The Secret Agendas

Master Weith and the Prieure de Sion

While Master Cavendish sees the Armorers and the Pattern as a great chance to further the hermetic vision, Master Weith is more focused. He has realised that the completion of the Pattern would not only be a great achievement for the Order of Hermes, it would also bring widespread recognition among the Traditions to the mages who pulled it off. He fully intends to orchestrate a turning point in hermetic history using the Armorers.

Like all illuminated plans his vision works on several levels. On the lowest, mundane level it will bring together hermetic mages from very different parts of the order, and encourage more cooperation. On the intellectual level it will symbolise how the Order restores the rightful order of things to reality, something he knows the Masters will notice. And on the spiritual level, great power will be concentrated in this great task - it can probably be directed towards bringing about some ancient prophecies and emblems, furthering his vision of unity among the traditions and the order.

The centrepiece in his plans on this level is Philippe. Being of the holy blood, he is protected by the Prieure de Sion, which is secretly allied with the Merovingians of the Celestial Chorus; in fact, both groups are really fronts for the same conspiracy-in-the-conspiracy. Master Weith knows this, and plans to use it to bring the Holy Blood conspiracy along in his scheme to unite the Order of Hermes by involving Philippe in the Pattern. The Prieure thinks they are infiltrating the Armorers, when it is really the opposite.

What he didn't fully realise was the ideas of the Priestesses of Isis. When they learn about the presence of Philippe, they will immediately identify him as one of the descendants of Osiris (the links between Christ, Dumuzi, Osiris and the other incarnations of the sacrificed god of crops and light are strong and pure). He simply has to be united with a descendant of Isis (which incidentally would give the Priestesses more control over the situation). When they realise the full extent of the project they will be more or less forced to support the Armorers, a completely unexpected synergy with the vision of Master Weith - if these two unrelated conspiracies could ally, then they would not only have great political and magickal potential behind themselves, but also the mystical union of Isis and Osiris.

The Egyptian Connection

Francis Lloyd McPatric is involved in many of the secret goings-on, and Master Weith doesn't know half of it.

McPatric has some ties to the Luxor Club (after all, he is still formally a member), but he is also in contact with both the Scholars of Light, the Brethren of Purity and Balance and the West Delta Transport Company. In fact, he is used as a kind of go-between for several of the fractions in the Delta.

Jamal Haroun is of the Brethren of Purity and Balance, and originally suggested that McPatric would participate in their trade in artefacts. By setting up a system where the Brethren and their contacts sold him the artefacts, and he sold them to the West via the Transport Company, they both enmeshed him in their network (the money was secondary) and opened a way to smuggle things in and out of the country without having to go through the Alexandria Library, which for a long time has become more and more otherworldly and enmeshed in obscure politics with rival fractions.

The Scholars of Light took and interest and began to help McPatric, both to prevent the Brethren from manipulating him and to make him a useful go- between in their schemes. They also provided him with his secret bodyguard Hesham El-Telbani; McPatric suspects that he is more able than he admits, but doesn't realise his true abilities. The Zada family actively protects him, which has given them an edge since the Brethren of Purity and Balance feel obliged to help them too.

Mme Yvette E. Granboul-Ponty knows about the secret trade, but realises that it is not as important as defeating the Shayks of the White Night. So she keeps some pressure on McPatric, keeping him and his contacts cautious and nervous, planning to force them to cooperate as soon as she finds an use for them. The Brethren know of this, and plan to use it in another way - by leading her to believe that they are dependent on McPatric, they can develop their own networks and in the worst case sacrifice him, like a lizard dropping its tail. The Scholars of Light have guessed their plan, but want to keep McPatric in business as much as possible, while they do their best to arrange that he wont get into contact with the Shayks

The Shayks know about McPatric's business but do not care one bit about it.

Khaled El-Rifaie is a wildcard. He doesn't work for anybody, neither is he Awakened. Who he really is is anybody's guess. But he knows enough to skilfully manipulate the local power-games to his profit. He has successfully woven a web of connections across Egypt and the Arab world, knows about many of the darker secrets of reality and seems to be determined to stay on top forever. His power is not uncontested, and some of the local crimelords (perhaps supported by the Syndicate and other groups) sometimes work against him, but nobody seriously expects to unseat him without extreme measures.

Mr. Rifaie certainly knows about McPatric, and has deigned to show it (an unexpected honour). This signals that if anything happens to McPatric (or if he does anything), Mr. Rifaie will know. What he would do is impossible to tell, but it complicates things a lot. He might be protecting the trade, or he might send a signal to the Brethren of Purity and Balance - or he might be interested in keeping the conflicts confused.

When McPatric begins to work for the Armorers, the different fractions take note. The Scholars of Light and Brethren of Purity will be the first to notice things, getting a warning from their friends in Alexandria of a large approaching group of western mages. They will do their best to learn what is going on, but in a discreet manner. If Mme Granboul-Ponty finds out, she will start to watch too, planning to use the Armorers. This can lead to a very complicated business behind the scenes, as different groups try to find out what is going on, prevent each other from learning the truth and try to make the Armorers fit into their schemes. And Mr. Rifaie might become interested just to make things more complicated...

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