One of my players notes that chronicle our sessions!
About 2 months worth of sessions happened before this particular player joined my game but she has been taking really great summary notes and recently sent them to me. Not all of the info is correct/names of people places spelled wrong but it’s really cool to see my players perception of what’s going on. She was absent for the last two sessions so she took notes based on word of mouth so some of those events aren’t necessarily in chronological order. It’s a long read and it might be hard to keep track of but I hope you enjoy it! Session 1 (Oct 6th) Kit was the huntress of Queen Briand/Castle Holbrook—the queen adopted a young girl named Draya who doesn’t seem to age, even as the Queen sickens and becomes unresponsive. She’s been fleeing for a month from Castle Holbrook after witnessing horrible cult sacrifice led by Draya, pursued by hooded figures that seem immune to arrows. She’s met on the road by blue dragonborn (Saar), person dressed like a scarecrow (Skully), female aasimar in platemail (Marikiel), red tiefling in Emerald Sky Academy uniform (Neiros), tabaxi (Tazak), human bard (Robinson—I don’t think you ever met him, Chris) and a sad-looking horse (Saponlloe/Palloeson), plus a regal-looking man in merchant clothing (Gabriel) and his assorted guards. Kit blurts out the story to the group and asks them if they can help her get to Bell’s Ring for help from the wizards of the Academy. Gabriel knows Queen Briand and Draya, tells us they are coming to Bell’s Ring in about a month for a political retreat and meeting of allies. We camp on the road, notice a hooded figure with a gold fanged mask plus 9 others watching us. Their feet don’t touch the ground, and he can either see through Neiros’ invisibility or sense him by smell. Saponlloe pulls out an amulet that produces sunlight, which seems to burn them. They advance, we run to the town. Kit falls asleep in the back of their wagon, and we get to the city, where Gabriel shows a medallion to the guard for entrance and Kit is placed in the Stockade/barracks for her protection. Saponlloe reveals that he is a druid able to transform into a horse and stays with her because he feels his story is somehow connected to hers, even though he can’t remember much. The others go to the cathedral of Vertis and a library, and Robinson and Neiros stay at a different inn. Session 2 (Oct 13th) The Stockade is attacked during the night—the torches gutter out, the guards outside the door and right inside are slaughtered by something invisible/shadowy and the doors open on their own. A figure with a golden mask enters Kit’s locked room and recognizes Saponlloe but calls him Palloeson (“do you still feel the guilt of Reda/Retta?”), tells Kit “I won’t let you harm Draya!” and attacks, transporting the two of us to some sort of shadow realm for a round of combat. The other attackers overwhelm the guards, and even make some of the dead come back to life and fight. Tessa enters the Stockade midway through the battle and helps. After some combat, a winged demon figure with a sun emblem on his belt appears, admonishes Guilt/Corona Albright (gold mask) that this wasn’t part of the plan, and portals the two of them away to a view of a dark sky and a palisade wall, although we hold onto his mask. Marikiel is killed, Taz badly wounded and left at the cathedral to recover. Tessa tells us of her vision and her intent to join the party. Skully has a spotty memory of the letters “A_L_U_D_C_R_U_M” in some order or combination connected to his past. Saponlloe/Palloeson tells me of Reda, a young man/”Blessed One” whose murder he witnessed, and he remembers the name “Alucard” and some sort of blood moon in connection with the murder somehow with Skully’s clue. Saar collects Marikiel’s body and tells us of his plan to bring her back. Session 3 (Oct 20th) Saar knows of Sigmaris, a fabled city to the north where the dead can sometimes be brought back to life, and he plans to take Marikiel there. Tensions are heightened in the city, but we head to the bazaar to buy rations and warm clothes to head north. The tailor tells us of white-skinned elf living in the woods who could be a guide for us (Aedris). The gates are guarded, so Skully leads us out of the city through the sewers. We find Aedris in the woods; he tells us that his whole clan was slaughtered by someone named Rage leading the orcs/beastmen and he wants revenge in exchange for his help. We head to a nearby monastery for advice; leader tells us to try the White Drake Academy to the northwest. We travel 3 days with no interruptions, see a sign on the fourth day warning us of “greenskins” and pointing to Northshore (N), Morioh/Eagle’s Rest/White Drake Academy (W) and keep going west. We’re attacked by a group of goblins/orcs on the fifth day, and Taz is killed, but we get info from a survivor that they recognize the gold mask. Rage has one, and she now rules Baelsergo, the city of beasts to the north, and the Blood Drinkers (symbol on the orc clothing). So now we have RAGE (Aedris’ enemy), GUILT (Corona), and FEAR (Draya) connected with golden masks. We travel to the town of Morioh and sell some loot. Kit goes to the temple of Velen to search for answers, gets a vision of a dark sun from the statue at the altar. Skully and Palloeson have some more info on their amulets being keys to the Temple of the Sunwalker, somehow connected to the druids of the Dawnfire Archipelago and their enemies (evil bat druids), and the name Alucard Cruorem, who took something from the good druids. ALUCARD = Gabriel, who they were traveling with at the beginning! Session 4 (Oct 27th) ( was only here for the last hour and a half or so, so I don’t know what happened in detail at the beginning of the session with the circus and such) We get to Eagles’ Rest. People from the party visit a circus where a woman named Belona throws herself on spikes and isn’t hurt by them. They somehow see her golden mask and decide to assassinate her because of her assumed connections to