Vaticine City

The dream of a shining city on a hill

is the inspiration behind Vaticine City.
Faith in Theus and the Riddle of Creation inspired the con-
struction of a model city, designed to inspire humanity. The
gardens and spires of this city best represent the dreams
of architects emulating the ideal of Heaven—an attempt to
turn an idea into a reality.

Yet no artifact of the physical world can be a

perfect representation of an idea.
Though a model city constructed on a combination of Cas-
tillian, Vodacce and Crescent architecture, it is still populat-
ed by humans, with all of their fallibilities. While the priests
of the Church attempt to inspire humanity with the vision
of a perfect world, the Inquisition extends its hold over
the politics of the Church, and not everyone aspires to the
word of the Prophets.

Now, the Rock of the Church must prepare for

the possibility of the Final Days.
The Inquisition agitates that the Fourth Prophet comes
soon, and the war against the Objectionists has left the
Vaticine Church in a precarious position. The Vaticine City
sourcebook provides you with a set of allies and Villains,
power groups and Conspiracies and unusual relics to give
your Heroes all-new adventures in the idealized city, the
heart of the Church of the Prophets.
 INTRODUCTION
T
he soaring arches and vibrant murals
that dominate the skyline of Vaticine
City all serve the purpose of show-
casing humanity’s achievements in
pursuing the Riddle of Theus. By fostering beautiful
architecture, the Vaticine Church of the Prophets
encourages the study of mathematics, engineering
and aesthetic design. By creating a city laid out to be
functional, inspirational and pleasing, the Church
creates a home that fosters amity and neighborli-
ness. The construction of Vaticine City serves to
make a metaphorical home for Theus to please the
Creator, enrich the mind and deepen the soul of
humanity. They hope to create a functional city that
serves as inspiration to all the other cities of the
world.
Ideal designs and practical conditions collide, of
course; while the Church intended for Vaticine City
to be a functional city that elevates its denizens, the
people who occupy the city follow their own needs
and desires. The city has no shortage of all the vices
and flaws common to human habitation around
Théah. Cathedrals may dominate the skyline, but
one need not walk far beyond the soaring architec-
ture to reach the coaching inns, docks and ware-
houses that host the city’s needs, both licit and illicit.
Vaticine City hosts the most devout and learned
among the Church and also the most ruthless. True
believers fill the pews, and the scent of power at-
tracts those seeking to command them with Vaticine
authority. The libraries of the city hold copies of
books from antiquity, stretching back to the Nu-
manari Empire and beyond and carefully preserved
by the Church’s clerics, but the Inquisition has no
use for such distractions and instead maintains the
dungeons that hold heretics whose souls will be
delivered to Theus by mortification.
Situated as it is upon the edge of Castille, not far
from the rival power of Vodacce that once housed
the Church, Vaticine City is also a site for diplomats
and noble assignations. As an ostensibly neutral
2 Introduction
state, political scheming can take place outside of
courts dominated by various national interests. It is
not uncommon to see visitors from noble families
striding through the streets and gardens, presum-
ably taking in the artistic and cultural sights of the
city but in truth making secret arrangements for
diplomatic or personal reasons.
So why did you come to Vaticine City? You
came here because you need to meet with the elite
of the Vaticine Church. Or perhaps because it is
also the capital of united Castille and the center of
Good King Sandoval’s court. Maybe you came here
following a story about a powerful relic hidden in
the Church’s secret vaults…or perhaps you seek to
work your steel against fencers of all kinds, so you
have come to put the Church’s most elite guards to
the test. You might be here for a diplomatic con-
ference between delegates from the Church, from
far-off Iskandar or the Théan colony of Quamon-
taigne, working to thread the treacherous tapestry
of conspiracy while each group argues for its vision
of divinity. Perhaps you came here for secret and
forbidden knowledge in a library not far from the
Hierophantic Basilica or to rescue a comrade from
the dungeons of the Inquisition. All that can be said
for certain is that, for a city of the devout, there is
more than enough to keep a Hero busy!
How to Use This
Chapter
The Vaticine City book details a set of hooks
and characters to help motivate a Hero in her
adventures. You will find descriptions of some of
the places in and around Vaticine City in here, but
the focus is on what kinds of adventures Heroes
have in this city. To that end, we have provided
you with a selection of important people—both
members of the Church and otherwise—and of the
kinds of power groups and hidden secrets to make
interesting stories. Many of these descriptions also
include information about the places to find those
interesting stories, so you can set the stage for your
Heroes’ adventures within the unique architecture
of Vaticine City.
Introduction
You are here! This section gives you a very quick
overview of what's to come and a few reasons to use
Vaticine City as a destination in your game.
Section One: The Foundations of a City
of Theus
We start with an overview of the city, provide exam-
ples of interesting locales within it, and give you a
small glossary of important terms.
Section Two: Influential Personalities
Your Heroes will encounter many interesting char-
acters in Vaticine City, and we've detailed a handful
of them here. Each of these characters has a selec-
tion of Story Hooks to describe how Heroes might
interact with him and to give you ideas for your own
Stories. Each character has a position that could
require the services of the Heroes, or could pit your
Heroes against her.
Section Three: Conspiracies and Cabals
The Vaticine Church has its share of sub-organiza-
tions and heresies, and many of them have offices
that stretch all the way to the highest halls of power.
These groups can give you antagonists who work
against your Heroes’ goals, or your Heroes might
strive to become members. You could even build an
entire story around Heroes who are all members
of one of these groups, navigating the treacherous
waters of Vaticine City and the orthodox factions
that might oppose them.
Section Four: Relics and Secrets
Vaticine City harbors books, relics and strange
artifacts from earlier ages. Some have religious
significance, while others may come from Syrneth
roots, could be sorcerous devices or may simply be
texts that hold ideas too heretical to be released to
the world but too important to be destroyed. Any of
these items could be a quest for a Hero to recover, or
the Hero might find herself working for a Vaticine
archivist to bring other items of ill fortune so that
they can be safely held in the vaults below.
Section Five: Speaker of the Rites
A highly secretive sect within the Vaticine, priests
and devotees who wield the power of Theus directly,
shaping the world to better reflect His perfect vi-
sion. Here you will find information on the Speak-
ers and their small-but-powerful organization, as
well as rules on how to play one of these righteous
souls as a Hero in your game.
Section Six: Systems for the Vaticine
If you want to play a trained Duelist from one of the
Church’s exclusive schools, a bishop with Church
authority or a student of the Church’s hidden
secrets, you will find new game systems here. These
rules help to flesh out Vaticine characters and pro-
vide even more hooks for religious Heroes who have
connections to Vaticine City.
So You Want a Vaticine Story
If you are still not sure how to run a story that uses
Vaticine City, here are a few helpful ideas and hooks!
A Hero is called to Vaticine City by a cardinal…
• …who wants her to undertake a service on his
behalf.
• …who has secretly been contacted by one of
her Villains and asked to create problems for
the Hero with Church authority and investiga-
tions.
• …who demands that the Hero turn over a
prized possession to him.
• …who asks the Hero to use her influence on
behalf of the Church to intercede with one of
her allies.
The Hero follows an enemy to Vaticine City…
• …where the enemy seeks sanctuary with a rela-
tive who is a member of the priesthood serving
in the city.
• …where he attempts to convince the Inqui-
sition that the Hero must be captured and
stopped.
• …where the enemy barters a relic or artifact
7th Sea | Vaticine City 3
 for protection with one of the scholars of the
Church.
• …and he taunts the Hero openly in an attempt
to get her to cause bloodshed in a public space
in front of gendarmes and Solomons.
• …and discovers that the enemy is trying to
frame her for a horrible crime there, such as
murder of an archbishop or theft of a piece of
priceless art.
The Heroes are tasked with going to Vaticine City
on behalf of an influential ally…
• …and asked to carry a letter secretly to one of
the Church authorities.
• …and asked to negotiate for special dispensa-
tion on behalf of another ally in poor standing
with the Church.
• …and asked to carry a relic that other people
want to steal.
• …who is a sorcerer seeking to establish com-
munication with another sorcerer working in
Vaticine City.
A patron asks the Hero to sneak into Vaticine City
to steal a hidden relic…
• …because it is actually dangerous, but the cura-
tors in Vaticine City do not know it.
• …because it can save the life of someone im-
portant, but the Church is loath to allow it out
of the city.
• …because its power can help to defeat a Villain,
but it costs the life of the user, and the Church
would never agree to such a plan.
• …because it is a fake, but the curators do not
believe it and the Hero needs to steal it to force
the counterfeiter into the open.
• …because the patron tells the Hero one of the
above reasons, but is actually tricking her in
order to use, sell or keep the relic for himself.
The Hero is invited to a special event…
• …a wedding for a pair of nobles, to be con-
ducted by a high-ranking Church official such
as an archbishop, and of course others wish to
disrupt the ceremony.
• …a funeral for a friend or ally receiving a
special service in recognition of her accom-
4 Introduction
plishments from the Church and a place in the
catacombs of Vaticine City, but someone wants
to steal something from the body—or the
Hero discovers that the body is not his ally, but
someone else entirely!
• …a baptism for the child of a noble family, but of
course this event becomes a whisper campaign of
treachery and favor-currying, especially when the
child falls mysteriously ill, and the parents, citing
fears that they refuse to elaborate upon, demand
that the Church call in an exorcist.
• …the graduation of a new set of recruits among
the Solomons, but the recruits start dying one
by one under mysterious circumstances that
seem to point toward the Hero.
• …supposedly a theological conference and a
discussion of doctrine, but in reality the Inqui-
sition hosts the show to look for people who
might be scholars or sympathizers with the
Invisible College so that they can be targeted
for elimination.
An employer offers the Hero a favor and a sum of
money if she performs a service…
• …of smuggling contraband into Vaticine City
for a member of the administration who is se-
cretly corrupt (which, of course, ideally makes a
new Villain for the Hero).
• …of performing a dead drop in the Hierophan-
tic Basilica of the Prophet with a message to
be picked up by a contact, but something goes
wrong and the contact comes to her directly,
badly wounded, and asks the Hero to help with
another task (pick anything else from this list).
• …of entering the city to make contact with
someone who has been targeted for assassi-
nation and has been hiding in Vaticine City
for safety, but now must get out without the
assassins catching her.
• …of getting the blessing of every cardinal in the
city on a sacred item and bringing it back.
• …of carrying a part of an artifact and matching
it to the other half, stored secretly in the city—
the results of which matching are unknown.
Ambassadors arrive from the other great religious
centers, Iskandar and Quamontaigne…
• …attending a conference to discuss theolog-
ical matters, but this serves as a backdrop for
cultural tensions as political members of the
Vaticine Church work quietly to discredit their
counterparts.
• …and the Hero stumbles across a plot by one
of the delegations to assassinate a high-ranking
member of the Church and frame another
Church member for it.
• …and the Hero steps in when one of the am-
bassadors becomes very ill and cannot attend a
lavish ball held in honor of the meeting, so he
must attend with a list of people of importance
and pertinent topics that the ambassador was
supposed to address.
• …bearing a gift that they wish to give to the
Church in the spirit of cooperation, but one
which is dangerous and must be stored in the
Vaticine Vault. Before it can be stored, though,
a thief steals it, and the Hero is the only one to
catch sight of a clue to her identity.
• …and the Hero finds himself drawn into a
secret conference as the ambassadors reveal
that the three sacred cities (Vaticine City, Qua-
montaigne and Iskandar) sit atop Syrneth—or
older!—ruins harboring some kind of super-
natural power, perhaps a network of magical
energies made as an ancient prison, and only by
working together can the authorities of all three
cities maintain the trap now while someone
tries to free the beings contained within…
which, according to the documents held by the
archivists of Vaticine City, may well be Legion!

7th Sea | Vaticine City 5

 Section One
THE FOUNDATIONS OF A CITY OF THEUS
I
n antiquity, the Vaticine Church had
its home in Numa. With the fall of
that empire, the Church remained a
sovereign and powerful city-state for a
thousand years, carefully threading among the inter-
ests of the Vodacce families who rose to absorb the
power vacuum that formed after Numa’s collapse.
The support of the Church’s center of power and
the hierophant’s home provided a source of pride for
the people of the Vodacce peninsula, who pointed
to the buildings and gardens of that city-state as an
example of the elevated arts of their people and their
special connection to Theus.
In the 13th Century, the Third Prophet declared
Castille the new home of the Vaticine Church. This
led to the Moonshadow War, a massive struggle
in which the Third Prophet worked to unify the
Church under his leadership and to project his force
from his island of exile. The location of the Third
Prophet’s exile proved to be a boon for him, as at the
time Castille was a heavily fractured country, riven
by regional differences. Individual dons vied for the
aid and support of the Prophet’s Church, allowing
him to cement a wide range of alliances and thus to
concentrate his efforts abroad, rather than engaging
in petty wars with each Castillian province.
Of course, the reconstruction of Vaticine City
took decades—building a cathedral was and still is a
generational undertaking. Still, many of the offices,
gardens, libraries and residences went up quickly
around the estate while the Hierophantic Basilica
became the central hub of the city.
The prosperity of Vaticine City and its develop-
ment as the new international hub of the Vaticine
Church deeply wounded Vodacce pride, but the
Castillians continued to foster the city with their
devotion. Even after the Prophet’s eventual death,
the Vaticine Church remained in its new home.
In the hundreds of intervening years, the Church
worked hand in hand with the Castillians to develop
the city from a nominal port town into a majestic
6 Section 1 | The Foundations of a City of Theus
monument to Theus.
When Good King Sandoval unified Castille, Va-
ticine City and its environs became the new capital
city of the country.
Adventure in a City of Faith
For 300 years after its establishment, Vaticine City
carefully walked the fine line between being an in-
fluential world power and remaining a neutral party
that played host to all of the nations of Théah but
(ostensibly) favored none. This position fractured
with the War of the Cross starting in 1618 AV. The
struggle to contain Objectionism forced the Church
to wade more strongly into diplomatic waters.
Instead of simply collecting tithes and gifts from
assorted noble patrons, the War forced the cardinals
and Hierophant to argue for the supremacy of the
Vaticine Church. Important kings and influential
nobles were invited to the city to receive blessings
or warnings in exchange for promises of support
against the Objectionist threat.
The War of the Cross concluded in a stalemate in
1648 AV, leaving the Nation of Eisen in ruins and
the power of the Church seriously challenged. The
result was that Vaticine City had to open its doors
to a flood of ambassadors, patrons and favor-seek-
ers. The internal struggles between cardinals became
complicated with a web of external influences.
In the current day, Vaticine City, a center of polit-
ical and religious power, carefully straddles the de-
mands of the Castillian government in conjunction
with its mandate as a guardian of moral leadership.
While the island upon which the City is built is still
beholden to the Castillian crown, the Church has
broad authority to exercise its own policing and gov-
ernance, especially concerning matters of religion.
So Who Is in Charge, Exactly?
Vaticine City is in a politically complicated situa-
tion because it lies entirely within the boundaries
of Castillian territory, and Good King Sandoval’s
capital is likewise on the isle. So who is actually in
charge? That all depends on what is at stake.
In theory, the Church and Castille have two
separate spheres of influence. The Crown handles
secular affairs, such as prosecuting criminals, ne-
gotiating treaties and managing land. The Church
deals with moral issues, such as heresy, charity and
education. The two support each other and cooper-
ate in dealing with criminals and civic issues.
In practice, the Church often has wide latitude to
detain people for nebulous offenses. Nearly anyone
can be accused of heresy or immoral behavior and
kept by the Church for “correction.” Depending
upon who is involved, this could be anything from
a stern lecture to a session of Inquisitorial torture.
Conversely, Castillian authorities, loath to step on
Church toes, very rarely engage in disputes with
the Church when the gendarmes arrest someone—
but they will take action against people who cause
problems in the city at large, especially for offenses
not under Church jurisdiction, such as forging offi-
cial government documents or engaging in unsanc-
tioned public duels.
The real answer, of course, is, “Who will give your
Heroes more of a hard time?” Even a Hero innocent
Navigating the City
When using Vaticine City for your location of
adventure, there is no need to exhaustively detail
every alley, building and outhouse. Rather, focus on
extraordinary places, where your Heroes will have
memorable encounters. The mundane spaces in be-
tween, or the places you won’t visit, aren’t as import-
ant to your story, so you can fill them in with brief
notes of cracked stone streets or old structures and
concentrate your descriptions on the sites providing
the greatest drama.
Unlike many of the cities across Théah, the heart
of Vaticine City is not a sprawling urban metropolis
filled with craftspeople, markets, taverns and acade-
mies. The city proper, which lies within a high stone
of any wrongdoing may find herself arrested if it is
convenient to a Villain’s plans and if the Hero does
not have enough political clout to make getting
arrested a major problem. (A politically savvy Hero
with lots of connections more likely finds himself
invited to tea to talk like civilized foes.) Similarly,
a Hero protected from Church prosecution (say, a
priest in good standing with the patronage of an
archbishop or cardinal) might be arrested by the
civil authorities of Castille on false or trumped-up
charges. A Villain can always get the local consta-
bles to take action by wielding Church influence
and his position to request their aid, after all. What
this means for you, Game Master, is that Heroes
can run into problems from either direction; a Hero
who has protection due to position and prestige
with Castille can still be arrested by gendarmes
within Church territory for “moral failings,” and a
Hero with deep ties to the Church can be detained
by the Castillian constables. Even if a Hero is not
thrown into jail, just losing time in an interrogation
can be an uncomfortable situation.
And let’s face it—if your Heroes do not spend
at least one session running from the police, they
aren’t getting into enough trouble!
wall, is built as a reflection of the “ideal city”—a
place filled with meandering gardens, shrines,
museums, art galleries and the private residences of
high-ranking Church officials, as well as guest quar-
ters for visiting dignitaries or Church officials visit-
ing from their posts in other Nations. Surrounding
this idyllic center, a sprawling metropolis supports
the Church buildings within and further serves as
a major port of call for Castille. Visitors find access
to much of the inner Church-owned part restricted
to those who have an invitation or business inside,
but it is not hard to do business—servants come
and go daily to bring food, clean laundry, see to the
upkeep of the gardens and sometimes provide more
salacious services.
7th Sea | Vaticine City 7
 Seeing the Sights
A simple way for a Hero to keep track of her
location is with the Hierophantic Basilica, which
towers over the rest of the city. From any place in
the city, its spires are visible. The Plaza of the First
Prophet, outside the Hierophantic Basilica, provides
a large, open space, one of the few locations open
to public visitors. Paths meander through gardens
from the plaza and lead to the various museums and
residences of the city, but visitors are not allowed in
the gardens without an invitation. The Plaza itself
opens to the Avenida de los Santos, a main thor-
oughfare through the primary gate in the outer wall
lined with cafés, shops and services that provide for
the needs of Vaticine City.
The walled grounds include, in addition to the
Hierophantic Basilica and the many gardens, a
suite of museums, extensive libraries, three smaller
churches, palaces for the hierophant and visiting
cardinals, offices for the administration of the city,
the Vaticine Bank, a full college, a convent and of
course fountains, statues and art pieces. Welcome
visitors likely stay in guest rooms staffed by servants
(or even attended by low-ranking members of the
Church, if the guests are very important); a Hero
sneaking about uninvited quickly discovers that he
must leave the city proper to find food and lodging,
unless he finds his way into the secret chambers and
catacombs below and manages to avoid notice.
Located as it is on an isle off the coast of Castille,
Vaticine City has changed hands many times among
Numa, Vodacce and Castille. The Third Prophet,
exiled to the island, converted the city and turned it
into a central location from which the Church could
launch its reforms (and conquests) under his direc-
tion. The style of the city’s buildings thus reflects a
combination of Castillian and Numanari buildings,
with soaring peaks and pillars, rooms connected
by outdoor arcades rather than interior doors and
baroque styles inherited from Vodacce but uniquely
incorporating Castillian elements influenced by the
dry climate of southern Castille. This means paint-
ings and precious metals line all the tall, angular
towers, high arches and the domes of the churches,
but many of the attached buildings have flat, slate
roofs and arched arcades. Architecture of some of
the fountains and guesthouses emulates that of the
8 Section 1 | The Foundations of a City of Theus
Vatican City vs.
Vaticine City
Vaticine City in 7th Sea does, of course, have
strong analogs to the real-world Vatican City,
but the differences are significant. Foremost
among these is that Vaticine City is a much
more recent city, founded just after 1000 AV
and built in a different environment with a dif-
ferent climate. As the spiritual heart of Castille
as well as the Church, Castillian architecture
and styles are very common, though some
places “borrow” the baroque style of Vodacce.
The massive artistic frescoes and statues of old
Numa could not be safely relocated, so contro-
versy still rages over which art is more “clas-
sical,” but the modern artists of the age have
committed their work to Vaticine City—which
means that Théah’s equivalents of the Sistine
Chapel and The Last Judgment all exist in this
city rather than in Vodacce. Nevertheless,
wealthy Vodacce patrons still employ painters
and sculptors to make great works of inspira-
tional art for the homes and churches of the
island princes, as if a competition is going on.
Additionally, the division of the state of
Vatican City and the Holy See that exists in our
modern world came about as a result of the
Lateran Treaty of 1929. In 7th Sea, Vaticine
City still remains a part of Castille, and, while
the Church has wide latitude to handle its
own internal affairs, much of the island upon
which the city is built belongs to Castille and is
administered under Castillian laws and culture.
The strong reverence that Castillians hold for
the Church makes this situation tenable, but
uncomfortable political struggles do some-
times happen.
Crescent Empire, with a focus on geometric shapes
instead of artistic depictions.
A Hero moving about incognito finds that she can
easily enter the city under the guise of a local laborer
from a Castillian-controlled area, although some of
the servants are well-known enough that residents
might raise questions if they do not recognize her.
The Castillian buildings tend to have flat roofs that
offer ample opportunities for nighttime roof-run-
ning, and many of the residences and libraries have
secret passages—especially the ones that lead to the
meeting places of heretical groups or Inquisitors.
In addition to the properties in the walled part
of Vaticine City, the outer city is part of the city-
state at large and is still under Vaticine authority,
even though much of it has the trappings of normal
urban life. A Hero could be walking the esplanade
near Rio de Dios in what otherwise looks like a
southern Castillian city, only to discover an office
emblazoned with the crest of the Church and
guarded by a pair of Solomons—the elite soldiers
and bodyguards of the Church. The Hero soon
discovers that the Church uses this office to conduct
business in the outer city or as a private location
for an official who has reasons to work beyond the
shadow of the Hierophantic Basilica. As the city has
grown, areas outside of Church control have sprung
up on the outskirts, creating a series of nested
areas of influence with the Vaticine Church in the
center, the day-to-day city businesses supporting the
Church as a middle ring and non-Church-owned
homes and businesses beyond that. If your Heroes
include a noble from Castille, he might even own
property next door to one of the Vaticine build-
ings, which presents its own set of challenges—he
may find the Church snooping on his business or
uncover a conspiracy on the neighboring land but be
legally unable to challenge it!
How Long Does it Take to Get There?
And Where’s My Map?
You don’t need a map of Vaticine City. Really, you
don’t.
What is important to your Heroes is that they
have adventures in a series of interesting, intercon-
nected scenes. This means that a map exhaustively
showing every park bench, apartment and rain
barrel fills up your scenes with trivia that adds little
to the game. If the Heroes get into an altercation
in a city street, it is up to the Game Master to set
the scene and the players to help describe it as it
unfolds. Is one of the Heroes in one of the gardens,
chasing a mysterious messenger? Of course she
jumps over hedges and fights around fountains and
scrambles to avoid trampling an exotic flowerbed
or a memorial marker. On the streets of the city
outside the wall? Naturally Heroes find all the
same carts, animals, vendors, beggars, stalls, alleys,
balconies and construction scaffolds that you see
anywhere in Théah.
But how long does it take to get from one end
of the Avenida de los Santos to the inside of the
Hierophantic Basilica of the Prophets? Why, it
happens at the speed of plot, of course.
In keeping with the dramatic traditions of 7th
Sea, your scenes should not be dictated by a chart
telling you that it is a five-minute walk from the
Hierophantic Basilica to the Secundus Library, but
twenty minutes from the Secundus Library to the
Vaticine Bank. If your Heroes are not in a hurry,
then it does not matter. If they are in a hurry, then
what matters is not whether they make a die roll to
make it somewhere in time, but rather what happens
along the way and how they react if they cannot get
there in time.
So instead of asking yourself, “Can the Heroes
make it there in time?” try asking, “What choice do
they have to make to get there in time?” or “What
will they do if they don’t make it?”
Your Heroes race down the streets to get from
outside the outer wall into the plaza and down into
a secret chamber where the Inquisition tortures
an innocent ally…and the Solomons stop them at
the plaza and tell them they cannot enter the city
without a written document. If they fight, they
might win, but it may take so long that they cannot
save their ally. If they try to talk their way past, they
could run into the same time crunch. Can they find
another way in? Can they plead to a passing official
for a temporary pass so that they can race inside?
Do they lie outrageously to get past the Solomons?
How they proceed tells you about who they are and
what they value!
Or your Heroes have just learned that a Villain has
planted petards around the Secundus Library and
plans to blow them up in five minutes! The players
ask how long it takes to get there. Instead of looking
on a chart and saying, “Well, according to the book,
you’re lucky because it only takes three minutes to get
there from the Hierophant’s Palace,” you just say…
“Too long.” Now what do the Heroes do?
7th Sea | Vaticine City 9
 See 7th Sea: Second Edition Core Rulebook,
page 186, for information about setting up a Dra-
matic Sequence.
Use locations to set up tension and force the
players to react on their toes. They will surprise
you! (And if you absolutely must have a map, snag
a layout from any southern European city—in this
age of the internet, it is not too hard, and it is more
important to make your story dramatically interest-
ing than to make your vision of Vaticine City exactly
the same as someone else’s vision.)
A Few Notable Areas
In addition to the locations described in some of the
later chapters, here are some spots that your Heroes
should visit while in Vaticine City.
The Hierophantic Basilica of the Prophet is,
of course, the massive heart of the Church. This
soaring structure is over 500 years old and decorated
with sharp towers, massive domes and elaborate-
ly painted murals all over the interior. The intent
is to take away the viewer’s breath with the sheer
scope and beauty of the place—visiting it is, itself, a
religious experience. The Church still holds regular
services here, though usually only locals and special
invitees can attend (as there is not enough room to
house the entire city).
The Hierophantic Basilica also has stairs that
descend into the Necropolis, as well as secret exits in
case an army ever attacks the city and the attending
priests and archbishops need to evacuate quickly.
Heroes visiting for the first time are likely to be
overwhelmed by the sheer scale and beauty of the
Basilica, and the faithful sometimes report being
moved to visions. (A religious vision is, of course,
a great way to motivate your Heroes in a cryptic
fashion.)
Outside of the Hierophantic Basilica is a large
plaza that once held gardens inside the wall and
buildings outside, but these were demolished a
century ago and slowly replaced with a massive open
space so that visitors can gather and view the Basil-
ica, listen to pronouncements and assemble outside
the gate without choking traffic in and out of the
city. The plaza is finished with smooth stone marked
with narrow grooves and a central obelisk. While
the obelisk functions as a sundial, secondary grooves
10 Section 1 | The Foundations of a City of Theus
radiate from the main lines and create the appear-
ance of grand geometric shapes hidden in the stone.
Rumor holds that viewing the plaza from exactly
the correct angle allows one to see the lines forming
some kind of design, though nobody could say what
its purpose might be.
The Secundus Library (sometimes called the
“Soaring Archives” because of its grand, vaulted
bookshelves) is the largest library in Vaticine City.
This library holds copies of every religious text
relevant to the Church, as well as many classical
texts and quite a few that are heretical or from other
faiths. (The latter are kept under lock and key, and
only the head librarian and his assistants can allow
access to them.) The Archives also hold copies of
important official documents such as proclamations
by past hierophants and copies of treaties, land
grants and records of Church appointments. A
visitor should not always expect to find every book
he wants, though—books can be on loan to scholars
and clerics in the city or abroad, and some very rare
books might be found only in private collections
(though the archivists do, if pressed, pay hand-
somely for authentic historical texts relevant to the
Church and to philosophy and learning in general).
A Hero can also win friends and favors by donating
or recovering important books.
The Archives do, of course, contain a significant
set of secret rooms, passages and basements, some
of which hold private reading rooms or special
collections, especially for books about sorcery, early
or pre-Vaticine theology and suppressed heretical
doctrines. If your Heroes seek forbidden knowledge,
it is probably in here somewhere, likely protected by
lectors and librarians—and, of course, the Inquisi-
tion.
See Section Four for more information about the
Secundus Library.
The Vaticine Bank handles the financial trans-
actions of the city. This includes both the mundane
business of collecting funds from the Church’s hold-
ings abroad and the business of supporting the hi-
erophant and the cardinals. The Bank can hold valu-
ables in trust for visitors, and rumor has it that the
Bank still holds certain documents or treasures left
decades or centuries ago by visitors now deceased.
The Bank occupies a precarious position because it
is not supposed to engage in usury. Furthermore, the
hierophant is supposed to be a spiritual office, but
many hierophants have engaged the trappings of
wealth. Thus, the continued existence of the Bank
is a hotly debated topic, and the Church forbids the
Bank from directly funding or interfering in other
Nations’ affairs. Naturally, this means that some
group in the Bank almost certainly does, and your
Heroes could be employed either for or against the
Bank to support or oppose a major financial dealing,
such as the purchase of an estate for the Church, an
insurance transaction with the Vendel League or the
payment of a ransom to rescue a Church cleric from
an irreligious Villain.
The Vaticine Necropolis is a series of tunnels
anywhere from 15 to 40 feet below ground, run-
ning through the entire inner city and extending
into parts of the city beyond the wall. Some of the
tunnels and chambers predate the foundation of
the city itself. While many are well-known and
are used to inter the mortal remains of clerics and
administrators from Vaticine City, the Necropolis is
also filled with narrow passages, secret byways and
occasionally ladders or stairs that head to even-low-
er levels that are not well-charted. Visitors are not
permitted without an escort, but Vaticine officials
looking to conduct secret meetings sometimes use
the Necropolis as a shortcut to reach other parts of
the city unseen. Rumor holds that the Necropolis
has passages connecting to every other major build-
ing, that various cultic groups within the Church
have secret meetings here, and that there may be
people living below. One persistent rumor holds that
the camerlengo of one of the early hierophants (sto-
ries differ about whether it is the First Hierophant,
the Second or the most recent) still lives and resides
in the Necropolis as a shriveled, withered ancient,
though nobody can explain how this could happen
or why.
On New Year’s Eve and Legion’s Night, the ostia-
rii specifically close the Necropolis and allow no one
in without an exorcist. Nobody goes in and, more
importantly, nobody comes out. Period.
The Shrine of the Mariah occupies a garden plot
about 300 feet in diameter. It contains a statue of
a rough female figure holding a swaddled infant;
both have indistinct features. This shrine holds
a special place for some members of the Church,
who hold that the mother of the First Prophet has
a preferential position in canon because she alone
took an intangible ideal—a messenger bringing the
words of Theus to all of humanity—and birthed
that ideal into physical form in the material world.
Debate still carries on in the Church about whether
the mother of the First Prophet deserves a role as
a more venerated saint than others, or whether the
Church still considers her a fallible human because
she is, like all of Theus’ creations, a flawed vessel for
a pure soul. The shrine is maintained by clerics who
favor the former view, and stories tell that the statue
sometimes provides miracles on behalf of mothers
seeking solace.
7th Sea | Vaticine City 11
 The Vaticine Vault is a secure chamber construct-
ed to hold particularly important relics, art objects
and dangerous devices that the Church considers
too risky to make available to the public. The keeper
of the Vault is a titled archbishop of no diocese giv-
en a special detachment of senior Solomons for the
protection of the items within. When the Church
manages to collect a powerful sorcerous item, a
Syrneth artifact or a saintly relic too fragile or
important to place on display, the keeper sequesters
it behind the triple-locked iron doors of the Vault.
While there is a publicly known Vault generally dis-
cussed as an “open secret,” the real Vault hides in the
tunnels of the Necropolis, and only those who know
how to find it can access it. See Section Four for
more information about the Vault and its contents.
Avenida de los Santos is the broad avenue that
leads to the main plaza in front of the Hierophantic
Basilica of the Prophet. This avenue enters through
a large gate in the wall that protects the inner city,
although the Church still owns and controls the
avenue and much of the city around it. The avenue
boasts three-story buildings with apartments on top
and shops below, including groceries, sellers of reli-
gious icons and books and even a café (as coffee has
received the blessing of the hierophant only in the
last century). The avenue is fairly old, dating back to
the founding of Vaticine City, even though the plaza
in front of the Hierophantic Basilica was reworked
and finished within the last century.
The apartments along the Avenida are prestigious
and expensive, in spite of their age. The café is a
popular meeting spot for people entering or leaving
the inner city, and servants frequently purchase
fruits and bread from the grocers along the avenue
to bring into the city for their patrons.
Titles
While the political head of Vaticine City is the
hierophant, the city still functions even with a
vacancy in that high office, guided by cardinals and
the camerlengo. A visitor to Vaticine City should
familiarize himself with the various Church offices
and the local authorities so as to avoid any awkward
international incidents.
Abbot/Abbess: An abbot or abbess is the head
of a monastery. Depending upon the monastery and
12 Section 1 | The Foundations of a City of Theus
its rule, this may be a lay abbot or abbess (one who
is not a priest). Though tradition expects abbots and
abbesses to live simply like the brothers or sisters
of the monastery, in modern days, some abbots or
abbesses ignore this convention and live in sump-
tuous quality with an exemption from the Church.
This is especially common in cases where the abbot
or abbess is a political appointee to strengthen ties
with local landowners.
Acolyte: An acolyte is a minor order concerned
with the preparation of the altar and the sacred
spaces of the Church. Acolytes assist in bringing
forth implements for services. The position of aco-
lyte does not have Church authority, but it is often a
stepping-stone to the priesthood.
Archbishop: An archbishop manages a large met-
ropolitan see or a significantly old and established
non-metropolitan see of considerable historical and
political interest. Because their sees are important to
the Church, archbishops often exercise considerable
political clout. Occasionally, an archbishop may be
appointed without oversight of a particular see, as a
political title for someone who works directly in or
for Vaticine City.
Bishop: A bishop is an administrator over a sim-
ple territory of the Church, which typically includes
several parishes but not a heavily populated or
historically significant area. Someone who needs to
communicate with a Church authority above a local
parish priest likely goes up to the bishop or one of
his or her assistants. Bishops can ordain new priests
and bishops.
Camerlengo: The camerlengo is the cardinal
assigned to oversee the property and finances of
the hierophant’s estate and of Vaticine City during
an interregnum, when there is no hierophant. This
made the position highly important since 1666
AV, as the college of cardinals has not been able to
appoint a successor.
Cardinal: The cardinals, chosen from among the
ranks of the archbishops by election, have only the
privilege of electing the next hierophant. In practice,
they collect a great deal of wealth and influence due
to their closeness to the other cardinals and the
hierophant. Cardinals tend to be elevated as political
appointments to strengthen the position of the hi-
erophant or to encourage alliances with noble fami-
lies whose younger sons and daughters have entered
the priesthood. Hierophants also select cardinals as
personal advisors. Because only ten cardinal seats
exist and the Vodacce control half of them, this is a
hotly contested position.
Deacon: The deacon is a vanishing order of
service now commonly used as a stepping-stone to
priesthood. Deacons traditionally perform services
such as messenger duties or charitable administra-
tion. Most deacons since 1666 AV are assistants to
cardinals.
Exorcists: Exorcists are a minor order concerned
with performing specialized rites to drive out the
power of Legion. Often present at baptisms, they
may be called as specialists if the Church suspects
the interference of Legion. As a minor order, ex-
orcists are not fully vested priests and do not have
Church authority. The Inquisition takes a special in-
terest in an exorcist who shows particular devotion
in opposing sorcerers, and often recruits him.
Gendarmes: The gendarmes are essentially the
city guard for Vaticine City. Not priests nor part of
any order, they usually do not have any specialized
training. If a Hero finds herself on the run from the
guard, most likely she has to confront or evade a
Brute Squad of gendarmes.
Lector: A lector is a minor order invested with
the authority to read from the texts of the Church.
Since many of the old texts are written in ancient
Théan, a language that predates even the Numanari
tongue, this position requires some degree of edu-
cation and is usually reserved for eloquent speakers
who can project. It does not carry religious author-
ity or the ability to make rulings or perform rites.
Perhaps unusually, lectors are frequently appointed
from those who serve the Church but have no desire
to become priests or deacons.
Legate of the Hierophant: The legate of the
hierophant is the hierophant’s personal messenger.
This position is close to the hierophant and often
privy to the internal planning of that office, so it has
considerable power in the form of knowledge and
the ability to schedule audiences.
Mirabilis: Literally “teacher,” a member of Ordo
Doctorem Mirabilis is an ordained priest who
has also had a University education in liberal arts,
history and language. In addition to studying moral

