Philadelphia by Night 2012 Background History

(Some mild spoilers for the later, as yet unpublished, chapters of the fan fiction)

Supernatural History of Philadelphia

To say that politics in Philadelphia is chaotic in recent years would be an understatement. But it was once one of the more stable territories in the United States. Its earliest years saw the city under the control of an alliance of Lenape werewolves and a cabal of “heretic” mages who had fled to Pennsylvania from Europe. Just prior to the revolution, the city grew large enough to hold a vampire population. A Carthian vampire was elected Prince in 1755 and made alliance with the werewolves and mages.

Carthian rule was short-lived. Philadelphia’s fae population saw the vampires as a threat and used the battles of the American Revolution to wage their own war against the Kindred. Weakened, the Carthian leadership was usurped by the Invictus faction and a new Prince came to power. This Prince, Cecil Baird, defeated the fae and established the primacy of the kindred in Philadelphia.

This would last for over 150 years. But in the late 1960s, the Lancea Sanctum overthrew Prince Cecil Baird. The Lancea were led by Elias Walsh and Thomas Monroe. With control of the mortal police and an alliance with the garou, Walsh and Monroe began to systematically eradicate most of the other supernaturals in the city, especially the fae.

South of Philadelphia, an alliance of Invictus and Carthians had defeated the Lancea Sanctum vampires in Virginia. Flush with their victories, a number of these vampires headed north to Philadelphia. Led by Michael Allens, they subverted the Lancea’s werewolf allies and pledged peace to the remaining mages and fae. In doing so, the Lancea Sanctum was overthrown and Prince Walsh killed.

Since then, Michael Allens has ruled Philadelphia. Although young, he has already had to fend off threats to his rule from vengeful fae and rival vampires. The most recent crisis was just two years ago, when a number of fae defied their queen to avenge themselves on the vampires for decades of persecution. The resulting conflict was brief, but has badly depleted the populations of both peoples.

Now the city is threatened from within and without. With the fae and vampire populations weakened, the mages and werewolves are reconsidering their old alliances. Plus, a new power is rising, masked behind brutal immigrant drug lords from Mexico.