Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras 2 starts out presenting a chapter for each of six historical eras; each of which features two Chronicles of Darkness game lines which include Vampire: The Requiem, Mage: The Awakening, Hunter: The Vigil, Changeling: The Lost, and more! The rules in this book are compatible with second edition Chronicles of Darkness. Each terrifying time period and location is examined through the supernatural creatures that dwell there.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
October Dark Eras 2 Update!
over 4 years ago
– Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 06:49:56 PM
Hello, DE2 Backers!
RichT here:
Dark Eras 2 is in layout proofing (where the developers review the laid-out pages for slips or layout weirdness) and while that is happening, here's a message from lead developer Monica Valentinelli:
Hi backers!
Matthew, Meghan, and myself have just received the Dark Eras 2 chapters from layout and design. We are taking a first stab at proofing the chapters, and after we're done (and our changes areimplemented) we'll be ready to share this wonderful Chronicles of Darkness supplement with you.
Thanks so much for your patience! We wanted to give you a sneak peek of the great art commissioned for Dark Eras 2, so please enjoy this half page illustration created by BrianLeblanc. This piece is from the Wild West chapter, which was developed by Meghan Fitzgerald.
'Til next time!
And Coming Next Week to Kickstarter:
Pledge to help us create and get this 2nd Edition of Chronicles of Darkness' Mummy: The Curse into stores! The Kickstarter rises from its tomb on Tuesday, November 5th at 2pm Eastern US time!
September Dark Eras 2 Update!
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 05:01:31 PM
Hello, DE2 Backers!
RichT here:
Dark Eras 2 continues in layout (taking the text and the illustrations and putting them into our Dark Eras book formatting) and while that is happening, here's another excerpt from lead developer Monica Valentinelli:
Hi backers! We’re super excited this month to show you a preview from “Fear and the Golden Promise of Tomorrow” which takes place in WWII-era America. This new Dark Eras 2 preview is awesome for us, because it taps into our brand new Chronicles of Darkness gameline: Deviant: The Renegades which is now live on Kickstarter. The materials found in Dark Eras 2 are compatible with this upcoming game, and our team worked hard to ensure that would happen so you, the fan, don’t miss out on this new gameline.
New Form: Supersoldier
A Progenitor could design any Deviant for violence, but World War II sees a sharp increase in Remade specifically intended for war. The ideal qualities, from a conspiracy’s point of view, include obedience, resilience, vigor, heightened senses, peerless skill, and the ability to single- mindedly focus on the mission regardless of complications. A wholly human, propaganda- friendly look helps, too. Militaries on both sides experiment with drugs and chemicals to create better soldiers among their Baseline troops, but a Supersoldier far surpasses anything mere narcotics can do.
A Supersoldier is primed for combat at the expense of traits people need to thrive in peacetime — conspiracies hardly want their major investments walking off into the sunset after the war to settle down with a family and a mortgage. Inevitably, a conspiracy imprisons even the most loyal Devoted after the war’s end to keep these dangerous, warlike Remade in check until the next time they’re needed.
Systems: Once per chapter, as an instant action, the Supersoldier’s player may redistribute dots from any Mental or Social Attributes to any Physical Attributes, up to (3 + Acclimation) dots. This may increase a Physical Attribute beyond 5 but may not increase it to more than twice its normal rating, and may not reduce a Mental or Social Attribute below 1. Attributes return to their normal ratings at the end of the scene.
In addition, during character creation, the Supersoldier’s player may reduce the character’s Willpower by any number of dots (to a minimum of one) to attach that many bonus dots of Variation Magnitude (which must be combined with Scars as usual) to her starting Loyalty Touchstones; the total bonus Magnitude may be spread out among as many or as few Loyalty Touchstones as the player likes. Grouping them together means more power applicable in fewer situations, and a higher risk of losing access to them all at once. The character may only use those Variation dots when taking actions that directly support the Loyalty Touchstone to which they’re attached; even Persistent Variations toggle off otherwise. Any time these Variations stop working, their combined Scars also vanish. When the Touchstone is Wavering, the character gains a minor Instability each time she uses the attached Variation dots (or once per scene, for Persistent Variations). When the Touchstone is resolved or lost, the player may reattach the bonus Magnitude dots to different Loyalty Touchstones or hold them in abeyance until she replaces the lost Touchstone with a new one. If the Touchstone moves from Loyalty to Conviction, the attached Magnitude dots follow it; but if she later loses that Touchstone, she must reattach the dots to another Loyalty Touchstone.
Only the following Variations are eligible for this bonus Magnitude: Anomalous Biology, Carapace, Computer-Aided Processing, Enhanced Speed, Environmental Adaptation, Hyper- Competence, Immunity, Lash, Mimicry, Natural Weapon, Omnicompetence, Platonic Body, Superhuman Attribute (Physical or Mental only), and Telepathy.
