Chronicle: “Freedom is never given; it is won.” – A. Philip Randolph
Concept: The Anarchs won?! …WUT?!?!
Location: Open
Lead Storyteller: Jeremy White
AST Staff: Peter Fitzpatrick, Kiersten Bell
The Story So Far:
“In hindsight it all seems very obvious, I suppose most things do. They came from nowhere, more powerful than anyone would have imagined. We’d all seen them as the dregs of society, too few to bother, too disorganized to care. Then suddenly Justicars were dead, Seraph were in hiding, and the Anarchs were walking the streets as if they owned them. I knew it was over when we lost Karsh, unfortunately it wasn’t until then that we realized what the Movement had become, or how much danger we were actually in.” – Hardestat from an undisclosed prison locale.
In the wake of “the sarcophagus that shall not be named” and ensuing events, the Sabbat went wild with the massive slap in the face to their religious zealotry and openly declared world wide Crusade on the Camarilla. This should have been in the Camarilla’s favor, but the Elders were too busy doing damage control while spinning the awakening of the Antediluvians, who until this they had insisted didn’t exist and waging cold wars against each other. They were completely under prepared for the coordinated Crusade Temoch “The Jackal” was able to direct and as a result were caught with their proverbial pants down.
As the “War to End All Wars” began, a new name rose to prominence in the Anarch Movement, and that name was Danton. Little was known of his origin, it was believed he was Brujah, that he was located somewhere in London, and that he was likely very old. What was known about the man is that he was an Anarch, through and through. It wasn’t the “legend” of the man that drew people to him though, it was the results. Danton, leading his gang Ex Sanguine, had barely been in the “limelight” for what seemed more than a minute and he was already credited with the deaths of an Archbishop and an Archon. As he continued to put marks in the “win” column, more and more began to follow, and Danton met those followers with protection, guidance, safe houses, weapons, and most importantly organization.
“Every rebellion we ever stood on the front lines of started with two words. Never again.”
- Jeremy MacNeil, current whereabouts unknown.
The Anarchs began playing both sides of the war, stepping in for the seemingly silent Inconnu. In one city they’d walk the Sabbat into a death trap and in another they’d lead the Camarilla to their Firey ends. Seldom did they get their hands dirty themselves, but when they did, it was quick, efficient, and no one saw it coming. Long gone were the nights of the one off Brujah or Gangrel all ampt’d up, getting a lucky blow in, then dying mid monologue. In its place was a well organized military arm applying multiple tactics to disarm and destroy their enemies.
All three sides approached the Independent Alliance still comprised of the Giovanni, the Setties, and the Assamites. But the IA placed their bets on all three annihilating each other and politely declined all of them. They were just as surprised as everyone else when the end came. The IA did lend their considerable influence towards keeping the masquerade while maintaining a healthy distance from the battles that caused the need for their assistance.
In point of fact, the IA weren’t the only ones who lent their assistance to keeping the masquerade by the end. With tidal wave after tidal wave of Sabbat shovel heads rampaging through the streets of Camarilla held domains, and the Elders responding with near uncontrolled god like power, even the minions of the mighty Ivory Tower had trouble keeping the human populace ignorant to the existence of the supernatural. The Camailla, the Anarchs, and the IA pooled resources to keep the Masquerade intact. Bet when even their combined effort proved to fall short, other supernatural’s lent their influence to keep the war out of the eyes of the majority of humanity. After all, if vampires were real, it wasn’t too far to see Werewolves and Fair Folk as real as well.
In the end, kindred were primarily kept out of the eyes of the public, but not all. The governments of the world had seen, and they weren’t going to unsee. Secret agencies were established world wide to study and develop ways to deal with this “new threat”.
Clan Note: Having been brought back together by unknown forces, the Nosferatu became the sole information network for the Anarch Movement pulling intel from the Sabbat and the Camarilla alike. It is rumored even the former Nosferatu Justicar turned on the Tower, feeding vital intel to the Anarchs, though no one understands how the Anarchs managed this.
“Told ya!” – Jeanette Voerman, Sana Monica, CA
Things really started to go downhill when Elders, long having been pillars of the Ivory Tower, began to walk away and join the Movement. Some seeing the light of what the Anarchs were saying, some simply seeing which way the war was going and not wanting to wait until it was obvious they were abandoning a sinking ship.
The war lasted 10 years, during which the Sabbat was all but decimated, the remnants believed pushed back to Mexico save the random nomadic pack. The Camarilla was relegated to several major cities in which they still held consolidated power, and the Anarchs had declared an unquestionable victory. Though no one seemed to be able to tell you how that happened, least of all the Anarchs.
Three months after the Anarch Movement declared global victory over the Camarilla and the Sabbat, Danton called a summit of those that had become the regional leaders of The Movement during the war in London. His gang, Ex Sanguine, stood behind him as he addressed the assembled masses.
“When the tenants of the Anarch Movement were threatened with extinction, I came. When you asked me to guide you with both the Monsters and the Elders warring through you as though you did not exist, I gave you this guidance. When you asked that I lead you through the coming war, that the Movement may not only survive the coming nights, but thrive in what followed, this too I gave you. You asked me to be your warlord, and I rose to give exactly what you asked of me. Now many of those in this very room have asked that I lead you, now that you have seen victory. I rose to be your warlord, as you asked, but a warlord you no longer need, and our kind do not change who we are. Not overday. I cannot lead you into this age of peace. You must learn to govern yourselves, or you will simply fall under the weight of what you have elected to become. I leave you with this, if I did not believe in you and your tenants, I would have never come in the first place. Be good to each other, but also be firm, that you do not simply become that which you have conquered. Most importantly, be true to who you are. I’ll be watching.”
With that, Danton and his gang disappeared and haven’t been heard from since. That was a year ago, and The Movement is barely hanging on in their absence. All eyes have fallen to the regional leaders, Danton’s Lieutenants, to usher in this new era of peace and prosperity. The dreams of a world no longer ruled by Elders and Monsters is just within reach, they just have to take it. Can they?
We would like to welcome one and all to the new WPI Chronicle scheduled to kick off in 2025! We’ll be putting out a lot of new setting documents over the next couple of months, which will include some rules adjustments for the new setting, as well as flavor for you to build into. Please give us just a little time to fill in some of the blanks for the chron, we will open up to all questions as soon as we’re able!
Just to note, while we’re World Building a Chronicle with the hopes that down the road other chapters will emerge and want to join in the fun, we will have a local game that will be set in Philadelphia. Be ready to see information coming about that soon as well! We’re excited to kick this off and to see where it goes, I hope you’ll all join us in that excitement then come out and make it happen with us!
Jeremy White
Lead Storyteller – Anarch
Club Manager
BoD
