Venatori Umbrorum

[Arcteryx]

I Have a Permit For That covers a bunch of stuff. The Smyths as a whole have a lot of survival training. The family has an unofficial tradition of military service (particularly in special forces) and their own private security/military company, Smyth Solutions which can be an aspect, but not necessarily "Be prepared" is not accurate enough. Family sayings include, "Never walk into a play you don't know how to walk out of 3 ways" "Always know where your holy ground is" "Never go anywhere unless you have a right to be there" and "Always have handy a Knife, A priest and Explosives"
Which is why the Smyths are also Ordained Ministers (they think of themselves as "Baptist Lite")

I just wanted to chime in to say how awesome this is. Mining many ideas right out of this...!

[Jaroslav]

You know you can't actually turn down a membership offer right? They tend to cut peoples heads off for trying to decline.

No you can decline. You just have to prove you aren't a danger to anyone.

[Esoteric]

No you can decline. You just have to prove you aren't a danger to anyone.

Agreed - it certainly doesn't make you any friends, but if you haven't broken any of the laws they wouldn't be out to kill you, though I'd imagine the White Council would have a tab on you at all times

[Todjaeger]

With regards to declining membership in the White Council, all one need do is to "throw" some of the tests.  As a certain Wizard did some time prior to White Night.

As for the Venatori Umbrorum and the Special Acquisitions Division of the Library of Congress...  Whose to say that the SAD (or even the entire LoC) isn't part of the Venatori Umbrorum?  Particularly if one wants to take the idea of "Masons with Flamethrowers" idea even further, alongside the some of the various stories regarding the founding of the US and/or the Founding Fathers.

[Arcteryx]

I mined some of the ideas in this thread to give the VU's a special acquisitions group... its a GREAT reason to have a bunch of tomb raiders and contractors who recover overdue books and misappropriated library resources from patrons who've neglected to return them to the library. Fun stuff!

[black omega]

Although I agree with that statement, I like the VU. It's obviously designed for PCs in mind.

THe SAD of the LoC would be need, but there would have to be paper masters......

I'm an anime fan and I endorse this message.  Papermancy can even mostly be simulated by the DFRPG system.  I see the VU as officially separate from the government and working back channels, so would see SAG as a separate group but there's probably be contact between them.