Places

The Sabbat does much to earn its reputation as a bloodthirsty sect of fanatical vampire supremacists, but the actual philosophy of the sect is much more sophisticated. The sect has a long history of associa­ tion with Catholic rite and culture, and one of the great philosophical centers of the Black Hand is São Paulo, in particular the São Paulo See Metropolitan Cathedral. The church itself is a symbol of the city, and few of the 40 million mortal inhabitants of the city realize that such an important Cainite institution exists beneath their home. Second only to the seat of the Regent in Mexico City, São Paulo is emerging as the spiritual center of the sect.

An ecumenical council for the Black Hand meets annually in the crypts beneath the Catedral da Sé, where it observes and codifies all of the Sabbat’s auc­ toritas ritae. Archbishops, Bishops, Prisci, and other leaders of the sect attend this council by invitation only, and being asked to attend is both an enormous sect honor and a chance to shape the Black Hand’s religious policy.The Archbishop of São Paulo also hosts numerous deliberative diets, where Bishops and luminary Pack Priests can share and propose new ritae as well as study and debate matters directly related to Sabbat theology. These diets host no small amount of discussion regarding the Paths of Enlightenment in addition to codified sacrament.

The presence of such an important religious insti­ tution for the Sabbat rankles some of the Old World elders of the sect, who believe that the Black Hand’s religious center should remain closer to the Vatican, or at least in Europe as the historical stronghold of Catholicism. This issue has yet to truly form a divide among the spiritual leaders of the Black Hand, but as sect outlook grows more dire and the End Times loom, the potential for a full-fledged schism among the priests of the sect becomes an increasing possibility.