Well, as you may have guessed, during the year hiatus my writing wasn't the only thing that dropped off. So did the Philly by Night 2012 campaign.
World of Warcraft Cataclysm had a lot to do with it. So did going broke, having a car accident, being sick, giving birth (not my wife, but one of the players in the campaign) and all the ups and downs of life. We just couldn't keep it going.
I may revisit the plot at some point in fan fiction, since that is up and running again.
Showing posts with label Campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campaign. Show all posts
Monday, November 28, 2011
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Session One Part Two
The sun rises, the sun sets. A new night...
During the interim, John Murphy had used his resources at the Philadelphia Police Ballistics Lab to unlock the secret of the "sunlight rounds." He was not entirely successful, since metallurgy tests proved the bullets were perfectly normal. Also, tracing their manufacturing origin revealed nothing of consequence.
Finch, the werewolf computer hacker, was having better luck with the goons' cell phones. Speaking with the technology spirits of the phones, he was able to "overhear" a conversation (after using a program to translate the Spanish) regarding a meeting the gang members had with someone named Julian. The location the gang members spoke of as the venue for this meeting was traced to one Julian Stark, a known member of the werewolf community and a notorious arms dealer in the city. Finch kept this information to himself.
Following other clues, the group assembled and drove to the Fairhill neighborhood to track down the gang itself. After Finch acquired (with "Laura" altering the deal) their transportation, off they went. Their first stop was a rough looking bar in the center of town. Inside they found a number of patrons wearing gang colors, making it clear this place was neutral ground of sorts. One however bore the familiar marks of the "Family of the Devil" gang that attacked the water park the night before. This one was drowning his sorrows in Pepe Lopez at the end of the bar.
Laura headed over to console this lost soul, convincing him to join her outside for some "fun." There, she got him into the group's limo and tried to interrogate him somewhat unsuccessfully about the gang leader's whereabouts. Finch had better luck with his cell phone, gaining Angelino's (the gang leader) cell phone number and using GPS to track him. As they tried to force their prisoner into the trunk of the limo for safe keeping, he nearly escaped and would have if not for the quick thinking of Joshua. He used life magic to cripple the drunken but frightened gang member, and he was easily fetched back.
Next, they headed off to find Angelino. Using mind magic, Edward was able to separate Angelino from his bodyguards and convince him to join the group in the limo. However, when Dr. John used Dominate on him in an effort to get him to spill who hired the gang, Angelino keeled over dead.
Curious as to what sort of magic this might be, Joshua has contacted his mentor, a powerful mage in the city to investigate further. Likewise, Finch is soon to meet with Julian Stark to discuss "werewolf business." What new clues might they uncover? Guess we'll find out in Part Three.
During the interim, John Murphy had used his resources at the Philadelphia Police Ballistics Lab to unlock the secret of the "sunlight rounds." He was not entirely successful, since metallurgy tests proved the bullets were perfectly normal. Also, tracing their manufacturing origin revealed nothing of consequence.
Finch, the werewolf computer hacker, was having better luck with the goons' cell phones. Speaking with the technology spirits of the phones, he was able to "overhear" a conversation (after using a program to translate the Spanish) regarding a meeting the gang members had with someone named Julian. The location the gang members spoke of as the venue for this meeting was traced to one Julian Stark, a known member of the werewolf community and a notorious arms dealer in the city. Finch kept this information to himself.
Following other clues, the group assembled and drove to the Fairhill neighborhood to track down the gang itself. After Finch acquired (with "Laura" altering the deal) their transportation, off they went. Their first stop was a rough looking bar in the center of town. Inside they found a number of patrons wearing gang colors, making it clear this place was neutral ground of sorts. One however bore the familiar marks of the "Family of the Devil" gang that attacked the water park the night before. This one was drowning his sorrows in Pepe Lopez at the end of the bar.
Laura headed over to console this lost soul, convincing him to join her outside for some "fun." There, she got him into the group's limo and tried to interrogate him somewhat unsuccessfully about the gang leader's whereabouts. Finch had better luck with his cell phone, gaining Angelino's (the gang leader) cell phone number and using GPS to track him. As they tried to force their prisoner into the trunk of the limo for safe keeping, he nearly escaped and would have if not for the quick thinking of Joshua. He used life magic to cripple the drunken but frightened gang member, and he was easily fetched back.
