Lesser factions.

[razorsmile]

Is anyone using The Order of St. Giles, Venatori Umbrorum, Venators, Prosthanos Society or the Stygian Sisterhood (latter two both from Backup) in their games? Invented any new ones? Borrowed/reskinned any from other settings? I for one fully intend to throw in the Order of Teraka from Buffy at some point: an ultra-egalitarian assassin cult full of everything from changelings and scions to warlocks and badass normal vanilla types would fit into the Dresdenverse perfectly.

[bobjob]

I've created a Red Court mafia called Los Aesisnos de Dios, a demon lawfirm based on Wolfram and Hart called Boccanegra and Deguello, a new vampire court, The Amber Court, and a religious organization called The Order of St. Uriel. I'm planning on adding some more, but that's just what I've done in three case files.

I love factions, they create so many different flavors to a story. What all do you have in mind?

[The_Tuninator]

Something like the Order of Taraka would be a great fit within the Dresdenverse, especially with the colorful variety of baddies Harry's world sports.

An organization akin to the Watcher's Council would fulfill a useful niche as well, I imagine. There's no real global structure of Clued In mortal hunters in the Dresdenverse that resembles what the Buffyverse possesses in the Watcher's Council. Seeing the number of Clued-In mortals we've bumped into from Harry's perspective alone, there seems to be a definite call for somebody to rally the Clued In pure mortals of the Dresdenverse and point them at the bad guys.

[Todjaeger]

Actually yes.  The Deutschritterorden (Teutonic/German Order of Knights) in my campaign fled Germany and established a chapter house in New Haven when the Nazis took power in Germany.  The Order continues to exist and fight members of the Thule cult, as well as dark supernatural powers native to the Germanic, Nordic and Eastern European countries.  The chapter house in New Haven itself will be a base of operations to prevent (or reduce) the spread of such things from Europe into the US.

-Cheers

[UmbraLux]

Is anyone using The Order of St. Giles, Venatori Umbrorum, Venators, Prosthanos Society or the Stygian Sisterhood (latter two both from Backup) in their games? Invented any new ones? Borrowed/reskinned any from other settings?

Yes, yes, and yes. 

It's why I was seeking input on how to stat organizations a while ago.

[ARedthorn]

I have a venatori umbrorum hunter in my game who later got recruited into the venator when our wizard was on the verge of discovering something up their alley. He's had to keep secrets from the rest of the group, and double-deal a bit... but for their benefit. It's created some interesting gameplay.

[razorsmile]

The Amber Court,

  what does that look like?

[Veet]

I've been using Paranet as a minor faction, also set up a local group of changelings calling themselves The Troll Union (based out of Portland which has lots of bridges and lots of trolls).

[bobjob]

what does that look like?

It's a custom court I came up with. Here's the write up I have for them.

Amber Court – A minor vampire court whose power base originated in Ethiopia, the Amber Court only consists of roughly one hundred total members due to their unique biology. Thousands of years ago, the Archangel Raphael destroyed the physical form of a powerful spirit of Hunger. Sensing his demise, the spirit sent a huge portion of his power into an amber formation located in a cave. After several hundred years, the power of the spirit began to coalesce in the dreams of the spiritually attuned nascent magic users of the region, showing them how to replace a mortal heart with a piece of the amber to make them immortal and provide them with power. The first Amber Court vampire was created from a tribal king who wanted to control the power of the entity, thus creating the King of the Amber Court. The King was killed and his heart removed and replaced with a specially crafted chunk of amber stone in an elaborate ritual. Upon reawakening, he consumed his original heart which activated his powers for the first time. Amber Court vampires are reanimated dead who not only must eat hearts in order to survive, but gain their enemies special abilities.

Current operations of the Amber Court - As the smallest vampire court numbers wise, the Ambers have always been extremely careful before investing themselves in causes. Preferring to lord over his power base in the almost perpetually war torn Africa, the Amber King sees an opportunity in the Vampire War to expand his operations through the trading ports in Egypt to Europe and the Middle East. His seeming meekness in not branching out of Africa is what has kept the White Council of Wizards from engaging him directly thus far. The King has begun sending representatives to both the Red and White Courts offering assistance, and has entreated the Jade Court as to their position on the War. With both the Reds and the White Council under a ceasefire at the moment, it's only a matter of time before the Amber King truly decides which direction to lead his band in.

High Concept: Amber Court Vampire
Skill: Vary by individual
Powers:
Living Dead (-1), Pack Instincts (-1; common connection through their Amber Hearts), Spider Walk (-1), Feeding Dependency (+1; affecting the following powers): Mimic Abilities (-4; can be bought up to higher levels), Inhuman Strength (-2), Inhuman Speed (-2), Inhuman Toughness (-2), The Catch (+1; wounds from holy objects.)
Stress: Physical +2 (for Inhuman Toughness)
Total Refresh: -11

[bobjob]

It's a custom court I came up with. Here's the write up I have for them.

Amber Court – A minor vampire court whose power base originated in Ethiopia, the Amber Court only consists of roughly one hundred total members due to their unique biology. Thousands of years ago, the Archangel Raphael destroyed the physical form of a powerful spirit of Hunger. Sensing his demise, the spirit sent a huge portion of his power into an amber formation located in a cave. After several hundred years, the power of the spirit began to coalesce in the dreams of the spiritually attuned nascent magic users of the region, showing them how to replace a mortal heart with a piece of the amber to make them immortal and provide them with power. The first Amber Court vampire was created from a tribal king who wanted to control the power of the entity, thus creating the King of the Amber Court. The King was killed and his heart removed and replaced with a specially crafted chunk of amber stone in an elaborate ritual. Upon reawakening, he consumed his original heart which activated his powers for the first time. Amber Court vampires are reanimated dead who not only must eat hearts in order to survive, but gain their enemies special abilities.

Current operations of the Amber Court - As the smallest vampire court numbers wise, the Ambers have always been extremely careful before investing themselves in causes. Preferring to lord over his power base in the almost perpetually war torn Africa, the Amber King sees an opportunity in the Vampire War to expand his operations through the trading ports in Egypt to Europe and the Middle East. His seeming meekness in not branching out of Africa is what has kept the White Council of Wizards from engaging him directly thus far. The King has begun sending representatives to both the Red and White Courts offering assistance, and has entreated the Jade Court as to their position on the War. With both the Reds and the White Council under a ceasefire at the moment, it's only a matter of time before the Amber King truly decides which direction to lead his band in.

High Concept: Amber Court Vampire
Skill: Vary by individual
Powers:
Claws (-1), Living Dead (-1), Pack Instincts (-1; common connection through their Amber Hearts), Spider Walk (-1), Feeding Dependency (+1; affecting the following powers): Mimic Abilities (-4; can be bought up to higher levels), Inhuman Strength (-2), Inhuman Speed (-2), Inhuman Toughness (-2), The Catch (+1; wounds from holy objects.)
Stress: Physical +2 (for Inhuman Toughness)
Total Refresh: -12

[bobjob]

Sorry, I was trying to fix a problem I just noticed with the stats and ended up quoting it back to the group. Just look at the quote, that's the fixed stats.