Traditions & Orders

Heretics and idealists from the world’s

monotheistic creeds, the embattled Celestial

Chorus heeds the voice of the Divine. All living

beings, conjured and animated by the One – by whatever name that One is known – can join that Song and shape Creation. Defying their varied orthodoxies, Choristers teach that the Song has many harmonies. A person of faith can hear it and approach the One through different creeds. And for their tolerance, the Singers have endured a bloodied history of martyrdom.

Chorister liturgies tell of unity and division, triumph and heartbreak. The oldest plainsongs recount the First Age, the Shattering, when the One’s pure unity was broken, and the First Singers, mortal heroes of boundless faith, who confronted and subdued the broken spirits of flawed entities. Pentatonic chants resurrected from Egypt’s 18th Dynasty recall the blind priest Mentu-hetep, who brought Pharaoh Amenhotep IV to the worship of the Sun god, Aton. The Pharaoh’s city, Akhetaten; his new name, Ikhnaton; his fellow worshippers, the Sacred Congregation, of disparate lands yet living in harmony – of all these things and more the Chorus sings. Then their chant becomes a dirge: jealous priests of the old faith destroyed Ikhnaton’s city and tried to wipe him from history. The Congregation dispersed across the Middle East.

And then, a rising melody, its counterpoint low and dark: For 16 centuries, diverse and fractious groups of Congregants

grew in strength. First came Mithraic mystery cultists, guarded by Roman shields; later, after the Christ’s Ascension, a sect called the Messianic Voices. To suppress corruption in the nascent Roman Church, Messianic mage Claudius Dediticius founded his Knights of Archangel Gabriel, Messenger of God. He could not have imagined that the Gabrielites would eventually become the Cabal of Pure Thought, forerunners of the Technocracy’s New World Order.

Discordant notes herald the War Song: through simony and indulgences, king-making and cruelty, the Cabal amassed temporal power. Its rigid ways and rampant abuses, such as the barbarous Albigensian Crusade, drove away “heretical” magi. During the Western Schism, these Antinomians fostered new movements: Waldensians, Hussites, and the Heresy of the Free Spirit. They reached out to like-minded spirits in Isma’ili Islam and the Bektashi Order; to the Majestic Kings of the Zoroastrians; even to the Hindu nationalist scholar-warriors, the Vishnudharadhara (“Vishnu’s Sword”). Such ecumenism was heretical, but Antinomians knelt to no Earthly authority, whether Church or State. And for this, they were hunted. The flames of the Inquisition burned hot. Meanwhile, in wars of words among themselves and of magick against Hermetics and the witch-folk, the Congregants faltered… if never in devotion, then certainly in progress.

A new harmony: Valoran, a French bishop hiding from the Inquisition, reunited the Messianic Voices and made peace with

Stereotypes

The Technocracy: Traitors to Grace who imprison the world with mechanical cacophony.

The Disparates: Lost souls, one and all.

DISSONANCE IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF HARMONY, MERELY A HARMONY

THAT NEEDS TO BE ADJUSTED UNTIL THE SONG RINGS TRUE.

the Pagans. In 1461, with their gravest breaches healed, Congregants from every

monotheistic faith presented a unified face to the Council of Nine as the Chœur Céleste.

Slow descending chords: as the Order of Reason rose, the new Chorus declined through persecution, massacres, and intolerance. To divide and conquer, the Cabal – and later the NWO and Syndicate – fostered centuries of culture war among the western faiths. And though fundamentalism strengthens the Chorus’ paradigm (many Sleepers still believe in miracles), it also destroys the message of divine unity.

Even so, Choristers still preach that message. More to the point, they live it. Among the Traditions, the Chorus is perhaps the most compassionate… and it certainly speaks loudest, as a whole, for the welfare of the Masses. Although certain members can be fanatical, not even the primitivist Singers are religious fundamentalists in the way Sleepers understand

that term. To hear more than the simplest notes of the Song – and then survive within

the Council – a Chorister must transcend dogma and embrace faith. With regards to

stickier theological nuances (the gender of Divinity, the limits of tolerance, the roles

of Christ and the Prophet in the Divine plan, that sort of thing), modern Choristers

deliberately avoid taking an official stance. There’s plenty of tension in the ranks as a

result, but at least no one’s getting burned alive over it anymore!

It’s not all peace and love, of course. Old wounds linger between this group and its companions. Out of necessity and faith, the Chorus still

wrangles with this tricky alliance, debating where and when to draw

lines with “friends” who practice loathsome Arts. Still, the Tradition’s

visionaries present the Council with proof of what united

tolerance can bring. “We Sing in harmony,” they insist, “and

so might we all.”

of Pontifex Maximus. Each Chancellor commands a

territorial staff of Exarchs, sometimes called bishops.

Exarchs supervise local leaders called Presbyters (priests or elders), who present this Tradition’s human face.

Initiation: Presbyters seek recruits through social outreach in church organizations. Some worshippers spontaneously Awaken through powerful religious experiences, particularly those involving music. Each new apprentice, or Catechumen, undertakes rigorous instruction from

an experienced mage called a Præcept. Like many forms of religious training, this instruction involves matters of doctrine, personal discipline, and – obviously – lots of singing lessons.

Focus: The Arts flow not from personal achievement or intent but from faith, unity, and harmony with the Divine Will. Singing – especially many voices joined in harmony – provides this Tradition’s oldest and most important

instrument. Chorister magick tends to manifest in light,

fire, warmth, harmonic vibrations, and sublime music.

Faith and High Ritual form the core of Celestial Chorus

practices, so the group’s paradigms include Creation

is Divine and Alive, Divine Order and Earthly Chaos,

and, of course, It’s All Good – Have Faith.

Organization

Hierarchical since the Roman Republic, the Chorus is led by its Curia, a 17-member synod of Chancellors and associated finance officers, tribunes, notaries, and liturgical commissioners. The most respected (or best connected) Chancellor holds the ceremonial position