The Imperial Age - Spiritualism (ADM4104), RPG (po angielsku)

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INTRODUCTION
D
ame Cassandra Archer asked her friends to sit around the table and join hands. It
“Shouldn’t you be wearing a costume or something?” Sir Edmund joked.
“Oh, do stop being silly, Edmund,” Harriet, his wife, scolded. “We’re doing this for Sir
Richard!”
“Don’t be daft!” Sir Edmund chortled. “Sir Richard is dead. We’re doing this to ind
out where he hid the codicil to his will.”
“Quiet!” Dame Cassandra politely but irmly ordered. “I need you all to concentrate
if we are going to do this properly!”
Sir Edmund sighed and glanced around the table. In addition to the three of
them there was Horace Miller, Sir Richard’s business partner,
Horace’s wife Mary, and Charles Hillman, Sir Richard’s former
valet and good friend. Like the others, Sir Edmund closed his
eyes and silently promised to behave.
Dame Cassandra muttered under her breath for what
seemed like the entire night. Finally, the candlelights
lickered slightly. Dame Cassandra gasped. “Sir Richard
i s here!”
“Are you certain?” Sir Edmund asked,
opening his eyes. Everyone
else had opened his or her
eyes, too.
Imperial
Age:
Spiritualism
by
Walt
Ciechanowski
was well past dinner hour and the curtains were drawn. The parlour only had a
few lit candles, casting a dim light throughout the room. The ireplace was unlit,
as the servants had been instructed to leave it.
Dame Cassandra quietly spoke. “One for yes. Two for no. Sir Richard, are you with us?”
Sir Edmund shook his head as nothing happened. He was about to free his hands when it happened.
A single rap, a knock, was heard in the direction of Sir Richard’s portrait hanging on the wall.
Sir Edmund started to believe.
PART ONE: AN ESSAY ON
SPIRITUALISM
himself (some Spiritualists, especially Christian Spiritualists, extend this interaction to include supernatural beings
such as angels). Practitioners of Spiritualism are generally known as Mediums. As the name implies, a Medium is the
conduit through which spirits and other outsiders can interact with the physical world. While this title conjures images of
séances in darkened rooms, mediums were considered capable of healing as well as divination.
Spiritualism is a practice at least as old as recorded history. Mankind has prayed to gods, ancestors, and other spirits for
millennia, asking them to intervene on their behalf. The Oracle at Delphi in ancient Greece was consulted before all major
undertakings. Many cultures throughout the world believed that one’s deceased friends, relatives, and ancestors could
intercede on their behalf.
Spiritualism as practiced in the Imperial Age was started in 1848, when two sisters from Hydesville, New York, Margaretta
and Catherine Fox, claimed to be able to speak with the dead. They would call upon spirits that communicated through
rapping sounds. Managed by their older sister Leah, the Fox sisters became a popular stage act. In 1852, a Boston
medium brought Spiritualism to London. Spiritualism spread like wildire through the western world and threatened
traditional religions, as many people cast aside their old beliefs in favour of what they learned through direct contact with
the afterlife.
Spiritualism had a unique spin on the spirit world. Rather than going to Heaven or Hell, spirits remained in contact with
the world and continued to improve and evolve. These spirits were capable of great wisdom that they would share with
those who contacted them, usually through séances. Practitioners of Spiritualism tended to drift away from their earlier
beliefs and there was a schism between Christian Spiritualists, who sought to preserve as much of their original beliefs as
possible, and “pure” Spiritualists, who thought to create a completely new religion. There were many variations on these
two main schools of thought and Spiritualism was not a uniied organization.
Needless to say, there were many parties interested in seeing Spiritualism discredited. Since spirits contacted mediums
through rapping or similar means, sceptics claimed that the sounds were faked and Spiritualists could not conclusively
prove otherwise. Many mediums actually were discredited, although prominent mediums, including the Fox sisters, were
able to survive critical investigation. The Fox sisters actually discredited themselves in 1888; claiming that they had faked
the rapping and that their sister Leah was responsible for making them continue the façade (Catherine would recant her
“confession” the following year and continued to work as a medium, a testament to the strength of the movement).
Spiritualism is a powerful force in Britain during the Imperial Age. The irst British Spiritualist publication was The
Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph in 1855. There were many Spiritualist journals, including The Spiritualist, The Psychic World,
and Two Worlds. Major Spiritualist groups in London included the Marylebone Spiritualist Association, founded in 1872
and the British National Association of Spiritualists, founded in 1884. By the end of the Imperial Age, there would be
efforts to unite Spiritualist churches under one banner.
There were other movements during the Imperial Age that either grew out of Spiritualism or had similar teachings.
Spiritism, which was started in France in the 1850s by occultist Allan Kardec, added reincarnation and belief in
S
piritualism is the belief that man can interact with spirits of the dead in order to learn information and improve
extraterrestrial life to the usual Spiritualist teachings. Theosophist founder Helen Blavatsky claimed to contact spirits
for knowledge. Christian Science, founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1875, included the belief that one could heal oneself
through prayer (although Eddy was inluenced by Mesmerism rather than Spiritualism).
