Factions of Basilica Purgatory

Two centuries have passed since the End of Times, an eighty-year period of cascading apocalypses that unmade the old world. Basilica Purgatory is one of fifteen Basilicas in the world where humanity survives under the God-Machine's Veil. Humans inside the walls believe supernaturals exist only beyond them. Supernaturals hide to stay alive. Five factions hold what fragile order exists.

Each faction is open to members of any splat (Hunters have their own relationship with each, noted below). Factions are defined by purpose and philosophy, not by supernatural type. A Vampire, a Werewolf, a Lost, and a Sorcerer may all sit at the same faction table — and often must.

The Veil Keepers

"The lie that keeps us alive."

The oldest organized faction in Basilica Purgatory, born from a desperate pact in the first decades after the Restoration. Their singular purpose is preserving the Veil — the shared fiction that supernaturals exist only beyond the Basilica walls. Not a governing body, a cult, or a philosophy. A survival mechanism, and they'll do whatever it takes to keep it running.

The Veil is not a lie. It is the architecture of peace. Humanity cannot coexist with what they cannot understand, and they cannot understand us. Not yet, perhaps not ever. We do not hide because we are ashamed. We hide because we are outnumbered.

Membership is not announced — it is extended. New members are observed for weeks before being approached. No insignia, no public name, no official meeting place.

The Ashen Court

"From ruin, we built something worth ruling."

Where others mourned the End of Times, the Ashen Court saw opportunity. Formed by Vampires who survived Caine's culling and Hellions who clawed their way back from the hells, the Court is the closest thing Basilica Purgatory has to an aristocracy. They control territory in the upper districts, broker deals between factions and human power structures, and believe the supernatural should guide humanity, not merely survive it.

We did not endure two centuries of ruin to live in fear of mortals. We are older than their gods, tougher than their steel, and bear the wisdom of the ages. The question is not whether we lead. The question is whether we do so openly or from the shadows. For now, shadows suffice.

Membership is prestigious and openly acknowledged in supernatural circles. Joining requires sponsorship from two existing members and a probationary period. The Court's public-facing human front is the Meridian Exchange trading consortium.

The Thorned Circle

"The wound in the world is our altar."

When Gaia the Elder died and Eshtarra the Younger rose to take her place, something of the old spiritual order survived in those willing to tend it. The Thorned Circle formed around the broken Gauntlet and Eshtarra's mandate to heal what the Sundering tore open — spiritual stewards who consider themselves servants of the world itself rather than of any splat or faction politics.

The Gauntlet bleeds. The Dreaming bleeds. The Umbra itself is wounded, and someone has to sit with that wound instead of looking away from it. We are not warriors. We are not diplomats. We are the ones who stayed to tend the wound while everyone else built walls around it.

Werewolves and Children of Eshtarra make up much of the Circle's membership, but any character with a spiritual calling is welcome — this is described as the soul of the Basilica, not a splat clubhouse.

The God Machine Guild

"We keep the lights on. Someone has to."

The God-Machine is a transdimensional, hyperintelligent system managing the entire solar system and its attached spiritual planes — so far beyond comprehension that its true motives remain effectively ineffable. That doesn't stop the Guild from trying. Founded by the technicians and engineers who kept Basilica Purgatory's infrastructure running in the earliest, most desperate years, the Guild maintains the Aether Reactors and every piece of God-Machine architecture the Basilica depends on.

The God-Machine is beyond all of us, and yet it still tends to us small, fragile beings in ways we will never fully grasp. It is the least we can do to return the favor: keep the gears turning, and prevent the Machine's works from falling into evil hands.

Indispensable and morally compromised in equal measure. Guild clearance is required to access the Mechanism, and that clearance is not handed out lightly.

The Lost Mirror

"We are what remains when the world forgets itself."

With the gates to Arcadia and the Dreaming cracked open and bleeding into the world, a coalition of Lost and Hellion formed to do the work no one else wanted: tending the wounds in reality itself. Part sanctuary, part embassy, part philosophical society, the Lost Mirror protects dreams and nightmares alike, mediates between the Lost, Dreamborne, and Wyrd-born, and fights the corruption seeking to exploit what's left of the Dreaming.

The Dreaming is wounded and bleeds into this world. We are not healers. We are mere purveyors of bandages. But bandages matter — ask anyone who has bled.

The most culturally complex faction in the Basilica. Membership is open, but trust takes time — the Lost Mirror has been burned before by those who wanted to exploit the Dreaming gates for personal gain.

Inter-Faction Relationships

No faction exists in isolation.

The city breathes. The Machine hums. The Veil holds. For now.