Sorcerer Societies
Complete Society descriptions can be found in Chapter Two of World of Darkness: Sorcerer.
Ancient Order of the Aeon Rites
Learned and kindly (if smug) magicians with open hands and keen minds. Their magic is deeply symbolic and must be meticulous or the spell cannot succeed.
Preferred Paths: Enchantment, Ephemera
Asatru Futhark
Messy neo-Nazis who practice a mangle of Norse practices, infernal pacts and heavy metal. With blood magic and mundane violence, the "new vanguard of the old gods" spreads a gospel of hate from the Old Country to the New World.
Preferred Paths: Divination, Enchantment, Hellfire, Shadows
Balomb
The Mesoamerican People of the Jaguar, magicians with fierce insight and blood practices. They tend to offerings of blood, tears and other fluids combined with chants, hallucinogenic drinks and celestial correspondences. Storytellers may decide that certain Paths are limited to certain phases of the moon.
Preferred Paths: Divination, Ephemera, Herbalism/Brewing, Shapeshifting.
The Dozen Priests of the Pythian Order
Esoteric Greek and Hellenic sorcerers who combine poetry, numerology, music, astrology and mathematics. There are but six left in this age.
Preferred Paths: Divination, Fascination
The Fenian
A handful of ancestral Irish shapeshifters, the Fenian brag of an unbroken lineage to the Tuatha Du Daanan. Naturally, everyone would like to claim such a heritage; the Fenian, however, can back up their boast with magical powers, unearthly talents, soul-binding oaths and inhuman allies.
A fixture in the distant times, these half-fae adventurers forsook family and clan to wander among the groves, hills and coasts. Some became enchanted, joining the faeries in their Freeholds; others became the greatest of bards, celebrated with feasts and songs; those who favored the sea became like selkies, sloughing off their human forms to join the seal-folk; the strongest — and most foolhardy — became warriors whose fame eclipsed their exceedingly short lives. Legends tell of the powers of such folk. In their prime, they changed into animals at will, possessed the faerie sight, fought with the ferocity of wild boars and sung with the grace of gods.
Less magicians than innately magical beings, the Fenian became a clan unto themselves, a loose family of unbroken Celtic blood that remains undiluted to this day. That in itself makes them a rare breed — only the luckiest and most-remote folk survived the trinity of invasion, assimilation and inbreeding without faltering. Strong taboos — the gesa (see Chapter Three) — kept the heritage strong when they were heeded, and destroyed whole bloodlines when they were not. In the modern day, less than 30 people can truly say “I share the old changing blood” and prove it, too. Although their folk are not in any way members of the Changing Breeds, all possess the gift of skinshifting. It is an old talent, one lovingly preserved, that crosses whole generations before it manifests again. Although it requires practice to master, this talent is innate. Like the faerie sight and the gift of music, the magic of forms is the mark of a Fenian born.
Each Fenian bears a gesa. To break that ban is to break your powers, and to dishonor the bloodline which carries them. Nearly all of them speak the Celtic tongue, though some distant relatives have never learned it. All beast-folk possess a sweet singing voice, great strength and a bear’s stamina; the temper of the bear comes with the package, too — Fenian have no tolerance for fools or foes!
The ancient gift carries the favor of werewolf, fae and ancestral ghosts. A known Fenian has allies among the Fianna tribe, Old World kith and the spirits of their departed kin. On the balance side, the corrupt half-spirits called fomori can sense their ancient rivals; it was the Fenians’ old duty to protect mortals from the Wyrmspawn, and the evil spirits remember that even if their human hosts do not. A fomor can sense the changing blood, and it incites him to a murder-frenzy. Thus, the old folk grow rarer still.
A Fenian couldn’t care less. She’s a wild lass, a witch and a rover with dancing feet and an Irish temper, the heart of a beast and the soul of a poet. So long as she preserves her vow, the changing blood will carry to another generation. With the recent reverence for all things Irish, the fading clan may rise again in the coming years….
Preferred Paths: Fascination, Shapeshifting (required), Weathercraft
Mogen Ha Chav
The Shield of the 36 is a group of male Kabbalists over the age of 40 who defend the 36 upright human beings who protect the world through their essential goodness.
Preferred Paths: Divination, Healing, Weathercraft
The Nephite Priesthood
Nomadic Mormon priests who cultivate their inner powers to become more like God. Fervent prayers unleash great powers, from healing miracles to sudden storms.
Preferred Paths: Divination, Enchantment, Healing, Hellfire, Weathercraft.
The Seven Thunders
Christian anti-magical prophets of Armageddon, these faithful are driven by undeniable visions. They move in secret, undermining their supernatural targets through manipulation and sudden terror.
Preferred Paths: Healing, Hellfire and the True Faith Merit (at very high levels)
Thal'hun
Metaphysicians who have learned the science of thal from Khuvon, an immortal (and extra-terrestrial) energy-being who lives within the earth. Sound, controlled by an alien language, diadems (constructs of crystal and metal) and trained minds can affect the desired change.
Preferred Paths: Conjuration, Healing, Hellfire, Weathercraft.
The Uzoma
African priests and holy men who are the sacred bridges between the orishas and humanity. By invoking spirit aid and possession, an Uzoma can produce many sudden, startling effects.
Preferred Paths: Divination, Ephemera, Fascination, Healing, Herbalism/Brewing, Weathercraft
Zolondrodere
The Dreamers of the Silver Portal: Magicians whose power lies in dreams and dreaming. They search the dreaming for the City of Syrannon, and thereby eternal life.
Preferred Paths: Conveyance, Ephemera, Fascination, Healing