Covenant Sourcovenantcebook

7/29/2019 Covenant Sourcovenantcebook

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THE COVENANTBY MATT fORBECK


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(REDITSWritten and Designed by: Matt ForbeckEditing: Patrick KaperaCover: Cris DornausCover Background: Zeke SparkesInterior Art: Julian Aguilera, Mike Hawthorne, and Paul H. WayArt Direction: jim pintoProofreading: Patrick Kapera

Special Thanks to: Amber Buchheit, Martin Forbeck, Leticia Hayler, AnnKolinsky, Ray Lau, Dave Seay, Kevin Smith (for Dogma), Maureen Yates,John Zinser, and John and Mary Zinser.

Play esting and Advice: Marcelo Figueroa, Steve Hough, Patrick Kapera,Kevin P. Boerwinkle, jim pin to, Derron Whittaker, and John Zinser.Dedicated to: Sister Cabrini, Father Steve Zwettler, Sister Veronica, Sister Digna,Sister Mary Victoria, Sister Mary Dennis, Father Lange, and all the otherCatholics that have made a difference in my life.

AEG would like to offer a hearty thanks to Matt Forbeck for all his hard work onthis product, and for dreaming up the Brave New World line in the first place.

Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.4045 Guasti Road #212Ontario, CA [email protected](909) 390-5444 (orders only)Stop by www.deltatimes.comfor Brave New World news.

Printed in the USA.

Brave New World, Covenant, Defiants,Defiance, Bargainers, Patriot, Superior,Truth, the Yankee, Triumph, Inc., EvilUnlimited, delta, alpha, Delta Prime,the AEG logo an d all character names

and likenesses depicted herein areTrademarks ofAlderac Entertainment Group, Inc.

2001 Alderac Entertainment Group,Inc. All Rights Reserved.Brave New Worldcreated by Matt Forbeck.


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TABLE Of CONTENTSON THE SIDE Of RIGHT ..................4 WORLD WIDE (OVENANT ..............44 THE GUIDE'S HANDBOOK .., ..... 101Welcome ......................... .5The Great Mistakeof '89 ........... ....... .......... 5My Mission Here ........... .7IN THE 8E6INNIN6..........................8The Original Covenant..9The Order of the

Covenant .................... 9We All Have

Our Crosses ..............11The Covenantis Formed .. ................ 14JOINING THE (OVENANT ................16It's an Exclusive Club ..17The Long, Hard Road ..17The Grace of God ... ..... 18Delta-Corne-Lately ...... 19OUR WORK .1111 20We're on aMission from God ....21Our Duty ........................22Rail Againstthe Night.. .................. 23The Darker Side ........... .28MYSTERIOUS WAYS ...................... 30Welcome to the Club ....31The Delta

Armageddon ............ 34AMERIUN GOTHIL.................... 36The Way It

Used to Be ............... .37The Covenantin the 20 th Century ....38The Schism .................... 39The Covenant inAmerica Today ....... .40

God Is Everywhere ..... .45Asia ......... ....... ................45 (HAPTER TWO:Australia ... .................... .47 THE TRUTH Of THE MATTER ..102Africa ............................. .47 Time to Be Good! .. ... ...103Europe ............................ 47 The Scandal ............. ...103The Middle East.. ......... .50North America .............. 52 Sinning ........................ 104Covenant Leaders ...... 105South and Central Vampires ...................... 106America ................. ... .53 Deaders ......... ............. ..106fOES Of RIGHTEOUSNESS ............ .54 Werebeasts .................. 106Demons ... ..................... l08The Ultimate Evil... .......55 Possessions andVampires ....................... .55 Exorcisms ................ 109Deaders .......................... 56Werebeasts .................... 57Bargainers ...................... 57

Working withthe Enemy ............... l09

Demons .......................... 58 fOR GOODNESS SAKE:Possessions ................... .59 A OVENANT ADVENTURE ......110(HAPTER ONE: THE AUTHOR'S AHERWORD ...... .124(OVENANT HEROES ..................62 You Can Take the KidHoly Heroes! ................63 Out of the School....125Do You Hear Religion andthe Call? ...... ..............63 Roleplaying ............ 126Joining the Covenant ..64Heroes of

Another God ............66CovenantMartial Arts ..............66Dressing the Part ..........66Weapons ........................66Covenant Heroes ......... .74Roman CatholicBasics ............ ..............76Covenant Clergy ..........76The Sacraments ............78The Hierarchy ..............80Covenant Orders .... ......80Powers ............................ 82Clerical Powers ............83Covenant Powers ......... 87Being Good .................... 94ARCHETYPES ................................95


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WILCOMIMy dear friends, welcome. AlthoughI may not know you personally at the

moment, we are all children of Godand as members of the Covenant, ~ eare specially chosen emissaries of Hisword. With that much in commonI believe that we will be friends ifwe do meet.

AN INTRODUCTIONMy name is Father Paul Joeson.

I'm a priest in Holy Roman CatholicChurch, and-just like you-I'm amember of that legendary order of thefaithful known as the Covenant.I was born in Brighton, Michigan,back in 1958, right in the middle of theBaby Boom generation. I grew up in astrictly Catholic home, and I was raisedby my parents Jim and Mary Joeson,along with my brother Luke and mysister Bernadette.I had a happy childhood. I attended12 years of Catholic school and servedas an altar boy for several of those.When it came time to go to college, Idecided to go to Marquette Universityin Milwaukee. After a couple years

l e a r r ~ i n g under the watchful eyes of myJesUIt professors, I decided that thepriesthood was for me, so I applied tothe Holy Name Seminary nearMadison, Wisconsin, an d wasaccepted.Soon after I got out of the seminary, Iwas assigned to St. Patrick's Cathedralin Crescent City. It was a real honor tobe one of the associates at the newestcathedral in America, and I quicklyfound that the post was everything Icould have hoped for-and quite a bitmore.

Our parishioners had a palpablehunger for the grace of God, an d I washappy to be able to help them find it.Right from the moment I first set footin St. Patrick's, I knew that I had madethe right decision in heeding the Lord'scall to the vocation of the priesthood.Some time after that, though, I wasgiven some small cause to regret it.

1"1 GRIAT MISTAKI Of '89I was in Atlanta for a conference of

Catholic priests when the Sovietsdiscovered that Delta Prime unit in thethen-glowing ruins of Chernobyl.Fortunately, the hotel in which wewere meeting was on the outskirts oftown, miles away from ground zero.I remember that day better than justabout any other in my life. It was afateful time for myself, my country,and my calling.

We only had about 25 minutes ofwarning before the bombs fell on thecity. There was really no time to getaway, but that didn't stop people fromtrying. The streets were clogged withcars, bikes, motorcycles-any kind ofconveyance to get people as far awayfrom downtown Atlanta as possible.

Even the streets were jammed,packed with people running toward asafety they knew in their hearts theywould never reach. Women werescreaming. Children were cryingeverywhere. The young and the oldwere being trampled underfoot.They were all dead. They knew it.We-the priests who had gatheredfor a closing mass in St. Michael's,ending the conference-knew it too.But we were prepared to deal with theoncoming darkness.Well, most of us were ready. Evenpriests are only human, after all.

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AWAITING ARMAGfDDONOf course, not everyone in the citywas ready to trample each other to getto safety. Some realized the howfruitless such an effort was bound tobe, and in their moment of need, they

turned to the church.Within minutes, the confessionals

were clogged to overflowing, andevery available priest was hearingconfessions in the pews. People spokeopenly, not caring who could hearthem now. And then they begged forforgiveness and wept without shame.

When the bombs actually hit, wewere still all ministering to our flock.Bishop Herndon was taking theextremely unorthodox action ofadministering a group version ofextreme unction to everyone in thebuilding when all Hell broke loose.

THf INDTIMf AND BfYONDTo be honest with you, I don't

remember a whole lot of whathappened next. It's all pretty much ablur of heat and shock and action.I was forgiving the sins of a 30-yearold mother of three when suddenly itseemed like the world was turnedinside out. When I regained my senses,I found myself buried under the rubbleof the church's vaulted ceiling.In some kind of miracle-and Ihonestly do believe it as such-thepeak of the ceiling actually managed tosurvive the fall to the ceiling. I'venever been so happy about flyingbuttresses in my entire life.The reinforced roof actuallymanaged to protect dozens of us frombeing crushed by the rest of thebuilding as it collapsed in on itselffrom the force of the bombs'

shockwave. Nearly 100 of us survivedthose first few moments. Mostimportantly, there were 40 of us whodid more than survive.

BUSSINGS fROM ABOnWe were all blessed to have lived

through that experience. But some ofus were more blessed than others.Forty of us became deltas on thatday. To this date, it's the largest massawakening that the Church is aware of.

That's top secret, of course, as ismuch of the information I'm going togive yo u in this primer. Now thatyou're a part of the Covenant,however, yo u have a right to know allof this. More than that, you need toknow.As the dust settled, we realized whathad happened to some of us. I firstfigured it out myself as I wasstruggling to pull a column of stone offof the woman whose confession I'dbeen hearing just bare minutes before.I prayed to God to give me thestrength to move the stone from thiswoman, and miraculously it wasgranted to me. I was able to shift thecolumn enough to shove it off of her,freeing her trapped legs. Then, thepower of God still coursing throughme, I put my hands on her woundsand prayed with all my might for Godin His infinite wisdom to let thismother live.And my prayer was answered.All around me, I saw similar thingshappening as priest after priest madetrue contact with the power of Godand channeled it through his mortalform to lend selfless aid to thosesuffering around him. Right away, Iknew that we'd been given the powerof the Covenant.

