Theres got to be an interesting story here. Bram Stoker did the research trip to Dracula in 1890...
First, this is the just the initial info for my setting. I can't really start fleshing it out until the rule book comes out. One of things about this famous How-To guide is that the White Court commissioned it according to Harry in "Grave Peril" so alot of the history in regards to it can be thought of as dubious. Stoker says, "I was doing research at the time..." Bu&$#*! he was.
..I'm surprised you haven't tied the Great Fire of 1889 into it.
First, I haven't gotten that far in my design yet and...I don't know anything about that part of history. Seems your more savvy in history than me.
I presume having 'broken free of the Black Courts control' he is still just as demonic and evil as every other Black Court vampire.
That Vamp, who still doesn't have a name, is just one of those characters who it depends on who you talk to and when.
Some people say the guy is a regular Marcone, a rogue with a heart of gold and a fist full of cash. This is substantiated by his office, which anyone with magical know how can find (with some difficulty like Marcone), which strangely has a continuously updated Evil Overlord's List nailed on the office wall. Most say it's been the office joke for the better part of a decade, but strangely it has annotations in red marker like, "Tried it" "Never works" and "That actually works" scribbled on the ideas.
Some people say he's the devil incarnate and is nothing like his former self, cutting off the head of anyone who starts anything his city without his consent.
Some say he was a sleazy Bastard in life, well on his manipulative way to becoming Merlin. They say when he got turned, except for making him undead, he was exactly the same afterwards.
Some others who say he's like Buffy's Spike on Steroids, a Black Court Vampire who is the nicest, most forgiving man in the world. This substantiated by his policy, "Everyone deserves a second chance" but that can also be attributed to the fact that he is repordely still a practicing Christian/Catholic despite the vampirism.
But, the most popular belief is that he doesn't exist at all. Most people think he's the White Council's Kaiser Soze, a bedtime story meant to keep the Old God under wraps. This can be debunked by any reader who knows what the Blackstaff is. However, there are some who say that this guy actually
is the current Blackstaff(But most readers know who that is)...
For gameplay purposes though, I am prepared to run his organization as one of the central antagonists. They are cooking something up and most believe it is a plan to cure his vampirism through magic.
On the "Old God": Several times in the books (Not a spoiler) Harry mentions that Old Gods and religious figures like Zeus, Odin, Shiva and the like actually existed, but are now dormant. They hold a tremendous amount of power, rivaling if not exceeding that of Mothers Summer and Winter. The purpose of the Old God under Spokane is for obvious reasons, and is one of those things left unsaid. My current plan is that it is an Old God linked to the Native American Tribes of this region, but I haven't made any determinations yet as to what it is. For certain though, any practitioner in my games will tell you there is something off in this area, they feel a presence of some kind. This is evidenced in real life by the weird weather we have around here. For the past 3 days he have had slow winds and it has been bright and sunny on this spring break, but as I type this it is snowing outside... By this time tomorrow the snow will be gone at it will be sunny again....
Do you really want a campaign city where no magical creatures (including Wizards) are willing to fight with each other for fear of breaking the Accords? That is going to really hamper the game options.
One: Just because they're not supposed to fight doesn't mean there isn't any fighting. I talk alot about it being Casablanca, but it's also like Berlin during the cold war, there is a lot going on behind closed doors. There is simply no "Official" business conducted within the city, but there is still business. Third Eye drug deals, copies of Warden Silver Swords and cloaks, Vampire street gangs and Faires who like to mess with humans are still common in Magical Spokane, but they are done in a way that the normal person doesn't notice. The Accords and mini-Mafias playing police can only stop so much. Plus, it is a major campaign thread that this system of neutrality is breaking down. Members of the Kingpin's organization aren't patrolling anymore and more overt actions are being taken without fear of punishment.
Also, this will not limit my Players because my players will cause trouble no matter what kind of setting it is. It would not surprise me if in the first adventure they ended up derailing a train and set some huge fey on fire before the first day was out.
Plus, I don't know what my players are going to play yet. It would not surprise me if one or more of my players had an aspect called, "Instrument of God" in the same vein as Michael Carpenter except with fandoms instead.
"That weapon's just a replica prop..."
"But it's signed by the great one.."
"Tolkien?.."
"Shut up!" Is a conversation I would not be surprised to have if I could vamp someone enough. I have one of those gaming groups....
Yes, it is going to be a fun game.