7th Sea | Vaticine City 13

 scripture and theology, a mirabilis pursues a broad
understanding of art, culture and natural philoso-
phy. Priests with this title work to bridge the gaps
between the secular and theological worlds. Most
go on to give lectures and write books, but some go
out into the world to hunt down lost relics or to put
their special knowledge to use.
Monk/Nun: Monks and nuns are not ordained,
so they do not have authority, but instead they
have chosen to live by a rule—a set of behavioral
codes that often set them apart from the world.
Depending upon the particular rule, monks or nuns
may be isolated, or they may serve as diplomats or
scholars. Individual monks or nuns might also take
more-restrictive vows. Some monks or nuns receive
dispensation by the Church to loosen their rule;
traditionally this allows them leeway in performing
their functions, but it is commonly used to exempt
certain positions from the more onerous restrictions
of the service, especially for politically important
appointees from noble families.
Nuncio: The nuncio is the hierophant’s special
representative for an area. The nuncio typically
14 Section 1 | The Foundations of a City of Theus
serves as an ambassador to another nation. Thus,
there is a nuncio for Church relations to Castille,
a nuncio for Vodacce and so on. Smaller areas of
significance may have a nuncio appointed as well.
Ostiarius: An ostiarius is the minor order of gate-
keepers of the church—the door guard, who makes
sure that no one enters who is not of the Church
during ceremonies and sees to the opening and clos-
ing the various doors of the church. The ostiarius is
often entrusted with keys and may be armed. This is
the lowest minor order, as it requires little commit-
ment and no religious knowledge. As a minor order,
it does not have Church authority, although Heroes
who want to enter a particular building discreetly
might do so by tricking or bribing an ostiarius.
Primate: The title of primate typically goes to
the bishop of the oldest diocese or archdiocese in a
country or region. The primate exercises consider-
able authority over all other diocese in the area, so
this is a position of great political power, but still
answerable to Vaticine City.
Priest: A priest is the ordained spiritual guide of a
local community or parish. A priest has some degree
of spiritual authority, but she can be overruled by Infallibility?
higher authorities in the Church. The status of
priests in civil society depends greatly upon the re- In our world, the doctrine of papal infallibili-
gion—priests in Castille and Vodacce often exercise ty—which states that the pope cannot err in
matters of faith and morality when speaking
considerable authority, while priests in Montaigne
officially as the head of the Church—was not
are generally out of favor.
established until 1870. In 7th Sea, no doc-
Solomon: The Solomon school practices focused
trine of infallibility exists, although opposing
bodyguarding techniques and traditional fighting the teachings of the Hierophant rapidly opens
styles for the defense of important figures in the city. oneself up to charges of heresy.
A Solomon carries out martial duties on behalf of
the Church, though he rarely finds himself beyond
the walls of Vaticine City unless called upon for a
special mission. A Solomon typically comes from
the ranks of the gendarmes, and the captain of the Interregnum: The period between the death (or
Solomons accepts only the most skilled and dedicat- resignation) of one hierophant and the ascension of
ed apprentices. On very rare—dare we say “Hero- the next.
ic”—occasions, an outside duelist of devout faith Minor Order: The minor orders are functionar-
and good character might be offered an invitation ies who assist in Church duties but have not been
to join, should circumstances merit such an unusual ordained as priests. The minor orders, in order
recruitment. from most to least important, are acolytes, exorcists,
Vicar: A vicar is the designated representative of a lectors and ostiarii.
bishop. A vicar must also be educated, as she is often Parish: A single area of territory under Church
called upon to handle matters delegated to her by administration—it is not uncommon for a single
the bishop. The principal vicar over an entire diocese town to be one parish, with a priest and a few mem-
is the vicar general. bers of minor orders to assist.
Rule: Monks and nuns live by a rule, a behavioral
Terms code for a monastic order that delineates restrictions
Diocese: A collection of parishes forms a diocese, on their behavior. Despite living under a rule, monks
administered by a bishop. and nuns are not priests. Rather, they conduct
Heathen: A heathen is, in general parlance, a specialized functions such as meditation and prayer,
rustic person who holds supernatural beliefs not of diplomacy and transcription.
Church doctrine. The term is used somewhat inter-
changeably to indicate a person who lives so far from
civilization that he has no contact with the Church,
and to mean a person who holds various folk beliefs.
Note that a heathen is usually someone outside the
Church, as opposed to a heretic (below), someone
baptized into the Church but holding unconven-
tional (and proscribed) beliefs.
Heresy: An important distinction is that heresy
applies only to a person who has been baptized but
who refuses the teaching of the Church. Thus, those
who have not been baptized into the Church, such
as Crescents and pagans, cannot be heretics—the
Church uses this term for those who break with
doctrine, such as members of forbidden orders (see
Section Three).

