THE CONGREGATION: Important Characters

Catholicism's been on my mind lately. Decided to make some NPCs for Adam Scott Glancy's "Congregation". Its leader, Vladimir Skeweres, an investigator, Gann DeBattista, its exorcist, Hippolyte Musima, its confessor, Robert Darcy, its archivist, Jessamine Tumulak, and a Sicarii, Alec Baur. Most of this is meant for the 90s, but it's largely agnostic to specific time period beyond backstory (for example, Sister Tumulak's backstory hinges on an event that only occurs in 2017, but like, who fucking cares). Use them however you want. 

Cardinal Vladimir Skeweres 

Vladimir Skeweres, the youngest son of an impoverished family in Prague. Skeweres became a member of the clergy and served as a Catholic priest in Prague during the Second World War. The war was Skeweres' first exposure to three things: The horrors of war, the horrors of the unnatural, and those who would fight the unnatural. 

The SS sacked Prague in search of a list of artifacts and tomes to be "procured" on the orders of the Ahnerbe. It wasn't before long that Vladimir was sent a missive from the Holy See ordering him to do something very similar. He was given a list of locations and books and instructed that each item on the list much be destroyed with fire. For months Vladimir skulked about the city with little more than an oil lantern and a matchbox denying books to the Karotechia. It didn't take them long to catch on. 

Skeweres was tortured by the Karotechia for information, they wanted to know who he worked for, the best answers he could give was "The church" and "I don't know". Unsatisfied, they brought members of his clergy before them and demonstrated some of the power the Karotechia had amassed, using them as unfortunate test subjects. 

His saviours came in the form of Delta Green operatives that had infiltrated the keep where the Karotechia had held him. The operatives questioned Father Vladimir, much more gently than the Germans had, and treated him for his wounds. When Vladimir returned to Prague after the war, a letter waited for him from the Holy See. 

It began as an apology, word had made it to Rome of Father Vladimir's treatment, then came an affirmation that, as Father Vladimir certainly saw, it was necessary. The letter ended in an invitation to come to the Holy See and discuss the matter further with "Cardinal Anton Spada". Vladimir took up the invitation, and in Rome was personally greeted and dined by Cardinal Spada, the then-leader of the Congregation. 

Vladimir, who know sits in the Cardinalate, only rose to the position as Prefect of the "Congregation" in the 1980s, appointed by John Paul II on recommendation from the ailing Spada. He inherited a ledger left by Spada containing a list of threats Spada suspected. The one that troubled Vladimir the greatest was rumours of a corrupt actor in the Holy See who has been selling documents from the Vatican's restricted collections on the black market, what troubled Vladimir even more was that it appeared to be someone continuing the mission of the Karotechia. 

As the Prefect of the Congregation, Skeweres is compassionate but hard on his underlings. He demands absolute accountability, and is wary of double-agents among the Congregation's ranks that it borders on paranoia. 

In 1995, Cardinal Skeweres is 82 years old. His hair is white and short and his face has a drawn intensity to it - a look he's had ever since surviving Karotechia torture. He is in a modest shape for a man of his age, which he attributes to a daily regimen of walking ~6-8 km daily after breakfast. He debriefs his lieutenants on these walks, and pushes himself to address all matters raised to him there before noon. He performs all of the normal duties of a Catholic Cardinal, though he notably does not enter a booth to give or receive confession, he also avoids elevators and getting into crowded vehicles. 

Skeweres does his best to lead a christly life and to be compassionate where he can, but if there's one thing he's learned from following his predecessor, Anton Spada, it's that running the Congregation demands ruthlessness. He has ordered killings and cover-ups and even for the innocent to be intimidated into silence. He has even given orders for Congregation officials to eschew the seal of confession, and to use secrets exposed in confession as blackmail material to gain intelligence assets to better identify and root out evil. 

CARDINAL VLADIMIR SKEWERES

Prefect of the Congregation. 

STR 9 CON 5 DEX 9 INT 13 POW 11 CHA 15

HP 7 WP 10 SAN 44 BREAKING POINT 33

BONDS: The Congregation (10), The Cardinalate (8)

MOTIVATIONS: Safeguard the clergy against corruption

Assure the Congregation's stability for when he is gone. 

Christ protects. 

