CWB **of Note** TWCR HCBLY TASKS, SACRED PATHS 43 ;it A The ice is breaking, slowly, however. A handful of Templars have joined inter-faction cabals, some even with non-Christian Choristers. A rare few have even agreed to work with members of other Traditions. Members of the faction almost always have Forces as their specialty Sphere. Very few psychics or sorcerers are known to work with the Templars, although rumors persist of Fenian shapechangers fighting alongside them. (For more on the Fenian, see Sorcerer Revised Edition.) The Sisters of Gabrielle: The oldest of the guardian orders, and the only one that admits women exclusively, the Sisters may be second only to the Knights of St. George on the list of those factions most weakened by the Reckoning. Founded as a secretive and sometimes reclusive company of explorers, demon slayers and Umbral watchers in the first millennium of the Common Era by a mysterious mage named Gabrielle, the Sisters’ numbers were decimated by the Avatar Storm. Many of their greatest were killed or cut off from Earth permanently. For the Earth-bound sisters, Sendings and Stormwardens are rare, and they almost never bring good news. Rumors abound that the dark forces that have long sought to take the Sisters’ remaining horizon realms and Umbral Chantries have found some new sense of leadership and organization. Those on this side of the Gauntlet do not know if they should strengthen their fortifications here or risk the destructive winds of the Avatar Storm to join those on the front lines. Many Sisters simply carry on with their daily task of fighting spiritual evil wherever they may find it, hoping some sign or answer may appear soon. However, the Sisters have found a new impetus for collaboration with other Chorus factions and with the rest of the Traditions, where they were often only nominally associated with the rest of the Chorus before. Those mages who first Awaken within this faction often focus their studies on the Sphere of Spirit. Psychics who work with this faction often use the phenomena of Astral Projection, Biocontrol, Ectoplasmic Generation, Psychokinesis and Pyrokinesis. Sorceresses use the Paths of Conjuration, Hellfire, Shadowcasting and Summoning, Binding and Warding. The Chevra Kedisha: Taking their name from the people in each synagogue who volunteer to prepare the cam^ CHCBRUS bodies of the dead for burial, the members of the Chevra Kedisha work to guide troubled souls in the time after death. The order was founded in the Middle Ages when Jewish singers faced numerous persecutions that left many souls bitter and frightened when death came. These Choristers seekout lost souls and troubled spirits, helping them to resolve those things that bind them to Earth and progress into the life beyond. Many souls resist such “assistance” - clinging desperately to those things that they loved in life - but others are glad for a voice and a pair of hands. Some even hope to use these Choristers to their own ends in the skinlands. The Chevra Kedisha, however, is far from naive. These Choristers weigh costly actions carefully and communally, often undertaking their own investigations and divinations before trusting the word of wandering spirits. They are firmly committed to doing what they believe is right, however, and once convinced a soul’s needs, they will stop at nothing to see that their charges are cared for. In the 20th century, the Holocaust, almost destroyed the society, killing many of its wisest members and working the rest to their deaths. However, their students survive to this day, tending the wounded and trying to shepherd every dying soul that they can into light. Long before the rest of the Chorus began to recruit users of linear magic, the Chevra Kedisha found many such sorcerers and psychics to provide useful services and wise counsel. Today, other factions and Traditions might call over half the groups’ membership “unAwakened,” but the Chevra Kedisha does not care what the others think. They know only the comfort that these fellow travelers bring to the souls of dead. All Chevra Kedisha are Jews, although some “righteous gentiles’’ work with them. The Missionaries of Saint Judas (believing that Judas the betrayer continued his apostolate among the dead after his suicide), and the Fellowship of Orpheus performed similar work among the Christian and pagan communities, although they have few if any known members today. Many members of the Chevra Kedisha and similar societies focus their studies on the Sphere of Spirit. Affiliated sorcerers and psychics often study the Paths of Divination, Oneiromancy, Summoning, Binding and Warding, and the phenomena of Astral Projection, Channeling, Precognition and Psychometry. In contrast to the guardian orders are those groups who focus more on introspection, theology, philosophy or religious orthodoxy. These theological orders attract those Singers who work more in the realms of pure thought - or, at least, those who aren’t so rigid and warlike as the various guardians. Monists: The Monist faction emphasizes the heart of the Chorus’ message: All faiths, all people, all creations are one. Monists in the Chorus tend to be very tolerant Protestants, Jews or Catholics - members of other religions often find themselves too marginalized by orders like the Templars or Septarians to offer much to the Monist agenda. Monists aren’t really formally recognized as a faction, but many experienced Choristers express at least some degree of Monist belief - aside from those with a serious bone to pick or a major theological hang-up. To the Monists, the One can take any form, and only human limitations cause differences of opinion. Since people are limited by nature, of course they have different ideas about what’s right and how the world works! In response, the Monists preach tolerance throughout and beyond the Chorus. Monists are among the most likely to work with members of other Traditions, so most other Tradition mages form their opinions of the Chorus based on the Monist diplomats. This isn’t a bad thing -
