Veredelte

Somewhere in the Iraq-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone, October 14th, 2009  ''The bright moon hung high in the sky, painting the dunes into a pale blue and Veredelte's white hair the same silver as the softly glowing tattoo that circled her left bicep. The camel beneath her ran in its odd gait, followed by another, upon which Enoch muttered ineffective curses while trying to keep the blankets wrapped around him in place. She spared a glance backward and earned a glare. "I told you it was going to be cold by the time we got out. If you hadn't wasted so much energy on that lock, you could have kept yourself warm with a spell instead of all that."  "And suppose some Bedouin pass us, what will they make of you in that excuse for a shirt, bare headed, and a blade on your hip? I'm blending in at least."  "I'm hardly worried about how crazy they think I am when THAT is following us!" The horizon behind them was black and bleak, as an unnatural sandstorm of evil intent barreled down their wake. "Honestly, at your age you should know better than to touch strange objects."  "At my age? When was the last time you were here, the Third Crusade?" Enoch replied hotly.  The conversation ended abruptly as the edge of an oasis came into view, the ley line at its perimeter marking the ancient border of a Sumerian outpost which the Filth could not cross. Without a word, they urged their mounts to run faster as the evil storm closed on them.''

=Upon the subject of Veredelte=

The Magisterium Obscura
The history of the Templars is long and varied, but just as the main trunk of a tree shadows over and kills its lesser siblings, so do the parts of Templar society. The Knights Templar, that is the image presented when one thinks of 'fringe sect', but there were others. One such was The Magisterium Obscura, Templars by tradition but followers of the gnostic ways. Scholars and sorcerers, seekers of knowledge and understanding of the self, they pursued a view of the world from the days of Babylon. Evil was a result of obsession with the material, and it was not only duty to eradicate it, but an essential part of the quest for self divinity to face down the worst of the material world. Their studies were focused soley on themselves, and so they were regarded by the main body of the Templars as misguided but as reliable as any other Templar, until the debacle of the later Crusades.

Blame is shared among siblings, and as the Knights Templar began to cause waves, The Magisterium Obscura was destroyed its wake. Texts were buried, burned, hidden, destroyed, and its members given the option to be 'retrained' or hunted down as traitors. Among the Templar archives, the barest of information was preserved, and The Magisterium Obscura ceased to exist.

The Orphan
The minds least attached to the world and its ills are those of children. The halls of The Magisterium Obscura in Vienna were open to any child alone in the world, those given to them, and those who came on their own. Most especially, it was open to ones such as the pale eyed girl from the fields north of the city, brought back to the city by the Magisterium after seeing her family ripped to pieces by foul creatures, and the wrath the Magisterium wrought upon evil.

Within her was a great reverence, and respect. A fifth child and peasant girl, she was humbled by the opportunity to serve, and learn, and dedicated herself to it with fervor and unflagging loyalty. As she grew older she saw in herself the opportunity to be the one who saved, and begged for such a chance.

The Experiment
In such days, a woman's place was not to fight but to support and assist. Those who sought a better way to apply their sorcery deemed she could offer herself to be tested upon, for their method was uncertain and if it should fail, the life of one girl was better to lose than the life of one man. Upon her they bound spells and incantations, burned conduits in which anima could flow, layered upon her the ways and means of collecting it into pools. They drowned her in anima, bright and pure, to wash away the preconceptions of the world, allowing the mind to be calm and empty, receptive to the will of the world. Within her, her own force of anima stirred, awakened and responded, traced the sigils, accepted the spells as her own. The girl who had been was gone, the one newly awoken was bestowed the name Veredelte, and to her was granted the task and duty to hunt the evil wherever it appeared and deliver the wrath of the Templars.

The Loss
When the knights of faith and the monarchs of Europe set out under the banner of faith, The Magisterium Obscura sent its own to the Moorish lands, not to take part in the war but to learn and understand what evil resided in them that could cause harm to the world. One such was Veredelte in a time when the war there was simply the way things had always been. The 'holy' wars raged on, and for a time her task was enormous as all things of ill intent reveled in the violence and bloodshed.

In those lands did she find herself alone, hunted by the Templars as traitor as they retreated from the public eyes tearing down The Magisterium Obscura and the Knights Templar. She had made friends in her duty, and they hid and aided her. Though in foreign lands, she accepted a pair of blades of unparallelled quality, and hunted the evil where it appeared, roaming far into strange lands.

The Passing of Time
Days to months to years, and in time Veredelte came to understand the power of the spells etched into her being reached far beyond protection of harm. Comrades and enemies grew old and tired and yet, she did not. Under much strain as to its meaning, Veredelte presented herself at the hall of the Templars. She was at peace with the knowledge that the penance would be harsh, but if it was the price required for the knowledge of what had been bestowed upon her, it would be accepted. The time of the Magisterium Obscura had passed, but so had those who pulled it down to her surprise. Accepted as a lost, if unknown, sheep back to the flock, Veredelte knew acceptance and purpose once again, but lacked knowledge and understanding most desperately sought.

The Magus
Across libraries and secret rooms, Veredelte hunted not only evil, but what must remain hidden somewhere, the knowledge of The Magisterium Obscura. She found it not, but found one who sought his own knowledge, a seeker and companion who understood the trials of time and memory. He was Enoch, and for a time they shared company. For a time they parted, and in time came together again. It is as regular as the rhythm of the tides that events tear them apart, and circumstances guide them together again

=From the Files of Richard Sonnac= A rumor I had supposed, this Veredelte, but there are files about this Magisterim Obscura for those of us high enough in the organization. None of the experts can make complete sense of the tattooed seals that cover her body(though I do wish I had worded my demand for proof in such a way that did not involve having to store such complete photographs in this file) but there is enough data to prove that she is largely immune to temperature conditions, can sustain normally serious injuries without bone breakage, and is difficult to cut with a blade. Modern firearms pose a hazard to her, but if all this is true, and we are in the business of knowing many stranger things that are, no one can fault medievil channelers to have not foreseen bullets. Several of the seals seem to channel her anima in augmentative ways, but she doesn't seem to consciously control either her offensive or defensive abilities. She is solid Templar stock through and through and a master of the blade however, more than I can say about most of our newer recruits. Future leaders may make their own conclusions, but as for myself I consider her a very useful asset.