Skull Conclave Power Groups
Power Groups are organizations, orders, families, houses, and other social groups that have great influence over the workings of a Faction. In the Skull Conclave, the Archonate Priories and the Vertebral Priories above them are the prime groups of significance.
With one exception, Player Characters may choose to start from any of these or eventually earn affiliation with one of them. In fact, these are useful starting points in diversifying one’s Character from other members of the Skull Conclave. Player Characters may even choose to create their own Archonate Priory that work beneath one of Vertebral Priory, but this requires a submission to Game Staff and approval. Although Player Characters may end up greatly influencing the major Cabals/Priories, full leadership positions among them are restricted to NPCs.
Priory of Correspondence: An eccentric Vertebral Priory that is said to delve deeply into the Eldritch arts and even into the exploration of other worlds.
Priory of Judication: A Vertebral Priory that is tasked with the archiving of scripture and the keeping of records. Their secondary function is ensuring that the God-Empress is given her due and that heretics are punished.
Priory of Nullification: A Vertebral Priory focused on philosophy, defenses and the destruction of the eldritch enemy.
Priory of Transfiguration: This Vertebral Priory concerns itself with invention, supply, and engineering. Most notable are their “innovations” that involve the crafting of flesh and stem.
Priory of Correspondence
Locutors, Corresponders
“The All-Goddess speaks and we listen.
And through us, all will hear Her words”
Basic: An eccentric Vertebral Priory that is said to delve deeply into the Eldritch arts and even into the exploration of other worlds.
Territory: The Ziggurat City contains this Priory’s main stronghold, moved here by Avataral edict many decades ago. It is here that most of their education and experimentation occurs, as well as their otherworldly excursions. They also have satellite holdings in Serenity City and as far away as Innsmouth, maintaining Shadow Doors for transportation purposes.
Symbol: A Skull with three concentric half-circles (top half). This Priory is often seen with light or dark indigo accents.
Overview: The Priory of Correspondence is renowned for their delves into the esoteric and their strange discoveries from these studies. Their Umbrapaths (shadow speakers) allow for communication between major Templar strongholds. Their Shadow Doors (aka Umbraporters) allow teleportation from Door to another. Their studies have even allowed them to summon strange creatures from beyond this world’s reaches for experimentation and military purposes.
Among the many Priories that served under Saint Skull, the Locutors distinguished themselves in their daring and their audacity. Not only did Tartarus Pious Wolf and his Priory flirt with the forbidden, testing the very lines that Saint Skull had drawn. Again and again, this organization faced the threat of expurgation and even malifica. The only thing that saved them from eradication were their incredible discoveries and inventions. In 30 BTF, a botched summoning almost spelled the end of the Priory itself. Even the Oracle-Avatar arrived to quell an extradimensional threat. When the smoke settled, the Oracle-Avatar moved the Priory to Ziggurat City and had them continue their studies -- but only after ordering the execution of the individuals who had failed to follow the safety protocols.
The current era has the Priory of Correspondence as an indispensable pillar of the Conclave, enabling communication and transportation across Temple territories. Furthermore, their explorations into the Outer Spheres have returned with precious reagents and new insights.
Among the Priories, the Locutors are the most outgoing and most curious about other cultures and vistas. When the Conclave sends out representatives or explorers, these Calvarians are the first to volunteer. Indeed, it is their coordination with the Priory of Transfiguration that has allowed the Temple to harness xenotech in a safe manner. That said, the Locutors have taken the theft of this knowledge with much frustration and will often be found grimacing at any non-Templar xenotech item they find.
Leadership: Beshadowed Winter Moon is the Invokate of this Priory. A Psion of great power, she is considered one of the foremost experts in Xenotheurgy and otherworldly knowledge. Those who encounter her find no bookish academic but an assertive poet and painter that fills her Priory’s spaces with artwork (her own or others’). She is as curious and as hungry for new experiences as many of her Priory, so she sends out those who are willing and capable to strange lands to study and report back their findings.