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Lin GOES ONOf course, that's not the end of whathappened on that fateful day, bu t thefull story will have to wait for a bit. Fornow, all you have to know is that this

~ v e n t gave me my Covenant powers:In the most frightening way I canimagine.Just as did your awakening, I'msure, that moment changed my entirelife. It's almost as i f I've lived twodifferent lives: one before the GreatMistake and one after.

My MISSION HIRIPart of my new life as a member ofthe Covenant is to greet the Lord's newrecruits and to do my best to get them

started on the long road that windsbefore them.

That's why you've been given thismissive to read: so you can learn whatit means to be a part of the Covenant.With the Lord's guidance, you'll beable to shoulder these great powersHe's granted you, an d the tremendousresponsibilities that come with them.First, I'll tell you a bit about theCovenant's history. Then I'll discussthe various ways people join theCovenant. From there, I'll talk aboutthe mission we've been collectivelycharged with by the Pope himself.After that, I'll draw back the veil onour order's mysterious structure. Fromthere, it's on to the people who are partof our organization, both at home herein the US an d abroad. To wrap thingsup, I'll let you know something aboutthe creatures we're up against.

Pay attention, child. One wrongmove can not only get you dead, butdamned.

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1"1 ORIGINAL (OVINANTAs those of you who have seenRaiders of the Lost Ark might remember,

the original Biblical covenant wasstruck between the Jews and Yahweh,their name for God. This took the formof the Ten Commandments which werewritten in stone by God on two largetablets. Moses himself carried thesetablets down from Mt. Sinai to presentthem to the Israelites who hadfollowed him into the desert on theExodus from their slavery in Egypt.Those tablets were eventually storedin a gold-plated, wooden box knownas the Ark of the Covenant, which theIsraelis carried around with them untilthey finally found the promised land.The Ark was passed around for a whHeafter that, and today no one canhonestly say what happened to it.You can bet your bottom dollar thatit's not rotting in an American militarywarehouse though.

WHAT A OVENANT ISA covenant is an agreement, often

between two groups of people. I t hasreligious, social, and politicalramifications. Before Moses broughtthe tablets down from the mountain,ancient societies struck covenants witheach other all the time. But as far as Iknow, this was the first example ofsomeone making a written deal withGod.

At the Last Supper, Christ declaredthat the terms of the old covenant hadbeen fulfilled-or were about to befulfilled by his death. He then made anew covenant with those who wouldshare his body and blood in the formof bread and wine during a mass. In

effect, Christ made himself the offeringthat would seal the deal between Godand all who would accept theteachings of Christ into their lives.There is no ark for the terms of thisnew covenant. We learn of itsparticulars in the gospels, and we carryits message in our hearts.We celebrate this new covenantevery time we go to mass. Thetransubstantiation of the bread andwine into the body and blood of Christreminds us forcefully of the LastSupper and the agreement that Jesusmade with all of us during that meal.When we partake of communion atmass, we affirm our part in this newcovenant, and we acknowledge ourresponsibilities to God.

IHI OROIR Of THE (OVINANTOf course, this all only indirectlyaffects the Cathol ic clerical order

known as the Covenant. Still, theCovenant has roots that reach back allthe way to the very beginnings ofChristiani y.It's well known that Christ wasactually tempted by Satan himself inthe desert during His days among us.That incident encouraged St. Peteralso known as Peter I, the CatholicChurch's first Pope-to develop a teamof individuals whose stated purposewas to hunt down evil in suchcorporeal forms an d eradicate it fromthe earth.The members of the early Covenantno doubt spent most of their timedodging persecution like just aboutevery other member of the earlyChristians. In that respect, theCovenant operated then very muchlike it does today: as a shadowy forcefor goodness.


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GOD'S Sf(RH fORCISFrom its very beginnings, the veryexistence of the Covenant has been atightly guarded secret held only by anextremely limited number of peopleoutside of the organization itself. ThePope himself is always considered to

be an honorary member of the order.Only a few of his top advisors in theCuria have special knowledge of thedetails of the Covenant.These days, of course, the wholeworld knows about the Covenant, bu tit wasn't always that way. In fact, that'sa recent development.

THf (OVfNANT THROUGHOUT THf AGfSAs Christianity's popularity grewacross the world , the need for an orderlike that of the Covenant grew as well.It seems that wherever good shines alight into the world, evil slouches in

the darkness.This was true in the ancient timesand it was even more true in the da:kages, when demons felt free to roamthe earth, wreaking havoc whereverthey went. Demons and their ilk havebeen a problem throughout the ages, aproblem the Covenant has beenuniquely equipped to confront.The Crusades, for instance-regrettable as they might no w seem-weren't just a means of bringing God'sword to unbelievers. In fact, while theCrusaders were waging war on thefield of battle, the Covenant was takingthe fight against the darkness to thesesame new lands, using the largerconflict to mask their involvement inone that was, i f anything, far morevital to the souls of the so-calledheretics the Crusaders were fighting toconvert.

The Covenant survived manyassaults on the Catholic Churchthroughout the ages. It sailed throughthe Protestant Reformation, forinstance, relatively untouched. Theseparation of the Anglican Churchharmed it very little. For most of itsexistence, the Covenant has seemedlike an indivisible rock, the one thingupon which the Church could alwaysdepend. And there's one singularreason for this fact: the Pope.

TH MAN IN (HARGEver since Peter I, the Pope hasalways been in direct charge of theCovenant. Of course, he does havepeople under him who actually handlethe day to day issues that arise withinthe order, but the men and womenwho make up the Covenant recognizeonly two higher authorities: the Popeand God Himself.

This has prevented any problemsfrom arising within the Covenantduring any of the splinterings thathave rocked the Catholic Church to itsfoundations from time to time. ThePope has made sure to staff theC.ovenant only with people loyal to hisVIew. of the Church. The only exceptionto thIS has been in modern times, andthis has resulted in the formation of anew group of heretical ex-Covenantmembers known as the Schism.

But I'll get to that in a minute. First Iwant to talk a bit about the modern-day Covenant, which everyone in theworld knows all about bu t reallyunderstands very little. This is thegroup to which you belong today, andalthough it has a proud history thatreaches back 2,000 years, it hasundergone more changes in the lastcentury than in all the rest combined.


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WE ALL HAVE OUR CROSSESEarly in his reign, Pope Pius XI, the260th Pope in the long line of directsuccession from St. Peter himself,realized that the world he was living in

had changed. First and foremost, thearrival of deltas in our world was anindication of the increasing relevanceof the supernatural in our lives.When I say "supernatural," I'm nottrying to imply that all delta powers

are the product of Satanic influence, assome of the Church's more rabidlyconservative members have suggestedfrom time to time. I'm merelyobserving that delta powers are, in fact,more than what one would naturallyexpect to see in a human being,therefore making them-in the strictestsense of the word-supernatural.That's all 1'm trying to say.Nothing more or less.

From the very first moment that theexistence of deltas and their amazingpowers burst onto the global newsscene, Pope Pius XI had contemplatedwhat this might mean for both theChurch in Rome and for RomanCatholics everywhere. He kept hiscounsel mostly to himself, with few ifany hints to the Catholic community asto what he might have been thinking.These were troubled times in theVatican, with people pressuring thePope from all sides to make some kindof pronouncement about deltas. Someheld that these people were obviouslyinstruments of Satan, while othersargued that the miraculous nature oftheir powers indicated that their originwas more heavenly in nature.

In the end, the point was made mootwhen the Pope was introduced toFather John Murray.


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THf fiRST (OVfNANT DHTAFather John Murray was an Irishimmigrant who'd come to the NewWorld to make his fortune and hadfound God instead. As the pastor of asmall parish in the south side ofChicago, Father Murray was right inthe heart of the gangland problems

that threatened to engulf the city inthose early days of Prohibition.Unfortunately, he got a little tooclose. In 1920, while trying to negotiatea peace between two warring ganglandfactions, Father Murray was caught ina mob hit planned by the leader of athird gang who saw a means toeliminate two of his rivals at once. Thatmurderous thug went by the name ofAlphonse "Scarface" Capone. Hissavage tactics apparently worked well,as he soon became the undisputedganglord of the Chicago underworld.While it might have seemed like thiswould have been the last time FatherMurray would cross paths with theinfamous gangster. In fact, it was bu tthe first.John Murray wasn't killed in thatshootout, you see. The good Lordlooked down on His faithful servant, aman who was literally risking his lifeto prevent the kind of bloodshed thatnearly consumed him, and in Hisinfinite wisdom, He reached out andtouched Father Murray, much in thesame way that He must have firsttouched Adam to instill life into thebody that He had fashioned in Hisown image.

In short, Father John Murray becamethe first member of the Catholic clergyto become a delta. He was the firstperson to receive the gift of the powersthat define the modern Covenant andbring us closer to God Almighty.