7th Sea | Vaticine City 15

 Section Two
INFLUENTIAL PERSONAGES
V
aticine City’s many influential people
include Church officials and foreign
nobles, Guild Duelists in service to the
Church, merchants and investigators,
and even the criminals who supply the hidden,
sordid appetites in the shadows of the outer city—
and sometimes closer to the Hierophantic Basilica.
A Hero visiting Vaticine City may find himself
opposed by the Inquisition, engaged by the Church
or caught in the middle with other power groups
jockeying for position.
Almost everyone met in the inner parts of Vati-
cine City is associated in an important way with the
Church, from the simplest ostiarius to the Solo-
mon-trained guards and all the way up to the arch-
bishops and cardinals. Outside the inner wall, the
rest of the city-state is populated with a wide range
of people, predominantly of Castillian heritage,
conducting business in the shadow of the Church.
Heroes can find tailors, grocers, swordsmiths,
thieves—all the staples of city life. Of course most
of the people in or near the city profess devout ado-
ration of the Church, but proximity is no guarantee
of fidelity—some simple shopkeepers may be more
pious than cardinals, after all. Theus has determined
that humanity comes in wondrous variety.
The kinds of people that Heroes generally will not
find in Vaticine City include:
• Sorcerers
• Objectionists
• Crescents
• Open heretics
…but even these are subject to exceptions. Vis-
iting noble families sometimes include sorcerers.
Objectionists and Crescents might visit secretly to
ferret out hidden faults of the clergy or openly to
engage in theological debates. Heretics from various
branches of the Church sometimes hide within
the city itself, seeking out others with like-minded
beliefs and spreading their faith surreptitiously (see
Section Three for some examples of such groups).
16 Section 2 | Influential Personages
The characters presented here represent several
of the kinds of allies and enemies that Heroes will
encounter in Vaticine City—whether of the Church
or not. Consider them inspirational figures to give
you ideas about the kinds of people that Heroes
might meet and what they want. Naturally, even
the Church is not unified and has many competing
political agendas; a Hero will have no shortage of
patrons to send her on unusual tasks, or foes to face
while trying to complete them!
A Reminder About Starting Stuff in
Vaticine City
Heroes who get into combats in Vaticine City fight
at a disadvantage because the city’s gendarmes
receive support from the extremely well-trained
Solomons, who know every route and every alley-
way in near-complete detail. Threatening members
of the Church or, worse still, shedding blood on sacred
ground is a great road to excommunication. An
excommunicated Hero, remember, cannot be aided
by anyone of the faith; he is subject to arrest and
possibly torture, and is outcast from society. People
who know of the excommunication may flatly refuse
to even speak with the Hero, and the superstitious
believe that there may be dire supernatural conse-
quences as well.
High Inquisitor Enrique
Cortarini
Enrique Cortarini was born the fifth child to a poor
but devout family. Smaller, younger and weaker than
his siblings, young Cortarini was often bullied by his
older brothers. His elder sister suggested to her par-
ents that her quiet and thoughtful youngest brother
might do well if they gave him over to the Church
to work and attend school. With so many mouths to
feed, they agreed, and, after exchanging some favors,
the Church took over the young boy’s upbringing.
 Initially frightened, Enrique soon found strength
and solace in the cathedrals and chapels of Vaticine
City and an honest and devout love for Theus. He
was educated and, like many young men in his posi-
tion, commenced down the road of the priesthood.
With his new foundation, he also discovered talents
in a new area: politics. Where he was unable to
stand physically against his brothers, he now found
words and logic to be all the weapons he needed.
Each argument and negotiation was its own mirac-
ulous puzzle to be solved with accord as the prize at
the end. As his prowess grew, the Church sent him
abroad to assist elder bishops and cardinals with
their own tasks, bringing his mastery of language
to persuade rulers, leaders and Merchant Princes
to favor the Church of the Prophets. During this
time, he came into contact with the rising star of the
Inquisition, Esteban Verdugo.
Verdugo’s hard policies initially reminded Cor-
tarini of the unpleasant way his brothers had acted
when he was a youth, but the Inquisitor’s zeal
intrigued him, and Verdugo—while not quite as
skilled in the art of debate—was unquestionably
fervent in his beliefs. His careful study of canon was
impressive, and the Inquisitor had already showed
proof of his beliefs in routing heretics. Cortarini
thought long on his meeting during the journey
back to Vaticine City. On his return, it was as if a
veil had been lifted from his eyes: he saw the hand
of Legion in the lax way the Church handled hereti-
cal ideas and beliefs, refusing to consider seriously
that saving souls was more important than answer-
ing petty questions. The Church needed a stronger
hand to guide it, and Verdugo was the man to do
the job.
In the decades since his personal revelation,
Enrique has risen in the Inquisition, becoming one
of Verdugo’s most trusted allies. He is the High
Inquisitor trusted with running the Inquisition in
Vaticine City itself. His friendship and alliance with
Verdugo has been strengthened over decades, and
he reports directly to Cardinal Verdugo.
Portraying High Inquisitor
Enrique Cortarini
Cortarini is a shorter man with a stout build round-
ed in middle age. His eyesight has begun to fail
from years of reading late into the night. He wears
a small set of spectacles over piercing blue eyes that
miss very little. His smile is kind and open, and
he has deep laugh lines by his eyes. His sandy hair
thins with a bald spot on the crown of his head. As
a man with years of political experience, he seems
at first glance a warm and charismatic individual
perhaps at odds with the fearsome reputation of the
Inquisition. He frequently goes out of his way to
enable charity, and even some of the staunchest of
the Inquisition’s critics regard him well. A politi-
cian he may be, but his devotion to the Church is
sincere and unquestionable even by his most fervent
detractors. His Inquisitors rarely give him anything
but the utmost respect, and his opponents cannot
help but question their own views a little after
speaking with him. His heartfelt charity and genial
nature make him well-liked despite his position in
the Inquisition.
Make no mistake, Verdugo has a reason to trust
Cortarini with this posting. While outwardly Corta-
rini is softness, there is a core of steel under the vel-
vet glove. He has developed a calculating intelligence
and often keeps a few steps ahead of his opponents.
High Inquisitor Cortarini is a highly intelligent,
charismatic planner. Words are his weapons, and
his arguments are lovingly crafted swords and siege
engines. As the High Inquisitor for Vaticine City
and as an adept politician, he has a large power base.
A true believer, he wishes to see all manner of heresy
routed from his beloved Church; if it takes a bit of
bullying to do that, so be it.
While Cortarini is in a strong position, the harder
the Church oppresses people, the more they seek
to escape. Despite his outwardly affable persona, he
has taken Verdugo’s directive to rout heresy in all
forms to heart and peruses suspected heretics with
cunning and determination, earning him resentment
and enemies. He has learned to use all weapons
at his disposal, including blackmail, to achieve his
goals. His power base is largely built on fear and
intimidation. His Inquisitors know he sees any
7th Sea | Vaticine City 17
 missteps, and they seek to curry his favor but always
look over their own shoulders. Every Inquisitor
knows that Cortarini is a powerful ally as long as
one does not fall to heresy and become his enemy.
A Hero who seeks out the High Inquisitor, or
who is brought before him, finds herself ushered
into a study in the Hierophant’s Palace more be-
fitting a kindly law professor. He has a significant
personal library of secular and canon law, carefully
curated to exclude heretical scientific or academic
works. He treats the visitor with care and respect,
even if she offers violence or insolence. Indeed, if
this is her first meeting with the High Inquisitor,
she likely finds him an affable and reasonable man,
though one who never wavers in his convictions.
The High Inquisitor’s goal is to root all here-
sy from Vaticine City and its surroundings, but
most especially within the most hallowed walls of
the Church. He wishes to purify the heart of the
Church on Théah, but his methods are those of
consistency, firmness and long-term planning. This
has led to some pragmatism on his part in whom
he deals with, in taking on more-underhanded
methods and the cultivation of a fatherly persona
to persuade. His pragmatism extends to thieves
and ne’er-do-wells, but, like a proper Inquisitor, he
cannot countenance sorcery.
Story Hooks
• High Inquisitor Cortarini offers a Hero his
personal support in one of her current tasks,
suddenly and unexpectedly, removing some
obstacle through the force of his political
might. He comes across as genial and affable, in
contrast to his organization’s reputation. After-
ward, the Hero finds herself very closely scru-
tinized by Inquisition agents, waiting for any
signs of heresy. Is Cortarini running a scheme
here? Is this just the price of his friendship?
• The High Inquisitor is investigating reports of
sorcery in the less savory parts of the city amid
the ne’er-do-wells. Concerned that the leads
may evaporate if too much attention is drawn,
he engages a Hero to pursue these leads before
sending the full force of the Inquisition. How-
ever, discretion is essential, and the Hero may
suffer repercussions if he fails to use tact.
18 Section 2 | Influential Personages
• Cortarini wishes to acquire a heretical book of
artwork from a noted academic engaged on a
speaking tour in the city, but instead of arrest-
ing the academic, he simply chooses to have a
Hero confiscate the book quietly—arresting
the popular speaker would lead to too much of
an outcry. When the Hero returns the book,
she finds that Cortarini has no intent to de-
stroy it; what does it contain that is so valuable
that even the High Inquisitor willingly suffers
its continued existence in spite of heresy?
Senior Archivist Ramon
Alonzo
Senior Archivist Ramon Alonzo was born in a small
Castillian town to a devout family of modest means
where his mother’s status as the daughter of a noble
household afforded him and his sister the ability to
get good schooling. His father was a well-decorated
galeno (combat medic) who saved the lives of his
compatriots. While his father served at war, young
Ramon dove into books of science, medicine and
alchemy, intending to follow in his father’s footsteps.
He discovered a wider world, grand in its mysteries
and designs, each answer posing new questions.
It was his father who suggested Theus gifted his
inquisitive nature and that young Ramon might
consider the Church. With his father’s blessing, and
his mother’s relief her son would not join the army,
Ramon entered the Church, where he found success
within the clergy who maintained the archives and
collected new works and relics.
Archivist Alonzo views all knowledge as part
of Theus’ grand puzzle and gift to the world. He
collects new works and ideas with great enthusi-
asm and little discrimination. With the rise of the
Inquisition’s power, this is not always the wisest or
safest course of action, but still Ramon wishes to
know more. The Inquisition has been suspicious of
his work, but thus far he has passed their notice as
he spends most of his time researching and inves-
tigating relics rather than preaching or outwardly
supporting new and potentially heretical ideas.
Given that all knowledge is good, this has led
Ramon Alonzo into some dangerous territory.
Sorcery is knowledge and part of the Divine Riddle
and therefore should be understood rather than
destroyed. After all, you must understand your
enemy to be able to defeat him. This strong belief,
dangerous though it is, has led the Senior Archivist
into forbidden research. He engages with a sorcerer
with whom he has leverage. Thus far he has not
been discovered.
Portraying Ramon Alonzo
The Senior Archivist is a tall, spare man. Filled with
energy and enthusiasm, he appears to never entirely
sit still. Even when seated, he taps his fingers or
stands suddenly to pace before sitting down again.
He is often seen fiddling with a small, wood-and-
metal inlay box with intricate designs carved in relief
on its surfaces. He has sandy hair, a pale complexion
and bright, hazel eyes. Despite his somewhat gangly
appearance, he is confident in his movements and
gestures expressively with his hands when he speaks.
His thirst for knowledge is cheerful and genuine,
and he adores nothing more than the exchange of
new facts or being able to convey new things. He is
extremely intelligent and well-educated on a vast
number of subjects. His thirst for knowledge has,
however, overridden common sense. He justifies his
dealings with his captive sorcerer by believing that
ignorance allows evil to thrive in Théah. If respon-
sible members of the Church do not understand
sorcery, how can they combat its influence?
His office in the inner city is small and filled
with books, barely having enough room for a desk
and chair. His desk is neat, but there are inevitably
books precariously stacked on the side. His far wall
has a small curio cabinet with some less-valuable rel-
ics and neatly written note cards detailing the basic
information of each item and where it lives within
the collection of the Archives.
Story Hooks
• The box Ramon Alonzo constantly fiddles
with has been stolen, and the Senior Archivist
engages the Heroes to retrieve it. He initially
says it is actually a benign relic of the Church,
but the Heroes discover it to be an object of
sorcerous origin, containing a small demon
7th Sea | Vaticine City 19
 that might create untold damage should it be
released.
• The Senior Archivist commissions a Hero to
retrieve a relic of the First Prophet supposedly
lost to time but rumored to have reappeared
in private collections of the nobility. It is to
be sold, and this presents an opportunity to
reclaim it. The nature of the relic relates to the
sorcerous senators of ancient Numa, and he
wishes to avoid panic should that be revealed to
the Inquisition or to the public at large. He be-
comes excited about the prospect, though, and
inadvertently reveals to the Hero that he has a
great deal of knowledge about sorcery, certainly
more than she expected. What does the Hero
do with that knowledge, especially if someone
else—such as the High Inquisitor—comes to
ask her about the meeting later?
• Alonzo dug deeply into forbidden knowledge
and now acts in concert with a demon. His
knowledge of relics within the vaults and
archives of Vaticine City and his senior status
give him and his infernal compatriot ample
access to draw forth more sorcerous power. A
Hero can brave the Senior Archivist’s new pow-
er and bring him down, or be engaged by the
Archivist to further his own infernal goals and
tempt her to join him on the darker path.
Rolando de Tierra,
Captive Sorcerer
Don Rolando de Tierra is the second son and third
child of the noble House de Tierra in Castille. Lack-
ing for nothing and with little expectations on him
beyond marrying well to further his family’s power
and influence, young Don Rolando received envi-
able freedom to do as he wanted. He bedded whom
he wished, drank as much as he liked and spent
lavishly. But it was all quite boring, and because of
his careless ways, he did not have respect within his
own family. Perhaps it was inevitable then that the
young noble found his way into the sorcerous arts.
Finally, Rolando had something that challenged
him, and a sense of personal power. He continued to
delve into the mysteries of his ancestors and reveled
20 Section 2 | Influential Personages
in his sorcerous blood. Being skilled at Porté could
have led to some uncomfortable questions about
those ancestors, but Rolando decided to studiously
ignore those. Whenever the subject came up, he
blustered and took offense and manipulated social
situations to shout down such questions, pushing
them into the realm of rumor. His family prospered
as he used his gifts to help create business deals and
opportunities for his sister and brother by acquir-
ing critical information and secrets and by moving
important messages and contraband. Now he had
power and respect and lacked only one thing: love.
With his apparent maturity, his sister introduced
him to a woman, Rosa, who became his wife. Bril-
liant and forthright, Rosa, with her wicked sense
of humor and quick wit, enraptured de Tierra, who
fell madly in love. Rosa was also devout in her faith.
Under her influence, Rolando tempered his use of
sorcery, but he could never fully let go of the rush or
the thrill, and certainly not of his success. They were
blessed with a son, Benito, and his life seemed per-
fect. The perfection ended when his wife died sud-
denly in what appeared to be a suspicious accident.
Distraught and angry, Rolando used his connections
to track down the responsible parties to a coaching
house outside Vaticine City and discovered that his
power could not help him.
The assassination was, in fact, accidental—Rosa
was supposed to be a “guest” of the Church, carefully
swept away by agents of Senior Archivist Ramon
Alonzo. The Archivist had provided a loyal gen-
darme with a small relic that provided protection
from de Tierra’s sorcerous skills. Unfortunately,
Rosa had resisted and in the ensuing struggle died
while she tried to flee the small group sent to abduct
her. The gendarme whisked Benito away to become
a hostage, one who received the finest Church edu-
cation but nonetheless in a gilded cage. Alonzo had
never intended for Rosa’s demise; he simply sought
to bring de Tierra to negotiations under pressure.
Despite the Archivist’s heartfelt sympathy, though,
he had no intention of giving de Tierra his freedom.
Don Rolando has been trapped in his situation
for the last decade. His son has grown into a fine
man, as clever as his beloved mother and just as
devout. Influenced by his son, de Tierra believes his
wife would have wished for him to have the sorcery
burned away, for him to repent and live as a pure
child of Theus, but he cannot. Should his heretical
ways become known, his family would suffer; it
would be very easy for the Church or another noble
to seize all of their wealth. Alonzo also proved
willing to take a life to keep Rolando in check, as
evidenced by Rosa’s murder. His son is most at risk,
but other members of his family could be harmed.
He cannot go to anyone for help because admis-
sion of his sorcerous ways would see him jailed and
perhaps executed by the Inquisition. He provides in-
formation for the Senior Archivist, subjects himself
to Alonzo’s experiments and research, and remains
at the Archivist’s beck and call on all matters relating
to the dark arts.
Portraying Don Rolando de Tierra
Don Rolando is a tall man with a narrow build and
a dour face. He has an olive complexion, luxurious
dark hair graying at the temples and a thin goatee.
His dark eyes look haunted and brighten only in
the presence of his son. He is formal and refined,
the product of his upbringing. His earlier days as a
dandy and playboy are well behind him, and, since
his marriage, he no longer has an interest in dalli-
ances. He continues to drink excessively but is quite
good at concealing the effects of intoxication. Since
his wife’s death and his servitude, he has become a
coward. The only thing he fears more than detec-
tion is harm coming to his family and especially to
his son. He wonders whether his current situation
is not some form of penance for his early life. His
work and research with the Archivist has made him
an experienced and educated sorcerer. Should he
overcome his cowardice, he could cause significant
damage.
Rolando will meet with Heroes in his office in
his family home. He has an elaborate two-story
city estate with several rooms only a short distance
outside the inner wall of Vaticine City. His office is
a lavish room as befitting a landed noble, with plush
seating, large windows and a small gathering area for
more informal visits. Absolutely no sign of sorcerous
activity can be seen in his office—that happens in a
locked cellar he is reluctant to enter.
Story Hooks
• A Hero is approached by Don Rolando’s son,
Benito, who has discovered his father’s plight
and wishes for her to assist him in trying to free
his father from his servitude, but he is in over
his head and does not know where to begin.
The Hero has the option to save Don Rolan-
do from the various powers that chain him or
act to end the life of a sorcerer. How does she
handle it, and can she keep things from going
public and bringing harm to Rolando’s family?
• De Tierra’s son has been placed in harm’s way
by the Archivist as a means of maintaining
control. Don Rolando fears harm to his son
more than discovery and engages a Hero to
join him in a rescue operation. Can he convince
Rolando to abstain from the use of his powers?
What is he willing to do to protect the sorcer-
er’s identity during the mission? What happens
if Rolando goes full-bore?
• A research experiment went horribly awry
when a demon emerged from the portal Rolan-
do had been commanded to open. Now pos-
sessed by a Horror, he fights his inner demon,
but the situation spirals out of control. How
can the Heroes banish the demon? Can they
acquire the help of an exorcist discreetly, or will
they be forced to kill the sorcerer?
Ursula del Rio, Senior
Knight of the Rose &
Cross
Ursula del Rio is a Knight of the Rose & Cross, and
this fact above all informs who she is and what she
does. All other aspects of her life are secondary to
her devotion to Theus and her work as a Knight.
Ursula hails from a devout merchant family, and,
exposed to the vast variety of humanity from an
early age, learned to speak several languages and the
basics of economics and trade. She also developed
a quickness with words that served her well when
bartering but drew concerned frowns from her
family as she danced along the line of insult. During
an incident when she stepped too far, she called into
7th Sea | Vaticine City 21
 question the honor of a rich and powerful supplier
who overcharged her family. Unwilling to accept the
situation, Ursula called the man out. This resulted
in his withdrawing his business until she apolo-
gized publicly to spare her family further pains. She
held her commentary better afterward. Her father
thought she might have been cured of her sharp
tongue, but instead she learned to withhold it until
she could get away with it.
Young Ursula was no stranger to the sword
growing up in Castille, and she became enamored
of dueling. As many Castillians do, she learned
the basics of swordplay so as to better defend her
family and their honor. Excelling in the art of the
duel, she sought a school tht could teach her. She
finally settled upon a Valroux school, as it appealed
to her sense of responsibility—and to her wicked
wit, no less sharp than her blade. She graduated and
wandered for a few years on behalf of her father’s
business, bedding pretty men and women who took
her fancy, leaving just as readily and engaging in
some raucous duels that became small legends for
the ferocity of banter as much as for their length.
The exciting life of a merchant and Duelist lost its
luster as she found a hole in her heart; the life simply
did not fulfill her. This all changed on the road.
While traveling with one of her family’s trading cara-
vans, she was thrown into battle against bandits, and
only she and an Eisen Knight named Peter survived
the initial ambush. She was glad to have the sword
of the Knight to help protect her family’s investment,
22 Section 2 | Influential Personages
and the Knight was grateful to the young woman for
protecting the lives of those who could not protect
themselves. They fought a hard battle and, though
injured, she and Peter won the day. In defending the
caravan, Ursula found the sense of rightness she had
been missing in her life. On reaching their destina-
tion, Peter suggested she might look into the local
chapter house of the Rose & Cross. She presented
herself and has never looked back.
Because of her faith and dedication to the Order,
Ursula has risen in the ranks to become a Senior
Knight, one of two in the Vaticine City chapter
house. She freely flirts with the other Senior Knight
in the posting, and with his wife, but they take this
with mostly good humor and amusement. Possess-
ing a large personality and adept tongue, Ursula
is expected to become the next master when the
incumbent, Master Roderigo, retires.
Portraying Ursula del Rio
Ursula is a tall, fit and athletic woman with an
ebony complexion. She keeps her wiry hair cut
close to her scalp so as not to be a handhold in a
fight. She has dark brown eyes surrounded by laugh
lines. A woman at the peak of her abilities, she has
a quick smile, faster wit and a devastating grin. A
thick scar slashes across her right shoulder towards
her sternum, a souvenir of the fateful fight to defend
the caravan. A smaller scar from the same incident
slashes across her stomach. Ursula has the swagger
of a master fencer and a quip for every situation,
especially when things are most dire. She flirts with
anyone and delights in doing so. Should the flir-
tation be reciprocated, she takes the time to enjoy
worldly relations, but never stays for long or makes
lasting attachments. This has given her a reputation
among younger Knights as being something of a
serial flirt (and they are not wrong). However, there
is no question of her sincerity about the Order or
her devotion to the faith, which has only deepened
with time.
Above all, Ursula believes in her cause: protecting
those who cannot protect themselves, to bring jus-
tice to the unjust and to serve the Order and those
who wear the Seal. All play and joking cease when
the circumstance requires decisive action.
She is most likely to be found in the chapter
house of the Knights of the Rose & Cross, locat-
ed just a few blocks down Avenida de los Santos
outside the inner wall. For private conversations, she
has a small office that she shares with the other Se-
nior Knight. Her desk is neat and tidy, her collection
of books limited, and her fancy runs more toward
small, collectible pieces or gifts than to historical
tomes. She can be found in the training yard giving
pointers, helping lower-ranked Knights or prac-
ticing her chosen school of swordplay. Younger
Knights joke that she is most often to be found in
the bedroom of the prettiest Benefactor. They are
not entirely wrong about this, either.
Story Hooks
• A bishop has been found dead. Master Knight
Peter has been taken into custody, and the local
chapter house has become aware of this. Evi-
dence suggests the bishop abused his position,
and Ursula believes the death may have been
accidental, but the Inquisition looks to make a
point to the Knights. She asks the Heroes to
help prove her mentor’s innocence. Peter may
indeed be innocent, or he may have taken their
creed too far, and for some reason he refuses to
give any testimony. Were his actions just? Can
the Knight be saved, or is justice being done?
• A former rival from Ursula’s dueling days is
stirring up trouble in the city, provoking woe-
fully unprepared men and women into fights.
Mere months before his retirement, Master
Roderigo wishes for this nonsense to cease im-
mediately so Ursula can take over his position.
She has answered the challenge and now has
three days to prepare. The Heroes have been
asked to seek out why this rival Duelist has
appeared now of all times. Is it coincidence,
or is someone trying to influence the Vaticine
chapter house?
• The Senior Knight has a small problem:
someone wishes to see her dead. Unknown
persons stuck a note on the chapter house
door with a bloody dagger stating that Ursula
will “die for what she knows.” She isn’t sure
what she knows or who sent the letter, but she
has enjoyed the company of several influential
Benefactors in the last year. The Order has
hired the Heroes to protect Ursula and find
the source of the blackmail, but don’t count on
her sitting on her hands and standing by when
there is an injustice.
• Ursula directs the Heroes to get an invita-
tion to a special dinner celebration to be held
inside the city proper in a few days. She tells
them that she needs to pass a secret message
to someone on the inside about a dangerous
relic, but in truth someone from her past has
arrived in the city and seeks revenge against
her—by finishing off someone she protected
many years ago. She is wary about sharing this
information, though, because the would-be
murderer is one of her cousins and a deadly
Duelist, and has already infiltrated the dinner
on her own. Now what?
Lucia del Sur, Captain of
the Solomons
Lucia del Sur is a soldier who is the daughter of
soldiers. Her mother served in the Solomons; her
father, a hired guard to merchants. The eldest of
three daughters, she grew up in a strictly regimented
household. Duty, honor and devotion to Theus were
the guiding principles of her childhood, which she
has carried with her to this day. While her sisters
both chose the life of Castille’s renowned galenos,
del Sur dedicated her studies to the blade. Quiet and
7th Sea | Vaticine City 23
 reserved, she seemed to become an almost different
person when she practiced swordwork from the
school of the Solomons, walking in the same path as
her mother. As she fought, she impressed her peers
and masters alike and also the artist who eventually
became her wife.
Lucia and her partner’s first meeting was unusual,
as it happened under fire. On returning to Vaticine
City from a trip, a group of “brigands” attacked the
caravan of del Sur’s charge, Bishop Sigrid. Among
her retinue was a young artist traveling to find new
landscapes for her paintings and engaged to paint
portraits of the Bishop and the traveling party.
When the brigands attacked, Lucia’s blade cut quick
and true. When her commanding officer fell, as next
in the chain of command, she rose to the occasion,
rallying the guards to defend Bishop Sigrid and
everyone else in the caravan. The Solomon guards
proved victorious in routing the supposed brig-
ands, suffering only minimal casualties, and none
of their charges suffered harm. The attackers were
too well-armed and -trained for it to have been a
case of opportunistic thugs, but del Sur also did
not have enough evidence to point at which hostile
party might have sent the attackers. Despite a desire
to hunt down enemies of the Church, del Sur had
only baseless accusations and the more immediate
responsibility of keeping her charges safe and seeing
them home. Lucia returned to Vaticine City to ac-
colades and a promotion within the Solomons—the
first of many to come.
The lovely artist Angela had found herself in the
wrong place at the wrong time. Among the items lost
in the raid were many of her supplies and much of
her personal funds, which had been transported in
the caravan strongbox. Del Sur invited the artist into
her family home until she could get on her feet. Their
relationship blossomed into a romance that has
lasted nearly thirty years. Together they raised a son
and daughter, now grown with children of their own.
She loves her wife with a devotion rivaled only by her
love of Theus—a point which has in the past caused
her concern. Should she have to choose one over the
other, she does not know how she would act.
Lucia’s duty and devotion saw her rise through
the ranks of her chosen profession, eventually
surpassing her proud mother by becoming Captain
24 Section 2 | Influential Personages
of the whole guard. She has a reputation for being a
good and honest woman. Beloved by her troops and
devoted to her charge, the Captain of the Solomons
is a force to be reckoned with.
Portraying Captain Lucia del Sur
Lucia del Sur is a woman of age and distinction. Tall
and still fit despite her years, she wears her steel-grey
hair short to easily fit under her helm and is most
often seen in uniform. Her skin is naturally tanned,
and those unfamiliar with her often read her blue
eyes as cold. Most of the time, she appears rather
dour and serious or aloof. Only some of this is due
to her relative position as Captain of the Solomons.
When conversing with others outside of giving
orders or outside of her family, she appears stiff and
taciturn, each word having to be coaxed forth in con-
versation. She gives quick and decisive orders, will-
ingly engages in discussion and shows great depth of
thought. Among her family she is kind, if strict, and
dotes on her somewhat eccentric artist wife.
Lucia is a true believer with a deep devotion to
the faith and to her role within it as protector of the
clergy. She has age and wisdom on her side when
dealing with crises and keeps a cool head. She has of
late begun to wonder whether her age isn’t catching
up with her and whether she should retire to let a
younger, trusted lieutenant take command.
Her overriding goal is the safety of all of the
faithful in Vaticine City, and most especially the
hierophant (when there was one), cardinals and
associated high officers of the Church. She under-
takes all of her actions with this in mind. The only
divergent point is her deep love for her wife. She
acknowledges that she is uncertain what she would
do if her wife were threatened as a blackmail tool
and hopes that she never has to find out.
Lucia del Sur’s office is spare and functional with
windows overlooking the training grounds. She has
a small seating area for when members of the clergy
visit her to discuss business. As Captain of the
Solomons, she receives the benefit of an office on the
inner grounds of the city and a large training and
mustering hall for overseeing her soldiers.
Story Hooks
• As Lucia is Captain of the Solomons, a Hero
wishing to enter that fighting tradition must
seek her approval for training. What does Lucia
demand of him?
• Captain del Sur has become aware of a threat
to the cardinals from within her own organi-
zation and needs someone unknown to the
suspected traitors. The Captain asks a Hero to
pretend to be a new recruit to flush out the ene-
mies hiding in her ranks.
• A Hero uncovers sealed documents belonging
to Doña Maria Carvaggio, one of the people
who died in the assault on the caravan when
Lucia first rose to the occasion. The Captain
may be a resource to finding Doña Maria’s
family and returning the documents to them. If
opened, these documents detail a land grant to
a family of hidalgos—land currently operated
by one of the Grandes.
• Lucia’s wife Angela discovers on her doorstep
a black envelope containing a curious knot and
a note demanding that the Captain arrange a
parade inspection of her Solomons at a specific
time five days hence. If not, the note threatens,
a terrible fate will befall Angela. Lucia must en-
gage the help of a Hero to investigate, especially
since he may have to dig into various members
of the clergy to find the culprit—people whom
del Sur is sworn to protect. Worse still, she
cannot tell the Solomons that the Hero acts on
her behalf, or else she gives away her response
to the blackmailer.
Angela del Sur, Noted
Artist
Angela del Sur is a noted artist in Vaticine City,
renowned for her portraiture and mastery of subtle
colors and expression. Though she appears flighty
and mercurial, her attention easily caught by other
matters, her skills as a painter are great, and she
always completes her works. She has been engaged
by the Church of the Prophets to create dozens of
paintings depicting the lives of the Prophets and
portraits of high-ranking church officials. Nobles
from Castille and Vodacce have come to sit for her.
Coming from humble origins in San Gustavo, del
Sur trained with local masters before taking up fur-
ther schooling abroad. She traveled to Vaticine City
to join the studio of one of the masters in residence
there to paint for the studio’s clients, including the
Church. On that fateful journey, her caravan was
beset by bandits, and she met the brave woman who
became her wife.
Or at least this is the story she wishes people to
know. Some of it is even true.
Angela is her real name, but in her life she has
gone by many, the most infamous of which is
Cecelia the Cat, a thief, scoundrel and sometimes
assassin who operated in Five Sails before quietly
disappearing. Born to a peasant family with little to
her name, Angela learned to be a thief among the
other street urchins of the city, later catching the eye
of a master thief who took her in for training. When
his price came due, she found it to be too high for
her liking. So she killed him, effectively graduating
and winning her freedom at once.
Angela sold her blade to the highest bidder, or the
lowest if it amused her, and by the time she turned
twenty-three, she was wealthy enough to buy a villa
in the countryside and retire if she wished. One
does not lead the life of a mercenary without mak-
ing enemies, however. One night, when she was not
expecting it, those enemies struck and took every-
thing from her and nearly her life. She managed to
escape with enough funds to get to San Gustavo on
a small merchant ship. Her money ran out, but the
devout family asked her to stay on and help where
she could to pay off the debt. Angela could have fled
once her injures allowed but decided against it, stay-
ing with the first people who had shown her genuine
kindness. She worked the merchant ship for a year,
keeping her hand in with petty theft, but decided
against selling her blade. Mostly.
A woman approached her with a job, which
seemed interesting—infiltrating and spying on a
crooked moneylender. When the Knights of the
Rose & Cross apprehended the crooked man, she
was surprised, but their coin spent just as well as
anyone’s. She worked for them as a spy and occa-
sionally as additional muscle for nearly a year before
they offered her the job she had been unknowingly
7th Sea | Vaticine City 25
 interviewing for, an opportunity to atone for her sin-
ful past life and do some real good. Angela had come
to like that aspect of her work with the Knights and
accepted. Her assignment? Vaticine City.
The Knights had a number of potential covers for
her and tested her abilities against several stories.
She had a surprising knack for art, a fact that Angela
attributed to her keen eye for detail and misspent
youth forging papers. Given a new identity, she went
to train with masters and hone her skills—by day
she learned artistic skills, and by night she trained
in spycraft. With her training complete, she traveled
to Vaticine City to assist the Knights of the Rose &
Cross.
From there, her story largely matches her public
persona. She did not intend to fall in love with the
woman who eventually became Captain of the Sol-
omons, but a romantic entanglement with a sweet,
if stern, guard captain had advantages. Her love
and affection are genuine, and she even enjoys being
an artist, but only the Master of the Rose & Cross
chapter house knows of her other job and true pur-
pose in moving to the city.
Portraying Angela del Sur
Angela del Sur is a petite, dark-haired woman with
warm, dark eyes and a broad smile. She presents
herself as easily distracted, frivolous and flighty, con-
cerned with her art and with her tasks for clients. In
reality, she is smart and cunning and now a seasoned
master of spycraft. Her artistic talents are genuine,
and that natural talent has only improved with time
and practice.
In her artist persona, del Sur gestures broadly
with her hands and uses grand words and dramatic
flair to make her points. She is bubbly and sweet,
devout and innocent. The patrons who sit for her
paintings think nothing of letting their guard slip as
they converse with their artist.
In her persona as a Rose & Cross spy, she is cun-
ning and guarded, wearing a mask of mild amuse-
ment. She reads and understands several languages,
and while not as spry as she once was, she can still
handle herself in a fight, making use of short blades
and daggers. Angela gave up running across rooftops
or free-climbing buildings, but she is still adept as
a thief. A careless Hero aware of her other persona
26 Section 2 | Influential Personages
may find an article of his missing—either as a warn-
ing to take her seriously or to prove a point.
Her marriage is genuine and has had an impact
on her outlook. She has become a devout follower,
in fact, and has come to deeply understand, uphold
and respect the Rose & Cross’ goals. Angela can do
the things in the shadows others cannot, and while
she accepts this as the payment for her early life as
a scoundrel and assassin, she prays that one day she
can retire and simply be the painter, wife and grand-
mother she appears to be.
Her personal studio is a loft with many windows
and lots of light. Practices and studies are neatly
stacked around the room. There is a discarded train-
ing that which has been fancifully painted and given
a plumed mohawk. She claims it is for decoration,
but a close examination reveals it is still used to
practice knifework. The exits and entrances to the
loft are well-guarded against unsanctioned entry,
and the room itself is well-positioned for a quick
escape—all details subtle and likely to be noticed
only by someone else adept at subterfuge.
Hooks
• Doña Angela has come across information of a
sensitive nature during a portrait session with
a noble lady—whose husband is embroiled in
a deal which will almost certainly result in his
death. She cannot be revealed as the source of
this information, but the man will die without
intervention.
• A Syrneth relic is to be auctioned off at a gala
hosted by a Castillian noble family to raise
funds. Parties unknown intend to steal the relic.
This would be embarrassing normally, but one
of the Heroes’ regular sources indicates that
the relic could potentially be powerful. Angela
almost certainly has an invitation to the gala.
Direct the Heroes to make contact and see
whether the noted artist would be willing to
bring a guest or two.
• Doña Angela looks to retire and thus must find
a replacement. The Knights needs the blades and
talents of men and women willing to work in the
shadows. Subtlety is the name of the game. She
acts both as her artistic persona and as that of
a shadowy, nameless employer via proxy, testing
 a Hero’s worthiness of becoming an initiate. As
Doña Angela, she gives him odd and eccentric
tasks that require subtlety and clever thinking.
Those presented by the shadowy employer via
proxy require more-violent skills. Will the Hero
have what it takes?

