Creation- The Age of Sorrows
The End of an Age
The Age of Sorrows ended in the what was close to the deepest catastrophe possible. Disunited, the Exalted Host fought amongst itself even while fighting the newly corrupted Abyssal and Infernal Exalted. Incursions from the Alchemical Exalted did more harm than good. The triple threat of the Reclamation, the Neverborn's omnicidal war on Creation and the raksha invading the weakened bastion of realty did grievous damage to Creation.
It was in this desperate hour, when there was no doubt Creation was lost, and the only uncertainty was which of its enemies would win, that the Incarna stirred themselves. Rallying the nearly defeated Exalted, the Incarna managed to convince their chosen and the Grand Children of Gaia to work together. Sol Invictus and Luna lead this fractious alliance into battle to hold the line. Raids stormed the depths of the Malfeas, the freeholds of the Raksha, and even to the cadaver tombs of the Neverborn. The Exalted host put the invaders on the defensive, slaying the most powerful champions of each host, as well as offering the chance of liberation to those Abyssal and Infernal exalted who chose to stand with Creation by shattering the Monstrances of Celestial Portion and rescuing Lillun, the Phylactery Womb. Meanwhile the Maidens worked with the now wakened Elemental Dragons on a plan to save Creation itself.
The Incarna and the Dragons modeled their work from memories of Autochthon's pole system. The Elemental Pole of Earth was transformed into a central point, a core, which the other elements could wrap themselves around. The whole of Creation was then shifted into elsewhere along with the Daystar, the Silver Chair, the Firmament, and even small portions of the underworld. All of reality was then warded by a power similar to the Eight Divinities Seal.
As they resonated with similar magic, Creation drew near Autochthon as both worlds were now locked in the void of elsewhere. However, the titan was still sickly. His Exalted barely saved him from death. They were forced to sacrifice outer layers of his world-body to necrosis. They held onto the core of the Great Maker and stoke the pulse of life with only a hair's breadth to spare. The battle lines within the Great Maker stabilized and the war with the creatures of the void has reached a sort of eternal stalemate.
Gods, and even demons, were caught up in the twisting and shifting of the world. For the gods, this was intentional, so that locked away Creation would have spirits to maintain it; most of these gods, to up their clout with those spirits that remained, took the names and legends of powerful deities that did not travel with Creation to increase their reputation or to inspire fear of who they are. Some demons were impressed into service by the binding sorcery of the exalted and Incarna. A few demons ghosts and fey were ripped along cut off from the armies they once were part of.
However, the true powers of old did not follow Creation. They remained outside. Even the Incarna watched quietly, almost helplessly, from a sealed Yu-Shan, unable to pierce the protections they wove for fear of allowing others to follow.
The powers left to maintain the world worked hard to build its strength, but only a bare handful of humanity remained after the disastrous war and upheaval of Creation's twisting. Worse, with the Exalted host holding the myriad of Creation's enemies at bay to keep them out while Creation was warped and shielded, none of the Exalted made it back before they were locked away from Creation as well.
At first, the world was in great flux, and the power to alter its shape was strong. Great magics could be woven with the simplest of efforts, while truly inspiring feats of sorcery could be wrought if one had great enough skill. The little god custodians of a now spherical Creation set to work to carry out the plans of their superiors.
A large amount of Wyld energy was condensed into waypoints that were pulled along with creation. This reserve of energy was set aside to fuel Creation in its isolation. This reservoir called Arcadia was connected to the world through a spiritual realm called Umbra that would serve as a united sanctum for the lesser deities that maintained creation.
The sections of the underworld that were ripped along with the shadow lands were sealed away from the physical world. Slumbering in the depths trapped like a fly in amber inside the barrier between Creation and the outside forces was the tomb of one of the Never born who took the new sobriquet the Grand Maw As the Grand Maw it drew all the ghosts close to it and warped them into terrifying apparitions of insane fury the most powerful of which it called Death lords like the lost proxies it once had.
Among the beings who remained behind to manage hidden Creation was the Emerald Mother, one of the Jotun of Gaia. The Emerald Mother gathered the various gods and even some demons. At her feet, they learned the workings of ancient, powerful tools once used by the Incarna themselves in forging the first five great elementals, as well as the creation of the Dragon Kings.
Using these tools, the gods set to their work. The handful of surviving humans were placed in a protective stasis, for the world had been reduced to a primitive state unsuited to human habitation. The Dragon Kings of old were used as a template for creating a new form of life that might serve the same role of shepherding man's early development.
As the Blood of the Dragons was all but wiped out, and the Elemental Dragons were unsure if it ever could be re-empowered, plans were made for the future, when the protective shield started to fracture, for a new race of beings that might also serve as lieutenants to the celestial exalted. It was hoped this race would help marshal humankind to battle any threats to the eventually exposed world.
This new race was given both a human form and made to be able to interbreed with humanity. This, it was reasoned, would give them great sympathy and understanding of their human charges as well as a protective feeling of shared kinship. It was hoped that both races would help each other increase in numbers to reclaim the world.
Thus the Feral Host was born. While lacking the power of the Terrestrial Exalted, these shape shifting beings were powerful, intelligent and intrinsically more spiritually attuned than humanity. The earliest creations, the Mokole, showed strong resemblance to the ancient Dragon Kings, the latter breeds less so.
The second plan the Gods enacted was to create Gardens, small paradises, that would shelter the humans removed from stasis, allowing their initial numbers to flourish then expand outwards to tame the world. This stage would require the Elemental Dragons to slumber, regulating the essence flows of elemental energy, so the primal state would calm and the new spherical Creation would become more hospitable to human life again. Once the planning stages were finished, and the Dragons had done all they could for the Gods, they began their rest. The Emerald Mother warned that not long (comparatively) after they began their rest she would have to also go dormant to conserve her own stores of energy.