INUR THf (ROSSAt first, Father Murray ha d no idea

what had happened to him. He simplythought he'd managed to miraculouslysurvive a gunfight that should haveseen him dead. While that part of itwas certainly true, there was a wholelot more to his survival.Within weeks after that incident,though, a new mystery man by thename of the Cross was shadowing theback alleys of Chicago, rightingwrongs and rescuing innocentswherever he popped up. He dressed allin black-black shoes, black pants,black belt, black shirt, black jacket, andblack trenchcoat-all except for a whitecross silk-screened onto an onyxnecktie.The Cross also wore a black veil of amask under a black fedora. The samewhite cross was again silk-screenedunder both of his eyes in miniature.The three crosses represented both theHoly Trinity as well as the threecrosses that stabbed ou t from the top ofCalvary on the day that Christ wascrucified. The central one, the one overthe Cross's heart, was the one thatstood for Christ himself.

THf (ROSS UNMASKfDThe Cross, of course, was none other

than Father Murray, us ing hisnewfound delta powers to take thefight for righteousness directly to thosewho would hide within the darkness.Uncertain of how his bishop wouldtake the idea of a delta working as aparish priest, much less one of thesenew-style mystery men, Father Murrayadopted the secret identity of the Crossto allow him to act out with nearimpunity.


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This double life of Father Murray'sdidn't last all that long, however. In1922, right at the start of the periodknown as the Roaring Twenties, theCross was approached by none otherthan Harry Houdini, the legendarystage magician.

It seems that Houdini's abilities fartranscended the stage. Although agood man in his heart, he was theoriginator of the foul Bargainers, thattroubled society of fools who truckwith demons for artifacts of power. Ofcourse, Houdini had a problem, and hehad come to the Cross hoping theywould help him.

It seemed that one of Houdini'spupils, a Mr. Twist, had made a messof an experiment with a creature of theAbyss and II accidentally" let loose anactual demon on the streets of the cityof Chicago. The upshot of this is thatHoudini needed the Cross's help incorralling the demon.Despite knowing of Houdini and hisdemonic reputation, Father Murrayknew that innocents were sure to sufferif he refused to act. Without hesitation,he agreed to lend the first of theBargainers a hand.This is a good story, bu t it's a longone. Check out the Covenant archivesif you want all of the details. Theupshot is that Houdini and FatherMurray managed to capture the demonand exile it back to whence it came. Inthe process, though, Father Murraywas unmasked in front of his entirecongregation during a midnightChristmas mass.Suddenly the secret of the Cross wasout, and there was stuffing thatparticular genie back into the bottle.Within days, Father Murray receivednotice that he was to immediately headto Rome for an audience with Pius XI.


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THE COVENANT IS fORMEDFather Murray was shaking in hiscollar all the way to the Vatican. He

was sure that the Pope was going tomake an example of his horribletransgression.The parish priest was almost certainthat he ha d done no actual wrong, buthe wasn't at all sure that he'd be giventhe opportunity to explain all of thatbefore he was stripped of his collar andsubjected to some new form of theInquisition. He didn't really believethat the Cardinals of the Curia wouldconcoct new means to torture the"truth" of his consorting with devilsfor his amazing powers, but deep inhis heart, he was still scared. The factthat he'd been unmasked whilefighting a demon that had gonerampaging through a church didn'tmake him feel any easier about thesituation.

Fortunately, he had nothing to worryabout.

THI PAPAL PLANWhen Father Murray first enteredthe Papal chambers in the Vatican, Pius

XI approached him reverently and thenknelt an d kissed the parish priest'soutstretched hands. Father Murray wasstunned beyond belief. This wasentirely the opposite of what he'd beenexpecting.

When the Pope rose back to his feet,he looked Father Murray in the eyesand said in his Italian-accentedEnglish, "Blessed are you, Father JohnMurray, for you are a miracle broughtto life. You and those like you will bethe key to our salvation-to thesalvation of us all."

Soon after, Father Murray learnedthat while he might have been the firstpriest to gain delta powers, he was farfrom the last. The Pope had reports ofat least two other priests from aroundthe globe who had exhibited deltapowers that were almost identical tothose that were reputed to belong tothe notorious Cross. The ramificationswere both startling an d amazing.

It seemed that every Catholicpriest-and, it was found later, brotherand sister-who became a delta hadaccess to a certain similar number ofpowers, each of which seemed to bedivine in nature. Apparently, God ha dtaken a hand in this new form ofhumanity that had been cropping upall over the planet. His chosen oneswere being given powers that wereperfectly suited to fulfilling His divineplan.Ever since the Pope had first heardabout the Cross, he'd been discussingthe possibilities with his people in theCovenant. They agreed that this wasthe event that they'd been waiting for.It was time to go public with theexistence of the Covenant andincorporate this new kind of cleric intothe organization's ranks.

THE COVENANT REVEAUDPius XI unveiled the Covenant inearly 1923, holding up Father Murray

and his two delta compatriots as themodel of the Covenant soldiers thatwould be on the front lines of the fightagainst evit making the world safe forGod-fearing people everywhere. Theresponse from Catholics around theglobe was overwhelmingly positive.although certain governments andother religious institutions weremarkedly more reserved in their joy.


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Soon after the Covenant wentpublic, delta-powered priests, nuns,and monks began crawling out of thewoodwork looking to help. Suddenlymade aware that there were others likethem whose powers were not only notbeing reviled but were being held upas prime examples of God's power onearth, these holy people felt secureenough to step forward and confessthe powers that they'd been hiding forso long.From that point on, the Covenantgrew by leaps and bounds, until finallyit became the internationalpowerhouse that it is known as today.And the Pope couldn't have beenprouder.

Over the years, the new deltarecruits have been so solidlyincorporated into the Covenant thatthey have now become synonymouswith it and its mission.It's easy to see why this hashappened.

In essence, each delta member of theCovenant is potentially a future saintwalking the world alongside us. Thereare two requirements to becoming asaint:1) To have led a good and pious life.

2) To have either performed amiracle during your life or to beresponsible for one happening as aresponse to a prayer after your death.Covenant deltas perform miracles ona daily basis, just by still being alive, if

nothing else. According to the rules ofsainthood, all they have to do now is tolead exemplary lives.

Father John Murray was the first toreceive this privileged honor. He wascanonized St. John Murray in 1976, fiveyears after he disappeared along withthe rest of Chicago at the en d of theBicentennial Battle. He was truly a rolemodel for every member of both theCovenant and the Catholic Churchnot only for his powers, bu t also for hisfaith.


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IT'S AN IXCLUSIVI CLUBThe Covenant is about as exclusiveclub as you can find these days. First,

you not only have to be a member ofthe Catholic clergy-of which there'sno lack these days. Second, you haveto exhibit certain special skills orabilities which would make you anundeniable asset to the team.Despite what the general publicmight think from what they see ontheir primetime dramas, not everymember of the Covenant is a delta,although every delta clergyperson isor at least those that the Vatican knowsabout. Similarly, not every deltamember of the Covenant started out asa member of the Catholic clergy. Insome cases, they're simply Catholicmen and women who have decided totake on a special kind of obligation tojoin the Covenant.There are also people out there v.rhoexhibit powers similar to those of aCovenant delta but who are notmembers of the Catholic Church at all.To date, everyone of these people hasturned out to be a high-rankingmember of another establishedreligion, although it's been impossibleto confirm this with every reportedcase.

In essence, there are three ways toget into the Covenant today. Eitheryou're a member of the Catholic clergychosen by Pope John Paul II himself foryour skills, or you're a Covenant deltawith the holy powers that come alongwith that, or you're any other kind ofdelta to whom the Pope has granted aspecial dispensation to get you into theprogram.I'll cover each of these possibi litiesin some detail here so that you knowwho it is you might be working with.

1"1 LONG, HARD ROADThe non-delta members of the

Covenant go through an extensivescreening process designed to separatethe wheat from the chaff. What we endup with are only the best of the best,Catholic clergy who are often chosennot especially for their piety-althoughthat is a vital consideration-but forthe special kinds of skills that theybring to the table.

Often these members of theCovenant are the ones that do a lot ofthe work behind the scenes. The oneswith delta powers are obviouslyexpressly meant to be taking the battledirectly to the forces of darkness, butthere are still other jobs that need to bedone. These non-deltas handle thingslike procurement, maintenance,operations, long-term medical care,forensics, research and development,and all sorts of other details that areessentiaLbut which most Covenantp-awe;;just don't readily lendthemselves to.

In the old days, the Covenant didmost of its own recruiting from theranks of the Catholic clergy, oftensimply recommending people thatthey'd managed to work well withwhen on one field assignment oranother. Today, with the Covenant nolonger a tightly held secret, anymember of the clergy can recommendany other for membership in theCovenant.Besides incredible competency in atleast one field of specialization, theonly requirement for joining theCovenant is being part of the Catholicclergy. Few exceptions are made, andthose are only extended to people whoare willing to take convert and takeholy orders straight away.

