Hierarchy

Prospective members attend a discovery meeting, a psychological sales job that plays on the candidates desire to belong to society. Once the candidate has been initiated, the next major step is the transition to the inner circle.

Operations

The public face of the Church of Enlightenment:
Each chapter has a membership of D10 x10 people, most of whom come from the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. These are street people and squatters for whom any change in situation would be an improvement. The growth has been phenomenal. As of 2004 there are some 300 chapters scattered across America. There are currently 1250 active ministers and over 60,000 Church members. As the profile of the organisation begins to rise, the church has begun to aim their recruitment at more affluent citizens. 

On the surface the church appears to be a loose confederation of autonomous chapter houses. Each is led by a High Minister and his or her Ministers. They are solely responsible for the day to day operations of the chapter. The Matriarch directly controls all nationwide membership drives, public relations, advertising and establishment of new chapters. The church enjoys the tax free status awarded to religious institutions. Most chapter houses include a hostel, a soup kitchen and a free clinic as part of their day to day operations. 

Since 1980 the Church has been a leader in correctional services. Still busy in the traditional environments of prison cell and courtroom, the Army now provides facilities for adult and young offenders, attendance and community resource centres, drug and alcohol facilities and undertakes supervision of offenders in the community program. Its vast experience and wide resources, coupled with its ability to change and be innovative, set the Army apart as uniquely equipped to fulfil this challenging and demanding work within the community. 

On most days of the week in any city the Church's mobile home reaches out to young street people. Trained staff maintain contact with them offering some food, warmth, or just a place to hang for a while. Blankets, clothing, food, dental supplies and soap meet immediate needs, and make life a bit easier, as does the offer of transportation to shelters. Volunteers are often on hand to assist, freeing up the Disciples to devote their time to building relationships with young people, counselling them and providing care and information about other services and programs.

Whenever disaster strikes, the Church is quick to appear. Often assigned a specific role by Emergency Preparedness authorities, such as counselling, registration and identification, transportation, emergency housing, feeding or clothing. Like no other civilian body, it can mobilise personnel, resources, volunteers and financial support from the public at large, and bring them to bear where the need is greatest. 

The true face of the Church of Enlightenment:
Shaman dedicate themselves to an animal totem whose attitudes and beliefs they share. In return the totem bestows upon the individual the ability to practice shamanic magic. Less well known but just as powerful are the insect totems. These have devotees who are evil and pursue power regardless of the consequences to themselves or others.

Insect totems are powerful patrons, unfortunately however their thought processes and goals are totally alien. Prolonged exposure to these bizarre thought patterns has a profound effect on the recipient. It starts with a growing paranoia, the recipient becoming progressively more a pawn in the intricate and inscrutable plans of his insect totem, until he becomes a near mindless puppet dancing to his totem's tune. To exist in the material world totem spirits need a human host. The host however must be a metahuman or paranormal who is strong, healthy and willing to act as a host, though more likely it will be an unknowing victim under the mental command of the shaman.  Possessed hosts undergo physical changes such as dermal bone disposition, skeletal and muscular rearrangement, alteration of the nervous system, growth of fangs or dermal spines and massive modification of the gastrointestinal tract. As the shaman slips further into the madness brought on by the insect totem, he or she is eventually coerced into summoning a queen. This queen is a powerful spirit of the same insect type as the totem. The host for her must be a powerful metahuman or paranormal female. Most insect hives will have a caste system consisting of a queen, drones, workers and warriors. 

The potency of an Insect Shaman's magic increases as they accomplish goals that allow them to expand their hive. Insect shamans reserve awe and desire for these spirits, whom they view as the living embodiment of their totems. Should an insect shaman's Queen be destroyed, the magician will forever lose all of their magical power, even if they had previously been a normal shaman.

The Enlightened Principle is simply a mystical means of determining who has the necessary requirements for becoming a host.

Insect Follower Types

Summoned Abilities: Can stick to surfaces and burrow swiftly through the earth by at normal walking rate.
Bonuses: STR +4, CON +4

Flea followers are pack minded, always acting in groups of at least six. They do not build hives, although they do congregate around areas with large numbers of Metahumans. 

Summoned Abilities: Can stick to surfaces and leap x2 normal
Bonuses: STR +4, DEX +4

Summoned Abilities: Fly at 2kph per STR. Vision x2 normal range, can also see small objects clearer.
Bonuses: WIS +4, MR +4

Locusts have a voracious appetite and are mindlessly destructive in their swarms. Locust followers believe in pure destruction.

Summoned Abilities: Can stick to surfaces and eat almost anything, including what would be indigestible to normal humans.
Bonuses: WIS +4, CON +4

Among the insects, the Mantis are something of an aberration. The powerful female Mantis consume other insect spirits in order to propagate. Mantis is both the wisest and the most deadly of the insect totems. Mantis followers are infinitely patient and utterly merciless. 

Summoned Abilities: Can stick to surfaces and leap x2 normal.
Bonuses: INT +4, DEX +4

Summoned Abilities: Can stick to surfaces and fly at 2kph per STR.
Bonuses: DEX +4, MR +4