I’ve seen far more than my share of men and women and monsters rise to terrible power and be brought low by the passage of time. In the footsteps of my predecessor, François, I will try to catalogue the events that are unknown to the Kine but vital to our understanding of our unlives and therefore our survival.
My name is Loïc, and I’m a painter, but my interests
are many. I’ve learned many things, and I figure into quite a few of the
events below, but I came in relatively late in Kindred terms. Events before
my arrival in 1990 are second-hand tales at least, but I know for a fact
that these past events still shape our present existence. Be warned, much
of this history is made up of abridgements, rumors, half-truths, or downright
lies. However, outside of the Kine’s posterity, little history remains
except by word of mouth and many lessons can be learned even from a lie.
I will try to make this history make as much sense as possible and explain
how this region became the pit that it is today. I will also try to explain
what happened as clearly as possible. Finally, I will explain any obscure
occult references that I have learned painstakingly by trial and error.
The earliest anyone seems to remember about the kind of local history unknown to the Kine is the rulership of Bloomington by a Ventrue Prince named Philip Barclay. The University flourished around him, but he shared his city with only three other vampires: his childe, Laura Tobin; Thomas Coultran; and a Tremere named Minuet.
In July of 1985, a Sabbat pack attacked the city with the help of the Ventrue Laura Tobin. Together, they diablerized Barclay and Coultran, but the Tremere Minuet escaped. Tobin and the pack went into hiding to wait for her to reappear.
Inquisitive and power-hungry Kindred arrived in the unoccupied city in late September. They determined that Barclay and Coultran were dead and the other two were unaccounted for, and then they set up a new government. A Tremere named Terrence emerged as Prince, with the Toreador Khalia as Seneschal and the Gangrel samurai Musashi Sty as Sheriff. In an attempt to kill the Nosferatu Sonny Corenthos, who had been drawing ever closer to finding Laura Tobin, the Sabbat set off a bomb. By the end of the night, Musashi had killed the Sabbat Roland and the Gangrel Hans had killed Prince Terrence. Hans was pardoned by the new Prince, Khalia, and made her bodyguard.
At the next gathering, in October, several new vampires entered town. The Sabbat presence was known but Laura Tobin was not yet known to be involved. This evening was interrupted by the arrival of an entire pack of Garou (which is, I’m told, the quaint politically correct term for "Lupine" or werewolf). When the severed head of their Sept Leader was thrown in the front window by a Sabbat vampire, they all entered Crinos wolf-man form. They attempted to carry away the Prince, but Hans beat no less than five of them in a tug of war with Khalia as the rope. (No, I’m not making that up.) Order was eventually restored and Kindred and Garou worked together. Khalia summoned the Sabbat who set the bomb the previous month. Unfortunately, he was rigged with large amounts of C-4 by his pack. (Let that be a lesson to all about how Summon should be used only carefully.) It spelled the end of the evening. The Garou left, only to find the Sabbat had killed the rest of their Sept, which is too bad I suppose.
On October 31st, many strange things happened, including the Lupines having some strange visions. Most notably, Mike Jamorski of the Tremere found his friend Cassandra staked to the wall of the Tremere Chantry with a telephone pole - dead and well within the protective wards. (I’ve never heard an adequate explanation for these events, except perhaps some obscure references to some kind of power-sucking demon that appear nowhere else in the "official" history - and I’m not sure if I even buy that.)
But back to more easily understood matters. The Nosferatu Sonny Corenthos and others gathered enough information to track down the Sabbat pack. On the 18th of December, vengeful Lupines killed the entire pack, including Laura Tobin. That night also featured a failed attempt on Prince Khalia’s life by the Assamite Armand. Hans and others saved Khalia; Armand and his accomplice were blood hunted for their troubles.
The next day, a string of murders patterned after Jack the Ripper began. They were eventually traced to a pair of anti-tribu of the Lasombra and Tzimisce clans, who were destroyed. Incidentally, there were some Malkavians who were staked during this time, but they crumbled to dust once they were released. No one knows why, to this day.
This combination of events prompted a visit by the Archon O’Brien on New Year’s Day 1986. Apparently things went well for Khalia, although this isn’t sure. Construction also began in January on a park to appease the Garou.
In February, Hans appeared at the auction of Barclay and Coultran’s property to announce that he had killed the Prince, Khalia, for her refusal to honor multiple life boons. (Who says Prestation isn’t important?) In the ensuing brawl with the Keeper of the Elysium, Jon Anderson, Hans was aided by his new childe, Larry Teague. Hans and Larry fled. Jon Anderson vanished that night – it is believed today that he was among the first of many vampires diablerized by Sonny Corenthos.
