ER:Veracian Mission

From The Heretic Knowledge Vault

In the world of the Errant Road free-form role-playing game, the term Veracian Mission refers specifically to a mission of the Veracian Church located in the Errant Road version of Kiyoka. It has been an important venue for game play almost from the outset of Errant Road.

History

For the overall story of how the Veracian Church came to be, see the article on the Poe-verse's version. This mission was founded a few years before game time, nominally as part of a cultural/goodwill exchange between Veracia and Tsuiraku designed to promote understanding and reduce the chances of another Mage/Priest War. The Tsuirakuan Powers That Be were understandably skittish about allowing a standing Veracian presence in Tsuirakushiti itself, so stashing the mission in the relative boonies of Kiyoka seemed like a good idea. The Veracians themselves weren't averse to the idea; the notion of exposing their own precious priests and nuns in a floating city populated by ... suspect ... magic users was a little too much to take as a first step.

None of this means, however, that the founding of the Mission has been entirely smooth and orderly. As important as the cultural exchange, from the standpoint of the Mission and the Veracian Church, is an attempt to make "converts" to the Church among the population of Kiyoka. This hasn't gone particularly well; according to Father Egbert, second-in-charge at the mission and an important figure in the game (see below), there have only been a dozen converts since the Mission opened, most of them due to the energetic Sister Marilyn and her work among the downtrodden in the city. There are occasional hints that some of these converts (e.g. the novice Benji) aren't entirely on the up and up, either.

Of course, there are reasons to wonder about the Mission itself in this regard. Of the 10 or so priests and nuns who've appeared so far, practically all seem to have a military background, and many have magical skills that the main-stream Veracian Church might not necessarily be all that comfortable having -- or at least admitting. The significance of this oddity isn't clear yet. This, or something else, has called the Mission to the attention of the Tsuirakuan Homeland Security people (who also run the police/militia in Kiyoka), and particularly, the not-always-benign interest of one Captain Kitaura, who's watching the place carefully without saying exactly why.

At the start of the game, this motley crew were more or less minding their own business until their tranquility was disrupted by weirdness originating in their basement. It develops that the Mission's wine cellar is connected via secret tunnel to Heer Thar Be Draagons, an adventure-travel outfit across the street that's owned by player-character Lucas Ravanel and which is presently launching an expedition of curious (player) characters into the wide, wide world. These characters had to depart hastily from the travel agency to avoid a group of Gewehr thugs and chose the secret passage as the way to do so, unfortunately interrupting a "worship" service and doing catastrophic to the mission building itself. The need to repair the damage, and figure out how it happened (and why Kitaura and the Kiyokans haven't been very committed to investigating it themselves), caused the Mission to engage one Argus Cleiviein, another player character, to rebuild the building (his specialty being applied architecture) and see what was going on.

At present, the action has shifted away from the Mission to other game venues. The travel-agency crowd has decamped for Farrel and whatever adventures they'd paid Lucas Ravanel to have (plus, of course, some unexpected ones...). Meanwhile, something, details still unclear, has spooked Father Egbert into running for points unknown. Argus, having completed renovations at the Mission, has been retained to track him down, and is currently following the trail in Veracia. However, the Mission people stay in touch with him and his guide, Brother Miguel, and they'll surely be heard from again.

Layout

Priests and nuns

Most priests and nuns of the mission are at present "non-player characters," many of them available for "adoption" by new players. Sister Rose and Brother Miguel have assumed so much importance in the ongoing threads involving the missing Father Egbert that they've been "promoted" to PC status, but anyone interested in adopting any of the others should talk to Graybeard.

• Father Egbert: assistant Abbot (the Abbot has never been seen in the game) whose disappearance has been an important and continuing plot point
• Brother Farley: young priest with body-magic skills; romantically involved with Corporal Kristi Yugawa, a battlemage in the Kiyokan Homeland Security unit (in essence, militia)
• Brother Jerald: prissy music master
• Brother Lemuel: a golem who has taken orders in the church
• Brother Miguel: thirtyish priest from the Southern Continent, assigned to help player-character Argus Cleiviein find Father Egbert; an Item with Sister Marilyn (below)
• Sister Margaret: older nun, Father Egbert's closest assistant, presently in charge of the mission until Father Egbert's disappearance is resolved
• Sister Marilyn and Sister Eva: very young nuns, identical twins although very different in personality; mini-skirted Marilyn runs an evangelical program in the streets of Kiyoka's more run-down district (and is engaged to Miguel), while more conservative Eva works within the mission
• Sister Rose: thirtyish nun, terrific mastery of polymorph magic, but whatever her form, notable for startling green eyes; handles many of the mission's interactions with the city of Kiyoka