The Centurion Club for Intrepid Individuals
The world has always been strange, friends. Never let someone tell you otherwise. But, we as humans, dislike the strange, the unusual, the unexplainable, the paranormal, or the mystical, especially when such things are malevolent to humanity and our survival. As a species, we are quite adept at destroying ourselves, and find ourselves complacent with our own willingness to destroy each other through traditional means. Yet as soon as something truly new opens up, something the likes of which has never been seen, that we fear more than anything else. SO, in our collective wisdom, we agreed to the delusion that such things are impossible, non-existant, and that the wonders of science has proven them to be impossible. But alas, my friends, we are deluding ourselves. Such is not the case. And we have barely begun to know what strange things remain unknown and unexplored around the globe, and perhaps, someday, beyond. It is for this reason, my friends, that I have invited you to be founding members of the Centurion Club for Intrepid Individuals. Pardon the alliteration, but I could not resist. We are gathered to study the immaterial, measure the immeasurable, explain the impossible, and look forward to a better world. A world where humanity can live in peace with itself and science can dedicate itself to making the world better for all of its inhabitants, and we can live in harmony with the weirdness of the world around us. Thank you.
The Centurion Club for Intrepid Individuals (usually referred to as the Centurion Club) is a social club founded in 1888 by explorer and aeronaut Lemuel Treadway upon his return to society after twenty years missing in the Congo region. He spoke little of his return but instead became somewhat of a recluse from the broader world until the establishment of the Club. He renovated his family estate in the New England town of Weymouth into the center for the club, inviting members to live there, either permanently or while between expeditions so that the club is more of a base than a home. A variety took up the offers in different manners. What most surprised the world was when he not only permitted, but invited, women to become full-fledged voting members of the club, defying the common practice of the day. When asked about this, he shrugged and claimed he had "no desire to lose out on half of the greatest thinkers, inventors, explorers, and adventurers in the world because of their sex." For the most part, the Club was the target of much speculation and gossip for the first few years, but interest from high society moved on. It has remained mostly out of sight and interest for broader society, although a few eager for a big news scoop, gossip, or scandal keep attention to their work. For the most part, members of the club seem to be eccentrics, charlatan mystics, or scientists whose minds have cracked under the pressure of their research, as well as more than a few able engineers, inventors, and other more practically mind folks. The truth is far stranger, although the Club strives to keep it quiet. Their members are those who have seen the unexplainable and impossible events that happen around the world and embrace it in their studies. Viewed as crackpots, mad scientists, dabblers in the occult, Centurions are instead dedicated, hard-working, highly-intelligent men and women of the highest moral and ethical character who will seek out the truth to any question, no matter the cost. They are experts in their field of study if only because for most of them, they are the only ones in the field. As a result, much that goes on within the Club is essentially secret, because the public neither believes nor wants to know about the truths they have discovered. They publish their own academic journal of their findings, but few outside the Club ever read it, let alone subscribe. Secret government agencies are most likely to keep abreast of their research and ask the Club for its help when the strange and unusual occurrences happen. Of course, there are those who would use for evil, which Lemuel and the Club are dedicated to preventing.
Structure
The Club is structured as a parliamentary social club. It has a president, elected every three years by the members, along with officers including Secretary, Treasurer, and a Board of Managers to ensure the smooth operation of the Club and its many endeavors. Aside from the officers, there are the Members of the Club, who can propose motions, vote, and suggest amendments to the charter, as well as supporting funding for expeditions and research projects submitted by members of the club.
Outside of the official business of the Club, each member functions autonomously as they pursue their own goals and projects. In this, the Club operates more like a network of researchers, both laboratory researchers and field researchers, as well as those with specialized skills to help ensure the success of the research projects.
To become a member of the club, an individual must first be nominated by a current member, interviewed by the officers and a majority of the members present, and then voted on, before being officially invited to be a member of the club.
Public Agenda
Mission Statement: The Centurion Club for Intrepid Individuals exists to foster a community of researchers, explorers, and adventurers willing to explore the deepest and most hidden mysteries around the world and to use the knowledge gained from these endeavors for the betterment of mankind and the advancement of society through the elimination of disease, poverty, tyranny, and the oppression of all individuals across the world.
Assets
The Treadway Estate: The primary asset of the Centurion Club is its ownership and management of the Treadway family estate, donated to the club by Lemuel Treadway upon his founding of the Club. It is a sprawling New England estate at the edge of Weymouth, perched on a headland looking over the bay and harbor. It includes a very large manor house, with additions being made in the past few decades including sizable underground laboratory complexes, garages for motorized vehicles, a hangar and airstrip, as well as a tunnel and staircase leading down to the water for the Club's collection of seafaring vessels.