Claustrophobia

Adapted to Helplessness

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: Czech (native), German 45%, Italian 60%, English 25%

SKILLS Accounting 30%, Alertness 40%, Archeology 40%, Bureaucracy 60%, Criminology 50%, Firearms 25%, History 70%, HUMINT 70%, Law 50%, Occult 80%, Persuade 45%, Psychotherapy 45%, Stealth 45%

ATTACKS: Smith and Wesson Model 19 25% Damage 1D10

Father Gann Debattista

Gann DeBattista was a member of Military Corps of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta before joining the clergy in his late 20s. In 1985, he was sent to Tijuana, Mexico, to lead a church there. 

In 1989, DeBattista sent a letter to Rome. He explained that in the last few years, something was ravaging the community, and he was no longer sure what to do. Children as young as 2 years old were taken off the streets. Those that were discovered were discovered in states almost too horrific for DeBattista to describe. Occult tortures that involved the etching of characters into the skin and the removal of the eyes. He intended it as a confession of his despair. The answer he received puzzled him. The Vatican was sending men to "make an inquiry", instructing DeBattista to "receive them and lodge them" and to "cooperate and answer their questions". 

What he received was a priest flanked by two men in black suits who questioned him at length about the deaths. DeBattista asked the men in black if they were INTERPOL, to which the priest, answering for them, explained they were "Sicarii", and former members of the Swiss Papal Guard. The notion of the Vatican involving themselves so directly (and violently, judging by the weapons the Sicarii brought with them) shocked DeBattista, though once the shock passed, the priest bluntly asked to help them, citing his prior experience in the military. 

So began Father Gann DeBattista's first mission. Over the course of three weeks the trio tracked down the murderers to a compound near the American border. They were revealed to be a hideous cult of demon worshippers. They attacked the cult, disrupting a ceremony that would involve the ritual torture of a newly kidnapped youth. The raid was a nightmare of gunfire, screams, fire, and other...things. The high priests summoned something invisible that caused the room, and many of those inside it, to burst into flames. DeBattista and one of the papal guards were the only ones who survived, though DeBattista's had been severely burned, and was in a fugue that lasted until a man from Rome came to debrief him. 

It was there that the man offered DeBattista a position in the Congregation. That was what made Father Gann snap out of his fugue. Almost automatically, he gave his answer: "Yes." The Congregation inducted him as a member and paid privately for former Italian federal police to train DeBattista in criminal investigations. 

Father Gann DeBattista has served as one of the Congregation's primary investigators. He spends most of his time in Tijuana still, but has allowed the daily functions of his church to be overseen by another member as he is frequently travelling for "conferences". DeBattista's colleagues are under the understanding that he is afiiliated in some capacity with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith investigating corruption, a rumour he himself as humored as a close-but-false alternative to the truth. 

In 1995, DeBattista is 44. He works out regularly, running and boxing, though he does not train with firearms except for when he is away from his Congregation - he suspects it will go a step too far for his flock to see him brandishing a handgun. He is fit, with short black hair and a moustache. He is shortsighted and wears thick spectacles to correct this. He is missing a tooth which he earned fighting Turkish sailors in a bar in Malta as a teenager, this, and his regular presence at his local boxing gym, has earned him a litany of nicknames from the young men in his area. When on assignment by the Congregation, DeBattista relies on his powers of persuasion, natural charisma, and community connections made by the local Catholic church. He almost never makes his presence known to the authorities and prefers to have matters resolved quickly and silently. 

FATHER GANN DEBATTISTA

Military Corps of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Ret.), Investigator for the Congregation. 

STR 12 CON 12 DEX 13 INT 11 POW 12 CHA 13

HP 12 WP 12 SAN 48 BREAKING POINT 36

BONDS His Flock (13)

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS: The Heart Does Not Grieve What the Eye Does Not See

Restore and Protect Trust in the Church

Remain a Pillar of the Community

Rooting out and silencing servants of the Devil

PTSD

Adapted to Violence

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: Maltese (Native), English 30%, Italian 45%, Spanish 45%, French 25%

SKILLS: Alertness 50% Athletics 60%, Bureaucracy 35%, Criminology 45%, Dodge 55%, Driving 55%, Firearms 55%, First Aid 55%, Forensics 30%, HUMINT 60%, Persuade 55%, Stealth 45%, Search 50%, Unarmed 80%

ARMOR: Kevlar Vest (4), when he's expecting a fight.