Priory of Judication
Confessors, Judicators
“By these chains we are bound,
To serve Her will, to wreak Her wrath”
Basic: A Vertebral Priory that is tasked with the archiving of scripture and the keeping of records. Their secondary function is ensuring that the God-Empress is given her due and that heretics are punished.
Note: Membership in this Power Group is NPC-only, although they may employ outsiders or assign tasks to Templars.
Territory: Though the Priory of Judication is house primarily in Ziggurat City, they also maintain holdings in the Talonic Citadel and Bastion du Rachat so as to better coordinate with those power groups. They also have holdings in Serenity City and Covenant City to facilitate logistical processes such as censuses, taxes, and similar bureaucracies.
Symbol: A skull encircled by chains. This Priory is often seen with dark red accents.
Overview: The Priory of Judication began as the Priory of Intelligence, an archival and logistical arm of the Skull Conclave. Their management and record keeping tasks benefit not only the Calvarians, but all the other Conclaves as well. This function of the Priory is mundane in most aspects, except for scope -- they employ Auxillia in rote archival, organizational, and scrivening duties. On the other hand, recording scripture, guarding vaults, and tasks of similar importance are granted only to the priesthood.
The secondary and more notorious function of this Priory is collecting taxes/tithes and seeking Sin. They have ties to the Talonite Sin-Eaters and their Carminian Priory of Excruciation, but they are said to have agents in every Priory. This makes them feared and even hated, but they believe it is a necessary part of Temple society. The Priory of Judication was carved into its current form when they reported an “eldritch outbreak” in the Locutors’ holdings -- while it was the Oracle-Avatar that quelled the threat, they did so with the Priory of Judication’s support.
Confessors are a rare sight outside of Calvarian territory, but their presence can be felt by those who recognize them. They are recognizable by the chains around their person and their arms, symbolizing their unbreakable service to Conclave and Priory. These Calvarians also tend to be more heavily armed and armored than other Tougu, reflecting the danger of their work. Rumors claim that Confessors are not on the lookout for heresy, but for an insidious presence that has infiltrated the Temple. It is for this reason that most Confessors avoid using Xenotech and never anchor themselves to Xenotheurgy.
Leadership: Caliginous Severed Star is the current Invokate of the Judicators. Invokate Severed Star is the latest of a line of humorless, strict Confessors with a greater care for law and paperwork than people. Though he is respected in his Priory, there is no small amount of disdain for him among the other Priories. The Priories of Transfiguration and of Correspondence lampoons his stern figure on occasion, making mock of his predictability.
Strangely, Invokate Severed Star does not go after those that mock him nor is he particularly bothered by the effigies that are made of his visage -- in fact, he is said to have a collection of them, confiscated from Novitiates unlucky enough to chance across him. He draws the line at insulting his people or the Oracle-Avatar, of course -- for such misdeeds, he will prosecute to the full extent of his power.
Priory of Nullification
Nullifiers, Conservators
“The Self is a lie. There is only the Goddess and the Vessels she has made of us”
Basic: A Vertebral Priory focused on philosophy, defenses and the destruction of the eldritch enemy.
Territory: The Nullifiers call Covenant City and its industries home. It is the eastern sentinel into Calvarian territory and a place to train with the other Conclaves. Severely damaged by the heretics of the Infernal Apostasy, it is recovering at a quickened rate.
Symbol: A skull with diamonds in their eyeholes or a skull inside a diamond. This Priory is often seen with light or dark blue accents.
Overview: The Priory of Nullification hails as the oldest of its kind, tracing its legacy all the way to Saint Skull and the other sentinels of the Oracle-Avatar. The Obsidian Spires (aka the Stormbringer Spires) that protect Templar cities from the Magnastorms are credited to them. Moreso than the Priory of Judication, their martial prowess ensures the protection of their wards and the eradication of Eldritch threats within their territory. The Priory of Nullification is the most often seen Priory by the other Conclaves. Their Calvarians train regularly with Talon Templars (and formerly Flame Templars) in battle tactics and combat drills -- Nullifiers usually take roles of support and defense rather than offensive ones.
