Put simply, we disrupt, in every sense of the word: disruption of the comfortable, the conventional, the routine, the mimetic, groupthink, and the establishment. We meddle to shake up or take down traditional institutions, human and Sworn; work to surpass limitations and break mystical rules; and generally rabble-rouse. We don’t want chaos. We just want to shake people out of their ruts. Sometimes you must break some- thing down to rebuild anew. Sometimes you have to destroy what you are to become what you could be. Humanity is part of the paradigm shift, too — we all must change together, but mortals don’t have the perspective to understand, so we take the reins and make it happen.
We pursue liminal states, cross thresholds, and push boundaries, mundane and super- natural. We seek inspiration and strange, transient experiences from ephemeral beings and holes in the world, leaping into the unknown just to see what happens to us. The Contagion comes and goes in cycles, and each iteration is something new. That’s not a coincidence, so we study the changes each outbreak has wrought to find method in its madness.
Some of us think these cycles occur because the world as it is didn’t go according to some ancient plan for reality, and the Contagion is its course-correction, recalibrating over and over again until the world reaches the ultimate potential hidden in the God-Machine’s secret design. So we delve into the Machine’s guts and seek its very heart. We analyze patterns in its matrices that might shine a light on the protocols and algorithms that determine its goals. We ask the question no one ever wants to ask of the Machine: why? Each outbreak heralds a new step in supernatural evolution. It’s a sign that a reckoning is coming for us Sworn, one that decides who transcends and who is destroyed in the aftermath. We study our apotheosis myths for commonalities, and pursue them together. Our Created like to say we’re all embarking on a collective Great Work, and we seek out Firestorms deliberately to watch them wreak their glorious havoc. We fund Ordo Dracul experiments, hunt down Sariras, help our Begotten claim hives and establish Myths, and anything else we can do to push each other along our respective journeys to revolution and revelation.
How we organize: We don’t much, although when members from one area travel to another, they’re welcomed as friends and equals. Locally, we gather in salons or committees where we can debate philosophy and next steps, compare notes, collaborate on projects, facilitate group occult experiences, and generally inspire each other to new ideas. We call a local group of us an agora or, when we’re feeling cheeky, a scrum. When we swear ourselves to progress, we cast aside something important from our prior lives and take up new names. We may still use our other names in different circles, but our Thesean names carry the weight of our dedication and a promise for our futures.
Among the Sworn: The others look to us when they want something done more quickly than they can easily manage and they don’t mind how many dominos we knock over, or when they’re looking for innovative solutions to age-old problems. We’re the experts on our own various, monstrous natures, and we’re always glad to provide some good, old-fashioned philosophical debate. The Cryptocracy tries to quietly mitigate our influence, and vice versa; sometimes we lash out at them out of pride or spite, and sometimes they crack down on us out of fear or in a play for dominance.
We value our diversity because we influence each other and challenge each other’s long-standing beliefs and tradi- tions. The more we rub off on one another, the easier it is to kick old habits and adopt new philosophies. We can combine our abilities in endless permutations to create something unique.
We get ourselves in trouble when: We take it too far, sowing destruction and chaos without building towards mean- ingful change, or when we lose our way in our search for the new and unknown, letting the thrill of pursuit or discovery distract us from the purpose of our work. Some of us regress and become something worse, or wander too long in each other’s shoes and act on terrible impulses to move sideways instead of forward. Sometimes we fall into navel-gazing or obsession, and need help to drag ourselves back to the mission.
When the Contagion is in remission: We focus on research and preparation, nudging each other and humanity to make sure everyone keeps up with the times. We calibrate and stabilize the world in its new form after an outbreak’s turbulence, and set the stage for next outbreak in hopes of getting closer to synchronization. We plant the seeds of forward thinking and weaken traditions wherever we can.
Vector: Realignment