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THE GRACE Of GODOf course, when most people think

about the Covenant, they envision apriest that somehow got delta powersand then went out to kick some demonbutt by the grace of God. That's not allthat far off from the truth, although it'san extremely simplified version of it.For some reason that no scientist canexplain, any time a Catholic priest,nun, or monk becomes a delta, he orshe gains a set of powers that havebecome synonymous with theCovenant. These powers all appear tobe divine in nature and theme, makingit fairly apparent that there is somehigher will at work here, grantingthese shepherds of God's flock thekinds of miraculous abilities heretoforeonly ascribed to the saints or to Christhimself.In once sense, this is far and away

the easiest route to Covenantmembership if you're already amember of the Catholic clergy. All youhave to do is wind up with deltapowers, and you're automatically andimmediately inducted into theCovenant as soon as the Pope learns ofit. The only real problem here is that toget delta powers you have to gothrough some kind of life-threateningexperience. There's a lot of debate as towhat it is that specifically causes anindividual to gain delta powers. Is itthat the people actually die and areimmediately resurrected with powersbeyond mortal ken? Or is it simply theadrenaline rush from a brush withdeath that triggers off some latentreaction within these souls? There'sreally no way to telL

In the end, I suppose, it hardlymatters. People either end up withdelta powers or, more commonly, they

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wind up next in line to see St. Peter atthe Pear ly Gates.And there doesn't seem to be any

good way to hedge your bets one wayor the other. Catholic clergy don't seemto have a much higher incidence ofdelta awakenings than that found inthe general population, although thesenumbers are always hard to pin down.Not everyone in the world evenrealizes that he's a delta right away,an d of those that do, a sizeablepercentage opt to keep any informationabout their amazing new powers tothemselves.Theoretically, all Catholic clergy areobligated to inform their superiorsimmediately upon realizing that theyhave delta powers, but this doesn'talways happen, and sometimes forwhat seem like good reasons at thetime. Make no mistake about this,however. If you're a Catholic withdelta powers-whether part of theclergy or not-it 's your duty to informthe Church. This information will bekept secret and passed on to theCovenant for evaluation, and we'llcontact you at the nearest opportunity.You should realize that the deltapower set that the Catholic clergyreceives is not unique to Catholicsalone. Delta Christ ian clergy of allstripes have been known to havesimilar powers, while awakenedleaders from other major worldreligions have also been known toexhibit almost identical sets of powers.There are some variations in thepowers that seem appropriate to eachbelief system in question-andespecially in the names given thesepower sets-but the vast majority ofthe actual effects of the powers areeither identical or nearly so.

DILTA-(OMI-LATILYOf course, none of us start out as

members of the clergy. In those earlyyears, a lot of people have a number ofchances to develop delta powers, andsome few of us actually do. Some ofthese people are practicing Catholics,and they, like their parish leaders, areobligated to profess their powers to theChurch.

Not all Catholic deltas end upjoining the Covenant. Those that areinterested are put through a rigorousscreening process designed to test theirfaith and their loyalty to the Church.Those that pass are offered a positionwithin the Covenant, complete withholy orders. Most times, these peopleare made either brothers or sisters, butthose men who wish to can enter theseminary with an eye towardbecoming a full-fledged priest.For those who either do not manageto pass the screening process or op t notto accept holy orders, their names an dlocations are kept track of by theCovenant. These deltas form a kind ofunofficial auxiliary corps. TheCovenant has been known to call onthese people from time to time whenthe need has arisen, an d at the veryleast, each individual's parish priestmakes a special effort to reach out tothem on a regular basis.Those with power-somethingdeltas have in no short supply-havethe obligation to use it responsibly, andin this endeavor many people needspiritual guidance. In providing thisfor these non-Covenant deltas, ourpriests are doing both the Church andthe world a wonderful service. Powerdoes not have to corrupt. But we mustalways be on guard against such apossibility.

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WE'RE ON AMISSION fROM GOD

Sure, it' s an overused phrase, butwhen you're talking about theCovenant, truer words have neverbeen spoken. We are literally God'schosen soldiers, individuals who havebeen blessed with sacred powers thatcan only be described as miraculous.As a whole, the Covenant takes onlots of different challenges, but we tryto stick to matters in which our uniqueabilities are truly useful. A number ofour members are assigned to work indisaster areas in conjunction with theRed Cross, for example.Some in the Church question whywe don't have many if any Covenantmembers on the missionary trail. After

all, when faced with such obviousproof of the power of the Lord, whocould refuse to believe? You wouldthink that the new believers would berolling in like the tide.The fact is that the Church's regularmissionaries already have such detailswell in hand. New enrollment in theCatholic Church continues to growevery year, and we expect that trend tocontinue, despite the scandal in theUnited States this year.The millions of Catholics who joinedthe Church before the revelation of theexistence of the Covenant did so on thebasis of faith alone. They didn't needany "proof" of the power of G ~ d , a ~ dneither do the people our mlSSlOnanesapproach today. I can't say t h a ~existence of Covenant powers Isn t abig nod in our favor on behalf of theLord, bu t it's hardly the mostimportant recruitment factor either.

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OUR DUTYThe duties we are charged withmore often have to do with savingbodies than souls. The fact is that justas there is now concrete evidence thatthere is a God-Mr. Nietzsche'sdesperate observations aside-there isas much reason to believe in Satanhimself. While reported sightings ofHeavenly creatures like angels are few

an d far between, the same can't be saidfor devils and demons.Make no mistake about it. Evil hasmany form?, some of which are assolid as you or I, and they are amongus. It's up to the Covenant to act as thefirst line of defense between suchbeasts and the bulk of humanity.Simply put, there's no one else bettersuited to the job or more incl ined totake it on.

To be sure, humanity is notdefenseless against these incursions ofevil. Wherever there are good-heartedmen and women who wholeheartedlybelieve in the sanctity of God, there isalways a ray of hope against thedarkness.The aim of the Covenant, however,is to banish the darkness entirely-tobecome a beacon of hope for everybeleaguered soul in the world. If Godis the su n whose light erases thedarkness, then we are the spotlightsthat help to eradicate the shadows,wherever they may be. We crawl intothe deepest, darkest places in theworld and drag evil screaming out intothe bare, burning light of day, where itcannot hope to survive.It's not an easy job, but someone'sgot to do it. If you're here, it meansyou're a Covenant delta, and you'vegot the right stuff for the job.


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MANY ARE (ALLED, fEW ARE (HOSENOver the course of this century,applications to join the Catholic clergyhave skyrocketed. When polled on

why this is, a large number of theapplicants answer that they want to bea part of the Covenant, to do their partin the war against Satan.While this is an admirable desire, itis misguided, which many of theseapplicants find out soon enough. Thecall to holy orders is one that eachindividual must respond to for theproper reasons. Wanting to fightagainst demons is really not what it'sall about.The clergy are the shepherds ofGod 's flock. Just as much as we arehere to guide our fellow Catholics, weare here to serve. We do that inwhatever way the Church deems best,whether that be from the top of acathedral's pulpit or from the bottomof a monk's Spartan cell. It's all part ofGod's plan.The trick is that we don't always getto choose what part we play in God'splan. Becoming a member of theCovenant is a prime example. Throughhard work and dedication, applicantsmight eventually find their way intothe ranks of the Covenant's supportstaff, but it's literally impossible toarrange to become a Covenant delta.Only God himself can bestow thosegifts, and He is extremely careful aboutthose he chooses to be the eliteshocktroopers in His army of light.The real irony is that those of uswho are Covenant deltas know better.Few people would actually choose tolife our lives if they knew what theywere actually in for. And it's up to usto make sure that most of them neverfind out.

RAIL AGAINST THI NIGHTLet's start off with something youprobably think you already knowsomething about: vampires.These creatures of myth and legendhave been popularized-if that's theright word-in literature and movies

throughout the past 150 years or so,but they have been with us for muchlonger than that. The Church hascollected reports of vampiric behaviorgoing straight back into the Dark Agesand possibly beyond.You may have thrilled to some ofthese modern-day tales yourself. Youmight have fantasized about huntingthese bloodsuckers down in their lairs,digging them up from beneath theearth, and putting an end to theirunnatural existences.Well, you may soon get your chance,but you should be careful what youwish for. It's not nearly as glamorousas the movies make it out to be.

HOLLYWOOD LIESIf you've seen any '50s monster

films-you know, the "true stories"about the exploits of the Cross, asplayed by one ham-handed actor afteranother-you might think you knowjust how vampires work. While thosemovies did have a grain of truth inthem, they are, in fact, works of fiction,and you need to treat them as such.Rid your mind of such antiquatedpreconceptions. The vampires of todaydon't lay around in coffins all day,toying with their pursuers like a catwith a spunky mouse. They are assophisticated as you and me, and theyknow that we're ou t there, comingafter them, and they're ready.


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BACK TO ATLANTALet me finish my story aboutAtlanta. It wasn't long after we

survivors managed to dig ourselvesout from under the nave of thatcathedral before we began to realizethe extent of the damage around usand how lucky we were to be alive.The city of Atlanta had been entirelydestroyed. The center of town waslittle more than a large crater,surrounded by dozens if not hundredsof toppled buildings. Those close to orat ground zero had died quick,merciless deaths and gone on to theirfinal rewards. Farther out, though,most people weren't so lucky.The first day was awful. Bodies werestrewn about the place, people whohad been crushed by a thrown car orblasted by flying shrapnel. Those who

had been outside when the bombswent off had it the worst. The radiationliterally boiled people's skin right offtheir bones. In some cases, thisthankfully happened quickly, but inothers, the survivors lingered for hours

the.hea: from the radiation trappedm theIr skm grew worse, like asunburn that still raged on long afterdusk.