Vito, Master Merchant,

Foreign Trader
If you need something, Vito the Master Merchant
has it. Spices from the Crescent Empire? He has
them. Furs from Ussura? He has those too. Looking
for something from the New World? His inventory
likely has those items as well. You need information
or an introduction? Vito is your man.
Hailing from Vodacce, Master Vito is a trader
from a long line of traders. He inherited his small
fleet of ships from his father who inherited from his
father before him, and so forth, stretching back seven
generations. While his is not the largest or wealthiest
merchant fleet, his family has an extensive network
of trade and social ties across the Seven Seas.
Vito is a politician and savvy trader, handling has the coin. It should be noted that his husband
the business aspects of his company. His husband is more devout but no less willing to work with
Armando captains their flagship and handles many well-paying clients who are perhaps less than above-
matters related to sailing, the upkeep of their fleet board. While Vito might be a resource, his informa-
and the training, arming and housing of the private tion is for the highest bidder, and should an Inquisi-
marines who keep their ships safe. Together they are tor come calling, he sells to her as well.
a balanced team.
As a foreigner, the Master Merchant is always Portraying Master Vito
being inspected. He finds this to be a minor irri- Master Vito is a tall man with dark skin, narrow
tant but is now well known to the dockmaster and features and golden eyes. His mother was from
knows which bribes work best on which officials— the Crescent Empire, and he favors her appearance
information that is also for sale for the right price. strongly, leading to more inspections than strict-
While always suspected of smuggling, he has never ly necessary. Vito counters this negative effect by
been caught. playing up on his “exotic” origins, even though he
Information is a currency and cargo all its own, was born in the Vodacce city of Vestini and has not
and in this Master Vito excels. He frequently comes been further into the Empire than Iskandar. He is a
to port to sell and trade and to bring new, exotic savvy entrepreneur and always looks well-dressed.
goods to the Church for approval. As the owner He plays things very close to the chest and does not
of the company, he feels responsible for greasing offer information freely—that said, he offers to sell
the proper palms so his goods can be sold to good, information if he thinks the audience is receptive.
devout people without fear of reprimand. As he wishes to keep on the Church’s good side,
Vito is money-oriented, and, while he pays lip this also means he wishes to keep within the good
service to the Church, he works with anyone who graces of the Grand High Inquisitor. Deals or

7th Sea | Vaticine City 27

 exchanges done with the Heroes are not sacrosanct,
and that information is as much for sale as any other.
He prefers to do business in a spacious and
well-appointed cabin on his flagship, the Western
Wind, captained by his husband. Armando, rarely
seen belowdecks for negotiations, prefers his own
cabin and handles the details of the ship and crew.
Armando is a tall man with sandy hair cut short and
a closely cut beard. Armando is much more serious
than his husband.
The captain’s cabin has a family portrait of Master
Vito and his husband with their seven-year-old
daughter Miranda and five-year-old son Marco, who
live with their aunts in their home port of Vestini.
Miranda, the biological daughter of Vito and an
arrangement with a courtesan, surprised her family
by showing signs of being a Sorte Strega, something
unusual in a middle-class family and raising ques-
tions as to the identity of her mother. Only Vito
and Armando know whether Marco’s mother is the
same woman, as Marco appeared with the men as a
newborn when Miranda was two. This information
is the sole exception to Vito’s business and is not for
sale at any price.
Story Hooks
• The Heroes must acquire cargo of somewhat
questionable acceptability. Few merchants carry
such items into Vaticine City. Master Merchant
Vito may have what the Heroes are searching
for or he might have information; either way,
they should come with coin.
• The Heroes have been engaged to get a sympa-
thetic heretic out of the city. Leaving under the
guise of legitimate merchandise might just do
the trick, and there is no finer merchant on the
Seven Seas than Master Vito—just ask him.
• Vito’s daughter Miranda is touring Vaticine
City on a voyage with her father and has caught
the attention of a Strega hunter who plans to
bring her back to Vodacce, over Vito’s dead
body, if necessary. Vito engages the Heroes to
create a distraction while he deploys his ships
to confuse her escape, but the Heroes find that
the Villain wants Miranda because of what she
said at a recent party—hinting that the Villain
may die soon under terrible circumstances. Do
28 Section 2 | Influential Personages
the Heroes trust the desperate Villain enough
to try to barter a truce? Is Vito willing to risk
such a meeting on the word of the Heroes?
And if all else fails, will the Heroes be able to
help conceal Miranda’s escape?
Thom, King of the Black
Market
The Lord of the Underworld and King of the Black
Market is known as Thom. They say Thom stands
as tall as a Vesten sailor, can best anyone in a duel
of swords or words and has won over a thousand
fights. Thom has a tongue of silver and the voice of
an angel. When he speaks, men and women throw
themselves at his feet. They say Thom once fought
a demon in a battle of wits, and not only bested the
demon but won his soul away from Legion in spite
of his life of crime. They say he once fought a duel
that lasted for three days and nights. They say he
follows his own school and is the only practitioner
of his swordplay style—all lesser fencers died at-
tempting to learn it. They say that King Thom sold
the sound of his footsteps to a witch in exchange for
a night of passion. They say he can see lies. Others
say he learned to see the strings of fate from a Sorte
Strega, and Fate herself came to him on a moonless
night and asked him to show her how to read an
invisible thread. Death fears the King, and no one
knows how old he might actually be.
Many stories are told of the King, and some of
them are even true.
King Thom is never seen by the rank-and-file
criminals who live and work in the outer neighbor-
hoods of Vaticine City, but they feel his presence. All
operations, from petty theft to assassination, must
tithe the King. The King also enforces a city-wide
ban on certain crimes—trafficking in slave labor,
any crimes against children and the use of Porté—
leading some to believe he has a relationship with
Church officials. Most older, less credulous crimi-
nals believe that the title is passed between holders,
but even those who believe that wonder whether the
spirit of the King passes with the mantle.
Only the highest members of the Underworld
have seen the King in person, and usually they
report him to be dressed in dark clothing, wearing
a mask to hide his identity so he might walk among
his people unknown. The inner circle of the Under-
world’s aristocracy remains surprisingly loyal—the
King provides a neutral balance between different
groups, generously hands out favors and remains
staunch in his protections. Notably, the Underworld
knows the King for keeping his word. He brings sta-
bility to an unruly world and helps to launder illicit
money for the other noted criminals in the region.
As long as money flows and he keeps the Church
and the Law off of them, they support his rule.
“King Thom” is, in truth, a title passed from gen-
eration to generation, eldest to eldest, by the mem-
bers of a single family for just over a century. The
current King is a woman named Estrella Domingo.
In her public life, Domingo is a hidalgo, a noble with
a title and no land. Her family supports a number
of small merchant ventures in Vaticine City, and
wise investments have led to their having a small
but boring and comfortable lifestyle that raises no
questions. While some kings in the past have been
administrators, Estrella is an accomplished fighter
and received training by her father and trusted peers
in the Underworld to assume the throne from her
father, Gaspar. She has held the title for ten years
following his death. She slew his murderer, but the
hand behind the assassination remains at large—she
believes the culprit to be “the Duke,” the thief who
would be king, as part of his opening bid to rule the
Underworld and black markets of Vaticine City.
Domingo only very rarely reveals herself to
someone outside of her closest allies and advisors.
Even her rival, the Duke, does not know her true
identity. Her husband Hector is in full knowledge
and support of her double life and plays the role
of administrator. Together they have two children.
She is already training her daughter as her father
trained her.
Portraying King Thom
Thom occasionally grants audiences with important
persons, and, should the Heroes be brought before
him, Estrella Domingo uses one of her bodyguards
or her husband as a decoy. Masked and dressed in
black with Estrella at his side, he relays information
whispered from the “King” or sits in the shadows
and relays her commands, literally the power behind
the throne.
The persona of the King is that of silent judg-
ment, perhaps mocking with a hint of amusement.
He prefers to speak via heralds, saving direct address
for dramatic moments.
Estrella plays her part as herald or Underworld
courtier as a somewhat easygoing thief—someone
easy to confide in and speak to, her full face never
shown. She is generous with her smiles and in buy-
ing drinks for fellow rogues, interested in informa-
tion, and plays well the part of a worldly farmhand
or a fallen noble selling her sword.
Around those who know her to be the King,
Domingo is quiet and businesslike, possessed of a
confident air and a continuous sense of mild amuse-
ment. She is cunning and ruthless with a fury that
burns cold and means death for her enemies.
The “King’s Reception Hall” is most often a small
back room with a secondary exit in a monte de pie-
dad, a Church-sanctioned pawn shop that engages
in charity to offset the sin of usury. The location is
set as needed and chosen at random. Heavily mus-
cled thugs guard the doors, preventing unwanted
visitors from getting in—or those in trouble with
the King from getting out.
Story Hooks
• The King of the Underworld has become aware
that “his” rival, the Duke, plans a high-profile
heist of Syrneth relics. The King doesn’t really
care about the relics one way or another, but
wishes to embarrass the Duke. The Heroes are
parties unknown to both the person auction-
ing off the relics and to the Duke. The King is
willing to pay handsomely for the Heroes to
acquire the relics for him—he might even be
willing to part with the relics for a reasonable
discount should the embarrassment be suffi-
ciently grand.
• Ten years ago the man who was Thom, King
of the Underworld, was assassinated. The
assassin was slain by the current holder of
the title, but the man who sent the assassin
still lives. The so-called Duke of the Under-
world has struck again, but the man killed
was Estrella Domingo’s husband, Hector. The
7th Sea | Vaticine City 29
 Underworld is now in a full-scale war between
the King and the Duke.
• Sancha Domingo, daughter of Estrella and
Hector Domingo, has been kidnapped. A
hefty bounty has been placed on the heads of
the culprits for daring to break the King’s law
in his city. The Heroes may choose to engage
the bounty and hunt down the girl and her
kidnappers.
• The mystery of the generational saga of King
Thom has drawn the attention of Los Vaga-
bundos, who have started to wonder whether
Thom is one of their own gone rogue. One
of Los Vagabundos approaches the Heroes
and asks for their help in tracking down King
Thom and brokering a meeting to find out
whether Thom is a renegade or a threat—but
the King, of course, has no desire to reveal his
identity.

“Duke Juan,” Would-Be

King of the Underworld
Vaticine City is a city of great wealth, not only in
the gold and silver held by the Church but also in
the merchants and citizens who reside under the
Church’s aegis. Beautiful artwork, treasures from
abroad, master-crafted swords, lovely ball gowns,
heaps of coins destined for Church coffers—the
prosperity of the city is all that a thief could desire;
even the lowliest cat burglar or pickpocket has many
tempting targets. Yet Juan de Cielo, the self-styled
Duke, views the Underworld as his rightful king-
dom, and he refuses to settle for anything less than
his crown. The son of a Jenny and the previous
King, Juan does not know that his half-sister serves
as the current King or even that the current King is
a woman. He would not care if he knew either fact
in any case. He knows only that someone sits on his
throne and he is determined to take it back.
De Cielo is a brash, loud and arrogant man with a
deep wound from not being uplifted by his father as
he feels he should have been. Never acknowledged
by his father, Juan had his identity confirmed to him
only after the man was killed at the behest of parties
unknown. De Cielo was content to live as he had un-

30 Section 2 | Influential Personages

til the new King’s people raided one of his operations
for smuggling and transporting slaves. The raid nearly
destroyed him financially and was a personal affront.
Juan decided then that the pretender on his throne
needed to be removed so he could run things his way.
Since then, de Cielo has been discreetly building
his support network. Not everyone approves of the
King’s dictates, and Juan has promised to be much
more lax once he has claimed his rightful place. He
has built his forces, bought his support and maneu-
vers to confront the King head on and start a war
for the Underworld.
Portraying Duke Juan de Cielo
Juan de Cielo is a tall, brawny man with a scar down
one side of his face which pulls his lips into a per-
manent sneer. His eyes are startlingly blue in a dark
complexion. He is a loud, arrogant bully, but also
charismatic and has the fighting skills to back up his
loud mouth. He engages anyone he feels can help
him achieve his goal of becoming the undisputed
King of the Underworld.
He views the prohibition of sorcerous items as a
sure sign that the King is unfit to rule. This is the
Underworld of Vaticine City, after all, and what is
more forbidden than sorcerous and heretical items?
He sees a hidden market filled with human desires,
and he wants to be the man to control it.
He believes that everything has a price, and he
even willingly works for the Heroes for the right
one. This is a dangerous relationship for Heroes to
cultivate, because Juan is a Villain to the bone, and
any arrangements they have are bound to go sour at
some point. He solicits the Heroes’ help in accom-
plishing his plans of Underworld regicide, trading
favor for favor, but willingly going along with that
is a sure path to Corruption. Conversely, should the
current King induce the Heroes to oppose Duke de
Cielo, they find that, despite his brash nature, he is a
capable opponent.
Juan, always on the move, meets in any available
seedy bar, tavern or brothel. He prefers places that
serve alcohol (though he is smart enough to pretend
to be more drunk than he is) and sits with his back
to the wall in a corner where he can view all angles
of attack. He often places his personal headquarters
in a warehouse but moves it from time to time.
Story Hooks
• The Duke has decided to move his headquar-
ters—the gendarmes are getting a little too
close. He engages a Hero as unwitting muscle
to help protect his valuables as he transports
them from one warehouse to the next. When
the gendarmes raid the shipment and arrest the
Hero, she is accused of engaging in trafficking
of sorcerous texts and heretical artwork! The
Hero must clear her name, but the Duke is
also eager to regain his possessions at any cost,
even if it means keeping her out of the picture
permanently.
• While a Hero does business in a den of ill
repute outside the city walls, he crosses paths
with a small gang of criminals who work for
the Duke. An altercation, perhaps prompted by
a failed attempt at picking the Hero’s pocket,
leads to the Duke learning of his identity and
deciding that, as a wild card, he must be re-
moved or exploited in his war for control of the
Underworld. The Duke sends a messenger with
an offer: work for him or face the consequences.
Of course, the Hero is likely to refuse, making
him Juan’s target.
• The Duke has acquired a salacious art object
that depicts one of the bishops of the Church,
who employs a Hero to have it recovered before
it causes a scandal. But is this bishop actually
involved in questionable activities? Is the Duke
extorting an innocent cleric or revealing a cor-
rupt Church official?
Cardinal Catalina del
Mont, the Pacifist
Catalina del Mont has known since she was a child
that she would serve the Church of the Prophets.
Her father was a parish priest in the Avila province,
a countryside known for its beautiful orange groves.
Young Catalina was raised to be a humble servant
of Theus and learned how to care for the sick and
infirm and minister to the weary. She gave her first
sermon at the age of ten. Her father rejoiced in the
gift Theus had given into his care but knew that
Catalina was something special to be shared. He
7th Sea | Vaticine City 31
 lobbied for the monsignor of his parish to hear her
speak. Touched by the girl’s sincerity and goodness,
the monsignor recommended she be educated fur-
ther and encouraged her to consider the priesthood.
Catalina was very happy to hear this news, as she
could not envision any other life for herself.
Del Mont viewed the recent invasion of her
country as a call to arms, but, as a pacifist this meant
mobilizing money and goods to fund new hospitals,
enabling care for the returning veterans and ensur-
ing that those without a spouse still received care at
home. This activist pacifism made her very popular
among the people and with the priests, monsignors
and bishops under her care.
Now a grown woman in early middle age, she is
a well-respected cardinal, having risen through the
ranks through devotion to the Church and acclaim
by her peers. Her record is flawless, for, as a truly
virtuous woman, she wishes only to better serve
Theus by better serving His people. Well-loved by
those she represents, she makes it a point to use her
position and power for the betterment of the people.
Catalina is also a staunch pacifist. Rumors say she
stopped a fight by stepping between two quarrelling
soldiers newly returned from the front lines and
taking the blows that each had meant for the other.
The two, so astonished at striking a priestess of
such conviction, immediately ceased their argument,
apologized to her and to one another and came to
an amicable agreement within moments. In another
case, hungry and displaced ex-soldiers turned to
thievery and broke into a field hospital where she
served during the war against Montaigne. While
the leader made demands of money and goods, del
Mont calmly welcomed them to sit and eat at the
table and have a warm bath. She offered to wash the
feet of every one of the weary veterans and remind-
ed them that generosity and compassion are shown
to all, not just to those who are kind in return.
Shocked by such kindness even while they had her
at knifepoint, the men and women eventually laid
down their arms and surrendered to the Castillian
army, shamed by their actions.
Her soft words supposedly have the power to
calm raging bulls and stampeding herds, for her
devotion is so sincere that even beasts recognize her
commitment to peace. These stories have grown in
32 Section 2 | Influential Personages
the telling, and, while Catalina herself laughs and
waves a dismissive hand, what is consistent is her
goodness and repeated encouragement of others
not to take up arms, and her refusal to engage in
violence herself. While she does not begrudge or
belittle the suffering of the oppressed, she always
hopes and prays for a peaceful solution and does not
fear harm or death in her commitment to peace.
Some look at her as a good candidate for the
next hierophant if only she had the proper backing
and encouragement—she does not seek the office
herself. Her willingness to live by the principles of
the Church is greatly admired by the devout and
greatly hated by those inclined to use the Church for
political gain.
Portraying Catalina del Mont
Catalina del Mont is a tall, willowy woman with
close-cropped red-golden hair and hazel eyes. She
has an air of serenity about her, which extends to
those in her presence. Catalina is soft-spoken and
raises her voice only to spread the words of the
Prophets to those seated in a back pew—she does
not raise her voice in anger or argue with heated
words. Her movements are languid and gentle, like
someone accustomed to settling overly anxious an-
imals. Well-spoken and well-educated, she involves
herself in matters large and small, and encourages
those around her to help the Church and its myriad
systems serve the spiritual needs of the people.
She understands the reality of politics, but she
considers them to be a game she does not wish to
play. Del Mont does not wish for the other members
of the clergy to play those games either, but, unlike
the Inquisition, she chooses to live by example. She
renounces killing and embraces her role as a teacher,
counselor and most of all a servant of the people,
especially those most in need. She stridently directs
the Church’s resources to help the poor and desper-
ate—as she famously stated at one council, “One
cannot solve the Riddle of Theus on an empty stom-
ach.” While the more jaded Church officials consider
her naïve, her relentless dedication has drawn many
admirers, which in turn created the wellspring of
support to launch her into the position of cardinal.
She lives a simple life and her only vice, if it might
be called such, is that she enjoys music and art. She
uses what little wealth she collects to sponsor artists,
but even this she shares, both by sending artwork to
other museums for display and by commissioning
statues, parks and murals that can be enjoyed by all.
Catalina abhors violence and ceases working
with those who employ violent means. A Hero who
works with her should take care to avoid violence,
for, if she discovers his transgression, she regretfully
ends her association with him, as she believes that
good ends cannot come from wicked means. Faced
with someone wishing to do her harm, her first
concern would be to salve the hurts that drove the
person to such an extreme before ever thinking of
saving herself.
Story Hooks
• Catalina’s goodness and unwillingness to play
political games has made her a direct threat to
Cardinal Verdugo and his goal of attaining the
position of hierophant. A Hero is engaged as
a guard by her personal secretary, a concerned
deacon who knows del Mont will not lift a
hand to save herself. He must protect her as
she travels to the seat of a diocese under her
purview, but she will not tolerate the Hero
initiating violence or failing to solve problems
diplomatically. Can he toe the line between
Catalina’s demands and the need to protect her
from Verdugo’s agents?
• An otherwise devout bishop concludes that the
best role for Catalina is as a martyr, using her
death to unite the Church, and he engages a
group of assassins to carry out the dirty deed.
A Hero is on hand to thwart the initial attempt
during one of her public sermons. Catalina
is appalled if the Hero uses violence on her
behalf, but a small coalition of archbishops and
bishops hires him to uncover the person behind
the conspiracy before they can try again. The
bishop tries to call the whole thing off, but the
assassins are driven by a higher master—alle-
giance to the Novus Ordo Mundi, who intend
to kill Catalina and betray the bishop, inciting
the most chaos possible.
• Though del Mont is unmarried and has no
romantic interests, a wild rumor starts that
she is destined to be the mother of the Fourth
Prophet. Yet she collapses one day and reveals
to a doctor that she has not had her natural
cycle for two months. Is she having a secret
affair, or is this a miraculous conception? Or,
worse still, has an illness struck her that may
lead to her death? The Heroes must discreetly
find out the truth. This could play out in one
of two ways. If she has had a secret affair, will
the Heroes reveal the truth and risk damaging
her reputation? And if the rumors are right, can
the Heroes save her from Villains who would
prevent the birth of a child who could be the
Fourth Prophet—and what will happen in the
wake of that child’s birth?
7th Sea | Vaticine City 33
 Section Three
SECRET SOCIETIES AND CONSPIRACIES
F
aith is never simple. Cardinals of the
Vaticine Church shred one another’s
interpretations of each Prophet’s words
and life through pointed sermons and
carefully worded tracts. Some of these interpreta-
tions the Church accepts as healthy differences in
opinion. Others are heresies that believers pro-
fess and discuss only in the shadows and through
innuendo. The Hieros determine which beliefs are
acceptable and which are not, but these days, citi-
zens of Vaticine City are increasingly aware that the
true determination rests upon the opaque temper of
the Inquisition.
Vaticine City is home not only to several Secret
Societies but to a tangle of ideologies and heresies
known as conspiracies. Where Secret Societies form
around the intersection of beliefs, goals, people and
infrastructure, conspiracies are tempests of ideas.
Conspiracies keep no membership rolls and have
no unified list of goals for the world. They are a
thought gone intoxicatingly viral. Passion of belief
unites strange bedfellows across other organiza-
tions and societies. Those who believe are in. Those
who do not are out. Conspiracies thread through
Vaticine City like veins through cheese, bringing
together unlikely allies and tilting power structures
as ideas pass from orthodoxy to heresy and back.
Secret Societies
Secret Societies have operated in Vaticine City
since its founding. Some Societies mask themselves
as religious orders, while others operate openly as
part of the normal discourse that makes up the
Vaticine faith. The more powerful a Society is, the
more openly it may act. Even the most transparent
Society hides a deeper and, to the Church, hereti-
cal secret that only members know. Maintaining
power requires keeping this deeper secret unknown
and safe. As power shifts and changes in the city,
which Societies have influence also changes. When
34 Section 3 | Secret Societies and Conspiracies
a Society has influence in Vaticine City, it can shape
doctrinal debates and negotiate to fill key positions
with sympathizers.
In 1668 AV, the three Societies with the strongest
sway are the Inquisition, the Marovarians and the
Akathari. While the Inquisition has the greatest
influence over Church actions, the Marovarians and
Akathari have large followings. The Marovarians
have several strong ties to recognizable people with-
in, but especially beyond, the city, while the Akatha-
ri have greater appeal among the laity.
The Marovarians and Akathari welcome Heroes
to join their ranks, while the Inquisition is a more
secretive, implacable and Villainous Society that
prefers to keep its own counsel.
The Inquisition
“There is nothing to fear if your faith is true. The
Inquisition is nothing more than the bonfire we must
light to keep the wolves of Legion at bay, and we will
fuel that fire with our righteousness.”
—Cardinal Esteban Verdugo
Stories of the Inquisition stalk the halls of the
universities and taint the faithful’s nightmares with
the stench of smoke from burning books curling up
around hanging bodies. Anyone could be a mem-
ber of the Inquisition or an informant. Until she
dons the fire-red robes of her office or otherwise
announces herself, she is indistinguishable from
any other member of the clergy. Terror is not the
only emotion the Inquisition conjures, however; for
some, the Society symbolizes hope. The Inquisition
and their supporters believe in the Fourth Prophet’s
imminent arrival and that the time to puzzle out
Theus’ Riddle has passed. Now is the time to purify.
Created by the Third Prophet to root out sorcery,
the Inquisition has expanded its charge to include
any who complicate the clarity imposed by the
Third Prophet or who argue that the Last Prophet’s
age is still far to come. Scholars, dissenters and even
fellow clergy fear finding themselves at the end of
the Inquisition’s rope.
The Inquisition has historically been answerable
only to the hierophant, who wielded the Inquisition
carefully as a flaming sword of reason against the
heresy of sorcery. In the absence of a hierophant,
Cardinal Verdugo has seized the weapon for him-
self. The Inquisition’s ranks grow unchecked, and
their methods have become unquestionably brutal.
Rumors spread that the Inquisition embraces the
Third Prophet’s iconography more tightly than ever
before, and that, in some places, those judged guilty
are not hanged but burnt alive.
The Charge of the Inquisition
The Inquisition pursues two major tasks. First, they
locate and judge heretics. Second, they seek out dan-
gerous texts and artifacts that may lead others astray.
The Inquisition gathers evidence quietly, using many
loyal informants to help them better monitor what
happens within Vaticine City and across the rest of
Théah. Once the Inquisition has its evidence, they
act as suddenly as a lightning strike. The Inquisition
arrests the accused and prosecutes him within the
same hour. These trials all lead to the same out-
come—a death sentence.
The Inquisition maintains a list of items too
tempting and dangerous to exist. The list includes
the complete writings of Mattias Lieber, all tomes of
sorcery (including an amusing novel about a Porté
sorcerer who solves mysteries), all Syrneth artifacts
and most recent inventions. The Inquisition requires
that a scholar submit her inventions for review and
judgment. Anything that does not undergo this pro-
cess is immediately added to the list. Some Inquis-
itors travel around Théah tracking down the listed
items and destroying them with bonfires.
The Heresies of the Inquisition
The Inquisition has two heresies that separate
them from mainstream Vaticine beliefs. The first is
their conception of Oblivion. The second centers
on a prophecy. First, most of the Vaticine Church
believes that souls have one of two outcomes after
death. Either they ascend to Theus’ side or they
cease to exist. This ending of existence is known as
Oblivion or the final and complete separation. The
Inquisition, however, teaches that annihilation of
the soul does not occur. Instead, Oblivion is a spiri-
tual realm of torture with flames as from the Third
Prophet’s sword and extreme, burning cold.
The second heresy is a prophecy that only the
Inquisition has verified. The Inquisitors believe
that the prophecy accurately predicts when the
Last Prophet comes. According to the Inquisition,
the Third Prophet, in the last of his many journals,
wrote that the most righteous being shall rise above
the chaos of the world to regain a hand upon the
Church and pave the way for the Last Prophet. The
Inquisitors believe this means that once Cardinal
Verdugo becomes the hierophant, the Last Prophet
will arrive.
Heroes and the Inquisition
Heroes cannot join the Inquisition. Cardinal Ver-
dugo chooses each new member carefully, making
certain to select only those loyal to him. The Inqui-
sition judges harshly, quickly and mercilessly. Many
innocent people have swung from an Inquisitor’s
rope. Joining the Inquisition requires the same level
of ruthless disregard. No one could cultivate that
mindset and remain Heroic.
The Marovarians
“Blessed is the line of Seraphine.
May her blood be our shield.”
—Marovarian greeting
In the annals of the life of the First Prophet, whole
sections are missing. Some groups within Théah
believe that they may be able to account for these
missing years. One such group is the Marovarians.
A powerful Society with ties to royalty outside of
Castille, the Marovarians believe in the union of the
First Prophet and one of his most trusted compan-
ions: Maria of Acraga.
The Accounting of Maria of Acraga shares the
story of a willful woman who used every advantage
she had to thrive. When others around the Prophet
suggested that Maria, a Jenny by trade, should keep
her distance, the Prophet invited her to his table and
complimented her determination. According to the
7th Sea | Vaticine City 35

