Welcome to Larp 2008: Of Masks and Mirrors part 2 -Story

"We are done.

The paths of our futures here diverge, but before you've gone,
I would take one more minute of your time. I will not insult you
with talk of destiny, but I will tell you that there are others
who have sought to shape the future and your part in it. And you
do have a part; many possible parts, in fact. You'll have to decide
whether to chose a part, or have one be chosen for you.
I have seen many of the roles, and many of the consequences.
Choose wisely.

And we are done."

This is part two of Of Masks and Mirrors, an ongoing campaign set in the town of Sudbury. The year is currently 2018, ten years after the end of part 1. Since the previous incarnation of Sudbury, there have been many major changes to the playing field. The Covenants of Vampires have been battling each other for the last ten years over control of the city, using underhanded and sometimes blunt tactics to destroy their opponent's resources, retainers, defame their status, and eventually spill their unlife's blood across the streets.

In 2013, a disaster struck the city when cracks opened in the earth and sky, and literal demon creatures poured into the city. Much of the skyscrapers were destroyed, people raining down onto the streets. Stocks plunged, streets burned, and stores were pilalged and ransacked. The attacks were sudden and random, and the vampires of the city weren't prepared to handle them.

Fortunately, they weren't alone.

Mages, Werewolves, Changelings, Spirits, and even the now aware Mortals combined their forces to drive the hoardes back into their dimension. Two beings known as Light and Darkness commanded their servants to enter the rifts to fight the daemons on their home grounds. Meanwhile, A powerful magic wielder from each kind combined their powers, sacrificing themselves to seal the rifts.

The city was left in literal chaos, and it didn't stop with the destruction of the rifts. Many of the humans who had been killed in the disasters rose from the dead, except as vampires, of various clans, many never rising above a frenzied state. Meanwhile, the rifts had releaked magic into the city, opening new Nexus points and ley lines, some attracting darker spirits. The covenants still battled, but for the most part, concentrated on containing what little was left of the poorly stretched masquerade. The city was quarenteened for fear of the rest of the world discovering the horrors here.

Now, at the start of 2018, the current Prince of the Invictus has called for a truce between the covenants in order to better combat the threats of the city. The city still hasn't recovered from the original attacks, and a once thriving food supply has been ravaged to the point of danger. The World of Darkness is even darker today, with even everyday citizens often carrying
some sort of melee weapon or firearm. Even armored clothings are no longer an oddity, and gangers claim territories and battle an exhausted but well-trained police force.

Only the Order of the Dragon has refused the call, staying locked up in their secret hideaways. A messenger was sent to each of the other supernatural organizations as well that were involved in the Rift Wars, to better pool resources. Who decides to answer the call is anyone's guess..
If any of the original vampiric enhabitants of the city still unlive, their presence hasn't been felt for five years. It's a new city again..

- Prologue: Of Masks and Mirrors, Part 1 -

To my Lord Dracul,

January 15th, 2008

Well. There have been some.. events here in Sudbury. I can't
truely write that they're unexpected, because this is the city of
unexplained phenomenons. Everything seems transparently obvious now.
But you should already know this, seeing as this is your experiment here.
I feel that to explain how all of this occured to our audience, one must
start at the beginning. Well, not the beginning, but a beginning of
the events of Sudbury.

For the new blood of the city, the story starts with a letter
sent out by a thing known as Kasumi, the former Scourge of Sudbury,
explaining the happenings before their time. The current Prince,
Sebastian of the Daeva, had an altercation with his council that
ended with the death of his childe, the execution of his Seneschal,
and the exile and forbiddance of any elders within his city.
After such a disaster, a call was made for any younglings who wanted
a clean city to make a name for themselves in, under the guidance of
him and his Sherrif, Kate of the Gangrel. Both of these individuals
represented the Carthian movement.

The initial meeting between the assembled Kindreds was..
awkward at best. Many Kindred who would be of note later would
gather this day, but in truth the individuals aren't important in
explaining the disasters. What is important is that at the second
gathering of the new Kindred, the sherrif's twin sister appeared
and caused massive confusion. The mistrusting Prince cast both
unfortuned twins aside, stripping them of any status or position
within the city. This uncomfortable state of affairs lasted until
Valentine's day, upon which in a frenzied state, Kate destroyed
Prince Sebastian. In due process her own ashes were spread upon
the winds in the morning hours, and the city was left guided by
those who came after.

The next occurance of note, at least next recalled, is a
representative of Lady Alison of the Daeva from Toronto, looking to
foster her latest seven childer to 'diverse role models'. Over
time the Brood, as they would be called, were accepted as a
presence in Sudbury, although they kept mostly to themselves.
Each of the childer were reannointed with the name of a Saint and
raised with a religious bent. All molded for their task.