We surviving priests did what wecould to help. Those of us who'd beenblessed with delta powers did our bestto learn how to use them on the fly,often realizing sadly that the only aidwe could offer many of the souls weran across was the comfort of the lastrites. We took what hope we couldfrom that, thanking God for everyopportunity that presented itself, nomatter ho w fleeting it might be. I t wascold comfort, bu t it was all we had.


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ATLANTA BY NIGHTAs I said, the day was awful, but thenight was much worse. In fact, thatfirst night was possibly the most

nightmarish of my entire life. We knewthat help would eventually be on itsway. We'd al ready seen and heardhelicopters from the outlying areasoverhead, and we'd seen a number ofmilitary transports zooming off tosurvey the damage. But there were justso many people to get to, and the roadswere so clogged with the dead, that weknew it could be a good, long whilebefore any help came our way.Fortunately, the cathedral had alsobeen a food distribution center. Oncewe managed to dig our way into thestorerooms, we had plenty of food togo around, and we spent the latter partof the day handing out foodstuff andbottled water to the people of the areawho had flocked to the church as arallying point for the neighborhood.

When the sun went down, though,that's when all Hell broke loose.Apparently, while the disaster hadcaused 40 priests-that we knew aboutat the time, at least-to becomeCovenant-style deltas, other deltas hadformed too. When you think about it, itmakes sense. A disaster of thatmagnitude would cause so many neardeath experiences that there wouldhave to be dozens i f not hundreds ofdeltas created on that day.The only problem was this. With theexception of we few priests, i t seemsthat every other delta that awakened inAtlanta that day did so as a vampire.

That's right: vampires are nothingmore than an especially evil form ofdelta, one that requires the delta todrink human blood to survive. Inessence, they are our polar opposites.

When the su n went down, thosevampires-and it seemed like theremust have been dozens of themalthough no one's ever been tofigure an exact count-literally startedcrawling out of the rubble. We werefirst alerted to the problem by thesound of screams ringing off in thedistance as the first victims of thesenewborn bloodsuckers were sent intothe arms of the Lord.As the night wore on, the sound ofthe screams grew closer. Soon enough,a band of survivors came racingthrough the streets toward theimpromptu camp we'd set up in thecenter of the street outside of thetumbled-down cathedral. And theyhad a trio of vampires chasing them.We watched in stunned horror as

one of the vampires snatched up astumbled runner and tore him apartwith her bare hands. That momentseemed to galvanize the priests in thecau:p, however, as we immediatelyrealized what was happening. Outcame our crosses, and soon enough, wehad surrounded the camp perimeter,

f a c i ~ g outward, our crucifixes held upagamst the encroaching vampire horde,which seemed to grow with everypassing minute.For a long while, it seemed like wehad succeeding in holding thebloodsuckers off, but they wereemboldened by their hunger, an d itwasn't long before several of themerupted through a manhole situated inthe center of the camp.

Chaos reigned for several longminutes there, and we lost several ofour gathered flock to these ravenouswolves. Eventually, we managed tocluster together in a tighter crowd,priests pressed in among the laity toprovide protection from everyconceivable angle.

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DAWN COMES SLOWLYBy the time dawn rolled around thenext morning, we'd lost dozens ofpeople, including several priests, bu t

not one of the 40 new delta priests. Thecorpses of the few vampires that hadbeen permanently stopped by ourefforts during the night burst intoflames as the first rays of light touchedthem, and in mere minutes they wereentirely consumed. Soon, it was likethe creatures had never been there.

But we knew better. We knew thatthere were still a mob of thosecreatures somewhere out there, hidingin the darkness under the rubble of theoutskirts of the city. And we knew thatwhen night fell, they'd be back.Some of the priests wanted to takethe battle to the bloodsuckers, huntingthem down where they lay during theday and putting an end to theirloathsome lives. Others of us weremore practical and argued that weneeded to get the innocents to safety assoon as possible. Even without thevampires, our situation was clearlydire enough that we were going toneed outside help. The only questionwas how we were going to get it.Again, there were differences ofopinion. Some advocated hitting thestreets and marching away fromAtlanta. Others insisted that the bestpolicy was to stay where we were andwait for help to come to us.These arguments were bitter, and itquickly became clear that we weren'tgoing to come to a consensus. Ipersonally offered to lead an exodusfrom the area, promising that wewould send back help as soon as wefound it. Well over half of the campflocked to my side, and within thehour, we pulled out.

THE LONG ROADOf course, the streets were cloggedwith bodies, and the electro-magnetic

pulse of the blasts had fried theelectrical system on everyone of thevehicles that littered the roads. Inshort, it was hard going, and we wereslowed down by the large number ofpeople with us. We had been forced toleave behind the most grievouslywounded survivors with ourcompatriots back at camp. I'd beenreluctant to do this, but it was pointedou t that bringing such people with uswould slow us down, so I'd relented.

In the end, it turned out to be theright thing to do. As the light fadedfrom the sky, our desperate band-over 100 people, including 20 of deltapriest-decided to hole up in asuperstore. A number of othersurvivors were already in the place,and at first they hesitated to share theirshelter with us. When the saw thetattered collars on we priests, however,they gave in.These people had had their ow nproblems with vampires the nightbefore, and they were thankful to havewhat they apparently considered to beunquestionably "professional" helpagainst the bloodsuckers. Despite thisfact-and the weapons we were able toraid from the store's supplies-thatnight was as horrific as the nightbefore, if not worse. While we'dapparently managed to slip away fromthe vampires who'd attacked us theprevious night, there were many morewhere they'd come from.Even while we battled for our lives,though, I prayed that those we'd leftbehind were faring better than we. Iwouldn't be able to find ou t the truthof that until much later.

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THE CAVALRY ARRIVESThe next mo rning, having lostseveral survivors and even a few of

our delta priests, w e were hear tened tohear the telltale sound of a helicopterlanding in the parking lot outside thestore. The soldiers in the chopper toldus that they were aware of thesituation and that every person within20 miles of the heart of Atlanta wasbeing evacua ted as a prelude tolocking down the entire area underquarantine.But that was on ly the good news.The bad news was tha t the soldiersdidn' t have nea rly eno ugh roo m intheir chopper to carry more than ahandful of us at a time . Still, they weredeterm ined to make the effort, an dthey radioed ahead to the disasterrelief effort' s headquarters torequisition ad di tiona l evacuation

assistance.Of course, I informed the captain incharge about ou r friends back in frontof the cathedral. He promised thatthey'd send someone to help themright away, but his first priority was toget the worst wounded people out ofthe area right now. When I pointed outthat we'd left several critical casesbehind-despite the best efforts of thedelta priests, we'd not been able tohelp heal nearly everyone-he agreedthat he should move on to scout thatlocation before returning to help usout.The captain told us that he'd be backas soon as he could. Hopefullysomeone else would be available tostart ferrying us out of the area soon.In the meantime, he wished us the bestof luck.

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Tm LONG WAITDusk came around again with nosign of the captain's chopper or anyother soldiers for that matter. We d

heard a few flying overhead in thedistance, bu t none came close tostopping for us, no matter what we didto try to get their attention.Meanwhile, the night drew closerand closer until it finally wrapped usin its chilling embrace. We knew thevampires would be coming for usagain. We didn't have to wait long.The battle that night was morepitched than ever. The vampires hadawakened that evening to find thatsoldiers had made off with most oftheir fresh sources of food, and theywere desperate to make the best theycould of those of us who were left.Jus)when it seemed like things weredarkest, an entire platoon of air cavalrycame swinging in out of the darkness,their spotlights blazing, capturing thebloodsuckers like deer in headlightsmere moments before they were tornapart by machine-gun fire. Within mereminutes the vampires had been routedfrom the area, and the soldiers werediligently rounding up the survivors tohaul us out of there.I later found out that evacuating thegroup near the cathedral ha d taken allday long, especially because our fellowpriests had stumbled upon a largegroup of people trapped in thebasement of a department store acrossthe street. The leaders at the disasterrelief HQ had been reluctant to sendany troops out to rescue us at night,but the captain we'd first met hadasked to be allowed to take anyvolunteers out to mount a rescue effort.And it had worked.God bless them all.

THE DARKER SIDEWorse yet than the vampires are theother things that go bump in the night.As creatures of evil go, vampires arepretty straightforward. They were once

human, and they have certain needslike hunger-that we can understand,at least in principle.Also, vampires have certain powersand weaknesses that pretty muchdefine them as a group. They'reundead. They can turn into mist or awolf or a bat. They can see in the dark,and as "undead," it takes a lot ofdamage to put them down. They mustdrink blood on a regular basis. Theyhate religious symbols and garlic. Holywater, sunlight, and wood can all hurtthem badly. This makes fightingagainst them about as straightforwardas you can expect when facing offagainst creatures of great evil.There is some debate as to whetheror not vampires are actually alive. Inone sense, they're deltas, which meansthey're human like anyone else. Buteven though they're walking andtalking like they're alive, their heartsdon't beat, and they don't apparentlybreathe.Are these simply aspects of theirpower that we don't really understand,or is there something more sinister atwork here? It may be that we willnever know. Vampires have beennotoriously difficult to capture" alive,"and despite what some novelists mightclaim, few seem to be willing to submitto an interview.Either way, vampires in general havebeen sanctioned by the Church asbeings of pure evil due to theirappetites for human blood, and theofficial policy is to deal with them withextreme prejudice.

