The Vatican
The Vatican rests at the center of the world of Blessed Machine. This place of
power has been a sprawling garden under the care of Agrippina the
Elder, a circus for Nero's delight, a cemetary for important
dead and now the seat of power for Catholicism. Mighty rulers like
Caligula and Nero ruled over this area before the rise of the Popes
that guide millions of Christian followers in their daily lives.
From
these grounds, St. Peter was cruscified and wars were waged.
Thousands of years of history reside in the Vatican's libraries
and, it is rumoured, thousands of pegan tomes collected to understand
their enemies over the years. It is also said, that items of
great religionous and magical significance are kept by the Vatican
priests to protect the world from them ever begin used again by someone
with evil intent.
C.R.O.S.S (Catholic Response Organization to Strategize and Strike)
C.R.O.S.S is a clandestine organization created by James McDonald
in 1982 as part of the Swiss Guard that protects the Pope. It came into being as the direct result of
the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981. Hiring Anton Marolf from the Swiss Army as
the group’s commander, he began by promoting the best of the Swiss Guard into
C.R.O.S.S. It has various offices
throughout the world but its main base of operations in under the
Vatican
itself
in the Catacombs. The agency’s mission
is to protect all God-fearing people from evil and often missions are lifted
from the Pope’s own sermons, speeches and denouncements. McDonald has kept
C.R.O.S.S. secret from the Pope, but he would sometimes wonder if his Holiness
has drawn a line back to the Vatican when things he would mention in a sermon
would improve in the week following. True or not the agency has continued on.
With time, the organization expanded to handle issues of the
supernatural kind as well as political. They employ exorcists, mediums and even agents with superhuman
powers. Outside of black magic, they
will investigate any possibilities to make them more capable in reaching
their goals.
Four years ago, McDonald opened up the Papal Medical
Division. It was a restructuring of the
hospital that is run from the Catacombs. Drawing from intelligence they have compiled in the
Vatican
library they began to develop a super soldier program. Military volunteers, some with severe
disabilities, were outfitted with cybernetic parts and pumped with a cocktail
of chemicals to accept cybernetics as well as enhance their athletic
ability. They were heavily trained and
sent on some of McDonald’s more dangerous missions. Dubbed “Suicide Machines” by the medical
technicians, they churned out about eighteen over four years. Unfortunately, while the tech seemed to be
repairable in most cases, the human factor of these cyborgs tended to expire
after about eight difficult missions. The technology was there to keep them alive, but the human part just gave
up each time.
The shining exception to this rule is Tiberius Crane. He was put in the field eight months ago and
has completed over twenty-two highly dangerous missions for C.R.O.S.S with
great success. Damage to his cybernetics
has been extensive, at times, but repairs put him back in the field
successfully, time after time. Even
additional damage has been done to his human parts and this hasn’t led to any
diminished success for the soldier. It
was after these statistics where assessed, that McDonald send Agent Ande Starling
into the field to work closely with Tiberius. If the reason for his success could be captured, it could allow for more
successful cyborgs for the future.
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