Thule Society
The Thule Society was a cabal of occultists who were primarily active during later parts of the 19th century and into the terminus of World War II. The collapse of the Axis powers and the surrender of the Third Reich led to their cult being almost entirely destroyed.
History
The Thule Society had origins in the Volkisch movements that followed the German Romanticism era of the mid-19th century. By 1890, the occult traditions of Ariosophy had become an umbrella under which many cults and occult societies flourished. Unlike humanist models such as Theosophy, Ariosophy was dominated by the belief that the German people were the inheritors of the powers of the ancients, particularly the Nordic gods of Asgard. They venerated the bastardized name of Wotan as a patriarchal alternative to Abrahamic monotheism.
By 1910, erratic philosophers like Guido von List and the deranged rantings of Jorg Liebenfels contributed to the rise of this Aryan mentality. Petty magicians and sorcerers began invoking Wotan as a deity to empower their own designs. They were encouraged by puissant entities and immortals who saw them as a means to their own end, including the Harbingers, immortals, and 'pagan' spirits that had survived Christianity's dominance over Europe. The focus of all this attention led to the creation of multiple secret societies and cabals spread across Germany and other parts of Europe, many corrupting Odin's name to draw their magic from Asgard's wellspring.
In 1918 the largest of these were folded into Thule Society, which made direct appeals to German's aristocracy by presenting themselves as a Germanically 'pure' alternative to the Knights of the Holy Order. With rising sentiment against the Roman-Catholic church, these aristocrats eagerly pledged their fortunes and their children to the cause of occult Aryanism. Malevolent entities from many demesnes beyond Asgard found these ardent supporters to be ripe for corruption. Even demons from Hell approached influential souls and offered them Faustian bargains, exchanging incredible magical power for their immortal soul.
The Thule Society notably sponsored the rise of Adolph Hitler by contributing to the Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei, which later became the Nazi Party. When the Third Reich was formed, there was a public break between Hitler and the Thule Society (many members of which represented classical aristocratic feudal structures, a contradiction of Nazism's public ideology). The Ahnenerbe was formed by Heinrich Himmler as a research arm of occultism, in frequent competition with HYDRA's science division and Reichsfuhrer Johann Schmidt.
In reality the Thule Society simply went underground. Those practices and tools which could be useful to the Third Reich were covertly passed to Ahnenerbe researchers who could 'discover' them and engineer their use in wartime. The Thule Society supplied information to the Ahnenerbe on occult rituals such as necromancy, divination, and demonology. They put their agent, archaeologist Rene Belloc, on the path of the Arc of the Covenant. On another occasion they financed Grigori Rasputin's efforts to contact the Ogdru Juhad (foiled by Dr. Bruttenholm and a battalion of US Army soldiers).
One of the Ahnenerbe's most notable successes was the summoning of Hope Svelgate in 1944. 'Lady Death' represented the corruption of both ancient Wotan and the forces of Hell itself. Entire cities were razed to the ground as the undead rose from the grave and slaughtered the living. Though the Ahnenerbe could have no way of knowing it, the mass corruption of Odin as Wotan was threatening to corrupt the harmony of all Asgard.
The timely intervention of the Allied forces, particularly members of the Justice Defenders, broke the back of the Ahnenerbe's efforts. Lady Death was freed and went on a bloody rampage through the ranks of the Ahnenerbe before being returned to Hell. This catastrophic loss vastly diminished the structure of the Ahnenerbe and dealt a fatal blow to their ability to wage unconventional occult war.
After the end of the war the Thule Society remained underground. Former members of the Nazi party, occultists, and aristocrats decided to bide their time and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike at a world that had defeated them once already.