Outside of the battlefield however, the Nullifiers are known for their philosophy and their stoicism, more akin to ascetic monks than ordained priests. They believe in training the body as well as the mind, so their Novitiates can be seen running laps in the mornings or meditating near rivers in the afternoon. For these individuals, nullification is not only negating the attacks of an enemy but also the destruction of the self and of one’s desires.
Nullifiers are recognizable by their dour demeanor and by the holy mantras they seal or paint on their armor. As part of their training and aesthetic (sanctified pain and its nullification), many sport piercings and tattoos. Many of this Priory, especially those who go far afield, carry bucklers or shields on their person for use in their Infusion spells. When they are not in Covenant City, they are usually assigned to assist other Conclaves. This assistance may be in the form of magical support or simply in religious ceremony. Thus, Nullifiers are usually studied in the different rites of their peers.
Leadership: Atramentous Frozen Quartz is a Farmind Psion and the Invokate of this Priory. He is known to be an unrelenting headmaster to his disciples, pushing them physically and mentally toward their potential. To many in the Priory, he is just as much instructor as he is their superior. His sanctions are often more enlightening and instructionary than they are punishing. Since the attack on Covenant City however, he can be found anywhere in Covenant City -- whether it is running alongside the Novitiates, scrivening with the students, or cooking with the Auxillium, he prides himself in knowledge of many crafts. His presence, once only felt in meetings and in ceremonies, is a constant one among the Nullifiers -- a happenstance that some take for good and others take for ill.
Priory of Transfiguration
Nurturers, Transfigurators
“We are all clay in the hands of the grand sculptor
But even clay can be made to shape clay”
Basic: This Vertebral Priory concerns itself with invention, supply, and engineering. Most notable are their “innovations” that involve the crafting of flesh and stem.
Symbol: A skull in front of five wings. Sometimes, this is replaced by five spider legs or crab claws. This Priory is often seen with light or dark green accents.
Territory: This Priory has its headquarters in Serenity City, ringed by strange and terrifying gardens where they research new medicines and drugs for the Temple.
Overview: To most outsiders, the Templars seem utterly alien with their magics and their xenotech. At the pinnacle of bizarreness are the Priory of Transfiguration. Their gardens and orchards feature flesh, fungus, and crops. These harvests are used for medicine, food, reagents, and experimentation. For several decades, this Priory’s discoveries have outstriped the utility of all the others -- to them is credited the Biomancer Hatchery, the Eidolonic Spore, and the Biomancy Elixir. Some Templars even consider them more arrogant than other Calvarians. Only the Priory of Correspondence is peer to them among the Vertebral Priories.
Individuals from this Priory are recognized by their Xenotech items. They wield these desiccated but still useful husks even when unmaintained. They also tend to have plants or other living things around, similar to their living situations in Serenity City. Death is a banal concept to these individuals, so they treat corpses and cadavers with the minimum amount of respect required as a Calvarian. Exotic flora and fauna (especially their paranatural versions) are enchanting to this Priory, they marvel at the effects of “fleshsculpting” au naturale, compared to their homegrown brutes and beasts.
After the War over Embers, this Priory was keen to get their hands on samples from the Harbinger Hosts -- ideally, even the Harbingers themselves. Like many Calvarians, Transfigurators are rarely found outside of Calvarian territory but some fortunate researchers may find themselves sent to the wilderness of Mid-Atla in the name of scholarly discovery.
Leadership: Writhing Bright Serpent has been the Invokate for a short amount of time, having replaced his predecessor only 3 years ago. Like many in the Priory, he is possessed of an Eidolonic Spore, but it is one of his own making and unique only to himself -- if what he speaks is true.
The circumstances of this Seraph’s ascension are questionable, but the Confessors have found nothing awry and his talent is exceptional. His leadership thus far is a boon to the Transfigurators. He has relaxed some of the restrictions on their research and has delivered new innovations to the Conclave, such as improved forms of livestock.