The Victoria Society

The Victorian Society is a mortal organization dedicated to the pursuit and acquisition of occult knowledge. The Society's goal is both academic and religious; it exists in the middle-ground between mystic quest and scholarly activities. It's members--almost 5000 around the world--come from all walks of life but it mostly attracts intellectuals: linguists, archeologists, parapsychologists, philosophers, and historians. No matter the vocation, the Victorians are all united by a common goal: the search for conclusive proof.

History & Motivations
The Victorian Society has its roots in London in 1888, 'round about the same time as the Whitechapel Murders began. The Society's founder, Edgar Victoria, became convinced that the Whitechapel killings were the work of a supernatural entity rather than one man. As time progressed the goals of the Society slowly metamorphosed from the desire the uncover the identity of Jack the Ripper to discovering and proving the existence of the supernatural. In this goal they were largely successful: whilst unable to uncover who the Whitechapel murderer was they did find a few books, scrolls, and eyewitness accounts confirming the existence of vampires and werewolves.

The Victorians are inherently harmless but therein lies the danger. 99% of Victorians are Sleepers, meaning that fantastic displays of True Magick will become Vulgar and work against the mage. Thus, mages are always on tip-toes around them as are other supernatural creatures. The power and strength of the Victorians is such that killing a member will cause a wave of conviction to roll over the researchers and cause them to redouble their efforts at locating the monster responsible, thus putting the entire supernatural community in grave danger.

The Victorians are only investigators and researchers, they are not hunters. They by and large have no interest in destroying or capturing supernatural entities but only in finding evidence to prove their beliefs correct. In the modern day they are mostly thought of by the population at large as a bunch of wacko Ghostbusters and pains in the asses to local law enforcement, and smart supernatural beings are quick to cover their tracks and flee to avoid confrontation.

The Grand Library
The main Chapterhouse of The Victorian Society is located in Starlit Terrace and is called the Grand Library for the impressive collection of 'evidence' stored in its vaults. None of the rumors involving the Grand Library can actually be proven of course but it is said to house a full and complete werewolf skeleton, a vampire in topor, dozens of Grimoires, numerous Wraith fetters as well as Mage talismans. Among the supernatural community there are many historians and the curious--including Dame Samantha--that would love to get in there and have a peek but, of course, they don't dare try.

The Grand Library is currently captained by Michael T. Victoria, the great-great grandson of the founder. Two of its most notable employees are Jack Walsh and his daughter Julia. Jack Walsh is a lauded behavioral psychologist and parapsychologist whom has personally brought a dozen items in to the vault. His daughter, 16 year old Julia Walsh is famous in the supernatural community for being an extremely powerful psychic with an array of abilities including telepathy and pytokinesis. Dame Samantha is absolutely convinced that Julia is an Awakened Orphan very strong in the Mind sphere.

The remaining 1% of Victorian researchers are Aware. This means that rather than just working on hunches and rumors they have actually witnessed paranormal events firsthand. These one percent are the driving force behind The Victorian Society, as their testimonies are mighty enough to inflame the passions for learning of the other Victorians. In October City the most affluent and prominent of these Aware researchers are Amy Johnson, the 35 year old administrative assistant to Mr. Victoria. Amy was herself fed on by a vampire, the latter utterly neglected to erase the memory of the attack from Amy's mind, so she can recall every detail with perfect clarity. As such, Amy is the Chapterhouse's number 1 authority on the Kindred of October City.

The other prominent Aware researcher is Walter Grimes, a naturalist and environmental activist who watched, wide-eyed and terrified--a gathering of werewolves conducting a business meeting in the heavily wooded area east of Cutter's End. How Grimes was able to penetrate the meeting's defenses and witness is unknown but he came away from the incident with strange and wonderful new lexicon including Garou, Moot, Umbra, Gauntlet, and Gaia. Grimes is the Chapterhouse's foremost authority on the Garou of October City.