the other golden-masked figures. Something about her triggers Palloeson’s memory, and then he connects with a woman named Sara, who breeds horses, and spends time with her outside the city. Saar has reservations on killing Belona, but casts Detect Evil and is staggered by the sheer force of evil and tormented souls around her. A plan is made to silver the spikes she falls on and try to kill her. Saar sees the image of Vestis watching them in the crowd, a serial killer they killed earlier in the campaign—he puts on a golden mask and disappears. Aedris is the only one at the circus to observe, since Vestis won’t know him. Belona falls on the spikes and transforms into some immense terrible demon and murders most people in the tent, but Sara the horse breeder transforms into some sort of bright moon goddess and fights it, and they chase each other away over the hills. The party runs to the docks, steals a ship, and sails for the academy, bringing the bodies of Mary and Taz. We have to leave Tessa and Robinson behind. RAGE = Belona Session 5 (Nov 3rd) We sail to the peninsula with the Academy and Neiros goes off to talk to his grandmother. We know Vestis is a golden mask now, but we don’t know what corresponding emotion it is. Most of us head to the library for research, and Saar finds the Tomes of Understanding he’s been searching for. Skully finds info on the amulets and the druids of the Dawnfire Archipelago/Celestial Isles (Hircine people = eleves loyal to the god of the sun, drow = elves loyal to the god of the moon). Kit researches the next eclipse, and talks to a professor about the Celestial Isles, the druids of the Dawnfire Archipelago, and their Ritual of Ascension (meet a spirit animal in their dreams to become druids). He doesn’t know anything about the Temple of the Sunwalker or evil blood druids. We stay for a long time to let Saar and Scully read the first Tome, and Skully learns about his previous life that he can’t remember. Tessa catches up and shows us her new tattoos, which are part of the ones she had in her vision, and tells us just a bit about Galadia and her sword/her backstory. We overhear that Eagles’ Rest has requested help from the Academy against the Blood Drinkers. Palloeson communes with the Briar King and now has formidable power and a thorn-wrapped arm with a pool of blackness in his palm. We are teleported to Northshore, the closest teleport option to Sigmaris. Skully talks the lady blacksmith into silvering our weapons. We decide to camp outside after the inn owner is racist to Saar, but the orc force attacks in the night. Session 6 (Nov 10th) The soldiers of Northshore are heavily outnumbered; Saar, Aedris and Palloeson rush in to help, Kit follows at a distance. Skully sneaks in to get some of our weapons back and get civilians out. The three party members are knocked unconscious and taken away by a giant lizard to the NE as the townsfolk are rounded up and told to go about their business under new beastman rule. Kit runs back and tells the other of the kidnapping, they meet up with Skully, and they track them NE. The three are taken to Baelsergo and imprisoned, and the amulet is taken to Rage. Palloeson escapes, confronts Rage, and is killed. We pull off an escape plan for the rest, and get out into the woods, crossing rivers to throw off the scent. Session 7 (Nov 17th) We keep heading north to flee, and then realize that our plan to get to Sigmaris is foolish, especially since we no longer have the bodies of Mary and Taz. So we change course to Caspia to get Tessa where she needs to go. Skully tells us everything he learned from the Tome and that the mask and the amulet is somehow what made him a skeleton person. His name used to be Aethis, he knew Palloeson as a member of a druid council, Skully didn’t get in, and they trained and did bad things. He knew the people who are now the golden masks (Alucard = Gabriel Mercrow, FEAR = Draya Braves, GUILT = Corona Albright, RAGE = Belona, MISERY = Dresden Nabacroft, APATHY = Vestis). The area they were, the Hirstfall Islands, was hit with a plague and Gabriel’s family died, and he is mad because the islands were blockaded and he thinks that’s why they died--revenge?. We reach the Great Lake and see kobold settlements around it, build a boat, and set sail. We are stopped by Thoss the black dragon and talk our way past him, but then find out Vestis is following us. We call Thoss to help, Vestis fights him and both are badly hurt. Vestis flees and the party kills Thoss but Skully dies in the process. Session 8 (Nov 24th) We loot Thoss’ hoard and lay Skully and Palloeson to rest, but keep Skully’s skull and Palloeson’s briar arm and hair just in case. Vestis is back to following us and tells us that Gabriel is coming to get the amulet in 5 days, so we should just give it up. We decide to head for Caspia and head into a series of caves back towards Northshore (with some kobolds in tow), but are attacked by a roper and brains on legs. We win the fight and press on. Session 9 (Dec 1st): first session when I am in VT and unable to play The party makes it back to the town controlled by beasts, does some shopping, and meets with Alucard/Gabriel. They agree to give him the amulet if he shows them what he is planning with the three of them and then leaves us alone. Neiros and Saar get tattoos using the ashes of Palloeson and Skully. The group sets sail towards the Dawnfire Archipelago with Alucard. Draya torments Kit alon g the way until Tessa intercedes. Our boat is boarded by a slave trader, and we discover that Saar has been framed and is wanted for slave trading. We win the ensuing battle and take the leader’s boat, then sail to the Dawn Fire islands with Alucard’s group, fighting some elves who think we are the slavers (thus becoming the villains). The trip takes a week, and we eventually reach an island with a culture of elves. The grandmother of Erny’s new character (El o’El? Am I spelling this right?) thought it was the goddess Lunarra the whole time (whole culture deceived by Kil’Jaeden), and