Specters

*Created by: Garry Stahl 
*Appearance: Vista City Game 
*Number of Members: Over 100, less than 300. 
*Nature of Members:Human Telepaths 
*Organization: Club. Their numbers are low enough all of them could meet in a hotel ballroom. 
*Game Role: Self Centered assholes. 
*World Role: The next step in Human evolution. 
*Relative Influence: Looks minor, but is bigger than you might think. Their influence in the British Government is a given. They have at least one member in King's Row. They could be the power behind Skull & Bones. 
*Public or Secret?: Secret, very secret. 
*Publicly Stated Goal: I said secret. 
*Relative Wealth: Very wealthy. The organization requires little money, and the members have a lot. 
*Group advantages: Members are Amoral assholes for the most part. The kind that have little compunction about mind raping you for fun or profit. 
*Special Abilities: Telepaths. All members must be functional telepaths. Functional sociopath is optional, but common. 
*Group disadvantages: Little Respect for the Law. Specter members have a low regard for the law of "inferior humans". This is frequently what trips them up. 
*Special disadvantages: Specter members tend to think of other Humans as high grade apes not truly sentient and therefore toys or tools. It tends to make them forget that the other Humans are just as intelligent, and a gun shot by one of them will still kill you dead. 
*Those who favor them: Themselves. 
*Those opposed to them: Anyone else that knows they exist, and isn't under their control. 
*Area of Operation: Earth The Specters started as an English establishment but have spread with the British Empire into all English speaking areas. Often a nice colonial post was a perfect place to get your way and not be noticed. 
*Headquarters Location: Castle Howard, York, England 
*Public Face: None 
*Notable Members: John Howard, 10th Earl of Carlisle. Notable as a member for giving the cabal a home in Howard Castle. What physical meetings do occur appear to simply be a meeting of some club or another. The Howards bred into telepathy with Sara, the wife of the ninth Earl. The trait has continued through the line. 
*History of the Organization: The Specters was started by three telepaths in the late 1600s when they realized that each other existed. Rather than contending against one another it was decided that public attention and direct power were a good thing to avoid. After all it is hard to get discovered as different if you are never in the public eye. Add the fact that "withccraft" could still get you hung, quiet and unnoticed was a good thing to be. They formed the cabal around the idea that it was better to be quiet and unknown and get what you want.It took a great deal of work to find other telepaths. A couple of cases were dumped in their laps. A few found fleeing the fringes of other cabals that got run down. Each that they came to agreed that political power of the direct kind was not desired, getting your way was. To that end they used their abilities to get what they wanted,and keep out of the public eye. Others committed the crimes they wanted committed, others took the physical risks, others did their bidding in politics. They got rich, got the things they wanted and lived whatever life style suited them away from public eyes in modestly large homes in the countryside.Over the centuries the cabal has seen a few members that got the fame and power bug. The regrettable necessity of removing them was of course done by some lacky that didn't even know he was a lacky. Unusual for its time the Specter cabal has never discriminated in terms of gender or even race. It had both female and "colored" members long before such was fashionable. The only criteria for membership was active telepathy, and an amoral disdain for your fellow man. The later easy enough to find in any age.The Specters seldom if ever come to official attention. That is the whole idea. Thus far any member that has fallen to official notice has done so without dragging his fellow telepaths down with him.The "discovery" of the Ane is worrisome to the Specters. An entire race of active and benevolent telepaths will have an increasingly greater chance of outing the entire organization. That is the last thing they want or need. There are too many Ane to just get rid of...the usual tactic. They are laying lower and planing furiously.
Category:Gangs
Category:Psionics
Category:Crime
Category:Advocate
Category:Secrets
Category:Mad Science