Shake My Hand (Secret Societies of Penny Dreadfuls)

 A random selection of some of the many secret societies active on the “Earth” of Penny Dreadfuls, around the year 1860. 

Cult of the Red Comet

Worship the Divine genius of Gaius Julius Caesar (the original one), and the red comet which signified his divinity. A wealthy and secretive cult with a wayward moral compass and little hesitation to employ the knife or the gun. Members blame the loss of imperium for the state of the world, adopt new members by a patron-client system, follow what they think are Roman social norms, and duel for honour. 

Based In: Rome, Ravenna, Istanbul

Symbols: Red comet on black, civic crown, headless eagle. 

Membership: Men over 30 possessing vir. 

Secret Magic: The power of imperium and a ritual to empower the personal genius. 

Wants: To restore the Roman Empire. 

By: Political subversion and the resurrection of the divine Caesar. 

And Also: To destroy Christianity. 

Society of Stellar Rays

Growing out of the Dar al-Hikmah, the House of Wisdom in Cairo, and inspired by the works of the scholar al-Kindi, this is a society of pious scholar-sorcerors studying the relations of the occult and the hidden to the measurable and the scientific. Members question everything, engage in cross-continental play-by-post strategy games, and build up fortified “palaces” of knowledge and curiosity which they rarely leave. They are staunch supporters of Sa’id Pasha, the current Wali of Egypt, despite his difficult reign. 

Based In: The entire Ottoman Empire, but especially Cairo, Istanbul, Baghdad 

Symbols: Star radiating five rays downwards, Arabic calligram of a dove, Impossible geometries. 

Membership: Muslim men of proven scholarly skill and education. 

Secret Magic: Long-distance communication via ray (i.e., magic radio), analysis of the body via rays (i.e., magic x-ray imaging). 

Wants: To solve the puzzle of the world. 

By: Study, exploration, astrology. 

And Also: To maintain peace inside the borders of the Ottoman Empire. 

Weishaupt Library of the Invisible Sciences

The actual Weishaupt was two years dead by the time this secretive organisation was convened at the Hambacher Fest, beginning with a mission of rationalism and human liberation but near-instantly corrupted by the figures brought in to establish the society. Members all meet at the physical library building, a nondescript old place near a beer hall in Ingolstadt, all regard sorcery as simply an unexplained science, and all desire to reshape the world in their image. 

Based In: Bavaria, the Palatinate, and Southern Germany, especially Ingolstadt.

Symbols: Pyramid with an eye on it, outline of a hand, muted post-horn. 

Membership: European men over the age of 40 with University Degrees.

Secret Magic: None, yet.

Wants: To expand the influence of their overarching organisation, the Illuminati. 

By: Political subversion and imperialism. 

And Also: They plan to eventually rule the world. 

Maison Benie

An organisation of mages formed to prevent internecine strife some time in the reign of Charles the Fat. An original mission-statement was protecting Christendom against Viking raiders, but this quickly fell apart into simply protecting their own interests. Weathered the Revolution with surprising adroitness and sangfroid, perhaps due to an unaccountably egalitarian tendency within their own ranks dating back all the way to the founding. Members prefer to live in the countryside, but gather in cities to organise local chapters. Members attend secret masses (they’re Catholic), are forbidden to wear armour, and are forbidden entry to both Heaven and Hell. 

Based In: Most of France, but especially La Rochelle, Nantes and Orléans. They have a few weak branches on the eastern seaboard of America and in Louisiana. 

Symbols: A rhombus containing a blue cross, an angel carrying a book and a lantern, a blue-and-black bee. 

Membership: Any descendant of the founders of the order. 

Secret Magic: Wisdom of the orders of the sylphs and lesser angels. A specialisation in warding magic. 

Wants: To maintain their occult primacy in France. 

By: Crushing lesser magicians’ societies, poaching the promising members thereof, and banishing the rest to Hell or Faerie. 

And Also: To find a spell to bind and summon Metatron, the scribe of God. 

Cult of Ba’al Hanni

Claim to follow the path of the “Gracious Lord” and his blood oath to destroy Rome. Rome has taken on many shapes, like a chameleon, but it must be followed and stamped out - even if there is great power left in the carcass. Members view Rome as the earthly expression of the cosmic force of Evil, participate in worship of Tanit, swear oaths to each other in burnt blood, and swear sobriety. 

Based In: Barcelona, Tarragona, Perpignan. 

Symbols: Sign of Tanit, elephant skull, hand with a cut across the palm. 

Membership: Any “non-Roman” adult (a flexible category). 

Secret Magic: Elephants in unexpected places.

Wants: To destroy the surviving Romes: that is, the Vatican, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the USA. 

By: Targeted assassination, blood curses, and building a secret army. 

And Also: To gain political control of Iberia. 

Pastoral Clergy of St. Easter

A german organisation, a pagan fertility cult disguised as a charitable Christian institution helping the rural poor. Fat apple-cheeked men and women of respectable character dancing naked and blood-daubed in dark patches of woodland under the watchful eyes of giant stags and boar-sows. They claim the name of their patron saint is a coincidental similarity to the old goddess, and have a convincing fake hagiography to deploy when necessary. Members live as country gentlefolk, report everything to the heads of the order, and have been known to fall prey to the hungrier kind of ancient god. 

