By Greg Stolze via RPG.net

Mostly harmless white supremacist group with more mojo than clues

(Posted on behalf of Mr Stoltze, who can’t use the site)

THE KNIGHTS OF THE BLOODY CROSSROADS

This secret society consists of the nicest, kindest bigots you’ll ever meet.

Members of the KBC are appalled by Hitler, by the White Aryan Resistance, by skinheads and Klansmen and genocidal calls to arms. They view such rhetoric with the same repugnance someone in the ASPCA holds for people who beat their dogs, the same disdain that good people everywhere have for bullies and wife-beaters and child abusers.

But by the same token, they’re sickened and disturbed by Clarence Thomas, Oprah Winfrey, Alex Abel and Condoleeza Rice. The idea of a black person in a position of authority – making important decisions that affect the lives of millions, or shaping public opinion on important matters – it’s unnatural and sick and, above all, dangerous. When it’s a woman, that’s like compounding a felony. The Knights would sooner trust the common sense of a white ten-year-old than a Latino college professor.

The Knights see themselves as the pinnacle of human evolution, and – as superior white men – they consider it their duty to protect and guide their ignorant and inferior fellows. They take their noblesse oblige very seriously indeed – and they have magick to back it up.

The name “Knights of the Bloody Crossroads” dates back to the 1960s, but the group has been around under one name or another since at least the 1890s. KBC lodges can be found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska – states where whites have always been a serious demographic majority. They claim (of course) to be an ancient secret society going back to the icy halls of mystic Thule. Some of the members even believe it.

A typical lodge consists of 8-10 men who meet anywhere from weekly to monthly – usually in someone’s home or in a rented area like a church assembly hall. Each lodge has a ‘Loremaster’ who runs things. You’re eligible to be a Loremaster after reaching the third (and highest) grade of initiation. Once you’re a Grade Three, you can run for Loremaster and hope your pals elect you. Each lodge is also supposed to have a Man At Arms who ensures the sanctity of the meetings. This is largely a ceremonial position today.

The three grades of initiation are nothing terribly exciting. Just agreeing to join (and paying a $50 initiation fee, and a $100 yearly membership fee) gets you Grade One, after you’ve gone through the usual blindfold-ordeal-and-secret-handshake routine.

Successfully passing a set of tests about KBC history, doctrine and membership through the ages (along with a $200 initiation fee) gets you Grade Two. The tests can be administered and graded by local Lodgemasters, and they’re often not very strictly monitored. Grade Twos learn the Ritual of the Bloody Crossroads (see below).

Grade Threes have to complete a series of correspondence courses, then show up for the yearly convention in the Wisconsin Dells. They’re never supposed to speak of the trials they undergo at the convention. If they succeed (and there don’t seem to be any failures around) they become Grade Three. (Incidentally, there’s a $1500 initiation fee for Grade Three, but it includes a lifetime membership if you don’t already have one.)

There are larger lodges in Cedar Rapids, Bismarck and around the Wisconsin Dells. Overall, the KBC has perhaps 200 members.

Their central doctrine is unvarnished, unabashed patriarchy. They truly, honestly believe that the world works best when white males run the show. They can argue with conviction that each iteration of suffrage has been a crippling historic blow to western democracies, while (they argue) nations elsewhere have only ever succeeded to the extent that they were able to steal from, imitate or get a hand up from the Aryans.

Like most ‘secret societies’ they aren’t terribly aggressive about pursuing their goals. Sure, they support welfare (because they believe that blacks and women should need handouts from white men) and they fight affirmative action. They throw their weight behind various white male political candidates. They meet covertly to initiate newcomers and take stern oaths and learn secret handshakes. They give one another quiet help in times of need, and may offer some business tips or opportunities. In public they usually keep mum about their ideas (mostly, they say, because ‘most people are frightened by such advanced concepts’).

They’d be a small, insignificant bunch of kooks if it wasn’t for the ritual.

The Ritual of the Bloody Crossroads

According to the KBC, the Ritual of the Bloody Crossroads dates back to ancient Thule, but even a Knight who went through their records thoroughly would realize there’s no mention of it before 1977.

KBC documents describe, in loving detail, the rites of Ancient Thule. First, a man would enter the Temple of the Bloody Crossroads. He would be tested, for only those pure in body and deed were fit to enter the Inner Sanctum. If his blood was heavy with strength, and his soul heavy with virtue, he would be allowed within. There, he would have the opportunity to nobly shed his own blood – given freely to strengthen the community and uplift those less worthy than himself. After this ordeal, he was allowed to partake in the Hero’s Feast, and a badge of honor was given him, that others might know of his noble sacrifice.

It’s possible that there really were ancient rites like that. What’s certain is that, throughout the world, something very similar goes on every day of every year. It happens in blood banks.

You go to the blood bank. They check and make sure you’re not anemic, and they quiz you to make sure you’re not trading drugs for sex or getting brain covering grafts. If you’re “pure” you go and they take a pint of your blood to save the life of an ER victim. Then you get cookies and juice and a little Charlie Corpuscle sticker that says “Be Nice to Me! I Gave!”

These actions are the elements of a minor ritual with real power. If a member of the KBC donates blood, he does not have to perform any additional ritual actions. Simply having the proper magickal mindset empowers the blood bank to activate the ritual. (Of course, the KBC member must still contend with a non-adept/non-avatar’s dismal chances of actually having it work, but by the time a Grade One or Two gets his two-gallon donor coffee cup he’s probably carried it off once or twice by luck.)

The effect of the ritual is simple, and potent. It protects you from physical harm.

Specifically, each successful casting of the ritual gives you a 50/50 chance of avoiding one instance of significant injury.

EXAMPLE: Ernst the KBC member has successfully cast the Ritual of the Bloody Crossroads once. He gets in a car wreck and it looks like he’s going to have his pelvis crushed. But because he has one dose of mojo looking out for him, like a guardian angel looking over his shoulder, there’s a 1 in 2 chance that he’ll “luck out” and walk away unscathed. Regardless of outcome, the protection is used up.

One important factor about the ritual is that its effects “line up” – if one casting’s shield fails, the next gets a chance at bat until the protected Knight either (1) runs out or (2) dodges the bullet.

EXAMPLE: Ron the PC has successfully cast the ritual eight times. When a stray bullet is on a collision course with his aorta, Ron’s player decides to flip a coin for his “shields.” Heads he’s protected, tails he gets hit. He flips and gets tails, then tails, then tails again, then finally gets a heads result. He takes no damage, but now he only has four shields remaining.

-G.