According to a reliable source that shall be explained later,
the seven childer were meant to be sacrificed on All Saint's Day at the
seven different nexus points of the ley line in Sudbury as part of
a ritual to keep 'The Darkness' at bay. The prophecy written by our
resident mage guest were warnings of her coming if the ritual was not
performed, and the prophecy from the winged man known as Blackwing was intended to be instructions for the where and when of the ritual sacrifice, as well as instructions of how the roses would be used to open the seven nexus points to the light.

A.. 'side effect' of what was going on in the city was that anyone
involved with the 'choices' who died was subsequently brought back to life.
Most were returned to life as humans, although a few were reborn as Kindred, dependant on the mood of the powers that be as far as can be told. As the solstace has ended, it has not yet been tested whether the rebirth still occurs, as a willing subject has been hard to find since the previous one disappeared.

Unfortunately, perhaps, the sacrificial ritual was never completed,
which allowed a literal being of Darkness claiming to have existed before
the beginning of existance to be released on Halloween night. Obviously, it
is impossible to verify these claims, but the power level of this being makes
such suppositions irrelevant.

After 'Darkness' was released, a similar being calling himself
'The Light' also came into contact with the majority of the Kindred of Sudbury,
with a similar story of existing and power level equivable to Darkness,
and Darkness and Light explained what had happened. Darkness considers herself
the deity of chaos, darkness, entropy, depair, all things related to it's name.
She also claims to be the creator of vampires, as amusing as that sounds, and
stated that our intended purpose was to protect humanity from some sort of
shadowy demon creatures, spelled 'Daemon'. Obviously, those assembled were
unaware of such a purpose. Light claimed order, light, life, hope, all the good
things in the world and such, and called humanity his creation.

Those assembled were offered a choice of basically which patron deity to
serve, in order to solve their feud. It was said that thirteen persons would be
allowed to choose between Darkness and Light, and that they would be given
powers with which to protect the city from the daemons, wherever they are. As
was written, the choice had to be made before the Winter Solstace.

True to their word, those who choose a patron were imbued with potencies
normally reserved for the eldest of our kind, to the point where it is unlikely
mortal blood will sustain many of the former Kindred of this city. Unsurprisingly,
after the solstace, the majority of the Kindred had chosen to follow Darkness and
gain whatever powers she bestowed. The minority that followed Light gained similar
powers, and a healthy vibrant glow. Oh, and feathery black concealed wings. What
this choice, and Darkness's subsequent triumph means on a cosmic scale, is
currently unknown. To the world at large, possibly nothing at all.

After the solstace, the assembled 'Kindred' attempted to resume buisness
as usual, which seemed ideal at the time but looking back seems a bit ridiculous.
After that year there was no way to go back to what had been. The ley lines were no
longer active, and by the reports of one of Darkness's servants, dedicated to her
victory. However, the established Prince had dedicated to Light, and a member of
the Lancea Sanctum stood on each side, Light's servant more potent then even the most
powerful servant of Darkness. After a few tense meetings it was decided to keep the
political positions as they were going to be before the changes. The strongest servant
of Darkness was given an area and the right to teach others how to fight the daemons,
and the Light servants started making plans for a similar area.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This ends my report. This will likely be the last report I send in regarding this
city, as I don't intend to be staying here any longer. This has gone far beyond the scope
of what was intended, and a batch of younglings weren't meant to be given so much power.
I'm certain it won't be long before the 'servants of the Light' are overthrown and the
Darkness sits on the throne of Sudbury. I must admit to some disapointment at how easily
Kindred are swayed by words and power. Whatever 'Light' and 'Darkness' claimed to have
been, their claims of the creation of vampirism go against the teachings of our Order,
and sound more like a badly written excuse to convince a group of normally sane Kindred
to sell their souls to two powerful demonic teachers. It is similarily disapointing that
Victor and Seth are two of Darkness's disciples, and intend to teach other Kindred of what
their 'true path' is. But to call them Kindred still is somewhat of a misnomer, as they
may still be cloaked in Vampiric essence, but seem to be mutating into something else.
It is something that would appeal to the younger of our order, who would not realize what
kinds of slaves they would become. This isn't the evolution we were meant for.

Unfortunately, this also isn't a situation that only our order can handle. Others have sent reports of similar information to Kindred of the Lancea, the Invictus, the Circle of the Crone, The Carthians and even to more prominent members of the Unaligned, of death and rebirth, of choices and light and darkness, oh and probably about the destroying of the messengers the Crone sent from Thunder Bay. Yes, yes that's probably being reported.
But that's not really important. The main line is that this city has become a giant cult
dedicated to beings capable of bestowing or removing vampiric essence. If you have any
additional questions I'll try to answer them when I return, I should be back by the end of
the month. I still have experiments to continue.