Thus, with relatively little interference, the gods began to put their plan into motion. During the early tests, one of the gods thought to enlist the aid of Lillun. Lillun, though healed and no longer connected to the Infernal Exaltations, had been forever changed by the Primordial and Solar power that had once coursed through her body leaving her not only immortal, but far more than human. The formerly human young woman was still compatible on a reproductive level with humanity. Before her capture by the Yozi, the young girl had displayed a remarkable blood purity, and it was hoped she still bore enough of the Blood of the Dragons in her flesh that she might re-infuse the human race with the potential for Terrestrial Exaltation.
Lillun, however, was a reluctant participant in the experiment. The vast majority of the humans the gods had saved were traumatized by the war and reshaping of Creation. As such, the gods had taken the liberty of erasing of the memories of all the humans in their care in an attempt to ease their psyche...even those who were relatively undamaged by such events. Lillun also protested this, as well as the ideal conditions of the god's gardens. She argued it would render humanity weak and ill suited to the rigors of life outside once they were called to leave the god's sanctuary.
The gods did not take Lillun's advice seriously, despite her having greater experience with actually being human. Her disgust at the state of humanity, combined with the gods high handed attitude reminding her of her captivity in Malfeas. She left the God's sanctuaries to pursue her own goals, finally deciding to be free of any type of captivity.
Lillun created her own sanctum and planned out her own breeding program. She predicted that once exiled from the gardens, humans used to only a life of comfort that required little mental or physical work would be desperate for shelter. She would take in those she deemed the most fit into her own savage garden. It would shelter and reward, but it was no lush paradise aimed at merely increasing numbers. It was a proving grounds meant to test and refine those within.
However, Lillun was still partly human. She grew lonely and took several spirits as lovers. From some of these affairs, she bore children. None of them blossomed into Terrestrial Exalts as the gods had hoped, however, they were still spirit blooded. Lillun's potency combined with that of her lover's made them fairly puissant examples of their kind. She housed most of her children in her gardens grooming them for eventual colonisation of the outer world.
While the greater gods, who were given charge of shaping and protecting Creation, dismissed Lillun's work, other spirits saw how her project was flourishing. Seeking to mimic her success, they pushed and prodded humanity hoping to advance the timeline of the Godly Gardens. Some of these efforts bore fruit. Some resulted in serious blow backs.
It became the scapegoat of the greater gods to blame their failures in their work on interference inspired by Lillun. The most noticeable of these incidents that provoked the most extreme reaction from the Gods was the breakdown of the pacifistic and harmonious unity that was the hallmark of the very greatest of these godly gardens called Eden. Lillun had once dwelt in this garden, and her influence was still felt even after her self imposed exile. The gods watched in horror as the strongly imprinted directives bent to curb all violence towards another human completely broke down. One of the first generation of new world humans, one who had been completely raised in the Garden, slipped his mental shackles and performed the heinous act of murder.
Incensed that a mere farmer could stymie the hard work of beings incalculably older than himself, the gods overreacted. Intent on preventing a further breakdown of their experiments, they levied the power of the great tools of the Incarna to transform this farmer, Caine, into a ageless monster so hideous he would serve as a warning against disobedience. He would serve as an eternal reminder against repeating such crimes. The tools used, however, were beyond the understanding of the gods who wielded them. They had no idea what they had truly wrought.
This event had even further implications. Lillun found the spirits that once been her courtiers and companions had turned away from her, as the gods perceived it was her influence that had driven Caine to murder. Again, she grew lonely. It was in this state she found Caine, wandering the land, suffering. Feeling pity, she took in this fellow outcast and used her own formidable magics, born of having been the host of incalculable powers, to warp and further bend the curse leveled on him. She showed him how to turn this curse into a source of power and how to share his curse with others.
The gods abhorred the idea of Caine turning their lesson on its head. They offered to undo their curse, using the same tools they used to create it. It is important to note that it is questionable if this event would have worked. Caine had studied well the lessons of Lillun and refused the god's offer. Overjoyed, Lillun offered to become his consort. However, bitter Caine accused her of the same disregard for his free will the gods had shown for hers. He left her to start walking his own path.
As time marched on, events continued to sour between all the factions of New Creation. When the time came for man to exit the god's protection, the Feral protectors of the world did not shelter and nurture the humans in their care as they were designed.
Man felt betrayal at being cast out of the garden shelters and grew either despondent at life or angry at the gods. Spirit blooded also roamed the world, causing havoc as did the first Vampire clans founded by Caine. Caine raised Lillun's garden in a savage retribution for some minor slight her Lillim had caused. In the wake of this mass bloodshed humanity relearned the lost art of war. Barbaric savagery reigned supreme.
Lillun, grief stricken, symbolically burned ruins of her work and summoned the shades of her lost children to her. Clutching them close, she wove mighty magics she had discovered in her wanderings and experiments. She summoned up, from the depths of Creation's structure, tattered remnants of Miracles once worked by the mighty sorceress, Salina.
Lillun tore into the spirit realm and gained illicit access to the tools of the gods, hoping to transform the spirits of her dead children into something greater. As the 'mother' of the Infernal Exalted, she gleaned insight into the nature of exaltation no other being save long departed Autochthon or absent Sol Invictus could match. Utilizing various rarefied substances, artifacts, essence constructs, and a healthy dash of luck she created something lesser but not entirely unlike exaltation.
Lillun named these new things Avatars. They would allow mortal man the power to wield sorcery like magic on a level far above their normal limits, as long dead Salina had once wished. Lillun cast these new children, these avatars, out into the world.
This latest event was one of the last straws for the gods. The world was running completely amok. They then took the unprecedented step of awakening one of the Five Elemental Dragons. Only Danaa'd gods begged the Water Dragon's aid in restoring a semblance of order to the world.
