The players will be running two main adventure story lines:
Why did Brother Sabastain summon them together (the Vau problem).
Who assassinated Brother Sabastian.
The players will not realise this initially but should quickly work it out. They are closely linked of course but are effectively two different lines because the person who killed him had nothing to do with what was happening with the Vau (well not directly, there is a third party link that the players may be able to track if they get lost).
The Vau have never had experience with antinomists in their past. There nature never even allowed them to consider the possible existence of "evil" creatures. Only with contact with the humans did they discover this detail. It now seems to have got the better of them. Several very high ranking Vau have become "involved" with antinomist beings, and the rest of the Vau are finding it difficult to deal with. If they were lesser Vau then it would not be a problem, but the ranks involved are part of the 'untouchable' levels of the Vau. In desperation a small group of middle ranking Vau, with the approval of a 'higher power' have opened discussions with Brother Sabastian in regard to this matter. It took nearly 6 months to even admit they had a problem, even though BS had a good idea after a few months.
BS is in a quandry about what to do. The Orthodox Church are likely to want a crusade against the devil worshipping aliens, rather than help them. Yet he cannot ignore the call for aid from the Vau, nor can he risk ignoring the disastrous effect this event could have. The Vau warn him that contacts have been made between the 'evil' Vaus and certain elements of the humans. This means BS must be careful who he trusts. He realises that the very nature of the Known Worlds political system will work against him, so he must come up with another solution.
He promises the Vau aid, deciding he will return to BII and take leave, gather a group of friends, and then return (himself) to teach the Vau theurgic powers that will help them counter the 'evil' forces.
The players are not expected to solve the Vau's problems, but they should help direct aid toward them whenever possible, and they should be countering the actions of the 'evil' forces that exist within the Known Worlds. Alternatively you could run it that the Vau were lying and only out to steal theurgic rites, and are just as bad as the humans.
A minor noble of a minor family living on earth, one Sir Roger Windsor, arranged for BS death. On his return to BII Brother Sabastian became a little paranoid, and justifiably so. He discovered agents of the Royal Families working within the church beaurocracy, including within his own office. On paying closer attention to this he discovered other leads to other players. One of these leads him to discover a plant within the Imperial Eye, and one that could have very nasty effects. He had decided to pass this info onto the Emperor via a personal aid he had become acquainted with. Unfortunately the personal aid was Sir Roger, who is actually the cell leader of the Invisible Path unit that BS has discovered. When Sir Roger reads the stuff he arranges for BS to die very quickly. But not before BS becomes suspicious of Sir Rogers reactions to his request.
On top of this they will run into several minor story lines along the way that may or may not side track them, or can be used to link them back into the main story if they seem to be getting nowhere. The plan is to keep them running across evidence of some conspiracy that will keep them interested.
Other closely involved story lines will be:
A crazy bishop on Pyre who plots to destroy Cumulus.
A group of antinomists who have penetrated the Invisible Path.
A group of Invisible Path who have infiltarted the Imperial Eye.
A corrupt branch of the Decados who are working with some of the antinomists.
A second group of antinomists who have a plan to drop a plague bomb on Byzantium Secundus.
An occassional symbiote agent just to keep them guessing.
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Born on:
November 1, 1998
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