Spotlight On: Sandmen and Solicitors

by J. Edward Tremlett (reggies_ghost@hotmail.com)

Summary: A look at the current situation of the Sandmen and Solicitors.
This article originally appeared on Ex Libris Nocturnis at the URL:
http://www.nocturnis.net/articles/wraith/default/2004/February/412/page1.html
The Sandmen
Nicknames: Actors, Coma Creators, Dream Police, Dreamsmiths, Oneiromancers, Psychopomps,
Reposers, Sleepers
Guildmaster: Three elder wraiths - Thespis, Phaenos and Akhshephat - "lead" the Guild, but in reality
all they do is teach, perform and advise, relying on Grand Masters to handle problems on their own.
They are represented at the Council of Guilds by a Gaunt who calls himself Seneca.
Center of Power: The Dream Palace, which travels endlessly along a trail of sleeping mortals as it
circumnavigates the globe, is the new home of the three elders.
Specialty Arcanos: Phantasm
Organization
The Sandmen’s Guild - also known as the Dream Union - more resembles a bedazzlingly large artist’s
community than a "Guild" in the traditional sense. There are ranks and positions, but little in the way
of direct, central authority. Indeed, apart from a few guiding principles, and a shared interest in the
Phantasm Arcanos, there’s precious little actually holding it all together. And yet, in spite of all that,
the Sandmen are one of the more cohesive and inwardly-loyal of all the Guilds.
Most of them credit this to the joy of Dreamshaping, and the desire to keep a stable tradition of it going
from hand to hand. Others of a more mercenary mind credit the non-stop flow of coin that comes along
with it. And still others say that the act of entering dreams, and engineering them, connects all together
in some strange way that no one could ever explain.
There may be something to that, for yet another wrinkle in the Guild is the large overlap between
"proper" Sandmen and those who use the Arcanos professionally but do not truly belong to the Union.
Sandmen don’t tend to stand on much ceremony in that regard; In their eyes, a Sandman is a Sandman
is a Sandman, and worthy of being judged on her competence, behavior and imagination instead of
official rank and title. Some folks do look down their noses at "lapdogs" or "freebooters" on the other
side of the fence, but most would rather just get along.
Being in the Union has its benefits, to be sure, but being outside of it has its own rewards as well.
The Guild maintains the normal names for ranks, and their duties and obligations are pretty much the
same. Apprentices are there to learn and take care of details small and large so Journeymen can be free
to learn and practice, and Journeymen do more intricate work so their Masters can direct. However,
unlike other Guilds the chain of command is more lateral than vertical: one Apprentice’s Master
couldn’t command another Master’s Apprentice, and vice versa - even within the same group. There is
a definite sense of territory about one’s "own" Apprentices and Journeymen.
One exception to the "hands off" attitude lies with the Grand Masters, who have sway over anyone
who might encounter them, given the vast respect afforded to such persons. In order to advance that
high, one must be an Oneiromancer of the highest order, at the pinnacle of one’s chosen field and a
very powerful wraith to boot. They can confer advancements, levy punishments and handle any
extreme matters that may arise on their own, and they may do so without having to turn to a higher
authority.
In that sense, it can be said that the Grand Masters of the Sandmen are the leaders of the Guild. It is
true that the Elders sit over the Grand Masters, but the three are more there for inspiration and
education than any true, hands-on management of the Guild, itself. The only time they act in a
deciding leadership role is when conflicts between Grand Masters are brought before the Elders to
decide, but this is a very rare thing indeed; Such conflicts tend to be settled in some other, more novel
way rather than suffering the embarrassment of appearing before the Elders in such a manner.
The looseness of the Guild can also be seen in its relationship to groups within the whole. In many
other Guilds, the organization exists unto itself, and there are several "groups" that one might belong to
while being a member of the organization. However, with the Sandmen, the Guild is the sum of its
groups.
In fact, the sometimes the Guildwraiths have been known to identify themselves by the name of the
group before that of "Sandman," such as ‘Journeyman Dima Nader, Fortifier’ or ‘Master William T.
Pettibone, Dramaturgist.’ They’ll still say they’re Sandmen (most of them, anyway) if asked, but
loyalty to the group one’s often rivals one’s identity as a Sandman, or membership in the Dream
Union. Oddly enough, this looseness tends to curtain the factionalism that breeds like cancer in other
Guilds.
