Chill® is a owned by Mayfair Games.   Everything else is © Michael J. Casavant.
 
Game World Location: Based out of Dallas, TX.  Real Life Location: Rice University.  04JUN2000-???

 

The Milieu (as of Campaign #4)

WARNING: THIS IS TOTAL FICTION!  I have made up fictional explanations for real world events to spice up the game world.  Neither my players nor I believe these things are true.  But what if they are? :-)

The Society

(I didn't like S.A.V.E., the foundation in Chill, so I made up a similar foundation.) 

The Society has had many names throughout its history.  Most of its past is intentionally clouded and compartmentalized so that if Creatures manage to take or infiltrate a given base, the danger to other cells of The Society will be lessened.  In times past, their job was easier.  They could safely hunt down Creatures and their fellow man would endorse, praise, and fund them readily. 

In a nutshell, they almost put themselves out of business.  Their vigorous campaign against The Unknown was so successful that sightings of Creatures became extremely rare.  This persisted for over a century, during which gunpowder had come into widespread use.  The Society's ranks shrank tremendously, new candidates stopped seeking them out, and mankind began to convince itself that there was nothing to fear but fear itself.  Most of the funding agencies felt their investments more soundly placed in cannons and rifles, for surely such mighty capabilities would protect them from dangers known and Unknown. 

The Society was dealt a grievous blow when Torquemada, a Creature of The Unknown, infiltrated the ranks of humanity and started his gruesome inquisition.  Many of the greatest masters of the Art, the metaphysical/magical disciplines that the Society used to greatest effect in battling The Unknown, were burned as heretics and witches.  The Society was forced to go underground. 

Many members of The Society went to the New World.  Lacking the structure, discipline and security they once enjoyed, many of their members fell by the wayside, trying to use their powers for personal gain and to evil ends.  This prompted witch hunts in which good and evil, magical and non-magical, perished alike.  It was a dark and frightening time. 

There were two things that allowed humanity to make it through this time.  One, The Society had done their job very well centuries before.  Two, many Creatures of the Unknown were killed as lunatics and wild animals and/or died of starvation, unable to adapt to a rapidly evolving society that embraced technology. 

The Society pooled its resources and "went to ground" permanently.  No longer would they ride through town, swords held high, drinking in the admiration of townsfolk elated at the sight of the slain Creature on parade.  No, from now on, they would have to become covert agents, revealing only what is necessary to keep up the fight. 

They began to become dealers in information and, when something unusual popped up, they would investigate it.  When it was a Creature, they would work quickly and quietly to take it down.  Then they would bring in the charismatic, "Salespeople" to pick through the details and try to find new agents , supporters, and/or funding among those that had been victimized and were not willing to dismiss the horror of what they had seen. 

Ever so slowly, The Society regained its strength.  It was a bigger world than before, but now they had high caliber people, rapid transportation, and the gear to do more with less.  Unfortunately, there were still some powerful Creatures from centuries before that had lingered on.  Attacks on members and cells of The Society began anew.  The ranks of The Unknown had swollen once again and many of them were a lot more clever than there brethren from days of old. 

Once more, unto the breech . . .

Timeline

[Note: a few rare PCs would know bits and pieces of this timeline.  It is presented to for your entertainment.]

Ancient History

703 BC: The first records of a proto-Society.  The Assyrian king Sennacherib was known for his ruthlessness and his practice of decimating opposing nations.  Scholars of the known world attribute this to the brutality of the times.  Scholars of the Unknown have uncovered evidence that the decimation was at least in part due to a large population of creatures which may have been vampires.  The creatures are described as "fierce men" which "drank the life of their enemies" and were "shadow-loving."  Society researchers discovered evidence of a group of "learned men" that gathered in 703 in Jerusalem to seek a "weapon" to use against Sennacherib's army.  They were known as the Coven of Light and described variously as a group composed mostly of religious leaders of various faiths, with specific references to animists, Jews, and priests of the Greek, Babylonian, and Egyptian pantheons.