cannot believe they have been misled, so she sends him with us to undone what has been done. Dec. 8th (2nd session away) It takes three days to reach the tower from the island, a whole day for the party and Alucard’s group to climb to the top of the tower in the Dawnfire Archipelago and another day for part of the group to make their way back down into “the prison not meant to be seen”. Kit, Nieros, Tessa, stay at the top of the tower, and then go back down to hunt for some provisions. Aedris, inside the tower, finds a portal at the bottom and vanishes into the Feywild, taking the rest of the inside group with him. Gabriel and his group take the crown and bracers they were seeking and disappear, but these items were what held the prisoner in place, and he is freed. It turns out to be Kil’Jaeden, the Great Deceiver, and he is released upon the Feywild, his form that of a monstrous naga/yuan’ti. The toweportal sinks into the ground and disappears, leaving the rest of the group back at ground level fighting other snake-like creatures drawn by Kil’Jaeden’s release. We travel to Caspia by boat, with the trip taking 16 days total. The group planned to lie about being the owners of the slavery contract and have members of the crew pretend to be slaves, but thought better of it and told their guards the truth, probably saving their own lives. Tessa travels to the Hall of Contracts and writes a message to her father, who seems overjoyed to know she is back and tells her to wait for him at a fancy hotel suite. Tessa also discovers that the place she needs to visit for the next step of her journey is a tomb in the common district. The session ended with Kit, Tessa, Saar, Raymond (Travis’ new character), and Nieros in a posh hotel room in Caspia, waiting to meet Tessa’s father, and Erny’s character and Aedris off by themselves in the shopping district. They think that Tessa is in danger from her father and don’t want any part of it. (Kil’Jaeden has been out for 17 days. We know through Kit’s research at the Academy that the next eclipse, the vision of the dark sun that Tessa and Kit have both seen, is about a year away). Dec. 15th In the back room of the Golden Sun, Tessa, Kit, Saar, Raymond, and Nieros decide to go out and do some shopping/explore the city while waiting for Tessa’s father to travel the seven days from Zweilkhad to Zanarkand to reach them. Tessa and Kit go to Latheos the clothing merchant for new, less-conspicuous outfits; loose white robes with hoods in fine material. Kit, as a paler-skinned human, stands out somewhat in Caspia, so she covers up and tries to avoid notice. Kit and Tessa also travel to the Sandy Shards weaponry shop, where Tessa translates for Kit and we buy crossbow bolts for the crossbow taken from Thoss’ hoard. Kit also spots an intricate longbow made from some flexible metallic material, which proves to be designed to take strain off of the drawer and allow for greater accuracy and damage (+1).Raymond the mercenary buys manacles, Kit buys some Caspian gold bead and jewelry, Aedris buys a new brush for Bazul, and we buy a bunch of health potions as a group from a red-skinned tiefling owner of the Fire & Fury. Shopping episode! The tiefling is teaching some children in Caspian, but Nieros and Tessa translate and we learn he is teaching a class on rudimentary elements of magic and the danger of pact bargains. Aedris is badly affected by the heat of Caspia, but borrows Raymond’s ice spear to cool himself down. He also brings most of the money looted from Thoss’ hoard to the Hall of Gold bank and creates an account/changes some into platinum for carrying ease. The group walks to the Housing District to find the statue that Tessa needs to see, but are approached by two women in gauzy purple and blue clothes asking for a good time. They hang on Aedris, Nieros, and Raymond. Raymond shoos them away, but they discovered a good portion of their gold missing. Nieros attempts to search for them, but they disappear into the crowd. When we reach the statue, it depicts a man pointing a sword missing its point to the west and slightly south (the statue of Stormscale was pointing out over the ocean to the north). Around the base of the statue a building has been put up, which appears to be some sort of small house and church meeting place. An old woman is inside, and she invites us in after Tessa explains she is on a pilgrimage as a follower of Bahamut. We head in to allow Tessa to read some historical scrolls and search the base of the statue. The scrolls have some obviously redacted/missing sections, and no mentions of Bahamut (Zanarkand is devout to Ifrit) but we learn this is a statue to Abdul Jakar, an ordinary man who led a rebellion, and he is buried in Bela Cruz. Nothing turns up on our search of the statue. Kit asks Tessa to teach her some useful Caspian phrases in our downtime, and she also finds a phrasebook in a local bookstore. The group deposits the rest of our funds into the bank in a joint account. Two members must be present to make transactions, and if no transactions are made after 5 years, they will presume the group is all dead and take the money. Nieros has a new fancy set of clothing designed. Saar and Nieros head to the Court of Ambassadors, a giant library, and Saar tries to find books on ritual magic, but instead they meet Ignis Fireseeker, the High Judge of Caspia, a huge, buff man with arrow tattoos around his eyes and a golden insignia on his belt. He tells them that the female pickpockets work for Betra’s Serpents, an immensely powerful master assassin conclave. Ignis tells them that there is a contract/bounty (50,000 g each) for them , but warns of the likelihood of death if they take it. There are rumors that the bar Caspian Nights is being used as a hideout, and their leader is The Fang. When they tell the rest of the group, Tessa reacts to the name Ignis. We name the group The Silver Dawn, and come up with nicknames, then timeskip to Tessa’ father arriving. We are escorted out of the hotel by 20 Juda-Fen (high