SAPPHIRE

The Society of the Atheists Partisans of Progress for the Halt of the Irrational and Religious Enemy, better known as "SAPPHIRE", is a Group of Interest and hostile faction in the universe of the SCP Foundation.

Mission-statement
SAPPHIRE is a group that consists of rational humanist atheists who seek to eradicate all forms of belief, religion and superstition, as they believe these concepts to be the cause for all misery that humanity has experienced. This also include all anomalies (SCPs), which they seek to destroy.

Despite this belief, the group is known to use anomalous objects for terrorist attacks against against both traditional and occult religions, often targetting civilians.

These attacks have also been performed against other anomalous organizations, such as the SCP Foundation.

Structure
The group is mainly based in Western Europe, though it is also active in Eastern countries, Northern Africa and the East Coast of the United States.

Instead of having a leader or central power, SAPPHIRE is divided into approximately fifty semi-independent Lodges worldwide. The Lodges are free to acti independently or in conjunction if they desire, but each Lodge is under the auhtority of a person known as the Lodge Leader. The Lodge Leaders assemble once a year to a clandestine summit in the location of "Stoa".

The group is also well-funded, partially from subscriptions of its adherents and partially from generous donations from wealthy private influences, such as the Silverstein- and Faustil-families.

History
SAPPHIRE was formed around around 1909, in Western Europe. Much of it's early history is unknown, excpet that after the Seventh Occult War it became one of the Founding members of the Global Occult Coalition.

In 1953 SAPPHIRE diverged from the GOC, due to ideological divergences, as the Coalition was portecting civilian religions and also consulting with religious organizations (such as [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar Holy Order of Knights Templar]).

The group remained largely obscure until the 1960's, when it started expanding more significantly. The cause for this is unknown, but around this time they likely started to become more openly hostile as well.

Relationships with Organizations
SAPPHIRE is openly hostile with religious instituions such as Vatican, as well as organizations that are deeply rooted with them, such as the Mossad. Anomalous religions like Sarkicism, Church of the Broken God and Fifth Church are also targeted by the Society.

The Society is also hostile towards groups that contain/destroy anomalies, such as the SCP Foundation, GOC, Office for the Reclamation of Islamic Artifacts and Humanist Gentlemen, since the group views them as not effective enough in their tasks.

Tirvia

 * The name of the Faustil-family is possibly a reference to Faust, an erudite from German folklore who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.