[Nath]

(Also note: The 1-Jan decree (that I can't find) severely contradicts SWA entry that UGE first start being born on the 13th of Jan (SWA pg 20). This either means; it's an error on the author/publisher's part or is further evidence that the Church has access to hidden knowledge and jumped the gun...in-game the latter is more fun to consider ).

Sixth World Almanac has the Papal speech about metahumanity on January 1st, 2012, and the Papal Bull in March. The same date was in Shadows of Europe.

It also worth remember that according to Tir na nOg itself, there were elven babies born as early as 1987, several of them in Northern Ireland Catholic community. Maybe no need for a forbidden library for the Vatican to know about UGE early.

[Crimsondude]

But just in case, there <b>IS<b> a forbidden library.

[LonePaladin]

Well, technically, it's just a repository for all the paperwork the Church goes through, and a lot of things held for archival purposes. It's called the Secret Library, where the Latin term secretum referring to things that are directly involved with the Pope. It's not *forbidden* per se, but access is restricted to researchers who have to state what they are looking for.

I can imagine, in the 2070s, the Vatican having a Matrix version of this, with some of the more fragile items (like letters from Michelangelo) being viewable only digitally. That node would be a tough nut to crack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Secret_Archives

[Grinder]

You need to check out Shadows of Europe and Loose Alliances.

[Crimsondude]

Yeah I was referring to the libraries in Loose Alliances.

[raben-aas]

So, what do you make of the Catholic Church's take on technomancers and KI? (Emergence)

[MK Ultra]

You need to check out Shadows of Europe and Loose Alliances.

That!

Also a peak into Threats 2 wont hurt.

SoE has a list of the most important Orders and their role. To name just the one that where mentioned here before:
New Jesuits - the fellas first described in Aztlan SB. Basically Vatican Intelligence Service (although they put it more nicely). They like cyber and distrust magic.
Silvestrians - Has the majority of the cathlic church´s  mages in it. They are the ones that have a reputation for exorcism & fighting shedim, however, they do lots of other magic tasks as well. It´s also worth mentioning, that IIRC, all (or most) traditional religious burial rites stop from stealing the corps, no magically active person has to be involved AFAIK (i think it was mentioned in Year of the Comet, where Shedim are described for the first time).
There is also an order or two dedicated to Matrix-related stuff (Augustinians?).

Then There is the Vigilia Evangelica, which is described in Loose Aliances - they deal with the really secret library stuff.

Threats 2 describes the New Order of the Temple Order in detail, which is a secret militant Order of mages and mundanes.

If you are interested in this kind of stuff, Threats (the 1st) may also be interesting, as it describes the Black Lodge, a magic society which has some unspoken history with the Vatican and claims to be rooted in the original Knights Templar.

[Bradd]

I'm a bit puzzled by the Vigilia Evangelica. DotA: Midnight describes the order as so secretive that members may not even confirm its existence, and they operate under cover identities (such as being Sylvestran brothers). On the other hand, I see it mentioned pretty casually elsewhere, so it seems like a poorly kept secret. I'm not sure whether to interpret that as metagaming convenience, or whether the order really is well-known, or something in between.

[Crimsondude]

It's not a secret among runners because of the entries in the books. Just like Aztlan blood magic and the shit they did in the Yucatan, Deus and the SCIRE shutdown, and of course the Bugs.

But among the rest of the world it's a secret.

[Bradd]

Thanks, I thought it might be something like that. Kind of like the Masquerade, where all of the monster-folk know of each other, but the general public do not.

[LonePaladin]

Yeah, with things like Shadowbeat and the various data havens, 'runners tend to have a better view of the big picture than the media-inundated wageslaves.

[thalandar]

@Lone Paladin I am curious the quote:

 •2024: Pope John XXV issues 'In Imago Dei' encyclical: Metahumans have souls and are capable of salvation. Magical abilities are not inherently evil. Spirits are manifestations of nature (gray area).

Where is this quote from?  No reference in your text.

Hasn't this been the Catholic Church's stance since 1st Edition?  Could have sworn I saw this in the First edition book time line.  Some help here?

[Crimsondude]

Yes. It has always been in SR canon.

[LonePaladin]

All the entries I listed (missing references and all) are from the timeline posted on the Sixth World Wiki (part of Dumpshock).

http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/Timeline

[Fizzygoo]

Sixth World Almanac has the Papal speech about metahumanity on January 1st, 2012, and the Papal Bull in March. The same date was in Shadows of Europe.

It also worth remember that according to Tir na nOg itself, there were elven babies born as early as 1987, several of them in Northern Ireland Catholic community. Maybe no need for a forbidden library for the Vatican to know about UGE early.

Thanks, Nath. Error on my part. Still seems a bit premature for the Church to come out against UGE's with only a year of births under the world's belt, even with knowledge of elves, et. al. (secret library or otherwise). But then again, that's a year's worth of 10% of the births being UGEs. Still, hard to imagine the Church making such strong statements when the general public will only see that it's against babies no older than one year old. But then again, if the Church had some special knowledge (especially if it was faulty/misunderstood about the nature of UGEs and the return of magic being linked to "Satan's work") then they were trying to nip the (imagined) problem in the bud.