Introduction Expelled Their Leaders and Every Known Member
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THE ROSENBERGERS When Mats passed away, Tine Rasmussen’s views on As the ringing of the church bell grew louder, and the dealing with vaesen in an academic fashion prevailed, much to chanting of the black-robed priest grew more intense, the the dismay of the loyal Rosenbergers. Still, a few loyalists forest troll shut her eyes and tried to block the sound out. continued the work of Mats Rosenberg, seeking out and slaying Through teary eyes, she looked up towards the nun who had vaesen indiscriminately despite the Council’s order. her crossbow raised against her. “Please,” she said. “I have not hurt anyone here in the village. All I wanted was to find The Rosenbergers concluded that every time they killed a a friend.” nisse or hunted down a troll, more appeared elsewhere. As with “You ARE an abomination,” the priest spat at her. other vermin, there must be some way to take them down for “There is no room for you in the kingdom of God, OR in good. Therefore, Rosenberger scientists and academics actively this village.” searched for ways to exterminate the vaesen en masse. The nun fired. Their activities were eventually discovered, and the Order Introduction expelled their leaders and every known member. Some remained, their covers not blown, working in utmost The information on p. 82 of the Vaesen Core Book secrecy to continue their work as the Rosenbergers as about the Rosenbergers is not much, but piqued my the group tried to establish themselves as a separate interest and made me want to delve deeper into them as organization. a group of antagonists or possible allies in my own Vaesen campaign. The charismatic Finnish priest Juhana Paananen claimed in the early 1700s that Throughout these pages I will elaborate on their vaesen were created by Satan to tempt, history, how they are organized and present corrupt and ultimately ruin mankind. It some plot hooks to bring the Rosenbergers is Paananen’s teachings that have been into your game. I also mention how you central to the Rosenbergers’ world view can mix up your normal Vaesen game by ever since. having PCs be members of the Rosenbergers instead. After the Carl von Linnaeus scandal later History in the 17th century, many of the Society’s Already in the early days of the members who were sympathetic to the Society, when it was called Order of Rosenberger ideals, were outrageous. Artemis, the term Rosenberger was Outrageous that this man, this impostor had coined for someone who adhered to managed to influence the Society into doing his co-founder Mats Rosenberg’s view on work for him. vaesen. Membership in the Rosenbergers soared at this time. At the same time, some continued to Mats Rosenberg wanted to focus work from the Society’s headquarters in the Society’s effort on locating and Uppsala, drawing upon the castle’s resources banishing vaesen, and harbored little to (including the library) to further study how to no interest in studying them further to best find and eliminate vaesen. find out what they really were, what they wanted or if there were any At the Oulu Massacre in the late chances of humans and vaesen 18th century (see Vaesen p. 82), coexisting peacefully. While their several of the participants at Oulu relationship was otherwise very good, Castle were in fact Rosenbergers. Tine Rasmussen could never sway her older partner to see To increase their numbers, the Society reached out for a things her way. Still, as a compromise, Mats persuaded Tine to Sampletemporary alliance against the giants.file What the Rosenbergers include the second-to-last sentence in the Society’s creed - “For weren’t prepared for, was a drawn-out debate on strategy. the battle against vaesen and the protection of Mankind”. · 3 · THE ROSENBERGERS While the Rosenbergers were under the impression that they for potential members. Survivors after vaesen related tragedies, were going to war, many of the Society’s leaders felt that they witch hunters and fanatical priests are among the most popular should pursue a diplomatic solution. None of the Rosenbergers objects of recruitment. in Oulu survived, and to this day, the Rosenbergers feel that the disaster could have been averted if a swift resolution had come The Rosenbergers have no central headquarters. Instead, the to pass. members of each cell meet in each other’s homes, in empty warehouses or other suitable locations. When the Society was a After the Society closed its door in Uppsala, a local much larger organization, some Rosenbergers were tasked with Rosenberger (maybe Olaus Klint) has been keeping tabs on infiltrating the Society to recruit more members. The Society Castle Gyllencreutz, picking up the mail and forwarding any has always been split on its view on vaesen, and many have interesting leads to their current leader, Johanna