Accounting, this dinner sparked a series of conversa-
tions between the Prophet and Maria about episte-
mology, salvation and the nature of humanity. Maria
argued that people should embrace experiences and
learn from them. During one of these arguments,
the Prophet asked her to be his wife, and Maria
agreed.
While the Church debates the veracity of the
Accounting, many sources say that, after the Proph-
et’s death, Maria collected his ashes and risked great
peril to ensure that he received a proper burial.
Marovarians in Vaticine City
The Marovarians are a powerful sect in Vaticine
City with enough external ties that the Inquisition
cannot attack them openly. While the Marovarians
profess the same beliefs as the rest of the Church,
they do vary in three ways. First, the Marovarians
support experiential learning and believe that people
best understand reason and senselessness, goodness
and wickedness through direct experience. This has
led some critics to dismissing the Marovarians as
libertines willing to test any sin once.
36 Section 3 | Secret Societies and Conspiracies
Second, the Marovarians argue that romantic love
not only exists but should be sought and celebrated.
The Marovarians believe that every person has at
least one other with whom he shares a soul. While
not everyone may be lucky enough to find a soul-
mate, the Marovarians teach that even just the pur-
suit of love expands the seeker’s empathy and opens
her to a deeper understanding of Theus’ Riddle.
Third, the Marovarians offer the Ritual of Unity.
The Ritual of Marriage is a commitment to the
Church and is primarily in preparation for rais-
ing children. The Ritual of Unity recognizes the
mingling of souls and the entangling of lives without
concern for the number of people being united or
their gender. It celebrates love rather than a contract
or commitment. The Marovarians believe that the
Ritual of Unity cannot be undone without great
danger to those united. They thus require those
seeking union to engage in a two-year preparation
based on the two years of conversations the First
Prophet shared with Maria before asking her to
share his life.
The Heresy of the Marovarians
Marovarians believe that Maria discovered she was
pregnant shortly after the First Prophet’s death. Ac-
cording to the Letters of Tobias, Maria gave birth to
the Prophet’s child while she journeyed with Tobias
the Meek (another of the Prophet’s companions and
the author of the letters in question). Many refused
to receive them, forcing Maria to give birth in a bar-
ren summer field in Montaigne, with Tobias as her
only comfort. At the time of the birth, Maria wept
from the pain, and when she begged Theus for wa-
ter, a spring fountain sprang up to her right. When
she begged Theus for something sweet to remind
her of her beloved’s light as she labored, a great
apple tree (or a fig tree, in some accounts) sprang up
to her left. When the child finally made her way into
the world, Maria named her Seraphine. A warm,
golden light descended over the child, and a voice
whispered the holiest of greetings: Blessed is the line
of Seraphine. May her heart be as pure as the springs,
and her line as fruitful as the most righteous land.
When Seraphine was ten years old, she woke her
mother in the middle of the night and said that her
father had come to her in a dream. In her dream,
he told her that one of her line would be the Great
Intercessor who would stand against the ruthless
judgment of the Last Prophet and extend mercy
to the lost. In the morning, Maria entrusted her
daughter to Tobias and asked him to keep her safe
and far from any who might try to stop her line
from ever forming. Tobias took Seraphine to Numa.
There she grew to become a healer whose kind-
ness was so renowned, she married high above her
station to a Numanari King. And so began the line
of Seraphine.
Over the ages, Seraphine’s descendants have
become leaders and sages, great poets and priests.
According to legend, one even gave up a Kingdom in
favor of joining an ascetic order. Marovarians, begin-
ning with Tobias, have tried to keep careful track of
Seraphine’s line so that they can find and protect the
Great Intercessor when the time of the Last Prophet
comes. Despite their best efforts, the bloodline was
eventually lost.
Secretly, the Marovarians continue searching all of
Théah for Seraphine’s line and guard zealously any
who seem likely. Recently, the Society has found a
child whom they believe descended from Seraphine.
An orphan named Elon of the Springs was found
living on her own in a Castillian forest, her family
seemingly slaughtered. The forest seemed to instinc-
tively care for her, which was miraculous enough,
but she also bore the same identifying birthmark
on the inside of her arm as many of those born to
Seraphine: a slightly darker patch of skin resembling
the sun’s rays.
Favor with the Marovarians
Marovarians are genuinely helpful people who desire
believers in Seraphine’s line to be protected from the
wrath of the Fourth Prophet. If a Hero does some-
thing to aid their cause, he may be rewarded.
• Saving a child of Seraphine from harm, or dis-
covering a descendant of Seraphine, will garner
you 10 Favor.
• Bringing together divided souls so that they
may, through love, find unity will garner you
5 Favor.
A Hero may use that Favor as follows:
• Gaining access to an obscure genealogical histo-
ry costs 1 Favor.
• Finding succor at a Marovarian’s home, wheth-
er it be a hovel or estate, costs 2 Favor, or 4
Favor if this offer of aid places the Marovarian
or her allies in direct and immediate danger
(such as if you want to hide from local guards
or if everyone knows a powerful noble is out for
your head).
The Akathari
“If the Riddle is of Theus, then it follows that, like
Theus, it is not of the material realm. Only those un-
burdened by life, pure and weightless, may draw close
enough to the Riddle’s truths.”
—from The Book of Weight
The Akathari admit the weight of the world. Rela-
tionships, obligations, possessions—these all drag
believers down like anchors. Anchors keep a person
present and engaged in the world around her, but
they also prevent her from rising above the material
plane to seek out the solution to Theus’ Riddle. The
Akathari believe that a person should cut loose his
anchors, shuck off all ties and rise weightless. Only
the weightless and pure can approach Theus’ Riddle.
A truly weightless life is untenable, however, and
so the Akathari formed. The Akathari are not only
those who achieve weightlessness, but the aspirant
and anchored community that supports them so
that they may cast off everything, study the Riddle
and share their insights into the spiritual world.
Those who study the Riddle may choose to share
insights, such as revelations about the past or future
or guidance about how events fit within the Riddle.
They believe that studying the Riddle reveals truths
about both the spiritual and material worlds. The
emphasis on the Weightless as the arbiters of truth
has formed a deep rift between the Akathari and the
rest of the Church. The sect would be outcast en-
tirely if not for the good, churchgoing believers who
take pride in the Weightless without turning against
the rest of the Church.
The Akathari Society has three parts: the Aspi-
rants, the Weightless or Pure, and the Tethered. The
Aspirants have joined the Society to support the
Weightless and perhaps one day join them. Most
of the Akathari are Aspirants. The Weightless have
7th Sea | Vaticine City 37
 undergone the Ritual of Purity and practice extreme
asceticism as they privately contemplate Theus’
Riddle. Some Weightless remain in quiet cells alone,
while others travel as though blown by the wind.
The Tethered were once Weightless, but chose to
resume the world’s weight. The Tethered lead the
Akathari and form the smallest portion of the sect
since they believe an individual may cast off all her
weights and impurities only once. One who chooses
to re-engage with the world does so with the belief
that she can never ascend to a purely spiritual form
at Theus’ side, but instead faces only Oblivion. She
chooses to assume the weight she can never cast off
until both she and the weight no longer exist.
Akathari in Vaticine City
The Akathari have one of the strongest voices for
free will in the city. They argue that the duality of
the world demands that each person possesses the
same capability of goodness as wickedness, and that
difference between action and abstention is choice.
Only someone completely perfect living in a com-
pletely perfect world could be said to have no free
will, as no choices would exist. Since this world is so
clearly not perfect, free will must exist.
The emphasis on free will and the belief that
anyone may become Weightless and discover great
truths about the world has made the Akathari pop-
ular, especially among those tempted by Objection-
ism. Though the Society wields little influence over
the city, this popularity prevents the Church from
stamping them out entirely…for now, at least.
The Akathari know that their time is limited,
and many within the Society have started making
contingency plans.
The Ritual of Purity
The Akathari tome, The Book of Weight, describes
how to remove the spiritual ties that a person’s life
has formed. While leaving home, divorcing a spouse
and giving up wealth removes the material ties of
family and wealth, only the Ritual of Purity can
remove the attachment between the trappings of
material life and the spirit. The Akathari believe that
a person may receive the Ritual of Purity only once
in his lifetime. Therefore, they tend to perform it in
one of two cases. In the first, the recipient is dying
38 Section 3 | Secret Societies and Conspiracies
and has requested purification. While this purifica-
tion is unnecessary, the Akathari believe it eases the
passage from life to death.
In the second, the recipient wishes to try the
Riddle and is ready to commit to a strict ascetic life.
The Weightless must have no emotional connec-
tions to any person, place, beast or object. For most,
this translates to a celibate life of extreme poverty.
Should he abandon this lifestyle and form ties of
affection or come to care about his body or posses-
sions again, the weight of the world settles back over
him and he becomes Tethered; he cannot be purified
again. The Tethered believe that, when the world
ends, they end with it.
The Heresy of the Akathari
The current Tethered leaders of the Akathari believe
that the Church leadership is misguided and more
prone to weighing down believers than lifting them.
A group of the Tethered and Aspirant have formed
their own Inquisition with the charge of investigating
the Church and uncovering evidence of excess, greed
and betrayal toward Theus and the people.
The Akathari teach privately that the Prophets
were no more pure or perfect than any other person
and that the Prophets’ lives demonstrate their weight
and lack of true spiritual purity. While the Akathari
admit the Prophets’ wisdom, they also teach that
focusing overly much on the Prophets distracts from
humanity’s true purpose—unraveling Theus’ Riddle.
An Akathari May:
• Be willing to sacrifice himself to expose Church
hypocrisy.
• Be a Hero who plans on one day becoming
Weightless and unraveling the Riddle.
• Be a Hero who received the Ritual of Purity as
a child on her deathbed, but instead survived
and is now Tethered.
• Seek to destroy a Cardinal who covets material
goods while his flock begs for help.
• Expose a seemingly pious individual to her
community at risk of death.
• Have memorized secret knowledge of the
Church or of hidden misdeeds by a ranking
authority, and be willing to pass that knowledge
on to the righteous.
Favor with the Akathari
The Akathari value the spiritual over the material
and the difficult truth over easy deception. A Hero
earns Favor with the Akathari, not through bold
deeds or brash proclamations, but by supporting the
Weightless, using her free will to choose goodness
over wickedness and exposing hypocrisy.
• Helping the Akathari uncover a religious
leader’s hypocrisy earns 5 Favor. If the religious
leader is a cardinal or higher, the action earns
10 Favor.
• Providing food, clothing or transport for one of
the Weightless earns you 5 Favor.
A Hero may use that Favor as follows:
• Examining the evidence gathered by the Akath-
ari’s secret Inquisition and learning of Church
leaders’ misdeeds costs 2 to 4 Favor, depending
on how difficult the evidence was to acquire.
• Asking a Weightless for insight into Theus’
Riddle costs 2 Favor. This may include advice
on which path is the best to take or a minor
revelation about the past or future.

The Conspiracies of
Vaticine City
Disagreements over Church history and doctrine
grow and fester into Conspiracies. A Conspiracy is
a loose affiliation of people who all share a single,
often heretical belief. The strength of this belief
creates a tribal us-versus-them mentality without
also forming a full Secret Society or infrastructure
of complementary beliefs. Those who share in a
Conspiracy may disagree in every other aspect of
their lives, but on this one belief they are family. For
every Conspiracy, agreeing with or backing up the
conspirators earns you 3 Favor.
These are only a few of the Conspiracies found in
Vaticine City.

The New Knights of Casuga Rosa

Many songs and stories speak of the Knights of
Casuga Rosa, the proud order of men and women
who risked their lives to protect the Church. To
most, the Knights are only lost legends, more myth
than history. To the conspirators, the Knights were

7th Sea | Vaticine City 39

 not only fact, but were far more vital than anyone
realized. The Knights guarded Théah against the
terrifying power of the Door, a strange Syrneth
doorway. Through stories cobbled together from
family legends, old diaries and supposition, the New
Knights believe that they must find and recreate the
lost rituals of the Knights and locate the Door so
that they may ensure it remains closed.
The New Knights operate in secret and hold
elaborate rituals they believe might be key in
keeping the Door closed. Their belief in the Door
and the implication of where it may open keep the
New Knights in the shadows. The Church does not
condone belief in worlds other than the one created
by Theus.
• Gain 6 Favor by sharing an artifact from the
legendary Knights.
• Spend 4 Favor to take shelter in one of the
New Knights’ many secret ritual spaces.
The Children of Lora
The Children of Lora argue that Lora of the Vale
birthed the First Prophet, not Mariah. Lora was a
widow with two children already born. According
to the Children, Lora conceived the First Prophet
in a beam of light a year after her husband’s death.
The First Prophet grew up in a happy household
with two older siblings who later encouraged his
ministry. Once the Prophet died, Lora and his
companions disagreed over the fate of his ashes,
and Lora was subsequently written out of history.
40 Section 3 | Secret Societies and Conspiracies
The Children of Lora, all excellent and inquisitive
historians, have found several pieces of evidence to
support their point of view. Given the many forger-
ies that exist throughout the city, the Children are
well-practiced at identifying which texts are real and
which are not. They cite this skill as further reason
why others should believe them about Lora. Their
detractors point out the problems of vague refer-
ences and confirmation bias. Besides their denial
of Mariah, the Children are also deemed heretical
because they question the entirety of the Book of the
Prophets. If an error as large as Lora can exist in the
holy tome, many other errors, deliberate changes or
problematic translations may yet lurk.
• Gain 4 Favor by bringing alternative transla-
tions of the Book of the Prophets or copies of
accountings from others who followed the First
Prophet during his ministry.
• Spend 3 Favor to ask the Children of Lora to
verify a historical text.
The False Riddle, or Rejectionism
Rejectionists believe that Theus’ Riddle is both
impossible to solve and not meant to be solved.
In fact, Legion uses the Riddle to trick human-
ity and distract them from their true purpose:
finding the Riddle’s material match. These con-
spirators believe that the Riddle is not actually a
riddle, but rather an exemplar of perfection. Once
humanity can provide a material match to the
spiritual exemplar, Theus will return.
 Some of those within this Conspiracy include
Makers who believe that humanity’s purpose is
creating the material exemplar. Others within the
conspirators are Seekers who believe that Theus has
hidden the material match on Théah for humanity
to find. Both Makers and Seekers are endlessly cu-
rious and inventive, however. In the current political
climate, focusing so extensively on the Riddle and
pursuing curiosity and questions so relentlessly are
both suspicious to the Inquisition. Rejectionists
have learned subtlety.
• Gain 2 Favor by stumping a Rejectionist with a
puzzle, riddle or question.
• Spend 4 Favor by asking a Rejectionist for help
creating or solving a puzzle or riddle.
than simply listening to and trusting the Church.
The Church also condemns the Common Prophets
for the implication that anyone can divine the truth
of the world on their own.
• Gain 2 Favor by allowing a Common Prophet
to walk you through his favorite prophecy or
divine your future.
• Spend 3 Favor by asking the Common Proph-
ets to crack an encrypted message for you.

The Common Prophets

The Common Prophets believe that the Book of
Common Prayer contains many encoded prophecies.
According to the Common Prophets, the Book of
Common Prayer predicted the War of the Cross and
Queen Elaine’s return from the Sidhe. The codes
rely on complex numerology and symbolism. For ex-
ample, the prophecy of Queen Elaine’s return begins
with a hymn that mentions an apple tree. Common
Prophets usually keep their books with them, with
pages full of circled references, marginalia and con-
nections drawn between passages.
The Church has deemed the Common Prophets
heretical because they seek truth through arcane
examination of one of the two primary tomes rather