The Hidalgo Building Office: The thirty-third floor of a skyscraper in @New York City, these serve as the printing and official business headquarters of the Centurion Club. It is primarily composed of offices for the officers when dealing with official business such as finance, taxes, arranging logistics, and other more administrative duties. It also has a small laboratory and large library and room for members of the Club to stay in the bigger city for when they may need access to the larger array of resources.
The Old Dockyard: The primary international base for the Centurion Club, the Old Dockyard is a warehouse complex on the River Thames in @London. Once a ship-building company, Lemuel used his family money to purchase the property and updated it for Club's European members and operations. The main building is the warehouse, which is divided again into laboratories, flats for club members, offices, and supplies. The old dry-dock has been converted into a garage and hangar, while the dock itself has been refurbished and modernized for both sea-going vessels and sea-planes to use.
The Centurion Fleet: A varied assortment of automobiles, motorcycles, boats, ships, and airplanes used by the Club for its expeditions. Most are stock standard, but a few are customized, and some are even one-of-a-kind-inventions by the members of the Centurion Club.
History
In 1854, Lemuel Treadway departed on a cartographic mission into the Congo valley in Africa. He disappeared for twenty years before returning to the world, a changed man. Always eccentric, he was now reclusive and driven to a degree unimaginable by his former compatriots. He said nothing about what happened on his journey and instead threw himself into a new project. Utilizing the family fortune and his own mysteriously acquired and seemingly endless wealth found in his journey, he began a new project, purchasing property around the globe, and renovating the previously empty family estate, since abandoned by his siblings in favor of New York City.
Fourteen years later, Lemuel sent out a flurry of letters and telegrams to special individuals around the world specializing in the esoteric, unusual, and often times unscientific. These were the invitations to be founding members of what would become the Centurion Club. Nobody but those individuals are aware of how exactly it came into fruition, but in 1888, the Club was officially opened with its first batch of members.
Since then, they have launched several expeditions considered by the main establishment to be unscientific and ludicrous, many more of small-scale that are scientifically recognized, and other secret projects that they do not discuss. For the first few decades, they were primarily researchers, until the outbreak of @The First World War.
During this time, the governments of the world sought for any advantage possible to break the stalemate of the Western Front and ensure victory for their home-nation. Many in the American, British, French, and Belgian governments turned to members of the Centurion Club for their expertise in the weird and unusual. After a long and strident debate, the Centurion Club agreed to support the Triple Entente, providing them with expertise, information, and experimental technology. The US government's secretive @Office of Special Activities and @Army Intelligence also formed close ties with different members of the Centurion Club. Tragically, many of the members were killed in action on their various assignments, leaving the Centurion Club greatly diminished and understaffed. Thus ended the first golden age of the club.
After the end of the war, a now-elderly Lemuel Treadway decided to not give up on the cause, but saw its purpose as more vital than ever before. As a result, he recruited many new members, primarily those who had survived the war and its unusual occurrences, as well as the new kinds of explorers and adventurers that arose after the war. Aviators, scouts, investigators, and secretly, those who became known to the broader public as vigilantes. The club now took a more proactive approach to making the world better to try and prevent another crisis like the war and the @Spanish Flu Pandemic that followed after.
Fourteen years later, Lemuel sent out a flurry of letters and telegrams to special individuals around the world specializing in the esoteric, unusual, and often times unscientific. These were the invitations to be founding members of what would become the Centurion Club. Nobody but those individuals are aware of how exactly it came into fruition, but in 1888, the Club was officially opened with its first batch of members.
Since then, they have launched several expeditions considered by the main establishment to be unscientific and ludicrous, many more of small-scale that are scientifically recognized, and other secret projects that they do not discuss. For the first few decades, they were primarily researchers, until the outbreak of @The First World War.
During this time, the governments of the world sought for any advantage possible to break the stalemate of the Western Front and ensure victory for their home-nation. Many in the American, British, French, and Belgian governments turned to members of the Centurion Club for their expertise in the weird and unusual. After a long and strident debate, the Centurion Club agreed to support the Triple Entente, providing them with expertise, information, and experimental technology. The US government's secretive @Office of Special Activities and @Army Intelligence also formed close ties with different members of the Centurion Club. Tragically, many of the members were killed in action on their various assignments, leaving the Centurion Club greatly diminished and understaffed. Thus ended the first golden age of the club.
After the end of the war, a now-elderly Lemuel Treadway decided to not give up on the cause, but saw its purpose as more vital than ever before. As a result, he recruited many new members, primarily those who had survived the war and its unusual occurrences, as well as the new kinds of explorers and adventurers that arose after the war. Aviators, scouts, investigators, and secretly, those who became known to the broader public as vigilantes. The club now took a more proactive approach to making the world better to try and prevent another crisis like the war and the @Spanish Flu Pandemic that followed after.
Optimum est qui audeat
Founding Date
June 22, 1888
Alternative Names
The CC, the Club,
Demonym
Centurions
Leader
Notable Members
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