ATTACKS: Unnarmed 80% Damage 1D4

Sig Sauer 9220 Damage 1D10

Father Hippolyte Musima

Hippolyte Musima's father was a cruel man. A colonel in the Cameroonian military who had little time for his children. Hippolyte found kinship, kindness, and respite in the church, and gravitated to it young. As he grew older, Hippolyte became a priest, and worked diligently to spread the love of the Lord to the impoverished of Cameroon. He accompanied a fellow priest, Father Dalaylou from Yaounde, in an exorcism, and eventually trained to become an exorcist himself. 

Musima's work as an exorcist put him in the path of the Congregation. He had been called to rural villages in Cameroon to heal sick men and women, beset by "demons" in the night. What he uncovered was evidence that the villagers were being attacked by some kind of humanoid serpent that would eat their bodies, and would impersonate those it devoured. His attempt to "banish" the demon nearly got him killed had it not been for a team of Sicarii who opened fire on the creature from the cover of the treeline. Musima was approached by a fellow man of the cloth and debriefed, then told to remain quiet on what he saw. 

A year later Musima was approached by the priest who spoke to him before and told of the Congregation. He was offered to continue his work as an exoricst on orders of the Congregation, to which he agreed. Since then, he has been travelling the world, banishing demons (or attempting to) alongside his brethren. 

Three years ago Musima and his cohort assassinate a sorcerer in Rwanda. A man had became a debased and cruel worshipper of a demon called "Tsadogwa", and had done experiments in necromancy, sourcing dark rituals and prayers from a book in his possession, "Le Livre d'Ivon". Hippolyte had every intention to cast the book into the first fire he could find, but something stopped him. The sorcerer, though a wicked and cruel man, had bought the complacency of villagers with acts which bordered on the miraculous, and they had seen the mastery the man had over demons. He had begun to doubt the power of his own prayers and rituals, as they only really worked to anger the few demons he had encountered. Musima began to translate the book out of its antique Occitan French and learn its secrets. He was appalled by much that he has learned, though has committed to memory a few rituals that he believes he can use for good. 

He privately fears, however, that he has already been tempted. He fears that even if he were to burn the book now, it would be too late. Deny it as me might, he has read the ritual "Scour Essence" enough times that he knows how to cast it, and he knows that it works (he witnessed the Rwandan reduce a servant that had failed him to smouldering dust with it). He worries that it will only be a matter of time before he uses it on something - or someone. 

note: The ritual "exorcism" is not an actual Catholic rite of exorcism, but a ritual lifted from the Livre d'Ivon. 

FATHER HIPPOLYTE MUSIMA

Cameroonian Priest. The Congregation's "Exorcist". 

STR 10 CON 12 DEX 10 INT 13 POW 13 CHA 14

HP 10 WP 13 SAN 50 BREAKING POINT 42

BONDS Julienne Musima (Sister) 10, Yvette Musima (Mother) 10, Cardinal Vladimir Skeweres (5)

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS: Depression (Catholic Guilt)

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: French (Native), English 60%

SKILLS Accounting 30%, Alertness 45%, Archeology 45%, Bureaucracy 60%, Criminology 50%, Firearms 20%, History 45%, HUMINT 50%, Occult 70%, Persuade 50%, Psychotherapy 45%, Stealth 45%, Unarmed 40%, Unnatural 10%

ATTACKS None.

RITUALS The Closing of the Breach (Nyogtha, Tsathoggua), Exorcism, Withering

TOMES: Livre d'Ivon ( See Handler's Guide Page 161)

Father Robert Darcy

Father Robert Darcy was tapped by the Congregation to help in an investigation into Father Ewan Frakes, a fellow Catholic priest serving in Halifax, Canada. The Congregation (unbeknownst to Darcy) believed was responsible for a number of obscene, occult murders while on missions in foreign countries. Darcy was told that it was a discrete internal inquiry into potentially heretical behaviour by Frakes, and that his assignment was being passed down by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (a body of the Church assigned to root out and eliminate heretical and exploitive behaviour i.e sexual abuse, corruption, etc.). Darcy ingratiated himself to Frakes and take his confession, which, although unhinged, showed little evidence of any wrongdoing - this changed once Frakes invited him to his rectory and drunkenly admitted to having killed people across the world, and having used sorcery to disguise their remains as food that was given to the poor. Darcy didn't even believe it until Frakes spoke in tongues and the cluster of grapes he had in a bowl on the table was revealed to be the remains of a human hand. Darcy ran home, stopping only occasionally to vomit, and booked the soonest flight he could find - Turks & Caicos. 