As for the groups themselves, there are as many different ones as there are possible applications of
Phantasm. They run the gamut from more "professional" uses of the Arcanos to freewheeling and
somewhat irresponsible acts that fall under the Guild’s purview only because the ones responsible are
Sandmen. Trying to list them all would both boggle the mind and cramp the fingers.
Perhaps the most archetypical Sandmen are the Playwrights - known to many as Dreamaturgists - and
the "ordinary" Actors who tread those people’s stages, or else just create their own. The Dreamaturgists
create the vast, swirling Pageants for both the Living and the Dead, and this side of the Guild employs
vast numbers of Sandmen, all working on pieces great and small to make certain the show goes off
perfectly. The actors tend to be more self-sufficient, depending on whether they’re well-known enough
to have an entourage or not.
But there are many other groups as well:
· The appallingly common, so-called Dream Whores, who help others achieve sexual
satisfaction in shared dreams.
· The extremely rare Soma Shamans, who heal the living in their slumber.
· The Bards, who wander the Shadowlands telling the news of the day.
· The Fortifiers, who work with Pardoners to decrease a Shadow’s power through roleplaying.
· The Plotters, who stride the halls of power and help the wraiths who reside there come up
with schemes worthy of their title
· Etc. etc. etc.
And then there is the Night Watch.
Notable Groups
The Night Watch - known to many modern Sandmen as the "Dream Police" - are Sandmen who patrol
for Spectral incursion into the dreams of the Quick. They keep an eye out for the tell-tale signs of
someone being tampered with, and then enter that mortal’s dreams to capture or destroy the Spectre.
During times of relative calm, the Watchers are a rare sight. Relatively few Spectres are wont to try
and affect victims through their dreams, after all. During these periods, the Dream Police are content to
watch out for the occasional troublemaker from their own order, such as those "Nightriders" who pull
sleepers from their bodies and toss them into a Nihil just for laughs.
However, in times of Great Maelstrom, the number of Void-borne dream-defilers multiply
dramatically. In addition, the wakened Malfeans broadcast atrocity and hideous desire into the minds
of unbalanced individuals. When that happens the Grand Masters put out the call for new Watchers to
join alongside the old, and for a time it seems like the Night Watch is everywhere.
The Watchers’ standing is almost equal to that of the Grand Masters: they are able to lay punishments
upon errant Sandmen without any fear of being overruled or censured. In those rare cases when a
Grand Master might fall under their jurisdiction, they might have to present their case to a small group
of other Grand Masters before sentencing can be done, but even this is a mere formality at times.
Most Sandmen who are called to task by the Night Watch are simply given a stern lecture about
responsibility and set to work with the Guild’s equivalent of "community service," if they’re lucky.
Serial Nightriders sometimes get sentenced to years of Slumber filled with endless nightmares, and still
unluckier ones get Moliated into something more useful to the Guild - like bags to carry Sand, for
example - only after untold decades of horror-filled sleep have scoured away what little remains of
their minds.
As for Spectres - no mercy is shown, and no quarter given. Any escaping dream-corruptors would go
back to the Labyrinth and report on the Watchers’ rather unique methods of psychic warfare. Once the
Dream Police have such a one trapped in a dreamer’s mind, the best it can hope for is a quick
destruction: the alternatives are a lot more... creative.
Current History
If you were to take a bet as to which Guild would have done the worst during the Sixth Great
Maelstrom, most Guildwraiths would have identified the Sandmen - known for its effete actors and
dreamsmiths - as the most likely candidate. Yet they have not only survived, but prospered, and many
are wondering why.
Some have explained this turn of events by accusing them of unshared foreknowledge, pointing to the
last actions of their previous "Guildmaster," Thusimos. Knowing of the Storm to come, he said nothing
to the others. However, his silence had a purpose: he distracted the Guildmasters’ attention long
enough to unmask a traitor amongst them, lest that turncoat wreck Charon’s return.
While that is the truth, it is also true that the majority of the Guild was hardly privy to Thusimos’ plan:
he knew that the Storm would be the herald of the Emperor’s rebirth, but shared it with very few,
outside the Elders. There were those who knew of mere parts of the grand intrigue he was weaving: the
wraiths who monitored the dreams of Charon’s final fight with Gorool had reason to suspect something
was going to happen, as did some of the better-connected ones employed to provide some of
Thusimos’ "special effects." But they had but pieces of the puzzle, and could not see the grand design;
When the Storm came, they were as surprised as any other.
