(Aberrant) Church of Michael Archangel

 Oh, I don't know about this one. It's fine for setting texture, I guess. There's a church in the Aberrant setting that hates novas. Their theology is a bit . . . unrealistic - pre-millenialist Christians who nonetheless find common cause with Jewish and Muslim nova-haters. It also does that unnerving fantasy thing where a group is bigoted against some magical creature, but their fears are presented as reasonable. Roderick F Smith assassinated Starbell, but one of Starbell's forcefields careless blew up his car with his family inside, and Starbell faced no significant legal consequences. That certainly sounds like a serious systemic issue that society needs to address. So it's kind of weird that the Church of Michael Archangel is lumped in with homophobes, racists, and other bigots.

I blame it on the same cynical naivete that White Wolf always brought when it tried to get political. No one would believe an antagonist organization that was based on pure malice with no explanation more sophisticated than garden-variety prejudice. All you villains have to have a coherent, intelligible point of view. Ah, the year 2000.

Overall, this was kind of a weak title to round out my time with the Aeonverse. I have no one to blame but myself, though. I knew I should have read it before Adventure!, but I couldn't wait to get started on the most complex and interesting game in the Aeon Continuum.

I really don't mind it so much. The Church works fine as a villain to blindside PCs who've grown complacent about ordinary humanity. And the bit about the nova with the split personality, who was both a pro- and anti- nova preacher at the same time was amusing. Verdict - the book has its place, but that place is not "closing statement on a beloved series."

Ukss Contribution: Most of the setting here is Christians being angry about superpowers, so there's not a lot to work with. I guess . . . the Houston Tornado. Very little is known about this character because he was assassinated by a mob before the core book's starting date, but he was fast and could control the weather, which does give me something to work with.