Danaa'd agreed, but her help came with hard terms attached. She would cause a series of mighty floods that would separate the forces warring over the world and erase most of the history of the god's disastrous efforts to control humanity directly. In turn the gods would forfeit the exemption the Incarna had offered to holding overt influence in the mortal realm. Wise Danaa'd stated the magnitude of their failure proved the gods were ill suited to such direct influence. Seeing no other alternative, the gods agreed to the Water Dragon's terms.
This Deluge served as a warning to all sides against such open and cataclysmic warfare. However, some lessons of this time, such as the deep seeded fear of the Fera, were imprinted deep on the psyche of mankind and could not so easily be erased. Much of recorded history was lost, and even oral tradition faded. The world began to settle as the waters receded, yet nothing was as it had been.
Thus, the best laid plans of Men and Gods went awry. Had the plan of the gods gone as intended, when the Great Shield finally cracked, the exposed world of man would have been prepared. A myriad of supernatural races would have stood at the ready to hold the line, leading the unified forces of an enlightened humanity prepared for war. War for their very survival. From out of this army, celestial exaltations would have sought new hosts again to empower the champions of the gods. However history tells us this is not how the world unfolded. This world, trapped away from Yu-Shan, unable to draw from the vast energies of the Wyld, became a world of spiritual barrenness and darkness...
The (Classic) World of Darkness - 2004
Gehenna
Somehow, barely, the supernatural managed to stay behind the scenes. Gehenna came and went, an event that ended, not with a bang, but a whimper. However it was not the end of all things. By and large the world continued as it was. The antediluvians settled their affairs and then returned to quietly manipulating events. They are aware, in their semi wakened state, but not active. However, changes are on the horizon. The first of these changes came as fallout from the distraction of the supernatural world in dealing with the supposed end times as described in various mythos.
During that time people known as Projectors came out of the darkness and into the light. With them came the startling realisation that ghosts were a real, provable phenomena. The world did not end at this revelation. It did not answer most of the great questions of life, for the ghosts themselves still asked many of the same questions.
Once the mortal population of the world accepted ghosts and the powers they, and these Projectors could wield, cracks began to form in the disbelief that long held magic at bay. Astral projection was certainly easy to accept under this new light of discovery and soon other psychic powers and phenomena became accepted as truth. New fields of study opened to learn the ways of the newly discovered power or rediscovered disciples.
None would call them magic, but those who deeply studied the field have begun to wonder where one could draw a line dividing psychic powers and the powers others claim are 'magic?' Were the myths of magic of old nothing but little understood psychic powers? No one could say for certain.
The Vampires found their own political struggles exacerbated. The kindred were able to feel the awakening of the antediluvians, but were unable to ascertain their Sabbat redoubled its effort to destroy the Camarilla. The Camarilla, in return, pushed its considerable resources to the limit to hold off the Sabbat while it fought to protect an increasingly thinning masquerade. Some vampires have recently started a Federalist movement that seeks to update vampire culture while preparing for eventual exposure.
The Werewolves, having won a major victory against the primary avatar of the Wyrm, have become adrift and unsure of the path before them. The vast losses in the battle were only mitigated by subtle signs the Earth is recovering from the Wyrm's assault. The numerous new theories for what direction to take are only matched by the number of new authority figures who have founded splinter factions within Garou society. With werewolf numbers decreased, the other Fera have become emboldened. Some have reached out with the hand of reconciliation, while others begin planning their revenge.
The Mages united to defeat an alien horror from the edge of time. The war devastated the most powerful leaders of both major factions. The union did not last, but both sides have downgraded their all out war for control of the shape of the world. Now the mages battle in cold war, each seeking to mold public opinion in the face of new discoveries. They cooperate to protect the sleeper population while seeking to outflank each other in the war of belief.
The Hunters responded in various ways to each of the supernatural threats transpiring during the upheavals of 2004. When the danger's past every Hunter on Earth received a new vision from the Messengers. This simple one word message is PREPARE. With no further explanation, but a clear sense of urgency, the Hunters are left to make of that what they will
The Changelings were pleased to find the eternal winter of the soul didn't set in. Quite the opposite, the situation seems to have much improved. Unsure as to why, they proceeded cautiously into the future, questing after the reasons for their good fortune.
The Demons found themselves liberated. No longer bound to take human bodies, they traverse the world again in spiritual form. However, no messages from above explained the hows or whys of their situation.
The Kuei-Jin have become convinced some dire threat looms. Unsure of the direction it comes from, they have begun to split their attention in a thousand directions.
The Wraiths and Projectors have been publicly acknowledged. The underworld attempted to heal the awesome damage from the war against the Grand Maw. The Wraiths have found public awareness of their existence to be both a great boon and a limitation. More concerning is the strange plasmic entities unusual ghosts and bizarre spirits that have begun to make there way out of the rifts created by the Grand Maw's assault.
The Mummies allied themselves with the Garou in the fight against the Wyrm. After the Wyrm was defeated they began to investigate the signs that new vigor was flowing through the world.
The (Classic) World of Darkness - 2008
Post Gehenna
Four years after the discovery of 'psychics', people began to spontaneously erupt with torrents of energy, a psychically manifested aura of power. As such, those touched by such power became known as 'The Manifested', gaining such a moniker from the comments of reporters after a televised eruption of one of these beings. These people wielded powers even the most powerful psychic couldn't come close to matching.
The Manifested, it seemed, could manipulate their bodies to control energies around them. Some exuded the intense heat and properties of fire, while others manifested the powers of seismic control, while others still could call upon the power of surging waves. When stock was taken, all Manifested seemed to have the ability to manipulate five of the classic elements.
The supernatural world was shocked, but those in control quickly spun speculation away from the unnatural. The so called 'Manifested', they manipulate the world to believe, is some sort of mutation that is not yet understood. The world of man is shaken, but the majority of the world would rather believe some cockamamie story akin to a comic book rather than magic or the supernatural.
Some Manifested became heroes, while others villains. While manifesting is still exceedingly rare, various forces vie for control of these new players both publicly and in the shadows.
