mametupa:The CongregationPrejudice hasforced creatures to live in the shadows for a long time, and c
mametupa:The CongregationPrejudice hasforced creatures to live in the shadows for a long time, and centuries ago the vampirePhilippe de Clermont cast about for ways to combat human chauvinism and bigotry.Toward the end he joined the Christian Crusaders in their voyage to the HolyLand in an attempt to establish a separate creature kingdom there in theeleventh century. Sadly, the resulting conflicts in Western Europe and theeastern Mediterranean, as well as age-old clashes among vampires, witches, anddaemons, served only to focus unwanted human attention on the otherworldlycreatures. As a result, vampires, witches, and daemons came together in thetwelfth century to establish the Congregation, a formal institution founded, atleast in part, to ensure the safety of those three species of creatures in anincreasingly human – and dangerous – world.The Congregationpersists as an institution to this day. It operated first in Jerusalem, thenmoved to Constantinople/Istanbul after the Crusaders withdrew from the city. In1483, Mehmet II forced them to leave Constantinople, and the creatures thenretreated to Venice, Italy, where they now occupy an island in the lagoon knownas Isola della Stella (the Isle of Stars).There arenine members of the Congregation: three daemons, three vampires, and threewitches. By foundational agreement one of the vampire members is always a deClermont, and he (or she) presides over the institution’s meetings. The World of All Souls, the Complete guide to A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night and the Book of Life,Deborah Harkness -- source link