Yeah, I’m a rocket ship on my way to Mars
On a collision course
I am a satellite, I’m out of control
I am a sex machine, ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh explode
-Queen, “Don’t Stop Me Now”
The Reckoning
For centuries the Taftani built palaces of wonder in the Empty Quarter or tangled with Djinn along side nomadic caravans in the deserts of the Middle East. While there are still a few of them out there, the Storm created a unique opportunity for the Taftani. While many of them fell to Technocratic bullets or the Storm’s searing winds, others banded together to remove the Technocracy’s tenuous grip on Dubai. Out of the blue, the Taftani blasted the desert like a scourge binding spirits and uncovering ancient hordes of treasure and artifacts. Coordinated by two powerful Masters, the descended on the city of Dubai, unrolled their loot and bought their way to power, trading in desert robes and flying carpets for power suits, land rovers and sports cars. Dubai is now their new City of Brass, and from there the Weavers have begun a global war against their enemy the Technocracy.
Current Status
To say that the Craft has organized itself would be an overstatement, but the success in Dubai showed the Weavers what they could do if they worked together. The Craft still remains a hyper-competitive collection of individualists, but what has changed is now there is a universal acknowledgement that their magickal heritage makes them a family of hyper-competitive individualists capable of cooperation if the stakes or glory is high enough. From the New City of Brass, the Taftani have taken their war global, and bagha can be found in many major cities across the globe. Bagha aren’t chantries, but are known places where the rules of haram are permanently in place. These sanctuaries are places where Weavers can meet in relative pace, testing one another’s metal, and when the mood strikes them, form fleeting alliances to make strikes that reveal the Truth to all.
Traditionalists among the Weavers can still be found in the Middle East, but the Taftani that move among the glass spires of Dubai are a new breed. To say they embraced the Technocratic paradigm would be a misunderstanding of their worldview. Very little has changed about what they believe. It’s the practice that has changed. Fresh eyes allowed the Weavers to see the technomantic djinn that were all around them, and these spirits are now harnessed in the same manner as those of old.
Factions:
Zaotar
The Zaotar are still proud and fierce as ever, but their fury is now being reconciled with modern science and technomagick which they use to uplift and challenge humanity. They offer an alternative to the prison of the Technocracy in the form of individuality, adventure and excellence. There are some Zaotar left who tenaciously refuse to adapt to this new methodology, who practice the pure glory of Magick in the inhospitable places of West Asia. These hold outs are revered by the Zaotar, and when a need becomes dire, it is to these wise elders they go for guidance.
Kahin
The Zaotar broke the Technocracy’s grip on Dubai, but it was the Kahin that enchanted its soul. Like Scheherazade, they told the spirit of Dubai (literally) a story of a future that could not exist. Dubai is now under the sway of a small group of Kahin engaged in a combat of poetry and stories whispered to the heart of the city. The Kahin were the faction of the Taftani the Batini persuaded first – more mystical, more thoughtful, and more inclined to listen to the Subtle Ones, they recognized the potential of Unity and had already begun contemplating ways to subvert the Technocracy’s paradigm. Now, inspired by the Batini, the Kahin have spread across the world in the hopes of ensnaring the hearts of other cities. Younger members can be found in the Digital Web teaching their traditional ways over the internet. Now more subtle than ever before, the Kahin seek to subvert rules of the Technocracy’s game by changing them on a spiritual level.
Weavers of Los Angeles
The Taftani have no structure whatsoever, and there aren’t more than a handful in Los Angeles, most of whom are trained by the nomadic Zaotar, Farez El Din. If the Taftani were to look to a leader it would be Farez, and he can be found somewhere between Long Beach and East LA playing prog-rock gigs out of his blue van with a wizard painted on the side.
The Bagha is located in a private garden behind Farad Restaurant.
Taftani
Due to their long history with the Djinn and the Invisible World, Taftani begin play with the Spirit Sphere specialty of Djinn, and receive a -1 to all rolls involving Djinn or other elemental spirits and banes.