-END Part 1-

Cronological Scale:

2007 Jan - Dec: One year period in which a cobbled together court of mismatched Kindred makes decisions on whether to choose light or darkness to win some weirdo cosmic war.

2008 Feb - Dec: New representatives of every covenant are sent into Sudbury, averaging 8-12 vampires per covenant, and four curious Unaligned, investigating the claims made about Sudbury. The reasons for coming are varied, although all claim to be there as pilgrims to study the city that brings vampires to life. Negotiations are tense as it becomes obvious that none of these people plan on leaving, and all of them want access and studying rights over any magical sites, activities, or people in the city. Negotiations stay tense through to the summer, over which time visiting rights and tutoring sessions are arranged. Father Mychael stays secluded in Ste.Anne-de-pine during this time. Through the autumn season, the more sinister motives of the covenants become apparent.

- The Ordo were sent to investigate the rumors of a demonic cult in Sudbury, and the involvement of their resident members, along with the disappearance of their reporter. Starting with the massive potency of the blood of the resident Kindred, followed by a apprentice being given to each member of the Order for their experience, enough evidence was accumulated to declare the entire ruling body of Sudbury as infernalists, along with expulsing Victor and Seth from the Order with executioner's orders. Oddly, Theo was able to convince the Ordo through his lack of potency and experiment reports that he wasn't involved in the plot, and was allowed to keep his status. The Ordo demanded that Victor and Seth be handed over for destruction, and that the seven former ley line sites be put under their jurisdiction.

- The Crone were sent to gather information on the ley lines and the death/rebirth process, this is true, but they were trying to find a mystical way to reverse the process and stop vampires from rejecting the dark gifts that had been bestowed upon them. They were also sent to investigate this 'Darkness' persona and determine whether she was truly
one of their dark gods. Finally, as the three sisters had failed to return, their status and the status of Seth, who was still contracted to be returned to the Crone as a Khabid. After hearing the story of what had happened to the previous messengers sent to Sudbury from the resident ritual master, Shylah, and conferring with their spirits, it was decided that either 'Darkness' was a false goddess or her followers were delivering her message improperly. The Crone were the favored of the dark gods, so it was hardly logical that no Crone had spoken to her. They spent most of the year gathering their spells and strength in preparation for the future. The Crone demanded that Victor be destroyed for his insult and that Seth either be handed into their custody or destroyed, and that the seven former ley line sites be put under their jurisdiction.

- The Lancea were sent to find out how a copy of a copy of a copy of the Spear of Destiny was able to bring a Kindred to life as a mortal. Seriously, that's really screwed up. Oddly, if the ley lines still had any magic remaining in them, it wouldn't respond to any rituals or coaxing. Sergei's story of how he was now a servant of the Light charged with protecting
humanity from daemons was much more interesting. The wings were very convincing. The 'ones who chose Darkness' however, were seen as demons and fallen ones. As even their allies in the Invictus had a 'traitor' among them, they demanded that the city be given over to them, as their representative was the most powerful Kindred in the city, and that the seven ley lines be put under their jurisdiction.

- The Invictus were here to capitalize on the financial situation in Sudbury. After the major producer, D-corp, had gone under, and most of the Kindred's attentions had turned to mystical fascinations, there was minimal resistance to their corporate takeover, at first. The Carthians in the city were putting put a resistance that was nearing intolerance. Meanwhile, the other four covenants were acting suspiciously, and after many 'investments', they were able to uncover their plans before the end of the year. They put their support behind their Invictus Prince, and advised that they should shut out a section of the city from the rest of the Kindred through their political and financial ties.

- The Carthians were sent to lend support to their old and reborn allies Sebastian and Kate, in order to renew the cause of freedom. Although not much for religious views, the ways of Darkness were similar enough to their own that Kate was able to find many kindred spirits to the cause. The Carthians spent all of their time simply resolidifying old ties in universities, entrepreneur businesses, even occult stores and beat cops. One of their members found out about the Ordo conspiracy against the vampiric servants of Darkness and warned Kate, who naturally warned the others. They demanded that the other covenants stop trying to take control of other's assets, and hid the Darkness servants from retribution.

- The Unaligned.. well noone's sure what they were doing here. They never made themselves known as a whole.. who can say what motivates Kindred powerful or concealed enough to live outside of politics?

2008 - Dec: Tensions had risen between the covenants, and there was no way to meet everyone's seperate demands. On the last gathering of the month, Kindred blood was spilled between each of the covenants at the seven once-ley lines, and a feud was restarted in Sudbury that would last for at least a decade..

Well said! Tomorrow I have to write a!

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