Post by Stirling on Sept 11, 2006 19:30:16 GMT 1
Talamasca: The Organization that documents paranormal activity. The name derives from a Latin word meaning "animal mask," and was once used to denote witches and shamans. The Talamasca is a secret order. They require of their members confidentiality, honesty, loyalty, and obedience, but do not ask for belief in the supernatural. Their purpose is to document any manifestation of phenomena that seems out of the natural order. They have records of witch families, the witch trials of the Dark Ages, hauntings, sorcery, werewolves, and vampires. They also collect "vampire refuse"--possessions that vampires leave behind--and they have records dating back to the Dark Ages of vampire anatomy and its limitations. To complete their collection and to resolve many mysteries, they desire a specimen of vampire tissue to study. Their method of acquiring knowledge is one of respectful, nonintrusive observation. Members are trained to memorize the details of an experience or apparition, no matter how great the shock of the moment. Most members possess some degree of psychic ability, and these are especially nurtured and protected by the organization. Although members study the writings of other paranormal investigators, the organization does not embrace or offer any single theory to explain all the phenomena they study. The Talamasca sets up Motherhouses in many major cities for the comfort and security of its members, and for storing records and artifacts. Most of the vampire collection is kept in the London Motherhouse. Its underground vaults house things of great mystery. The Talamasca provides a bridge between vampires and mortals. The members are not composed of spiritual substance like the vampires, but are more in touch with the spiritual realm, via their paranormal abilities, than ordinary mortals. As a form of continuous awareness, they parallel the vampires in the way they observe generations of activity. One of the basic rules of the order is to avoid immediate contacts with the vampires at all costs. It is not only the question of danger arousing from careful protection of vampire secrets. Most cases where mortals got in touch with the vampires at their own will, even if the immortals were full of best intentions, had a fatal outcome. Some vampires tend to fall in love with humans; some cases are registered when vampires became protectors of certain mortals. In this situation, however, mortals run greater risks from the part of other vampires, and, as a rule, such cases come to a bitter end. Besides, vampires are also known to drive innocent and unprepared mortals mad.