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Also: The latest game to be added to the Chronicles of Darkness...
You woke up… different. Someone changed you: on a slab, an operating table, an altar. By luck or by fate, you escaped. Hunted by your creators, they hold all the cards, and it seems they might recapture you. Except, what they don’t understand is they’ve stoked the fires of vengeance; what they did wasn’t right. What they don’t know is that now — you’re hunting them.
August DE2 Update!
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Aug 29, 2019 at 02:47:46 AM
Hello Dark Eras 2 Backers!
RichT here:
Dark Eras 2 is being laid out (taking the text and the illustrations and putting them into our Dark Eras book formatting) and while that is happening, here's another excerpt from lead developer Monica Valentinelli:
Europe is in turmoil. The Holy Roman Empire and its enemies lurch through the relentless carnage of the Thirty Years’ War. Millions die to fire and sword and pox and hunger. Rising powers and crumbling lineages choke and throttle one another over entanglements of authority and faith. Christianity, sundered between Catholic and Protestant, turns on itself like a rabid animal; divisions fuel frenzied feuds and are used to justify new ambitions.
In the shadow of the Holy Roman Empire, Italy’s growth slumps, its myriad of squabbling dominions eclipsed by greater powers. Plague scours the land, its rancid grasp leaving so deep a suppurating wound in society that even decades later there will still be deserted homes and desolate farmsteads. After the scintillating brilliance of the Italian Renaissance, the peninsula now seems tarnished.
Light of the Sun (1630-1640 CE) takes place in a plague-ridden Italy. Three gamelines are featured in the era: Mage: The Awakening, Demon: The Descent, and the new Chronicles of Darkness gameline Deviant: The Renegades. Here’s a preview of the Mage-related content in the chapter.
Mage: Awakening to Truth
The truth of the Supernal does not bother to differentiate between the learned and the ignorant. The human soul, in breaking through the Lie and reaching across the Abyss, brings equality in revelation. A scholar or a deacon or a wealthy merchant has no special privilege here. The burning fire of Awakening has no need for social status or patronage.
This means that a bishop and a bandit are both as worthy as one another in the strange world of the newly Awakened. Suddenly blessed with world-shaping power, a new mage has the ability to indulge their every whim — but it can take time to break free from the ingrained habits of a life lived under restrictive social order. A common Venetian laborer can suddenly see into the souls of those around him after experiencing strange visions when he nearly drowns in a canal — but he does not necessarily believe himself to be better than the Sleeping masses, at least at first. He is still firmly anchored by his duty to his family, his enmity with a rival who has insulted his pride, and his loyalty to Venice itself. A noblewoman of Naples who carves her name, bloody and raw, into the Watchtower of the Primal Wild needs to take this incredible change to her world and process it, make sense of it through the lens of her beliefs. She cannot easily walk away from her family and status to indulge her newfound Obsessions.
Cloaks & Masques
Clothing is a vital part of this society — a clear statement of whatever social status, wealth, and refinement an individual may possess. During the Renaissance, Italy stood at the forefront of European fashion; now it has fallen behind Spain and France, but textiles remain a key industry and Italians still pay great heed to the signs of power and influence that are found in the warp and weft of garments. The resurgence of the Venetian masqued carnival is an attempt to reclaim some of that old glory and grandeur.
The Awakened of Italy commonly use garments as Yantras within their magic, providing a one-die bonus if the clothing is appropriate to the spell — particularly magic of veiling and of connections to members of the local community. By combining garment Yantras with a festivity or celebration important to the city and its communities, this bonus rises to two dice; wearing a mask and partaking in the great Carnivale di Venezia is a powerful three-die Yantra for spells of trickery, emotions, and that target the population of Venice.
Iron and Diamond
For most mages, the Orders remain the heart of Awakened society, a network spread through the peninsula that offers companionship and understanding in a wider world that seems, by the measure of Awakening’s revelations, to be painfully mired in ignorance. The aid of an Order, combined with the power of the Arcana, can catapult a once-lowly peasant into prominence, or open up new vistas to someone trapped in the higher echelons of society. Some magicians use the influence of their Order to embroil themselves in worldly matters — including the subject of faith, as the church is a very real power and can exert a great deal of influence.
Nepotism and corruption allow a magician to trivially gain influence within the church, as Awakened fellows offer a helping hand up the hierarchy even without magic. Many willworkers become priests, accepting the restrictions of holy vows and duties in return for power within this international organization.
Other mages embed themselves in secular power. An Awakened can gain wealth and fortune with ease through Fate magic or the transmutations of Matter or gather valuable social connections through the Arcanum of Mind. Where others face hardship and dwindling riches, mages flourish.
