Made in Austrailia

Back in Act Four of VbN, I decided to give Michael a little side project, something he could work on since, even for a vampire, not ever second would be given over to politicking and seduction. So I gave him a car, but not just any car. I wanted this car to be special.

I've always had a certain curiosity about the Interceptor in the old Mad Max movie, but never knew what kind of car it was. Hey, wait a minute, this is the age of the Internet. I can find that out. Turns out, the Interceptor is a 1974 Ford Falcon xB.

My wife drove a '64 Falcon as a teenager, so I was somewhat familiar with the make and model. So I gave Michael the car and wrote it into a few scenes of the story, both in VbN and PbN. I found pictures of the car on Google Images and had a good image of what it was that Michael was driving.

Sweet looking ride, huh? In some ways, it's even cooler in its original guise rather than the modified form it takes in the Mad Max movies.

Problem is, I didn't do my homework very well. Turns out, Ford stopped making the Falcon in America in 1969. Any Falcons made in the 70s were made in Australia only. *Groan*

Minor point. I'll have to modify some of the plot back in VbN to compensate for this new information. Michael's certainly rich enough to obtain a collector card like this, so it's not a major issue. Just requires a bit of rewrite.

So, how many remember these beauties...

That's a Nokia 8110 Cell phone, made famous by the original Matrix movie. Seeing as our story is set in 1999, we're pretty contemporary with that film. Since Michael and his allies are starting to use cell phones (these now ubiquitous items were just getting into common use in the late 90s), I figured this would be the phone to use. I always liked how they popped open in the Matrix movie when one of the characters made a call; I thought that was so cool.

So this time, I started doing my homework. And what do I learn (thanks to IMDB)...

The spring-loaded cell phones used in the film were Nokia Stilleto's or 8110's. These phones were produced in limited quantities and were only available in Europe and in Australia.

Son of a bitch! I should just move the story to Sydney and be done with it.

Portraits Update - Philadelphia by Night and beyond

I did create the portraits for two characters that have not yet appeared in the story, but will at some point in the future.

The first is the childe of a certain Malkovian, a resident of Philadelphia, who will prove an interesting foil and/or ally for Michael when our story moves to that city.

The second is a San Francisco kindred who may not be as dead as many of our characters have been lead to believe.

Philadelphia by Night 2012 Dramatis Personae

(As before, spoiler alert. Some bigger spoilers here than in the history.)


Michael Allens, Prince of Philadelphia
Daeva vampire of the Carthian covenant, Embraced in 1991.
Power base: University of Pennsylvania, City council, Mayor’s office, various commercial enterprises.

A young prince but ambitious, Michael Allens was embraced in Blacksburg, Virginia to be a soldier in the Carthians’ war against the Lancea Sanctum. He eventually surpassed his sire and struck out for a city of his own, overthrowing the Lancea Prince of Philadelphia in 2000. He has ruled the city ever since, giving lip service to the Carthian philosophy, but largely ruling no differently than an Invictus Prince would.

Michael’s recent efforts have been focused on recovery, as his people have just come out of a nasty conflict with the city’s fae.

Rebecca Philips, Primogen
Daeva vampire of the Carthian covenant, Embraced in 1992, childe of Prince Michael
Power base: South Street businesses, Drug gangs

A vampire of many contradictions. Embraced in the same conflict as her sire, Rebecca switched sides for a time and fought for the Lancea Sanctum. Forced to flee when her Lancea mentor was killed, she came to Philadelphia. When Prince Michael likewise came to her city, she saw the writing on the wall and switched sides again. Now the primogen of the Carthians in Philadelphia, she is caught between those in her covenant who see her “conversion” as suspect and the Prince who she has often opposed. Despite that opposition, she is frequently his lover, with their relationship heating and cooling periodically throughout the last ten years.

Rebecca’s power base is the one most immediately threatened by the rise of Chupacabra. This has driven her closer to the Prince and to Damian, in hopes that one of them can protect her allies. A dangerous arrangement to say the least.

Damian Drake, Primogen
Ventrue vampire of the Invictus covenant, Embrace circa 1860
Power base: Police & Fire departments

Drake is something of a mystery. Once a powerful Invictus in Washington DC, he became embroiled in the war between the Carthians and Lancea Sanctum in Virginia in the mid-1990s. Ever since, he has tagged along with Prince Michael as a nominal ally. Now settled in Philadelphia, his loyalty to the Prince has slipped and now he is largely the Prince’s biggest enemy. Drake has a hatred of mages and sorcery and is known to hunt them for food in defiance of the Prince’s treaties.

Thomas Monroe, Primogen
Mekhet vampire of the Lancea Sanctum, Embrace unknown (suspected 17th century)
Power base: Evangelical churches

Monroe was the former Prince’s chief advisor and ally. After Prince Michael’s takeover, he was the only major member of the old order remaining, having bent the knee reluctantly to the new Prince. Most suspect that Monroe’s loyalty to Michael is feigned and that he has once taken up his place as the “power behind the throne.”

