Sorcerer Classifications

Sorcerers

Sorcerers are the Company's primary adversary group. Sorcerers knowingly summon demons to exercize control over the people and things around them.

In order to help Specialists identify and neutralize sorcerers, Company analysts have broken down the most common types of perpetrator.

Mary Sue

One of the most common types of sorcerer. Mary Sue is someone who wants desperately to be important or desired, and doesn't really care how she gets there.

Most Mary Sue's are pretty obvious- they're people who have suddenly risen to prominence through beauty, wealth, or talent, and who previously lacked all of those things. The more misanthropic Mary Sues steal them from others, and/or leave a trail of bodies on the periphery of their success.

Willy

Another common sorcerer, Willy just wants to be better at whatever it is he does, to take the uncertainty out of daily life. Willies are small men with small dreams, but with a lot of will to put towards making those dreams a reality.

Willies are notoriously difficult to spot, unless they get particularly cruel or sloppy.

Biff

Some people just want to be bigger and tougher than they are, to be strong enough that no one can hurt them, and they can hurt anybody. Some inject demonic ichor to become physically mighty, but a larger number prefer unnatural forces to lurk in the background, mysteriously breaking the legs of people who happen to tick them off.

Merlin

Merlins just want to know how everything works. As kids, they often take machines apart, looking for that elusive force that makes them go. As adults, they gravitate towards fields where the end goal is (at least nominally) knowing the Truth- science, theology, and blackmail are all common. As sorcerers, their summonings center around learning the secrets of men and demons.

Merlins are dangerous for any number of reasons, but the main ones are dedication and curiousity. A Merlin rarely has much life beyond sorcery, meaning that he tends to be armed with powerful demons. Worse, they pry into everything. A Merlin who gets away from the Company once is likely to wonder who they are, and to come after them in the future.

Mr. Big

The synthesis of Mary Sue and Willy.

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Cults

Sorcerers like to socialize with and exploit each other same as anybody else, and cults are where they do that. Cults vary widely in their levels of knowledge and dedication, but most understand at least the basics of summoning and binding demons.

Doomsayers

Some people think ancient demons will devour us all soon. So they figure nobody'll care if they make sure others go first. Analysts hate dealing with Doomsayers; their beliefs tend to be complicated, grotesque, and they generally all end up at the same point: hasten/welcome the demon-gods' return by feeding their minions the people who messed with you in high school.

Doomsayers tend to display equal parts nihilism and petty brutality, convinced that if nothing matters, they might as well be monsters. Their main weakness is that they tend to be lightly armed, magically speaking- the world's imminent demise makes extensive research and purchasing overkill, even for people who enjoy killing.

Dynasties

A few sorcerers sell not only their own souls, but those of their children. Others ceremonially marry or actually mate (ick) with demons, producing lines of children with special affinities for sorcery.

Dynasties are well-protected by their demonic patrons and relatives- often, they benefit from pacts they don't even know exist. Like a knitting circle, the best way to crash a dynasty is to find someone on the inside with a consience.

Fan Clubs

In Fringe and sorcerer circles, some demons are more famous than others. These tend to be creatures of massive power or which are believed to have been responsible for big events in the past. Fan clubs are cults devoted to worshipping a particular demon, whether the members are capable of summoning it or not.

While fan clubs often collapse into Doomsayers as their members get more fervent, their devotion to particular demons or "families" of demons motivates them to extensively research and experiment with subsets of demonology. On the bright side, they also don't tend to have a real variety of creatures to call upon when the Company kicks down the door.

Free Minds

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially when it involves peeling people's skin off at forty paces. Learning the true nature of the universe can be a powerful impetus to start trying to break its rules. Free minds are groups of people who have had inexplicable encounters- and then helped each other find the right answers.

Worse, free minds tend to know about the Company- or at least not to have too much trouble guessing what's going on when a team comes after them. They see Specialists as jailers, agents of the monstrous conspiracy that seeks to repress their individuality and make them just like everybody else.

Knitting Circles

Many cults aren't just about demons. Knitting circles are groups originally devoted to hobbies or other social activities, but whose members have fallen into degenerate practices. Knitting circles are sometimes easier to crack because not all of the members are true believers, but they also possess senses of camaraderie and loyalty that more pragmatic cults lack.

Knitting circles can also be places of business. In one widely discussed case, a call center to which Company eavesdropping had been outsourced was compromised nearly to the last employee.

Scams

A surprising number of sorcerous cults never provide mojo for the minions. While the organization might be allegedly devoted to empowering its members or discovering secret truths, it's really just there so that the boss has someone to do his work for him.

In more than a few cults, the sorcery is or becomes secondary to the leader's other means of inspiring or controlling his followers.

The Afflicted

There are some cases no one likes to talk about. Cases that involve the abuse and exploitation of innocents. Cases that rarely end well. These tend to involve Affliction.

Demons like riding around in human bodies; that's well known. When possession is on the table, the usual deal is that the demon hitches onto its master. But sorcerers like to share the pain sometimes. Or whatever the sorcerer wants requires someone else to have a monster underneath their skin. Or he just wants somebody to suffer.

Affliction is when a sorcerer summons a demon and then grafts it spiritually or physically onto someone else. For the demon, it's a great deal: an independent human host reduces its dependence on sacrifices and limits its master's direct control. The sorcerer gets something, too: the influence he can no longer exert over the demon can often be applied directly to the host. In two words: mind control.

For the Afflicted, however, the relationship is a disaster. Demons weren't meant to enter reality in the first place, and real things try to reject them. Affliction limits the power of the sorcerer's will over the demon, but also limits the degree to which that will lubricates the demon's movement through our world. Afflicted suffer from near-constant disease symptoms, commonly resembling hemmoraghic fevers, consumption, or mercury poisoning. These symptoms become worse whenever the demon resists its master's will, the sorcerer compels the host, or the demon is starved for sacrifice.

When confronted with Affliction, the Company only has two options: exorcism or euthanization. No one likes having to decide.

SorcererClassifications