Mage History

From Gothpoodle

Revision as of 10:32, 25 April 2006

See also: San Francisco History, Vampire History, Werewolf History, Consilia

Native Period (pre-1776)

No formal cabals existed, but individual shamans among the Yeluma practiced magic.

Spanish Period (1776-1822)

Several of the Yeluma shaman formed a cabal to fight the oppression of their people as two groups of foreign mages arrived in the area. The first was a small loosely allied group of Seers of the Throne lurking within the Catholic Missions and the second was a cabal of Banishers whom they would quietly support in their fight against the native shamans. Between these two groups, the Yeluma were routed and then hunted down and killed.

Mexican Period (1822-1847)

A small group of Dionysian cultists established a cabal called the Coven of the Moon around a powerful hallow in Sonoma, forming an alliance with the local werewolf pack which protected the locus on the same location. The Banishers learned of the cult and tried to stamp it out but were killed to the last man. Meanwhile, the dismantling of the Mission system undermined the power base of the Seers of the Throne and they were forced to concentrate their efforts on reorganization.

Barbary Coast (1847-1906)

With the flood of immigrants came mages and for almost two decades they fought over the hallows of the city as well as over disagreements of a mundane and mystical nature. Out of the chaos, four stable cabals formed. The first was the Chosen of Ti-Tsang, Chinese alchemists who set up shop in Chinatown, tending to the needs of their countrymen and drawn by the proximity of death and material greed. The second was founded by Mary Pleasant, a voodoo practitioner from New Orleans who founded the Children of Bondye to tend to the needs of the small black population. The third were the Sin-Eaters, a quasi-Catholic sect of Goetic mages. The last was the reformed Seers cabal, now called the Watchers, who established themselves in a position to monitor local occult activity while they made inroads into the infrastructure of the growing city. With the first two being community-centered and the latter concerned only with observation, magical matters were mostly peaceful save for the frequently belligerant visiting mages. In 1902, Julia Morgan founded the Conspiracy of Morgan in Oakland, but was active in Berkeley and San Francisco until her death.

Reconstruction (1906-1950)

The earthquake and fire of 1906 led to several changes in the magical landscape, forcing the dormancy of one hallow and awakening another, aggravating the situation for the Awakened. Complicating matters, the aftermath resulted in the revelation that the Sin-Eaters were practicing forbidden magic and the other cabals were forced to destroy or drive off most of its members. Saturday's House broke off from the Children of Bondye as the cemetaries were moved out of the city. In addition, Japanese members of the Chosen broke off and formed the Priests of Amaterasu but were later scattered during the internment of Japanese during the Second World War. A powerful mage named Cerberus moved to the city and built a house atop a newly awakened hallow in the Haight but eventually disappeared during the war. Meanwhile, the Watchers established many new avenues of influence throughout the city during its reconstruction. They kept an eye on the established cabals but opted not to waste resources working against them because their focus was so insular and they posed little threat. To the south, in San Jose, the Rosicrucian Society formed and forced all Awakened in the city to either join or leave.

Counterculture (1950-1980)

After the war, two new cabals entered the scene. The Zeitmare was a left-handed cabal exploiting the fear that had taken hold during the war and was now magnified as the Cold War began. They claimed the hallow once inhabited by the Priests and worked their magic in relative secrecy until they were driven off in 1959 by a returning Priest and his apprentice, who later formed the Temple of Ama-no-Uzume when his mentor died in 1970. The other cabal was called the Street Prophets, who ran a halfway house for wandering mages passing through the city. The influx of new agers, mystics, and weirdos during this period included numerous mages, several with dubious ethics and practices. The existing cabals began to take more of an interest in the activites of the newcomers. The Watchers, in particular, decided that observation wasn't sufficient and formed the Sandmen to take a more hands-on approach. The original group retreated further into the shadows, concentrating their efforts on manipulation of media, business, and politics. The Sandmen acted as a task force, suppressing evidence of the supernatural and neutralizing threats directly. Their activities drew the attention of the other cabals, who shored up their defenses against the new threat. In Berkeley, a group of psychadelic researchers called the Narcoalchemists began to experiment with LSD and other psychoactive drugs attempting to invoke Awakening.

Decline (1980-1990)

Tensions mount as the Sandmen expand their influence and begin to intrude more into the affairs of the established cabals. Paranoia mounts. Meanwhile, three Benandanti arrived in the city and established a cabal dedicated to protecting Sleepers from spirits and dark magic which they called the Knights of St. Francis. They quickly establish a relationship with the Seers and end up acting as liaisons, not just between the Seers and Pentacle mages, but also between mages and the other supernatural entites in the city. A detante was reached and a degree of peace was restored. Quietly, a dying mage formed a small cabal called the Skoptsi after a Russian castration cult, and uses it to lure young mages to their destruction in order to extend his life. His activities are not noticed by the Knights, but the Sandmen notice and leave him to his task, monitoring his activities from a distance. To the north, a young hispanic vineyard hieress inherited control of the old Coven of the Moon and quickly becoming a power in the North Bay. During the late 80s, the Narcoalchemists became the Dreamwalkers and began to focus on dreams instead of drug research.

Dot-Com Boom (1990-2000)

The efforts of the Knights of St. Francis not only regulate the mage community but also help to encourage the process started in the 60s of bringing them together. Ties with the new Coven of the Moon, in particular, became very strong. Meanwhile, their connection with the Sandmen gave the latter a source of information on the other cabals and allowed them to monitor quietly and at a distance. The only new group of mages to form started at Stanford but soon took up residence under Mount Sutro, calling themselves the Spiritual Switchboard Collective, when the Rosicrucians (who had been expanding their influence throughout Silicon Valley) gave them their standard ultimatum. Across the Bay in Oakland, though, a Banisher cabal called the Repentant Ones began to systematically kill the local mages. The Sandmen noticed his activities and encouraged them through proxies.

Present (post-2000)