Chantry/Team History
Core Cabals
Team Fireball/Chor Ignis
One of Tempus Spatium's two founding cabals, Chor Ignis often shifts heavily in membership but always remains Team Fireball at heart. Its core membership is centered around the two surviving original characters (one back from the dead) with various additions over the years. Team Fireball was formed by the unlikely junction of the apprentices of Master Hontanat and Master Caldwell. During a magickal dual, the Certamen, Edric Hontanat was blamed for the duel going wrong when Caldwell's Locus overloaded killing Caldwell. Marilia Caldwell was protected by a rather chivalric VA from the resulting backlash when her shield failed while Ren's quick application of Ars Essentiae protected him. In the resulting confusion both Master Hontanat and Ren were quickly thrown into the dungeon of the Pharos as a dozen angry Hermetics gangpiled them. The huge and overweight Tytalus mage, and Chantry Master, Lucio Sao Salvadore with a voice to match his physical appearenced attempted to console Marilia but for obvious reasons quickly pushed her off to the nearest sympathetic female- the Certamen Marshal Laurel, a verbana witch, who noted that death was not the end and that there was ways to bring the dead back; perhaps with a powerful artifact linked to the deceased mage.
The Quaesitor Magistrati Josephine Mordant was called in from the Dolmen of Silence in order to investigate the apparent murder of Caldwell. Along with her came her assistant and apprentice Praetor Cara Stang. The Magistrati cleared Ren Dynler of any wrongdoing by a application of Ars Mentis- sliding her sword up to the hilt in Ren's head and viewing his memories to determine his guilt. Happily this resulted in the House Jannissary Magus not having to perform his duties- the Quaesitors being the Inquisitors of the Order and the Janissaries the executioners. And so the boy was set at liberty... which he choose to use in order to free Hontanat from lockup. The entire affair came at a time of "decline" for the Chantry; in the last ten years the chantry changed its leader three times, a very high turn-over for a chantry, the mages either vanishing or simply finding a reason to leave. The unusual actions of both Caldwell and Noldos Vayne also stirred the suspicions of the Magistrati- why would the "the ever affable Master Caldwell challenge a firebrand like Hontanat to a duel?", does the fact Noldos Vayne was missing play any role in the mystery? The entire affair hinted at something more then just Hontanat murdering Caldwell. And so Mordant sent Cara to Caldwell's mansion at Cape Cod to attempt to delve up some clues.
"What in blazes are you doing back here? You're supposed to be working on my innocence, not dick waggling with some china doll!" The Ever so Eloquent Master Hontanat said as an opener to Ren and Marilia's visit after they both determined to seek out the real killer of Caldwell; one to clear his master and get him out of jail and the second to avenge her (formerly) only living family member. And so like the start of any quest they traveled to Cape Cod in order to gather clues and seek the truth. Already clues were provided in the form of a surprise visit by Master Noldos Vayne seeking a small clay jar, an artifact he'd leant to Caldwell, which was not present in the deceased Master's quarters. Very suspicious considering that Caldwell had gotten the Tass that killed him from Vayne. . . But as it wasn't physically delivered to Caldwell by Vayne no clear conclusion could be made.
Over the coming days Team Fireball was largely responsible for scooping Uncle Caldwell out of trouble, getting Hontanat out of jail, and torching over a hundred vampires in what could best be described as an accidental suicide bombing. Nevertheless, their final action entirely foiled a dangerous plot against the Pharos of Abkazia and the high enemy bodycount means Fireball is undoubtedly the most successful cabal to date. Their adventures have passed on into legend, along with most of the members. In between the passing of most of the original lineup the Team's only survivor, Cara, worked briefly in conjunction with Team Kungfu in order to track down Master Noldos Vayne. The cooperation saw the death of Vayne and the death of Lucius Andari by being impaled by wooden stakes and beheading. Concurrently with the progression of Team Kungfu's kuei-jin arc, Cara Stang managed to time out a master mage sometime last Thursday and managed to find Marilia's wraith as well.
This original line-up, along with new blood, served as a rallying point for a renewed Team Fireball. After Mari's return from the grave she remained in the Pharos with her uncle, to a somewhat frosty reception by the non-magi population since she was a 'graveborn child', while Catherine returned to her normal activities. Cara was assigned to return to the Pharos of Abkazia to check up on Vincent Caldwell's "latest mad scheme" and such she did. With Westin remaining Team Fireball formed yet another mutation. As Team Evil Cara Stang, Mari Cladwell and Westin united after Mari's return from the grave to travel to Winnipeg for adventure and the quest of ancient and powerful relic which pertains to the murder of of Hermetic Master Noldos Vayne, an associate of dear Uncle Cladwell, by Lucius Andari. In these endeavors Westin nearly managed to have the Team attacked by Chorister Slayettes after some mistimed words but irrevocably proved his heroism by the pursuit of a massassa responsible for missing girls. A panicked escape from a school, with the standard Team Fireball practice of trying to set a building on fire, avoidance of any conjunction with like minded Technocracts and the battle against the massassa which ultimately saw the vampire struck from the sky a bolt of lightning.