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THERE ARE WORSE THINGSIn the grand scheme of theupcoming war between Heaven and

Hell-toward which we are onlyseeing the first tentative steps evennow, in this late period of historyvampires barely even qualify asfootsoldie:s of the great enemy. Theyare more hke hangers-on who millabout and get in our way and slow usdown, distracting us from larger andmore important targets-hopefully,they think, until it is too late for us totackle them.

Of course, it's hard to agree with thesentiment that vampires are"footsoldiers" when you've got one ofthese superhumanly strong monsterstrying to rip off your head so it canfeed on the blood spouting from yourcooling corpse. Worse yet, the modernday vampire is a cunning beast whohas learned much from the prey hewalks beside every day. Vampires arenot jaded aristocrats waiting to bediscovered and then chased off.They have learned from us.

The Covenant has developed somea m ~ z i n g weapons for use in the fightagamst the minions of darknessseveral which are targeted d i ~ e c t l yat vampIres. These weapons includesuch things as the Covenant crossbowthe Holy Soaker, the balloon mortar 'and so on .The vampires have escalated matterson their side as well, developing newweapons and techniques to use againstus. Whereas most bloodsuckerstraditionally rely on their raw strengthand speed to defeat their foes, it's notuncommon to encounter vampireswearing modern ballistic body armorand toting assault rifles these days . Wehave in turn developed barbed, armorpiercing crossbow bolts to defeat someof these measures.

I t seems certain that this arms racecan only continue to spiral upward. Inthe end, we will surely triumph overthe vampire, but rooting out this foul~ e a s t will take more than superiorfirepower. It will require men an dwomen with the will to see the jobdone.

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WELCOME TO THE (LUBNow that you know a little bit aboutthe Covenant's mission-to make the

world safe from tangible, unearthlyevil-it's time for you to learn a littlebi t about how the Covenant works asan organization.

In effect, the Covenant is a separateorder of the Catholic Church, just likethe Jesuits or the Benedictines. Itoperates independently of the others,though in concert with them at thesame time. We're all on the same team,after all: the team of righteousness.The head of the Covenant is noneother than the Pope himself. As thecurrent Pontiff, Pope John Paul II givesus our orders and guides our actions,at least in a general, big-picture kind ofway.

To make an analogy most Americansshould understand, if the Covenant isthe Catholic Church's armed forces,then the Pope is the President. He hasthe same kind of commander-in-chiefpowers over us that the President hasover his troops, and his day-to-dayinvolvement is at about the same level.

In other words, most of the time thePope doesn't have anything to dodirectly with the Covenant. He's abusy man with a lot of other concernson his mind, an d while the Covenant isa vital part of the Church's efforts tosave humanity, it's far from the onlypart.

Of course, when Covenant issuescome to the fore, the Pope is thereimmediately, listening to his advisorsand making the really tough calls.Fortunately, he has God on his side tolend him a hand, as do we all.

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Tm: MAN IN RfDJust like with the President, the Poperelies on competent people under himto handle the daily duties involved

with running an organization of thissize. In the case of the Covenant, theman the Pope relies on to keep hisdeltas on the right track is none otherthan Cardinal Paul DuTemple himself.Standing six feet tall, with sandyblond hair and ruggedly handsomegood looks-especially for a man in hisearly 70s-Cardinal DuTemple is quitethe dashing figure. Originally fromAustralia, his Latin, Italian, andSpanish are flawless, and he speaks afair amount of German and MandarinChinese as well. He spent many yearsas a Covenant priest, fighting againstevil all over the globe. His experienceis second to none, and he commandstotal respect from each and everyoneof the people who work beneath him.The cardinal is a fair bu t toughminded man, unafraid to make thehard decisions that running our side ofthe ultimate battle between good andevil demands . He knows when to cuthis losses, and he knows when to gofor broke. Better yet-though heattributes it to constant prayer-hisinstincts are almost never wrong.There's been some talk of CardinalDuTemple being next in line for Popewhen the current Pontiff goes off to hisHeavenly reward, but of course that'sall premature. There are many withinthe Covenant who doubt that thecardinal would find holding the top jobin the Catholic Church any morerewarding than the job he already has.As a man of action, he might find thediplomatic duties of the Pontiff to bestifling compared to the life he's usedto leading.

THf (OVfNANT ARCHBISHOPSBeneath Cardinal DuTemple-who'soften known simply as "the Cardinal,"since he's the only one of that rank inthe Covenant-are several archbishops,each of whom oversees the Covenant'sactivities in a certain geographical area.These priest are unique in that they

have no actual parish of their own tocall home, no cathedral in which to saymass. Instead, their entire territory istheir land.Many of the archbishops haveestablished a home base in one part oftheir territory or another, bu t there are

some who are constantly on the movefrom one case to another, stayingexclusively in the guest rooms in therectories of the pastors in whoseparishes they happen to findthemselves. The territories themselvesare extremely large. In fact, there areonly 12 archbishops, with two locatedon each habitable continent, the soleexception being Antarctica, of course.Here in North America, one of thearchbishops handles the US andCanada, while countries south of theborder are the other's responsibility.The man in charge of the northernterritory is Father "Big" Bill Hanson.Archbishop Hanson certainly livesup to his nickname. The man isn't allthat tall at 5'10-, but he weighs in atwell over 300 pounds. Because of hisportly profile, the archbishop never didterribly well with during his years inthe field, but he found that he had areal penchant for analyzing patterns inseemingly random information and inmanaging the efforts of a large groupof people. This made him a natural forrunning a portion of the Covenant, andwhen the position came open severalyears back, his name was called.

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TH f (RUCfNT (ITY (OVfNANTArchbishop Hanson maintains hisresidence in St. Patrick's Cathedral,

right here in Crescent City. A sedentaryman, he rarely goes out on the road tovisit sites in his territory, preferringthat the people under him collect asmuch information as possible and thensend it back to him for cataloging andanalysis.

The Covenant clergy in both Canadaand America report directly toArchbishop Hanson and his staff. Asthe archbishop's second-in-command, Ispend a great deal of time on the roadmyself, doing the legwork that he findstiresome.Most of the time, Covenant clergyare encouraged to operate on theirown, poking their noses into whatevermight catch their attention. Only whenthey find something that might requirea bit more than a single Covenantpriest to handle are they likely to callfor backup.

When something big is up, thearchbishop quickly forms a team ofCovenant clergy from those whohappen to be in the right area at theright time or simply have the rightkinds of skills. In these cases, he oftenappoints one member of the team to bein charge of the others. Although thisperson is most often a priest, it doesn'thave to be that way. Nuns are namedto head these groups on a fairly regularbasis.Despite that, the leaders of thesegroups are called pastors, even thoughtheir flock consists entirely of theirfellow clergy. In a sense, though, thesepeople are charged with protectingeveryone in the area, which makesthem as important as any parish pastormight be .

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IHI DILlA ARMAGIDDONOne of the biggest questions that the

Covenant has wrestled with over thepast 80 years is the substantial increasein the number of deltas cropping up astime passes by. Starting with theappearance of the Silver Ghost in 1918,our global survey has determined thatthere have been more deltasawakening every year.

This was even true back in 1976, theyear of the Vanishing in which most ofthe alphas disappeared, although someof that may have had to do with thingslike the disastrous outcome of theBicentennial Battle. In truth, deltaawakenings were flat in 1977, but theypicked up again in the following years,although temporarily at a slowergrowth rate.

Along with the larger numbers ofdeltas, we've seen an increase in boththe number of miraculous anddemonic incidents over the sameperiod of time. I t seems that ou r worldis gradually becoming a much strangerplace in which to live.

To say that the reasons for this areunclear would be like claiming that theevidence seems to indicate that Satanmight be bad news. Of course, peoplehave their theories, howeverunsupportable they may be.The most popular theory in manyparts of the Church-and the fondnessfor this notion is hardly limited toCatholics-is that what we're seeing issimply a prelude to the apocalypse.The powers of both good and evil aregrowing more and more tangible in theworld, and eventually something isgoing to give-most likely the world.

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D.O.A. DUTASMore than one scholar has noted theat least metaphorical similarities

between awakening an d resurrection.There's often not too much of adifference between a near-deathexperience an d death, it seems clear.Perhaps these deltas are actuallypeople who have been chosen to besent back to this mortal realm for asecond chance at life, much likeLazarus, whom Christ called forthfrom the grave.Many deltas openly dispute thishypothesis, including most Covenantdeltas. Those of us who have beenthrough the experience know thatwhile we might have had a close shavewith death, at no time did we actuallyenter his clammy embrace, only tobreak free and return to the earth onceagain.

