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Originally Posted by tshiggins
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One earlier campaign was set in Boston in 2010-2012. I've decided that the surviving PCs had made enough allegiances to make it plausible that they and their allies,
de facto, represented the 'government' of anyone aware of the occult in New England by 2012-2013. The PCs had somehow stumbled into a role where anyone linked to the occult scene in Boston and environs would turn to the former policeman PC, Mike O'Connor, whose Charitable nature meant that his PI business tended to be
pro bono much of the time.
So in the modern era, when this new campaign is set, Mike O'Connor, is the 'Sheriff of Boston', representing a council composed of several of the most powerful magic-users in New England, as well as a criminal organisation of vampires. Anytime there is a serious dispute between those aware of the supernatural or someone breaks the minimal laws that the charter members were able to agree on, the 'Sheriff' will deal with it.
I imagine that this would be set up as a benevolent charitable society, somehow. I haven't decided on the name, other than that in daily speech, almost everyone in the occult scene calls them the 'Mystic Society'.
One of the reasons why this was remotely plausible is that another PC, David Reynard, a Professor of Religious Anthropology at Harvard, was not only an awesomely powerful ritual magician, once he discovered magic, but also managed to be on friendly terms with people in the British conspiracy, the Vatican conspiracy and that segment of Israel's intelligence community aware of the occult.
Also, Mike O'Connor was a Knight of Columbus and a retired Master Sergeant of the US Army, with a formidable network of old army buddies and Catholic buddies with military, police and first-responder background. That proved vital during some early clashes with supernatural beings and less-than-ethical users of ritual magic (inc. a gang with Haitian roots called
Kók Nwar, led locally by a powerful
bokor). The Vatican learned about O'Connor from a sympathetic Jesuit (whom O'Connor had consulted for advice) and eventually decided to support him as the local lawman among the occult underground in New England, if for no other reason than that he kept the vampires from killing indiscriminately, in the US, at least.
Richard Ambrose Lawson, another PC, was a wealthy attorney with political aspirations and extremely good good connections, aided in no small part by his rich and influential family. He judged that no amount of connections would enable him to convince the public or even the federal government of the reality of the occult world, but over the eight years since becoming aware of it, he managed, at least, to position himself so that people sympathetic to him could inform him of all sorts of things.
Professor Reynard might very well have become a member of The Club of Odd Volumes, and if not, at the very least someone belonging to the Mystic Society would be.
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Originally Posted by tshiggins
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Most likely, though
when he obtained membership is going to depend on the attitude of the 1950s and 1960s era club toward Jewish members. J.R. Kessler isn't apparently religious himself, but
Jimmy Kessler is his nephew. Great-nephew, possibly. Or a cousin. But a close relative, at any rate.
And in the 1950s, Kessler was still decidedly rakish, having just returned from various adventures abroad and establishing his first business ventures in partnership with people who were well known as associates of the Maceo brothers. Then again, probably a lot of Houston movers and shakers were more fond of the Maceo brothers than anything else. Certainly the cream of Texas society patronised the
Balinese Room.
But there is perhaps a difference between socializing with mobsters at
their dance club / illegal casino and inviting them to be part of
your high-society club. Then again, Kessler was never a
mobster, in that he never had a police record or was ever conclusively tied to illegal activity. He did run a casino in the 1950s, but that was in Havana and had all the legal permits necessary.
It isn't until the late 1960s or so that Kessler can be truly said to be
respectable, if only because at that time, he is no longer merely a successful hustler with a hint of danger about him, he has actually become truly wealthy on a scale that even Houston oilmen tend to respect.
Never mind that Kessler is still an adventurer, basing a lot of his wealth on mineral, mining and petrochemical concessions in some dangerous areas in Africa, often profiting mightily by being willing to set up operations during hostilities, making murky deals with mercenaries and various factions in one civil war or another. In the US, at least, he had become the owner of significant stakes in various very successful banks, oil companies and multinationals, which, as everyone knows, confers instant respectability on even the most piratical rake.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins
That's how I'd use them, actually.
[...]
So, given that most of the U.S. government is so balkanized, clueless and perhaps drowning in denial, and given that field personnel have started to notice this nasty crap, some sort of informal networking will certainly have begun to take place.
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Yes, that's how the various occult-aware factions (which I have not as yet worked out fully) within the US government have come into existence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins
The Society of the Cincinnati may be a place where a lot of ad hoc note-sharing takes place. Not all members will be in the know, but enough have recent military or intelligence backgrounds -- and a fair percentage remain on active duty.
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Really senior intelligence, security and military figures actually don't have as much chance of coming into contact with undeniable proof of the supernatural as first responders or soldiers on the ground do. And while analysis of statistics reveals that the world is somehow, inexplicably, a lot more dangerous in the 2010s than it was in the 1970s, the Facade means that almost
any other explanation than the truth will ring more true to most people.
Ironically, when magic was less powerful and the signs of the supernatural more subtle, in the 1990s and 2000s, it seems that proportionally higher numbers of senior figures were prepared to entertain reports of the impossible, at least if they came from trusted underlings and/or numerous unconnected sources. There
are numerous people in the UK, the Vatican, some other countries and even inside various US agencies, who came to accept the existence of the supernatural based on analysis and reason, rather than personal experience, but they tend to have done so some time ago.
Convincing new people of the existence of the occult seems almost impossible nowadays, unless they've had an encounter with it themselves. It might be, of course, that anyone mentally agile enough to be convinced by statistics and reports had already seen enough before 2010 and that those who remain in positions of power are those whose minds are especially resistant to the idea of the impossible. Certainly, young people are generally easier to convince.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins
Kessler could never belong to the Society of the Cincinnati. However, he's exactly the sort of guy that some of those old-money/old-military/third-generation "Company" men might use to poke into things.
Now then, I doubt Kessler is anybody's patsy or cat's-paw -- but he may find it useful to pretend to be one.
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Of course, with Kessler's age these days, most outsiders probably believe that he is long past actually doing anything and any activity having to do with his companies is emanating from other people giving orders in his name. But back in his sixties and seventies,
maybe into his eighties (i.e. in the early 1980s to the late 1990s), when he was old, but still not so old as not to be believably spry, it is very likely that Kessler found himself cast in such a role.
Kessler might also have found himself performing tasks somewhat analogous to the unofficial diplomacy of his former employee and then business partner
Jean-Yves Ollivier. Kessler is a French citizen since WWII, when he was wounded while serving in the French Foreign Legion, and France seems willing to make use of the contacts of French citizens even if they hold no formal office.
While Kessler is too old now to frequent gentleman's clubs or make rounds of Washington (or Paris) cocktail circuits, he still has trusted friends in key positions who arrange to notify him of any information he ought to have. The PCs are probably not going to interact with them much, as they don't sail around on the
Penemue, but Kessler has as many former intelligence and security personnel on the payroll as he has former SOF people. Not to mention a complex web of favors and obligations with a people who still hold positions in various government offices.
I imagine Kessler has much better contacts in the halls of power on various Caribbean islands, in Texas and other Gulf Coast states, and even in Paris, than he does in Washington, but still, fifty years of cultivating influence will get you some influence, even if you privately consider Washington D.C. a blight on a perfectly adequate bit of tropical swampland.