No. The Sandmen have done as well as they have because they are artists. And, being artists, they
understood how closely a good, well-done and complex drama hews to the rhythms of so-called "real
life," just as oversimplification, last-minute miracles and tawdry, overly-happy endings are the mark of
the feeble hack.
At some point, various gifted hands within the Guild asked themselves "if I were writing this story,
what would happen next?" And they answered "bad things, I fear... but not without hope."
So, while the Guild might not have been told outright about the clearer visions of forthcoming
apocalypse, they have prepared for such an eventuality for ages. To them, it was just common sense.
The most visible sign of this preparation was the creation of the Horror Show - a great Dreamwork
where the most terrifying things ever imagined were staged and brought to life on a regular basis that
the Guild might learn to survive the real thing. Countless numbers of Sandmen went to "try"
themselves in it, either to learn some basic survival skills in the face of the unknown, or else gain
inspiration for darker works.
This would stand them all in good stead when the 6th Great Maelstrom broke overhead. Many were
lost, but many also used their Phantasm Arts to defend themselves, or else escape into dreams to ride
out the Storm. Thusimos was lost - as well befitted the name he adopted so long ago - but the three
Elders were well-warned of what may happen, and so took steps to secure their safety.
After that, it was a simple matter of recalling everyone into the Dreamscape to take stock of who had
been lost, and what had been regained. The Elders bade the Grand Masters to put out the call for the
Night Watch, and it is to the Guild’s credit that many more than usual volunteered.
Then, a score of highly skilled Dreamworkers matched their strengths to create a great Dream Palace.
It was crafted whole out of pieces of the World’s Dreaming, and stitched together with song, dance and
merriment. The Elders would now have a place to stay during the reign of the Storm, and invited all
other Sandmen who lacked Fetters to come and rest alongside them.
Other than the Night Watch, the Underworld saw little of the Sandmen for the next few months. It’s
not that they weren’t there, but they preferred to stay in safety, venturing out only for the occasional,
high-paying private performance. However, as the Storm’s initial Outbreak abated, somewhat, they
came out of their boltholes and Haunts and started taking on more general customers once more.
By the time the Reformed Council of the Guilds was called, the Elders had found a worthy
replacement for Thusimos: a hoary, somewhat jaundiced Gaunt by the name of Seneca. There is some
debate as to whether he is, indeed, the Lucius Annaeus Seneca, famed playwright from untold ages
ago, but no one has dared ask him. His is a face that does not invite questions, nor give many answers.
Current Activities
As per the agreement with the Council of the Guilds, the Sandmen are engaged in a major program of
morale lifting. This takes the form of major - and gratis - Dreamworkings before Slumbering
audiences.
The Dreamwork - which was the result of most of the Guild’s premier Playwrights acting in unison,
for a change - is a dramatic retelling of Stygia’s last days. In the space of three hours, the audience is
told what happened, and why, and is given an education about the dangers faced, the importance of
civic pride, personal responsibility and eternal vigilance against the Storm. Some well-placed acid
casualty christened the performance "The Great and Majestic Oneiric Circus of Faith, Hope and
Love," but some workaday fellow thought of calling it The Show, as shorthand, and the abbreviation
stuck.
The Show has been described as a strange and entrancing combination of a Passion Play, a USO show
and Cirque de Soleil. Its message is delivered with a sense of hope and optimism, as well as a
somewhat sardonic sense of humor. Some of the more savvy members of the audience can detect a
suspiciously pro-Guild bent in "what happened," too, but their complaints tend to fall on deaf ears,
these days. Regardless of those critics, the Show is literally the hottest show in town - not to mention
free and useful - and acts as a beacon for wraiths with nothing better to do on a Sunday Night.
To accomplish these spectacles, the Guild has reestablished Players Groups in every major Necropolis,
as well as various itinerant "Dream Caravans" who travel between the smaller cities and towns to bring
The Show to the yokels. It’s always a good day to be dead when a Dream Caravan bursts fully formed
from the head of a sympathetic Dreamer, or else sets up its tent within his mind and invites any and all
in for a spell.