THf SfCOND COMINGStill, this has given rise to an even

wilder theory. Could it be that whenChrist returns to this world a secondtime, he will do so as a delta? Might itbe that this new Christ is already inmidst, waiting only for God to taphIm on the shoulder with anawakening into the kind of deltapowers that only the son of God couldcommand?

If so, there's no way to know whothis person is or when he might makehimself known. Obviously this didn'thappen at the turn of the millenniumno matter if you count it as h a p p e n i n ~on New Year's Eve of 1999 or 2000. Butperhaps that fated date isn't the enditself but simply the beginning of theend. I f so, when the calendar rollsaround to the year 2033 or so, we

might all be in for an extremely rudesurprise.

Of course, this assumes that the newChrist will ascend once again at 33years of age, just as he did the firsttime around. There is nothing,however, to say that this must be so.By the same token, the entire theoryhas little to stand on other than thestrength of the story it tells. In thesedays more than ever, the world seemsto be literally coming apart at theseams, an d people are left to wonderthat if this is no t an indication of theapproaching armageddon, then whatwould be?

TH f PRAGMATIC ApPROACHPersonally, I don't see how all the

posturing an d arguing can make onebit of difference. When God decidesthat it's time for the world to come toan end, it will do so, and there will benothing that we can say or do about itthat will have the slightest effect.With that in mind, we should alwaysremember that any of us could see ourtime here on earth come to an end atany moment-personally, i f not on aglobal scale. In that sense, we shouldconstantly be preparing our souls forthat time of judgment when we standbefore Heaven's Pearly Gates and St.Peter lets us know whether we arepermitted to pass through or not.

In the meantime, it's the duty ofevery God-fearing person to do his orher best to root out evil wherever itmay be, whether in the body of ademon or in the unknowable depths ofour very own souls. Only by constantlystriving against the darkness can wehope to achieve victory for the forcesof light and to gain salvation forourselves.

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THE WAY IT USED TO BEBack when the Covenant first wentpublic, the President was Warren

Harding. It was illegal to sell booze inAmerica. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novelswere all the rage. The Jazz Age wasjust getting underway, and the '20swere really starting to roar.

In short, this was a different time, atime in which people were moretrusting than they were today. If therewere no more innocent, they weresurely more naive.

DOING THI RIGHT THINGBack then, telling the world about

the Covenant must have seemed likethe right thing to do, an d obviously so.After all, with the arrival of the firstdeltas in the world and the firstmystery men in America, the planetwas rapidly becoming a moremysterious place, an d i t might haveseemed as if the ancient mysteries ofthe Church were looking rather palenext to those in their bright, new style.With the coming of the Cross, itprobably seemed like telling the worldthat God had His own amazingsoldiers too was a smart bet. And, infact, i t worked wonders.

Immediately thereafter, enrollmentin the Catholic Church skyrocketed,and although other major religionshave since revealed similar kinds ofdeltas in their midst, no one's everbeen able to steal the thunder that PiusXI got rolling by being the first on thescene. It's one thing, after all, to tellpeople that God is on your side. It'sanother thing entirely to offer themwhat most see as incontrovertibleproof.

DIALING WITH THI DOUBTING THOMASISOf course, just because a delta showsup with incredible powers that seem to

be modeled on the kinds of miraclesthat Christ and some of the saints wereable to perform in their time on earthdoesn't necessarily prove anything.The fact that the only deltas to exhibitthese kinds of powers are religiousleaders cements the idea that there's ahigher power behind all of this a bi tmore firmly. And the fact that clergywho awaken only get these kinds ofpowers-without apparent exceptionwell, that really drives the point homefor most folks.Still, if you're of a doubting mind,this really doesn't qualify as the kindof proof you can take to the bank andget a loan on. In the end, that's why it'sstill called faith. I f there was absolute,solid, no-way-to-doubt-it proof, thenthere'd be no reason for faith, wouldthere?

You wouldn't believe in God. You'dknow.And that's not really what being a

part of a religion is all about.Eventually, if you want to be a part ofany religion, you've got to listen towhat your heart is telling you, ignoringthose whispers of doubt that areringing in your head, and take that bigleap into the unknown.As clergy, we deal in helping peopleunravel these mysteries, in figuring outho w they apply to them and their lives.Without the mystery-without thatelement of uncertainty, no matter howmuch less it may seem these days-there's no challenge to anyone's faith.And faith is something important. Vitaleven. You see, when you believe insomething greater than yourself, thenyou can finally believe in yourself.

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THE COVENANTIN THE 20TH CENTURY

As the years wore on after therevelation of the Cross and those likehim in the Covenant, more and moreclerical deltas joined the Covenant,making the obvious connectionbetween God an d the Catholic faitheven clearer to most people. A lot ofpeople ascribe the fact that PresidentKennedy is a Catholic to the landslidein which he defeated Nixon in 1960. Tothe growing number of Catholics in thecountry, God was literally onKennedy's side.Kennedy, to his credit, neverabandoned his faith, even when thedays seemed darkest. In fact, he wasknown to often call upon the Church intimes of need, and he's rarely beenfound far from his personal confessor,currently one Father Mark McCormick.Father McCormick replaced FatherFrancis O'Day, Kennedy's long-timeadvisor in all matters spiritual, back in1996, when Father O'Day suffered amassive stroke and died.

KEMNIDY AND THE COVENANTIt's also said that it was because of

Kennedy's religion that he made allCovenant deltas partially exempt fromthe Delta Registration Act. In effect, wewere obligated to follow the letter ofthe law by registering with the federalgovernment, but Kennedy made asolemn vow that no member of theCovenant would ever have to servewith Delta Prime. He felt that suchdeltas had a higher purpose thanbringing rogue deltas to justice, andthe Covenant leaders gratefully agreed.

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Kennedy's special loyalty to theCatholic Church became crystal clearwhen he refused to offer the sameterms to similar deltas in otherreligions. Protestants, Jews, Muslimswhatever-they all had to register andserve.

Of course, few did, most claiming tobe conscientious objectors. Some weremore practical and came to a deal inwhich they would not be jailed as longas they promised to be availableshould Delta Prime ever call on them,which it tacitly agreed never to do.Others, refusing to give in to suchtyranny, to perpetrate and thenperpetuate such a lie, ended up rottingaway in the Fortress and, later, NewAlcatraz.

At the time, many outside of theCatholic Church cried foul, claimingthat the Church was in Kennedy'spocket or vice versa. However theymight have felt, the facts did notchange, and the Catholic Churchenjoyed a special status unseen by anyother religion in the history of thecountry.The United States had been foundedon the concept of religious freedom, onthe idea that no one religion would beshown any more preference thananother by the government. With thecountry under martial law, Kennedypretty much swept this pillar of the Billof Rights under the rug in the OvalOffice.

While this made some Catholicleaders more than a just a littleuncomfortable, the general attitudewas that speaking up about it wouldonly cause the Catholic Church to fallinto Kennedy's disfavor as well. Atleast with the way things were, theCatholic clergy had a chance toinfluence matters and hopefully tomake them better.

THE SCHISMThose Catholic deltas that didn'tbelieve in kowtowing to Kennedy inthe interests of pursuing long-termgoals ended up joining with thosedeltas from other religions in a new

organization known as the Schism.This move enraged Pope Paul VI, whoimmediately excommunicated eachand every priest that had left theChurch proper, declaring them to beheretics.

While there may have been much inthe way of wailing and gnashing ofteeth over this pronouncement, therewas little actual effect. Kickingsomeone out of a church after they'vealready left is akin to closing the barndoor once you've discovered thehorses are gone. In fact, some morecynical pundits of the day opined thatthe Pope's move was as hollow as itseemed, calculated only to curry favorwith Kennedy.

THE SCHISMATI(S THENIn those early days, the Schismatics

were more a class of criminal than theecumenical religious movement intowhich it grew. The group's formationwas more a matter of brutal necessitythan plan. With the governmentcracking down on the clerical deltas,they had little choice bu t to abandontheir flocks and their former lives.

Some Schismatics simply chose tostart over in another part of thecountry under a new name and a newidentity. A few of these individualseven continued to preach, althoughrarely doing anything that might callattention to themselves an d blow theirthinly conceived cover.

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Other Schismatics went entirelyunderground, Working closely with thenewly formed Defiance, these holymen and women formed a thinnetwork which they slowly built on asthe years went by. Eventually, theSchism evolved into a coherent wholeas its members developed an agendaupon which they could all agree andthen start to plan to act.Next to the Defiance, the Schism haslikely been the largest thorn inPresident Kennedy's side. The realdifference between the two groups isthat most Americans still consider theDefiance to be full of terror ist thugswho are willing to go to any lengths tofurther their ultimate end of topplingthe US government an d sending thecountry into anarchic chaos.

At least with the Schism, mostpeople feel like the renegade clerics arebeing unjustly persecuted, especiallythe Schismatic faction known as theNew Covenant. The Newbies are allex-Covenant deltas who have decidedto join with their compatriots from theother major religions to fight againstwhat they see as a terrible injustice inthis country.Until recently, most Covenant deltashad thought there was a special placein Hell for the Newbies. People whohave powers like theirs were obligatedto use them for the greater good,politics of any sort aside. Of course,that was before the whole hostingscandal broke out.

