We purify ourselves and embark on personal journeys toward a higher calling. Some of us call it a Pilgrimage, or sophia, or a Code. Others don’t call it anything, but we know when we’re on the right track and when we feel the lash of failure. We engage in mystical self-reflection, learning our flaws and excising them. Our infected isolate themselves in bands of ascetics, seeking purity by any means necessary before they return to the fold.
Our sacred texts and oral traditions comprise prophecies ancient and modern, foretelling future outbreaks and the coming of figures who will help or hinder our redemption. We follow the signs to seek them: saviors, antichrists, Judases, prophets, spiritual guides, those chosen by higher powers and those cursed to tempt us into doubt. They sometimes come from within our ranks, so some of us seek divine power to transform themselves into the saviors — or martyrs — we need.
We lead pilgrimages, purify infected Infrastructure, and send out missions to convert others to our cause — Sworn, False, and the undecided alike. The more our numbers swell, the easier it is to turn the tide toward salvation for all. Our sacred sites are churches, temples, shrines, Athanors, Hallows, places of reso- nance, tombs, and more. If one of these becomes infected, we scour the sickness out. And if we can’t, we eradicate it from the Earth with holy fire.
We cast down the Contagious wherever we find them, with cleansing flame and blessed ritual. They are the unrepentant, those who choose damnation and walk the Earth to drag us all down. Some of our number mourn their loss, but in the end, we agree that they deserve their fates.
How we organize: Our structure and trappings depend on where we are and who’s joined the local sect. Our order sprang from across many religions, but tonight houses Christian monsters more than any other faith group.. That said, we are skilled in emulation. If membership within a local sect skews toward another belief system, the others may adopt some of that group’s culture and practices. We strive to welcome the beliefs and practices that everyone brings to the table, and we share (and bicker over) them among ourselves. We’re a syncretic bunch, though conflicts do arise.
When we swear ourselves to salvation, we undertake a guided journey into the depths of our dreams or our souls, and share our darkest secrets and greatest sins with one fellow Penitent. Thus, we know someone can always hold us accountable.
We value our diversity because the more of us there are among each group, the easier it becomes to send our message through ambassadors and heralds to every corner of the supernatural world.
Among the Sworn: It’s our duty to shepherd those who can’t or won’t help themselves. It does no good for the Jeremiad to purify itself while the others merrily drag themselves (and others) down. Sometimes we preach and proselytize, but we can be subtle, too. We take up roles as advocates, teachers, counselors, advisors, mentors, and companions to other Sworn, so we can nudge them toward enlightenment while they do their own good works to combat the Contagion.
Humanity is one gauge by which we judge our worth. How we treat them is a good indicator of how we’re doing on the cosmic final exam. An outbreak means we’re about to flunk out and get expelled to hell forever, so we pay attention to how the Sworn deal with mortals, and step in when things get out of hand.
We understand Zero Hour’s mission to restore the Contagious to grace, although we aren’t so naïve as to think it comes from a place of compassion or salvation. Nevertheless, we have concluded that it is too late for those godless abominations, and sometimes we come into conflict with the operatives over it.
We get ourselves in trouble when: We throw the baby out with the bathwater. The others call us fanatics, and occa- sionally we live down to that name. Sometimes, we confuse betterment with power, and seek one to the exclusion of the other. Power is divine when it serves a higher purpose; power for its own sake is a trap we’re not immune to falling into. Our pluralism leads to nasty infighting when irreconcilable beliefs or truths stemming from our differences divide us. What leads to purity for one is sometimes at odds with what another must do.
When the Contagion is in remission: We’re less prone to zealotry. We can afford subtlety, and in the absence of holy wars against the Contagious, we gather our resources, focusing on recruitment and prophecy. We connect glob- ally more easily, organizing gatherings to share what we’ve
learned, and help each other with powers and insight unique to each sect. During an outbreak we have to concentrate on the infected and the most troubled or at-risk among us, but when the higher powers stay their hands, we attend to the entire f lock’s needs.
Vector: Fervor