Hospitaller Order of Dunwich

Hospitaller Order of Dunwich

Coat of arm of the Hospitaller on a shield

Short version:

Rich but don't show it - Protectors of the All Saints' Church & the (false) Tomb of Jesus Christ

• Leader: William Pitt, 3rd Earl of Chatham

• Goal: Find an arcanum to protect the Tomb of Christ from erosion / a new secure place for the Tomb

• Dramatis Personae: Oeconomicis Magnus: Sergei Saltykov

• Peculiarities: Miracles [Bloodbond (STR -> PV) & Rain of Gore (poison + terror)]

• Secrets: The source of their power is an old testament rewritten by Nyarlathotep

Long version:

The Hospitallers are good men but are lured by an old entity to do unspeakable acts in the name of what they believe to be Jesus Christ. They search for arcana of all kind, collecting them at all costs, to study them and find a solution to the imminent destruction of their All Saints' Church in Dunwich. 

Their normal Modus Operandi is to detect an arcanum, contact it's owner, make a fair offer for it, take it by force if the owner is not willing to make the trade (theft or outright murder, depending on the case)

Their Leader is William Pitt, 3rd Earl of Chatham, who is a member of the House of Peers. He has a lot of influence on the judiciary system.
The Oeconomicis Magnus of the group (brother in charge of finance & treasury) is Sergei Saltykov, an important russian noble on a diplomatic mission in London (Napoleon needs to be crushed).

The lower Brothers are mostly from noble extraction but they left their families as they joined the Order. Some might still be in good terms and obtain favours from their Family, though...

The version of their New Testament is holy to them, a kind of relic, and does not really stand in contradiction to the bible. It only states that the body of Christ is entombed in the Dunwich Church (which will historically collapse into the north sea between 1904 and 1919) and contains 2 "miracles" that are described just afterwards.

Miracles:

• Bloodbond: allows the caster to open his veins to transfer his life-force into a wounded and willing target. The ritual is very gruesome since a lot of blood is exchanged, but the blood seems to be very dark. The wounds closed with this ritual always generate black scars. (Caster loses 1D6 STR to restore that same amount in hit points)
• Rain of Gore: can only be used in the open. Suddenly, it starts raining blood. The smell is very metallic and nauseating. All animals (do not forget the varmint) flee the site. The ground on which the blood rained is poisoned for weeks ans all plants that were growing on it wither. The stench is horrible and the scene seems haunted.
  (all in the area must make a Will save or panicky flee on the spot. Those staying must make a STR save or take 1D4 damage and lose their last meal)

Typical member:

Knight:
STR 12 - Will 8

Long mantle over their gambison with coat of arm (Armor 1)

Sword and 1 Pistol

Sources:

• The Knights Hospitaller (or Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem) are an historical reference. They continued to exist as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, starting 1530, and moved their headquarter to Rome in 1834. This particular chapter is invented
• Nyarlathotep is a Great Old One from the Chtuluh Mythos by HP Lovecraft. Dunwich is also a refence to his works (even though it's another Dunwich he refers to)
• Jesus is one of the main characters from second main tome of the Christian Mythology (New Testament)
• William Pitt, 3rd Earl of Chatham was a politician from that time, representing a parish / town that had diesappeared under water after the construction of a dam
• Sergei Saltykov is an unexisting son of Nikolai Saltykov, who was the grandmaster of the Order of Malta in 1814 and a very important member of the russian aristocracy