-John Tynes Delta Green

The Great War was over and Germany had lost. The Weimar Republic was slowly crumbling. The German econmy was in ruins from war reparations, and Germany had gone from being a european leader to being a debtor state. demobilized soldiers were clashing with leftist groups in the streets. Opiate abuse and alcoholism was at an all time high. The country became a fertile ground for a dream...any dream, that could enable the German people to recapture their lost dignity and power.

Germany became a hotbed of secret societies. many of the still rich Industrialists, publishers, and aristocrats formed what they called "Volkische" groups which sought to reconnect the German people to some of their lost archetypes. This mixed bag of groups borrowed heavily form any and all forms of esoteric thought. Odinism, Rosicrucian and Freemason thought and structures. Teutonic knightly orders and subverted Theosophy. The idea was to distill German chauvinism to a fine point and begin using it a weapon again. This is why Theosophy was borrowed from. It taught that the fifth race of beings to walk this planet were the Aryan race. All other races that existed were naturally from the inferior fourth race. Since, the Aryan's came from the land of Thule (said to be in the far north.) it seemed a natural jump to assume that the germanic tribes were descended from that august ancestry. Supposedly, Thule had met it's doom from interbreeeding with the lesser races and the gods punished them by sinking Thule. Thus racial purity became a driving theme of many of these ancestral heritage groups.

The Thule Society came about as a result of a merger of two groups. Jorg Lanz von Leibenfells started the Ordens Neiu Templars in 1900. A vigorous anti semite, He published a magazin called Ostara which often depicted paintings of strong jawed germanic types saving buxom german women from the clutches of subhuman "Other Race " types. It caught on with the disaffected youth and he used his fortune to bolster his New Templar group. along with that of many like minded rich men of the age with an interest in the decadence of the occult.

Lanz found common cause with Guido von List who helmed his own group called the Armanen (which was the first group to adopt the slightly altered Swastika as a symbol of their own.) Both men were rabidly anit-semitic and politcally motivated towards extreme rightist and nationalist causes. In 1912, Armanen merged with the ONT and a new group was born. The Ordens Germanum.

Slowly but surely this group began to attract a large Inner circle of men who were rich, powerful, and very interested in the occult.. From this sprang the Thule Gesechafft, whose driving force was Baron Rudolf Freiherr von Serbottendorff. He had been schooled in occultism, Islamic mysticism, alchemy, Rosicrucianism and much else, in Turkey, where he had also been initiated into Freemasonry. Thule served as the recruiting and political action front of the Ordens Germanum. Serbottendorff bought a failing Munich newspaper, the Beobachter which he renamed the Volkische Beobachter and it became the official newspaper of the NSDAP.

The Thule Society inner circle had the following beliefs:

Thule was a legendary island in the far north, similar to Atlantis, supposedly the center of a lost, high-level civilization. But not all secrets of that civilization had been completely wiped out. Those that remained were being guarded by ancient, highly intelligent beings (similar to the "Masters" of Theosophy or the White Brotherhood). The truly initiated could establish contact with these beings by means of magic-mystical rituals.

 The "Masters" or "Ancients" allegedly would be able to endow the initiated with supernatural strength and energy.

 With the help of these energies the goal of the initiated was to create a race of Supermen of "Aryan" stock who would exterminate all "inferior" races.

The Inner Circle began to realize that they would need not only money to gain control of their wayward country they would need muscle. To this end, Sebbotendorf tapped one of their members, a locksmith named Karl Harrer to create a "Workers Auxilliary" of rightist workers unafraid to mix it up. Harrer named the new group the Workers Political Circle but this eventually became the National Socialist German Workers Party (or NSDAP in 1920 ) Eventually Hitler took over this group but we'll get to him later...

The Thule Society concerned itself with fighting the Bavarian Communist Governement and battling Marxism wherever it flourished. They established a spy network and arms caches and battled the forces of Munich's soviet government. Their propaganda campaign was aided by a brilliant poet, playwright, journalist and occultist by the name of Dietrick Eckart. Eckart was to become a major fixture and a member of the inner circle despite his drug and alcohol abuse. His influence and intellect created a master spokeperson out of a shy introverted painter. When Hitler is arrested during the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 and sent to prison for 2 years he writes Mein Kampf and dedicates it to Eckart. His master felt similar affection and urged his fellow Thulists to support and follow Htler when he lay on his deathbed.Serbottendorff himself stated: "Thule members were the people to whom Hitler first turned and who first allied themselves with Hitler."

