Who are the 666?

Source

The following extract was translated from the fourth edition’s Le Codex de la Lune p30-1.

The 666 is a secret organization organized by a Nephilim called the Devourer who resembles the god Seth or Anubis. Its existence was only hypothetical until the Major Conclave of the Apocalypse where the identity of the members of 666 was revealed. Some think that it has existed for more than three millennia. The Nephilim have long believed that the 666 was only a sect of Khaiban or Selenim dissidents, or even a new Minor Arcanum. Everyone now knows that the 666 is an initiative of five Nephilim whose Pentacle has a Black Moon Core instead of the Moon-Ka. Their members are perceived as aberrations by the Nephilim. However, they may sort their modified Pentacle and do not seek pure and simple destruction but renewal by a radical magical tabula rasa.
The organization of the 666 is very opaque: around the council of the five gravitates a nebula of occult actors who act on its behalf. These are the Shadows of 666. These fanatics exchange with each other thanks to the secret language of the Saurians: Naacal. Among the major Shadows, we distinguish the Renegades formed by four relays in Berlin, Tokyo, San Francisco and Cape Town. They are founded by a former Adoptee of Temperance contaminated by the Black Moon. Its mission is to treat the Nephilim pariahs and the altered Selenim, the Khaïbans and the mutilated Nephilim. The Apostates of the Ka Rex are led by a group of nihilistic Immortals who refuse to recognize the quest for Agartha and live as hedonists, exhibiting their monstrous nature in the open.
The goal of 666 is to generate a better, new and improved magical creature. According to a somewhat crazy interpretation, their ideal of perfection lies in the six Ka, i.e. the five Elements and the Black Moon-Ka. The numerical symbol of the 666 precisely means perfection in the six Ka. It is said that the Shadows of 666 have invaluable knowledge after looting many libraries over the centuries. The influence of the small group is strong in North America, Southeast Asia, Japan and England. According to rumors, the Devourer would live in a Kingdom or an Anti-Land. He is in possession of the thirteenth Blade.
Since the middle of the 20th century, the 666 has conducted occult experiments on Nephilim and Selenim. They managed to create “rejetons” from Nephilim by transmuting the Moon-Ka of their Pentacle into a cursed branch. There is also the rarer case of “greffés”, in other words Selenim whose Core is magically attached to one or more elemental branches.
—D'Octave

In the third edition Players’ Book, players may give their Nephilim PC the injury (flaw) “666” at character creation. Like all the flaws this comes in three levels: Apprentice (A), Journeyman (C), and Master (M).

  • 666 (A): The PC’s Moon branch has been transformed into Black Moon.
  • 666 (C): The PC replaces one of their Nephilim occult sciences with a Selenim occult science.
  • 666 (M): As C, except the PC has the 666 fraternity as an enemy too.
  • At all levels the PC is insensitive to the consequences of BMK contamination that would strip their Ka-elements. Their Pentacle, although cursed, is stable!

The PB doesn’t give more information than that. Further information on the 666 is provided in the third edition supplement Codex des Selenim, including proper rules for playing rejetons and greffés. The 666 are a mildly interesting concept and a way for players to dabble in the Ar-Kaïm’s play style without actually playing an Ar-Kaïm. At SDEN you can find game aids just for 666, including character sheets and advice.

Note: I left the words rejeton and greffé untranslated above because these have double meanings in French. Both are botanical terms and outside that mean “scion.” The former means “offshoot,” but comes from the verb meaning “to reject.” The latter simply means “grafted.” The Codex says both are rejetées or “rejects.”

In a future post I’ll try to recap and adapt the rules from the Codex for those interested, as part of my overall recap and adaptation of the Selenim that were never adapted to the US version. Look forward to seeing the rules for offshoots and grafted then…

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