Aka: “The Pact”
Current relationship with Equinox: Enemies
Before the Equinox Institute there was the Royal Society of the Paranatural. Formed in the mid-seventeenth century, the group set out with the intention of studying the paranatural and protecting Britain from the threats it posed. As Britain’s Empire grew, so too did the Society. Corruption took hold and soon the Society, under its then leader Arthur Wessex, turned its eyes towards the use of the paranatural to secure the future of the British Empire by any means necessary. A rival group, formed of ejected Society members known as “Equinox” assembled to stop them. For three decades the two groups fought in a conflict known as “The Forgotten War”. By the time the war had concluded only Equinox remained. Convinced of the Society’s defeat, the survivors moved on with their lives – eventually forming the Equinox Institute as it is known today.
Except it seems that remnants of the Society did survive. In 1936, as facism’s insidious influence started to garner widespread support throughout Britain, another group began to form from within Equinox’s ranks. Calling themselves the Pact Britannia, they initiated an insurrection from within the Equinox Institute – seizing dozens of paranatural artefacts, entities and knowledge while dozens of former Equinox agents defected to their cause. In the aftermath of the event, the Pact contacted the British Government and demanded the arrest of Equinox’s leadership and the installation of themselves as Britain’s true paranatural organisation – a fact they attributed to being the true successors to the Royal Society of the Paranatural’s legacy.
The British Government refused and in the years that followed the Institute and the Pact fought a game of cat and mouse in the shadow of the Second World War. By the time that conflict had come to an end, the Pact had found its support in steep decline and shortly afterwards their activities ceased. In the aftermath the Institute, thoroughly damaged by the conflict, were only able to glean a limited amount of intelligence about the organisation and its long term goals.
The Pact Britannia’s fundamental goal is to see the reinstatement of the British Empire through any means necessary including through the use of paranatural phenomena. Members are told that the paranatural was first discovered in Britain (it was not), that this was a gift bestowed upon them by the land (it was not) and that its purpose is for the rightful protection of Britain and the destruction of its enemies (which is not true in so far as the purpose of the paranatural is not readily known).
The organisational structure is extremely hierarchical and seems to mimic a knightly order. New members are known as “Squires”, who once they have proven their loyalty become “Men-at-Arms”. Men-at-Arms are organised into groups known as “Banners” which roughly correlate to Equinox’s Cells and who are led by a “Knight” that acts as the Banner’s spokesperson.
The ultimate leaders, as far as Equinox has been able to determine, are the “Round Table”. Made up of “Knight-Commanders”, they issue orders down to the lower ranking Knights who execute them without question. Each of the Knight Commanders takes on the name of an Arthurian Knight of legend and in doing so uses that name in all forms of correspondence. The leader of the Round Table and the Pact takes the title of “Knight Grand Commander”. While previous members of the Round Table have been identified, the current leadership (if any) of the Pact are unknown.
Despite repeated attempts to shut-down their enemies, the Institute has never been entirely successful at eradicating the Pact. Many of the paranatural phenomena that the group stole have never been recovered and every few years a new Banner is discovered operating in secret and subsequently apprehended. More worryingly in the last decade, the ideology spouted by the Pact has garnered more mainstream appeal. With increasing focus on Euroscepticism and national sovereignty, Equinox is concerned that it is only a matter of time until the Pact finds more willing recruits and in doing so, can put its plans for Britain into action once more…
References and Inspiration:
The Pact Britannia are based on Torchwood One from Doctor Who, the Chaos Insurgency from the SCP Wiki, the corrupt Kingsmen of the first Kingsmen movie and the nationalists of Kieron Gillen’s comic series “Once and Future”.