Hitler was something of a "Fair Haired boy." to the Thulists.Many other decommissioned soldiers waited out the turbulence of Munich in the barracks, pfc Adolph Hitler among them. After the Bavarian Republic had been defeated by the Whites, in May, Hitler's superiors put him to work in the post revolution investigating commission. His indictments injected ruthless efficiency into the kangaroo courts as he fingered hundreds of noncommissioned officers and enlisted men who had sympathized with the communist and anarchists. He was subsequently sent to attend special anticommunist training courses and seminars at the University which were financed by the Reichswehr administration and by private donors from the Thule Society. From this point on, Hitler's military career and his political career ran on greased rails. Eckart took the young man under his wing and showed him what he could become.There can be no doubt that Eckart - who had been alerted to Hitler by other Thulists - trained Hitler in techniques of self confidence, self projection, persuasive oratory, body language and discursive sophistry. With these tools, in a short period of time he was able to move the obscure workers party from the club and beer hall atmosphere to a mass movement. The emotion charged lay speaker became an expert orator, capable of mesmerizing a vast audience.

In prison, Hitler also met General Karl Haushofer, a university professor and director of the Munich Institute of Geopolitics. Haushofer was also inclined toward the esoteric. as military attache in Japan, he had studied Zen-Buddhism. He had also gone through initiations at the hands of Tibetan Lamas. He became Hitler's second "esoteric mentor", replacing Dietrich Eckart. In Berlin, Haushofer had founded the Luminous Lodge or the Vril Society. The lodge's objective was to explore the origins of the Aryan race and to perform exercises in concentration to awaken the forces of "Vril". Haushofer was a student of the Russian magician and metaphysician Gregor Ivanovich Gurdyev (George Gurdjieff). Gurdjieff had cribbed much of his teachings from tibetan and Sufi mysticks himself so it's really no shock that there is this weird German/Tibetan/Turkish connection, especially considering Sebbotendorf's influence. In later years, Gurdjieff himself would seek out contact with Hitler as would Aleister Crowley (allthough Crowley's contact with Thule would be largely because he was seeking a more congenial setting in which to nestle after being booted out of Italy by Mussolini. There are rumors that at this time Crowley was a german spy, an english spy or playing both sides against the middle.)

Agenda:

The Thule Society agenda is broad and multi-pronged. They seek to regain control from communists elements in their country. They seek to bolster the german economy and rebuild the greatness of the Weimar republic. They seek to inspire common germans to greatness. They seek to destroy the threats represented by the inferior races mixing with the Aryan race and the stranglehold that jews have held over european banking. and last, but certainly not least, they wish to scour the globe for knowledgable mysticks, Potent relics, Places of power they can control, and books of lore. Anything they find is co-opted into some garbled form of Thulist mythos. The Society will often go through legitmate methods first but are not afraid to perform criminal acts to get what they want.

Resources:

Membership in the inner circle is usually predicated either on mystick might, politcal power or great heaping wodges of cash. The Inner circle functions like a German "Old Boy" network so it's not uncommon to find Wealth Beyond Avarice, Kingpin, and Legions in those ranks. As mentioned previously the group has it's own spy network (espionage and the occult often go hand in hand.) and also large caches of weapons. Many of the members of the inner circle own publishing concerns and they have a potent media presence. Many of the more aristcratic members have large land holdings and it's not uncommon to find Menagerie as a background among them (Raptors, large hunting dogs, draft horses trained for war...etc.) Lastly, many of the Inner Circle are occult adepts and are capable sorcerors. As such it's not out of line for some of the more Mystickally inclined to have Gadget and Stockpile. Sebbotendorf has an obscene amount of Cipher too.

Membership:

The Membership of the Thule Society is closed to anybody not meeting a certain "Aryan" pedigree. Also because of it's freemason and teutonic knight roots there no women members. This is not to say that women play no role in the societies machinations but they certainly aren't a part of the decision making process. Membership in the Inner Circle is by invitation only and it rare to find a member of that august body that isn't stinking rich. part of what keeps NSDAP in line is that the Thulists pay well for the violence they require. Noted Members of the Inner Circle include: Dietrick Eckart, Baron Sebbotendorf, Enrst Rohm, Dr Krohn (who created the nazi flag) Heinrich Himmler, and Rudolph Hess,

There were many more.

Ongoing Operations:

Most domestic operations are geared towards recliaming their country from the forces of Marxist Socialism. As they grow in power they begin act more and more openly until finally the Nazi's take power. Foreign operations are far more subtle and far fung. Contact with other mystick groups is sought as a way to gain additonal knowledge and power. Occasionally, archeological expeditions are hired in order to seek specific finds. Numerous submarine operations, and expeditions into Africa and Antarctica during the second world war happened because of information or events that take place because of independent researchers on the Thulist payroll, witting or otherwise.

As a result, the Thulists have conceived of a deep hatred of the Ponatowski Foundation. Mainly because they are just as sharp and are willing to play just as dirty.

