I saw an article on the Dreams in the Lich House blog that talked about a setting a campaign in Shakespearean London, mentioning the Backswords and Bucklers game. Now I already have an Honor+Intrigue campaign set in 1624 France so I don't want a game set in 1590 London. But I found one idea in the post particularly intriguing.

It mentioned a Shakespearean London Secret Society, called the School of Night. Wikipedia tells me that

QuoteThe School of Night is a modern name for a group of men centred on Sir Walter Raleigh that was once referred to in 1592 as the "School of Atheism". The group supposedly included poets and scientists Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman and Thomas Harriot. There is no firm evidence that all of these men were known to each other, but speculation about their connections features prominently in some writing about the Elizabethan era.

Here are some additional facts.

• Sir Walter Raleigh was executed in 1618 by Royal order.
• Christopher Marlowe, said to be an English spy, was stabbed to death in 1593 in suspicious circumstances, possibly assassinated at the command of Thomas or Francis Walsingham. Francis Walsingham was Queen Elizabeth's infamous  spy master.
• George Chapman (d. 1634)
• Thomas Harriot (d. 1621).
• Thomas Walsingham (d. 1630)
• Francis Walsingham (d. 1590) was in Paris for the infamous St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre which influenced his zealous anti-Catholic attitude. The spy master predeceased Marlowe apparently striking out from the grave to silence Marlow. :eek:

So we have a secret society with a cool name, a Royal execution, an assassination of a spy by the dead hand of a sinister spy master (is he really dead). This is great fodder for a swashbuckling campaign.

Obviously I'll need to do something to use this in 1624 since most of the Principals are dead, but one of the members of the Society of Night, Chapman, and the spy master's relative, Thomas Walsingham are both still alive.

• Has the Society of Night recruited new members?
• What are the secrets of the society that Queen Elizabeth and her spy master wanted to keep hidden?
• Is the sinister spy master, Walsingham really dead?

What other ideas do you have to tie this to France in 1624?

There is a setting sketch for Trail of Cthulhu by Ken Hite called "The School of Night." Anybody have this? Does it connect to Raleigh and Marlowe? Any cool ideas to steal?

The School of Night shows up a lot in Mark Chadbourn's Swords of Albion trilogy.  In fact, if you haven't been reading Chadbourne already for inspiration, you just need to start.  Now.  You can post more later.

Anyway, there are a lot of ways you can go with it.  It could be a force for good, as in Chadbourne's books, or something much more sinister.

• Of course the society kept recruiting.  There is no lack of suspicion of religion in 1624, with half of Europe embroiled in the 100 years' war.
• Perhaps a young charismatic figure they recruited saw to it that the original principals were all executed so that he or she could take the order in another direction.
• Perhaps someone very close to the throne is invested in the complete eradication of the society.
• Perhaps the whole atheism thing is just a cover for something else.  You need a gimmick to get them in the door.
• Perhaps the order aligned itself with like-minded societies across Europe, expanding its power and influence.
• Perhaps all of those executions were faked by the crown.
• Perhaps they will later become the Hellfire Club

In my Witch Hunter game, I could see keeping the society as a branch of the Lightbringers (scientific-minded witch hunters with a deist-bent).  They would be extremely interested in the Fae (again, Chadbourne. Read. Now.), rumors of epocal (is that even a word?) history (Atlantis, Lemura, Mu), and the Aztecs (who have their own terrible gods, but oppose the Adversary and have their own witch hunter orders).  They might even be searching for a mythical island they believe all life began (the Galápagos Islands, which in truth are nothing of the sort, but it makes for a nice connection to later history).

Tom

Quote from: Blusponge;832325The School of Night shows up a lot in Mark Chadbourn's Swords of Albion trilogy.  In fact, if you haven't been reading Chadbourne already for inspiration, you just need to start.  Now.  You can post more later.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the tip. I had not seen this series. I mostly use actual history and romantic era fiction, but this looks interesting.

Minor nit, I think you meant either the 80 years war between Spain the Dutch Republic or the 30 years war between...well between most of Europe at one time or another but fought in the Germanys. The 100 years war is the one with Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, Joan of Arc, and then all those battles near the end that we don't hear so much about where England lost the war.

Quote from: Blusponge;832325

• Perhaps they will later become the Hellfire Club

The Hellfire club would be separated by them by a huge span of historical time.

However, around 1624 you had the Rosicrucian movement in England, and about a dozen years after that you had the Invisible College, and then shortly thereafter the birth of speculative Freemasonry.

Quote from: RPGPundit;832811The Hellfire club would be separated by them by a huge span of historical time.

However, around 1624 you had the Rosicrucian movement in England, and about a dozen years after that you had the Invisible College, and then shortly thereafter the birth of speculative Freemasonry.

I'll have to check out the Rosicrucian's. Don't forget the Royal Academy. It's also a bit later but it was rife with cadaver hacking atheists as well as kooks like that Newton guy with his crazy alchemical quest for the Philosopher's Stone. Honor+Intrigue does a good job of thumbnailing a number of real and invented secret or restricted membership societies.

There is also an odd literary society called the Fruitful Society that was a pan-Germanic scientific and literary society. It had odd rituals and included prominent scientists, thinkers, and even the rulers of some of the German states amongst it's members.

There is also the Fuchtbringende Gesellschaft or Fruitful Society a pan-Germanic literary society of Lutherans and Calvinists. It had a goal of promoting the purity of the German language. It included the usual initiation ceremonies, unique symbols, and included a number of important scientists and the leaders of several German states. It was founded and supported by Christian I Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg (1568-1630) and his brother Ludwig. One goal was to promote Protestant solidarity in the face of the Hapsburgs and the counter reformation.

Quote from: RPGPundit;832811The Hellfire club would be separated by them by a huge span of historical time.

However, around 1624 you had the Rosicrucian movement in England, and about a dozen years after that you had the Invisible College, and then shortly thereafter the birth of speculative Freemasonry.

Right.  And unless you are looking to go strictly historical, there's no reason you can't fudge a few details.  Who is to say that the School of Night didn't morph into the Hellfire Club after a century of personnel changes?  Granted, usually cults grow out of a single (or select group of) personality, only to fall apart once that person is gone.  So it would be farfetched without some supernatural component.

Tom

Quote from: Bren;832826I'll have to check out the Rosicrucian's. Don't forget the Royal Academy.

The Royal Academy evolved out of the Invisible College, which had evolved out of the Rosicrucians; and the Royal Academy emerged at the same time that the Speculative Freemasons did, and most of the former were involved in the latter.  In fact, before the Royal Academy was in any way official, they first called themselves The Invisible College, and after that "Solomon's House".  Two of the very earliest people we KNOW for a fact were Speculative (and not Operative) Freemasons (Elias Ashmole and Sir Robert Moray) were both founding members of the Royal Academy as well.

I'd strongly recommend you take a look at Tobias Churton's excellent book, The Golden Builders, if you want more info on this period.