The First Saeptum: the Lucien Institute

• • • ALL MEMBERS OF SECTS MUST MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MERITS REQUIRED FOR THE SPECIFIC LEVEL OF THEIR MYSTERY CULT! REMEMBER THAT ALREADY HAVING THE MERIT QUALIFIES YOU FOR THE SANTITY OF MERITS RULE.***

The First Saeptum: the Lucien Institute "The Masquerade above all."

The largest, proudest and least secretive of the Septs, the Institute was formed for the practical and straightforward purpose of maintaining the masquerade. What appears to the modern eye as a mundane exercise was, in truth, inextricable from the understandings of the Kine from centuries past. How else to explain the inexplicable but through the miracles of a loving God and the warring cruelty of the Devil and his minions? And so, the Institute wove its way into budding monasteries, madrassahs and universities, controlling what was learned and taught, directing specific modes of thought and enquiry; while banning others. Under the Institute's tutelage, the Kine shepherds learned their trade and in turn taught their successors. Over generations, a less forceful guiding hand was necessary, until, in these shabby nights, they behave themselves with barely any oversight.
In those previous generations, though, new modes of thought and lines of enquiry gave rise to modern technology: wonders of record, transfer, communication and capture. Threats to the masquerade are no longer able to be dealt with through fiery preaching and the well-rehearsed, grandfatherly explanations of confessional priests. In this "enlightened" faithless age, the Kine look to science for answers, demanding proof for their mundane questions instead of accepting the wisdom of their elders blindly. Few remember that the greatest and proudest of the universities were begun and nurtured by the church. The Institute has not remained idle during the centuries but has stayed abreast of these developments, even encouraging some technological pioneering that became invaluable by way of its ubiquity and unreliability. Of course, by the nature of their work, they will often be the first to know of supernatural upheaval, so they have an excellent working relationship with the Abbey exorcists – the last thing the masquerade needs are spirits causing noticeable trouble for the Kine that causes them to look too closely at *other* supernatural affairs.
The institute has become a place of computers, databases, scanners and filters, much to the surprise of the many neonates yet to understand that tradition is independent of tools. Sharp technical minds are sought and often ghouled by this Sept; there is no real substitute for a keen eye and a quick mind. Besides that, the work of correcting (as opposed to finding) breaches far closer resembles what those benighted neonates expect: Ventrue dispatched to rewrite a memory, Gangrel arranging animal sightings and signs, Mekhet or Nosferatu impersonating those who can't be allowed to vanish immediately. The Invictus undertake most of the legwork – that is, after all, what they're for – but one cannot guide where one has not been.
Members are sometimes seen to wear jewellery depicting two black or iron skeleton keys crossed over a spear. The more ascetic amongst them wear a simple iron skeleton key pendant; but, these are rarer creatures. The Institute is well funded, and its members tend to present themselves accordingly. Sharp and businesslike attire is de rigueur for the Sept, and they are sometimes assumed by the ignorant to be Invictus of some standing.
Relic: a nail which held the spear tip of the spear which pierced Jesus (real or not, no one knows).
Merits:
O: Computer specialty (Hacking).
OO: Cacophony Savvy 1,
OOO: Cacophony Savvy 2,3,
OOOO: Alternate Identify 1, Safe Place 1 (must be a new safe place), Resources 1 (hidden resource stash).
OOOOO: Temple of Damnation 1, 2, 3 (Ideology: The Masquerade above all.)