ranking soldiers, white-skinned tieflings with gray blindfolds), then meet his caravans outside the city. Domina Highland is a tiefling with skin that is red, bordering on slighty purple, in a fancy overcoat and gold jewelry. He greets Tessa warmly, glad to see her back, and then we go as a group to meet the Emperor Tur’Koatl. The palace is immense, and the Emperor sits on a flame-shaped throne as we approach, bowing. We introduce ourselves, and he interacts with us as we do: tells Nieros that he knew of his grandmother, makes comments on Tiamat when Saar speaks, informs Kit that Caspia is at war with Ivalice, and calls Tessa “The Whore”, although Domina Highland tries to stop him. We tell him the details of Kil Jaeden’s release, and he seems pleased that Tessa told him before telling her father. He takes it as good news, and takes us on a tour around the city to greet his people. Raymond plays Kingdoms/Cappicho against the Emperor, a game that is like a combo of chess and checkers, and does quite well for a beginner. The Emperor chastises Tessa for assuming he didn’t already have the information when she attempts to explain/tell him of the danger, so she falls silent. Kit asks more about the war with Ivalice, and gets the same treatment: a bit more info (closed borders, no trade, stolen caravans), but then a reprimand. We get back to the caravans speak with Tessa’s father. She learns from him that Galadia was killed by the Serpents, hired by the Abysswaters because she spurned the marriage that had been arranged between Tessa and their son. They are the ones the sarted “The Whore”, but her mother and older sister played into it. He also tells us that he has spies in Ivalice, and Holbrook has allied itself with the two other major cities, which is strange, because they are usually sworn enemies. He also informs Kit that Queen Briand has recently passed and Draya is fully in charge. Kit passes over the information of her cult. Tessa tries to negotiate with her father over retrieving Thoss’ treasure, and we ask for the ship to be repaired/renamed Note: if people are interested I can try to keep this going with updates. Also I’m not sure if my player who took these notes is a reddit user. If she is I will eventually give her credit for the note taking. Edit: added Dec 15 session notes. Edit: Add new session notes. Dec. 22nd The group travels on the caravan towards Tessa’s home, but midway we pass a woman on the road and allow her to join the caravan (Esmeralda). We pass by a signpost with Belacruz scratched out. Several of us are startled as we notice that the caravan has suddenly shifted from three carts to two, people have shifted in looks/age, and we appear to be in some sort of timeshift. Some of the party members do not notice, or believe that everything is normal. A younger Emperor Ter’Koatl is onboard (approximately 10-15 years younger), and Tessa has become Abdul Jakar, the Chosen of Bahamut. Tessa warns Kit to not interrupt anything, but just to watch and listen to everything around us. We travel to Abdul Jakar’s village, where we are greeted warmly and a great feast is prepared. Tessa keeps up the charade of being Abdul. We are attacked at the feast by a large group of warforged. Abdul’s wife and child are slain, and just as a creature is about to kill the Emperor, Tessa/Abdul leaps in front of the blast and saves him. We suddenly pop back to our original reality, only Tessa has a new set of tattoos and is sobbing hysterically. Only some of the party are able to remember what happened. We reach the Highland home, and Tessa must greet her mother and sister, who are acidic and unwelcoming. Lissandra blames Tessa for her childish behavior and running away from home, forcing her to marry Stega’Agar of the Abysswater family and take on more family duties. Tessa apologizes, but Lissandra and her mother are unmoved. We are given rooms in the Highland’s household. The group splits up for the night, with Tessa, Kit, and Saar going to the Casino with Tessa’s father and the rest going to the library of the Highlands to do some research. The Casino group plays a few rounds of a blackjack-based game, on Domina Highland’s tab, until a strange woman comes over and offers us a bigger gamble. She pulls out a deck of cards, and tells us that if we can pull one certain card from the deck, she will pay us handsomely. Saar draws a card from the deck and gains 50,000 exp and a magical iron flask. The woman pulls a card and she and the deck pop out of existence. Tessa and Kit drink at the Casino until it is time to go home. We run into the library group, and Saar finds out that the flask is magical from Nieros. He then opens it, and a giant creature made of fire pours out, until Saar convinces it to get back into the flask. Raymond, Elowells, and Nieros stuff a bunch of books into Aedris’ bag of holding. Dec. 29th The party gathers in the Highland home the next morning and discusses the need to visit the dwarves and Draconia, and how to release Lunara from her imprisonment in the Black Temple, Kil Jaeden’s plane. We did find a book with a spell that can bring us to the Black Temple, but we are not yet a high enough level to cast it. Aedris begins to examine the six magical books that he, Saar, and Nieros grabbed from the Highland library. Saar prays to his goddess, and an eagle lands in his window and then flies off to the west. Through her hangover, Kit prays to Velen for strength and guidance. Tessa joins morning prayers with her family, and while her father is pleased to see her, her mother and sister are not. She learns that Lissandra will be marrying Stega’Agar in approximately 2 months/7 moon cycles, and that this marriage will help solidify business dealings between the two families. The party heads to the Nine Hells Academy to do some research, 2 families away from the Highland estate, a massive building of jet black stone with a sharp, jagged appearance. The library is staffed by Transmuted Horrors, twisted masses of flesh and human body parts created by Domina