Lampinen. changed sides throughout the years. Then, one day he picked up an interesting letter from a woman named Michaela Hansdotter. She was a reclusive member of the If your game contains the official NPC Olaus Klint from A Dance Society who apparently had been working on a secret study of Dreams, he might try to infiltrate the Society. See also Hooks alone for some years. For some reason, she had not been told below. that the Society had been disbanded. Hansdotter’s studies concluded that vaesen were a product of mankind’s Creed imagination. Meaning, yes, they do actually exist, but it is our belief that creates them. Historically, Rosenbergers were under the impression that vaesen were created by Satan. This was true for all vaesen, from Johanna, through Olaus, continued to communicate with revenants and werewolves to trolls and vaettir. Each of the Michaela, who had traveled all over Scandinavia for over a vaesen had their role to play in Satan’s plan to corrupt and decade already. The reopening of the Society poses a challenge enslave mankind. The undead were of course abominations, for Johanna, who wants to continue her communication with created by the Dark One to prevent them from entering God’s Michaela. This is one of the main reasons she wants Olaus to holy kingdom. Trolls and giants, linnorms and sea serpents and infiltrate the Society. the more corporeal of the beasts were the creatures Satan wanted to rule the earth when all God-fearing humans were Organization under the thrall of these spawns of Satan. The less mighty vaesen such as faeries, nissar and vaettir were mischievous The Rosenbergers have a strict cell structure, with a leader who critters meant to disrupt the faith in God and keep the people reports to the current leader, Johanna Lampinen. The members from abandoning all pagan customs and rites. are expected to follow up on rumors and local legends themselves, but are sometimes assigned missions directly from When Johanna Lampinen finally started to believe Michaela Lampinen. Through designated dead drops, they can request Hansdotter’s theories, she was devastated. Satan had nothing assistance from Lampinen, who has a few extremely loyal to do with vaesen. Maybe Satan didn’t even exist? Maybe God henchmen close by to do her bidding. Her current whereabouts himself did not exist? Since most of the Rosenbergers are rather is unknown, but it is likely she is situated in Sweden, as she can religious, she has kept the truth to herself and a select few. She reach all other Nordic countries more easily from there. still lets her witch hunters and vaesen slayers go on the hunt, but she realizes it doesn’t help much. Instead, she has Each cell traditionally consisted of 3-6 members, and the cells concluded that time itself will take care of vaesen. were scattered all over Scandinavia. However, like the Society, Enlightenment, technology, globalization and the spread of their members have dwindled drastically over the last 40-50 civilization would be slow, but effective measures. years. Many perished in the Oulu Massacre, and secularism and enlightenment have made it more difficult to recruit and keep The Rosenbergers have gathered much knowledge and members. As one of their major sources of recruitment was the information about the vaesen as well, but without a central Society itself, a decrease in their membership also affected the library such as the one in Uppsala, information sharing is more Rosenbergers. When the Society closed up ten years ago, difficult and the various cells are more dependent on vague SampleLampinen lost an important recruitment arena for new recollections and folk tales. file Rosenbergers. Still, active Rosenbergers are always searching · 4 · THE ROSENBERGERS Vaesen are under no circumstances to be negotiated with. They • TALENTS: Holy symbol, Deceptive, Suffer not the witch (see Satanic Witchcraft), Agitator and Something in should be dealt with decisively, and collateral damage is common (see New talents for Vaesen) accepted. Many Rosenbergers are not shy about silencing witnesses. Normally, NPCs in Vaesen do not have talents. Johanna and Gabriella are two very experienced Vaesen hunters, and any Cast of characters conflict with them should reflect their extreme competence. The following pages describe three of the most important characters in a Rosenberger campaign. Their leader, Johanna Lampinen, the enforcer, Nun Gabriella, and Michaela Hansdottir, a Society member who never got the message that Sister Gabriella they had closed down. “….” Johanna Lampinen “You exist solely because of us. You die because of us.” The daughter of a Finnish priest, Johanna was traumatized at an early age when she witnessed a church grim attack a grave robber in the cemetery of her father’s church. When she got older, she met her first Rosenbergers, when two agents came to her village to vanquish the beast.