Also at that evening, an FBI agent named Tim Moore was caught and brought forth to be ghouled to maintain his silence. Unfortunately, no one noticed that he was allowed to go free following the death of his master: although he was eventually dealt with quietly, Tim Moore would eventually figure prominently into the Vampire File incident 10 years later.
In March, Musashi, who had been Khalia’s Seneschal, declared himself Prince. Hans and Armand were allowed to return. I have heard shadowy tales of infiltration of the city during this time by creatures called Fomori, which are beings possessed by evil spirits called Banes. These creatures are the enemies of werewolves and are tied to a large corporation named PENTEX in some undefined way.
On April first, 1986, the city government rezoned all city parks as heavy industrial areas and called for their immediate destruction. The mortals protested; the Garou declared that the Kindred had to either address the situation or prepare for war. A Toreador was unmasked as actually being Laura Tobin. The Assamite Armand wrested away from her a dead man’s switch attached to a large amount of C-4 away, only to detonate it when he had reached a safe distance. Laura Tobin was shredded by the werewolves, and staked until a way could be found to kill her so she wouldn’t come back due to her very high level of Fortitude. (I believe at this point an unidentified Setite removed her heart, but I’m not absolutely sure.)
In June, IU’s new Museum of the Supernatural was broken into and an ancient vampire hunters’ kit was stolen. The Tremere Minuet (who had apparently returned) recovered the knife from the kit, and the Kindred proceeded to bicker over it. (To the best of my knowledge, the Assamites recovered the blade and sent it far away from Bloomington, which suits most of the survivors just fine.) While fighting over the magic knife, the Kindred ignored the pleas of the Nosferatu Guido. The Kindred responsible for the April Fool’s Day bill also had the bill rework the sewers as well, and they were full of workers. Prince Musashi, I am told, ignored the situation until the Nosferatu produced a pile of sewer workers’ heads.
Incidentally, an unidentified Kindred completed the Center for Religious Fulfillment at this time. It’s a meditation facility catering to all religions, and has changed hands many times.
By December of 1986, relations with the werewolves were getting progressively worse. The Assamites left town en masse. Musashi had by this point survived an assassination attempt by Kindred, possibly due to his treasonous policies protecting the Lupines (which would later cause him to be banned from the office of Prince for unlife by the Archons.)
On December 11th, 1986, wrecking crews moved into the parks. The Brujah Leon Trotsky pushed for a war against the Lupines and left town in disgust when it failed. The werewolves used some kind of mind-control effect called the Delirium to halt the demolition.
The following day, December 12th, three planes left the local airport, officially to spray for weevil infestations in the Hoosier National Forest. They dropped a load of Napalm instead. Fire-fighting crews from all over the state were misdirected, as were other teams from all over the Mid-West. The entire park was lost. The Lupines, who lost one member to the fires, were not amused, and rampaged through town.
This era is called, somewhat predictably, the Garou-Kindred War, but it was more like a massacre. By Christmas Day, most of the Kindred of Bloomington were missing or dead. (This includes the Ravnos Nicholi, who is still being sought to this day by his concerned kin.) The werewolves determined (through careful influence tracing by a pack leader named Lord Thomas) that the individual responsible for all the year’s trouble was a Ventrue named Nicolo. The Garou were in the process of presenting Nicolo’s head to the surviving elder Kindred. Then, an individual named Aristotle, some strange kind of vampire as far as I can tell, stumbled in. He and the rest of his delegation from Mooresville had been attacked by other Lupines and he was the last survivor of either side. One of the Lupines frenzied immediately and attacked. In the ensuing carnage, many remaining Kindred died. Aristotle left unscathed; Hans fled into the night, mourning dead friends. White Wolf, who I’m told is some kind of shaman from the Wendigo Garou tribe, shredded two other werewolves who attempted to attack Musashi. She was the last of the Garou by the end of the night.
(Lord Thomas was grappled by Cassandra and they vanished
into the spirit world the werewolves call "the Umbra" using that awfully
annoying peekaboo trick the Lupines are so fond of. Now, if you were paying
really close attention, you should be asking, "Isn’t she the one who died
staked to the Tremere chantry with a telephone pole?" I don’t know, but
it raises some very interesting questions about what really happened to
Lord Thomas/Rakesh.)