World of Darkness RP. Intrigue and Conflict on the West Coast

[Ezekiel]

The Kid is Dead. Long Live the Queen

Welcome, one and all, to the Anarch Free State. The last true bastion of Anarch power in North America (Don't let the Camarilla-lite in San Francisco tell you otherwise). LA has long been a melting pot of both mortal and supernatural kind, Los Angeles is most notorious, for those in the known, for its vibrant kindred community, covertly controlling the new cultural capital of the world as it grew from a series of tiny rural communities to a metropolis on the Sunset Sea. The unique location, role and rapid growth of the city has enabled it to remain free of the rule of the Camarilla and Sabbat, the Anarch Free State already too deeply entrenched along the West Coast before either turned their sights on the fledgling rebel nation.

Without the stifling rule of the Camarilla Princes, or the religious fury of the Sabbat to control the West Coast, the Supernatural as a whole has flourished, new and unique communities of Kindred, as well as the other beings of myth, now call the Western edge of the world home. To refer to the 'night life' of LA as idyllic would be inaccurate, the world of darkness is still a place of plots, murder and power. Anarchs are just as cutthroat as their Kindred elsewhere, and the age old conflicts between the races of the night continue just as they do the world over. The difference is that the City of Angels lives, exists and thrives on hope, the earnest, often mislead belief, that one can truly carve a better world, a better life.

But hope is dangerous, and the shadow gathers around the edges of the glittering lights of Hollywood, like moths to a flame.

Setting Introduction

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the World of Darkness setting, and thus, the setting of the rp, the premise is fairly simple. Take the modern world and make the myths of our nightmares, the supernatural, real. Then turn the world several degrees 'darker.' The climate is worsening, the governments more corrupt, the multinational corporations more powerful. To the common man the world is much the same, but the horrors that lurk in the dark are true, and the world hangs ever more on the balance of humanities hubris.

The most common, or at least, the most prominent of these supernatural beings are the Kindred, as they call themselves, vampires, is what the teeming masses of humanity would recognize them as. Ever since Caine was cursed as the first vampire, the kindred have been alongside humanity, pulling the strings from behind closed doors, be they castle or boardrooms. The ability and character of a Kindred is defined by his clan, the bloodline from which he or she stems, these can all be found here; http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Clan_(VTM)

Info on the other races of the World of Darkness can be found through the same wiki.

The Kindred of the modern day are mostly divided into three groups, the Camarilla, the Sabbat and the Anarchs. The Camarilla is the oldest of these three and the most powerful. They are the ancient hidden society of the Kindred that set the rules on how Kindred should behave, both towards each other, and humanity. The Camarilla's main purpose, or, what they would have you believe, is the upholding of the 'Masquerade' the deception that keeps the bulk of humanity blind to the existence of the Kindred. While the Sabbat and Anarchs fundamentally disagree with the Camarilla's approach to this, all three factions currently enforce a similar set of rules. Kindred are an urban people, the countryside is ruled by there werewolves who are ancient foes of their kind, and so they are ruled city-by-city. A Camarilla city is ruled by a Prince and a council of 'Primogen' the Elders of the vampire clans within the city.

The Sabbat worship Caine as their unliving god of the night, and seek the open dominion of the Kindred over humanity, the Camarilla view them as insane zealots who read too much into the myths of the Kindred, while they view the Camarilla as merely another obstacle in the way of their rightful place of dominion. Thankfully, the Sabbat are the weaker of the two global powers, and for now are forced to maintain their own version of the masquerade, simply for their own survival, even in the cities and nations they control.

The Anarchs are the smallest of the major groups and are confined to specific parts of the globe where isolation, or the relatively recent industrial and technological age have allowed cities to remain free on the control of either global power. The most famous, and deliberate, example of this is the Anarch Free State of the American West Coast, which for most of the 20th Century has spanned from Washington to Southern California. The Anarchs have a wide variety of beliefs, but mainly are united in their protest against the crushingly hierarchical Camarilla and the frankly insane Sabbat. The Anarch movement grew out of the chaos of the World Wars, which largely distracted the Camarilla and the Sabbat from their open rebellion, and now that the world is stable once more, the Free State has gradually been chipped away. Anarch cities are ruled by 'Barons' and their Coteries, although usually in a much less formal sense than a Prince and Primogen.

In our setting, Los Angeles has been a part of the Anarch Free State, although many kindred loyal to a variety of causes make their home here, alongside other supernatural beings. Recently, the de-facto Baron of LA, an ancient, but perpetually young kindred known as the 'Kid' attempted to impose a more direct rule on LA, openly declaring himself Baron and at war with the Camarilla and pretty much anyone else he did not trust. The following civil war between the Kindred of LA was fierce, and most are still recovering. During that time, one of the Kid's childer (A Kindred whom he himself turned) rebelled against the Kid, slaying him, and draining him of power. While she has disappeared from the every day life of the city, members of her coterie are now prominent in LA society. LA is offically no longer part of the Anarch Free States, instead branding itself it's own Kindred Free State.

