Page 337 - Hunter - The Vigil

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A APPENDIX TWO: PHILADELPHIA,
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M MONSTER HUNTING IN THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE
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M M O N S T E R H U N T I N G I N T H E C I T R O T H E R L Y L O V E
I
and worship freely. He also conceived a capital
THE MYSTIC BROTHERHOOD that was like an English country town, with
homes spaced far apart and separated by parks
In 1694, one of Philadelphia’s many and gardens. The lots Penn laid out were quickly
German immigrants was mystic and split into smaller parcels by their owners, creating
occultist Johannes Kelp, a.k.a. Kelpius, smaller streets and a more congested city than he
who settled with his followers in the had perhaps hoped. But the city did achieve an
valley of the Wissahickon Creek in what atmosphere of religious tolerance, which attracted
would become northwest Philadelphia. immigrants of varied religious persuasions. (It
The group called itself the Contented should also be noted that slaves were brought to
of the God-Loving Soul, and spent its Philadelphia from its very earliest days, despite
time in prayer, meditation, sacred the Quaker religion’s opposition to the practice.)
music-making and other activities in With its diverse population and central
keeping with its belief that the end location, early Philadelphia was also an irresistible
of the world was nigh. The members temptation for supernatural beings from Europe or
also gained a reputation for alchemy, elsewhere who desired a foothold (or hiding place)
ritual magic, numerology (the number in the so-called New World. Lacking the Puritan
40 was particularly important to them, authoritarianism of Boston or the plantation
though the reason is lost to history) mentality of Jamestown, Philadelphia was a place
and other suspect practices. The Cave where mingling between different social strata
of Kelpius, where their leader was said yielded easier access to a range of allies, pawns or
to meditate, can be found in present- victims. And a careful vampire, werewolf or mage
day Fairmount Park (if one knows where could reasonably expect that occasional strange
to look). Nearby is an eight-foot or quirky behavior might be overlooked in the
monolith that states Kelpius was the stew of different languages, customs and practices
fi rst American master in the Rosicrucian increasingly on display as Philadelphia grew from
brotherhood. a riverside settlement into a busy port city.
Story Seeds: Yet even in its early days, Philadelphia
Story Seeds:
Behind the Veil: Perhaps Kelpius and presented its own kinds of challenges to those who
Behind the Veil:
his followers were not true mystics, but settled into its shadows. The city’s various sub-
deluded pawns of a shadowy faction of communities kept careful watch over their domains
mages dedicated to creating bogus occult and were quick to come to the defense of their
groups as a way of protecting true magic. own. As hardy immigrants who’d risked much to
A Philadelphia hunter belonging to Null establish a new life, Philadelphia’s residents tended
Mysteriis or the Loyalists of Thule might to be quite capable of policing their territories
uncover evidence that the Mystics were and responding to a predator in their midst. A
being manipulated by some other agency. neighborhood of, say, recent arrivals from Germany
That knowledge would make them a target of may have brought with them some ancient practices
today’s mages, whose response might range for identifying werewolves (some of which actually
from destroying the evidence to altering worked). A community of Quakers could turn their
the hunter’s memory to assassinating the penchant for cooperation into a common defense
hunter with extreme prejudice. against a troublesome spirit. A band of fi shermen,
Search for the Stone:
Search for the Stone: The Mystics were hearing strange cries drift over the river at night,
reputed to have created an alchemical could come together and trawl the Schuylkill for
philosopher’s stone, which was thrown the creature that lured some of their peers to their
into the Schuylkill River by their last doom. Though precious few documents describing
surviving member (as an all-male celibate the activities of these proto-hunter groups have
doomsday cult, longevity was not one of survived, a modern-day cell that acquires some

the group’s attributes). Whatever it was extant fragment may find that its predecessors faced
they made, it’s back, and the city’s many of the same challenges of today’s hunters.
supernatural players are scrambling to Such records might also contain strategies or
get hold of it. If the Mystics hoped techniques applicable to today’s Vigil.
to use alchemy as a defense against
supernatural assaults, the object may Revolution
be a powerful weapon for whatever hunter War changed everything for Philadelphia. As
cell tracks it down. the place where the Declaration of Independence
was drafted and signed, where the First and Second
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