Missionaries

From Circle Of The Crone

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-	The past few decades have seen the Circle of the Crone take up dedicated missionary work, where the growth of its membership was once simply one more responsibility on the back of every coterie and cult in the covenant.  This isn't to say that the covenant placed a low value on the expansion of its ranks, but it does demonstrate the sort of operational trends that can occur when covenant elders get the word out.	+	There's an old saying that goes something like, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."  For hundreds of years, the Lancea Sanctum has dominated the field of missionary work.  During this time, the Circle has played the opposite role of keeping the faith and tending it like a field.  Rarely did the covenant openly prostelyze.
-	Traditionally, the Lancea Sanctum has played the role of the gospel-barking missionary, and the Circle of the Crone played the inverted role, keeping the faith and tending it like a field.  Now that's changing.  The Circle is actively drumming up new membership with coteries of proactive spiritual advisors.  Instead of spreading like a net beneath the streets to catch the chaff from the other covenants, the Circle is now going out and plucking new converts from the tree.	+	Recently, that has changed.
-	In some domains, the role of the Circle missionary is more like the role of an explorer.  The covenant doesn't follow any mortal model of missionary work, so when a Circle coterie seeks to expand its constituency, it doesn't necessarily make the fact known by thumping its holy text and building a temple.  Instead, Circle missionaries monitor the attitudes of the local vampire and mortal populations and estimate the kind of Acolytes in the area and the quantity that could be culled from both bodies.  When the coterie's confident in its assessment, it either gets to work extending and refining covenant territory in the area, or it goes back to existing covenant territory and seeks out a coterie that's a good match for the local population.  Even when the Circle overtly pursues new converts, its missionary work is subtler than its ceremonial practices.	+	The Circle has begun to actively seek out new membership with coteries of proactive spiritual advisors.  Instead of contenting itself with those converts the other covenants reject, the Circle has chosen to step out and start picking the choicest potential converts from the perverbial tree itself.
-	Low-ranking coteries don't know what's inspiring the new missionary work, but many assume it's the result of the covenant's recent study of the Lancea Sanctum.  If the vampiric population as a whole is losing interest in the strict and penitent ways of the Sanctified, then perhaps Kindred society is approaching a tipping point.  Now is the time to find out, by gathering as many vampires around the Crone as possible by taking advantage of the Lancea Sanctum's cracking flagstones and convincing casual allies to solidify their relationships.	+	It should go without saying, however, that the Circle does not follow any mortal model of missionary work.  When a coterie of Acolyte missionaries hits an area, they do not start thumping their holy text about and begin building temples.  Rather, the Acolytes watch and wait, monitoring the local attitudes among vampire and mortal alike.  Once the coterie believes it has a good idea of the overall picture of things, it either moves in, extending and refining covenant territory in that area, or it goes back to what territory the covenant already has and looks for a coterie that would better fit the local population.  Even when overtly pursuing new converts, the Circle's missionary work is far more subtle than most would expect.
-	-- Coteries, pg 79	+	Most Acolytes don't know what has brought about this new trend of missionary work, but gossip has it that it's the result of the covenant's recent study of their age-old enemies, the Lancea Sanctum.  If Kindred society as a whole is losing interest in the strict and penitent ways of the Sanctified, then perhaps that same society is reaching a "tipping point," as it were.  Those Acolytes involved in missionary work intend to find out whether this tipping point as been reached by gathering as many converts to the Circle as possible and taking advantage of the Lancea Sanctum's crumbling foundation.

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Revision as of 04:07, 29 April 2006

There's an old saying that goes something like, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." For hundreds of years, the Lancea Sanctum has dominated the field of missionary work. During this time, the Circle has played the opposite role of keeping the faith and tending it like a field. Rarely did the covenant openly prostelyze.

Recently, that has changed.

The Circle has begun to actively seek out new membership with coteries of proactive spiritual advisors. Instead of contenting itself with those converts the other covenants reject, the Circle has chosen to step out and start picking the choicest potential converts from the perverbial tree itself.

It should go without saying, however, that the Circle does not follow any mortal model of missionary work. When a coterie of Acolyte missionaries hits an area, they do not start thumping their holy text about and begin building temples. Rather, the Acolytes watch and wait, monitoring the local attitudes among vampire and mortal alike. Once the coterie believes it has a good idea of the overall picture of things, it either moves in, extending and refining covenant territory in that area, or it goes back to what territory the covenant already has and looks for a coterie that would better fit the local population. Even when overtly pursuing new converts, the Circle's missionary work is far more subtle than most would expect.

Most Acolytes don't know what has brought about this new trend of missionary work, but gossip has it that it's the result of the covenant's recent study of their age-old enemies, the Lancea Sanctum. If Kindred society as a whole is losing interest in the strict and penitent ways of the Sanctified, then perhaps that same society is reaching a "tipping point," as it were. Those Acolytes involved in missionary work intend to find out whether this tipping point as been reached by gathering as many converts to the Circle as possible and taking advantage of the Lancea Sanctum's crumbling foundation.