Monday, July 25, 2011

More writings

In the basement of an abandoned tenant, just across the street from the decaying factory district...

No, I'm not feeling that. Time for some worldbuilding? Here's an idea I've been meaning to play with.

The Rosenkreuz Family.

A wealthy and supremely eccentric family based in New England, the Rosenkreuzes claim descent from Christian Rosenkreuz, a fabled yet influential German mystic and philosopher who lived some time during the 1400s. His heir, they claim, helped form the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and formed a great clan of magicians and eccentrics that has graced (some would say plagued) the new world ever since. The Rosenkreuzes have always been influential in the occult underworld, but the real infamy, that leaves them controversial even in such a fringe society, is their infamous feud with the Rosicrucian Order, a mystic society who claim to be inheritors of Rosenkreuz's teachings. The Rosenkreuzes claim the Rosicrucians gained power by imitating their founder after he left for America, Rosicrucian rites and philosophy looks nothing like the highly eclectic rites practiced by the Rosenkreuzes, and Rosicrucians hold to Lutheran dogma whereas the Rosenkreuzes are staunchly Roman Catholic (heavily flavored by Gnosticism and Voodoo). The rivalry was inevitable and bitter. Eventually, however, the Rosicrucian Order was all but absorbed by the Freemasons, which the Rosenkreuzes consider a win.

Nowadays, the Rosenkreuzes are numerous and powerful enough that they might rightly be called a clan. Traditionally, the oldest member of the branch of the family that lives in the sprawling Seaview Estate* in upstate New York is the head of the clan, having the final say in determining how the family's resources can be spent and serving as arbiter during any disagreements. As one would expect, the deed to said estate has been used as a playing piece in countless power games over the years. The other branches of the family usually live in fine townhouses around New York, Boston, and Salem.

*Visitors to Seaview Estate often comment that the mansion is hundreds of miles inland and has no view of the sea at all. Family members will exasperatedly explain that the name refers to the astral sea, not the physical sea, and continue on without expanding.

I'll try expanding this more tomorrow, maybe write a story from the perspective of a young scion of the Rosenkreuzes. They're basically the Addams Family but more overtly mystical, should be very fun to write about.

No comments:

Post a Comment