Experiyankas as servants. Raymond develops a permanent fear of them. While at the library, Saar researches Kil Jaeden’s plane, the Black Temple. After the God Wars the gods all chose to stay in their own planes as an act of neutrality. Saar intuits that Kil Jaeden probably switched places with Lunara somehow, willing to bide his time in the Feywild to have someone release him. Using this method, he could avoid the gods detecting him as he entered the Material Plane through the Maelstrom, breaking that neutrality. This means that Lunara truly is trapped, since gods cannot willingly leave another god’s plane. He also learns that the plane is inhabited mostly by yuan-ti and lost souls, and the Temple itself is guarded by a hydra. Kit researches Velen’s beginning and tenets—Velen and his brother Virtus were part of an adventuring party (including Dhal Ul, Leolothwyn, Perthamal, Shallisara, Drasta Stormscale, Agnizarro) who helped out in the chaos before the God Wars and rose to fame and glory. Somehow the two brothers ascended to godhood after slaying Neshrac, although the process is unknown. The group leaves the library and goes to buy some magical items (at a shop next to the smithy where Galadia worked), including a cloak of fear for Aedris. He decides to test it as we leave the shop, catching Eloells unaware and causing him to shoot a Transmuted Horror in his confusion. Bystanders cry out at the incident, and the party scatters in fear. Several party members duck into alleys, but Saar and Aedris attempt to rush past some guards and are captured and brought to the Hall of Justice. Tessa, back at the shop, explains what occurred to a guard, then goes off to find her father to speak on behalf of the prisoners. We are all brought before the High Judge, Domina Justicar. We are ordered to pay 40,000 gold (10,000 for attacking a guard and 10,000 per soul for the three souls needed to make another Transmuted Horror). We take 10,000 gold out of the bank and Domina Highland pays the other 30,000 in exchange for a 90% share of Thoss’ hoard. Tessa parts on worse terms with her family than when we started, and we walk the 16 days back to Zanarkand. We pass a caravan full of caged animals on the way, and Saar learns that the creature in the flask he received can grant three wishes, but accidentally wastes one wishing it back into the flask. Back in Zanarkand, Kit goes back to the weaponsmith where she bought her bow, learns that the material is called steelwood, and has it engraved with a stylized version of Velen’s shield and the word “sacrifice”. We get on our repaired boat and sail 13 days towards the islands of Arathaal (sp?). Tessa learns that there is a holy temple of Bahamut somewhere on the island. We see that the HIrstfall islands are ringed by a combined Caspian and Draconian fleet, not allowing other ships close. Saar communes with Palloeson’s soul, and it does answer his three questions about the inhabitants of the island, but it appears to release him from some sort of prison and his oily black horse form gallops towards the island. It leaves large puddles of blackness on the ship that swallow anything thrown into them and causes necromantic damage. Saar uses one wish from the djinn to wish the souls of Tazak, Marikiel, and Aethis/Skully peace, and tries to include Palloeson, but his soul does not respond. He uses the final wish to wish us capable of handling the threat that is Kil Jaeden. Kit has a vision in her seasickness of “our party” (viewing this as Velen) holding a black crystal with a red center. I stab my brother and pour his blood over the crystal, and then do the same to myself, and my vision goes to black. We make our way to the island Palloeson ran towards to find a giant black ooze where a building once stood, and some of the party follow the horse’s black hoofprints to a hill. Saar traps Palloeson in the now-empty flask, and they battle the Briar Knight and his briarbeasts, barely escaping with their lives.
Metahuman relations had always been a hot button issue across the globe. These came to an explosive head in Seattle on February 7th of '39 in a tragic event that became known as The Night of Rage. To really understand the events surrounding the Night of Rage we have to take a step back and set the scene. Seattle's Governor at the time was Victor "Vick the Quick" Allenson. Allenson, a former combat biker for the Tacoma Timberwolves, had replaced Governor Kross upon the the latter's retirement from government two years previously. Governor Allenson's campaign billed him as a "human conservative", or what you and I might call a human supremacist. In one of his earliest trideo interviews on the campaign trail he was quoted as saying "Orks and trolls make great offensive combat bikers, but they haven't got the brains for much else." Despite his outspoken views towards metahumanity he still managed to win the election of '36 in a landslide. This sparked a series of protests and sometimes even outright riots in areas of the city with high metahuman populations. Using his newly invested powers, Allenson ordered Lone Star to crack down on the protesters, rioters, and innocent metahumans alike. Unsurprisingly, the Governor's new pogroms did not restore peace to Seattle. Quite the opposite, as for almost eighteen months the city faced increasing terrorist activities from both pro-meta and anti-meta groups alike. On February 7th, Allenson mobilized the Seattle Metroplex Guard to round up and "protect" every metahuman they could find. Ostensibly these metahumans were being gathered in the warehouse district of Tacoma to be processed and transported to San Francisco to "improve racial harmony" in the city. In actuality these metahumans, numbering into the thousands were ripped from their homes, escorted under armed Guard, shoved into dilapidated warehouses along the Tacoma waterfront, and left there. Before long anger and fear turned into hysteria. From one of the warehouses came the sound of screams, an eruption of gunfire, and finally a large explosion. Then