Occult Organizations

Few people in Toronto even know of the existence of the Lodge. Considerably more secretive and remote than the Freemasons or the Shriners, the Lodge is an esoteric occult organization. Its members tended to wealthy, well-educated, and, in a vanishing trend, all male. The distribution of extreme wealth being what it is in North America, the Lodge members are almost exclusively white, although recently a few wealthy members from Hong Kong have joined the ranks.

Like the Freemasons, the Lodge is a hierarchical society. Members strive to move up through a series of thirteen degrees of knowledge. At each level, people are given access to more arcane knowledge and lore. Each degree of knowledge requires training, mystical ceremonies and oaths of secrecy.

The Lodge has about 250 members in Toronto, and hundreds more worldwide. In Toronto, only three of those members have reached the thirteenth degree of knowledge.

The Lodge has devoted considerable time and effort to trying to understand the UnSeen Enemy and the coming crisis. What they know and don't know is carefully hidden.

Personalities

St. John Forsythe: Forsythe is the current leader of the Lodge. He is an accomplished sorcerer and one of the thirteenth degree members of the Lodge. He has considerable influence outside of the Lodge, as he donates regularly to election campaigns, police fundraisers and high-visibility charities. He is over 100 years old, but appears in his early forties thanks to magic that he has worked on himself. He's a traditionalist -- his magical training started in the days when the Golden Dawn set the standard for magic, and as a result, he's heavily into incense, ceremony, and magical circles.

Arthur Crighton: He's an eleventh degree member of the Lodge and the Lodge's specialist in conjuring. What his fellow Lodgemembers don't know, however, is that Crighton has foolishly gotten himself into a deal with a powerful evil spirit. The terms of this deal are coming to a conclusion, soon, and he's decided he needs to find a loophole. And fast.

Elliot Grissom: Elliot is a dot com millionaire, and a recent member of the Lodge. He's already made it to the third degree, but his interest in technomancy is confusing many of the Lodge members whose ideas of magic are far more traditional. Elliot believes that the 'Net and Virtual Reality can be used as a way of entering the Yetzirahtic Spirit World.

Shane Frobisher: Frobisher is a specialist in hermetic sorcery. Frobisher is convinced that the UnSeen Enemy is somehow related to a rival organization called the Temple of Ma'at.

The Oroboros Coven is one of the most powerful witches' covens in Toronto, but are also extremely secretive. Following the old ways, the group never has more than thirteen members. The current membership is fairly mature (ranging in ages from 40 to 67 years old), and they come from all walks of life: professionals, labourers, politicians, military and scholars. All of its members have spent time learning in other covens before being considered as members of the Oroboros Coven.

The Oroboros Coven keeps to itself, mostly, and does everything it can to not reveal its existence. They meet several times a year (every full moon, and every Sabbat) at Ms. Harkness' manor house in Forest Hill.

Personalities

Eleanor Harkness: Ms. Harkness is the High Priestess of the Oroboros Coven. At 67 years old, she is the most experienced witch of the group, and runs the coven wisely. When meeting new people, she will often give the impression of being reserved, quiet, and impeccably polite, but if you cross her, she will reveal just how quick-tongued and headstrong she can be.

William Krueger: Krueger is a City Councillor and close personal friend of most people involved in municipal politics. He's also the High Priest of the Oroboros Coven. At 46 years old, he's considerably younger than Ms. Harkness, having replaced the previous High Priest who passed on recently. Obviously, Krueger feels that he has some big shoes to fill, but he's also a very dedicated witch and intends to learn how to face the task.

Warren Bishop: The newest and youngest member of the coven, Bishop was initiated into the coven shortly after the former High Priest passed away. Bishop is the most ambivalent about the coven's lack of proactiveness with respect to the UnSeen Enemy.

The Apollonians are a very publically visible group of witches. Their interest is in providing a place where people can make contact with witches, and explore whether or not the old religion is right for them. They are also interested in being contacts for good public relations. Newspapers often phone them for comments on stories with a "new age" angle.

AWE operates a fairly public spiritual drop-in centre and magical supply shop, and they hold public rituals in the parks during the warmer months.

Of course, everyone in the Wiccan community thinks that the AWE organizers are a group of wannabes. Sometimes people from other covens have attended the public rituals to get a sense of the magical energy and every one has come away convinced that no real energy has been raised.

And this is just what AWE's organizers want people to believe.

Copyright © 2002 by B.C. Holmes. Last updated December 15th, 2002.

Back to the characters page.