Alliances:

As mentioned before, Some mysticks seek out the society to lend their talents for one reason or another. it is not unlikely that there are turkish mysticks who may have cordial relations (the Turk leaps to mind. Also because of the Tibetan connection there is the possibility of Tantrik "Black Hat" sorcerors who don't mind passing favors and info back and forth. Agents of the King of the World are allowed free reign in most of europe and the Thulist have no interest in picking a fight with them. The King has no reason to have any unpleasantness with them either. they might have additional alliances of an extra-terrestrial nature (see below)

Enemies:

The Soviet occupational Government of course. They've also managed to run afoul of the Czar as well. Certain potent mysticks have shown the occasional unwillingness to share the wealth and this makes for bad relations when the Thulist try to get froggy. The Ubiquitous Dragon considers them ill mannered children but seems disiclined to destroy them completely. They went after him and he stopped them cold. Rumor has it that he terrified Von Liebenfells by sending him a package containing a severed head...His own apparently. They sued for peace and relations have been very remote since.

The Thulist also badly underestimted Baron Saturday. He's not interested in sharing for the most part but he will occasionally deal with them if the price is right.

Doctor Zorbo considers himself a man of science and doesn't hold with all this mumbo jumbo, plus for all of his fault and defects, Manfred Zorbo is interested in saving ALL mankind.

The Thulist keep a low profile outside their own country and most good guy groups don't know they exist.

The Inspired:

Inspiration is practically a requirement for membership in the Inner Circle. and those lesser members who develop certain abilities are put on the fast track to inner circle membership. Mesmerist abilities are most highly cherished as are any forms of Magickal Superscience (see below) Naturally any form of Stalwart abilities are considered prized and later those who have expressed these abilities become part of a secret nazi breeding program. even the most freakish abilities like Body of Bronze and Reptilian Regenration are chalked up to superior "Aryan" genes.

The Future:

As the Second World war cranks up to a fever pitch, Germany ends up being a roosting place for mysticks, nuts and charlattans. Hitler ends up getting bilked by would be alchemists.

With the victory of the Nazi Party, the occult tradition was carried on in the Third Reich mainly by the SS, who Reichsfuhrer, Himmler, was an avid student of the occult. as was Rudolph Hess, An SS occult research department, the Ahnernerbe (Ancestral Heritage) was established in 1935 with SS Colonel Wolfram von Sievers at its head. Occult research took SS researchers as far afield as Tibet. Sievers had the Tantrik prayer, the Bardo Thodol, read over his body after his execution at Nuremberg.

SS sponsored activities involve trips to the Antarctic and secret operations all over the world. Himmler takes over Wewelsburg castle and tries to create a sort of Nazi Camelot complete with round table of SS heirarchy. Much of the Thulist leadership is subsumed into this much larger and more powerful group.

It is rumored that Rudolph Hess's departure to England and subsequent capture was due to being advised by his astrologer that if he went on a specific date he could capture England single handedly. It was later discovered that the astrologer was being payed by british spies. This and Hitler's own erratic behavior began a purge of some of the more esoteric elements of the country. Even Baron Sebbotendorf was deported back to Turkey...where he disappeared as mysteriously as he arrived.

Did the crack in germany's mystickal hegemony cost them the war? We'll probably never know.

Additional Notes:

For those of you who are familiar with my use of Magick as a form of Superscience and a War in Heaven will start to deduce some of the stuff going on behind the scenes. At some point, The Thulists either discovered or were discovered by the Tafrexis D'mon, who knew useful wiling tools when they saw them. Obviously, The original Thule was a tiny section of the antarctic continent and once the nazi's knew where to begin looking, they started looking hard at the frozen continent. Egypt and North Africa also fell under intense scrutiny. The explosion that destroyed most of Gruenwald castle was a Zero Point Energy experiment. Wewelsburg was obviously a mystick site of some sort too. Those familiar with Tafrexis practices will note with interest that the concentration camps harvested more psychic energy than the Tafrexis had seen in millenia.

It is interesting to note that Baron Sebbotendorf's real name was Adam Blauer. He seemed to come from nowhere, had a ready fortune that no one seemd to know how he acquired, Had a great knowledge of esoteric practice and Occult magick, and when he saw which way the wind was blowing got himself deported from the country and disappeared. Those of you who are familiar with the careers of Cagliostro and the Comte de Saint Germain can draw your own conclusions. Was the Baron a D'mon middleman? Perhaps he is one of the three ageless slayers of Hiram Abiff ,still walking the earth looking for amusment as he contemplates eternity....

The thing to remember when using the Thule Society in an Adventure game is to play up their proto-nazi creepiness and the unassailable fact that regardless of how well the players do against them and their dark cabal they still aren't going to be able to turn aside the force of history. Sure the players might get lucky...They might even managed with a bit of dice luck to kill a young Adolph Hitler only to find some years down the road that the Society has managed to create a very lifelike simulacrum of the inspiring orator. Remember ,the secret history of the world can be so much more fun than what is known openly. For all we know, Hitler's offspring are sunning themselves by a South American pool right now.