The Show is put on in addition to the Guild’s normal vocations of sleepgranting, storytelling and the
performing arts. Guild members have to spend two weeks of every month working on The Show, and
are then free to go do whatever other duties they’d care to. More weighty members of the Guild can
"buy out" of it by sponsoring someone else to take their place, but there is a considerable loss of face
suffered by all but the best Sandmen for doing so.
However, there’s also a lot of coin to be made from their more "ordinary" performances. Wraiths who
were starving for certain emotions after being shut indoors in their Haunts for so long were very glad
to see the Sandmen coming around. And now that the Storm has abated somewhat they still flock to
the public performances, or else arrange for more private showings.
The Night Watch are definitely everywhere with this Storm: the dreams of mortals have come under
heavy assault since the Outbreak, and for each Lost dreamshaper they dispatch it seems that three more
are ready to take its place. Fortunately, the training they receive at the Horror Show has made them
ready for most eventualities, and casualty rate for their order is thankfully low.
The Guild has also found that being able to travel within the Dreamscape lends itself to the fine art of
Barding: going from town to town and giving the news and views from abroad, along with some
stories, song and shameless entertainment. However, while some of the Sandmen are quite happy to
entertain - if you’ll excuse the phrase - the idea of such a vocation, most veteran Storytellers find that
telling the whole truth is something of a hardship, preferring to alter events to their liking in their
retellings.
Current Political Situation
The Sandmen have always been something of an odd group to place in the power structure. They were
never powerful enough to be involved in the high-power struggles of some Guilds, and yet they could
be highly influential when they wanted to, as the War of the Proscenium proved. The Hierarchy tended
to put them on the Shroud-rending side of the "fence-sitters," but it’s always been difficult to speak of -
or even for - the Guild as a whole, given its multifaceted state.
That said, when it comes to counting allies, one can be assured of two truths with most Sandmen: a
customer is a customer, and any customer is a friend. They may not get along with every Guild, but at
the end of the day even an "adversary" might be the one who gives the best tip for a story well told. As
such, they have very few, true enemies, outside of the obvious candidates (Spectres, Solicitors,
Renegades who didn’t like the show, etc.)
Some of the Guild’s better friendships have been formed out of mutual interests. As the Arts of
Moliation have always come in handy for their performances, the Sandmen have always courted the
Masquers. They also highly respect the other Guild’s acting abilities, though they’re loath to admit it.
Likewise, even though the Guild is "broken," those few Chanteurs who remain - or at least those with
strong inclinations towards Keening - will always find a friend backstage.
They also have strong ties with the Pardoners, though it seems that the Pardoners are more interested in
the works of the Fortifiers, as well as the Soma Shamen, than any concern for art. Those who flock
towards these rare methods are always happy to have a Pardoner’s interest. However, those who don’t
know anything about them tend to get tired of having the other Guild poking its nose into their subject
matter.
The big surprise has been the Mnemoi. After years of retelling the same story about how the thrice-
cursed Guild betrayed Stygia, the old stories about the Mnemoi have been scrapped in favor of what’s
revealed in The Show. In fact, some of the more forward-thinking Sandmen have asked Mnemoi to
"record" their performances, so that their great works will never be forgotten.
That and they’ve found some competition from an unlikely source, lately. A new group of Wraiths,
calling itself the Troubadours, seem to have picked up the Chanteurs’ Arcanos of Keening, and are
engaged in the exact same vocation as the Sandmen’s bards. While the Guild normally has a high
respect for those who employ Keening, the attitude of these "newcomers" has led to a few turf battles,
especially when the two sides are telling different versions of "the truth."
The Solicitors
Nicknames: Controllers, Emerald-Eyes, Green Eyed Monsters, Secret Policemen, the Shunned, Soul-
Fuckers, Spiders, Vampires
Guildmaster: The Cabal is led by the unseen and mysterious Center of the Wheel. In times past, the
most visible - read "known" - Solicitor throughout Stygia was Don Salazaar, but he was destroyed at
the start of the 6th Great Maelstrom, and none of his worthy contemporaries have remained "alive"
long enough for the other Guilds to truly deal with.
Center of Power: You do not want to know that.
Specialty Arcanos: Intimation
Organization
The Solicitors Cabal is a study of rigid ranks and tight control - in theory, at least. And given the
nature of their signature Arcanos, this is hardly surprising.
They are grouped into one of eight Orders, each of which oversees roughly 1/8th of the Shadowlands.