In episode 48, Team Fireball merged with half of Team Kungfu to form Team Girls. During the Chateau of Evil final episode, Team Fireball (acting with the remains of Team Kungfu, to be the temporary Team Girl) burned down the third floor of a building full of KJ vampires and mooks. Massive death count. Afterwards the Team blinded and then burned to death three KJ in the cabin containing the Dragon Gate to Vancouver. After Kana killed the golden boy (who was trying to surrender be a chessmaster) and was subsequently cursed by the Karmic wheel the newcomer to Fireball, Catherine West, choose to investigate the curse. Cara Stang parleyed with Palden Lhamo, who had the obligation to inflict retribution upon Kana, under the Seal of the Heavens in her capacity as a Quaesitor (Hermetics having standing and influence with Umbra spirits/gods). Palden Lhamo accepted the parley and entered into Court with Cara as the robbed judge of Ma'ati and Cathy speaking as Kana's counsel.
Due to a compassionate plea by Cathy for compassion and a payment other then death and the acceptance by Kana the curse was transmuted to a "simple" geas. After the breakfast right after the Court the temporary Team Girls disbanded as Kana went off and Fireball (with Proteus) went off to the Red Dragon Dojo. In the course of the battle there an attempt to fireball Lao failed as the canny demon escaped, but the group managed to save Ozu from treachery at the hands of Team Timeout, kill Kang by empowering Ozu, setting him on fire by Mari, killing his spirit once and for all thanks to Cathy and her Victorian policemen possessed revolver. They also stopped Kang from opening his White Jade box, which would have fully restored him. Red May was killed at Cara's hands after she foolishly called the Quaesitor a bitch and swore to take revenge for Lus. Cathy saved Mari from horrible demon tentacle related death, after recently helping to bring Mari back from her first death.
With the other Cabal Team's essentially dissolved and the other members wandering off into downtime, Team Fireball (nee Team Evil) is enroute to Winnipeg to finish the Quest for the Crown of Gilgamesh. In the meantime Chris Westin after some detective work into the estate of the late Lucius Andari and the questioning of the captured massassa discovered that Tom Oneeagle snatched the crown during the looting of Andari's possessions. Upon discovering this the Team's muscle signed up on Tom Oneeagle plan to "purge" the city. And with some success as the corrupt police chief (in bed with the Syndicate, the massassas, the Nephendi and probably more according to Tom) was given good death by a round to the head (with some help from the IP) that even Ingram's static magic couldn't stop.
With the return of the rest of the team fresh from their experiences in putting Vancouver back in order Mari and Cara met with Tom to find that he had, indeed, completely changed under the influence of the Crown. Mari discovered that Tom was in alliance with werewolves, which generally the cabal hates, and were asked to deal with the Sabat problem in town who were running wild.
Team Hacker/Chor TEMPEST
A shortlived team composed of resident VA Proteus and formerly resident ItX renegade Reynolds. Soon after forming, they departed on an ill-thought out excursion to some island Technocracy base and routed in the face of holographic laser bears. Although they did confirm the presence of the Technocracy, they were detected and harried by a black helicopter, and an untimely botch lead them to almost certain doom. Reynolds sacrificed his chances for freedom saving Proteus from Technocratic bullets, and then killed again by Contingent 10, and then sacrificed his second existence as a ghost in the Digital Web to prevent the Technocracy from recovering any data. Though disbanded, they could be considered a valuable damcon bulkhead that prevented Reynolds' prodigious flaws from visiting the rest of the chantry membership.
During Season 3, Team Hacker experienced an unexpected revival in the form of Chor TEMPEST, with Proteus and new sidekick Ichijou forming the core membership. After some initial conflict with a group of marauders known as the Zollian Alliance (in a series of skirmishes that also involved Chor Vestis), Chor TEMPEST formed a Five Man Band (or possibly Five Woman Harem) with very non-VA Cathy; newly recovered bottle loli Imogen; her big sister Ione as the sixth ranger, and Beta turning the whole thing up to eleven (literally). This unlikely conglomerate of digital power managed to invade and severely damage a Progenitor web server, extract vital information, and escape with all hands more or less alive.
Although Ione and Imogen are no longer directly involved, Chor TEMPEST retrieved significant information during the Great Net Dive, has formulated future plans and is set to acquire a valid GENOVA swipe card from CHOR Vestis as well. All in all, Team Hacker is now once again a rising star and is currently the only cabal to have the initiative against the Technocracy.
Team Kungfu/Chor Vestis
The oldest cabal of the chantry, Chor Vestis was originally Team Kungfu, a cabal based around Kanako Kuga and Tia Mazu. Since her partner's death, Kana has become the team's defining member, much like Proteus for Team Hacker and Mari for Team Fireball.