That was four years ago...and the year is now...
2012
Ages ago, the ancient Mayans predicted the end of an era would occur in 2012. Some believe this means the end of the world. It actually is the completion of a great cycle. This date nearly corresponds to Hindu prophecies and timekeeping. Some wonder if anything odd will happen; perhaps mass manifestations?! Scientists publicly scoff at such talk, but note oddities in atmospheric conditions and seismic activity. There is also increased volcanic activity, some unusually fast growth in certain areas of the Amazon, and unusual changes in Ocean patterns. Scientists and government officials can't help but look at this data and privately wonder...
Exalted Earth
Cracks have spread through the shield that protects the world that was once Creation. Between these cracks flows power, essence pours forth into the world, drawn in from the Wyld by the power of the Silver Chair, and refined by the light of the Daystar. These cracks have begun to widen and slowly, as sure as water wears away stone, they have begun to grow. The smallest of spirits have already begun to try to wriggle through and soon, some may break through into the world.
The Five Elemental Dragons absorbed Wyld essence and, semi-waking, fed their power and blessing back into the world. Seeking those whose blood held the diluted remnants of Terrestrial Exaltation, they began to reinvigorate such individuals and beget a new host of Dragon Blooded to defend long shielded Creation. As the cracks in Creation's shield widened, out racing even the spirits, Celestial Exaltations raced forth to manifest in worthy humans again venting epochs of frustration…
Meanwhile, Technocracy experiments in Autochthon have revealed the alien world is absorbing these strange new energy flows. New life is breathed into sections of the world and with it, the Mages find and exploit newly discovered materials and technology. The greatest of these is what the Technocracy labels 'Power Cores', pieces of long forgotten technology that integrate into human flesh and empower it beyond compare. The Technocracy attempted, but failed, to bond such cores to vat bred clones. Soon, however, they began testing on beings of greater mental strength and found success. Some escaped the labs, while other cores were lost or stolen, and now have ended up in the hands of people who do not know what they have...
However the Exalted and Gods are not the only ones who have sought re entry to the world. The dead and the Yozi have grown restless. The raksha, also have sought Creation for they perceive its continued existence as an insult, even if it was no longer within their grasp. No one is sure who cracked the barrier first, but slowly, agonizingly, all sides have begun to slip agents through into the hidden Creation.
Politics of Change
The socio political factions of the World of Darkness have not remained static during these eight years of upheaval. However, change does struggle against centuries of inertia. Each faction, be they mortal or supernatural, struggle to adapt with the changes in the world.
Humanity
The most rocking change to the human world has been the acceptance of so called 'psychic' powers. While the original three Projector companies fell amongst scandal, the massive lawsuits that followed created great public distrust for the Federal Government as it attempted to directly take control the Projectors.
Psionics
The legal system raced to try to keep up with growing gray areas in the legal code caused by Projector activity. The dust has still not settled. The United States, as the original font of Projector technology and development, has thus far been the forefront of defining the legal means of regulating both the Projector and Psionic fields. The existing rule of thumb is that any act that would constitute a criminal offense perpetrated by any individual with psionic powers, that would be considered a criminal act by a person with no such powers, is still considered a crime. There is no difference between a psionic and non psionic under the law. Mental invasion, for example, is considered a breach of the right to privacy and is specifically outlawed, as is hiring a ghost to perpetrate a crime. In such a case it makes the one who hired the ghost responsible for the crime.
In the United States, a Psionic Review Board was established. It is analogous to the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association and other such groups in that the Psionic Review Board is a peer review system. Unlike these other boards, however, the Psionic Review Board assigns a trust score that must be publicly available and displayed in plain view where a psionic business is in operation.
The Psionic Review Board's trust score is generated on a mixture of user feedback and peer reviews. It is not an index of power, but an evaluation and judgment on the trustworthiness of the psychic's claims. Despite attempts to maintain professional standards, a few cold readers and charlatans maintain a moderate trust score. There are even a few among these with some small, almost unmeasurable, amount of power.
This small amount of power does not make them psychic, per se, at least according to the Psychic Review Board, but simply makes them good at using ordinary skills, such as reading people's body language. So long as the customer base is happy and not abused the Psionic Review Board gives such individuals the benefit of the doubt. However, according to the Psionic Review Board's code of ethics they must never claim to be able to solve problems they cannot handle with their individual skill set. They must refer clients in need of true psionic help to a qualified individual. These 'charlatans' serve as a buffer that weed out those who are mere thrill seekers and those in need of simple advice.
Ghosts
Ghosts' legal status has developed to give them a few basic, rudimentary protections. Individual groups lobby for and against ghostly rights. As a general statement, ghosts enjoy a legal status slightly above that of animals. Ghosts cannot be tortured, maimed, slain or forced to labor without legal cause. The rights of the living are given clear precedence, however. Should a living owner buy a haunted house, he is free to evict a ghost, forcibly if needed. If a ghost resists with violence, a court sanctioned destruction order may be issued if there is little other recourse.
In the United States, ghosts cannot legally be given wages or hold any form of legal ownership. There are few other nations where ghostly rights exceed those granted in the United States. Great Britain, is one such exception. Ghosts can own anything they chose and an option exists to retain, in trust, for the event of reappearing in the afterlife, a 10% portion of one's estate. Careful questions or password phrases are held by the solicitors of such a cases. If a ghost is out of contact with the living for seven years, all its holdings can be dispersed. After such a length of time with no contact, it is assumed to have moved on, expired or been otherwise destroyed.
The Manifested
The heavy handed way the government dealt with Projectors during the Orpheus days has not been forgotten. Such tactics came back to 'haunt' them when the Manifested appeared. Charges of false imprisonment, lack of due process and other complaints began to flow in an endless stream when the first Manifested vanished into a government web of red tape.
