CRAFTMASONS

By Brian Connors (connorbd@bc.edu)

Description

The mages that founded the Technocracy are in a fight for their future. Founded among the forerunners of the Freemasons, the Craftmasons counted the greatest architects of the Middle Ages as members. They are responsible for the creation of architectural majesties and structural marvels that have created the skylines and designs of the modern world. Craftmasons work in the architectural and construction firms of the world, in the design departments of consumer product companies, and it is even said that the developer of several unusual record-breaking airplanes is secretly one of their most powerful members. Their greatest achievement, however, was the founding of the Order of Reason, an organization to bring the wildness of the world under control in a way that even Sleepers could get the most from it. They built many of the Technocracy's Old World chantries/constructs, and are rumored to have had a huge hand in the building of the structures of many Technocratic facilities in the Umbra. But it all came apart as the transition from Order to Union was completed; the Craftmasons, legendarily the most noble of the Conventions, refused to follow the corrupted paths of the Conventions and left. Their greatest construct of all, the Umbral construct known most frequently as the Grounds, was taken over by Iteration X to become the monstrous realm of MECHA. Although there was a half-hearted attempt to go along, the organization as a whole splintered, and the remnants left the Technocracy disillusioned.

After all that, it seems the Craftmasons are a Craft with no place. They would be redundant on the Council of Nine; the Sons of Ether have long since taken over their place as the creators of the inventions that make the world an easier place to live, and the Craftmasons have no part in the world of the Virtual Adepts. Iteration X has frozen them out of the building work of the Technocracy, and in return the Craftmasons want no part of the Progenitors and their freakishness. The elitism of the one-time Order of Reason no longer suits the Craftmasons, who simply have never been as power hungry as the rest of the Union has become. In the last few years of the 19th Century, the Craftmasons created two huge inventions quickly -- the subway and the Paradox-defying skyscraper -- and dropped off the face of the Earth.

It seemed that way at the time, anyway; the Technocracy holds no particular grudge against the assumed-vanished Craftmasons the way they do the Virtual Adepts and the Sons of Ether. It seems even more the case that nobody quite realizes that they are still there. However, they have influences all over the world.

Craftmason backlashes are unique even for Matter backlashes. One well-known one happened in Boston several decades ago when a Craftmason builder attempted an experimental method of pouring concrete in the winter. Though it worked in other parts of the world (particularly in sub-Arctic Canada, where the technique was developed), the reality threshhold in warmer Boston was more difficult to break and the building collapsed when the frozen concrete thawed.

The Craftmasons are known to have deep-rooted connections with the vampire clans Toreador and Nosferatu; many of those clans who possess variants of the Tremere Discipline of Thaumaturgy pattern their paths and rituals after the work of the Craftmasons, and the Nosferatu have frequently employed Craftmasons as planners for their mysterious warrens.

Philosophy

The easiest way to defy Paradox is to build. Nature itself twists reality when geological formations are created; there is no reason why we cannot do the same. So onward and upward have we always gone and will we always go.

Style

Magick as the Craftmasons use it is of a permanent nature. Their calling is to build, and they, not Iteration X, can lay claim to building the foundations of the great modern cities. Even their smaller works are meticulously planned. Pattern avatars are therefore strongly favored; dynamic essences are almost feared.

Sphere

Matter

Common foci

Blueprints, building materials. A piece of construction equipment will occasionally be found to be a Craftmason talisman.

Organization

Once a mirror of the Freemason hierarchy, the Craftmasons no longer have any real organizational body. Small groups meet behind the scenes at architectural and builders' conventions.

Stereotypes

Council of Nine: There is no place for us among them. This is sad because we and the Sons of Ether have so much in common.

Technocratic Union: They have betrayed us and our ideals. We wish nothing more to do with them; let them take their perversion of our Order of Reason and may they choke on it.

Akashic Brotherhood: What do they have other than themselves? They seem to revel in development through stagnation.

Celestial Chorus: Our early connections with them built the great churches of Europe and mosques of the world of Islam. But our centuries of separation have shown through; how stagnant their architecture has become...

Cultists of Ecstasy: What they miss is that they need places for their rituals, just like anyone else. And we have provided, many, many times.

Dreamspeakers: They do not understand the world they live in. It is far deeper than they can truly comprehend; ask any vampire.

Euthanatos: May their power wane. Go to any graveyard; we're getting tired of cleaning up after them.

Order of Hermes: As ever, they mistake form for content. One thing is for certain: they are misplaced on the Council.

Sons of Ether: Once there was a saying: the Craftmasons design, the Solificati build. Though that statement is grossly oversimplified, we do wish that the old connection still existed.

Verbena: They mock our work in their covens. Such sacrifice is never truly necessary, and in any case one must question why they do as they do.

Virtual Adepts: They are not and never were truly magi, no matter how Awakened they may be. Even the most unconscious of sleepers can manipulate a reality that he creates.

Hollow Ones: They are at the beginning of a journey to find what they are. Certainly there's something deep and powerful there every time they gather.

Iteration X: They have become what they are because they hold secrets that were once ours. They will learn their lesson eventually, and it'll hurt like hell when they do.

New World Order: Our biggest mistake may have been trusting them in the first place. They have never had any business among the Conventions that was any good.

Progenitors: They are perverts. Plain and simple. Would that the true Hippocratic Circle still existed; we see now that eugenics are a path only to war and hatred.

The Syndicate: They no longer really represent the Guild as it originally was. They have become too elitist in their thinking and cannot be changed without serious purging.

Void Engineers: They don't seem to be truly happy among the Conventions. I don't know what to expect from them.

Ahl-i-batin: They have rather more in common with the Adepts than they think. Whether this is a good thing or not is up for debate.

Nephandi: Too many of our number have fallen to them, and I have no bloody idea how. I would think our Art is incorruptible.

Marauders: The Craftmason who builds a padded cell capable of locking one of these freaks down will be a celebrity even among sleepers.