Next, they headed off to find Angelino. Using mind magic, Edward was able to separate Angelino from his bodyguards and convince him to join the group in the limo. However, when Dr. John used Dominate on him in an effort to get him to spill who hired the gang, Angelino keeled over dead.
Curious as to what sort of magic this might be, Joshua has contacted his mentor, a powerful mage in the city to investigate further. Likewise, Finch is soon to meet with Julian Stark to discuss "werewolf business." What new clues might they uncover? Guess we'll find out in Part Three.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Session One Part One
Last Thursday, our intrepid band of anti-heroes had their debut.
Damian Drake, Ventrue vampire and Primogen of the Invictus in Philadelphia, commissioned Dr. John Murphy, a Nosferatu of his covenant, to find a way to bolster security at Prince Michael Allens' annual Labor Day celebration. If successful, this would give Dr. Murphy considerable prestige in the Invictus.
Dr. John did just that, putting together a team made up of Joshua, a martial artist mage, Edward, an Illuminati conspirator (also a mage), Nix/Laura, a cat burglar with MPD (vampire), Finch, a computer security specialist (werewolf), and himself. On the day of the party, Sept 1, 2012, they gathered at the venue, a new water park the Prince had built to bring some new economic investment to his beleaguered city.
At the party, our intrepid band laid low for the most part, with only Dr. John really trying to hobnob among the high and mighty. The group was, directly or indirectly, introduced to Prince Michael, Rebecca Philips, Damian Drake, "Mitch" Mitchell, "Boar" Boorman, and Jon Benton. The latter seemed suspicious to Dr. John, who kept a close eye on the Gangrel. They also met the mage ambassador, a British professor by the name of Reginald Skelmsdale.
However, around midnight, all hell broke loose when a group of gang members stormed the facility and began shooting the guests. They were attacking with antiquated Tommy Guns, which appeared to be using some sort of "sunlight" rounds. Dr. John's squad defeated or drove off the gang members after a pitched battle, but roughly a half dozen or so Kindred had been sent to torpor by the attack.
The Prince, infuriated by this attack on his sovereignty, has now demanded the PCs find the culprit responsible for this. Their investigations have given them several clues, most pointing towards the mysterious "Chupacabra."
But to where will their investigations take them next? Tonight we find out in Part Two.
Damian Drake, Ventrue vampire and Primogen of the Invictus in Philadelphia, commissioned Dr. John Murphy, a Nosferatu of his covenant, to find a way to bolster security at Prince Michael Allens' annual Labor Day celebration. If successful, this would give Dr. Murphy considerable prestige in the Invictus.
Dr. John did just that, putting together a team made up of Joshua, a martial artist mage, Edward, an Illuminati conspirator (also a mage), Nix/Laura, a cat burglar with MPD (vampire), Finch, a computer security specialist (werewolf), and himself. On the day of the party, Sept 1, 2012, they gathered at the venue, a new water park the Prince had built to bring some new economic investment to his beleaguered city.
At the party, our intrepid band laid low for the most part, with only Dr. John really trying to hobnob among the high and mighty. The group was, directly or indirectly, introduced to Prince Michael, Rebecca Philips, Damian Drake, "Mitch" Mitchell, "Boar" Boorman, and Jon Benton. The latter seemed suspicious to Dr. John, who kept a close eye on the Gangrel. They also met the mage ambassador, a British professor by the name of Reginald Skelmsdale.
However, around midnight, all hell broke loose when a group of gang members stormed the facility and began shooting the guests. They were attacking with antiquated Tommy Guns, which appeared to be using some sort of "sunlight" rounds. Dr. John's squad defeated or drove off the gang members after a pitched battle, but roughly a half dozen or so Kindred had been sent to torpor by the attack.
The Prince, infuriated by this attack on his sovereignty, has now demanded the PCs find the culprit responsible for this. Their investigations have given them several clues, most pointing towards the mysterious "Chupacabra."
But to where will their investigations take them next? Tonight we find out in Part Two.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Character Concepts
As I'll be trading off Storytelling duties with others in our group, I will need a player character of my own. I've got two ideas, the first I'm calling the "blank slate", the second is the "fish out of water." You'll see why they have those titles in a moment.
Concept #1
----------
Do you know what it is like to be completely alone? No, I suppose not. Few others do. Let me tell you my story. I was born the middle child to a blue colar family in a blue colar Pennsylvania town. Football town, a place where everything revolves around those games. I was a sickly child, not strong, not quick. In that society, worthless. My parents doted on my kid sister and demanded everything of my older brother, but largely ignored me. They hardly noticed that I never lost my baby teeth the way other kids do. No, mine got knocked out by the bullies on the playground. They never cared about the bruises. "It'll toughen him up." my father would say and that ended all discussion of the matter.