Very shortly, after several large protest marches coinciding with the families of wealthy Manifested making calls into the ears of the right politicians, the Manifested found themselves released and the civil suits were settled out of court.
At first the Psionic Review Board was called upon to handle Manifested affairs, and while all Manifested that operate in the United States have a Psionic Review Board trust score, they are not truly dependant on it. As they are so rare, and with a skill set so valued, the Manifested will find work even if their trust score is abysmally low. As the board operates on a peer review system, coupled with the fact that the Manifested are not nearly as concerned with their own reputation as most psychics, in the United States, the Manifested have some power over their psychic supernatural 'peers.'
Psychics who work well with the Manifested can count on getting good reviews that will boost their trust score. Those who work poorly can count on sustained negative feedback. While the Manifested, conversely, are rarely forced to care whether the psychics think they work well with others.
However, the Manifested are not entirely free to do as they please. Concessions were given to the potential damage the power of the Manifested can inflict. The United States judicial system required those who employ the Manifested to carry insurance policies that can cover the liability costs for damages from their power flaring. The expense of these policies have prevented all but the wealthiest backers from forming Manifested groups to pursue their own agendas.
Biology and Characteristics
Research into the Manifested condition is a booming industry. While there was, and still is, no geographic pattern to Manifestation, there are certain discernible patterns evident in their bloodlines. Continuing research has found no direct genetic correlation between these families however.
Other scientists, meanwhile, seek to puzzle out the mystery surrounding the fact that the Manifested, as a whole, all display an extraordinary sexual drive after coming into their power. This, combined with their predisposition to prefer other Manifested as mates, speaks volumes for the gender disparity amongst their population. The 99% female to a comparatively minuscule 1% male ratio seems to be less and less a coincidence with each passing day to anyone that is paying attention. While there is no scientific data to support the theory that Manifestation is inherited, other than the odd coincidence of the slightly higher rate in some family lines, it has been taken as fact by the Manifested themselves and most who work with them.
Also this first generation of Manifested have shown an abnormal degree of sympathy for each other. To the point of even the most hardened Manifested are quite reluctant to slay one another.
This is, of course, is all the design of the Five Elemental Dragons. The idea that they could recreate the Dragon Blooded host at all was not something they were sure they could manage, and was not included in the original plans for the world's survival. That they were able to pull off such a feat might make up for some of the many ways the original plan of the gods has gone awry.
The Elemental Dragons knew they could not be active in the world for fear of disrupting the volatile elemental poles. Nor, did they feel they could count on any of the existing spirits residing in sheltered Creation to watch over the new Terrestrial Army. Such beings had already failed to properly supervise the shape changing Fera, who were meant to fill both the role of humanities' shepherds, a role that had once had belonged to the Dragon Kings, and once the Celestial Exalted returned, the role of lieutenants to the Celestial Exalted. As a result, the Dragons were forced to use a greater amounts of instinctual encoding. It is far from being able to control the Terrestrial Exalted, however, it does nudge them firmly toward certain behaviors.
This added to the legendary lust the Dragon Blooded showed when they were originally spawned in preparation for the Primordial War. The Dragons also added an even greater natural inclination to group together and a stronger attraction to each other over those not of the Dragon's Blood.
Population and Activities
The the breakdown of seven billion humans to one hundred thousand 'Manifested' gives the average ratio of one in every seventy thousand people being Dragon Blooded, economic and political realities have seen fit to cluster them far more densely in the developed world.
The United States, Russia, China and the European Union have all formulated fantastic recruitment packages for prospective Manifested agents. As a result, the poorest third world nations have seen a mass exodus of Manifested from their borders. Violent incidents of resistance have flared, often instigated by offers from more powerful states, when prospective Manifested were prevented from leaving their countries of origin. The race for Manifested Supremacy started within days of learning the true extent of Manifested capabilities. As new abilities are discovered every day, the struggle to acquire greater Manifested resources between competing nations has only intensified.
Amid this climate of cut throat struggles, trades of Manifested technology are not uncommon. Particular pieces of charm technology, for example, might be traded for the design of a new Manifested engineered artifact weapon. Several nations have hosted diplomacy summits that have served as a thin cover for the Manifested to breed outside their normal social circle and improve genetic diversity.
Most governments of the world have put their Manifested into a special division of their military apparatus. Members of this unit are then assigned on loan to various other governmental groups to fulfil needed tasks. Only the United States has stubbornly divided its manifested directly into the various departments of its government. This has resulted in redundancy of efforts, slowed the cross pollination of ideas, and should have been one of the worst ideas ever.
The fact that it has not has nothing to do with planning or skill. The difficulties it has caused are mitigated by the fact the Manifested are oddly apt at specialising in tasks. Thus, a task specialised division of responsibilities does help them.
Organizations
What follows is a list of a few sample organizations that are not associated with government entities. Players can feel free to submit their own creations as well.
Blackbear Security Services - An old and well known security company, Blackbear was among the first to leap at the chance to recruit Manifested agents. While refuting the moniker mercenaries, the Blackbear Manifested can expect to protect highly valued persons or sites around the world for a diverse array of customers. Often though, these security mission are more proactive in their defense seeking out and destroying threats before they become a danger.
Manifested Services Inc. - This company is one of, if not the, forefront institute for research into Manifested health, well-being, as well as their mental condition. The former Psychic Services Inc reorganized and changed its name when several of the Manifested detained by the United States Government received considerable settlements and chose to invest their funds into a company already at the cutting edge of non ghostly psychic research. Surprisingly, they have gotten along extremely well with the Glass Walker tribe of Werewolves who founded the company. Together, they seek answers to the questions of why the Manifested have appeared and what has caused the strange elemental phenomena that are slowly building across the Earth.