7th Sea | Vaticine City 41

 Section Four
SECRETS AND RELICS
T
he Vaticine Church keeps its greatest
secrets locked away in the Vault. The
Vault is an enormous repository of
relics and wealth kept in the subterra-
nean catacombs of Vaticine City. The location of the
Vault, a secret from the general public, is accessed
through long and snaking tunnels that lead to ap-
parent hovels throughout the city. A Vault guard—
almost exclusively recruited from senior members
of the Solomons—enters these access points in
disguise and dons her arms once inside. The guard,
sworn to secrecy, keeps her identity hidden at all
costs. If a guard’s identity is discovered, she reports
this breach to the Vaticine security force and gets
reassigned.
A Hero or Villain attempting to infiltrate the
Vault must therefore find out the identity of a cur-
rent or former guard willing to talk. Once inside the
subterranean passages, he must be able to find his
way through the labyrinthine catacombs and safely
to the Vault. Any wrong turn could lead him to
hazards such as sewer monsters or secret bands of
brigands. But this is only part of the challenge.
Once inside the Vault, Heroes face plenty of
locks and traps to bypass. Main entry is behind a
set of three large, steel doors, each with a complex
combination lock that changes every few months.
The Vault door itself is constructed not only to
keep raiders out but to contain those who have been
successful at entering the Vault. In such an instance,
the guards seek reinforcements before entering
and slowly try to root out the invaders. If a Hero
finds herself trapped within the Vault, there are few
means of escaping aside from the main Vault door.
The guards speak of rumors that, given the Vault’s
construction on ancient foundations, secret passages
in and out of it exist, just waiting to be discovered. A
desperate Hero trapped inside the Vault may try to
find one of these passages so that she can still sneak
out with her loot in tow, rather than having to fight
her way through a mass of guards.
42 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics
Another rumor persists that secret passages were
built into the Vault in the form of Porté pockets—a
construction in clear contravention of Church
doctrine. However, doctrinal purity often gives way
to pragmatic thinking, and not all cardinals place
morality over practicality. Perhaps a trapped Hero
can find and utilize such a pocket. But jumping in
could land her in even greater peril and danger—for
who knows where it emerges?
The Vault Guardians
Miguel Correa: Miguel is Captain of the Vault
guard. An older man in his late 50s, he has been
one of the Vault guards since he was a young man.
Orphaned at a young age, Miguel was raised in a
Vaticine orphanage that trained many of the young
boys and girls to become priests. A few of the hard-
er, sharper children, such as Miguel, ended up being
recruited into the city guard.
Once a part of the guard, Miguel distinguished
himself by being constantly alert and quick on his
feet. In time, the Church recruited him for the
prestigious duty of guarding the secret Vault. Over
the years, he rose through the ranks, coming to
be the head of security for the Vault, as well as all
the other lesser secret caches and libraries located
throughout Vaticine City—at least, those that are
not the private secrets of other conspirators, such
as Cardinal Verdugo.
Miguel counts his blessings every single day. He
realizes that his life’s trajectory could have gone in a
completely different direction had the Church not
taken him in as a child. This makes him utterly in-
corruptible regarding the Church and its secret trea-
sures. Indeed, Miguel has turned down many a lucra-
tive offer of bribery for information on the Vault and
instead arrested the would-be briber. Because of this,
Miguel has made many friends within the leadership
of the Church, including Cardinal Verdugo.
Miguel rapidly approaches the time in his life
to focus on succession and ensuring his legacy.
Although he is very happy with Renata duVal’s
performance as his second in command, he does
not think she is ready yet to assume his duties. He
cannot exactly articulate why and simply suspects
that he is not yet ready to retire to the countryside,
but he long ago learned to trust his gut feelings in
these matters.
Renata duVal: Renata is Miguel’s second in
command and his closest confidante. DuVal is a
Castillian woman in her late 30s. She oversees the
day-to-day operations of the Vault guards including
staffing, providing training and arms and upgrading
the Vault’s security measures.
Renata has one great secret, though: she has been
thoroughly compromised by a local thief. Years
ago, she was involved in an affair with a noble and
her husband. For months, her lovers plied her with
requests to see the inside of the Vault. She resisted
at first, laughing off their curiosities and insistenc-
es—but her lovers grew increasingly curious about
her work and the nature of the Vault. Eventually,
Renata relented one dark night. She had her lovers
disguise themselves as guards, and they plunged into
the Vault by torchlight. Her lovers marveled at the
relics and treasures found in the Vault below.
DuVal swore the two to secrecy, requesting that
they never reveal her indiscretions. Although they
swore upon the First, Second and Third Prophets,
they were unable to maintain their silence. While at
a salon, the couple related the story to an acquain-
tance of theirs. This acquaintance proved to secretly
be the thief Diego de Leon. Immediately, Diego real-
ized that this knowledge could prove to be incred-
ibly valuable leverage over Renata. Later that eve,
he killed her lovers at their home, staging the home
to look like a robbery gone awry. While there, he
rummaged around and found the husband’s journal,
which contained a detailed accounting of the night
in the Vault. At first, de Leon considered turning
over this information to Juan de Cielo (the would-
be King of the Undeworld—see Section Two); this
kind of leverage could be very lucrative for Diego,
and the kind of information that could catapult Juan
to prominence over his rival, King Thom. Eventu-
ally, though, de Leon decided to keep it for his own
use, reasoning that should the need arise, he could
always sell it to one or the other in order to secure a
spot for himself in the retinue of whomever eventu-
ally came out on top of that thieves’ war.
With his leverage maintained, he approached
Renata, revealing all he knew. He presented her with
one simple demand: on occasion provide him with
access to the Vault and its treasures, or have her
indiscretions made public and her career destroyed.
DuVal was caught. She could not see everything she
worked for destroyed. Reluctantly, she relented. In
the three years since, Renata has rarely been called
upon to honor her side of the bargain. Still, she
regrets having to keep this secret from Miguel. He
has been like a father to her, and every day that she
does not come clean to him, she feels like she drives
a knife deeper into his back. DuVal is sure that one
day she will be called upon to provide a favor too
great, or that her transgression shall become known
to Miguel. When will that day arrive? How great
will the fallout be?
Nico Chevalier: Originally a Montaigne who
immigrated to Castille and Vaticine City, Nico is a
homeless drunkard and is Miguel Correa’s “eyes on
the streets.” He keeps his ears open for rumblings
of any plots and plans to sack the Church’s Vault,
and reports what he learns directly to Miguel. In
exchange, Correa pays him handsomely in money
promptly spent on drinking and gambling. This
ongoing arrangement with Chevalier has led to the
successful apprehension of dozens of would-be
thieves and raiders in the Vaticine Vault.
Nico has recently learned a fact which he has no
clue how to deal with—that Renata duVal has been
compromised by a thief named Diego de Leon. He
learned this after overhearing the drunken thief
bragging about how he had been given access to
the Vault due to Renata’s indiscretions. After this
discovery, Chevalier kept quiet and decided to be
coy about the matter. He feigned ignorance around
duVal, and even followed her around Vaticine City
during her off hours. Over the course of a few
months, he witnessed her meeting Diego a half-doz-
en times. This confirmed the suspicions in his mind.
Nico now is unsure what to do with this informa-
tion. He wants to tell Miguel, but he does not know
whether duVal acts at Miguel’s behest, maintaining
a ruse to later apprehend Diego. Chevalier also
knows that, if Renata denied the accusations, he
7th Sea | Vaticine City 43
 would likely lose favor with the Captain and, as a re-
sult, lose his only regular means of work. Nico now
torments himself, knowing full well Renata’s secret
but feeling paralyzed and unable to act upon it. On
the nights he worries too much about the matter, he
ends up drinking himself into a stupor. How much
longer can Chevalier carry this burden? Will he find
some way of preserving his lucrative relationship
with Miguel while still salving his conscience? Could
someone help him in the matter?
Forbidden Knowledge
Vaticine City is home to a network of libraries.
Each of the city’s libraries contains vast stores of
knowledge, both public and secret, nearly impossible
to find anywhere else in the world. Because of this,
Heroes from across Théah engage in pilgrimages
every year to find books that contain secrets long
since lost from recorded history.
Most of the libraries in Vaticine City are consid-
ered adjunct libraries. There number about a half
dozen throughout the city. Although these libraries
certainly do contain rare or hard-to-find informa-
tion, none of these works are especially disruptive
to society or dangerous in the hands of the general
public. The Church assigns monks as caretakers to
these adjunct libraries, and, though not officially
priests, they are individuals raised and trained since
childhood to study and illuminate manuscripts and
texts. While there are monks in monasteries across
Théah, those assigned to the Vaticine City libraries
are among the best at what they do, or simply are
politically well connected within the Church.
Secundus Library
The Secundus Library is a grand structure at the
heart of Vaticine City, standing at three stories tall
and large enough to take up an entire city block.
Protruding from the center of the library is a soaring
bell tower.
Like the adjunct libraries throughout Vaticine
City, the Secundus Library has a vast number of
public stacks. The public stacks contain copies of
governmental records from across Théah, education-
al treatises, atlases, books of poetry, religious texts
for public consumption and other works that the
Vaticine Church does not find threatening.
44 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics
On the third floor, accessible only to those who
have Church approval, are the Secundus private
stacks. These stacks house works dealing with
forbidden knowledge—information too danger-
ous or easily misunderstood to allow access by the
general public. Twenty armed guards, continuously
stationed at the entrances and exits to the private
stacks, prevent anyone not authorized to enter the
stacks from sneaking in.
The books found in the private stacks themselves
contain a wide variety of secret information. Is a
Hero trying to investigate the origins of die Kreuz-
ritter? Then the Secundus private stacks are the
place to look. Or perhaps he is attempting to find
the birth records and true identity of a 300-year-old
vampire? Others may seek to answer the question
of what happened to the sword of the Prophets. All
these questions, and more, very likely have answers
in the private stacks of the Secundus Library.
The administrator of the Secundus Library is
granted the title of archbishop, although he or she
does not oversee an archdiocese. The archbishop and
assistants have control over who can borrow books
and who can visit the restricted stacks, but this can
be overruled by a cardinal or by the hierophant or
the camerlengo.
The Relics
The Vaticine Vault houses a great many relics
and artifacts that have been recovered by faithful
members of the Church over the centuries. Each is
catalogued and locked away, and only the most se-
nior members of the Church and the Inquisition are
allowed free access to them. This makes the artifacts
quite valuable and sought-after by Villains looking
to make a quick doubloon, or Heroes hoping to
liberate a relic that rightfully belongs to the public
or in a museum.
What follows are just a handful of the hundreds of
treasures locked away and safeguarded in the Vault
below Vaticine City. Each item is storied with its own
lore, background and uses. Certainly an enterprising
Hero would be lucky to obtain any one of them!
Each relic has a legendary, miraculous ability as-
cribed to it—not always a blessing—but, depending
on the needs of your story, this may or may not be
true. You should not assume that a relic performs in
a particular way just because one possible blessing
or curse is described for it! And some relics might
awaken their blessings only for the truly faithful.
But Before We Begin…
A true Hero knows that a relic borrows the mantle
of Theus in order to help along the Divine Plan.
Heroes who seek out these relics should do so
humbly, sparingly and always with the knowledge
that some day a relic of the Church must pass on
to the needy once it has served its purpose in the
hands of a Hero.
Relics imbued with something other than holy
power are even more dangerous—they tempt
Heroes to cling to supernatural power in order to
change the material world. Legion loves this kind
of temptation, and the Inquisition—and even
less-zealous members of the Church!—work hard
to keep the world safe from someone who lets loose
such an item.
So when your players ask you, “How can I get my
hands on that relic that gives me a bonus to…,” just
remember: a Hero uses a holy relic to do the right
thing, which she was going to do anyway. Someone
who approaches the divine with greed or envy at
heart and a hope for personal power…that is a Vil-
lain, of course! And while Theus may rarely inter-
vene in worldly affairs, the misuse of a mighty relic
for profane purposes generally does not end well for
the overly ambitious.
After all, just remember what happened at the
end of Raiders of the Lost Ark…
What Exactly Do You Mean by Traps?
Many of the relics in the Vault are guarded by “many
traps.” Of course, the Vault is not just some dungeon
filled with guards and pressure plates. The traps in
the Vault usually serve one of three purposes: to
test, to immobilize or to kill.
The first kind, a trap to test, is bypassed by having
an appropriate key or the right piece of knowledge.
This could be a special lock that can be unlocked
only with an amulet usually worn by a specific
archbishop, or it could be a room with several crests
on the walls, where the correct historical crest of a
specific Hierophant must be found and pressed to
7th Sea | Vaticine City 45
 Designing Traps
Traps should generally have three characteristics:
what it does, how the Hero finds it and how the
Hero overcomes it.
What it does is an if-then statement hidden
from the Heroes until the trap is triggered or
discovered. If a Hero tries to open the door with-
out answering the riddle, then a hail of arrows fires
from holes in the wall, and she takes 3 Wounds. If
a Hero does not have the key, then the portcullis
drops and he becomes trapped. If a Hero presses
the wrong sequence of runes, then the room begins
to fill with poisonous gas that, when breathed,
renders her Helpless. When a Hero takes an Action
that satisfies the trap’s trigger, it goes off, imme-
diately creating a new Consequence in the Scene
that he must overcome or suffer. Remember that
traps in this sense provide a test to make sure that
the Heroes are supposed to be here. A trap that
triggers when anyone enters the room and imme-
diately kills her does not fulfill this purpose. Such
a trap would have claimed a lot of Vaticine interns
over the years.
Some traps, as noted previously, allow the Game
Master to assemble a dice pool and roll to generate
Raises and cause Wounds, almost like a Villain does.
These effects should be reserved for the most pow-
erful artifacts and central chambers of the Vault.
unlock the exit. A test of this sort may require use of
Notice or Scholarship, or possession of the proper
key or tool. Some tests might be very obscure and
rely on an unusual skill, such as a test of Perform
that requires a Hero to play a melody on an organ.
In mechanical terms, these tests require a certain
number of Raises to bypass (the most common
appropriate Approaches include Scholarship to test
theological knowledge or Church history, or Notice
to uncover hidden levers or buttons in order to open
a secret door).
The second kind, a trap to immobilize, keeps an
intruder stuck so that the guards can intercept him.
This could mean isolating a hallway with portcul-
lises that slam down, locking doors after everyone
enters a room or deploying nets or bars to grab
people. A Hero usually needs to rely on Athletics or
Theft to bypass these traps.
46 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics
How the Hero finds it is most often a sim-
ple Opportunity. This Opportunity should most
commonly use Skills such as Notice or Theft, but do
not be afraid to think outside the box a bit. A trap
could be a changed line within a scripture passage
painted on the wall (Scholarship), footprints paint-
ed onto the floor in a strange, twirling pattern that
mimics a Castillian dance (Perform) or a tapestry of
an ancient battle depicting the wrong side as victo-
rious (Warfare). These things clue the Hero into re-
alizing that something is not as it seems and that he
should investigate more closely. While the players
know that there is such an Opportunity (and which
Skill’s Approach is most appropriate to activate it),
the Heroes do not. Only when the Opportunity is
activated does the Hero notice something strange
and discover the presence of a trap.
How the Hero overcomes it is the most vari-
able element here. In this case, this means how
the Hero bypasses the trap without suffering its
Consequence. Possessing a key or magical talisman,
speaking the correct password or knowing the
appropriate sequence to a historical or theological
story (and arranging figurines on a table in order to
tell the correct story) disarms the trap and renders
it harmless, allowing the Hero to pass.
The third kind, a trap to kill, is used only to guard
the most dangerous and important of relics. This
could take the form of poisoned darts, a chute that
drops the intruders into a chamber that fills with
water or an even more unconventional mechanism.
A Hero defeats these traps by using his appropri-
ate Skill to contest the Game Master’s roll for the
trap; like an enemy, a trap that scores more Raises
than a Hero causes Wounds. Killing traps always
have some mechanism that can be bypassed by the
knowledgeable, which may be discovered by rec-
ognizing the device (with Theft), by knowing the
appropriate scriptural references (with Scholarship)
or by some other, more unusual means. The Game
Master decides how dangerous a trap is and thus
how many dice to roll for it, but traps found in the
Vault never roll fewer than eight dice.
 These three types of traps are almost always used
together to create a single, multifaceted trial. Having
the right key, talisman or passcode allows a petition-
er to bypass one or more steps of the trial, but rarely
all—such a “master key” would create a security
nightmare for the Vault and its treasures.
When an item is stolen or a new item is placed in
a chamber in the Vault, the Vault guards typically
have new traps installed. This means that maps and
plans of the traps quickly become outdated, but the
Vault guards must often contract an outside special-
ist to help construct the traps, which can be a point
of vulnerability for clever Heroes.
Relics
Saint Phideas’ Knucklebone
This item is a reliquary—a holy artifact that con-
tains the physical remains of one of the Vaticine
Church’s saints. That saint in question was Saint
Phideas, a pious Avalonian priest who eschewed
the path of prestige and comfort. Phideas always
dedicated himself to providing comfort and aid to
the poor and the downtrodden.
In particular, Phideas established a leper colony to
provide care to the most disabled and disadvantaged
members of Théan society. After seeing how lepers
had been driven to the fringes of the wilds by fright-
ened villagers and forced to scrounge and scavenge
just to get by, Phideas felt that his faith compelled
him to right this wrong. He set about organizing
the lepers and guiding them in the construction of a
colony.
This did not sit well with the Avalonian peasantry,
who petitioned their King and Queen to intervene
and put an end to Phideas’ activities. The royals saw
the great consternation amongst the peasants and
feared revolt. They saw how many willingly went
on pilgrimage to leave their farms and seek the aid
of the Royal Court, that it seemed armed rebel-
lion would not be too far off should their pleas be
ignored. That settled the matter.
The royals ordered an armed envoy to ride at once
to find Phideas and order him to cease his activities.
As the envoy rode up, they found the priest hard at
work erecting a house, sweat beading on his brow.
The envoy called him out, produced the royal proc-
lamation and told him to cease and desist his work
on behalf of the lepers.
Phideas wiped the sweat from his brow. A thin
smile spread across his face, and his eyes crinkled
as he locked gaze with the leader of the envoy. He
thanked the men and women for their service to the
Crown, and for going out of their way to commu-
nicate the royalty’s wishes, but unfortunately he an-
swered to a higher authority—Theus Himself. With
those few, simple words, Phideas excused himself
and turned back to his work. The soldiers moved to
approach him, ready to use force. But immediately,
lepers of all stripes—young, old, female, male—
moved to block their path. They made it clear that,
if the soldiers wished to harm Phideas, the soldiers
must first wade through the lepers. The soldiers did
not want to chance exposure to leprosy, and, chas-
tened, rode back to inform the royalty. And so began
the cold war between Phideas and the royalty.
In response to the events of that day, the royalty
did everything they could to get Phideas to abandon
his endeavor. They imposed greater taxes on the
region, they suspended trade into and out of the re-
gion, they tried to rile up the local peasantry and get
them to do the dirty work of destroying the colony.
Still, Phideas persisted.
In time, other matters of state drew the royals’ at-
tention, and Phideas and his leper colony remained
victorious. Tales of his exploits reached the greater
Vaticine Church. His defiance toward the Crown
in the name of religion became a source of celebra-
tion. Eventually, though, as all people must, Phideas
passed away. At the time of his death, people already
believed him a candidate for canonization as a saint.
His remains were interred in Church crypts, and
once the Hierophant had granted him sainthood
and the body had properly decomposed, the Church
incorporated parts of his remains into reliquaries.
Although many of Saint Phideas’ reliquaries have
been lost to the ravages of time, one in particular is
still well-known and safely guarded in the Vaticine
Vault.
The Relic
This reliquary is Saint Phideas’ Knucklebone. The
Knucklebone itself is wrapped in a leather thong
7th Sea | Vaticine City 47
 that is decorated simply. It can be hung around the
neck, making it easy to conceal and travel with. The
Knucklebone imparts to its wielder a tiny portion
of Phideas’ abilities to heal and safeguard the sick
and wounded. The wielder of the Knucklebone can,
on her Action, spend a Hero Point and 1 Raise to
immediately heal 2 Dramatic Wounds in another
person. In exchange, the wielder of the Knucklebone
takes on those 2 Dramatic Wounds herself. Unlike
normal Dramatic Wounds, which heal at the end
of the Episode, these 2 Dramatic Wounds can be
healed if you spend an hour in complete rest.
Esperanto’s Sliver
Joaquim Esperanto was a noble and virtuous Cas-
tillian knight. Famous among the commoners and
royalty alike for his piety to the Vaticine Church, he
had remarkable skills as a jouster. At an early age,
Joaquim had been squired to an older knight who
recognized the young man’s skill and potential. He
worked hard and diligently to train as a knight, and
eventually his hard work paid off.
He quickly rose to prominence among the
jousting tourneys. Prior to mounting his horse,
Esperanto got down on one knee, clasped his hands
and uttered a prayer to Theus. The assembled crowd
joined him in this prayer and cheered all the more
vigorously once he took the field. Men and women
were all too eager to lend Joaquim their favors at
tourneys, and people surrounded him to soak up his
tales of travel and knightly life.
But youth and virtue cannot guard against preor-
dained destiny, and it was not Joaquim’s destiny to
live a long life. One day, while at tourney, he jousted
against a large and ferocious opponent—stories vary
about whether it was an Eisen knight with a drache-
neisen shield, a pagan Vesten of immense stature
with a bristling beard and only tattoos for armor or
a glamoured Avalonian færie knight with legendary
strength sufficient to hurl boulders. On the first pass
of the joust, Joaquim’s lance struck the point against
his foe’s shield. He looked on course to win the day.
The second pass of the joust happened, and this
time Joaquim’s foe scored the point. Then came the
third and final pass to determine just who carried
the tourney that day. On this pass, Esperanto scored
the point—but at great cost.
48 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics
When his lance came into contact with his oppo-
nent’s shield, the blow landed in a terrible clamor
that shivered his lance. One of the shards from the
lance lodged itself between Joaquim’s breastplate
and his pauldron, piercing his chest right by his
heart. The squires ran to the field and carried him
away as he writhed in pain. Onlookers saw the hor-
rible event as a tragedy… but Theus, as the Church
claims, always has a plan.
Esperanto was carried to the cottage of a local
healer and herbalist. The healer set about to treating
his wounds, stanching the bleeding and creating a
poultice to try to neutralize any infection before it
took root in the wound. Joaquim lay in that bed,
feverishly mumbling heartfelt prayers to Theus,
begging and seeking His favor to make it through
this critical time. Fellow knights and the nobles they
served came to kneel by his side, take his hand, join
him in prayer and provide comfort.
But despite the knight’s piety and the healer’s
heroic efforts to treat the wound, Joaquim’s brief
and virtuous life came to an end. After ten days and
ten nights of Esperanto being visited by friends and
admirers, the healer awoke one morning to find that
he had finally given in to his wounds. In death, the
knight’s face bore a look of peace and acceptance
that he had not experienced for the previous ten
days. All of Castille went into mourning over the
death of one so noble.
Given Joaquim’s fame, though, it was only inevita-
ble that less scrupulous individuals sought to profit
from his death. When all eyes were on Esperanto
during his convalescence, one of the squires had
secreted away the lance shard that dealt the mortal
blow. He hoped to sell it to the highest bidder, a
grim memento mori of the life of Joaquim Esperanto.
It is unclear exactly who bought the lance shard—
later known as Esperanto’s Sliver—but, in time, the
Vaticine Church acquired and stored it in its Vault
as a means of honoring a fallen Hero.
Once in Church custody, the bloodstained Sliver
received close examination. The Vault custodians
made a miraculous discovery—the Sliver contained
great and magnificent properties that aided its
wielder in combat. Some who studied the Sliver
swore that it must have acquired Joaquim’s virtue as
a result of being bathed in his blood. Other, more
pragmatic-minded individuals argued that it must
have been his lance that contained these properties
and caused the knight’s acclaim and success. They
say that it is only natural that the Sliver should
contain some residual magnificence. Others coun-
tered that, if the lance was so enchanted to begin
with, why did it shatter upon striking the shield of
Joaquim’s opponent? The truth is unknown, but the
Sliver symbolizes how, when one of Theus’ soldiers
falls, another may pick up the mantle to continue
the quest to defend the Church.
The Relic
One who wields Esperanto’s Sliver as a kind of
makeshift dagger is imparted with great morale and
martial ability. During her Action on a successful
roll, she gains 1 additional free Raise to spend as she
sees fit. The Sliver is, however, an awkward weapon,
and attempting to embed it in a spear or hilt risks
damaging it irrevocably. The Sliver is not meant to
lead one person to victory forever; it is destined to
change hands, and a warrior who relies on its power
for too long eventually faces a dramatic turn that
brings the Sliver to a new champion. (Game Mas-
ters, this means that, if one of your Heroes acquires
the Sliver, it eventually seeks to pass on to the next
generation of Heroes. If not relinquished after a
time, it works through Theus’ plan to find its way to
a new bearer.)
Plaque of Hearth and Home
Jacqueline d’Canne was a famous Montaigne artist.
Part of her acclaim came from the fact that she was
incredibly talented at working in multiple media—
from poetry to portraiture to sculpture. Jacqueline’s
early talents and range of abilities quickly set her
apart from many other of Théah’s artists. Her works
all focused on pastoral imagery, emphasizing themes
of family, joy, faith and solidarity.
It surprised very few when d’Canne received an of-
fer of patronage from the Vaticine Church. Immedi-
ately, Jacqueline’s life changed as she gained what all
artists seek and aspire to—a life stability, fame and
full-time employment. She moved from her home
in Montaigne to Vaticine City to work closely with
the Church. The Church officials believed that, with
their guidance and support, Jacqueline could produce
works of profound spiritual magnitude that could
spread Theus’ message in subtle ways across all of
Théah, from the commoners to the nobility alike.
D’Canne quickly set to work, producing many
paintings and sculptures, all continuing her themes
of family, piety and devotion. Her more masterful
works quickly became sought after by Théan nobil-
ity, and owning a d’Canne work quickly became an
envious status symbol.
Even as Jacqueline continued to produce comfort-
ing works of art, she also gained unofficial power
within the Church to help shape its patronage pro-
gram for future artists. She traveled far and wide to
select the next generation to benefit as she had. She
became known for her generosity and her desire to
continue the Vaticine mission of using art to reach
the souls of Théans.
Eventually, d’Canne died peacefully of old age.
Her funeral was practically a state affair, with
nobility coming from as far as Ussura to pay their
respects to this legendary artist. After her passing,
the Vaticine program for providing patronage to the
arts grew into the Church’s well-known support for
the sciences and progresses of knowledge.
Jacqueline left behind many amazing pieces of art
spread across Théah. Some are in museums; most
lie in private collections of Théan nobility. As with
most artists, her star only continued to grow in
death. Much of her artwork can still be found in Va-
ticine City, with her most breathtaking and moving
pieces of work being kept in the Vaticine Vault.
One such work is called the Plaque of Hearth
and Home. As the name suggests, this work is a
wall-hanging sculptural plaque, two feet tall by three
feet wide. It conveys a simple Montaigne family eat-
ing dinner at their family table. The children laugh
and feed the family dog scraps beneath the table,
and the husband and wife lean in close, whispering
to one another. In the background, a fire burns in
the hearth, providing a warm and gentle light for the
entire family.
The Relic
If hung in a small home, the plaque conveys great
blessings upon all who sleep in the dwelling. Occu-
pants of such a building receive a bonus Hero Point
the next day. The plaque reflects the camaraderie of
7th Sea | Vaticine City 49
 a loving family—while it brings peaceful dreams to
those who sleep in a building where it is housed, it
forfeits its blessing if enmity develops between fam-
ily members within an estate. Should relatives up to
three generations removed be at odds, the relic can
give no benefit and instead haunts the family with
half-remembered dreams of filial piety and unity.
Only if they reconcile or separate to find their own
fortunes can the family members once again come
under the blessing of the plaque. Anyone who has
slain a family member can never have easy rest in a
home where the plaque resides; such a person never
regains Hero Points while sleeping in that domicile.

Robe of the Wanderer

Little is known of the Wanderer. Some believe
she was an Inish woman with profound powers of
sorcery; others believe she was a staunch ally of the
Second Prophet. Still others believe she was a living
incarnation of Legion itself. The actual truth of the
Wanderer’s nature has been lost to antiquity. De-
spite this uncertainty, sources from all across Théah
agree that a traveling woman continuously moved
across the continent, always appearing during times
of great upheaval.
This woman, known only as “the Wanderer,”
always came in the company of chaos. Scholars are
unsure whether she was the cause of such great
troubles or was merely attracted to them ahead of
time. Whether the cause or the cure, whenever the
Wanderer showed up, wise men and women quickly
disappeared. They either fled to the nearby wilder-
ness or stayed with a relative two villages over. Those
who remained behind at the Wanderer’s destination
came to quickly regret their choice.
One day, the Wanderer waded into a great bat-
tlefield. Stories say she hummed and sang, even as
arrows whizzed through the air, and soldiers clashed
swords against shields around her. The effect so un-
nerved everyone that nearby combatants broke their
ranks and moved out of her way, as she continued to
simply walk through the mass of combat. Eventually,
those at the battlefield lost track of the Wanderer.
That was the last day she was seen in Théah.
Some believe that she died that day in the battle.
Others argue that none of the survivors managed
to locate her body among the corpses. Some think