During Season 1 and 2, Team Kungfu was responsible for killing one very large vampire, preserving the marriageability of a loli, and then beating up random criminals on the streets of Vancouver. As a lesson in unintended consequences, Kana's righteous vigilantism triggered a new stage in the bloody gang wars gripping Vancouver at the time, embroiling the whole chantry into the conflict between the Kindred controlled Yakuza under Ozu and the Kueijin controlled Triads under Kang. Determined to make things right again, Kana set out to save the very gang she had previously humiliated from annihilation and managed to rescue Kano through vulgar magic. Further actions against the Triads following a temporary alliance with Ozu lead to further accumulation of paradox, culminating in a severe case of Quiet that only Tia could help manage. Meanwhile, Tia's mucking about had drawn the attention of one detective Nick Lomas. After at least one abortive subtle attempt, Kana played the Gunslinger Girl card and killed L just before Shady Vale.
As Season 2 wound down, Tia infiltrated Shady Vale resort and managed to take out and then mimic one of the ranking Kueijin. The intelligence and position she managed during the night helped the rest of the chantry somewhat in the Shady Vale assault next episode. In episode 48 the samurai girl half of Team Kungfu merged with the remains of Team Fireball, forming Team Girls, a team that went on to great success. The kungfu maiden half was absorbed into Team Flamesaw, which was promptly eliminated.
Tia's death led to deepened emotional crisis in Kana as the rest of the chantry worked at finding Kang's secret weapon. That half of Team Kungfu's absence may have led indirectly to a curse on the other half when Kana opted to put an end to Kang's right hand's chess game via swordpoint, requiring a helping of proto-Chor Memor to at least hash out a deal with the relevant angry god allowing Kana to resume operations as the final battle approached, handily averting the plot that Ozu had set and Lao had subverted. Finally, as a massive battle ensued between Team Fireball, Ozu, Team Timeout and Kang, Lao escaped and was intercepted by Kana with Kano and supported by Proteus. Thus did Team Kungfu end on a high note by defeating the Extra Boss.
Honorable Mention
Team Girls
The fusion form of Team Fireball and Team Kungfu which first appeared in the tail end of Season 2. Quite appropriately, it contains most of the chantry's female membership. The team has proven highly capable in terms of teamwork, managing to infiltrate a ski resort in relative safety and pass the stiff challenge of three kuei-jin opponents. Team Girls is a repeatable phenomenon, technically requiring the cooperation of the defining members for Chor Ignis, Memor, and Vestis. Because these are the most highly experienced mages in the chantry and because Mari and Kana have significant overlap, Team Girls is an exceedingly rare combination and has only appeared one other time, early in the movie (where they were nerfed because the director was different). It is thought Team Girls, when it appears, has the highest operational efficiency of any group its size. The effects of Team Girls True, a hypothetical situation in which Kana, Mari and Cara operate together with Proto-Ko, is unknown.
Team Flamesaw
Notable for having a Werecheetah, a magic chainsaw, and a magic flamethrower between just two members, Flamesaw quickly became the team with the highest diceload in the entire chantry, though their shortcomings in other areas (such as stealth) were remarkable. Let's just say they had effective weaponry. Team Flamesaw was wiped out in episode 48.
Team Techno
A primordial team of technocrats consisting of James Reines and some guy nobody remembers. James Reines was subsequently consumed by Nephandi, placing consensual participation firmly on the side of the Traditions.
Mage the Ascension S3
Team Chicago
(Team Paradox?) - Consists of Westin, Cara, Mari, and Derek. Notable for a successful Technocratic Construct assault that started with infiltrating the FBI building with enough firepower to level it, and ended with the team gaining approximately 24 Paradox between them and their NPC buddies in one session. Successfully defeated a half-dozen MiBs, about a dozen Sleeper guards and staff, and a chaingun by the power of the God(s), sheer badassery, and a pair of anti-tank rockets.
Team Correspondence
- A team-up of Proteus and the teenage Japanese cyberpunk Ichijo. The former got involved with investigating the unusual activities of the technos after stumbling across some internet ramblings of the latter. To the surprise of both, they ended up being witness a marauder and her bioroid powning HIT Marks and techno AMP suits. Afterwards she wanted the contents of Ichijo's brain so she could ID a Syndicate Man in White. Her attempt to kidnap (and probably brainsuck him) were foiled by Proteus and Team Japan. A couple days later, Proteus arrived in person and shmoozed his way into meeting a distracted Technocrat scientist and confirmed the connection. Right afterwards Team Correspondance teleported 700 kilometers in a luxury sedan and amidst explosions and badass technocrats with revolvers fighting another bioroid, found out that the marauder has a younger clone-sister in a bottle.
Team Japan
- A Five-Man-Band consisting of Kana (hero), Pam (lancer), Kano (big guy), Shu (the kid), and Cathy (the chick). After a quick trip over the Pacific passing Chekhov's Trash Reef in the Nice Boat, Team Japan arrived in Japan in Yakuza style. After checking into an Imperial Hotel suite, Kana and Pam fished Shu out of trouble with a bunch of technocratic Chrononauts.