Orpheus - Similar to its mythical namesake, the Orpheus Group has returned from the land of the dead. In this instance, due to a tangled web of patient lawsuits, countersuits, bankruptcy, receivership and reorganization. With a fresh wave of investors and a name known for quality solutions to all manner of ghostly troubles, Orpheus has risen to heights even the tradition mages who chose to invest into reviving the company could have only dreamed. Recruiting from Manifested who are interested in ghosts, Orpheus' small Manifested special operations team battles the harshest, most demanding hauntings and investigates the most dangerous of unhallowed sites.
Pentex: Manifested Division - The Wyrm might have fallen to the claws of the Garou Nation, but that hasn't slain the massive juggernaut of Pentex. Lacking mystical direction from a higher power, Pentex has continued to do what it has done as a cover for its Wyrm activities for decades: rape the world for every red cent that it can pull from it! While some Pentex executives are glad to be free of supernatural oversight, others strain listening for new supernatural backers. Regardless of which faction keeps control, the ever power hungry nature of Pentex ensures it will always keep a few fingers in the Manifested pie. Expect the most ruthless of Manifested to find themselves at home in Pentex and to lie, cheat, steal, murder, and otherwise claw their way past every obstacle the mega corporation sends them to deal with. Remember Pentex employees; it's only wrong if you get brought up on charges!
Vampires
The Vampire world was rocked when the antediluvians awakened. 2004 was bizarre, with strange urgings, unusual sensations, mass blackouts, and the feeling of something not of one's own self flowing across the minds and souls of vampire clans and even some sensitive mortals.
War and Peace
Immediately the Sabbat launched everything they had at slaying the Camarilla only the chaos caused by the spectral incursions that were publicly acknowledged and other general oddities kept the secret of vampire existence from being outed.
While this enormous offense did extraordinary damage to the Camarilla, the haste with which it was thrown together proved to be the Sabbat's downfall. When the initial surprise was lost, the Camarilla's defense and retaliation served to cripple the Sabbat. After the dust cleared, both sides licked their wounds with new found caution.
The battle between these two proved to be for the benefit of the Anarch movement. The losses on both sides allowed the Anarch Free State time to recoup their own loses from the war with the Kuei-Jin and shore up the Free State's defenses and thereby forcing the local Camarilla into a treaty: The California Treaty of 2004. Under this treaty, the generalities of Camarilla law were respected, but true power was placed into the hands of an elected council chosen by district representatives. In many Camarilla cities, the younger vampires found they were the first defense against the Sabbat. The Anarchs began making inroads among those dissatisfied with their lack of a voice when they were the shield protecting the Primogen and other elders in their cities. Thus growing as a political movement.
The Federalist Movement
While the Anarch purists despised the California Treaty of 2004 for imposing a structure on the freewheeling nature of the Anarch society, others delighted in the change. Rather than fight it, they splintered off from the Anarch movement to form their own movement that soon became about more than having an ordered approach to rulership.
This was the genesis of the Federalist Movement. The movement was devoted, initially, to reforming both Camarilla and Anarch cities out of the Camarilla model of having a Prince in each city or a clan dominated Primogen council. The Federalist movement champions that vampires should elect leaders along geographic lines with a Chair over each city and a board elected from among the city's districts. While some of these 'geographic voting blocks' might be little more than word play on the Primogen concept due to the tendency of vampires of like clan to congregate in one area, the traditional minded Kindred find it a complete slap in the face.
The movement might have remained a local oddity and not picked up a few other quirks if it hadn't been for some odd twists of fate. A young but oddly powerful vampire from California embraced the movement. This Vampire saw early that the veil hiding the shadow world of the supernatural was growing increasingly fragile. The Federalist Movement, the vampire reasoned, would be fertile ground to sow the seeds of a different cause. This vampire presented a topic few wished to think on, that in the coming years the existence of vampires would more than likely become public knowledge. This, if handled properly, the Vampire argued, need not result in another Inquisition. The human world already contemplated the idea of genetic science leading to transhumanism. The exploding computational power of computers forced man to seriously think one day his own creations would become intelligent enough to have its own opinions and goals. And, as telescopes peered further into the cosmos even organizations as old and solid as the Catholic Church had developed protocols to deal with the chance man might encounter an alien life form amongst the stars. If approached correctly, man might not panic to learn something formerly, but no longer human, walked among them.
The Camarilla would, with its outdated feudal based ways, rub the modern world the wrong way and be ill suited to cooperate with mortals this line of reasoning argued. At the same time, it proposed that the Anarch movement lacked the structure and order needed to build a power base to self monitor and organize the powerful public relations works that would be needed to convince humanity the Kindred were not a threat.
The great personal charisma of this vampire pulled numerous other Kindred to the cause, while, at the same time, others feared the Federalist Movement was being hijacked into a cult of personality. Neither, got wind of a deeper layer to the agenda until it was too late. This vampire had managed to collect a motley crew from the fringe of greater supernatural society at large. Each of these shared the view that the deceit of old wouldn't keep, and preparations for a revelation to mankind would be beneficial.
The Cajun Connection
In 2006 this band of outcasts sprung into action. The horrible devastation of Hurricane Katrina had driven the Kindred out of the city of New Orleans, along with the bulk of it's human populace. The power structure of every form of supernatural in the city was in shambles. The vampire rallied Federalist support to take the city before anyone else and establish it as the first purely Federalist Movement stronghold.
The process of restoring a Federalist inspired vampire government to the city went smoothly. Very smoothly. Too smoothly. It was revealed that the Federalist's agenda was aided by outside, non-vampiric assistance. Aid that was fully aware of the Federalist's vampiric existence. New Orleans became not only a test city for the Federalist movement, but one for cross supernatural cooperation as well. It was reasoned that those who had their own secrets to hide were less dangerous than coming out to humans. It didn't hurt that this revelation had proven to have it's own rewards.