And so it was through grade school, and even into middle school. But then I found where my dad kept his .357 Magnum. I smuggled it to school one day, tucked in my belt. I felt on top of the world as I marched up to Tommy Morris' desk in homeroom. He was the team's star running back, going to play for Penn State and then the NFL one day. He was also the biggest bully in school. "What the fuck do you want?" he snarled at me. I pulled the gun and watched him piss himself. Then I pulled the trigger. Twice.
It was the same day the space shuttle blew up. But in my town, no one remembers it as the day the Challenger exploded. No, it was the day "that kid shot Tommy Morris." They don't even remember my name, just his.
The next two years were a blur. Arrested for murder. My folks were run out of town. Tried as an adult. Guilty. Twenty-five to life. Frackville Prison. And there I was, a lamb among the wolves, in a maximum security penitentary, all at the tender age of 14.
That was...well, there aren't words for it. I did my best to keep my head down. Wasn't too hard. At first, I wasn't an asset or a threat to the other inmates. Occasionally, one would come to me for "conjugal relief." That was unpleasant to put it mildly, but those stopped after a while. I spent most of my days in the library or the gym, learning all the stuff I was missing in school and packing on the muscle, because what else was there to do?
My actual adult years were different. Now, the other prisoners wanted a piece of me, either as an ally in their futile games of power, or to take me down a notch. But I kept out of it, stayed neutral, behaved myself, and the years past. Then word came that the system was broke, and they were letting as many people go as they could. Parole hearing became a joke and my required 25 years were up.
A few commendations for good behavior and they rubber-stamped me right out the door. But where I was going to go? My family was long gone and no one in my home town wanted to remember me. A fellow prisoner, Jimmy, was released the same day, having served his debt to society for armed robbery. He was from Philly and suggested we go there.
It wasn't easy finding work at first, but the clubs and bars down on South Street always needed some muscle. I got a job as a bouncer. The proprietor barely looked 20, but she gave me a chance, decent hours, decent pay, and didn't seem to care about my record. Hell, she even said it something of an asset in that line of work. Made me scary, she told me.
I worked there for about a year, was starting to take classes at Temple. It was a decent life. But I was still alone and really didn't know how I was going to fix that. My classmates at Temple were kids, and no one gets friendly with the bouncer at a bar. Well, no one but her.
Her name was Marissa, and apparently she found me handsome or something. I had no idea how to respond to that. I had missed all those formative social years. Never went to homecoming to the prom. Never fooled around and had one-night-stands in college. My only sexual experience was being bottomed in Cell 17 by a man named Bubba. But she didn't seem to mind that. Even said my "innocence" was endearing. I fell for her so hard and she for me.
One night, after I got off work, we snuck into the alley behind the club. She was going to show me how it was done. I just gotten my pants down when something struck from behind and everything went black. When I awoke, I was alone and felt strange. I could hear things I'd never heard before, smell things too, like a whole new world had opened up to me. And I found Marissa, what was left of her, in a nearby dumpster. I ran.
I soon found out I couldn't abide the sunlight. And that food no longer satisfied my hungers. Blood was all I wanted. I'd become something monstrous. I might have self-destructed within a week had my boss not found me. The secret of her odd youth now made sense. She was like me, a vampire.
Rebecca took me in, said that since I was abandoned by my sire, that she would take me in and teach me the ways of the kindred. Soon, I will meet the "Prince" and become fully introduced into their society. Good. Maybe I'll meet the one who made me this way. Maybe I'll meet the one who killed the only person who ever loved me. And then I'll do to him what I did to Tommy Morris.
Clan: Gangrel or Nosferatu
Stats: Physical primary. Weak social.
Skills: Physical primary. Weak knowledge.
Disciplines: Physical only. Nothing esoteric or supernatural.
Concept #2
-----------
They don't tell you in the history books about how cold it really was at Valley Forge. How miserable the conditions. Well, some of the historians do, but with 200 years detachment, it never comes across quite as brutal as it should. No pay. Little to no food. Bitter cold and snow. Murmurs of mutiny every day and Washington, the great saint of our nation, become more brutal and more monstrous to keep the army together.
