Of Matters Maleficent and Sublime
11th of July 2006 A.D.
"Where does the Church... er stand on magic?" you ask after a moment and a sip of tea. Obviously not 'suffer not a witch to live', but it would be nice to know how far you can count on the support of the Church and maybe Father Forthil himself. That feels a little mercenary even inside your own head but if an Angel saw fit to ask you not to look at what you aught not look at than you figure God Himself at least does not object to you looking in other places and doing other things and whatever else may be said, you did do
good last Sunday and no ecclesiastic proclamation can take that from you.
"Ah well there is a hard question and no mistake." The old priest looks out the window for a moment, though you do not think he is seeing the evening sky. "I know for some in the Church who call magic all that is supernatural without God and miracles with God, so all magic is evil, or at the very least perilous to the soul by definition. Can you see the trouble that presents?"
After a moment's thought you hazard. "It presupposes that you always know what the judgement of God would be."
"Right," Father Forthil smiles, but he manages to do it without seeming patronizing, like he is genuinely glad you figured it out. "If let's say we were to ask a priest or prelate to marched with the armies of the Holy Roman Emperor in the Thirty Years War if the Protestant is able to know the love of God and he shielded by it, he would say 'no for that man is a heretic'. What then is the Protestant who raises a cross before a fiend or vampire performing unsanctioned magic? Or was he performing it then and his fellows are not now because canon no longer holds that they are doomed to hell who deny the Transubstantiation of the Flesh? It seems to me more reasonable that the eyes of men were blind than that God has changed His mind."
He delivers the whole speech in a even, but not monotonous voice, making what could have been a meandering walk though the woods of history and theology an engaging. Thus you find yourself leaning in to listen raptly.
"Now if we admit that the eyes of man can be blind in finding God's hand it follows that it would be wiser to err on the side of too much mercy over too much rigor. Innocent until proven guilty as the lawyer in me is inclined to put it."
Ah... lawyer that checks out, he isn't really preaching to you, it feels more give and take, like he is expecting you to measure his argument, the way a judge or a jury might do it. There has to be quite a bit of crossover though, you think impressed.
"That is I am happy so say where much of the Church is on matters of magic and the supernatural, even the Ordo Malleus whose fate is much tangled in the long and unhappy history of the Holy Office."
"The Inquisition," you catch on at once. "That's still out there? I mean sure the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is still in the Vatican, but that sounds like the are still opposing vampires, winter fey and the like."
The good Father seems a little taken aback by your interjection, but then his smile grows is anything warmer. "There aren't many your age who can drop the names of departments of the Roman Curia on a dime like that. You are right I don't mean the CDF, while its duties are of a grave and important nature such a public institution is ill suited in dealing with the occult and the supernatural. The Ordo Malleus as it splintered off the main stem of the Holly Office in the latter half of the last century is a far more informal affair, it recruits mostly in those areas that are in the most danger of the depredations of darkness, be they vampires, fey or false god. Its wandering agents are few and it is recommended that they not serve actively for a period of more than five consecutive years. It is all too easy to lose hope, and lose perspective if all you see is devastation before moving on. Leadership is for the most part collegial by necessity, too much control from above would open us to subversion from the many beings that can twist and warp the mind. We do answer to... certain figures within the Curia and through them to the Holy father, but that is a line left most often silent against utmost need."
"We," you catch on at once. "You are part of this Ordo Father?"
"I am, though I never found the will and the faith to serve as an itinerant member," he answers, eyes slipping wistfully to the window again.
"Father, you stayed at our
house when the Denarians were in town three years ago, I think that is more courage and more faith than you would find wondering the four corners of the earth for fifty years not five."
"How did you know I was there?" he asks startled.
"I eavesdropped on mom and dad," you reply instantly and unashamed.
"And did you confess to doing so?"he probes watching you intently.
"It is bad form to confess to something you plan to keep doing." You pause in thought. "Though I guess now dad will just tell me stuff so I can stop listening at doors and that means I
can confess."
"That is a very... interesting argument," he says. The tea does not quite go down smooth.
"I'm glad you think so father," you reply serenely.
It was for a good cause.
After letting the silence linger a little while longer you set down your cup with a click you continue: "So those Denarians, I know a bit, but I have a feeling I'm going to have to know a lot more soon."
"A feeling?" Father Forthil sounds alarmed.
"Rational deduction not supernatural insight," you explain hurriedly. "If I am out there helping dad that changes things, tips the scales, they are going to want to tip it back." That sounds really arrogant you realize as soon as the words are out of your mouth, it also sounds as objectively true as 'the sun rises in the east' so you can't take it back either.
Fortunately the only thing you can read in his gaze is the gravity of the subject, not any doubt of your words. "The Order of the Blackened Denarius is seen by many as more of a plague or calamity to be endured than a foe to be defeated. By the Grace of God those who bear the Swords of the Cross may face them with some hope, if not to vanquish them than at least to stymie them. Forgive me for saying this but the thought of anyone as young as you being marked for their particular attention is... deeply troubling to me."
He says it with such deep sincerity you cannot bring yourself to resent it. "Can I show you something?" you ask.
At his cautious nod you get off the chair and take a step back to the center of the room, draw your sword from nowhere and set it alight with dreadful fire, letting it pour out of you until all is alight with the gaze of a thousand thousand baleful eyes. "I might not win, but I'll give them a fight they'll
remember even if they live another two thousand years." The words are as finely balanced as the sword in your hand
Lost 2 Essence
You dismiss the sword as you sit back down, though you wave a little sheepishly at the many glittering eyes. "I can't turn that off, they'll go away after a while. On the plus side while they are out like that nothing can sneak up on me even if it's invisible intangible whatever."
"That sounds useful," his tone is dry, but you can read it in his tone that your point had been well made. As fiery eyes follow his every moment and hang on his every word he recounts what he knows of those Denarians which the Ordo Maellus knows of: First and most dangerous Nicodemus Archleone, ever wrapped in the blood-socked shadow of his own making, destroying records about himself as well as the witnesses to his deeds when he can, then Polonius Lartessa his wife, the last time the lovebirds had cooperated in earnest they had apparently produced the
Black Death. They even had a kid in the family 'business', though for some reason Father Forthil is uncomfortable talking about her. You don;t push him, plenty of other monsters around. You learn who likes to recruit from the downtrodden and let desperation do most of the wok of corruption and who likes to set up elaborate schemes that take years to pay off placing a member of the Order in a trusted position. Apparently the Holy Order had lost
twelve coins stripped from the Denarians in 1790 as Nicodemus took advantage of the chaos and bloodshed of the French Revolution to twist an old and well respected Jesuit to his side.
By far the oddest thing you learn is that there seems to be some kind of cycle to the coins when their last bearer has bee defeated. Even when a Denarian is killed but their coin is not recovered it takes at least another full year for the Fallen to publicly show themselves in the flesh of another host. Whether that be for their own arcane reasons, the will of their Dark Master or something deeper church scholars can only speculate.
But through the list of Angelic an mortal names, some only guessed at one thing jumps to your attention, the Church still does not know the name of Namshiel's host, the one you had
Seen looking through Gorfel. Should you reveal it? It might well help and unlike dropping the whole conspiracy in the arms of the White Council this would not reveal the full power of your Crown... on the other hand anyone who traces the name to Father Forthil is not that far from you.
What do you do?
[] Reveal the name of Namshiel's bearer
[] Do not reveal the name of Namshiel's bearer
OOC: Asking about ghosts so you can hopefully protect Rosie better will be in the next update
