Le Nouveau Régime, meaning The New Regime, is what the syndicate is called in the Scion Citadel of Paris.
Description[]
Le Nouveau Régime is ruled by three grand ducs, or grand dukes. They are the equivalent of the Underlord and Underqueen. Each grand duc controls two of the six cohorts of Paris. The grand ducs hold court in les carrières, the catacombs underneath Paris. No one sees the grand ducs without an invitation. The grand ducs call each other brother- and sister-in-chaos, or siblings-in-chaos.
Within each cohort, there are local officers called the patrones, or bosses. They are the equivalent of a mime-lords and mime-queens. The patrones oversee the districts and are each named after tarot cards. It is forbidden to show anyone the way through the carrières without express permission from a patrone. The equivalent of a mollisher is a compagnon d'armes. Revealing the secrets of the Paris syndicate earns the person a spoonful of l'encre ardente, or fiery ink, a poison that dyes the mouth black and causes a week of excruciating cramps. It can take months for the stain to fade.
The test to enter Le Nouveau Régime is called Le Couloir des Noyés, or the Corridor of the Drowned. It involves entering a pool of water and going through an underwater tunnel. Hidden extremely deep in the carrières is Le Passage des Voleurs, or the Passage of Thieves. It is an incredibly fragile ancient mining tunnel that's vulnerable to collapse. If you follow it for two or three days you will arrive in a cemetery in Versailles. The entrance to the tunnel is called Apollyon. It was discovered by Le Vieux Orphelin and Renelde du Linceul. The members of Le Vieux Orphelin's gang are called perdues, meaning lost. They are loyal to him above their loyalty to the other grand ducs. There are thirteen of them.
There is some debate about how Le Nouveau Régime formed. One version says a ring of fortune-tellers in the seventeenth-century called Affair of the Poisons started the syndicate. The other, and more popular version, says the syndicate was started by a secret society founded by a cartomancer named Louise Gilbert. Louise did a reading for Queen Marie-Antoinette, also known as the Gray Queen, and saw her future awash in blood. Louise fled and met a woman named Marie-Anne Lenormand, who was also a cartomancer. Together they formed a secret society that helped the Revolution. The Paris syndicate honors cartomancy as a high art.
Notable Locations[]
- The carrières/quarries: the catacombs underneath Paris and home of Le Nouveau Régime
- La ville souterraine/The Underground City: another name for the carrières
- Île des Cygnes/Swan Island: Le Vieux Orphelin's refuge
- Le Passage des Voleurs/The Passage of Thieves: the secret tunnel to Sheol II
- Apollyon: the entrance to le Passage des Voleurs
- La gorge de l’abîme/The Throat of the Abyss: part of le Passage des Voleurs
Notable Members[]
- Le Latronpuche
- La Reine des Thunes
- Le Vieux Orphelin
- Renelde du Linceul
- Le Prince Creux
- Ivy Jacob
- La Tarasque
- Mélusine
- Le Chevalier des Deiners/The Knight of Coins: patrone of the Court of Miracles
- Katell: a seer in the Court of Miracles
- Paul Caron: Katell's husband who has been taken by the Man in the Iron Mask
- Le Trouvère: a polyglot loyal to Le Latronpuche
- Malperdy: perdue of Le Vieux Orphelin
- Ankou: perdue of Le Vieux Orphelin
- Le Bateleur/The Fool: perdue of Le Vieux Orphelin
- Noonday: pyromancer and perdue of Le Vieux Orphelin
- Sylvie Lambriquet: voyant sold to the gray market
- Simon Cleutin: voyant sold to the gray market
Trivia[]
- Part of the oath the grand ducs take includes vowing to never leave Paris.