Magic stuff, Help Penta design magic stuff! Options

[Penta]

Okay...

Not sure if I'm going to use this in my game...But.

As I look over Street Magic and the like more often, I'm realizing something.

One of the more interesting groups of magicians in the Sixth World (in my humble opinion), the Sylvestrines, gets basically no coverage in the rules, where fairly esoteric (to me) groups do get covered. (Pardon, they get a one-line mention in the Christian Theurgy section. I'm not sure how well Christian Theurgy works with millennia of traditional Christian, specifically Catholic, belief (The Gnostics being a heresy...), but okay.)

As an exercise in rules-working, I'm trying to describe the Sylvestrines (The Order of Saint Sylvester) as a magical group. This attempts to derive itself from what's known in SR lore about the Sylvestrines, and adds things to link it to the wider Catholic Church.
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The Order of Saint Sylvester is canonically erected as an order of Clerks Regular, and take the same vows as other religious orders of chastity, poverty, and obedience. However, in a fashion similar to the Society of Jesus's fourth vow, Sylvestrines are vowed to serve the Pope in any matter the Pope may choose, and to "assist in the Thaumaturgical protection of the Church".

While some Sylvestrines might serve in secret groups like the New Knights Templar, most don't. Many serve on thaumaturgical faculties at Catholic universities; others do parish work amidst concentrations of the Awakened, and still others serve the Church in such positions as diocesan Exorcists (magical ability practically being a requirement to determine the difference between mental illness, thaumaturgical effects, and demonic possession). Despite the order's newness, it is theologically conservative - there are as of yet no female Sylvestrines.

They are headquartered in Rome, and led by their Superior General, Father Pedro Nicolas (as of 2072). As of yet there have been no Sylvestrines named as diocesan ordinaries (as diocesan bishops or archbishops), though there has regularly been at least one Sylvestrine Cardinal at virtually all times since the Order's founding in the wake of In Imago Dei.
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And now the Rules stuff. Here's where I could really use help. The purpose was easy, relatively. Everything else I'm guessing on.

Purpose: As set out in it's Constitutions, the Order of Sylvester is "An order of clerks regular founded for the use of the gifts of thaumaturgy in the service of Christ and His Church on Earth". Put more prosaically, the Sylvestrines are the Catholic Church's in-house group of priests who happen to have magical talent.

...And that's basically where my brain stops.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Stry]

For starters I am surprised the church moved as fast as it did when accepting magic, and metahumans.

You seems to know a lot about the structure of the modern church. So there are few things to consider.

1. the writers may not know as you do about the structure of the church.

2. If they did know as much, the writers may not wanted to confuse or bore readers with the extra info.

3. The writes might have been worried about offending people if they were too detailed.

In any case I would not place much stock in how the church is organized in the sixth world. If you are running the game you can flesh it out to how you think should be organized.