more explosions, until the entire waterfront was alight with the flames. The death toll was truly staggering considering the majority of Seattle's metahumans were consolidated in those old warehouses. Many metahumans were able to escape the flames through the cities sewer system, but hundreds died in those warehouses, trapped like animals. No one can pinpoint exactly who sparked the Night of Rage, but members of a fringe branch of (the already radicalized) Alamos 20,000 known as The Hand of Five were seen in the area just prior to the explosions. While the waterfront burned and hundreds died the Seattle Metroplex Guard stood by and did nothing. Once the story broke in the media violence erupted not just throughout the city, but throughout the world. We refer to these events as The Night of Rage, but in actuality the riots and protests lasted for several days, some estimate even into the weeks that followed. Protestors, the media, and even the Seattle's own United Corporate Court all called for an investigation into the matter, the resignation of all the Governor and the Metroplex Guards that refused to act to save lives and property. The media was particularly hard on governor's administration, and even reported rumours that the Governor himself was a member of The Hand of Five. Despite these accusations and the public outcry, Allenson refused to abdicate his position. One day earlier, on February 10th the aforementioned radical humanis policlub Alamos 20,000 used both magical and mundane explosives to destroy the Sears Tower in one of the largest single acts of terrorism in the Sixth World. The Sears Tower came crashing down on the heads of thousands of individuals out on their lunch break. It destroyed several blocks' worth of buildings, streets and sidewalks doing untold billions in damages. But the damage didn't stop there. Gas lines were ruptured causing the entire Loop area to go up in flames. The Second Chicago Fire was barely averted by a group of mages who managed to contain the fires within the span of an hour. The damage was still done though... by the end of it the death toll reached almost 26,000 individuals. As if the physical damage wasn't enough Alamos 20,000 made the entire incident appear to be metahuman revenge for the Night of Rage massacre in Seattle. The corporations immediately sealed their corporate 'burbs, excluding metahumanity from their neighborhoods. With the help of City Hall they built a series of projects on the Northside to segregrate metahumanity from the rest of the city. They also built several factories in the area. Ostensibly these were to provide jobs for the displaced metahumans. In reality though they were labor camps where the populace was forced to work long hours for low wages. The area that was destroyed by the collapse of the Sears Tower were left to rot. Those who could get out did. Those who couldn't tried to eke out a meager existence with no help from their government. All manner of human and inhuman creatures settled in the area. A large ghoul community grew within the area that became known as the Shattergraves. And the ghosts of those who died in that tragedy are said to still roam the streets. The reason that the Sears Tower was targeted by the policlub was because IBM had acquired it several years earlier during the ASIST Boom. IBM was fairly unique in the Chicago area at the time due to their actual honest to Ghost equal-opportunity hiring practices. In a time when most orks and trolls were seen as only manual laborers, IBM was willing to hire them as programmers and project developers. It's no wonder that Alamos 20,000 saw them as the enemy. Back in in Seattle, on February 11th, Governor Allenson was found dead in his office from several gunshot wounds. The mystery surrounding his death was never solved. With the city in flames and the governor murdered, a special gubernatorial election was held. Political analysts of the time believed that Ivar Lindstrom, son of Seattle's first governor Charles C. Lindstrom and current mayor of downtown Seattle, would be the clear victor. Instead, the mayor of Bellevue and relatively unknown, Marliyn Schultz was elected to the position by a surprisingly large margin. Analysts claim, in hindsight, that what won the election for her was that she was one of, if not the, first city official to appeal to the United Corporate Court for aide during the Night of Rage. Her first act as Governor was to issue an ultimatum to Lone Star; arrest the leaders of the Hand of Five or face a breach of contract lawsuit. This led to a week long manhunt that included countless raids, several shootouts, and countless arrests. This became known as the "Week of Sirens" due to the (allegedly) constant sound of police sirens throughout the city. By the end of the week all of the suspected leaders leaders of the Hand of Five were either dead or awaiting trial. A little over a month later and on the opposite coast more terrorism reared it's ugly head. On St. Patrick's Day, just weeks after the Night of Rage, a terrorist organization identifying itself as The Knights of the Red Branch "struck a blow for Eire" by detonating a bomb in a popular elven restaurant along the parade route killing two dozen people, and injuring dozens more. The parade quickly fell to general rioting that eventually overtook the entire Boston Metroplex. Residents of different nationalities, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds used the mayhem to strike out against their particular hated group. The civil authorities imposed martial law to quell the riots. But by the time they had achieved their goals hundreds were dead, and hundreds more were injured in the events that became known as Bloody Thursday. The Knights of the Red Branch claimed that their attack was in revenge for the elven annexation of Ireland, and the creation of Tir na nOg. The Knights, and approximately half of the Irish descended population of Boston at the time, felt that the Sidhe had taken over their ancestral homeland and unlawfully