From IrishSpy@aol.comMon Aug 14 08:22:18 1995 Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 23:31:49 -0500 From: IrishSpy@aol.com Reply to: The wfrp mailing list To: wfrp@gojira.monsta.com Subject: WFRP & Secret Societies (long) Hi all, One of the mailing lists I receive is the Chaosium Digest, a semi-regular source of information and discussion regarding that company's games. In the latest issue was an interesting article about a medieval German secret society and its use in the Nephilim game. The article includes a reference to a book that details 39 secret societies. (One wonders just how secret they really were, though......:) ) Anyway, here's the portion of the article most relevant to WFRP players. I've placed a hold on the book here at the UCLA library, and I'll give a review after I have a look at it. *************BEGIN INCLUSION***************************** Subject: Secret Societies: The Holy Vehm Recently, I had the good fortune to discover, in the library of a friend's father, "Famous Secret Societies" by John Heron Lepper, author of "Problems of the Fama" and "The Testaments of Master Francois Villon" amongst others. The book was published by Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. of London and regrettably gives no clue as to when it was published although it appears that it may have been sometime in the fifties. The book devotes 339 pages to the coverage of 39 "Famous Secret Societies", several of which are detailed briefly in the Nephilim gamebook. As time allows, I shall present summary details and assertions about these and others of the societies covered in this fascinating source. GMs may choose to use, adapt or reject these ideas in their own Nephilim campaigns. I would add that it is quite conceivable that the planned Secret Societies sourcebook for Nephilim may well clash with my own findings on several issues. That's life, but at least GMs will have the luxury of choice. Either that, or some of this may find its way into that supplement. My own observations are [bracketed]. I start with one of my favourites, the Holy Vehm: THE VEHMGERICHT History In the middle of the thirteenth century, the Emperor lacked the ability to effectively control Westphalia. The area was at the mercy of robber barons, thieves and bandits. The Vehmgericht was the name given to the organisation that came into being amongst the harried masses in order to protect themselves against the lawless. Some of its supporters claim that the organisation was originally founded by Charlemagne in the eight century. [Perhaps the tribunals were a reincarnation of a more ancient body and named after such] Name Fehm or Vehm probably derives from Fama as the law founded on common fame. However, Fehm also meant something set apart [Ideal link to the Nephilim: The Court of the Outsiders?]. The first written account of the Vehm is in a Latin document from 1251 which, in dealing with the town of Brilon mentions the 'secret court vulgarly called Vehm or Freiding.' Organisation Tribunals were normally held in the morning in the open at well known locations [hence cross-roads]. In Nordkirchen, they were held in the churchyard, whilst in Dortmund, they took place in the Marktplatz. The courts had many names: Fehmding, Assembly of the Vehm; Freistuhl, Free Chair; Heimliches Gericht, Secret Court; Heimliches Acht, Secret Tribunal; Heimliches Beschlossenes Acht, Secret Closed Court and Verbotene Acht, Forbidden Tribunal. All free men might serve in the court and took an oath upon joining. These adherents, known as Die Wissenden, or Knowing, Ones were said to have numbered at least 100,000 and were organised into several ranks. At the bottom of the heap were the Frohnboten, the officers of the tribunal. Above the were placed the deputy judges, or Freischoeffen. These two groups were said to act as jurors, constables, inquisitors, detectives and executioners. The top men were the judges, Die Stuhlherren, of whom there were very few. The oath taken by Die Wissenden has been translated as follows: "I swear by my sacred honour that I will hold and conceal the secrets of the Holy Vehm, From sun and from moon, From man and from woman, From wife and from child, From village and from field, From grass and from beast, From great and from small, Except from the man Who the Holy Vehm serve can, And that I'll leave nothing undone For love of for fear, For garment or gift, For silver or gold, Nor for any wife's scold." The Vehmgericht purportedly had its own secret written code, the preserved writings of which often refer to the initials SSSGG. The initials are thought to refer to Stock, Stein, Strick, Gras, Grein (Stick, Stone, Halter, Grass, Quarrel) [The tools of the HV?]. A secret means of recognition was that, when sitting at a meal table, members of the HV would turn their knives through 180 degrees so that the point was directed towards themselves. Some tribunals were open to the public, those at Nordkirchen and Dortmund presumably being obvious examples and such were know as Offenbare Dinge. Heimliches Acht, however, were for Die Wissenden only and intruders, if caught, were hanged on the spot. Hanging, in fact, was the only sentence that the Vehmgericht passed, this being from the nearest tree. [This explains the rulebook stating that killings took place at cross-roads and the bodies hung from a tree]. Probably the powers and focus of the Vehmgericht changed and shifted over many years and there is no clear idea as to quite what crimes they sought to punish, although the fact that they only administered hangings gives us some clue as to the severity of the crimes they sought the perpetrators of. It has variously been claimed that they sought out those who had broken one of the biblical Ten Commandments and that children, women, Jews, heathens and the higher nobility were exempted. There is no definitive answer [interpretation of the Vehmic law is at the discretion of the Stuhlherr?]. Procedure A Freischoeffe would make an accusation in one of the courts and a summons would be issued. Three such summonses would be issued, each 45 days apart, giving the accused ample opportunity to make a defence. If the accused was not one of Die Wissenden then they would be summoned to appear before an Offenbare Dinge, otherwise it would be a secret court. Quite simply, an oath breaker was by definition a traitor and evidence of such could only rightly be present before those who were also initiates. If the accuser could present seven witnesses to swear to his own good reputation and the accused did not appear before the court then he would be condemned in absentia. The upshot of this is that the accused became an outlaw and any three supporters of the Vehm were within their rights to hang him. The accusing Freischoeffe was given a sealed document that they could show when claiming assistance from other members of the Vehmgericht. Anyone who aided or abetted the condemned in evading the Vehm was liable to an instant hanging. Should the accused decide to answer a summons, they were to produce thirty witnesses to attest to their good character whilst the accuser had the right to do likewise. Each was able to have his lawyer represent him. If convicted, the condemned had the right of appeal from a Heimliches Acht held in Dortmund. During a trial, a sword and a halter lay on a table in front of the judge symbolising the judge's powers of administering justice and the penalty entailed by transgression. When a convicted man had been hung, a knife was stuck into the tree from which he hung to demonstrate by whose authority he had been convicted [Hence the cruciform dagger]. Points of interest In 1371, Emperor Karl IV recognised the legitimacy of the Vehm in Westphalia and the punishment of evil persons was handed over to them. In 1470, three Stuhlherren summoned the Emperor Frederick III and his Chancellor. Funnily enough they didn't show. The last free court in Munster was abolished in 1811 by order of the French invaders [we can assume for game purposes that the organisation went underground at this time]. ***************************END******************************* see ya! --Anthony Snotling in Chief Not a Net Punk 1/23/95 8:12:35 PM