SPIRITUALISM AND WOMEN
One very interesting aspect of Spiritualism was its appeal to women. Largely left out of leadership roles in established
religions, women found that Spiritualism offered them a degree of equality and even dominance in the faith. More women
than men were mediums, and Spiritualism was practiced in drawing rooms and parlours throughout the middle and upper
classes of the western world. Partly as a result, many Spiritualists campaigned for equal rights for women during the
Imperial Age (many had also argued for the abolition of slavery prior to the American Civil War).
In campaigns where Spiritualism grants supernatural powers, women that are shut out of magickal societies will ind
acceptance and prominence amongst Spiritualists.
EVIL SPIRITUALISTS
Historically, Spiritualism was not evil. Like established religions before it, Spiritualism provided yet another moral code
and a positive view of the afterlife. Even in the case of medium fraud, the motives were for selish economic reasons.
Still, the evil necromancer is a iction staple and stands in stark contrast to Spiritualism. In campaigns where Mediums
wield true power, there are those that will use that power for dark purposes. Evil Mediums are mechanically similar to
regular mediums except that they can cause injuries and command the dead. Such mediums are not recommended
as player characters but they make great villains. In fantastic campaigns, a society may even have laws that make evil
Medium practice a crime. Good Spiritualists and their allies will want to bring “rogue” mediums to justice.
ESOTERIC SOCIETIES
Hundreds of Spiritualist organizations, churches, and events exist throughout the Imperial Age, especially in America and
Britain. The following are a few examples that can be used directly or as models for ictional Spiritualist societies.
British National Association of Spiritualists
Founded in Liverpool in 1873, the British National Association of Spiritualists is a London organization. It is perhaps most
notable for spawning the Society of Psychical Research nine years later. In 1884 the society changes its name to the
London Spiritualist Alliance.
First Spiritualist Society of Laona
This Spiritualist organization was founded in 1855 on the shore of Cassadaga Lake, New York (it changes its name to the
Cassadaga Lake Free Association in 1879). It is one of the oldest Spiritualist groups in the world.
The rural setting of this organization (western New York) makes it a perfect place to meet mediums from all over the USA.
American mediums could debate doctrine and hold events away from urban centres. Foreign mediums would also be
likely to come here to vacation and rub elbows with their American brethren.
Marylebone Spiritualist Association
Founded in 1872, the Marylebone Spiritualist Association is a small, secret group of Spiritualists that meet in various
places throughout London. They are a prime example of the covert, loose structure of Spiritualist groups in 1870s
England.
National Federation of Spiritualist Churches
Founded at the end of the Imperial Age in 1890, the National Federation of Spiritualist Churches attempted to unite
Spiritualist Churches throughout England. The irst meeting is held in July in Manchester.
New England Spiritualist Campmeeting Association
Formed in 1872 and incorporated in 1879, the New England Spiritualist Campmeeting Association had many notable
Spiritualists speak there throughout the Imperial Age, including Andrew Jackson Davis. The organization is based in the
village of Lake Pleasant in Franklin County, Massachusetts.
Society for Psychical Research
Established in 1882, the Society for Psychical Research is a private organisation dedicated to studying anything related
to the occult and supernatural. The society has headquarters in London and Cambridge. A separate American branch is
established in 1885, but is forced to dissolve and reorganize as an oficial branch of the SPR ive years later. The society
is most famous for revealing the fabrications of the Theosophical Society in 1884, but it is not necessarily a “debunking”
organisation. The SPR is simply interested in learning the truth about esoteric topics.
In historical campaigns, the SPR is a thorn in the side of occult societies, constantly challenging members to prove their
claims. In magickal campaigns, the SPR may have its own magickal practitioners or mediums and will use them to
investigate magickal or spiritual crimes.
The Spiritual Fraternity
Founded by wholesale grocer Marcellus Ayer in 1883, The Spiritual Fraternity is located in the Back Bay of Boston. The
original name of the group was The Working Union of Progressive Spiritualists, but the name was changed with the
building of the First Spiritual Temple in 1885. This organization is part of the Christian Spiritualist movement.
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society was founded in New York
City in 1875. Originally, it was not very different
from other Hermetic groups. Its members organized
along Masonic lines, studying western occult topics.
Like most occult societies of the time, it maintained
a small membership. One of the founders, Helena
Blavatsky, claimed to learn secret knowledge from
communication with spirits.
Investigators for the Society of Psychical Research
searched Blavatsky’s home while she was away
in India. When she returned in 1884, she was
faced with evidence that she’d faked miracles. The
scandal made headlines around the world but would
do no real harm to Blavatsky or the Theosophical
Society. The Society continued to grow until it
fractured after Blavatsky’s death in 1891.
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The Imperial Age - Spiritualism (ADM4104), RPG (po angielsku)

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