Based In: Prussia, especially the Altmark, and Southern Denmark. 

Symbols: Horned man with a comedy phallus, victorian depictions of Eostre making saintly gestures, a boar carrying a crucifix in its mouth. 

Membership: Local people who have not been a member of any other secret society, and have had at least one child. 

Secret Magic: Animal transformations, uncommon births, bursts of terrible strength. 

Wants: Ecstatic communion with nature, personal animalistic power.

By: Dark ritual and wizard sacrifice (which they say isn’t really human sacrifice, because all the gods hate sorcerers).

And Also: The so-called “druidic seditionists” of the British Isles hate their guts.

Banu Qabisi 

Claim to be the literal descendants of Al-Qabisi, an astrologer and mathematician (known as Alcabitius in Europe) of the 900s. Use his good name for little good themselves, being primarily materialistic and interested in territory. Their cult-relation to the ancient god Amurru is a quid-pro-quo - they need a patron, and he needs prayer. Members live in as much opulence as they can manage, never leave Aleppo when they can avoid it, and meet in their own private “mosque”, actually a temple to Amurru. 

Based In: Aleppo

Symbols: Geomantic figures, turtle with a candle on its back, gazelle made of topaz. 

Membership: Members of the families of the Banu Qabisi. 

Secret Magic: Blessings of the ancient Amorite national deity Amurru, and a grab-bag of powerful curses powered by Dagon, Lilith, Astarte and others. 

Wants: Security, peace and tithes for Amurru. 

By: Keeping other wizards out of Aleppo. 

And Also: They have contact with ancient plaster-white fossil-liches of some nameless civilisation buried far under Aleppo, even predating the Amorites. 

Burning Convent of St. Barbara

A heterodoxical movement founded some time among the fervour of the Crusades, though their precise origin is not well recalled. Demon-hunting nuns in sturdy boots, who go about their business with high-explosives and zweihanders, then vanish into the night having left a cratered path of heavenly justice behind them. Members are, of course, nuns, recruited from other convents in secret. Their convents are hidden beyond magical flames or atop inaccessible mountains. 

Based In: Jerusalem, Rome, Istanbul, Madrid and Boston. 

Symbols: Flaming grenado, crossed hammer and pick, jerusalem cross. 

Membership: Nuns with a desire to oppose the Devil. 

Secret Magic: Flaming swords and lightning bullets. Holy artillery. 

Wants: To send every demon back to Hell and keep them there. 

By: Bigger and bigger explosions. 

And Also: Spend their time preparing to blow up the Antichrist when he tries it. 

Reclusive Sisterhood of Vestia Cistercium 

A small and secretive club emulating the Vestal Virgins (well, in some ways), they desire to unify Europe under their firm and Roman hand. Very hard at work, and believe fully in the syncretism of Roman ideals with Liberté, Egalité, Sororité. Have a slightly dizzying influence in political affairs, albeit confined to the locality of Dijon, but their steady and diligent expansion will surely see them soon ruling Europe. They are being courted for an allegiance by the Illuminati.

Based In: Dijon and Citeaux. 

Symbols: Sun disc, burning heart, hooded woman carrying an iron rod. 

Membership: Unmarried women of confirmed means. 

Secret Magic: Command of spirits of fire, sovereignty-hearth magic. 

Wants: To restore the Roman Empire, but this time under the rule of women and Sol Invicta. 

By: Political subversion, solar prophecy and careful arson. 

And Also: They’re seeking a good candidate for an Empress. Know anyone up to the job?

Garduña 

A society found among Spanish prisons and criminals, said to have once done the dirty work of the Inquisition (though their working relationship is long since passed). They are very disparate, with different groups lead by different bosses working to different ends for different people. Their only unifying traits are their anti-authority stance, their brothership amongst each other, and their speaking of the secret language called Germania (an archaic word meaning brotherhood in Catalan - no relation to the Germans). 

Based In: Toledo and Madrid

Symbols: A handshake hot like iron, an “X” scraped under a crude depiction of the Virgin Mary, a drawing of a stone-marten.

Membership: Spanish criminals who have spent at least ten years in prison. 

Secret Magic: Forbidden demonic blacksmithing (allegedly) or the protection of the Mater Dolorosa (allegedly). 

Wants: Money, and power. 

By: Organised crime!

And Also: The Devil is said to be a patron of some groups of Garduña, though they keep trying to foolishly cheat him. 

Cult of Remus

Have long outlived the Roman Empire they sought to subvert and replace, but remain a staunch champion of the downtrodden - and staunch assassin of the powerful. The lucky are blessed by the gods, so said the old sages, so we’d better get rid of them to spread the luck around for the rest of us poor bastards. Members are ejected if they ever rise to a position of power, are sworn to murder the mighty, and move by night under the protection of Luna. 

Based In: Scattered around Italy and Switzerland. 

Symbols: Grinning death’s head, mourning wolf and young man’s corpse, broken bundle of sticks. 

Membership: Women, eunuchs and slaves. 

Secret Magic: Invisibility and lycanthropy. 

Wants: A better world.

By: Shocking violence and massacre worthy of any Penny Dreadful. 

And Also: Can get you into the Roman Underworld, even though it shut its gates a long time ago.