The Order of Saint Lazarus

by Thunk


History

The Order originally held an hospital in Jerusalem. After the conquest of the Holy City by the Crusaders in 1098, knights of holy orders who suffered from leperosy and other terminal diseases where sent to St Lazarus. Because in most patients the disease progressed very slowly and because the hospitals required protection against the infidels as well as brigands and marauders, it was inevitable that the warrior patients of Saint Lazarus should convert the Order into a knightly militia as well as a brotherhood.

Centuries of presence in the Middle East caring for pilgrims had taught the order's physicians quite a few tricks. Some had even studied alchemy and sorcery under muslims scholars. They were capable of delaying the effects of most diseases almost indefinitely through drugs and rituals. Leprous knights who hardly felt pain and knew no fear soon became a common sight in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and wherever they could fight the infidels.

Trouble is you don't walk around with so many diseases without the viruses trying to do something. After several bizarre mutations, the plague known as vampiris broke out. It destroys the bodily fluids and leaves you craving for more blood. Most of the knights could handle it with their magic, but some turned into ravenous creatures and infected other people. The disease spread to Europe, probably through knights of the Teutonic Order who moved to Transylvania (where local legends about Nosferatu took over). The order did what it could to stop the phenomenon and established hospitals and commanderies in Europe and England to monitor the cases and fight the vampires.

Today the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem still exists and is controlled by 'cured' vampires. They do humanitarian and charity work, but their main purpose is to prevent the plague from spreading again. For now, almost every rogue vampire has been found and either cured or destroyed, so they spend more and more time to hunt other supernatural creatures and phenomena. They have broadened their oath from defending the christian faith and people to protect humanity from things they don't understand. They have known Inquisition and seen what a scared population can do to 'sorcerers' and 'demons' and won't allow this to happen again. When they find people like this, they decide whether there is risk to mundane people and act to remove the threat. Of course this is a judgment call and they have been wrong more than once, but the end justifies the means.

The Disease

Vampiris is a kind of virus that lives in your blood cells and feeds off them. It penetrates the central nervous system and compels you to find more blood when yours becomes insufficient. It strengthens your muscle and bone tissue, making you stronger and faster, but it also destroys melanin, turning you into an albino. You become very sensible to light, prefering to live at night. Contagion can happen when a healthy individual drinks a vampire's blood and, rarely, when a vampire bites someone. The virus is very resilient, and can maintain your bodily functions even after clinical death. Dead vampires become mindless, bloodthirsty beasts. The more blood they get, the more the virus strenghtens the body in an attempt to counterbalance the natural decay. These horrific creatures can do enormous damage if they are not stopped at the earliest stages of the transformation.

The knights control their lust for blood with a kind of arcane serum that keeps the virus in a dormant state and feeds it just what it needs to survive. They have superior physical capacities and can endure sunlight for a few hours. When injured, the virus can regenerate their cells to some extent, even if they don't consume fresh blood. Their aging process is slowed as well and they can live about two hundred years. They mate and have vampire children and, with the centuries, they have bred a race of superior beings living in the shadow of society.

This doesn't mean that they have totally given up the killing of human beings for their blood. New blood gives strength to the virus and to the vampire as well, especially blood from a spiritually powerful person (i.e. with high chi). Occasionally, a worthy knight is allowed to drink the blood of such a person -usually an evil sorcerer or kung fu master- to reinforce his vampiris with the convict's chi. It gives him a longer lifespan, as much as some mystic power. The vampires have discovered that just as when you burn a site of power, you harvest its chi, when you ritually drink a person's blood, you can gain a part of his power -technically experience points equal to the person's Chi stat.

The Knights in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong chapter has its official headquarters at the Excelsior Hotel near Gloucester Bay, Wanchai. The Grand Prior of Hong Kong owns the hotel through a dummy company. Regular meetings of the Order take place in the beautiful lounges of the hotel, but no one speaks about vampires in there. The real monastery is located in a cave in Hong Kong Below, the underground city.  To reach it, one has to follow a very specific path : pass the Pillars of Fiery Fog (two big steam conducts), cross the Bridge of Thunder (a makeshift ropebridge above an underground railroad) and answer to the Sphinx of Numbers who guards the Living Portal (a digital lock on an automatic door). The place looks like a mediaeval fortified abbey, except for its modern furniture and electric lights. There is a library with a lot of computer equipment, a vast training room, and modest living quarters for twenty people. A few knights are there at every time of the day and night, but the others live normal lives in Hong Kong. They try to keep current about matters of supernatural and have infiltrated the police, the media and some reality cops organizations.

NPC's

Oscar Corbett, Grand Prior of the Hong Kong chapter

"An arrangement can be reached, gentlemen, only if you let us deal with that hellish creature."

Attributes: Bod 7, Chi 2 (Magic 7), Mnd 7, Ref 5 (Spd 7)

Skills: Sorcery 14, Martial Arts 12, Creature Powers 9, Info/History 12, Info/Supernatural 10

Creature  Schticks: Inhuman Leap/Leap 4x times Movement stat.

Beast Within/ See Below

Blindspot/People do not see you, if they are looking for you they must roll their Perception with your Creature powers as Difficulty. If you attack, they notice you.

