges are the academic and intellectual ones. Colleges, also sometimes called Schools, Programs, or Divisions, are collections of students and masters all across the globe who share a common academic or supernatural interest. Most Arcanists belong to a College (and sometimes to more than one), as only members in a College can apply for research grants and have access to various other privileges.

The old Colleges include the Colleges of Egyptology, Thaumaturgy, Lycanthropic Studies, Hermetic Studies, Linguistics, and Cryptozoology, just to name a few. Some new Colleges have joined the ranks in the last decade, notably the Colleges of Hematology, Paratechnology, and Arctic Studies. (Yes, the College of Hematology is a thinly veiled College on vampire research. The Executive Committee keeps a very close eye on them.)

Everyone in the Arcanum, from Neophyte to Elder Brother, has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. But for some, there’s an equal thirst for justice, heroism, and other romantic notions. And for a few, there’s a dread, an inescapable fear of the creatures hidden in shadows and spoken of in dusty tomes. Fear, because those creatures are very real and more than a few know of the Arcanum’s existence. And let’s be honest: if you grew up in an academic environment with fighting for tenure being your biggest concern, a vampire ripping your neck open and draining the life from you is, to put it lightly, cause for concern.

That fear leads most of the Arcanum to adopt a “don’t get involved” policy after the vampires destroyed the Boston Chapter House in 1910. To be fair, that the Arcanum still exists is a testament to the policy working.

Not everyone has the stomach to stay still while knowing of the horrors in the world. Individual lodges research into perilous affairs — reports of vampires, demons, werewolves, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. They gather intelligence by interviewing witnesses, scouting suspect locations, doing surveillance, and on very rare occasions “bagging and tagging” an entity in order to place a tracker and chart movement. Oh, and they still do the whole spelunking in libraries and reading book and book thing — no one’s lost sight of how the Arcanum gets knowledge in the first place.

No one in the society thinks of themselves as soldiers on the front lines. (And those who do are killed by such creatures or silenced by an Elder Brother, so they’re self-correcting problems.) No, these scholars are spies, sending this information to those who would act on it, and almost always in untraceable ways.

Likeminded Journeymen and Elder Brothers in positions to bring others into the fold look for qualities beyond the drive for knowledge. More and more, hackers are indoctrinated into the Arcanum to break into the systems of vampire-infiltrated companies, as well as to discretely send information to allies. Former spies and intelligence operatives make great candidates, though (as you might imagine) they’re hard to find in the first place, let alone those who would be Arcanum candidates. Rarely, federal law enforcement is brought in, but it happens from time to time.

Others in the society are aware such people exist, but these scholar-spies do everything in their power to keep these dealings secret… even from one another. That means sometimes Lodges work at cross-purposes (or at least are inefficiently tracking the same supernatural issue). It means they’re less potent, since no one’s coordinating them. But it also means they can’t give away the identity of others who fight for the cause.

That some Arcanists do this isn’t news, but the scale’s changed. Sandeep D’Souza, Chancellor of the New Delhi Chapter House, had quietly led a charge to change the society’s overall attitude to clandestinely acting against the Kindred and other threats. As he’s in line to assume the Grand Chancellorship, the Arcanum as a whole may radically change. Time will tell if that shift spells doom for the Arcanum.

Members know there are many places of mystery where the occult steps out of the shadows. The pursuit to uncover these places is paramount, and many lodges continue to hunt for Mu, Camelot, Atlantis, the Hollow Earth, and so on. Others do not believe everything has been discovered in the places of mystery we are able to visit today: the Great Pyramids, the Bermuda Triangle, Mount Everest, even Antarctica. A few are obsessed with what lies beyond our atmosphere, and those who visit from there.

Legendary artifacts fire up the imagination of Arcanists just as much as places of mystery. Members trade notes on possible resting places for the Sangrail, Excalibur, Mjölnir, Tizona, Gáe Blug, Yata no Kagami, and the Book of Thoth — just to name a few.

Thaumatologists study the history and theory of magic. The archives have records of members encountering these rare phenomena. These records are labeled under “The Order of Hermes,” after the compact known to exist in the Middle Ages. Strangely, the number of magical events members recorded in the last several months are more than in the last three decades. Whether that’s because

Arcanists are getting closer to the truth behind magic in the world or because magic is “returning” is of hot debate.