It was there, alone on a beach in the bahamas, Darcy received a phone call, thanking him for his service, and informing him that Father Ewan Frakes had been killed in a break-in the night that Darcy flew out. 

It was only later the truth of the investigation was revealed to Darcy. It hasn't been revealed to him yet that Father Frakes was himself a former operatives of the Congregation. They don't see a reason for him to ever learn that. 

Darcy has since been relocated to the Holy City and works closely with the administrators of the Congregation as their spymaster. Although he lacked any practical tradecraft or even military training, he was taught by the man he'd one day replace, an aging Polish bishop named Kazimierz, who had fought the nazis as a guerilla. Darcy works closely to Cardinal Vladimir to operate spy rings around the globe to keep the Congregation informed, though even he acknowledges that without spy satellites, multi-billion dollar signals intelligence collection and processing facilities, and a reliance on illegally gathered human intelligence, the Congregation is all but stumbling blind. 

Darcy also doubles as the Congregation's confessor, taking debriefings from their investigators and their confessions. Darcy's faith remains strong, though the accounts that some of the investigators come back with have left him shaken. There are days where he doesn't really feel like himself at all, where "Father Robert Darcy" simply goes about his routine. He wonders if he does his job better this way. He has noticed that embracing a certain callousness, a coldness, has allowed him to make crucial and wise choices in the moments when it mattered. 

Father Darcy is an Irish-Canadian man in his late 40s. He wears reading glasses and his black hair has begun to grow gray at the temples. He is notably tall and of average build. 

FATHER ROBERT DARCY

The Congregation's Confessor and Spymaster

STR 12 CON 12 DEX 12 INT 12 POW 11 CHA 11

HP 12 WP 11 SAN 40 BREAKING POINT 33

BONDS  None.

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS: The Congregation has a holy mission

Understanding the scope of the machinations of Satan. 

Derealization Disorder

Adapted to Violence and Helplessness

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: English (Native), French 20%, Italian 40%

SKILLS Accounting 30%, Alertness 45%, Bureaucracy 75%, Criminology 60%, Computer Science 25%, Firearms 25%, History 55%, HUMINT 65%, Occult 40%, Persuade 60%, Psychotherapy 55%, SIGINT 35%, Stealth 30%, Unarmed 40%, Unnatural 5%

ATTACKS None.

THE BLACK AND RED LEDGERS: Darcy keeps two large ledgers, if not on his person, then in a vault under the carpet in his office. The black ledger contains notes on ongoing intelligence gathering operations, and Darcy's own notes mapping out what he imagines to be satanist conspiracies around the globe. The red ledger contains transcripts of confessions gathered by Darcy and other Catholic priests. Reading the Black Ledger offers +5% to Criminology and Occult, while reading the Red Ledger offices +5% to Occult and Unnatural. Both cost 0/1D3 SAN to read. 

Sister Jessamine Exaltacion Tumulak

Sister Jessamine's family were devout catholics, and were pleased to learn their daughter would become a nun. At first, Jessamine found great solace in the lifestyle of a nun, though this solace was short lived. Jessamine lived in the city of Marawi in the province of Lanao del Sur in the Philippines, and was present when the Islamic state seized control of the city and the ensuing five-month-long siege. 

Jessamine's exposure to the unnatural came during the siege, when shelling by Government forces opened a hole into an underground chamber beneath a building in Marawi containing pots. Some of clay, others of bronze, all inscribed in a language she did not recognize. Some of the pots were shattered, and misshapen human footprints seemed to come from them and lead off through the rubble into the chaos of Marawi. It was before long that Tumulak witnessed ISIS militants extracting the urns from the pits, and reports of the militants attempting to summon Djinnis and demons with them began to circulate. 

