The Prophet's Shield
The Prophet’s Shield is many things. To some it is a charitable trust, to others a social club or a political tool. The Shield began as an association of clerics dedicated to a renaissance within their church. Brought together in TN 1880 by Thor Hutchison, the Shield became a support network for his bid to become Second Follower. It was also the basis for a new generation of religious leadership he brought with him. The Shield was expanded to include secular members who shared their religious cohorts' dedication to the faith. It was at this time that the Shield developed into a public organization.
On its public face, the Shield became a forum for the influential to dedicate their skills for the good of the faith. The rich and famous were approached to donate time and money to good will efforts and the resulting charity functions soon became one of the North’s most important social venues. The Shield then created meeting houses for its august member-ship and encouraged them to make use of these for meetings and social occasions, slowly becoming a sort of “old boy’s network” for the faithful. This social aspect has made Shield membership an important pillar of the careers of many political and business leaders.
The Shield also exists for a covert political purpose. The inner circle of the Shield includes all the Second Follower’s closest advisors within the church. All together, they control the entirety of the organization, made up of clerics and secular individuals, who share Hutchison’s dedication to a renewed and Revisionist North. Hutchison uses these people to exert political influence at all levels. Members of the Shield are told that they can expect favors from the organization and are asked to do acts of service in return. Copied reports, leaked information and hidden confidences merge together to give Hutchison and the Shield a power few people realize they wield. Hutchison distances himself from direct manipulation of the Shield, confiding in several of his close associates to do this job.
Reverend Mother Maya Fajil is the Shield member most directly implicated in political affairs, and is a trusted ally of the Second Follower. Fajil has overseen the creation of several specialized groups within the Shield to undertake secret operations for her. The Watchers, a group of prominent Shield members responsible for overseeing secular members, is only one such group; others include a cabal of intelligence agents, and a group of members in the Justice Ministry.
Organization
The public face of the Prophet’s Shield is organized into a large number of regional societies, each managing local functions and providing a “clubhouse” for local members. Every regional society is tied to the headquarters of the Shield in Sorrento, where action on a national or hemispheric level is overseen.
The headquartersis also responsible for supervising spending of the regional offices and ensuring that the Shield does not become co-opted by local power-players or undesirable elements, such as business people dealing with organized crime. The Shield’s duties as a charitable social club mask a three-tiered structure.
The top tier consists of around a dozen people; it includes Thor Hutchison himself and his closest advisors, and can be compared to a theocratic cabinet.
The second tier is larger and is comprised of clerics who have been recruited for Hutchison’s political agenda. They oversee the network of favors controlling the secular allies and other church members who make up the third tier.
Few people working with the Shield realize the full extent of its influence and think nothing of the small favors occasionally asked of them.