Keepers of the Gate

Backstory: Montreal is definitely a city that believes in magic and superstition. The city's cultural tapestry is rich and diverse, allowing for plenty of history, lore, traditions, folk medicines, beliefs, and a hodge podge of rites to co-exist and blend. The strength of this history and this community has attracted many Kindred over the years, for better or worse. Blood Sorcery has always been deeply ingrained in the city; before the Anarchs came along, The Serpents of Light and Tremere Antitribu weaved their dark powers in service of the Sabbat, and traces of their lineage remain to this day. When the Severed Hand split into three packs, the Blood Sorcerers, Necromancers and Occultists formed the pack known as the Keepers of the Gate; a mish mash of kindred composed mostly of Tremere from House Ipsissimuss, former Serpents of Lights from the Ministry now loyal to the Anarchs and Haitian Voodoo adepts from Clan Hecata.

Instead of competing for occult dominance within the city, the Hecata, Banu-Haqim, Lasombra and Tremere share equally, to the point where lines would surely be crossed only a few decades before. There are rumors of crossover rituals and new paths being developed, or perhaps that's just a distant goal.

Purpose and goals:

• Assist the Baron in seeing to the Anarch Movement's interests in the city.
• Assist the sister Coteries in upholding the Traditions, as well as keeping the city free of threats.
• Those elevated to the office of Herald are expected to handle the recording and trading of boons.
• Assume and maintain control over the Financial, Political, Legal and High Society spheres of Montreal.
• Ensure that the domain's traditions are properly enforced, including sanctions, punishments, and lex talionis.
• Ensure that the Camarilla/Anarch relations remain in good standing.
  

Style & Symbolism

• The Coterie's chosen crest is the Reversed Hierophant; a Tarot card representing Wisdom, Spirituality and the pursuit of high knowledge. In it's reversed position, it encourages to question norms and established dogmas while seeking spiritual growth and personal development.
• The Coterie's chosen color is Purple.
• Members of the Coterie tend to favor dressing sharply, and showing some amount of decorum ( at least by Anarch standards ). Some take it to the extreme by pea cocking around Elysia in extravagant fashions, or attempt to make a statement by adorning modern and edgy styles. Others may prefer an understated approach that fuses both style and function, but one thing is for sure, members of Axis Mundi never deliberately look destitute.
  
  

Spheres of Influence: University, Occult, Church, Health.

Clans: Primarily Tremere, Hecata, & Lasombra. The Coterie also accepts members of the Banu Haqim, Tzimisce, Malkavians and Ministry with Occult or suitable Academic focus.

Favored Candidates: Thaumaturges, Occultists, Scholars, Necromancers, Priests, Shamans, Sorcerers, Pagans, Seers, Diviners, Scientists.

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Initiation: The Ties That Bind
Each hopeful must demonstrate their magical prowess or special knowledge or ability to be considered for this pack. Once this is done, they take part in an initiation rite in which the recruit brings a piece of rope, string, yarn or cord to the leader of the group and together they tie it into a knot, symbolizing the bond they are forging. They will both press a bleeding finger to the knot, which is ceremoniously hung (along with everyone else's) on a small, decorative tree in their headquarters. This knot is not merely symbolic, but ties the initiate to the other rules of the coven, as well as to his pack mates. Each member of the Coven is considered to have a level 1 Blood Bond to all other members ( Including Tremere who could otherwise not bond others to them ). This bond allows members of the Coven to share disciplines and blood sorcery rituals among each other without having to drink their Vitae.

Loose Lips Sink Ships
As a result of the Initiation ritual, actions that would be detrimental to the Coven, such as sharing information on other members to outsiders, revealing the location of a ley line, or even all out betrayal can have dire consequences. Each time a member of the Coven attempts to betray his kin or share confidential information, the character must succeed a willpower roll of a difficulty of 2, +1 depending on the gravity of the offence; Sharing rumors, minor information or talking shit would be +1, sharing confidential information, weaknesses or secrets would be at +2, while sharing critical or damning information, or any form of flat out betrayal would be at +3. If the roll is successful, the character is able to go ahead with the action, but at a price; wracked with intense pain, both mental and physical, the character takes 1 aggravated health and 1 aggravated willpower damage, causing them to bleed internally and after a few moment, to violently vomit one rouse check's worth of blood. A Failure means the ritual stops them in their track, preventing from going ahead with the betrayal. In the case of a Beastial Failure or Messy Critical, ghostly whispers will advise the rest of the Coven that one of their own has betrayed their trust, though their identity remains unknown.

The Seat of the Coven
The Seat of the Covenant is a small, secluded estate in the Mount-Royal district, surrounded with stone and wrought iron gates, and heavily guarded by wards, ghouls, zombies and other spirits. It serves as not only a base of operation for the Keepers, but also as an occult library and laboratory, safe house and place of power. Members of the Keepers are free to use it as a communal haven, claiming one of the rooms as their own as long as they want. Among its most interesting features is an extensive occult library that provides characters with a +1 dice bonus on occult research rolls as well as a sizable and secluded garden that not only serves as a Ritualistic space, but also sits on a powerful Furcus where multiple ley lines cross, granting +2 dice bonus to any ritual conducted on the Garden grounds. The location of the seat is to be guarded and kept secret by all members of the Coven.

Pre-Requisites:

• Characters of all Clans can join Axis Mundi.
• Must have the Blood Sorcery or Oblivion disciplines, or have at least 3 dots in Occult, Science or Academics with suitable specialties. Examples of suitable specialties would include; Noddism, Archeology, Alchemy, Ancient History, etc. Malkavians with the Cob-Web Loresheet are also accepted as Oracles.
  
• The character must provide a 2 dots in Retainer as per the The Blood Provides tradition mentioned above. The retainer must occupy a strategic position within one of the Coterie's preferred spheres of influence ( Finance, Legal, Politics or High Society ).
  

Merits and Advantages:

• Characters who are part of Axis Mundi benefit from a free one dot background of Status: Camarilla that they may use to add to their social rolls when dealing with Kindred of the Camarilla. Characters who occupy the offices of Herald or Keeper of Elysium see that Status increase to two dots.
• Members of Axis Mundi benefit from +1 dot to their Resources background. ( Cannot take it over 5 )
• Members of Axis Mundi benefit from a full 2 dot Mask. It consists of a fake identity, a name that carries weight within the city's mortals. Mechanically, it grants them + 2 to social rolls when dealing with mortals who operated within the Coterie's favored spheres of influence, or when dealing with law enforcement. ( Such as using their 'name' to gain access to a VIP room, get the best table at a restaurant, schedule a meeting with important members of the political elite, being accepted for a loan or getting out of a speeding ticket )
  

Character Creation Tips

• Founding members will usually have been recruited among the Anarch Kindred of Quebec City or Ottawa by Marie-Helene or Robert Ward. Founding members could also have been recommended by Anarchs from other cities. Vancouver, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, New York or Chicago.
• Think of your character's motivations for joining Axis Mundi and the incursion; Are they eager for social climbing and attracted to the potential provided by a newly claimed city? Are they perhaps seeking a city where their skills and talents will be recognized? Are they a pariah in their former home city, attempting to run from past indiscretions or nasty rumors and start a new life? Maybe one of the major players behind the initiative to take back Montreal called upon a boon they were owed?
• Make sure to think your character's lineage through. Who is their sire? Grand sire(s)? Are they their sire's only childe? What kind of reputation did they inherit, if any?

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  Séraphine
  

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  Blythe
  

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  Carmine
  

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