By Corwyn Alambar (nettiger@netcom.com) (22 Nov 94)
As the Millenium approaches, more and mroe cults spring up that are dedicated to trying to either survive the end of the world or cause it. Or at least the fall of civilization. Anarchists are all over the place, trying to find ways to either pick up the pieces or simply just dance their way into the oblivion that they know is coming. but there are some forces acting to bring down th existing order, for reasons that even they may not fathom.
The Subductionists are a fairly new underground movement in the San Francisco Bay Area, beginning after the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. After seeing the damage that had been done to the environment, and the decadence in society, and catalyzed by the awesome destructive power of the earthquake, this group began to work towards actually triggering the "Big One" that has been forecast for some time.
Originally a group of disenchanted Tradition members, this group contacted a powerful being in the earth of the bay Area known as Andromalek, who's sleeping shifting causes the earthquakes. They seek to disturb his sleep enough to cause a major disaster, thus destroying Silicon Valley, a heart of the Technocracy's activities.
Slowly, through association with Andromalek, these people have lost their connection with humanty, becomming consumed with their goal of disturbing Andromalek. One of them, Lorelei Dreamdancer, a Verbena with a powerful knowledge of spirit and the mind, contacted the mind of the sleeping Andromalek, and somehow opened a conduit. Her mind is no longer totally hers, though her and none of her companions realize this. She now subconsciously works not to disturb Andromalek, but to awaken him fully, bringing him out into the light of day. She justifies this when she is aware of it by saying that this action would Awaken thousands upon thousands of Sleepers, and forever shatter the Technocracy's paradigm. In these somewhat lucid moments, she thinks this is what she was meant to do, and views it as a way to win the Ascension War.
This group has gathered together a small corps of paramilitary survivalists, bassed out of an abandoned warehouse in Oakland's harbor district. There, they plan strikes on strategic places, gathering a collection of explosives and other equipment that they will eventually use to try and trigger the faults. They have already "mined" several miles of the Hayward fault, and have been working on methods of underwater mining to get the submerged areas of the San Andreas fault.
Most of the mundanes in the Subductionists are religious fanatics, anarchists, or other people who believe that civilization is evil, corrupt, or needs to be destroyed to be rebuilt. They have been chosen for their martyr complexes as well, and all of them are willing to die for the "greater good."
The inner circle consists of just four mages, all of them Adepts of at least one sphere.
Snuff, Cult of Ecstacy barabbi, Adept of Time and Matter. Snuff is the leader of one of the neo-anarchist groups that has sprung up in the Bay Area over the last fifteen years. He looks to only be about 25, dressed in the chronically hip leathers and ripped clothes of the juvenile anarchists. His group revels in the punk stereotype, but are all dangerously skilled, many of them learning martial arts.
Madam Morrigan, Celestial Chorus barabbi, Master of Prime, Adept of Life Madam Morrigan heads a small "church" in Berkeley devoted to the Earth Mother, the Creator of All. She believes that the time has come for the One (as the Earth Mother) should rise up against those that work against her. She believes Andromalek to be an emmisary of the Earth Mother, sent to assist her. Her cult follows her staunchly, many of them involved in Earth First and other radical environmental causes
Lorelei Dreamdancer, Verbena barabbi, Master of Spirit, Mind, and Life. Lorelei is one of the first Verbena to come to the New World from Celtic Europe, and has lived on the Pacific Coast for most of her time here. She came for the verdant hills and the beauty that was the landscape. She fought against the formation of the Chantry of the Gold Coast, then has fought alongside them to protect the strongest points of the Chantry. But slowly she watched the Bay Area become overgrown in an urban jungle, and has slipped into a strong despair. Discovering Andromalek was a turning point for her, and has given her life purpose again. Her former allies in the Chantry of the Gold Coast have no clue where she is or that she's behind the Subductionists.
Gopinath Ramiputra, Euthanatos barabbi, Master of Corr., Entropy. Gopinath has been searching for a way to smash the Technocracy's hold on the world, since his native India was conquered by the Technocratic British. He views Silicon Valley as the heart of everything wrong with the Tehnocracy's view of the world, and believes that by destroying it, he will reopen the possibilities for everyone throughout the world. He believes the loss of life to be "acceptible" to unlock this yoke from the rest of the world.
What is Andramalek?: This is the most disturbing part of the entire situation. Andromalek is a being that has been around for millennia, since before the War of Rage, since before the time of the Atlanteans and the Lemurians. Andromalek is one of the Great Spirits of the Dreaming (qv - will be reposted if necessary). As such, there is a chaotic, primal essence to it, that predates the imposition of general Order. In modern magickal theory, Andramalek may be considered a huge paradox spirit, but is so much more. As such, it is immune to paradox, and resitant to magic as well.
There are no stats for Andramalek, for these are meaningless. It holds the power to warp and twist reality, and as an artifact of an earlier, more powerful universe, such a being would wreak total havoc on the world, beginning with a full and total breach of the Gauntlet.
As such, the Subductionists are a set of nasty foes, but the element is timing. They are waiting for when the time is right to strike. Stealth and guile can defeat them, a goal that must be accomplished, for even they know not what they do.