700 BC: In his third campaign, Sennacherib stood poised to destroy Jerusalem when his army suffered a disaster of uncertain origin.   Society records contain documents that describe a ritual that "called forth the splendor of God."  The Coven of Light is believed to have been responsible for organizing this ritual, but it is unclear as to whether or not they carried it out themselves.  The ritual reputedly "eliminated the dark threat of Sennacherib's army."

690 BC: Records have been pieced together of a being with "unholy power" hunting the members of the Coven of Light.  It is believed that at this time, the Coven of Light dropped its distinctive monniker and formally went into hiding.  Some Society scholars believe they adopted the name "the Council" but such claims can not be celarly proven.

21st Century (inclues campaign #4 and beyond)

14JUN2000 (Thursday) McKinney, TX, USA: Agents John Brockway, Sarah Doherty, "Bud" Johnson, "Bic" Raker, and a sympathetic local, Tom Brandt, destroy a Lesser Zombie Master (LZM), formerly William Foster, a foreman at Frank's Equipment.  It's creator, a powerful Creature that has assumed the guise of Daniel Masterson, could not be located.  "Daniel" is known to have remarkable powers of shapechange and an apparent immunity to normal weapons.  He stole a magical focus, the Lantern of Souls, that amplifies magic.  It is uncertain whether or not it also amplifies the Art and the Evil Way, but the reporting office suspects that is the case because of the Creature's interest in it.  At this time, it is believed by local agents that the Creature created the LZM as a distraction to facilitate the theft.  The only leads are a possible connection with the Tibet region.  Use extreme caution with this Creature as the means to destroy it is not known at this time.  A trailer park full of people was used as feedstock for LZM's minions.  These Zombies were neutralized by the team.  It was covered up as a suicide cult by collaborating minions of "Daniel" that had infiltrated the local police force.  There were no Society casualties.

12AUG2000 (Saturday) McKinney, TX, USA: Agents John Brockway, Sarah Doherty, "Bud" Johnson, "Bic" Raker, destroy a child Vampire, formerly Joey Mathers, a child that lived near Agent Johnson's home.  The implication of a known friend of Agent Johnson, Daryl, as well as the location has raised suspicion as to possible links to the Creature masquerading as Daniel Masterson [see 14JUN2000 entry].  The child commanded a pack of unusually large, supernaturally intrepid wolves.  The team has reason to believe another Creature created the vampire, but there are no leads as of yet, a composite was created by Agent Brockway.  The vampire was immobilized with a stake and killed by immersion in a stream.  There were no Society casualties.

13AUG2000 (Sunday) Barents Sea: Agent Piotr Romanov sabotages and sinks his submarine, the Kursk, a 14,000-ton Oscar II-class.  The submarine had set sail with a dozen Vampires fleeing a team of Russian Society hunters.  They quietly hijacked the vessel by turning many of the crew members into Vampires and imprisoning most of the rest as food for an exodus to Africa, where they planned to sell the sub to mercenaries and start a new colony.  Unable to counter the threat, Piotr sabotaged the escape capsule in the conning tower and sunk the vessel, swimming to safety through a torpedo tube.  Other Society operatives used nationalist contacts to delay involvement of proper rescue crews until it was certain that the Creatures had been exposed to running water.  He relocates to a Society cell in Canada and is given a new cover identity as a fisherman.

07SEP2000 (Thursday) Unalaska, Alaska: The 860-foot Manoa, en route from Asia, reached the port of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands late Wednesday. The cargo ship made an emergency stop to investigate banging noises in cargo container after cargo refrigeration units broke down. A hole was cut into the container and fresh air pumped in. Food and water was also provided. According to official reports, no occupants were found. A number of illegal Chinese immigrants were found dead near the ship's dock after the cargo ship docked in California. The Society has information that five to six Asian Creatures were aboard the container and the knocking sounds came from captives of the Creatures that were used as food on the journey. The bodies were disposed of by a longshoreman that is currently at large. Any cell that obtains information on these Creatures and how to destroy them should disseminate the information through proper channels as soon as possible. The bodies of the victims were dessicated and emaciated, apparently a traumatic result of he feeding process and not natural malnourishment.