THI SCHISMATICS NoWIn effect, we're all Schismatics now,as long as we're part of the Covenant

in America. In recognition of this, PopeJohn Paul II recently rescinded PopePaul VI's automatic excommunication

of any Covenant deltas who left thefold. This happened immediately afterthe Covenant officially joined the list ofbanned organizations in America.Although the Pope's statement neveractually spelled ou t the reasoningbehind his action, the facts are clear.The split between Covenant deltasin America is officially over. In the end,what we'd been long suspected of byDelta Prime became irrevocably t rue-except that it's no longer a matter ofwhere our sympathies lie as much asan issue of who we truly are.

And we are now all Defiants.

THE COVENANTIN AMERICA TODAY

Ever since the DeltaTimes.comscandal that rocked the Covenant to itscore, the posi tion of the Covenant inAmerican has fallen faster than Luciferfell out of Heaven.For those of you wh o have beenliving under a rock-or have beenstationed in Uzbekistan-for the pastfew months, let me explain.While the Covenant has long beenostensibly partnered with the UnitedStates government-most notablyoften working arm in arm with themen and women of Delta Prime-wehave, in fact, been playing both sidesof the fence. Let me restate that in nouncertain terms: While the worldthought that we were in Kennedy'spocket, we were in fact lending theDefiance a hand.

How did this happen? Why didn'tyou know anything about it? And evenif it was, then how did we end upgetting caught? Ah, no w there's astory.

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.! Web Sailor Pro 4.20 Beta r a ~ Stop I

(ONfESSING fOR lUI (OVINANIFirst, let's start at the beginning.Ever since President Kennedy cracked

down on deltas across American andinstituted martial law throughou t theland, the Catholic Church has been atodds with him. While we may haveappeared to be locked in next to him,step by step, in fact that was simplythe face that we showed to both thePresident and the world.

You see, the United Statesgovernment may be constitutionallyprohibited from interfering withreligions-no t that this stopped thePresident, of course-but the CatholicChurch is bound under no suchrestrictions. In fact, the Church haslong been a powerful political en titythroughout history, and that fact wasno different under American martiallaw.Not wishing to lose our favoredstatus under the Kennedy regime, weproceeded with any initiative toundermine his government withextreme caution. We were in a u niqueposition of power-power we coulduse to help a lot of people who neededi t-and we weren't about to give thatup without good cause.Since the very beginning, we'vealways seen the value inherent in theDefiance and supported it in everyway we could without exposingourselves overly much. In the ' 60s and'70s, this meant helping out with theprinting and distribution of the DeltaTimes newsletter. In later years-as thepower of the internet grew-thisevolved into a need to help keepDeltaTimes.com freely accessible toanyone with a computer and a modem .To that end, we hosted the site on ourservers.

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HARD TIMES.(OMBelieve it or not, the Covenant hasbeen hosting the DeltaTimes.comwebsite for over 10 years now, eversince Truth first suggested it to us. Iknow all about this personally, ofcourse. As Archbishop Hanson'ssecond-in-command in Crescent City, Iwas the Covenant's main liaison withthe Defiance.While the internet revolution wasslowly building in America, we at theCovenant realized that a technologythat encouraged the free and easytransmission of information was themost important invention since thedevelopment of the printing press. Wequietly began investing in internetservice providers an d other internetrelated companies through third-partyshell accounts.

~ o ~ ERRORPAbE NOT FOU

Before long, the Covenant had aninterest in just about every major ISP inthe entire country, and we hadmanaged to insert moles into most ofthese organizations. It's amazing whatyo u can get away with when you're asubstantial stockholder in acorporation.These moles carefully set up secretservers that would serve as the basisfor a secure network of Covenantowned computers that were almostinextricably threaded throughout thebackbone of the internet. I t was onthese servers that we anonymouslyhosted DeltaTimes.com and all of itsconcurrent services, habitually routingthe information through other serversboth.inside and outside of the countryto foIl any serious attempts bygovernment hackers to track and shutus down.

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NOTHING LASTS fOREVERAs in just about any kind of secretendeavor that goes on for any periodof time, eventually someone slips up. Ifthis is a small mistake, it can often be

caught before anyone is the wiser, andwe all can simply breathe a collectivesigh of relief.

If the mistake is really large, we canoften come up with a plausible coverstory that shows just how outlandishthe reality is. This is what we did whenDelta Prime agents stumbled upon acache of freshly printed copies of thelatest edition of the Delta Times in thebasement of a Philadelphia churchback in 1975. We found a janitor for thechurch who was willing to be hung outto d ~ y , and we blamed the entire thingon hIm: a "rogue element workingfrom within our very home and ourheart, betraying the trust that we soreadily gave him."

In the end, the Delta Prime agentswho seized the papers wound upbuying the whopper of a tale,concluding that the Defiance hadquickly arranged to get the man out ofthe country on a moment's notice sothat he could evade punishment for hiscrimes. While that much is true, wewere the ones who arranged for thejanitor to t a ~ e the fall as well as to graba one-way tIcket for parts unknown.With the DeltaTimes.com servers,though, it was a case of a number ofsmall mistakes rolling together andthen sneaking up an d catching us frombehind. The whole problem started latein 1999.

If you recall from the news at thetime, the DeltaTimes.com site had beenforced offline for a while due to aconcerted Delta Prime campaign. Itseems that in the aftermath of the

execution of Patriot, support for theDefiance was skyrocketing, an d thePrimers wanted to do everything intheir power to cut the legs out fromunder the movement before it had achance to do anything with itsnewfound popularity.We were forced to take the Defiancewebsite offline for long periods of time.But the redundant mirror system that

we'd concocted to handle just such aproblem malfunctioned, with several ofthe back-up servers coming online atthe same time and crashing together asthey all fought to occupy the sameaddress in cyberspace at the same time.

In the end, Delta Prime hackers wereable to learn the physical address ofof the servers that was hosting acnppled DeltaTimes.com website. Wealerted the Defiance to the situationand Truth sent a team in to make 'things right, but it was too little toolate. The Primers managed toconfiscate the server and the routersattached to it, and their hackers wereable to undeniably establish that it wasin fact the Covenant that had beenbehind the hosting the whole time.Within days, President Kennedyannounced the Covenant's "treachery"and declared us to be an outlawedorganization in the same class as theDefiance itself. All registered priestswere ordered to turn themselves in orbe arrested.

Fortunately, we knew all about thescandal about to break, and we'd givenour people plenty of warning. Within24 hours of the President's statement,no Covenant member in America wasanywhere that he or she could easilybe found. In effect, we'd finally beenfully pushed into joining the Defiance,and when we reached ou t to theDefiants, we found them waiting withopen arms.



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GOD IS VRYWHRI've written this missive from aAmerican perspective, for sure. Thefact is that I was born in America,raised in America, an d I hope to

someday-a long time from now, if I'mlucky-die in America. However, Goddoesn't recognize things like thepolitical boundaries that seem soimportant in international diplomacy.His popularity is truly a globalphenomenon.

So I'm going to step back from thegoings-on in the United States for amoment and give you a quickoverview of how Covenant operationsare across the globe. Even if you're adyed-in-the-wool, never-going-toleave-the-country kind of American,there's a lot of information in here thatyou might find enlightening, so payattention as best you can.

ASIAChristianity is a minority religion

throughout most of Asia, which isdominated by such faiths as Islam,Hinduism, an d Buddhism. TheCovenant has a presence in this part ofthe world, bu t it's not as omnipresentas it is in Europe an d South America.

nBfTThe most interesting religious group

in Asia has to be the Yellow HatBuddhists in Tibet. Although theChinese government has tried time andtime again to overthrow the Tibetangovernment and install a puppetgovernment of its own. it has to datefailed miserably.

In fact, the Chinese actuallyoccupied this contentious territoryfrom 1950 to 1959. In that fateful finalyear, the people of Tibet revoltedagainst their Chinese occupiers, andwith the help of the Big Hats-theYellow Hat equivalent of theCovenant-they were able to drive theinvaders from their homes.The Chinese have tried several timesin the intervening years to reestablishtheir control over this mountainousprovince, bu t they've never been ableto mass the kind of will necessary topul l it off.Since Tibet is ruled by its religiousleader, the Dalai Lama, the Big Hatsare more like the Covenant, DeltaPrime, and the Defiance all rolled intoone. There are no rebels fightingagainst Tibetan authority in thisbeleaguered country. The people rarelyhave the time or need to turn onthemselves. They're too busydefending their borders against theChinese aggressors.

(HINAChristianity is officially outlawed inChina, bu t that doesn't stop peoplefrom believing in the greatest storyever told. The Covenant is notwelcome in China, although sometimes

humanitarian exceptions are madewhen we accompany the Red Crossinto disaster areas to offer relief.As a communist state, no religionsare permitted in China. Of course, evensuch downtrodden people as theChinese refuse to abandon their faithsentirely. This does mean that there areno official clerical delta organizationsof any kind in the region. There arereports of some individuals with thesekinds of powers, bu t they are rare.


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HONG KONGThe Chinese and British are stillbattling it out over the fate of HongKong. The city-state remains undersiege

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