50 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics

she went to rejoin her friend, the Second Prophet,
in the afterlife. Others claim that, as Legion, she had
greater forms of evil to perpetuate elsewhere. As
with all stories surrounding the Wanderer, mystery
and uncertainty prevail over knowledge and fact.
The only trace that the Wanderer was even on
the battlefield that day was her cloak, left behind
seemingly unstained despite all the mud and blood
that covered the field. The general of the winning
army claimed that robe, dubbing it “the Robe of the
Wanderer.” He thought that the Robe would be a
curious conversation piece, something to take from
the battlefield and show off to his lord and friend
alike. Such was not to be.
Five days after the battle, the general was riding
his horse with the Robe stuffed into his saddlebags.
The horse came across a venomous snake and sud-
denly reared up. It bucked the general from its back,
who fell and struck his head against a large rock.
The blow killed him instantly.
His captain gathered all belongings from the gen-
eral’s saddlebags—including the Robe—and con-
tinued onward toward her home in Eisen. A month
later, when she arrived, she caught her husband in
the act of an affair with his mistress. Enraged, the
Captain drew her sword and instantly slew both her
husband and his lover alike. She was immediately
arrested by the town guard and later sentenced to
death for this crime of passion. The city government
seized and confiscated her belongings. The Robe of
the Wanderer numbered among these belongings.
Eventually, the Robe and many other goods were
stolen from the city town hall, which was set on fire
and burned to the ground by the thieves.
And so it went—wherever the Robe went, chaos
and destruction followed. It never stayed in one
person’s possession for too long before theft, death
or accident liberated it again, causing it to move
further along through Théah. This pattern persisted
for hundreds of years.
All that changed when a particularly scholarly
Inquisitor named Ramirez stumbled upon it while
investigating claims of demonic possession. He
saw the Robe hanging from a coat hanger in the
home he visited. Ramirez asked the owner how he
came to own the Robe. The owner related the story
about a traveler who rode into town hard one rainy
night, claiming that his group of friends had been
ambushed by bandits. That rider collapsed and later
developed pneumonia, dying from the exertion.
Ramirez instantly recalled the tales he had read
of the Robe of the Wanderer and its ability to bring
chaos wherever it went. He sought Theus’ blessings
to contain the powers of the Robe and took it with
him to Vaticine City. Along the way, Ramirez broke
his arm after stumbling down a path, but he arrived
at his destination otherwise safe and sound.
The archbishop of the Vault secured the Robe
and bound its powers—the official record states
that the archbishop accomplished this by a powerful
exorcism, but rumors whisper that sorcery may have
been involved. To this day, the Robe rests behind
many traps and wards in the Vaticine Vault.
The Church hopes that it can protect Théah
against this cursed object indefinitely. But is it only
a matter of time before the Robe somehow escapes
the confines of the Vault? After all, if the power that
contains it ever falters, it will bring disaster upon the
Vault itself. If so, what will happen when it is once
more unleashed upon Théah?
The Relic
Anyone in the same Scene and location with the
Robe automatically loses 1 Raise from all Actions,
regardless of whether he is in contact with the Robe,
wearing it or fighting against its bearer. The Robe is
indiscriminate in its curse.
Libram de Theus
Although there are only two official Holy Books in
the Vaticine Church—the Book of Common Prayer
and the Book of the Prophets—there are many books
of theological commentary. These books help guide
priests and common folk alike in furthering their
understandings of the Creed and the holy books.
However, some theological commentaries are so
esoteric and so easily misunderstood (despite their
brilliance) that it is inadvisable to allow the general
public to access them. After all, it would not do for
the Church to accidentally unleash another Objec-
tionist heresy, would it?
Of these brilliant but dangerous texts, the Libram
de Theus is the most well-known and -respected
throughout the corridors of Vaticine City. The
7th Sea | Vaticine City 51
 Libram was written many centuries ago by a monk
named Giuseppe Carubba. He spent his entire life
researching and writing the Libram de Theus. He
finalized his manuscript and published it only a
mere months before he died, aged and gray. After his
funeral and reading the text, his brothers and sisters
in the monastery immediately knew that he had
produced a work of both staggering genius and great
and profound danger.
In the Libram de Theus, Carubba went at great
length to engage in a textual exegesis on the very
essential nature of Theus and the wider world.
Throughout the Libram, Giuseppe used extended
analogies and anecdotal discussions to argue a great-
er understanding of how Theus was structured and
worked. As a deep and powerful logical thinker, he
knew that all of his observations and speculations
about Theus had to be firmly rooted in passages and
quotations from the Creed and the Holy Books. The
monk was firmly aware that any misstep and lack of
reverence for traditional Church doctrine—real or
perceived—could result in the Inquisition showing
up and taking him away to the dungeons. In this
way, the writing and publication of the Libram rep-
resented every bit as brilliant a political as a theolog-
ical move.
Once delivered to the headquarters of the Church
in Vaticine City, the book was rapidly read by mem-
bers of the Inquisition and the Church’s theological
committees. Numerous members of the diocese
were outraged—they perceived in the Libram full
well the dangers that Carubba’s thinking represent-
ed to the Church. These individuals argued that
the Libram should be burned and Giuseppe post-
humously excommunicated from the Church. But
many others saw sublime beauty and truth behind
his text. They believed that there was much to
learn from the book, much that could help develop
Théah’s finest Vaticine minds. Arguments raged
for months over the proper course of action to take
regarding the Libram. One faction even contemplat-
ed absconding with the book altogether as the only
means of destroying it.
Eventually, however, those voices who wished
to preserve the Libram prevailed. Such a rigorous
theological discussion had occurred that even those
who feared its danger could no longer disclaim its
52 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics
value altogether. The ensuing agreement was one
of compromise: preserve the Libram de Theus, but
as a secret manuscript locked away in the Church’s
Vault. Only the most devout and well-educated
members of the Church were to be allowed access
to it, and even then only for limited periods. All
agreed that it was imperative to keep the Libram out
of the hands of an uninformed populace who lacked
the sophistication to truly understand the book’s
contents. For this reason, much like the Robe of
the Wanderer, the Libram de Theus now sits locked
away in one of the safest, most secure areas of the
Vaticine Vault. Many traps line the passageways that
lead to the pedestal it is on. Despite being accessible
to the highest levels of the clergy, it has rarely been
read since its original inception.
As for the contents of the Libram itself, the specif-
ics of what it says regarding the nature of Theus—
the discussions of Giuseppe Carubba—were decep-
tively simple in nature. The book speaks of how the
idea of Theus as a person in the sky is at best merely
a construct to allow mortals, in their limitations, to
better understand the nature of Theus. Carubba ar-
gued that Theus is in everything and everyone, that
even the smallest blade of grass is, itself, but a small
extension of the much grander being that is Theus.
Giuseppe observed that a blade of grass differs from
a fire, differs from a human being, so even as Theus
took different forms, there must be some unifying
nature. Carubba believed that the essence of Theus
was the emotion that we call love, and that each
being was simply a part of Theus waking up to its
own divinity—a process that could be expedited by
constantly staying in a state of love, known as agape.
In this state of agape, Carubba argued, the need for
laws, restrictions, fear and governments all fall by
the wayside, and all people could transcend to be
with Theus and the Prophets.
Bits and pieces of Carubba’s work have appeared
in Rilasciare tracts and among the ideals of some
of the Secret Societies of the Church (see Section
Three). Part of Carubba’s brilliance is in casting the
nature of Theus as an intangible ideal that can never
be perfectly understood, but that cannot be refuted
without undercutting the Church’s essential mes-
sage of compassion. Particularly esoteric scholars
claim that Giuseppe’s writing is also allegorical and
that it holds truths about the nature of the invisible
world—that is, about sorcery—and that a proper
understanding of it might allow one to understand
how to connect sorcery to Theus’ Riddle and thereby
sidestep the theological problem of sorcery as a tool
of Legion. Even Legion must be a creation of Theus,
and thus a sorcerer who could puzzle out the riddle
of how to practice the magical arts out of Theus’ love
for humanity and selflessness could enter the state
of the beatus magi, the “blessed magician.”
The Relic
Reading the Libram of Theus and absorbing its
theological lessons provides a great boon of infor-
mation and knowledge to the reader. Digesting
this information requires that the character already
have at least 1 Rank in Scholarship (to be able to
understand some of the arguments) and requires
six months of reading and contemplation, minus a
number of months equal to his Wits (to a minimum
of one month). Completion of this task grants the
reader a permanent bonus Rank in Scholarship.
Treat this in all ways as an extra Rank, except that it
is not counted when calculating the cost to improve
the character’s Scholarship, and it can exceed the
usual maximum for a Skill.
Knight-Errant Gustavo’s
Mummified Head
Knight-Errant Gustavo of La Manzanita was a jolly
and joyous man who always reveled in life. At an
early age, Gustavo lost what meager holdings he had
to gambling and was cast out from the service of his
noble lady. Nevertheless, Gustavo shrugged, smiled,
and, with a twinkle in his eye, said that his life’s
calling had only just begun.
Wherever he rode his trusty steed Papi, Gustavo
could be recognized by the hearty laugh that origi-
nated deep in his belly. At all times, Gustavo carried
a lute with him wherever he traveled and expertly
plucked its strings and sung a song. The beauty of
his voice and musical talent were matched only by
his commitment to help the oppressed peasantry of
the Théan countryside.
Gustavo righted wrongs and helped the down-
trodden with a vigor and zeal that was unparalleled.
When asked why, in the face of his own misfortune
and reduced circumstances, he worked so tirelessly
on behalf of others, Gustavo flashed a grin and sim-
ply said, “A better question is how could I not?” He
claimed that having experienced loss and frustration
firsthand made him even more understanding of the
common person and more committed to embodying
the knightly virtues of olden tales.
Gustavo regularly intervened in matters too atten-
uated or too minor for the local constable or sheriff.
A chicken had been stolen? Fear not! Gustavo
would find the foul fowlnapper! A grandmother’s
antique necklace was missing from the house? No
worry—with Gustavo at the ready, the heirloom was
already as good as returned.
But were the matters always so trivial, Gustavo
easily would have faded into obscurity. Along with
missing livestock and charms, Gustavo also tracked
down violent robbers who sacked and stole from
traveling millers. He returned a kidnapped person
to his rightfully betrothed spouse-to-be. He exposed
the abusive and extortionate practices of a corrupt
magistrate. These acts demonstrated Gustavo’s true
Heroism: a willingness to fight corruption and Vil-
lainy, even when found among the established Théan
institutions. Since Gustavo himself had lost all title
and legitimacy within knightly and noble circles, he
had little to no fear of reprisal as a result of mak-
ing the wrong enemies. Without any social status
to lose, this was an area where Gustavo possessed
immunity to any actions taken against him.
All this came to an end one day, as these stories
sadly must, when Knight-Errant Gustavo met his
match. Gustavo had made enemies of a minor Eisen
noble. The noble had been brutally taxing his sub-
jects and reacting violently when they could not pay.
In order to maintain the barest illusion that he was
unconnected to the attacks, this noble hired a band
of brigands to do his bloody and dirty work. But
Gustavo would have none of it.
As the brigands rioted and destroyed the square
of a small Eisen hamlet, Gustavo burst over the
fence, charging atop the back of his ever-loyal Papi!
Peasants swore that Gustavo’s sword flashed, strik-
ing the bandits, even as he played his lute and sang
merrily (how exactly he could do both at once…well,
the peasants did not dwell on the matter too long).
7th Sea | Vaticine City 53
 But the brigands were many, and Gustavo was but
one. First, with an arrow, they snuffed out the life of
faithful Papi. Then, as Gustavo waded through the
battle on foot, he was slashed and stabbed by the
brigands. Gustavo persisted, nevertheless, right up
until the moment that one of the brigands swung
true and struck Gustavo’s head from his shoulders.
It was a sad day indeed, but, even so, some good-
ness came of it. Gustavo had fought so fiercely that
the remaining brigands were unable to survive long
after having been wounded by the noble knight.
They, too, expired from their wounds. Gustavo had
saved the town.
The townsfolk were grateful to him. They en-
tombed the Knight-Errant’s remains in their town
crypt. They erected a shrine to him at the crypt and
hung his favorite lute above the entrance of the town
church. For many years, villagers paid their respects
to Gustavo, seeking blessings in business and fer-
tility at Gustavo’s shrine. Villagers who petitioned
Gustavo’s remains swore that he answered their
prayers. They came to refer to him as the village
saint.
54 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics
Unfortunately, many years later, unknown assail-
ants vandalized and robbed the town crypt. One of
the items that had been stolen included Gustavo’s
mummified head itself. Somehow, many years later,
Knight-Errant Gustavo’s mummified head was
recovered by the Vaticine Church and stored in its
Vault of items. There it resides to this very day.
The Relic
Anyone petitioning Gustavo’s head may, once per
year, ask it for a boon to a single determined action.
If that person is good of heart and Heroic of nature,
Gustavo’s head provides the boon. The recipient of
that boon gains 2 free Raises to spend on a single
action of her choice. This boon lasts for up to a year,
and the recipient cannot ask Gustavo’s head for
another boon until a full year has passed after using
the Raises from the previous boon. Gustavo’s head
provides this boon only for undertakings of a just,
generous and Heroic cause; even coerced, a Hero
cannot benefit from this boon to perform a wicked
act.
The Hierophant’s Necklace
As the name suggests, the Hierophant’s Necklace is
a beautiful jeweled necklace typically worn by the
hierophant for high ceremonies and holidays. The
necklace is nearly 1,000 years old and is among the
most treasured of the ceremonial artifacts of the
Vaticine Church.
The Hierophant’s Necklace represents efforts
spanning all across Théah. The gold was imported
from Castillian gold mines, its prized jewels were
found, shaped and polished in Avalon, and the
dracheneisen clasp was specially fashioned in Eisen.
All of these materials came together per the instruc-
tion and design of a Montaigne jeweler extraor-
dinaire, Remy Ludeaux. Remy had been commis-
sioned by the Church to create a piece of jewelry
becoming the splendor and glory of the hierophant.
The fact that Remy’s brother was at the time one
of the most eminent cardinals in the Church had
very little to do with his being awarded this pres-
tigious job. Remy himself traveled far and wide to
inspect, negotiate and purchase all the materials that
went into the creation of the Hierophant’s Neck-
lace. Ludeaux was a driven man in the creation of
the Necklace. He saw this not only as a job to bring
glory to the Church but also as a means of bringing
his services to the notice of a wider clientele.
Such was not to be, however, for among the most
precious of materials included in the Hierophant’s
Necklace was Remy’s heartsblood. Late one night
in his workshop, Ludeaux fell asleep at his desk. He
awoke to the sounds of movement within the work-
shop. He roused himself and found a burglar in the
midst of looting all his work. At that very moment,
clutched in the burglar’s hands was the Hierophant’s
Necklace itself!
Normally a timid man, Remy leapt at the burglar,
and a struggle ensued. The burglar drew a dagger
and immediately thrust at him. Unfortunately,
Ludeaux, too close to dodge or parry the weapon,
was nicked in an artery. Even as he bled, though,
Remy wrestled the dagger away from the burglar
and turned the tide, vanquishing the burglar before
succumbing to his own wounds. As the two men’s
bodies lay collapsed against one another, their
mingled blood added the final ingredient to the
Hierophant’s Necklace.
Remy’s brother, Cardinal Ludeaux, was devastated
by the loss of his younger sibling. He convinced the
Hierophant to honor Remy, whose faith guided him
to protect the Church’s property even to the point of
his own death, by erecting a statue of the jeweler in
their Montaigne hometown. To this day, the statue
of Remy stands. It depicts the man as standing tall,
holding his hand out for a nesting dove. At the base
of the statue reads a plaque that says, “Faith and Vir-
tue Unto Death.”
After its creation, the Hierophant’s Necklace
continued to be a prized possession of the Vaticine
Church for years. It was stored in the Vault and
worn by hierophants for high holidays and matters
of state. Despite this relative scarcity of use, many
famous portraits of hierophants have all included
the Necklace in their imagery. Apparently, these
artists have found the glory and glamour of the
Necklace so visually compelling, that they prefer to
depict the Hierophant as always wearing it.
Since the death of the last Hierophant, the Neck-
lace has sat unworn in the Vaticine Vault for quite
some time. Some of the Vaticine Cardinals have
suggested changing the name, so as to allow them
to don the item for affairs of state. The Necklace,
they argue, was more synonymous with Vaticine
power than it ever truly was with the station of the
hierophant—after all, why else would artists make
such liberal use of its imagery? They believe that the
sight of the familiar object will do much to restore
faith and fidelity to the Church amongst wandering
souls who have fallen sway to the Objectionists, or
worse, to Legion’s magic. So far, these are the mi-
nority of cardinals, and the camerlengo has refused
these requests.
The Relic
As the Necklace continues to sit and gather dust in
Vault storage, it becomes an increasingly desirable
target for thieves and raiders who would love the
opportunity to sell the Hierophant’s Necklace to
the highest bidder. The Necklace, if worn, dazzles
and astonishes those who look at the wearer. While
wearing the Necklace, the wearer gains 1 to her
Panache. Of course, anyone wearing it who isn’t the
Hierophant has a lot of explaining to do!
7th Sea | Vaticine City 55

The Vaticine
Recovery Team
The Vaticine Church employs a “recovery team” to
track down relics and artifacts stolen from the Vault.
The recovery team is technically an extension of the
Inquisition, and as an arm of that group it uses all
tactics in pursuit of its goals. Because of this, it en-
joys wide latitude to utilize extreme techniques and
methods in recovering items that have been stolen
from the Vault. The team is kept a complete secret
from most of the Church and the rest of Théah, and
is led by a Vesten man named Mads Larson.
Mads, a middle-aged Vestenmennavenjar man,
leads the Church’s recovery team. In his younger
years, he was a warrior and a Vendel trader. For
side work, and for the thrill, he earned extra money
performing assassinations under the cover of night.
Between his work as a trader and an assassin, he
had no shortage of funds. He dreamt that he might
someday become the next Mjötuðr, filling the 200-
year absence in Vesten culture.
However, Larson’s ambitions came to naught. One
night, drunk on honeymeade, he sought to seduce
the son of the local jarl atop a balcony. The jarl’s son
spurned his advances, but Mads, drunk and embar-
rassed, did not take the rejection well. His quarrel
with the jarl’s son caused the young man to fall from
the balcony and plunge to his death. Immediately,
Mads’ fortunes reversed.
The jarl called for his arrest and prosecution.
Larson saw little choice but to flee Vestenmen-
navenjar. He stowed away under cover of night and
made his way deeper into mainland Théah. There,
he survived by wits and through the use of his lethal
skills. He traveled throughout Théah for over a year,
until finally captured by Solomons after commit-
ting a murder in the heart of Vaticine City. He was
thrown into the dungeons beneath the city. Just as
Mads thought his luck had finally run out, he was
approached by none other than Cardinal Esteban
Verdugo.
Verdugo entered that damp and dark cell. He
kneeled by the chained and shackled Vesten and
told him that the Inquisition had need of the rare
and perfected skills that Mads possessed. All he had
56 Section 4 | Secrets and Relics
to do was convert to the Vaticine faith and swear a
lifetime of allegiance to the Church in exchange for
his freedom, funding and an outlet for his bloodlust.
Larson wasted no time in accepting Verdugo’s offer.
Immediately freed, fed, clothed, boarded and given
access to funds, he began the Church’s recovery team.
In the years since then, life has been quite good to
Mads again. Although his conversion to the Vaticine
faith was at first a matter of sheer practicality, over
time he has come to believe in the messages of the
Prophets and has taken on his own kind of piety.
He has recruited a team of four other Villains such
as himself who do whatever it takes to recover items
stolen from the Vault.
His second in command is a woman named Nou-
ra al-Abadi—originally a pirate from the Crescent
Empire. Like Mads, she accepted service in the
Church as a means of escaping execution for her
piracy. She is incredibly knowledgeable about all of
Théah’s cultures and customs, especially concern-
ing its black markets—the most likely place to find
purloined Vaticine treasures.
On Larson’s team are also the identical Eisen twin
brothers Dolf and Rolf Schmidt. The twins are clas-
sically trained acrobats and are most often responsi-
ble for reconnaissance and acrobatic incursions into
strongholds. Both twins also know pugilistic arts
and even without a weapon are a force to be reck-
oned with in a skirmish.
Rounding out Mads’ strike force is Estella Rodri-
guez, a noble Castillian woman of deep and abiding
Vaticine faith. Estella is a highly trained diplomat,
politician and poisoner. She acts as the public face
of the recovery team, often gaining the crew access
to countries and locations that would be otherwise
impossible. Once there, the recovery team lies low as
Rodriguez scours the political landscape, learning of
the major issues, latest gossip and clandestine rumors
that could lead the crew to stolen Vaticine treasures.
After Estella does her work evaluating the land-
scape, Mads moves in, planning and directing the
team in the recovery. Larson, along with Dolf, Rolf
and Noura, move quickly to secure and recover the
stolen items. Along the way, all four prefer to use
extreme and lethal force, leaving behind no witness-
es to pass along a story of their clandestine affairs.
Once a job is complete, Rodriguez reconnects with
the contacts she originally made in the location
to determine whether any reports of the recovery
surfaced. If a contact seems suspicious of Estella and
her entourage, she uses an undetectable poison to
silence him forever. Once Mads is satisfied that the
crew’s trail has been sufficiently covered, they move
on to their next mission or return to Vaticine City.
Lately, Rodriguez has grown angry with Lar-
son for favoring al-Abadi. Estella argues that she,
not Noura, should be Mads’ second in command.
She points out that her role as the public-facing
liaison between the team and their surroundings
puts her at greater risk and requires greater skill in
conducting the higher-level reconnaissance. While
Larson appreciates Rodriguez’s contributions, he
is concerned that Estella does not have the tactical
mindset to orchestrate a successful recovery oper-
ation. He believes that, should anything happen to
him, al-Abadi is the only member of the team who
could immediately fill his shoes.
Any of these characters might try to employ a
Hero to help resolve their conflict. Yet how will this
conflict resolve itself? Will Estella make a play for
power? Will she target Noura or Mads himself?
How successful will it be? Will she involve the un-
witting group of Heroes in her plan?
Using the Recovery Team
Though Mads is an extremely dangerous Villain, the
Vaticine recovery team is unlikely to cross swords
with a Hero directly unless she has a relic that
Verdugo wants. A more likely scenario is that the
Hero may stumble across the team in the midst of
a mission and decide to stop them after witnessing
their use of bloody force and murder to achieve its
goals, or she may come across the grisly scene of the
team’s latest job.
As a base, treat Larson as a Rank 8 Beast Vil-
lain—driven by Rage to kill—with Strength 6 and
Influence 2. Cardinal Verdugo gives him enough
leeway to craft some of his own plans, but Mads
is not usually interested in intricate conspiracies
and set-ups. His subordinates are Lesser Villains;
Noura has Strength 5, and the other members of
the cadre are Strength 4. (This means that, if a Hero
encounters them as a group, she faces a potentially
very dangerous encounter if they gang up on her.) If
Estella sees an opportunity to gain more Strength,
she attempts to break away from Mads and gain In-
fluence of her own and set herself up as an indepen-
dent Villain and rival—and she may seek Verdugo’s
favor. (See Heroes & Villains, page 109, for the
specifics about Lesser Villains and how they can
become independent.)
7th Sea | Vaticine City 57
 Section Five
SPEAKERS OF THE RITES
W
ithin the Vaticine Church a
number of splinter groups and
societies exist. Many of these are
known to the outside world or at
least whispered of among members of the Church.
There is, however, one group of Heroes not widely
known. In fact, according to the Church, the group
does not even exist. To the vast majority of the
Church there are not even hushed rumors regarding
these Heroes. There is no record of their actions,
no list of members and no paper trail to follow. The
Speakers of the Rites exist off the official books,
and they channel one of the most potent powers in
Théah: the might of Theus Himself.
In its earliest incarnation, those known today as
the Speakers of the Rites were demonologists. They
acted as an elite, but no less furtive, group dedicated
to exorcising the demons and monsters that plagued
Theus’ faithful. Stories tell of robed men and women
arriving in a village late in the night to do spiritual
battle with the beings of Legion. The priest exor-
cised the monster from the afflicted, at times taking
it within herself and counting on her force of will
to win out against the darkness. Many succeeded,
but some failed. In their last moments of clarity,
knowing that they would not be strong enough to
triumph, these Heroes drove their ritual knives into
their hearts, killing themselves and defeating Legion
at the cost of their lives.
Since those days, the order has evolved. And while
a Speaker of the Rites can still maintain the Rites to
perform exorcisms, he has grown beyond that role.
As time passed and they discovered more Rites, the
Speakers pushed themselves further into obscurity
to ensure that only the most devout can call upon
the power of Theus. And while the modern Vaticine
Church employs a number of exorcists, no Speak-
er counts himself amongst this group. An official
Church exorcist is well-known and does not possess
any form of supernatural power with which she
battles evil spirits. In truth, Speakers intercept any
58 Section 5 | Speaker of the Rites
risks of Legion and send out members to deal with
threats before the exorcists even know they exist.
It is important to note that a Speaker does not
consider what she does to be Sorcery. While a
Speaker is at times less conservative than many
other members of the Vaticine Church, there still
exists a stigma against sorcerers. Instead, a Speaker
truly believes that she channels Theus Himself and
that a sliver of the divine exists within her to power
her Rites. The truth of this is unknown; it is cer-
tainly possible that Rites are Sorcery just as much
as Glamour or Sanderis. And as a small, mysterious
and faithful order, there is little in-depth research
done into this topic.
As members of a small and covert order, the
Speakers of the Rites treat recruitment as a quiet
affair. Many members scout out and groom their po-
tential apprentice years before true training begins.
Members search out only the most faithful, but
make efforts to avoid fanatics. Humility is another
valued factor; a Speaker cannot take credit for his
actions, and any potential apprentice seeking per-
sonal glory is taken out of consideration.
Once a proper apprentice has been selected,
training can begin. Training is slow, sometimes
taking weeks or months, and difficult, as there is no
mundane example of how an apprentice feels and
interacts with Theus’ glory within her. Mastering
the first Rite is by far the most difficult step of the
journey. In order to make room for Theus to place a
portion of His grace within a new Speaker, she must
first remove any shred of evil within her soul. Meth-
ods vary but include fasting, solitude and long hours
studying the Book of Common Prayer and the Book
of the Prophets. Once an apprentice is sufficiently
cleansed and prepared by her master to understand
how this power works, she is brought before three
Speakers who anoint her body with oils and fill
the room with prayers while the master takes his
apprentice through her first Rite. This can be a gru-
eling process, lasting longer than a day at times, but,
if successful, the apprentice learns the Rite and is
forever touched by the might of Theus. Forevermore
there is always a spark of light within her very soul
that powers her Rites. At the end of this process, the
apprentice becomes a full Speaker.
If the apprentice fails, one of two events occurs:
if the master believes that she may still be strong
enough, then the apprentice may be kept on and
receive additional training, or the master may swear
her to secrecy and return her to her former role.
This risky option is one reason why the selection
process is so strict. In reality, very few apprentices
fail the initiation, but this fact ensures that selection
of apprentices remains demanding.
At the end of her training, a Speaker of the Rites
takes a solemn vow to avoid fame to ensure that
knowledge of her power does not get out. As a
hidden organization within the Vaticine Church, it
would be disastrous if news of the Speakers’ exis-
tence reached the world, so a Speaker takes this oath
as seriously as any other, if not more so. By channel-
ing the might and grace of Theus through her Rites,
a Speaker is capable of incredible feats of power.
Because of this, she often attempts to hide the use
of her powers. If another Hero has fallen to the
blade of a Villain and a Speaker wishes to return her
comrade to life, she would not simply lay her hands
upon the corpse and channel her power. She would
send for a healer or have another ally administer aid.
At that point the Speaker would enact her Rite, and
the fallen Hero would have a “miraculous” recovery.
Contrary to the secrecy valued by the Speakers of
the Rites, at times a Speaker may entrust his allies
with the truth of his power so long as those allies
vow to keep the secret as well. This can be benefi-
cial to the Speaker, as allies can directly assist with
obfuscating the truth when he performs a Rite and
allow a Speaker to more easily cover his tracks.
There are less than 50 Speakers of the Rites at any
time, and they are mostly solitary unless training an
apprentice. Outside of taking an apprentice through
the first Rite, it is exceptionally rare for a Speaker to
interact with another member of her order, and no
Speaker even has knowledge of the identity of more
than five of her brethren. Only the leader of the or-
der, one simply referred to as the Lector, has knowl-
edge of each member. But the Lector keeps his or
The Inquisition
While the Speakers of the Rites form a secre-
tive order within the Vaticine Church, the In-
quisition (specifically Cardinal Esteban Verdugo
and his inner circle) is aware that the Speakers
exist. The Speakers may abhor the Inquisition’s
methods and practices, but the simple fact is
that they number too few to bring about any
serious change within the Church. This has led
to an uneasy truce between the two groups:
the Inquisition is too large and powerful for the
Speakers to overpower, while individual Speak-
ers possess an undeniably great power which
the Inquisition does not want to antagonize.
While a Speaker does what he can to oppose
the power of the Inquisition, his true purpose
is to enact Theus’ will throughout Théah. An
individual member may take solace in the small
victories he can levy against the Inquisition,
but the leaders of the Speakers have made the
choice to focus on improving Théah as a whole
rather than directly confronting the Inquisition,
as that is a fight they will almost certainly lose.
her identity a mystery; any member could potential-
ly be the Lector, and no one else in the order would
be aware. When the Lector retires, the individual
elects to pass the role, along with a list of members
and any relevant knowledge, to the replacement.
And the Lector also maintains a contingency plan
if killed before selecting a replacement. In this case,
another member of the order awakens to find that
she has been chosen, but with no mentor to guide
her into leading. This has occurred only twice in
the history of the Speakers of the Rites, but each
occasion nearly destroyed the order.
In order to recognize a Speaker of the Rites, one
must first know that the group exists, and, accord-
ing to the Vaticine Church, they do not. However,
if a person can learn the truth of this order, he can
identify a Speaker by her deep violet robes and black
leather bag upon which the First Prophet’s words
are written: “We are no one, but we will bear the
burden for us all.”
7th Sea | Vaticine City 59
 How it Works
As a Speaker of the Rites, you have been trained
in ancient rituals passed down through your order
since the earliest days of the Vaticine Church. When
you acquire the Sorcery Advantage, your Hero gains
two Minor Rites and one Major Rite. In order to
gain a Major Rite, you must first learn the corre-
sponding Minor Rite. For example, if your Hero
learns the Minor Rites of Devotion and Peace, the
first time you acquire the Sorcery Advantage, you
are able to choose only the Major Rite of Devotion
or Peace. You would not be able to choose the Major
Rite of Wrath until you have first acquired the Mi-
nor Rite of Wrath.
Each time you purchase the Sorcery Advantage
after the first, you gain one additional Minor Rite
and one additional Major Rite.
When a Speaker enacts a Rite, there is no obvious
outward sign of the power. There is no prayer, no
lighting of candles and no flash of light when using
a Rite. The power provided by Rites is not flashy;
while the use of other magics (specifically Porté)
can be obvious, a Speaker’s Rite is more subtle and
is played off by a Speaker as a miracle or simple
luck. In a perfect world, no one besides the Speaker
would even know that he used his powers. A person
unknowingly affected by the powers of a Speaker
usually reports feeling a great power within her, but
with no idea of the source. She often plays off the
effects of a Rite as adrenaline, heightened skill or
some other internal reservoir of power that an-
swered her call in a dire circumstance.
Rites
Using a Rite during an Action Sequence must take
place during your Action (unless otherwise noted)
and costs 1 Raise in addition to any other cost (such
as Hero Points). A Speaker of the Rites may never
be affected by her own Rite, although the Rite of
another Speaker affects her as normal.
There is no limit on the use of Minor Rites (un-
less otherwise noted within the Rite). A Speaker
may use each Major Rite that she knows once per
Scene.
60 Section 5 | Speaker of the Rites
Villainous Speaker of
the Rites?
In this section you will notice that several
powers only empower Heroes or only hinder
Villains. This is intentional. Theus provides His
power only to those who follow His light. If, at
any point, a Heroic Speaker of the Rites falls to
her baser instincts and becomes a Villain, she
immediately loses her Sorcery and the ability to
perform all Rites. A Hero who obtains Corrup-
tion still retains her Sorcery; a crisis of faith can
happen and often leaves a Speaker more dedi-
cated than before. But Villains may never call on
this power. If you meet a Speaker of the Rites
in Théah, you can be assured that he is a Hero.
While he may not agree with you, and you may
not agree with him, you can know that, in the
grand scheme, you are on the same side.
The Rite of Devotion
A Speaker of the Rites who has learned Piaculum
Amoris (the Rite of Devotion) dedicates herself to
helping others. If you count a Speaker with this Rite
as an ally, know that she will never betray you. As a
part of learning this Rite, a Speaker vows to support
her allies, so long as the cause is righteous, even if
she does not believe that the plan of action is best.
Minor
Spend a Hero Point when you create an Opportuni-
ty in a Sequence. Select a Hero; that Hero immedi-
ately takes advantage of the Opportunity without
spending a Raise.
Major
Spend a Hero Point and select a character who has
been killed in the current Scene. That character’s
soul returns to his body, and he is brought back
to life. If the character’s body is not capable of life
(beheading, severe evisceration, etc.), this Rite has
no effect. A Speaker may maintain only a single
resurrection in this manner; the Speaker may not
perform this Rite upon another character while the
previous recipient still lives.
The Rite of Mercy
A Speaker of the Rites who has learned Piaculum
Clementis (the Rite of Mercy) concerns himself with
easing the suffering of the innocents around him.
This Hero, often a gentle soul, provides what com-
fort he can to any in need. As a part of learning this
Rite, a Speaker vows to provide his true forgiveness
when requested, regardless of the offense.
Minor
Spend a Hero Point. For the remainder of the
current day, each character in your presence has her
hunger and thirst sated by any amount of food and
drink. A sip of water and a slice of bread can provide
the sustenance of three full meals. Additionally, all
affected Heroes gain the Quirk “Gain a Hero Point
when you offer aid to the wounded, food to the hun-
gry, water to the thirsty or charity to the needy” until
the end of the day. A character may not be affected
by this Rite on two subsequent days.
Major
Spend a Hero Point after a Hero receives her fourth
Dramatic Wound. Cancel that Wound, and that
Hero may not have Wounds inflicted on her for the
remainder of the Round.
The Rite of Peace
A Speaker of the Rites who has learned Piaculum
Pacis (the Rite of Peace) dedicates herself to ending
strife. These Speakers are often pacifists and found
in the most dangerous conflicts in Théah with the
goal of stopping unnecessary violence. As a part of
learning this Rite, a Speaker vows to never raise a
fist in anger and to strike back at her transgressors
only when all other options have failed.
Minor
Spend a Hero Point. Every creature in your pres-
ence becomes calm and docile, even if previously in a
frenzy (such as a panicked crowd attempting to flee
from a burning building) until the end of the Scene.
A Hero may spend 1 Hero Point or a Villain may
spend 1 Danger Point to negate this effect on himself.
Those affected are impossible to rile, and, while they
do not automatically follow a given instruction, they
are more likely to comply with reasonable requests.
Major
Spend a Hero Point. Apply Pressure to each charac-
ter in the current Scene; in order to perform an Ac-
tion that inflicts Wounds, the character must spend
2 Raises. This Pressure remains for the remainder of
the Scene.
The Rite of Purity
A Speaker of the Rites who has learned Piacu-
lum sum Purgatus (the Rite of Purity) attempts to
uphold Theus’ perfect original form of humanity.
This Rite is the oldest known, and its origins can be
traced back to the Speakers’ original role as exorcists
within the Vaticine Church. As a part of learning
this Rite, a Speaker vows to avoid substances that
harm his body and potentially damage his connec-
tion with Theus.
Minor
Spend a Hero Point and select a character. Remove
any toxins, poisons or harmful substances from that
character. This includes the effects of drugs and
alcohol. This Rite does not undo any negative effects
that the substances (such as Wounds inflicted by a
poison) have had on the character, but no further
effects occur.
Major
Spend a Hero Point to select a character under the
effect of possession (whether due to a Monster or
another Sorcery). The possession immediately ends
on the selected character. If the character is pos-
sessed by a Monster, it may either appear within the
Scene or, if the Monster requires a host, seek out
another potential host. This Rite applies Pressure to
the Monster: in order to choose a host aside from
the Speaker, the Monster must spend 2 Raises.
After this Rite is performed, whatever being caused
the possession is aware that the effect has ended but
does not know the circumstances unless that being
has a means to learn what occurred.
The Rite of Sacrifice
A Speaker of the Rites who has learned Piaculum
Purum (the Rite of Sacrifice) believes that her duty
is to bear the pain of others. This Speaker suffers in
silence, hoping that others do not realize the pain
7th Sea | Vaticine City 61
 she endures, and often lives as an ascetic. As a part
of learning this Rite, a Speaker vows to provide aid
when requested regardless of the cost to herself.
Minor
Spend a Hero Point when a character is dealt
Wounds. You may reduce any amount of Wounds
dealt to that character and inflict that number of
Wounds to yourself. There is no outward sign of
these Wounds; all damage dealt is internal.
Major
Spend a Hero Point and any number of Raises
(keep in mind that activating this ability costs 1
Raise, which is not included in this total) and select
a Villain involved in the Scene. Every 2 Raises spent
on this Rite removes 1 Raise from that Villain’s
pool.
The Rite of Truth
A Speaker of the Rites who has learned Piaculum
Vēritāte (the Rite of Truth) always seeks out the
truth, no matter how painful it may be. There is no
lie so strong that Theus cannot show the truth. As
a part of learning this Rite, a Speaker vows to never
speak a falsehood or intentionally mislead others.
The Rite of Wrath
A Speaker of the Rites who has learned Piaculum
Irae (the Rite of Wrath) embodies Theus’ venge-
ful nature. These Speakers empower the blades of
others to strike down the wicked and are the most
aggressive of all the Speakers. As a part of learning
this Rite, a Speaker vows to oppose the wicked and
not sit idly by while evil goes unpunished.
Minor
Spend a Hero Point and select a Hero. The next
time that Hero inflicts Wounds upon a Villain or
Brute Squad this Round, increase the number of
Wounds dealt by an amount equal to your Resolve.
Major
Spend a Hero Point after a Hero inflicts Wounds
upon a Villain or Brute Squad. That Hero may
immediately take an additional Action as if she has
spent 1, and only 1, Raise. This Action must result
in Wounds being inflicted on a Villain or Brute
Squad.

