The Chosen (East of West)

"Have you become what The Message demands?"

The Chosen of the Apocrypha of the America know in their hearts that the end of America is soon at hand. The War to End all War may horrify many peoples, but to you, to one of the Chosen, you see the beautiful prophecy that will herald a stop to tyranny, sin and waste for all time. During the Civil War, God sent his divine intervention in the form of the Comet that struck the land that would one day be called Armistice; this was first omen of the end times, and now you are observing the other signs that mean the Apocalypse is near. 

"The field's aflame, a cleansing of the world. A voice cries out -- Let chaos reign and the weak be the first to fall." This is one of the many lines in the Apocrypha that you have studied and memorized in your soul. As one of the Chosen, you are bound to the Message and its cryptic meanings, and those who don't believe will soon see themselves trampled underfoot by Conquest, Famine, War and Death. 

Skill Proficiencies: Members of the Chosen call Armistice their home. You may not have been born at Armistice, but once you adopted The Message into your heart, this place became your true home.

Unlike the pilgrims that gather at its gates, you are welcomed within the inner sanctum where The Keeper of the Message, Erza Orion, holds council with other members of the Chosen. 

With Armistice's vast religious archive and donated technologies, members of the Chosen are extremely familiar with religious texts and stories other than just the Message. The other members of the Chosen also provide each other - albeit involuntarily - with significant insight on politics, personalities and cultural traits from their homelands and peoples. 

Languages: Repeated pilgrimages from Lakota and Mandrian peoples provided Armistice with an impressive number of Chosen members that can speak both languages including English. 

Upon taking this background, you are proficient in the languages of Lakota, Mandrian and English.

Equipment: The Chosen are not outfitted with any holy symbol for their devotion. Vestments and money are kept at Armistice under the watch of Keeper Orion, while the members of the Chosen do not hold any items that would expose them to non-believers. 

The only way other members of the Chosen - who have not met in person - identify themselves is with the phrase "The things that divide us are stronger than the things that unite us".