Paul Miller, Sherrif
Gangrel vampire of the Carthian covenant, Embraced 1999.
Power base: None, although has some influence over the Philadelphia werewolves.

Paul has alternated between valuable asset and dangerous liability to his Prince over the past ten years. A solid fighter, he is a kindred of divided loyalties. On one side is his Prince and the Carthian cause, on the other is his kid sister, a member of the Ganshohawanee tribe of werewolves. Juggling these two loyalties has not been easy and has made him vulnerable to influence by the Prince’s rivals or outright attack from them.

Kathleen
Ventrue vampire, unaligned. Embraced 1999.
Power base: Philadelphia Hospitals

As the childe of the infamous “Ernie,” Kathleen has proven both a boon and a foil to Prince Michael’s plans. Too young as yet to manifest the full nature of the Malkovian bloodline, she is still quite deranged however. Like her sire, she has a curious obsession with the Prince, seeking to protect and “help” him. However, said help is rarely exactly what the Prince truly desires for his plans and is often counterproductive to them.

Bernardo Sangiovanni, Primogen
Mekhet vampire of the Ordo Dracul. Embraced 1920.
Power base: Pharmaceutical businesses in Montgomery County.

Bernardo is first and foremost a businessman, one clever enough to have kept his head down and avoided major trouble through two coups for the throne. However, his neutrality may be feigned, as no other vampire in the city can call upon the financial resources that Bernardo can. He uses this leverage to call in favors beneficial to him. Thomas Monroe, Rebecca Philips, and the Prince all owe Bernardo debts for some of their financial adventurism over the last ten years.

Michael “Boar” Boorman
Ghost wolf werewolf
Power base: None. He is regarded as outcast and “untouchable” by other werewolves.

A friend of Prince Michael from his mortal days, Boar now serves as one of the Prince’s two chief bodyguards. Boar was born a werewolf, but did not discover his heritage until his early 20s. That late introduction resulted in him not adapting well to their society, and he was eventually exiled from his tribe. He now serves Michael in Philadelphia and is almost always close by the Prince’s side.

James “Mitch” Mitchell
Acanthus mage of the Mysterium order.
Power base: None, but has some influence with the local mages.

Also a friend of the Prince (and of Boar) from their days in college, Mitch awakened to his sorcerous nature when he caught in the crossfire of the Lancea-Carthian War and nearly killed. Now he serves both as a bodyguard to the Prince and as an envoy between the vampires and the mages of Philadelphia.

Tatiana, Fae queen of Philadelphia
Spring court darkling
Power base: Galleria Mall

Tatiana tried to hold her people together against the onslaught of Monroe’s Lancea vampires, and was eager to help the upstart Michael overthrow the Lancea. But many of her people were bitter and angry at the persecutions and refused to accept the peace. Now, most of her people are dead, having badly depleted the vampire population as a result. Now, the fae are licking their wounds and trying to rebuild.

Salvador Ortega, Chief of the Ganshohawanee Werewolf Tribe
Elodoth Bone Shadow
Power base: Fairmont Park

An aged werewolf, Salvador has been head of the Philadelphia werewolf tribe for nearly 30 years. During that time, he has continued the exchange of favors with the vampires that have kept the two peoples at peace with one another, often with the result of his werewolves working as enforcers for various vampires. However, young upstarts in the tribe see the vampires’ current weakness as an opportunity to rise to power. Salvador betrayed the vampires once (when he turned on Prince Walsh to support Michael Allens), so it is unknown whether he will take this opportunity to advance his own people or not. If he does not, others may take it for him.

Gretchen Mosley, Hierarch of Philadelphia
Moros mage of the Mysterium Order
Power base: Temple University, Franklin Institute

Never common, the mages of Philadelphia have mostly to themselves, focusing on research of the mysteries of the universe. However, with the other powers weakened in the city, their ambitious new hierarch may be interested in a different kind of study, one the fae and vampires may regret.

Chupacabra
Unknown

The Mexican drug gangs have infiltrated Philadelphia and are now at war with the local criminal element. They are led by a mysterious figure named for the legendary Mexican monster. No one knows exactly who or what Chupacabra is, although the blood-sucking nature of his namesake leads most to think he (or she) is a vampire. But what is known is that his gangs are highly effective and are rapidly taking over the drug and vice market throughout the city, much to the chagrin of the local supernaturals.

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.

Who, what, when, & why?

Who is Michael Allens?
Michael Allens is a vampire, current prince of the city of Philadelphia. He is of the Daeva clan. His sire is Deborah Means, prince of Roanoke, VA. Michael was embraced at age 18 while a freshman in college at Virginia Tech and has been climbing the ladder of power ever since. He is young, but very cunning. He serves the Carthian cause.

For the rest, read the fan fiction.

No, who are you in real life?
Allen Schwarz, geek and gamer. Michael is my vampire character from my college days, a VTM Toreador ported over to WoD 2.0.

When does all this stuff happen?
The fan fiction tells the story of Michael's rise to power and it begins in 1991 at Virginia Tech and follows his Requiem up until he becomes Prince in Philadelphia in 2000. The now-defunct WoD campaign on which this blog is titled takes place 12 years into that reign, occurring in the fall of 2012 during the last months of the election season.

