From: pfstrack@email.unc.edu (Paul Strack)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.storyteller,alt.games.whitewolf
Subject: The Mission of St. Thomas
Date: 15 Feb 1996 16:54:24 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
NNTP-Posting-Host: login1.email.unc.edu

The Mission of St. Thomas
 
An Amazonian Celestial Chorus/Dreamspeaker Chantry
 
by Paul Strack
 
 
 
Deep in the Amazon jungle lies a small Jesuit mission, hidden from the 
eyes of the Brazilian government and its Technomantic masters.  In the 
17th century, a small party of Jesuits went deep in the rain forest in 
the hopes of bringing the word of God to the natives.  With them went 
three members of the Celestial Chorus, curious as to the nature of the 
mages of this strange new world.  They met with a group of Yanomamo 
Indians, and with them a Dreamspeaker shaman.  Their initial encounters 
were fraught with tension, but in time the missionaries earned the trust 
of the natives, and settle amongst them to teach.
 
The question of whether the natives would ever accept Christianity was 
never resolved.  Throughout the 17th century, the Portuguese government, 
secretly backed by the Order of Reason, pushed further into the jungle in 
search of land and slaves.  The Jesuits tried in vain to turn aside the 
Portuguese army, claiming the natives were becoming Christian, and thus 
citizens of the Portugal.  When that failed, the Choristers left the 
mission to speak with the Dreamspeakers of the Yanomano, and other local 
tribes.  With the nodes known to the Dreamspeakers, and the European 
influence of the Chorus, the mission could be turned into a center of 
resistance against the depredations of the government.
 
The Dreamspeakers agreed, and the mission "withdrew" from the world.  A 
report of the missionaries death from disease was sent to the Catholic 
authorities, and no one was ever sent to investigate.  Since that time 
the Mission of St. Thomas has worked to protect the indigenous and 
disadvantaged people of Brazil, and elsewhere in South America.
 
There are three Cabals of mages currently in the Chantry.  The Visions of 
Glory Cabal consists of older Celestial Chorus mages, and nominally leads 
the Chantry.  The Frog Song Cabal is made of Dreamspeakers, and is 
largely responsible for maintaining the Chantrys's nodes, wards and the 
relations with the Yanomano acolytes that protect the grounds.  The 
Revenge of the Jaguar Cabal is a mixed cabal, made up of the younger and 
more active mages of both the Dreamspeakers and Chorus.  It includes a 
young Verbena of the Macumba tradition from Buenos Ares as well.
 
The Chantry works to minimize the destruction of the rainforest, and to 
protect the lives and culture of the native population.  The Choristers 
have become interested in missions to the impoverished of Brazilian 
cities as well, helping those with native blood to return to their roots, 
and others to better themselves in the world.  In the last few years the 
Dreamspeakers have also been working with their brethren in the Yucatan 
in their struggle for independence against the Mexican government.  The 
Choristers have been a bit more hesistant, worrying about the rumors of 
Aztec Nephandi that are using the independence movement for their own ends.


-- 
Paul Strack            |  Madness takes its toll.
pfstrack@email.unc.edu |  Please have exact change.
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Web Page - http://www.math.unc.edu/Grads/pfstrack/wod.html