Minor
Spend a Hero Point to increase visibility in your
immediate surroundings until the end of the Scene.
When you perform this Rite, fog dissipates, ambient
light (such as from a candle or the moon) increases
and any other limit on visibility is removed. Physical
barriers such as walls still hinder vision. This Rite
overcomes any Consequence related to visibility in
your immediate vicinity. This effect may remove
mundane as well as supernatural limits on visibility.

Major
Spend a Hero Point when a question is asked in
your presence. You know whether the answer given
to that question is false. This Rite allows you to
know the actual truth; if a character tells you that
her father is dead, you know whether that is a lie.
If the character believes her father to be dead and
states such, but he is actually alive, you know that
what she says is not true.

62 Section 5 | Speaker of the Rites

7th Sea | Vaticine City 63
 Section Six
SYSTEMS FOR THE VATICINE
Faith in Théah
A
lthough knowledge brings one closer
to understanding the Creator in the
Vaticine Church, it takes an act of
faith to believe in the Creator and the
words of the Prophets to begin with. Many raised
in the Church and working in the inner parts of
Vaticine City follow its rituals and tenets as little
more than habit. Others pay mere lip service to the
Church’s credo, and still others use the Church and
its resources only to further their ends. Certainly,
they believe in Theus and the Prophets and would
be offended to be asked such a question! But faith
goes beyond mere passive belief—it is an active
commitment, is a constant conversation with Theus
and can be easily challenged in times of hardship
and sorrow. Unshakable faith in the Creator is
difficult to find and more difficult to preserve. But it
does exist and is the stuff of miracles.
There are many reasons to serve the Vaticine
Church, and faith does not have to be one of them.
Ask a Hero who is part of the Church about what
he believes and the strength of his faith in the
Creator. Does Theus literally intercede through
the devout to heal the sick and grant visions of the
future? Would he ask for divine intervention in the
face of certain death and truly believe the Creator
would protect him? (Given that some within the
Church quite literally use their faith as both shield
and weapon against Legion, it is a fair question.) A
Hero who has chosen a life with the Church for rea-
sons other than religious fervor should still consider
these questions, as her faith (or lack thereof ) helps
to define her amongst those she lives and works
with, for better or for worse.
A Hero’s faith in and relationship with the
Creator is unique and also affects how he interacts
with the world around him and his work within the
Church. Belief shapes the way one sees his reality, so
a faithful Hero’s view of the Creator—loving, stern,
64 Section 6 | Systems for the Vaticine
vengeful—shapes his decisions and goals. He pro-
ceeds as he believes Theus intends. This is why faith
does not always mean that someone doing the “right
thing”—history is full of horrors done by people of
deep devotion, for what they truly believed were the
right reasons. For every Catalina del Mont, there is
an Enrique Cortarini.
Even amongst the most devout, faith will be
challenged. Reason and knowledge can bring
doubt—that the great Riddle of the universe can
ever be solved, that there even is an answer to these
mysteries. Tragedy can shake the strongest of faith,
when the Creator’s plan is impossible to see through
sadness and grief. And adventuring far from Théah,
in strange lands with very different customs, a
Vaticine may feel very far from even Theus’ all-en-
compassing gaze. A Hero suffering a crisis of faith
in difficult times may need a sign from above to help
restore it. Something as simple as a ray of sunshine
breaking through dark clouds, a previously locked
door swinging open, long-awaited good news com-
ing at the perfect moment or just a deep and abiding
sense of calm and peace shows that she has not been
forgotten by Theus.
Visions
The faithful have been blessed with prophetic
dreams and hallucinations from the earliest days of
the Church, illuminating Theus’ will and warning
the righteous of dangers both physical and spiritual.
Though often enigmatic and difficult to understand,
these visions hold important truths for those that
receive them—a direct message from the Creator
Himself.
A devout Hero is always an excellent candidate for
a well-timed vision to start a plot, move one along
or give her the hint she needs to resolve a complex
situation. It is not necessary for the Game Master
to require Hero Points or a die roll from a Hero if
he feels that a vision is dramatically and narratively
appropriate. Visions can manifest in times of great
stress or danger, in moments of quiet contempla-
tion and serenity or in an altered state brought on
by drugs or alcohol—though entheogen use is not
encouraged in the Vaticine faith. The sleeping mind
is also more open to prophetic dreams and messages
from the Creator.
Visions are often as unique as the beneficiary. Some
see simple signs or symbols with a significance imme-
diately apparent to the receiver. Others receive a visit
from a messenger of Theus, while tales of strange and
bewildering waking visions and dreams are common
amongst the devout, if downplayed by the Church to
be little more than historical curiosities.
Blessings
When the power of the Creator is made manifest on
Terra, it can do amazing, terrifying things. The hand
of Theus very rarely reaches out to directly touch
mortal events, and, when it does, it is almost always
to intervene at the behest of one of the faithful.
Unlike Sorcery, the ability to call upon Theus
for blessings or miraculous acts cannot be taught.
There is no ritual or prayer that works every time or
for every penitent. There is no guarantee that even
the saintliest of followers will be successful in her
prayers. A Hero must petition Theus in the form
that fits him best, whether that be at High Mass
or at a simple shrine in the forest. (The Creator
understands if, in times of mortal danger, one must
dispense with these formalities.)
Blessings can imbue an object or a being with
Theus’ favor. Mothers often ask for a blessing on
their children, but a warrior can also ask for the
Creator’s aid in surviving a great battle. A necklace
might be blessed to protect the wearer, a sword
blessed to strike true when fighting an evil foe. He-
roes can bless an object to grant a bonus to an ap-
propriate Skill equal to the number of Hero Points
spent for the length of an Episode. For example, a
sword blessed with 1 Hero Point grants a Bonus
Die to the bearer’s Weaponry; a locket blessed with
3 Hero Points grants 3 Bonus Dice to the wearer’s
Convince.
Though blessings are powerful, they come at the
discretion of Theus and therefore that of the Game
Master. A devout Hero with a strong relationship
with the Creator may be able to bless with relative
ease on occasion, so long as her aims are pure and
her faith is true. Frivolous requests may strain a
Hero’s relationship with Theus. A blessing made
in passing may grant the Creator’s power without
intent or effort on the Hero’s part—Theus works in
mysterious ways. The faithful can only ask for divine
favor and hope to be heard.
Know that these blessings come at a cost, howev-
er, and that Theus does not tolerate the wicked to
bear His blessings. Any act that results in the Hero
gaining Corruption through any means (a Sorcery
power, an evil act, activation of an Advantage—any
means) immediately ends any blessings present on
that Hero or any of her equipment. A Hero who al-
ready has Corruption may still call out to Theus for
a blessing, but the Creator will be understandably
skeptical. A Hero must pay additional Hero Points
equal to his Corruption to call upon a blessing and,
like all other blessings, an answer from Theus is far
from guaranteed.
Miracles
Miracles are rare, and rarely more than small won-
ders like the ink tears of Angelica DeSanctis. The
Creator is constantly called upon to heal the sick,
to save the unfortunate and to provide salvation in
the darkest moments, and these prayers are seldom
answered. The only thing that sets the Hero apart
is the strength of her faith and her relationship with
Theus—and even faith does not ensure a miracle.
To call the hand of Theus down to intervene on
his behalf, a Hero must sacrifice all accumulated
Hero Points to gain the attention of the Creator.
The request must be stated in a sentence and can
be discussed with the Game Master to ensure that
the intent is understood. Even so, the Game Master
may reserve the right to grant the miracle in the way
Theus sees most fitting—including not at all. The
Creator may “Destroy the spirits of Legion” more
enthusiastically than intended, “Bring my friend
back to life” and do so fully healed if her death was
righteous, “Find me a way out” by opening a long-for-
gotten secret passage to freedom or “Fill our sails” to
flee deadly enemies on an otherwise windless day.
Theus is not likely to “Make me rich” or “Appoint me
hierophant” unless there is an excellent reason.
7th Sea | Vaticine City 65
 If a Hero is in a desperate situation and cannot
think of what might help her specifically, she has
the option of calling on the Creator for any aid He
might see fit to grant. As with most of the Creator’s
powers, “Aid me, Theus!” or a similar prayer can pro-
vide miraculous help of the Game Master’s choos-
ing. A Hero may heal Wounds, gain more Raises,
have all negative Consequences in a Scene eliminat-
ed, have a friendly NPC arrive in the nick of time or
have the Danger Pool cleared. The type of miracu-
lous aid cannot be requested, only the aid itself.
The results of requesting a miracle are non-nego-
tiable. The Hero pays the price and asks for aid, and
Theus chooses whether or not to answer. Silence on
behalf of the Creator does not refund the paid cost.
A Hero who performs a number of blessings or
miracles may gain fame and notoriety amongst the
faithful if he does not take care to be circumspect.
The higher-ups in Vaticine City—and perhaps even
the Inquisition—also take a keen interest in anyone
wielding power in the name of the Creator, no mat-
ter how quietly and humbly.

I Tre Soldati
During the War of the Cross, three Vaticine knights
set out to protect the innocent from the ravages of
war. Seeing the towns and villages unprepared for an
attack, they moved from place to place, mending the
wounded and teaching them to defend themselves
in the midst of the chaos of war. The knights plainly
and openly wore the colors of the Vaticine but oth-
erwise avoided identifying themselves; no one ever
knew their names, and so the trio eventually became
known only as I Tre Soldati (the Three Soldiers).
When asked why they would not name themselves,
they answered that they helped anyone regardless
of affiliation who needed the aid and protection of
Theus. These three nameless, anonymous Heroes
saved countless villages from destruction with the
aid and training they provided.
I Tre Soldati provided townsfolk with weapons
and shields and the training to use them. The shield
of the Soldati style not only protects the bearer and
his allies but also forces his opponents away and off
balance. The Soldati style focuses on unbalancing
an opponent rather than wounding her, presenting a

66 Section 6 | Systems for the Vaticine

strong front to dissuade an attacker from continuing
her assault and, thus, ending the conflict.
Though there were only three original teachers
of the Soldati style, many modern Duelists have
sought out promising practitioners and turned the
defensive technique into a “real” Dueling Style. In
modern years, Soldati Duelists have begun to win
tournaments, and a few formal schools have been
opened. The most notable of these schools is, of
course, located in Vaticine City, though countless
smaller countryside schools teach locals the meth-
ods of the Soldati.
and the first favor you request from your Patron
each game session does not cost you a Hero Point
(although subsequent favors still do).
4 Point Advantage
SEMINARY
You attended a Vaticine seminary school, where you
studied various topics including theology, church
history and oration. When you make a Risk using
Convince, Scholarship or Perform, all of your dice
gain +1 to their value.

Style Bonus: Soldati’s Aegis

When using a shield in one hand and any weapon in
the other, Soldati’s Aegis replaces your Bash maneu-
ver. Soldati’s Aegis forces your opponent off balance
with your shield, concentrating on limiting her
footwork and striking arm to make an effective at-
tack all but impossible. When you perform Soldati’s
Aegis, deal one Wound and select the Slash, Feint
or Lunge Maneuver. Your opponent cannot perform
that Maneuver on her next Action.

New Advantages
1 Point Advantage
DEVOUT
Spend a Hero Point to flawlessly recite a verse from
the Book of the Prophets, speak an appropriate prayer
or conduct a Vaticine religious ritual.

2 Point Advantage
FAVORED BY THE CHURCH
A Hero must have either the Ordained or Patron
(Vaticine Church) Advantage in order to purchase
this Advantage. If you have the Ordained Advan-
tage, you can expect to gain access to any Church
library unless explicitly forbidden (such as by the
Inquisition), and the Bonus Die for social Risks
against characters who adhere to your faith increas-
es to 3. If you have the Patron (Vaticine Church)
Advantage, the Wealth you receive from your Patron
at the beginning of each game session increases by 1,

7th Sea | Vaticine City 67

 Appendix
INSPIRATIONAL SOURCES
S
ome players just skip the inspirational
sources sections of game books. Don’t
be one of them! These bits of media
will give you inspiration for dozens of
stories for your own game. Take the plunge and see
how you can use these to help craft your swashbuck-
ling and your adventure!
Almost every great inspirational story here has
been made into a movie, so you can probably watch
them in a few free hours and then read the book for
a more in-depth, nuanced version of the story.
Black Robe
This movie about Jesuit missionaries arriving in the
New World to convert the native Algonquins is a
grim reminder that the Church is highly academic,
very persuasive and often willfully blind to how its
dogma can trample people who do not want to be
part of it. This is a slow-burn, interpersonal dra-
ma, but it fits the period and has some interesting
insights into the hurdles that missionaries face (and
a rather bleak outcome). While not a Heroic adven-
ture per se, this could inspire the drama of Heroes
facing off with or against Church missionaries in
lands on the edge of Théah, using rhetoric and der-
ring-do to either protect or convert foreign people.
Brother Cadfael
Again, the time period of this series is too early for
swashbuckling, but it is still a TV and book series
about a retired-soldier-turned-monk who gets
caught up in investigations of murders and other
problems. He is often hampered by having to follow
the rule of his monastery, by the political machina-
tions over who will be in charge and of course the
insistence that he should spend less time investigat-
ing and more time praying. Cadfael is a wonderful
example of how a Hero could be a member of the
Church, older, dignified, knowledgeable and still a
man of action who becomes embroiled in adven-
tures. At one point Cadfael earns a special exemp-
68 Appendix | Inspirational Sources
tion from his duties, exactly how a Heroic monk in
a 7th Sea game could become part of a traveling
group of Heroes.
The Da Vinci Code
This novel and film is a potboiler adventure that
offers a bit of inspiration in the realm of strange
puzzles, conspiracies and obscure bits of Church
lore and trivia. Rather than copying the book,
consider this as a starting point for creating your
own world-spanning Church adventures, which (of
course) end in Vaticine City and threaten the status
quo of the Church with hidden knowledge brought
to light by the Heroes.
Day of Wrath
A black-and-white film about witch hunts; also
a Dutch allegory for Nazi occupation. Probably
inspired the more widely known story The Crucible.
This film will give you goosebumps while inspiring
you for your Inquisition Villains.
Mother Joan of the Angels
This probably qualifies as a horror film, though it
was made as a serious movie about the Loudon
possessions at a French convent. Nuns are being
possessed, and a priest arrives to investigate. Great
inspiration for an exorcist character, or possibly for
a story set in a convent, perhaps where an angry
spirit seeks to vent its wrath against the women who
escaped its abuses in life.
The Name of the Rose
This story is set in the medieval period (AD 1327)
but is still an excellent resource. A mad monk
kills people at a monastery that houses Catharist
survivors of the Albigensian Crusade, while a pair
of visiting monks try to find the killer amidst a
conference about the important theological question
of whether Christ owned his own clothes (reflecting
the doctrinal conflict between the wealthy Church
and the poor Catharists). The revelation that the
murders center around a book considered heretical
is excellent inspiration for Heroes traipsing through
the libraries and catacombs of Vaticine City, hoping
to save an ancient manuscript from the mad monk.

The Three Musketeers

This is one of the signature books of 7th Sea, but it
is relevant to call out again here because the Villain
is a Cardinal maneuvering for political power, and
he has his own personal ecclesiastical guard. The
central plot of the story is that the Musketeers must
save France from falling under the Cardinal’s sway
by protecting the Queen’s infidelity with an English
Duke so that the King of France continues to favor
her as a counterbalance to the Cardinal’s influence.
Not only is the Cardinal a Villain, but the Heroes
are protecting some decidedly sinful behavior! But
this is a time of romance when love justifies many
things. Would your Heroes do the same? Like Ara-
mis, the Musketeer-turned-priest, would they face a
crisis of conscience?

Witchfinder General
(a.k.a. The Conqueror Worm)
Vincent Price as an Inquisitor! Though campy and
only loosely based on any kind of history, it is a
tense scenery-chewing look at how to present an
Inquisitor who rampages across the countryside. Be
warned: this is a very gruesome film with a great
deal of rough content that may be difficult for peo-
ple who are disinclined toward severe violence and
violation.

7th Sea | Vaticine City 69