Friends, Rivals and Enemies

The peers of the Immortal Champions

While the Immortal Champions consider themselves the ‘apex predators’ of the Night People, they are far from the only ones to hunt the varied forces of the Enemy, let alone investigate the mysteries of the supernatural, preternatural and paranormal.

The Order of the Owl 

The Order of the Owl was a Roman secret society of occult philosophers with great influence over the emperors and, in fact, all levels of power within the empire from beginning to end. It was active from the bleak highlands of Caledonia to the deserts of Mesopotamia, and delved deep into the hidden mysteries of the night world. Their leaders were sorcerers and worshipers of the foulest gods and demons of the underworld. Even the mightiest and most secure emperors feared the wrath of their magic and their Talons, the deadly assassins who dispatched their enemies. The Vatican's inner archive preserves some partially burnt letters that implicate the Order as involved in, or even responsible for, the murder of Julius Caesar and Caligula. When the Western Empire fell, the Order of the Owl disappeared into the shadows. Successor groups immediately emerged all over the Mediterranean, only to vanish just as swiftly. The Eastern Emperors, for whatever reason, seemed more capable of dealing with the Order than their Western counterparts, and it never had any real presence in the lands ruled by Constantinople.

(art by Romy Jones: https://linktr.ee/RomyJones)

The Savant Club 

Located in the heart of Mayfair, the Savant Club was founded in 1689 by the patrons of the old coffee house The Wise Owl (which had burned down during the turmoil of William III's usurpation of the English crown). It was a social club for natural philosophers and occultists, and the latter soon dominated the Inner Circle that governed the club. The Savant Club garnered a dark reputation over the course of the 18th century, and more than a few members ended up dangling beneath the gallows. (At the same time, luminaries such as Isaac Newton were also members) By 1800 or so, this reputation had faded -- or at least been repressed by the wealthy, titled and otherwise, who supported the club. By the later decades of Queen Victoria's long reign, the Savant Club dominated the occult scene of London and, indeed, the entire British Empire. It endured while other groups flashed brightly and then faded away. Tragically, the Inner Circle almost entirely perished on New Year's Eve 1899, and the club itself was ravaged by fire. Afterwards, most members drifted to other establishments and organizations, and generally proved tight-lipped about what happened that night, if they were even present - few were, it seemed. The Savant Club lingered on for forty more years, finally being wiped out by a massive explosion that utterly destroyed the building during the winter of 1940-41. Oddly, that day was one without any recorded German raids on London...

The Owl Club

Midtown Manhattan's the Owl Club was established in the 1880s by British occultist Lady Thomasina Billington-Bateman, a member of the Savant Club who moved to New York and married New Money. Like its parent, the Owl Club soon had a reputation as a den of mystics and villains - just enough to entice many of New York's more recently wealthy citizens to join and share in the titillation attached to the name. Just as Britain's protectors clashed with the Savant Club, the Champion of the Northeast and his fellow fighters often went to war with the Owl Club. Only during the 1940s was the Owl Club purged of the worst sorts - men like Rowley Thorn and Alexander Meijer. Since then, what was once a cabal of occultists, sycophants and gullible rich people is mostly a gathering of gullible rich people. It still has its Talon, though, the chief enforcer (currently an ex-Army Ranger named Lily Hopko), and still has occult seekers such as Jacqueline Visser, an aging socialite who took hold of the Club as a young woman during the 1980s and hasn't let go ever since.

STAU

The Special Threat Assessment Unit is one of the most secretive elements of the FBI. It was established by President Truman the same day he created the CIA. STAU's mission has always been one of investigating and dealing with the most exotic threats to America's domestic security. Originally, this was limited to Soviet exploitation of recovered Nazi "esoteric technology" but soon broadened to a whole host of potential paranormal threats to life and limb (and prosperity and stability) - flying saucers, 'violent voodoo cults' in the segregated South, non-human intelligences, and more. STAU has been regarded with suspicion by the rest of the FBI, and often battles to preserve its very existence from skeptical and disdainful Congressmen. The unit was at its height during the Carter and Reagan years, as both men had had personal encounters with the unknown during their lives. STAU is still active to this day, although it has never been smaller than in the 2020s. It consists of a main office at the FBI headquarters in Washington and two regional offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. The New York, Dallas, Denver, Miami and Seattle offices were controversially shut down in 2002 (the much smaller Kabul and Baghdad offices - working closely with a top secret Army unit - lasted until 2014).

(art by Romy Jones)

Red Dawn

"Red Dawn" is a Western name for the Soviet Army's paranormal hunters of the 1970s and 1980s. The USSR had been very active in investigating the paranormal since nearly the beginning, always viewing and dealing with such events from a strictly materialist perspective - at least on paper. "Red Dawn" (the actual Soviet name is unknown and, like contemporary special operation units, probably changed on a regular basis for security purposes) was active in the USSR, the Warsaw Pact and other Soviet allies (such as Cuba, Bukhara and Angola). Little is known for certain about this ultra-secretive group, but there are countless rumors ranging from the lucid (it was largely manned by Army Spetznaz veterans) to the unlikely (its headquarters was a closed city located beneath Mount Yamantau) to the ludicrous (the preserved head of Lenin, revived by stolen extraterrestrial science, was the power behind the throne up until the Gorbachev years). None of its members have ever spoken to Russian or Western media, let alone published tell-all memoirs. It was allegedly dissolved by Gorbachev. There also (allegedly) exists an FSB (Russian domestic intelligence) successor.

The Judges of Albion

The Judges of Albion, styling themselves after the Judges of ancient Israel (a group never connected with monster hunting until 17th century England), were loosely organized bands of Puritan hunters who thrived during the rule of Oliver Cromwell. They were founded by an East Anglian preacher-politician, and swiftly grew from a handful to thousands, blazing their way into a crusade against the night people. Unlike the self-styled Witchfinder General and his ilk, the Judges did not target so-called witches but did often focus on crypto-Royalists as servants of the Devil (you can imagine what they thought of actual Catholics). When Charles II returned in triumph, one of his first acts was to stamp out the Judges, who had killed more than a few of his most loyal supporters. Many of them fled to the American colonies and thrived there for far longer. Unorganized remnants, consisting of a handful of like-minded Protestants unaware of their tradition or peers even in the next county seat, survive in Appalachia and the South to this day, even if the name is confined to history books.

The Royal Phantasmagorical Society

The RPS was founded by Elias Ashmole and other polymaths of London and Oxford in 1666 and granted a royal charter three years later. As the charter put it, the task of the RPS was “apply (themselves) with the uttermost diligence and care to the illumination of the hidden corners of God’s creation for the common good and the safety of both body and soul of our subjects.” It was tireless in investigating enigmas all across Britain in a proto-scientific manner. Notable discoveries (or claimed discoveries) included the Cottingley Elf Glade, the Hull Werewolf Skull and the Southminster Vampire Tomb. Prehistoric relics were a particular fixation of the Society and allegedly their downfall – the rival Savant Club would not tolerate a notable competitor in that field. It was finally abolished for good by Edward VIII (a Savant Club member of high rank), its Holborn library divided between several different groups and its considerable museum of artifacts, relocated to the Savant Club, bombed to bits during the Blitz, although some witnesses claimed the explosions came from below instead of above.