The ones in Stygian Territory are the Order of Three (Western Europe), Four (Eastern Europe), Six
(South and Central America), Seven (North America) and Eight (Australia). The other Orders do not
have much contact with their Stygian counterparts due to inter-Cabal considerations.
The Orders are further broken down into Chapters, which are numbered in multiples of eight. Each
group of Solicitors in any one, given area are grouped together in a Chapter, and each Chapter meets in
a tight, local confederation known as a Chapterhouse.
Each Order is governed by a Grand Master of the Order from a major haunt known as a Cathedral:
carefully hidden fortresses, filled with scores of Solicitors. The leaders of the Chapters - also Grand
Masters - are known as Chapter Leaders, and most often reside in the Cathedral with the Grand Master.
Indeed, Chapter Leaders rarely visit their own Chapters personally unless there’s a problem.
Chapter Leaders are in charge of, and responsible for, their Chapters. They answer to the Grand Master
of their Order. The Grand Masters, in turn, all answer to the mysterious head of the Cabal: an ancient
entity no one has ever seen, known as The Center of the Wheel.
From the ground up, the Cabal maintains the same names and stations for their members that most
Guilds do: Apprentices learn and are tested; Journeymen have passed their tests and are trusted(?);
Masters command, research and instruct; and Grand Masters oversee the grand design.
The Cabal has a number of positions that any might vie for - all of which serve the group in a tangible
way. They are:
· Negotiators: The ones who most others tend to deal with, the Negotiators are the ones called
in to perform their namesake - though their methods of "negotiation" are not quite what one
would tend to envision. They often lie in wait for those whose minds they’ve been asked to
change, and do so via Intimation from a distance. Still others masquerade as Chanteurs or other,
paid interlocutors and slip a little extra... persuasion into their speech while making parties
agree with one another.
· Held Hands: If the Negotiators are subtle, the Held Hands are not. They are the blackmailers
of the Cabal: using Intimation to make another wraith do something she normally wouldn’t,
and then appearing to confront the unfortunate ghost with her actions, and what might happen if
word got out. Unlike the Negotiators, their services are not for sale to outsiders, for reasons
best left unsaid.
· Agent Provocateurs: The "typical" Solicitor, for those who are unhappy enough to know
how the Cabal works. Such a person clandestinely ruins those who must be compromised,
disrupts entire organizations and sets them at one another, or spreads poison ideas through the
masses. They might also forestall revolution and uphold order as well, if the Cabal commands.
They are the invisible hands that prop up the Shadowlands, or allow them to plummet down to
The Void.
· Gardeners: The Gardeners are the Cabal's sick and creative interrogation specialists cum
Soulforgers. They use a calculated combination of Intimation and outright torture to take the
secrets from those unfortunate enough to be given unto them. Then, once they’re done, they
make useful wares out of what’s left. And if they don’t have any items on the docket, there’s
always room for more flowers in the Cathedrals’ extensive gardens, hence their name.
· Keepers of the Shrine: As the Cabal is as much a religious order as a temporal one, someone
must tend to their sacred duties. The Keepers of the Shrine look after holy writ and rituals, and
see that everything is carried out. They are also the ones who look after the Cabal's spiritual life
- especially the proper orthodoxy. Anyone can be spot-checked for a "clear spiritual
understanding," and those who fail are either chastised and sent to "reeducation," or else sent to
a Gardener for a good, solid scourging.
· Purgers: Every wraith needs a good Castigator, and the Cabal is no exception. The Purgers
are Solicitors who’ve learned enough of the Pardoners’ Arcanos to deal with their fellows’
Shadows. These tend to be the most respected and feared members of the Cabal - perhaps even
 more so than the Keepers or Gardeners. After all, a careful Solicitor might be able to avoid the
attentions of the other two, but everyone has to share their secrets with a Purger at some point.
And while they might be Castigators, they’re still Solicitors at heart...
Special Groups
The Maelstrom, and the fall of Stygia, has plunged the Shadowlands into a time of uncertainty and
upheaval. Plans for the future have had to be rewritten and remade, and in the chaos and change a
number of Solicitors have come to openly question the Center of the Wheel’s desires. The calm zeal
and order of the Cabal has broken down into anarchy in some places, and in others heresy and apostasy
are lurking dangerously close to the surface.
