People, Places, and Things

Concepts:

The Empowered - Those humans who are born with innate magical abilities, usually manifesting first as a special power. The Empowered are capable of being trained as mages, able to cast spells and rituals. It's thought that an Empowered is created by exposing a soul to a source of great magical power. That soul is then perpetually reincarnated, gaining more and more power with each incarnation.

Magic - Theoretically, anyone can learn some magic, but Empowered are natural magic-users with the ability and the power to cast powerful spells with enough training and practice. A non-Empowered human can learn, at best, only a few spells and rituals, and must often resort to sacrifice of some kind in order to gather the energy required for more powerful magical workings.

A non-Empowered can also receive their power from an extradimensional entity of some sort -- a demon, an angel, or a fae, must often -- usually as part of a pact wherein the human sacrifices their soul, their freedom, or agrees to complete some sort of task in exchange for power. This is where the Thule agents get their power -- directly from the Mi-Go they serve. There have been legends of Empowered who augment their power with such a pact, as well.

Vampires - There are many varieties of vampires in the world, divided into large families. Each family has different traits and abilities.
 * The Fortunada family are a European line among the most 'human' of vampires -- they can eat and drink as normal humans can, can go out in the sunlight (though they lose their powers in the sunlight), and are capable of great feats of physical strength and agility, much more so than other clans. Many of them are also possessed of the gift of precognition.
 * The Benedict family are another European line thought to be closely related to the Fortunadas - like the Fortunadas, they have a very easy time blending in among normal humans, and also like the Fortunadas, they are able to go out in sunlight at the temporary cost of their powers.  Benedicts cannot eat normal food, though, and lack the physical abilties of the Fortunadas, having instead the ability to make themselves invisible.

Factions:

The Council of Sicily - An political alliance of magical traditions and supernatural forces, formed during the Spanish Inquisition in 1610. Most of the Council's power is in Europe with some limited influence in the United States. There are many factions under the Council's auspices, but the largest include:
 * The Fortunada family of vampires


 * The Namdak, Dawa, and Choenyi tribes of Yeti


 * The Order of Hermes, an association of mages

The Council also includes many smaller factions and individuals, creating a veritable cross section of the secret magical world.
 * The Circle of Acacia, an ancient druidic order; and a contingent representing the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

Leviathan - A mysterious non-Council faction that is said to have some connection to mysterious pre-human species native to the depths of the Atlantic.

The Thule Society - A German occult society long considered to be a loose association of 'hobbyists' but recently revealed to have genuine magical powers. There are no Empowered in their ranks. A captured Thule agent revealed that the Thule Society traces its origins back to Ultima Thule, a mythological paradise. The Thule Society worship the Mi-Go, a race of beings that were worshiped in Ultima Thule. The Mi-Go also seem to be the source of the Thule agents' magical power. According to the Thule agent, they seek to reestablish a new Ultima Thule, with Empowered humans ruling over the rest of humanity in the name of the Mi-Go. They claim they are using the German government for their own ends, and might well be behind the German war machine that has been marching over Europe.

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