This campaign doesn't seem to follow the "standard" WoD 2.0. What's different?
1.
First off, the campaign doesn't use the WoD 2.0 ruleset, just the basic background for the universe.This has changed. We've recently decided to adopt the WoD 2.0 rules after all.

2. That universe has been modified to heighten the interactions and tensions between the various supernatural powers that lurk unknown to mortal man. This is a World of Darkness similar to works like Underworld or Twilight (I know, bad example, but it does fit) where werewolves, mages, and vampires share and compete over the world of humankind. A given vampire or werewolf has as much to fear from another supernatural being as he or she does their own kind.

The biggest way this will manifest in this campaign is how the various supernatural powers vie for control of Philadelphia. Vampires are not alone in the city, but are merely the dominant power against the fae, mages, and lupines. Too much infighting among the kindred, and one of the other groups might take advantage to tilt the balance of power and threaten Prince Michael's rule.

3. Vampires are nasty. White Wolf has always had a bad tendency to make its vampire race too weak. While VtR is better by far than VtM was, still I've taken the liberty to make them even stronger. Vamps in my universe can do pretty much anything humans can do (eat, have sex, etc.) only better. The only thing they don't do better is die, as they are nigh on impossible to kill. If you don't have a way to drag them into the sunlight, chop off their head, or set them on fire, all you'll do is make them mad.

4. I'm trying to be a bit more fluid with language. VtR, like VtM, before it has its own little vocabulary. I'm trying to be a bit more flexible with my descriptors in an effort to remind folks that this is not vanilla-WoD. "Ghouls" are "thralls." You're not "embraced," you're "turned." Stuff like that.

Okay, back up. VtR? VtM? What does all this stuff mean?
If you're asking this question, it's a pretty good bet you've had no experience with the World of Darkness role-playing universe, or at least you don't think you have. Truth is WoD is potentially one of the biggest influences on Goth entertainment today, given how many vampire/werewolf tropes in movies like Twilight are lifted wholesale from the game. But like many things, we have our own little short-cuts for talking about things, including acronyms.

WoD - World of Darkness. A series of Gothic horror role-playing games released by White Wolf Games over the last twenty years or so. There are two incarnations of the in-game universe and of the ruleset. The current one, often called WoD 2.0, was released in the early 2000s and was a big "reset button."

VtM - Vampire the Masquerade. Released in the late 1980s, this was the first World of Darkness game. It's out of print now and no longer supported.

VtR - Vampire the Requiem. Released in 2003, this is the successor game to VtM using the new improved WoD 2.0 ruleset. It shares some commonalities with VtM, but is largely a completely different game.

I've recently posted a Primer on WoD 2.0 for your edification.

You call this site "Philadelphia by Night" but all the action in the fan fiction takes place in Virginia?
It took Michael five acts of material, but he's finally in Philadelphia. Satisfied?

Are these characters in the fan fiction who I think they are?
Those of you who know me in real life will likely be asking this question. The answer is yes. Many of the early chapters in the fan fiction are highly autobiographical, as Michael Allens is something of an incarnation of me (Take me, remove most of my morality and ethics and pump up my dark side about tenfold and you have Michael). As such, the people he encounters and the places he goes are based, sometimes closely sometimes loosely, on real people and places. Some of those people are still within my close circle of friends, and anyone who remembers Blacksburg, VA in the early 90s will recognize a lot of scenery.

If you're curious about what the characters look like, use the tag "art" to find the series of portrait posts I've done using the Sims 2, 3, and 4.

Song titles?
Yes, the fan fiction uses the names of songs as its chapter titles. It's hard for me to envision a "world of darkness" without the sound of alternative and goth music in the background.

Of course, not all the titles are from those genres, but each song says something about the action or events of the chapter named after it. Spent too much time in my school literature classes to do anything random here.

I'm also trying to keep the songs reasonably contemporary to the events. A chapter taking place in 1993 will not be named for a song released in 2001 (although it might have a song from 1995. I will fudge a little if it suits me.) I want my readers to imagine the song named in the chapter title playing in the background of the story, like a track on a movie soundtrack. Sometimes, the narrative makes that explicit.

There's a guide for the songs here, here, and here. The guide presumes you've read the appropriate chapters.

I've added in a Hypster music app that has all the chapter title songs on it. The app appears to be limited to only 22 tracks, but there are well over 35 songs on the playlist total. Simply refresh the page to get another mix.

Wow. There's some pretty vile stuff in this fan fiction.
Um, it's a story about vampires and werewolves, and unlike a certain bit of tween fiction that I've already referenced a few times in this FAQ, it is not a sanitized vampire/werewolf story.

Michael, the protagonist, and many of his allies and friends are anti-heroes in just about every way that term means. They are not completely evil, but they're also not very nice and at times do some pretty despicable things.

With all that in mind, the fan fiction is intended for an adult audience and contains a lot of sex, violence, profanity, and other adult content. If you don't like that or are offended by it, don't read it.