Under the circumstances, The Center of the Wheel has once more activated the Inquiry. Circles of
freakishly beautiful, androgynous and extremely powerful Gaunts now travel throughout the Orders,
descending without warning upon Cathedral and Chapterhouse alike in their search for sacrilege,
insubordination and willful disobedience. No one is above their purview, and nothing is beneath their
notice.
The Agents of The Inquiry are both terrifying and mysterious to the Cabal. It is said that they are the
ones who have the privilege of guarding the location of the Center of the Wheel, Hirself - wherever
S/He may be. Others say they are the ancient remnants of Charon’s own, original secret police: the one
disbanded ages ago, when the official history of Stygia was rewritten around them...
But the Inquirers do not answer questions - not about about themselves, their history, their methods nor
their meaning. They are here to ask the questions. And woe be unto the wretch who cannot answer to
their liking.
Current History
Right now, the Cabal is undergoing a crisis. Those few who can watch their movements from without
might not notice, as the conflict tends to be a quiet one, rarely spilling outside their Haunts. But the
problem is a serious one, regardless of its low-key nature: the Center wouldn’t have brought the
Inquiry into play if it weren’t.
The dilemma stems from the nature of the Cabal’s leadership. The Center of the Wheel sends
Intimation-borne commands to the Grand Masters of the Order on a daily basis, and they then give
them to the Chapter Leaders who need to have them. But these commands are short, perfunctory
missives ("Go here at this time," "Steal this thing from that group," "Kill this meddling fool") and not
large, sprawling explanations of why these things are being ordered, or what comes next. It is enough
that the Cabal is told what to do: why is the business of the Center, alone.
As a result, Solicitors have had to form their own ideas on why these things are being done, and act
accordingly when they are left to their own devices. This means that mistakes are invariably made:
members of a Chapter might act in violation of the Center’s plans, and even be in direct competition
with one another without knowing it until it’s too late.
In theory, the Grand Masters are supposed to be aware of what their lessers are doing at all times, and
conferring with others of their rank to make sure nothing counterproductive is going on. In reality,
however, the Grand Masters are Solicitors themselves, and so have their own plots, schemes and great
designs to tend to. They also take a Darwinian approach to such things: a good Journeyman will figure
it all out on her own, and either turn the situation around to fit the Cabal’s will, or else do a very good
job of covering up for herself... provided she wants to avoid the Gardeners, at any rate.
And yet the Center - who sees all that happens, somehow - will not outline what has been done wrong.
It instead merely provides remedies and counter-actions, and does so without saying outright that a
mistake took place at all. If S/He sends orders to send a Solicitor to the Gardeners, that’s as good a sign
as any that someone was making way too many mistakes for Hir liking, but such final interventions are
rare.
Thus, when what appeared to be ultimate plan - infiltrating the Hierarchy like a slow-acting virus, and
using its machinery to bring about the Cabal’s promised Day of Desire - fell apart with the coming of
the 6th Great Maelstrom, the Cabal was thrown into utter confusion. The great structure they spent so
long infiltrating, blackmailing, suborning and reshaping had been crashed against the rocks of bad
history like so much storm-tossed debris. And while orders from the Center continued to come
through, they were as short and to-the-point as ever.
What, then, was to be done? Many Solicitors had ideas, but not all of them were in keeping with the
Cabal’s normal policies of statism and secrecy, much less in sync with one another. The Statists
thought the Center was willing them to reassemble the Hierarchy, while others thought that now was
the time for those who had been outside - the Guilds, and perhaps even some of the Renegades - to be
elevated. They had always had the Usurers in their clutches, after all: perhaps this was the true reason
as to why?
The Storm also kicked up another, more contentious debate. While the Cabal’s policy had always been
one of secrecy, right up until the Day of Desire - and perhaps even beyond it - there were always those
few who said that they should reveal themselves to the masses. Once the missing of the Storm were
tallied, and those who remained had signed back in, it appeared for a very brief while that the so-called
Shepherds were actually just barely in the majority in some Orders.
This might not have been enough to get them to speak, but the loss of some of the Cabal’s older, more
influential members did. When the word came that Don Salazaar himself was lost to the Outbreak, the
Shepherds wasted no time calling in favors and trying to take control of the floor.