While the secret of the supernatural is still kept in New Orleans, the supernatural members of the city prepare themselves for the day when the secret will be let out. In the meantime, the various supernatural beings that live there work with an unprecedented, but by no means frictionless, cooperation. Ironically, this makes the city one where the Masquerade, regardless of what one calls it, is stronger than almost anywhere else; maintained by the collective skills of those who guard the secret. This grants extremely flexibility in dealing with threats that would reveal the supernatural before they are prepared.
The Coming of the Manifested
The Manifested lit a storm of reactions amongst the Kindred.
The Camarilla worried both about the damage their public existence might do the Masquerade, and the threat beings that could call up such elemental powers (In particular fire) could become. Thus far the Camarilla has restricted its attempts to manipulate the Manifested The Camarilla mandates no direct interaction between Kindred and Manifested as a precaution against exposure. As a result, the Camarilla uses multi layered actions with ghoul and human intermediaries to allows the manipulation of private enterprises that employ the Manifested.
The Sabbat attempted to embrace one of the Manifested, kidnapping one that was attempting to flee a Latin American nation to the United States. This lead to the discovery that the process of being turned into a vampire destroyed whatever power the Manifested possessed. Their mundane skills, however, were left intact as was their sympathy for others of their kind. The Sabbat's experimental case had to be slain to prevent her from warning the rest of the Manifested of a vampire threat. The disappearance, was assumed to be the fault of the country in question trying to prevent the Manifested from leaving. The Sabbat considers the Manifested a potent threat to all Kindred.
Neither the Anarchs nor the Federalists have the resources freely available to enter the game of manipulation of the Manifested. Both groups share a trepidation that those who currently play these games be they Kindred or Kine, will end up being bitten when such powerful beings slip their leash.
Mages
The Convention of Traditionalist Mages and the Technocratic Union have long been heading for a final showdown for magical supremacy. The sudden assault of the Ravnos antediluvian upon India, however, panicked the Technocracy into abandoning attempts to write the supernatural out of existence via editing the consensual reality they had proved so adept at manipulating. Tests showed that, unlike less tangible spirits, vampires, werewolves and other beings could not be willed out of existence or noticeably weakened by disbelief.
Wizard Wars
Fearing the Tradition Mages were set to mount a campaign to restore belief in magic utilizing these forces they could not excise from reality, the Technocracy stepped up to all out war on the Traditions.
The Tradition Mages, however, noticed growing cracks in what had once been the bedrock like unity of the Technocracy. While the sub orders feuded over how the growing mundane nature of existence was limiting even technological growth, the foot soldiers of their far flung holdings started to doubt the directions of a leadership that made decisions that appeared horribly ill advised to those on the front lines of the war of belief.
As the fighting between the two intensified, neither noticed the steady disappearance of Marauders and Nephandi. Soon, however, the mages on the front lines of both sides started to vanish. It was only then that the two feuding orders of mages started to realize that all beings with an awakened avatar were being hunted by the strange creatures known as the Zigg'raugglurr.
Beset by this new dangerous force, the two sides of the age old War of Belief called a ceasefire and began to compare notes on this new threat. The cease fire became an official truce, an alliance, formed to combat the threat of this strange race of beings that were attacking their very avatars.
Cataclysm
Discerning that the Zigg'raugglurr were temporal travelers, the alliance sent expeditions into the future to find the source from which they first sprang. Defensive lines were drawn up while they waited for reports back that might aid the planning of new assaults. The scouts returned beset by incredible amounts of paradox. Great efforts were undertaken to keep them alive long enough to gain some usable intelligence about their foes. The stories were garbled, almost meaningless, babble. However with due diligence in piecing together the often repeated phrases and cross referencing the intelligible parts lead to the mages in deciphering at least part of what befell their comrades.
The news was dire indeed. The world itself was in danger. The scouts reported that the future they managed to reach was a disaster. The world had imploded into disordered chaos; a complete breakdown of structure. Amidst the swirling chaos they were met by five women who seemed to function as small points of stability. These women, who were far more than women, seemed to embody primary rules of the universe. These 'Goddesses of Cosmic Principle' reported that they were about to perish, but had held on long enough to meet and deliver a warning: both they and the mages had unwittingly destroyed existence.
These women, these goddesses, exuded a power that awed the mages. They explained that they had, long ago, created one hundred indestructible avatar like energy constructs called Exaltations. These particular Exaltations held the power of ordered existence. They explained that it was due to picking out one hundred threads from the Cosmic Loom to create these Exaltation that the force of Paradox was allowed to enter the world.
The mages existed in a state cut off from the source of fixed order, the Cosmic Loom. This allowed them to undertake impossible tasks. This had worn down reality which would have to be repaired. The Zigg'raugglurr where inhuman beings from the past that had died. They sought to make use of the breakdown of causality to edit the past and return to existence. The Zigg'raugglurr harvested mage avatars as their power source to effect this change. They had begun to collect the avatars of the Awakened to create a temporal paradox. However as the Zigg'raugglurr's destruction had proceeded the mages existence or the worlds access to the Cosmic Loom being cut off their plan would not work. The Zigg'raugglurr traveled backwards in time to hunt the mages. This would lead to a grand paradox by which the Zigg'raugglurr wiping out the mages would prevent them from ever breaking the ban on time travel thus preventing the Zigg'raugglurr from wiping them out.
Even the pressure valve of Paradox wouldn't be able to cope with such a breakdown in causality, it would end existence completely. The only hope, the Goddesses revealed, was to use a fail safe the Goddesses of Cosmic Principle claimed to had crafted. A physical representation of the ban on action that could break causality a Gate of Time. This fail safe would slay the Zigg'raugglurr. The location of this fail safe was lost, but still within the world the mages now inhabited.
The elders of both sides; Tradition and Technocratic, began to weave the most powerful of magics they could muster to locate this fail safe device. At great risk, even the Oracles of the Spheres were consulted.
The location was revealed by the Oracle of Correspondence. He also revealed the Zigg'raugglurr had already destroyed the Oracle of Time and was headed to annihilate the other Oracles.
