The brief for this book was to include no new mechanics, which meant that I had to include interesting background material. My goal was to design a group that would work well both as player character and as antagonists; the Rosicrucians were not presented very sympathetically in the core book.
The approach I took was to give them ethical standards that, while fairly minimal, were very strictly enforced. Thus, individuals might be unpleasant, but not outright evil. On the other hand, the group generally exercises little control over the day-today lives of its members, which means that it’s a reasonable base for player characters who want to be a bit heroic. Even they are likely to get annoyed by the sexism and snobbery, but that just creates material for adventures.
There are five covenants in WitchCraft, and the five books were supposed to be produced simultaneously. In the end, I was the only author who made the deadline, and this is the only book in the series that has been published. The other two books in the series I was asked to write urgently haven’t come out yet, either.
This book was ahead of its time for 2001, in that one of the important characters is female, black, and disabled.
Also a cat.
Maybe she doesn’t count.