Whatever favour they promised, it wasn't enough, and after months of fighting, the city was retaken. In the aftermath, a priest from Rome visited, and while offering help to the poor and wounded, approached Jessamine with photos of the urns, inquiring about them. Jessamine aided in the locating of the urns and the collection of their contents, a strange, glimmering ash. It was during this time she caught a glimpse of the real power they held. When the Congregation came to her a second time, they hardly had to ask if she wanted to join. 

Jessamine Tumulak works under Father Darcy, managing the Congregation's ever-expanding archives. She works in an enourmous library of after-action reports, forbidden literature, and confiscated artifacts. Among the collections are a few of the jars recovered from Marawi after the fighting, each labelled with names. 

Sister Jessamine Tumulak is a Filipino woman standing at around 4'11". She wears nun's robes while conducting her business. She has long black hair that she keeps tied under her habit.

JESSAMINE EXALTACION TUMULAK

Filipino nun. Archivist and researcher for the Congregation. 

STR 10 CON 12 DEX 13 INT 13 POW 12 CHA 12

HP 11 WP 12 SAN 60 BREAKING POINT 48

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS Knowledge is power. 

Assure the Congregation is well-equipped for any threat. 

Discern the purpose of the iridescent ash in the urns. 

SKILLS Accounting 60%, Alertness 45%, Anthropology 30%, Archaeology 30% Bureaucracy 70%, Computer Science 75%, History 70%, HUMINT 25%, Occult 40%, Persuade 30%, Psychotherapy 30%, SIGINT 35%, Stealth 30%, Unarmed 30%, Unnatural 7%

ARMOR none.

ATTACKS none.

Alec Baur

Alec Baur was one of a batch of members of the Swiss Guard who were approached by members of the Congregation to join the Sicarii. They were exposed to irrefutable proof of demonic power and given a straightforward offer - resign from the Swiss Guard and serve as a Sicarii, travelling around the world, escorting Congregation officials and - if need be - eliminating threats that cannot be handled by their investigators. 

Baur's first assignment was baptism by fire. He and a team of three other Sicarii were deployed to Croatia where they squared off against a hideous "avatar" of the "Headless Corpse God" and its depraved followers. The absolute depths of self-destruction and depravity and sadism that Baur witnessed changed him as a person. 

Since returning from Croatia, Baur saw reflections of the "Headless Corpse God" everywhere. In "immodestly-dressed" young women visiting Rome. He saw it in the morbidly obese, the addicts, the drunks, the lazy. Baur has become obsessed with what he labels "degeneracy" and works to distance himself as hard as possible from it. He works out daily, maintains a strict diet. He does not drink, does not smoke, does not listen to music that contains "immodest" themes of lyrics. Although he hasn't made a point to voice his thoughts to his peers, he secretly loathes homosexuals, and considers them "susceptible" to demonic influence. At times, he finds any act or notion of any sort of sexuality distasteful. There are nights where the idea of marrying a woman and one day laying with her makes him feel only cold. He doesn't concern himself with politics, as he considers it "worldly" and unworthy of his focus. Despite his ultra-conservative views, he finds Italian fascism's rejection of Christianity to be as unsanctionable as communism.

Alec Baur is a blonde man of average height in incredible shape. He dresses almost exclusively in black and speaks very matter-of-fact. He abstains from any form of indulgence, and only thinly masks his disdain for those who do. 

ALEC BAUR

Swiss Papal Guard (ret.), Sicari of the Congregation. 

STR 14 CON 14 DEX 14 INT 12 POW 13 CHA 8

HP 14 WP 13 SAN 52 BREAKING POINT 39

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS Live Devoutly

Vanquish enemies of the Lord Christ

Lead Others Away from Degeneracy

Obsession (Purity)

SKILLS: Alertness 46%, Dodge 38%, Drive 61%, Firearms 80%, First Aid 30% Heavy Weapons 72%, HUMINT 53%, Occult 29%, Search 47%, Stealth 52%, Unarmed Combat 65%, Unnatural 3%

ARMOR: Tactical armor (Armor Rating 6)

ATTACKS AWM L115A3 Sniper rifle 80% Damage 1D12+2 Armor Piercing 5

MP7 80% Damage 1D10 or Lethality 10%

Sig Sauer 9220 80% Damage 1D10

Unarmed 65% Damage 1D4+1