This is just a collection of the basic tidbits and terminology that make up this canon.
The Tribunal - The head council of the Horizon Initiative, consisting of a representative from each of the primary religions in the Initiative.
The current Tribunal is:
• Samuel – The most radical of the Tribunal. Leader of the Sons of Shammai.
• Adnan - The moderate member of the Tribunal. Leader of Atibba al-Kitab.
• Bernard – The tie-breaker: often indecisive. Leader of the Ordinis Occulti Luminis.
The Tribunal oversees organization-wide matters: local matters are covered by the appropriate chapterhouse.
Chapterhouses - The primary headquarters for a district of the Initiative. There are ten chapterhouses in the United States, while the Initiative in Europe and the Middle East will generally operate out of the headquarters of pre-existing organizations. Mary-Ann, Salah and their friends all hail from Chapterhouse 3.
The Scribe Corps - The Initiative’s librarians, researchers, archivists, and clerical staff. They generally work behind the scenes, translating and analyzing recovered document and scripture. They are currently working on compiling the Universal Texts, a collection of the most theologically and historically accurate record possible to the truth of matters.
The Shepherd Corps - The Initiative’s primary multipurpose field agency. Shepherds are the eyes, ears, and arms of the organization. Shepherds operate in pairs, living out amongst the general populace.
Shepherds will generally receive their assignments from the District Head of the Corps, but may betake special orders from the Tribunal, as they, unlike Project Malleus, are under Tribunal jurisdiction.
A Shepherd’s primary duties include:
• Serving as guiding members of the local community.
• Studying religious groups and establishing relations with groups listed for assimilation.
• Recovery of artifacts and records of interest to the Initiative.
• Low-threat anti-cult operations.
Most Shepherds will own one or two items of some minor anomalous property, most often acquired through contacts with friendly anartists or Serpent’s Hand cells. Veteran Shepherds will have more items on their person, sometimes upward of a dozen.
Basically, these guys are Professor Sazed’s TH211 comparative theology class with a little bit of the McManus brothers thrown in.
Project Malleus (“The Wolves”) - The Initiative’s combat forces, under the command of Henry DeMontfort. Project Malleus is made from the most zealous and aggressive sects under the Inititative’s umbrella. They will kill and die without question, to the point where they are intimidating to pretty much everyone else in the organization. A strong rivalry exists between Project Malleus and the Shepherd Corps, with the Shepherds referring to PM agents as “Wolves”, while being referred to themselves as simply “Sheep”.
Project Malleus favors fire-and-brimstone methods, often using relics in combat of significant destructive power.
Basically, these guys are Father Anderson from Hellsing. An entire organization made up of Father Anderson.
Areas of Influence - The Horizon Initiative is most influential in Western Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Operations in South and Central America and Africa are growing rapidly. Activity in east Asia is minimal: contact with various religious organizations is present, but any significant activity in the area has yet to occur.
Demographics of the Initiative
• Christianity - The main base is a mixture of Roman and Orthodox Catholics, and mainstream protestants (Lutherans, Anglicans, and Episcopalians). Representatives from evangelical and congregational sects, and the LDS Church, while present, are low in number.
• Judaism - A very heterogeneous mixture of sects and groups, without clear majority groups.
• Islam - Primarily Sunni, with a many practitioners of the Sufi mystic traditions.
• Eastern Religions - There are a few consultants here or there, but little more than that.
• Other - The Initiative has absorbed numerous small-scale cults and organizations, such as the Cult of the Wordsmith, the Church of Purity, and the Australian Church of Australia, among many others.
The New Path - A method of thinking emerging within the Initiative, which emphasizes “moving away from the engrained shell of past ritual and ancient tradition and turning towards the "Truth of God”. It is generally frowned upon by the traditionalists, but the existence of the Universal Texts shows that it is gaining ground.
Initiative Relations with Other Groups of Interest
• Good Relations: Manna Charitable Foundation (The Initiative will occasionally sponsor them), Serpent’s Hand (most low-key cells), non-violent anartists (major suppliers of minor anomalous artifacts to the Initiative).
• Variable Relations: The Initiative has a tentative truce with the Foundation and Coalition, including some negotiation rights over items, but this is the ideal, not the actual reality. The Initiative has some relations with Marshall, Carter & Dark, but keeps them at arm’s reach and doesn’t trust them in the slightest.
• Poor Relations: ORIA (As the ORIA is a Shia organization, and the Initiative a Sunni majority), Chaos Insurgency (The Insurgency focuses on exploiting the poor, while the Initiative seeks to aid them)
• Open Combat: Church of the Broken God, Fifthist Church, AWCY and other violent anartists (generally those who have begun a crusade of their own against religion because so edgy).
• No notable relations: Alexyva, Dr. Wondertainment, the Factory, GRU-P, Nobody, and the UIU.
The Initiative has connections of various kinds with a great many minor religious organizations not mentioned here.
BackdoorSoHo - A little pocket of compressed space in Manhattan, home to a varied and vibrant community of anartists and various other inhabitants of the anomalous underworld. The head Doorman is Charlie, and entry is gained by presenting a token with the phrase ARS GRATIA ARTIS carved into it.
Free ports like BackdoorSoHo exist all over the world, and serve as places where the human elements of the anomalous world may gather in relative peace. Most often they will be sponsored by some group or another, usually anartists or the Serpent’s Hand, but a great many are, for lack of a better term, unaligned.