I grew sick of seeing men be shot for nothing more than a desire for hearth and home. I fled into the night, past sentries who had frozen to death at their posts. I figured I had nothing left to lose. I would either die like them at Valley Forge, be shot for desertion, or shot by the British as a spy, but maybe I might slip between all those horrid fates and see my home again.
The British however did catch. Although not really the British, their Hessian mercenaries. Since I knew a bit of German, I was able to convince them that I knew a bit of Washington's plans. I didn't know much, but I bargained what I did know for a chance at life. When the spring came and the Hessians repelled Washington's first advance, the British credited me with the victory. General Monroe wanted to see me, to thank me personally.
General Thomas Monroe was not what I expected. You know him now as the great ancient of our city, but this was long ago, before his encounter with the 13th disciple and conversion to fanaticism. During the Revolution, he was a Royalist, determined to keep America in English hands and Philadelphia out of Carthian hands. He was more successful with the latter, but not entirely. The throne went to another. Another that I, now a vampire, served with fidelity and loyalty. Not that it mattered.
Monroe was not keen to forgive my betrayal. By the 1890s, he'd manuevered his allies in such a way to leave me vulnerable, ripe for his revenge. A well-planned false accusation and Prince Baird called a blood hunt to destroy me. I fled to Montgomery County, dug a hole in a field, and went to sleep within it.
The builders who disturbed my slumber a hundred years later did not live long to regret their mistake. I awoke to a brand new world. Prince Baird dead, Monroe is stripped of most of his power and soon to enter torpor himself, and the city is now in the hands of a young Carthian Prince named Michael Allens. I understand little of this modern world, but I am certain that I remember enough to teach this young Prince a thing or two. School's in session.
Clan: Mekhet
Stats: Mental high. Social weak
Skills: ?
Disciplines: Obfuscate
Concept #1
----------
Do you know what it is like to be completely alone? No, I suppose not. Few others do. Let me tell you my story. I was born the middle child to a blue colar family in a blue colar Pennsylvania town. Football town, a place where everything revolves around those games. I was a sickly child, not strong, not quick. In that society, worthless. My parents doted on my kid sister and demanded everything of my older brother, but largely ignored me. They hardly noticed that I never lost my baby teeth the way other kids do. No, mine got knocked out by the bullies on the playground. They never cared about the bruises. "It'll toughen him up." my father would say and that ended all discussion of the matter.
And so it was through grade school, and even into middle school. But then I found where my dad kept his .357 Magnum. I smuggled it to school one day, tucked in my belt. I felt on top of the world as I marched up to Tommy Morris' desk in homeroom. He was the team's star running back, going to play for Penn State and then the NFL one day. He was also the biggest bully in school. "What the fuck do you want?" he snarled at me. I pulled the gun and watched him piss himself. Then I pulled the trigger. Twice.
It was the same day the space shuttle blew up. But in my town, no one remembers it as the day the Challenger exploded. No, it was the day "that kid shot Tommy Morris." They don't even remember my name, just his.
The next two years were a blur. Arrested for murder. My folks were run out of town. Tried as an adult. Guilty. Twenty-five to life. Frackville Prison. And there I was, a lamb among the wolves, in a maximum security penitentary, all at the tender age of 14.
That was...well, there aren't words for it. I did my best to keep my head down. Wasn't too hard. At first, I wasn't an asset or a threat to the other inmates. Occasionally, one would come to me for "conjugal relief." That was unpleasant to put it mildly, but those stopped after a while. I spent most of my days in the library or the gym, learning all the stuff I was missing in school and packing on the muscle, because what else was there to do?
My actual adult years were different. Now, the other prisoners wanted a piece of me, either as an ally in their futile games of power, or to take me down a notch. But I kept out of it, stayed neutral, behaved myself, and the years past. Then word came that the system was broke, and they were letting as many people go as they could. Parole hearing became a joke and my required 25 years were up.
A few commendations for good behavior and they rubber-stamped me right out the door. But where I was going to go? My family was long gone and no one in my home town wanted to remember me. A fellow prisoner, Jimmy, was released the same day, having served his debt to society for armed robbery. He was from Philly and suggested we go there.
It wasn't easy finding work at first, but the clubs and bars down on South Street always needed some muscle. I got a job as a bouncer. The proprietor barely looked 20, but she gave me a chance, decent hours, decent pay, and didn't seem to care about my record. Hell, she even said it something of an asset in that line of work. Made me scary, she told me.