Racing to outpace the Zigg'raugglurr, the mages followed the Oracle's words through a difficult path in the alien world of Autochthonia, where they delved deeper than ever, finding the device just as the Zigg'raugglurr caught up to them. The elders battled fiercely to hold off the alien horrors while activating the fail safe. The battle cost most of these elders their lives and created a rent in spacetime that it is believed both fulfilled the prophecy and locked the gates the Goddess of Cosmic Principle had forged. Preventing any further activity by the Zigg'raugglurr. It also permanently reset the universe's controls against a breakdown of causality. Since this event, temporal travel has become unidirectional. One can travel to the future, but cannot travel back to one's origin time. As an additional effect, it also seems that the dead cannot be returned to true life. What other changes that might have been wrought have yet to unfold.
Magical Cold War...Again
With the leadership of both orders gutted, neither side wished to pursue war. Worried about what the future might hold, both sides have passed down a mandate against any major reality or consensus alteration until at least 2013. Once past the origin date of Zigg'raugglurr aggression, the terms of the treaty will be reexamined.
For now the two sides fight a Cold War making minor tweaks to belief while each tries to rebuild their power base. Despite the disapproval of the elder mages, some junior members of both orders are also acting more freely and are willing to share information and work with those once deemed the enemy.
The Technocracy despises that the surge in so called Psychic powers has lessened the power of disbelief in magic and spirits. However, the surge in technological innovation that has put scientific tools able to deal with ghosts in the hands of mundane sleepers has been heartening. With major shifts in the current paradigm banned, the mages of the Technocracy watch, nudging belief to account for these phenomena in as scientific a manner as best they can.
Mages and Manifested
The Manifested have the Technocracy panicked to maintain their carefully crafted paradigm. The cover of mutant psionic powers crafted to explain Manifestation is noticeably thin. Some of the Manifested are more interested in exploring their own powers to care much. However, others have begun to question the supposed science behind their powers.
However, the Manifested do present unprecedented opportunity. They have been written into the current paradigm, no matter how inelegantly. The raw power of the Manifested would make them an unparallelled resource with with to eliminate the existing supernatural elements too resilient to die off from lack of belief.
The Technocracy has not attempted any wide spread control efforts over the Manifested, trusting in their high level infiltrations into existing government programs the world over to give them sufficient control without the risk of exposure.
Autochthonian Investigation
Despite this general policy, of caution the Technocracy at times undertake mission of high risk. One such set of missions was the exploration of deeper sections of Autochtonia revealed during the Zigg'raugglurr assault.
The initial scouting revealed the exciting discovery that certain elements within Autochthonia reacted, to varying degrees, with the elemental energy of the Manifested. Operations were undertaken to harvest and utilize the material that reacted to the Manifested the strongest. This material bears superficial resemblance to both Nephrite and Jadeite. Through cover labs and false fronts, the Technocracy remains the primary supplier of this Elemental Jade as laymen have taken to calling it. Secondary sources of this rare substance have been located on Earth, specifically near the locations of the growing elemental disturbances that are being carefully monitored. No alternate sources have currently been found for the other newly discovered materials that superficially resemble gold, silver, iron, and the alloy steel.
A second major discovery in Autochthonia was made early in 2012. An exploration team unleashed a nest of machine spirits and robotic killers that wiped out most of their expedition. However, some did survive and return with several crystalline matrices surrounded by a metallic ring of one of the previously mentioned reactive materials. Advancements in study of these Matrices showed their was great power of a similar nature to the Manifested locked inside each of these Power Cores. One had somehow become bonded to one of the exploration team giving him incredible power. Understanding how to tap this power was at a stand still until a static mage research assistant accidental bonded with one of the Power Cores. Careful vivisection of the unlucky assistant revealed reams of useful data. These experiments have filled the Technocracy with dreams of being able to field an army of elite cyborg warriors, superior to any HIT Mark thus far designed.
Technical problems have plagued the program. The Power Cores have proven unable to bond to the Awakened or to any human being that lacks a strong will and sense of self. Finding such individuals who also have the requisite level of loyalty without having their will completely crushed by indoctrination, yet are not Awakened, has proven to be a challenge for the Technocracy. Meanwhile, work has been set back numerous times. Escapes have plagued the program as have the loss or theft of numerous Power Cores.
The Tradition Mages are not willing to risk the truce by pushing back too hard at this point. They help the grassroots, mystical movements that blur the line between Psychic and Magic powers that the Technocracy drew in the sand. They meet with Manifested who ask the right questions to reveal that they are not alone in wielding powers science alone cannot explain.
Quietly some Mages on both sides of the camp worry about how slowly the supposedly diametrically opposed sides of science and magic seem to be merging in practical use, in particular, when it comes to the Manifested. In whispers, they ask each other if either side will come out intact or is a new paradigm forming right under their own noses?
The Traditions have monkey wrenched the Technocracy's Power Core research and even put the treaty at risk by stealing Cores from Technocracy research centers. Luckily for them, they were not caught. So far Tradition research into the Power Cores has turned up some interesting discovers it seems no being that is significantly different than a human can bond to a Power Core and no magic yet discovered can alter the bond once established.
Kuei-Jin
The courts of the East are beset by a troubling question. Are the Manifested the returned Ten Thousand Heroes of ages past? If they are, what is to be done? How do the Manifested fit into the larger picture? There are as many answers as there are Kuei-Jin it seems.
Hunters
While the Hunters share information on freely, the lack of a unified credo means, in typical Hunter fashion, everyone has a theory or explanation of the Manifested. One thing that is certain, however, as the power of the Manifested grows so does the surety that they either will be great champions to help hold back the dark, or the greatest threat the Hunters have ever seen.
More to come..
Questions comments and particularly reviews are welcome for all my stories I love hearing from you all.
Anyone who wishes to submit ideas feel free.