Vampires definitely exist in the world, and they announced their displeasure at being spied on with the Boston Chapter House Fire in 1910. The mandate from the Grand Chancellor is to keep your distance, but also to not let fear destroy the pursuit of knowledge. In other words: learn what you can, but don’t fuck with them.

Werecreatures, apparitions, and the fair folk are also know of, with lodges dedicates to uncovering more about them. The same mandate on not harassing those who can destroy the society applies here, though with less heavy-handedness than with vampires. One werewolf surprised the Arcanum in 2001; Neophyte Carol Dubois was part of a lodge traveling in Vietnam when they were ambushed. She transformed into a giant half-wolf creature, which the video running at the time captured. Dubois fled, and hasn’t been heard from since.

Demons are another topic of debate in the society. There are Arcanists who believe that there are lines humanity should not cross in the pursuit of knowledge, and the study of demons is one. Others believe to have such a line is to spit on the Syllabus.

Finally, there are other mortals who pursue knowledge of the supernatural. Arcanists consider them a great benefit as potential colleagues, or at least sources. Those who take an aggressive stance against vampires and other creatures that prey on humans make great unknowing allies. The Inquisition, members of Project Twilight, Crucible Genetics Amalgamated, and the Society of Leopold are among those the Arcanum feeds information to. Some Houses even have small, regional allies — the Las Vegas Chapter House noticed that the police are surprisingly adept at tackling the city’s supernatural threats.

These Backgrounds reflect the Arcanum’s focus and reach: arcane and occult resources, whether they are physical, digital, or social in nature. Of course, having money doesn’t hurt either.

Artifacts are items strong in supernatural potency. This Background allows you to begin play with such an artifact in your possession. Either it was a family heirloom, or a mentor in the Arcanum bequeathed it to you, or you found it early in your career and the Arcanum hasn’t yet requested it for “further study.”

The Storyteller should create something suitable for you based on the dots in this Background. Talk about what you want with the Storyteller. Truly legendary artifacts (such as Roland’s sword Durandal, or the chalice of Kai Khusrau) are objects of great quests and cannot be purchased with this Trait. Some examples of potential artifacts are presented on p. 123.

Players may opt to pool Background points for a shared artifact. See pp. 118-119 of V20 for more information on pooled Backgrounds.

• A minor artifact

•• A useful artifact

••• An artifact of significant power

•••• A much-sought artifact

••••• An artifact of incredible power

Arcanists often devote their entire lives to research, and build up tremendous libraries over the course of their careers; those who live near Chapter Houses with long established and well-developed libraries do even better. Arcanists who have to research a particular fact in libraries have the difficulty number of research rolls reduced by this Background (note that this cannot be combined with access to the Axis Mundi).

Players may opt to pool Background points for a shared library. See pp. 118-119 of V20 for more information on pooled Backgrounds.

• Difficulty reduced by 1

•• Difficulty reduced by 2

••• Difficulty reduced by 3

•••• Difficulty reduced by 4

••••• Difficulty reduced by 5

Your mentor — your Elder Brother or Sister — is the person who initiated you into the Arcanum. The higher rating, the more influence your mentor has among other Arcanists, and the better your initial reputation. A low rating could mean that your mentor is not well respected, but it could also mean you have a powerful mentor who isn’t often available.

The society may provide housing and a small allowance for its new members — typically no higher than a rating of one dot. Anything more must come from a member’s family, another job, or some other income source.

The Merits and Flaws vary among Arcanists, from the armchair scholars sitting in comfortable chairs back in the Chapter Houses to the foolhardy spies and students diving head-first into the supernatural world.

You are not as spry as you used to be. Lower one Physical Attribute score (your choice) by one point. An Attribute cannot go below one with this Flaw. You may take this Flaw at 40 years old and once again per decade after.

You’re able to quickly pick up on social cues, local customs, phrases, modes of dress, and other little things particular about a place. If you’re able to address those (can change your clothes, able to speak the language, etc.), anyone attempting to discern if you don’t belong there suffer a two die penalty. Either way, you receive two extra dice for any action to find others who don’t belong somewhere.