OOC

Greetings everyone, this will be the third iteration of a long standing, if off and on, rp series of mine dealing with the city of Los Angeles in the World of Darkness setting. As the brief suggests, the focus, and biggest drive of the storyline are the Kindred (vampires) of the setting, but players will be more than welcome to play the other subsets of the World of Darkness (barring certain characters which are just 'too' powerful for the RP).

The game runes of the Old World of Darkness setting for LA, and 'lore' characters will be open, even if a few changes to the setting have been made. Likewise, the lore state of play is not set in stone, so players can create characters which supersede those which are established (chatting to me about it first).

A final note, the rp will be using its own discord server, which will include several ic update channels, so discord-use would be advisable.

Discord Link; https://discord.gg/p2mGXba

[Red Coil]

You have my interest. :)

[Letter Bee]

Interested; are Mages allowed? Also, I can do 3 - 5 Paragraphs of 5 lines each, or the equivalent.

[Ruby]

Can't wait.

[Hallion]

So excited right now. I'm relatively new to the forum RP thing, but definitely familiar with the WoD. So I'm in!

I actually do have a Garou character I'd like to toss in, but not sure if that would conflict with the mix considering their history of warfare with just about every other supernatural being :)

But if not, then I'd have no issues running a vamp.

[Ruby]

their history of warfare with just about every other supernatural being :)

But if not, then I'd have no issues running a vamp.

@Hallion

If you could find your way around that without breaking your concept, I'd say sure.

Otherwise yeah just go vamp.

[Hallion]

If you could find your way around that without breaking your concept, I'd say sure.

Otherwise yeah just go vamp.

@Ruby

Awesome. I also have a Changeling character concept (I do love the WoD games,lol) but I'm not too sure about the politics between them and Kindred.

[Ruby]

How embedded in a city wide plot would you want to be? Like garou, if changingling would make the character isolated that can be both good and bad. Depends on the writer. An outsider can be an alarm sounder, or an inviter of blood and chaos.

[Hallion]

Good points @Ruby. I think since this is my first real significant forum RP, I'll err on the side of caution and go Kindred :)

Thanks for helping me get it sorted :)

[Andrew Blade]

Would the right Hunter characters be welcome?

[Ezekiel]

Would the right Hunter characters be welcome?

@Andrew Blade

They would indeed,

Side note.

OOC incoming in the next few days.

[ProPro]

WoD is my favorite tabletop RP setting. So much love. So reading everything it's definitely vampire heavy, which I can understand since Vampire the WoD's flagship, but you're allowing other races from the looks of things. Ok, so my question is thus: Everything I've read is very much the Classic WoD setting, but would you be open to New WoD creatures that didn't exist in the classic, such as Beasts and Sin-Eaters?

[Letter Bee]

@ProPro, I would also love Homebrew Splats like Princesses.

[Hallion]

Side note.

OOC incoming in the next few days.

@Ezekiel

I'm super stoked!

btw @Ezekiel, how do you feel about the neutral clans? Specifically Ravnos? I'm leaning toward them for something different, but just wondering if they'd be an issue in the grand scheme...

[Ruby]

<Snipped quote by Ezekiel>

I'm super stoked!

btw @Ezekiel, how do you feel about the neutral clans? Specifically Ravnos? I'm leaning toward them for something different, but just wondering if they'd be an issue in the grand scheme...

@Hallion

Shouldn't be an issue at all. LA isn't ruled by the factions Ravnos is "neutral" to. LA is neutral.

[Andrew Blade]

If you're making a list, put me down for a Hunter then.

[Ezekiel]

WoD is my favorite tabletop RP setting. So much love. So reading everything it's definitely vampire heavy, which I can understand since Vampire the WoD's flagship, but you're allowing other races from the looks of things. Ok, so my question is thus: Everything I've read is very much the Classic WoD setting, but would you be open to New WoD creatures that didn't exist in the classic, such as Beasts and Sin-Eaters?

@ProPro

Unfortunately I'm going to say no to anything from nWoD, not because I don't think it's a cool idea, but just because the game is very heavily influenced by the built up Classic setting of Los Angeles.

If you're struggling for other ideas, feel free to hop on the discord and we can discuss :)

<Snipped quote by Hallion>

Shouldn't be an issue at all. LA isn't ruled by the factions Ravnos is "neutral" to. LA is neutral.

@Ruby

I second for this. As it's not immediately obvious in the int check, just to clarify, Ruby is co-gming this, so, anything she says is also the 'official' line on it.

[Plank Sinatra]

I'm super interested.

[Kingfisher]

Very much interested.

[Hallion]

If you're making a list, put me down for a Hunter then.

@Andrew Blade

Oh good choice. I love the Hunters in the WoD. That should be an interesting character :)