Though their appearances on Earth may be random, these random events may nonetheless add or alter events in the campaign world. Note that Unbeliever characters who have certain Backgrounds or Merits (ie. Contacts, Spies, Church Ties, Media Ties, Underworld Ties...) have a chance of receiving vague details, belated reports, current notices or even advance warnings of a Septimus' arrival. Naturally, these informants are only of use in their present locations; if Primogen Neville doesn't have any spies in Rio De Janiero, then he is less likely to receive word if the Septimus of Rape visits there to oversee the concoction of a new disease....
Wherever the Ministry makes bold new efforts to sow the seeds for a new harvest of despondent and miserable souls, the Septimi will be there. Whenever a Third-World tyrant orders a new wave of genocides, the Septimi will be picking through the remains. Wherever the innocent are sentenced and the guilty are exonerated, one might find a Septimus' unseen hand holding the gavel. Whenever a disgruntled federal employee rides a homemade bomb to Hell and takes forty-six people with him, a Septimus may even be standing in the window across the street, watching.
The king of the mountain--Allfather Meridius--rarely visits the Earth realm these days, whether he's communing with the Slumbering God, commanding his Septimi from Gal'Agyssunon or wandering the Deep Horizon and its innumerable Hells, endlessly searching for new fountains of power and new unearthly fiends to enslave. And the surest way to get to him is through his Seven Most Favored.
Too bad a Septimus never travels alone....
For no greater reason than disclosure--to better assure any players who find themselves driven to paranoia that the big, evil Septimus didn't just arrive in their city specifically to go gunning for them, this is the table which I've devised to randomly decide when and where a Septimus stirs from his lair and steps forth to bring his contagion to this world. Because sometimes, randomness and chaos are good. They can help me guide the campaign in new directions as I am led to ponder things like "Why is this Septimus going to Paris?" or "Why is this Septimus meeting that Septimus in private?" or "Why is that Septimus trying to enter this Septimus' stronghold when she's away in Antarctica?"
Of course, as Storyteller I reserve the right to A) alter this table at any time and B) overrule this table's random decisions at any time. Because you never know...maybe your paranoia's justified and the big, evil Septimus did arrive in your city specifically to go gunning for you....
9-10 Yes.
A player character has defected from the Ministry: +1
A cultist cell has been completely eliminated: +2
A Ministry official of Bishop rank or higher has been eliminated: +2
A player character has already made an attempt to kill or to capture a Septimus: -1
2 The Septimus of Arrogance
3-4 The Septimus of Deceit
5 The Septimus of Despair
6-7 The Septimus of Greed
8 The Septimus of Rape
9-10 The Septimus of Wrath
the Septimus of Deceit, he travels. If not, the first die's Septimus travels.
A Bishop or Archbishop has been killed: Roll twice for the Septimus of
Wrath.
A Bishop or Archbishop has been removed through other means: Roll twice
for any Septimus besides the Septimus of Wrath; if she somehow comes
up both times, she brings the hate down anyway...through other means.
A Seraph has been removed: As above, but roll thrice instead of twice.
A Septimus has been removed: Remove the dead, captured or missing
Septimus from the table and treat his or her slot as empty. Then roll
three times on this table; duplicate results are not rerolled, nor are "empty"
results. This will result in anywhere from zero to three Septimi answering
their comrade's distress call. Don't go to Step Three if the removed
Septimus is still alive; All Septimi are psychically linked through
Tcher'nogogorath and will go to their comrade's location by the fastest
means available. Be aware that each Septimus is no stranger to traps or
ambushes, many of them laid by ambitious Seraphim or other would-be
Septimi....
Each Septimus might respond to this in a different way, not necessarily
leaping to defend the imperiled Septimus. It depends on the Septimus.
Simon Meridius is endangered: All active Septimi travel to Meridius' location
by the fastest route. The exception is Agonon, where the Septimi fear to
tread; Meridius is on his own if he is somehow cornered here (but
remember that one should never confront a mage in his own sanctum...).
Again, responses may vary; Rebecca Petrov would immediately leap to
her lord's defense, while Jacob Halliwell may or may not find covert ways
to help the players remove Meridius. Who knows? He is Deceit, after all.
2-4 The Septimus' own lair.
5 Another Septimus' lair (strike the Septimus from the
list below and roll d6:)
Apathy -- Ustangov Station, Siberia, Russia, Earth.
Arrogance -- Gwendolyn's Dream, Torss, Skar'Orgorod.
Deceit -- A series of caverns beneath the Red Sea, Earth.
Despair -- The Slough of Despair, Erebus.
Greed -- Gilded Mecca, Anaterrussa, Gal'Agyssunon.
Rape -- Bloodywedd, the Atrocity Realm.
Wrath -- The Veinous Steppes, Erebus.
6-9 The Seat of Light, Portahellos, Gal'Agyssunon
10 London, England, United Kingdom, Earth.
11 Washington D.C., USA, Earth.
12 Paris, France, Earth.
13 Kharkov, Russia, Earth.
14 Canberra, Australia, Earth.
15 St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Earth.
17 Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, Earth.
18 Houston, Texas, USA, Earth.
19 Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Earth.
20 The Werther-Fellsen Anomaly, Ellsworth
Mountains, Antarctica.