I worked there for about a year, was starting to take classes at Temple. It was a decent life. But I was still alone and really didn't know how I was going to fix that. My classmates at Temple were kids, and no one gets friendly with the bouncer at a bar. Well, no one but her.
Her name was Marissa, and apparently she found me handsome or something. I had no idea how to respond to that. I had missed all those formative social years. Never went to homecoming to the prom. Never fooled around and had one-night-stands in college. My only sexual experience was being bottomed in Cell 17 by a man named Bubba. But she didn't seem to mind that. Even said my "innocence" was endearing. I fell for her so hard and she for me.
One night, after I got off work, we snuck into the alley behind the club. She was going to show me how it was done. I just gotten my pants down when something struck from behind and everything went black. When I awoke, I was alone and felt strange. I could hear things I'd never heard before, smell things too, like a whole new world had opened up to me. And I found Marissa, what was left of her, in a nearby dumpster. I ran.
I soon found out I couldn't abide the sunlight. And that food no longer satisfied my hungers. Blood was all I wanted. I'd become something monstrous. I might have self-destructed within a week had my boss not found me. The secret of her odd youth now made sense. She was like me, a vampire.
Rebecca took me in, said that since I was abandoned by my sire, that she would take me in and teach me the ways of the kindred. Soon, I will meet the "Prince" and become fully introduced into their society. Good. Maybe I'll meet the one who made me this way. Maybe I'll meet the one who killed the only person who ever loved me. And then I'll do to him what I did to Tommy Morris.
Clan: Gangrel or Nosferatu
Stats: Physical primary. Weak social.
Skills: Physical primary. Weak knowledge.
Disciplines: Physical only. Nothing esoteric or supernatural.
Concept #2
-----------
They don't tell you in the history books about how cold it really was at Valley Forge. How miserable the conditions. Well, some of the historians do, but with 200 years detachment, it never comes across quite as brutal as it should. No pay. Little to no food. Bitter cold and snow. Murmurs of mutiny every day and Washington, the great saint of our nation, become more brutal and more monstrous to keep the army together.
I grew sick of seeing men be shot for nothing more than a desire for hearth and home. I fled into the night, past sentries who had frozen to death at their posts. I figured I had nothing left to lose. I would either die like them at Valley Forge, be shot for desertion, or shot by the British as a spy, but maybe I might slip between all those horrid fates and see my home again.
The British however did catch. Although not really the British, their Hessian mercenaries. Since I knew a bit of German, I was able to convince them that I knew a bit of Washington's plans. I didn't know much, but I bargained what I did know for a chance at life. When the spring came and the Hessians repelled Washington's first advance, the British credited me with the victory. General Monroe wanted to see me, to thank me personally.
General Thomas Monroe was not what I expected. You know him now as the great ancient of our city, but this was long ago, before his encounter with the 13th disciple and conversion to fanaticism. During the Revolution, he was a Royalist, determined to keep America in English hands and Philadelphia out of Carthian hands. He was more successful with the latter, but not entirely. The throne went to another. Another that I, now a vampire, served with fidelity and loyalty. Not that it mattered.
Monroe was not keen to forgive my betrayal. By the 1890s, he'd manuevered his allies in such a way to leave me vulnerable, ripe for his revenge. A well-planned false accusation and Prince Baird called a blood hunt to destroy me. I fled to Montgomery County, dug a hole in a field, and went to sleep within it.
The builders who disturbed my slumber a hundred years later did not live long to regret their mistake. I awoke to a brand new world. Prince Baird dead, Monroe is stripped of most of his power and soon to enter torpor himself, and the city is now in the hands of a young Carthian Prince named Michael Allens. I understand little of this modern world, but I am certain that I remember enough to teach this young Prince a thing or two. School's in session.
Clan: Mekhet
Stats: Mental high. Social weak
Skills: ?
Disciplines: Obfuscate
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Well, we're off...
It looks like we're moving forward with the campaign. It's an interesting setup; using Skype for voice, some online die rollers, and the GURPS 4th Edition rules set.
I've posted a couple of background pages below. Should give the curious some meat to chew on for both plots (We're going to swap GM duties throughout the campaign to mix things up) and for character concepts.
Looking forward to this.
I've posted a couple of background pages below. Should give the curious some meat to chew on for both plots (We're going to swap GM duties throughout the campaign to mix things up) and for character concepts.
Looking forward to this.
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.
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.
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.
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