St. Michael’s Promise
The Banisher cabal known as St. Michael’s Promise is actually composed of two smaller cabals that met while stalking the same victim. A twisted old Scelestus was about to fry the two from South Boston when the three Chinese Banishers used magic to sneak up on him and administer the coup de grace. Despite the many subtle tensions brewing between the two groups, they have worked together on and off for most of the last five years. The cabal’s name comes from a Christian belief that St. Michael promised to send nine angels to aid anyone fighting enemies of the faith if they do battle in his name. All five members of St. Michael’s Promise claim to be devout Christians, and they often pray and study the Bible together after killing “an enemy of the faith,” which, more often than not, is a poor homeless wretch — but sometimes is actually a mage or even a vampire.
Moreover, the group is known to work together to perform exorcisms, and quite successfully, although they only per-form that ritual if asked to do so by their mentor, Father Pierce.
Two members of St. Michael’s Promise — Tom O’Neil and Pete Brennan — were friends from church and occasional drinking buddies from South Boston who Awakened within a year of each other. Paul Yao, Michelle Zhao and Kelvin Tsung grew up in Chinatown’s Combat Zone and had seen more magic by the time they graduated from high school than most people see in their lives, due to the Combat Zone’s Demesne-like qualities and its concomitant allure for mages.
The group has a mentor, Father David Pierce, who provides direct, personal pastoral counseling to the cabal and quietly informs the Vatican about what the Banishers are doing. Ideally, Father Pierce would like to get a special dispensation from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith (the modern euphemistic name for the Office of the Inquisition) to allow St. Michael’s Promise to travel as needed to perform exorcisms or otherwise fight the Devil, but no such dispensation has yet been received. Father Pierce is beginning to suspect that his agent within the Vatican is not reporting to the higher authorities but to a secret society within its corridors instead.
Other Links
Return to Boston Mage
Return to South Boston
Return to Chinatown