The result was terrible. Solicitors turned on one another in an attempt to take or else regain the tone of
their Chapterhouses. Older, Statist members of the Cabal appealed for reason and calm, or else
demanded it of their subordinates and began to muster their forces to enforce it. But as the Storm went
on, their numbers started to dwindle: Harrowed by suspicious "accidents" or the abrupt destruction of
their Fetters, done away with in Purges, killed again by unusual means or else just "disappearing," the
Gaunts of the Cabal suffered inordinate losses.
As such, the Statists lost control in most Orders of the former Stygian Empire, and the Insurrectionists
began to retool the Cabal’s actions to serve the Guilds. The idea was that they would rebuild Stygia
anew, in their own image, using those who had once opposed it. There was still some question about
staying behind the curtain or pulling it down, however, and as time went on the Shepherds began to
gain more followers than ever before.
Right about then was when the Inquiry was let loose. Those Solicitors who had assumed control of the
Chapterhouses and Cathedrals were brought to heel and questioned. Some of those so-questioned were
sent down to the Gardeners to be made into useful things, while others were allowed to retain their
position, "for now..."
But the strange thing was that no one could figure out what the Inquiry was after: Traditionalist and
Shepherd alike were questioned, tortured and condemned by the Agents of the Inquiry. The Agents
speak of the need to eradicate heresy, apostasy and rebellion, but will not offer any true definitions of
the word to those who might dare to ask. They merely state that they have their orders, and are
carrying them out... as should all loyal members of the Cabal.
And so, even to this night, no one is certain what the Center is trying to do, only that a number of their
brethren have been cut down in the doing. But it does not pay to question orders, much less those who
carry them out.
Current Activities
Those who hew to the words of the Center have a lot of work to do. The Empire has fallen, and lies in
disarray. The so-called Insurrectionists - now, perhaps, trying to think of a new name to describe
themselves - hold the floor throughout most of the Orders, and are trying to rebuild a new Underworld
out of what yet remains.
The Guilds, then, hold the key to the future, but that future must be shaped and guided. And that means
that Clients must be established and retooled to fit new realities, and new Marks must be made at all
levels and areas. Other groups being dealt with, or else ignored, accordingly.
In layman terms, this means that the vast majority of the Cabal is working its collective ass off to
secure new beachheads within the Guilds, make those "friends" they already had are still with the
program, and keeping everyone else at bay. It doesn’t help that many prospective Clients are falling to
the Maelstrom, and it certainly doesn’t help that the Inquiry is hounding their every move at times. But
the Center commands, and so they obey.
Usually...
Current Political Situation
No one likes the Solicitors. No one willingly deals with the Solicitors. No one has any contacts
whatsoever with the Solicitors. They are apart, alone and unloved.
At least that’s what people like to think.
The truth is that, while leaders might deny that their people have anything to do with the Solicitors,
individuals will always stumble into the Cabal’s web. And while all who come are at least
accommodated, some groups are more welcome - read "useful" - than others. Indeed, the Solicitors say
that some groups have been in their clutches all along, unable to see how well they’ve been played...
Based on that notion, the Cabal claims that their chief "ally" is the Usurers Guild, followed by the
Monitors. They feel they have enough Clients to pull these two bodies up, down or sideways at any
given moment. They’re just waiting for the word.
Their "friends," then, are to be found in: the Alchemists, who are being groomed to take the Artificers’
place; the Mnemoi, who will have a part to play in the final stages of the plan; and the Pardoners, who
are always needed (and are now quite vulnerable). Certain factions of Renegades are also being
groomed for one purpose or another.
People of middling worth include the Artificers (given their sad fall from grace), the Harbingers, the
Sandmen and the Spooks. The current thought has it that they fulfill useful, niche roles in the
Underworld, and should be left there, so long as they don’t make trouble. Freewraiths tend to be placed
in this category, along with less predictable Gangs - especially the "New School" Renegades that have
popped up of late.
The useless? That would describe what’s left of the Chanteurs. The Haunters are also placed here given
how difficult it is to gain Clients within their Guild. Such people are often left alone, and treated with
no special favor when they come to ask for help.
As for their enemies, they have one: the Heretics, and - by extension - the Oracles and the Proctors.
The Cabal is well aware of the fact that the Proctors are, in fact, a Cult, and treat them accordingly.
Meanwhile, they view the Oracles as a Cult that just doesn’t know they’re one, yet.