deported lawful citizens of the country. This sentiment was echoed by the metahuman minority of orks, dwarves, trolls, and even the British Isle specific metavariant of trolls, the formorians. It was, and in some quarters still is, believed that the Sidhe wish for Tir na nOg to belong solely to the elves. With every other metatype as second class citizens. While humans are treated with outright hostility, distrust, and no legal rights as citizens. On June 1st Fuchi Incorporated hosted the Universal Matrix Specifications Conference in Tokyo. This conference was attended by more than 7,000 humans and metahumans to determine the basic set of standards for Matrix programming. This conference, in conjunction with Villiers' contribution by bringing the portable cyberdeck, launched Fuchi into the forefront of the Matrix Industry. A position that they maintained throughout the rest of Fuchi's "lifespan" as a AAA-rated megacorporation. A month later on July 5th in Charleston, South Carolina (CAS) the first case murder to be solved with the assistance of the deceased's ghost is closed by Julius Wren. Wren, a criminologist and thaumaturgist, studied the deceased's actions as a spirit and used that information to bring the serial killer to justice. The arrest and conviction were upheld in court, and Wren's testimony was granted as admissible in open court. Sometime during the time period above, in London, there was a massive chemical speill on Teeside (aka Teesprawl, locally) that killed more than 70,000 people from nerve gas poisoning. This has widespread effects on the, currently in power, Conservationist Party. The public outcry was the beginning of the end of the Party. This dome was the target of a terrorist organization called Pan-Europa on August 6th. P-E released an unknown and previously only theoretical paranormal virus (paravirus) that fed upon the bio-fabric of the London Dome which was under construction at the time. This dome was designed to regulate the environmental conditions surrounding the capital and prevent the sort of poisoning that had occurred in the Teesprawl earlier in the year. In better times this sort of terrorist action would have strengthened the resolve of the people to support a strong right-wing government like the Conservationist Party. But it came so quickly on the heels of the failure in the Teesprawl that the citizens swung in the other direction completely. The government was lambasted in the media and in the public forum for allowing the ecological situation deteriorate to the point to where the Dome had to be built in the first place. This led to the rise of the Green Party in United Kingdom politics. More on them later. A week later on August 13th the African nations of the Cape Republic, the Zulu Nation, Oranje-Vrysraar, and the Trans-Swazi Federation pen an accord that resulted in the creation of the Azanian Confederation. This accord created the largest and strongest industrial nation on the African continent. It was immediately recognized by the UN upon it's formation in 2040 and is an active participant in the Global SIN Registry. On September 10th the CAS Senate begins a series of hearings regarding charges of racial prejudice against metahumans and their families. These hearings bring to light that most metahumans living and working in the CAS were living in what amounted to slavery throughout most of the CAS. The NAN immediately issued economic sanctions against the CAS as a means to encourage the nation to reform its views of metahumanity. These sanctions are met with mixed feelings, and it is sometime yet until the metahuman standard of living met parity with the human standards. Almost a week later on September 16th, the Western Great Dragon Dunkelzahn met the mysterious Nadja Daviar in Paris at an Alone exhibit. She was soon thereafter selected as Dunkelzahn's newest Voice. At the time (and even today) little was known about the Estonian elf. Her parents allegedly died during the second VITAS outbreak and she was remanded into state custody. In truth, she pretty much raised herself in the streets of a country that was, at best, indifferent to the those who were "stricken" by UGE. She officially left the state's custody in 2030 just ahead of the Russian invasion that kicked off the EuroWars. In reality she was one of many who exploited the black/grey market of the time to amass no small amount of wealth. Her particular stock in trade appeared to be smuggling throughout the region. With her natural charisma, and rumours of magical ability, she was able to escape the streets and enter into high society. November 15th brought with it a successful coup in the relatively newly seceded Shaanxi to install a monarchy in place of the military establishment that was in control. Queen Michelle Chou was crowned Queen of Shaanxi on this date. Chou was half Chinese and half British, and that combination sowed the seeds of her eventual rise to power, and the form that the Shaanxi government eventually took. Chou's father was Chiangsiu Chou, an executive for China's privatized industries and descendant of the last emperor of the Qing dynasty. Her mother was Vanessa Fitzroy, a distant cousin to the Duke of Grafton. When Shaanxi seceded Party loyalist murdered Chiangsiu for allying with the new government, and Fitzroy fled back to England with her daughter in tow. While in England, Michelle studied to become a barrister and did quite well in that field. She kept ties with several of her fathers associates that had successfully gone underground to escape the military coup. Michelle used her mothers connections to funnel support to the rebels from afar. Eventually she was able to gather enough resources and allies to overthrow the military junta and seize power of Shaanxi completely. She put her legal training to good use and drafted a constitution for the country creating a parliamentary system much like England's and other European powers. To thank her for her support and assistance the newly formed government of Shaanxi crowned her Queen.