Sorcery Schticks: Summoning, Create Magical Artifact

Weapons: Rapier hidden in a walking stick (10)

Unlike most of the knights, this 160 years old englishman was not born a vampire. He used to be an exorcist priest in the 1860's, and was sent to central Europe to investigate vampire apparitions. Unknown to him, this mission was a recruitment test for the Holy Inquisition -that had sent him there without warning about what he really risked. He didn't really believe in vampires and was caught off guard when he encountered them. His life was barely saved by a mighty knight of St Lazarus. When he realized that Corbett had been infected, the knight offered him to join the order. This hasn't improved the tense relations between the Inquisition and the order, and Corbett still holds a grudge against them. He has been Grand Prior for more than thirty years now, and knows the area and its legends fairly well. He has chosen Hong Kong to stay as far from Rome as possible. The years have made him wise, but not less willing to destroy the creatures that prey upon humanity. He knows that Hong Kong is packed with supernatural activity, and he will make sure that the people involved don't harm innocents in any way. He looks about sixty years old, a very thin man who cuts the rare hair he has left very short and wears chestnut contacts. He dresses simply, just like a priest. He's very polite in a cold sort of way.

Sir John Robins, Grand Officer of St Lazarus

"I shall show you what a true swordsman can do"

Attributes: Bod 8, Chi 0 (Magic 5), Mnd 6, Ref 7 (Spd 9)

Skills: Martial Arts 15, Creature Powers 8, Info/History 8, Info/Supernatural 9, Detective 10

Creature  Schticks: Inhuman Leap/Leap 4x times Movement stat.

Beast Within/ See Below

Blindspot/People do not see you, if they are looking for you they must roll their Perception with your Creature powers as Difficulty. If you attack, they notice you.

Weapon Schticks: Quick Draw x2/+2 to Initiative, first action of every Sequence must be a melee weapons attack.

Invisible Sheath/See below

Razor Edge Senses/+2 to Perception Checks, if successful, you may add the Outcome of the roll to your Martial Arts attack.

Shield of Steel/See below

Weapons: Big medieval sword (12)

This well dressed, exquisite British gentleman was born a vampire in 1900 in Beijing. His parents were knights sent to watch European occultists searching for ancient chinese secrets. He is the best hunter of the Hong Kong chapter, in charge of the 'cleansings'. He's a true aristocrat who feels superior to most people, especially normal humans. Fair of skin, tall with blue contacts and dark red dyed hair, he wears elegant grey suits and expensive trenchcoats.

Lady Sarah Gunwick, Knight Physician

"Stay faced against the wall while I analyze your blood sample"

Attributes: Bod 7, Chi 0 (Magic 3), Mnd 7, Ref 6 (Spd 8)

Skills: Sorcery 10, Martial Arts 12, Creature Powers 7, Info/Biology 14, Info/Supernatural 8, Medicine 12

Creature  Schticks: Inhuman Leap/Leap 4x times Movement stat.

Beast Within/ See Below

Blindspot/People do not see you, if they are looking for you they must roll their Perception with your Creature powers as Difficulty. If you attack, they notice you.

Sorcery Schticks: Heal

Weapons: Dagger (9)

This young German woman studied immunology at the Order's headquarters in Boigny, France. She is one of the scientists knights, who work continuously to improve the cure for Vampiris. She is only twenty four, with long blond hair and green contacts. As a young vampire, she tries to keep an open mind when confronted to supernatural phenomena -and she frequently opposes to the violent elements in the order.

Sir Shoi-ming, Knight of St Lazarus

"Repent, sinner !"

Attributes: Bod 8, Chi 0 (Magic 4), Mnd 5, Ref 6 (Spd 8)

Skills: Martial Arts 13, Creature Powers 6, Info/History 7, Leadership 8

Creature  Schticks: Inhuman Leap/Leap 4x times Movement stat.

Beast Within/ See Below

Blindspot/People do not see you, if they are looking for you they must roll their Perception with your Creature powers as Difficulty. If you attack, they notice you.

Fu Schticks: Path of the Passive Wings: Crane Stance (1/1)/If opponent has a Perception rating lower than your agility, Dodge increases by 5

Path of the Sharpened Scales: Bite of the Dragon (2/3)/Martial Arts attack with +2 Damage

Weapons: Long Toledo sword (12), Punch (9)

A small chinese man with a mustache and a nervous demeanor, Shoi-ming is typical of the asian members of the order. They embrace the principles of the Knights with an almost fanatical devotion.

Knights of St Lazarus, ordinary vampires

"Taste my steel, demon!"

Attributes: Bod 7, Chi 0 (Magic 4), Mnd 5, Ref 5 (Spd 7)

Skills: Martial Arts 9, Guns 8, Creature Powers 5, Info/Histoire 7

Creature  Schticks: Inhuman Leap/Leap 4x times Movement stat.

Beast Within/ See Below

Blindspot/People do not see you, if they are looking for you they must roll their Perception with your Creature powers as Difficulty. If you attack, they notice you.

Weapons: Swords (11), H&K MP5K (10/3/30)

Upper class types, mostly european. They usually wear longcoats to conceal their blades.

New Creature Schticks

The Beast Within

Works as Regeneration x2, but the vampire can never take Death Resistance or Inevitable Comeback. When he dies, he becomes a dreadful beast with only one goal : blood. His stats are modified as follows : Bod +2, Chi -3, Mnd -3, Ref +2, he loses all skills except for Creature Powers, Intrusion and Martial Arts (which are recalculated). Should this happen to a vampire PC, he would become a GMC.

New Weapon Schticks

Shield of Steel

You can move your sword so quickly and smoothly that it looks like an impenetrable wall of steel that protects you even if the attacks manage to pass through it. Everytime you actively dodge, you gain +2 Toughness per schtick you bought in Shield of Steel (maximum 4).

Invisible Sheath

For every level of Invisible Sheath you buy, you can hide a weapon without anyone noticing. You must wear enough clothes to reasonably -even if not realistically- conceal it. See the series 'Highlander' for examples.


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