2040
After the busy year that was 2039 it seems that major events in 2040 took awhile to start up. The first truly significant event was on April 7th in the unlikely location of the Athabaskan Council Nation. This NAN member-state officially recognized sasquatches as a sapient species and granted them the same inalienable rights that all metahumans are entitled to in their legal system. They are one of the first nations to do so, and the only one to do so within the first half of this decade. Throughout the spring of 2040 the Univerzita Karlova (Charles University) shifted their Arcane Studies program from a strictly hermetic training program, as was prominent throughout the world at the time, to a cross-traditional approach at the behest of one of their instructors, the Western Great Dragon Schwartzkopf. This approach to magical training garnered the University quite a bit of acclaim, and was the foundation of Schwartzkopf's Unified Theory of Magic. That's further down the line though, so we'll touch on that later. The Middle East at this time was embroiled in a war between Iran and Iraq. The two nations were warring to come a decision as to who had the proper right to rule the Shi'ite Muslims throughout the region. The Kurds had recently declared independence to stay out of the fight, and that brought Turkey and Syria into the fray. Quite simply the Middle East was in chaos. Everyone was fighting everyone else. This set the stage for Badr al-Din Ibn Eisa and his Islamic Unity Movement to broker a treaty between Iraq and Iran on July 18th. This treaty guaranteed that the Kurds would remain within a newly created Iraqi Federation, and appeased Iran enough to stem the tide of war in the region. The Islamic Unity Movement became a power player in the region throughout the next decade based on this original showing. It wasn't all beer and skittles for Iraq though. The newly formed government quickly went broke. Without funds they weren't able to keep Kurdistan from leaving the Federation three years later. But, like a shot from the blue, Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries stepped in to assist the Iraqi Federation. Before long S-K had control of the last oil fields in the Middle East, thereby cinching their position as the dominant petroleum producing corporation in the world. This helped boost the AAA corporation to the the top of the Corporate Court due to everyone else's reliance on S-K's oil production. Two days after the Iran-Iraq Treaty, on July 20th, a famous mage by the name of Martin de Vries began a series of one-man vampire hunts throughout Europe. These early hunts became the basis for his eventual book Shadows at Noon, which sold roughly six million copies world wide. But it was the beginning of his semi-autobiographical "fictional" novels starring vampire hunter Darren Cross. More on Cross as de Vries later though... Back in the Emerald City on September 10th groundbreaking began on the Renraku Archology. During the fall of 2040 BTL (better than life) usage skyrocketed throughout Korea. This trend continued for the rest of the year, but then suddenly changed direction due to a number of awareness programs initiated by several different groups. Chief among these groups is the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. The UK's Conservationist Party took their final hit on October 15th when ork journalists on Channel 7's "Medicine Bag" uncovered evidence that the government had encouraged the Adams-Hoffman Corporation's infamous Project 42-20. This project, sanctioned by the Conservationist Party, was a fifteen year long top secret project to manipulate the gene pool of the British populace in order to discover how to control the goblinization process. Over the period of a decade and a half the project had secretly crippled, mutilated, and generally decimated the south London housing estates. Adams-Hoffman had secretly dispersed their testing agent into crowded areas causing unexpected mutations, spontaneous abortions, the deterioration of internal organs, and the destruction of the host's immune system. One particularly nasty transmission method was applied to Generation Epsilon/Alpha 16. The government inserted the gene-virus into free milk that they were giving out to school children! Fifteen days after "Medicine Bag's" fateful (and final) episode the citizen of Brixton, Camberwell and New cross took to the streets and rioted. The rising tide of violence made it all the way to the Tower Bridge where the local constabulary had blockaded the bridge to protect the crossing into Adams-Hoffman's London headquarters. During the rioting nineteen people, later dubbed the Lambeth Martyrs, were killed and the Tower Bridge as well as the Thames Wharf shopping mall were badly damaged. The riots continued for several more days until the police, and eventually the military quelled the rebellion. But the rioters went underground and came back up with automatic weapon and asymmetric terrorist tactics. The Lambeth Martyrs hit Waterloo and Victoria Stations and the Bond Street Station mall killing almost a hundred people. Several more attacks came quickly on the heels of those. The most famous of which was the infamous raid on Dulwich Village which killed seventy-four people, including an ex-prime minister. The government declared a "medical emergency" and created the Lambeth Containment Zone, colloquially known as "the Squeeze", which arose as a countermeasure to the public's taking up of arms against the government in response to Project 42-20. The efforts of the government to restore law and order have only been partially successful, and the "state of emergency" still exists in the Squeeze to this day. On November 6th the UCAS elected Carl Preston to become President of the United Canadian American States while the CAS elected Joseph Alexander as President of the Confederated American States. December 12th the New Horizons corporation came under scrutiny for its Superkids project overseen by CEO Paul Louberge when one of the test subjects commits suicides. Investigations into the matter reveal striking similarities between Superkids and Project 42-20. Superkids however sought to genetically manipulate favorable traits into children below a certain again. This extensive genetic manipulation was only the tip of the iceberg though, as it was discovered that there was also substantial physical, mental, and emotional abuse used to punish subjects who were not performing up to New Horizons projected expectations. The Superkids project is eventually shut down later in the month. President Elect Alexander selected several prominent metahumans for posts in his Cabinet. He used the inclusion of these metahumans as leverage to convince the NAN to lift some of its economic sanctions and provide the CAS with some much needed economic relief. Christmas Day in a Connecticut, UCAS casino started with a bang. More precisely it ended with one. The casino, built on the site of a former Indian Reservation was hit with a magical explosion of unknown origin that destroyed a part of the building, killed eighteen people, and wounded dozens more. Eventually a group called Warpath claimed responsibility for the attack. Only two years down and this post is already getting long. I'll do up another one of these soon and try to use up the character limit in the future so we can condense [History 101] into as few posts as possible. I only got about halfway through this one. But it's been forever, and this is a good enough start to get me back on track.
References!!!
The Sixth World Almanac pp. 57, 59
Seattle 2072 p. 30
New Seattle pp. 25-27
Shadowrun: Third Edition p. 32
The Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America pp. 103-104
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