Without the travails that burden most Sleepers, a mage is far freer to spend her time as she wishes and can travel much more easily within society. The Arcana can let her appear as who she wants, travel unseen, bind ephemeral beings to perform labor for her, and break many of the shackles that would bind a Sleeper in an equivalent position. Most Awakened use this freedom to pursue their Obsessions, but many newly enriched magicians infiltrated into the middle and upper classes spend their money on luxuries, art, and patronage as they see fit.
Unsurprisingly, many Awakened turn their attention upon the science and philosophy that shines through this period. Some see a strong resonance between the revelations of Awakening and the fervent hunt for truth that grips scholars and intellectuals. A number of Diamond mages, particularly the Silver Ladder and Mysterium, give patronage to thinkers and universities, hoping to gently encourage them towards interesting discoveries, Mysteries, and, perhaps, Awakening. They see Galilei and his peers as fellow travelers; Sleepers, yes, and mired in the Lie, but endeavoring for the Truth nonetheless.
Then there are the Seers of the Throne. As eager as ever to crush humanity beneath the boot of the Exarchs, they are nonetheless divided. A great rift runs between the servants of the Unity and the Father.
Church and State
Awakened who plunge themselves into the murky world of Church politics often gain significant dots in the Status (Catholic Church) Merit, climbing the ranks to become figures of power pulling at the strings of the more public-facing clergy. Yantras are concealed among the pomp and ceremony of Catholic rites. The international nature of the Church gives mages ample opportunity to garner the Contacts Merit, and the sorts of sympathetic links that will allow them to magically meddle with events elsewhere in Europe.
Most mages build a large number of dots in the Resources Merit, and often surround themselves with Staff and Retainers — all as expected of someone of note in 17th-century Italian society. Many build their occult Obsessions into the works of art or science or architecture that they have built with their wealth. Less constrained by the Church’s strictures than those who actually dwell within it, merchant and noble Awakened can get away with the pursuit of odd pastimes more easily, especially where it matches the expertise of a scientist or philosopher in their employ.
The Nameless must live cautiously. Unlike Sleepers, they have little to fear directly from the Inquisition’s investigations into witchcraft — but drawing attention from the eye of the Seer Ministries means considerably more fearsome foes. Many foster strong links with their local agricultural communities through kindness or intimidation, garnering Allies and Contacts within the area, and shroud themselves through extensive Occultation. Unlike urban Awakened, they rarely have much in the way of Resources, but often take the Familiar Merit.
The Struggle for Power
The Church is already a fractious web of Sleeper alliances based on nationality and loyalty to particular philosophies and kings, and it is further divided by the Awakened scrambling for control over its levers of influence. The Diamond Orders form one loose faction, and Paternoster Seers form another. Finally, a few independent Nameless fight their corner with determination, outmatched but dangerously unpredictable.
The Seers of other Ministries, especially the Hegemony, exploit the Church from the outside to sway or reduce its influence over secular powers. These mages see the era as an opportunity to permanently redefine the relationship between the Papacy and the nations upon the European stage. The Hegemony works to turn the Church into an extension of the political theater in which monarchs and ministers play their puppeteer games; it suits these Seers to see the Papacy weakened and subjugated. The very struggles between France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire to gain that influence are themselves an excellent reinforcement of the Lie, the strife and struggle helping keep humanity down. While these Seers fear science and rationality might threaten the Lie in time, it suits the Hegemony to foster thinkers such as Galilei for now, because it challenges the central authority of the pope — and thus weakens the Church’s power. While a few members might get involved with religion or maintain an appearance of Christian piety, the Hegemonic Seers are patricians and aristocrats.
Conversely, the Seers of Paternoster seek to protect the tradition of the Church, as it perfectly reinforces their central philosophy of chaining the masses through dogma. Christianity, they say, is a Fallen approximation of the Father’s holy will, like any other Sleeper religion — the only way Sleepers can understand true faith is to devote themselves slavishly to its pale reflection while the Awakened hand of the Father guides them. They hide within the heart of Rome, stretching their influence to the highest levels. Paternoster is hungry to stamp the Holy See’s power upon Europe, to reinforce its authority once again and to force the huddled masses of humanity to bend knee and bow head not to a worldly crown but to the all-knowing, all-judging moral authority of their God. Anyone who challenges the Church is an enemy to be crushed, regardless of faith or truth. The mages of Paternoster and their militant arm, the Order of the Temple of Sophia, support Urban’s military expansion of papal lands, and push the authority of the Sacred Congregation and the Inquisition to increasingly oppressive lengths. As they see it, the pontiff is their pawn, to be moved wherever they see fit to move him.
In truth, the Seers of Paternoster fear they are losing this war. Their influence in the Church is strong and they still outnumber any other individual Ministry, but they have a lot to lose and face the combined power of the rest of the Iron Pyramid, as well as the Diamond Orders on a separate front. The Holy Roman Emperor usurps more of the Church’s authority, and the Vatican sits upon crumbling financial foundations. The very symbolic basis of Paternoster’s success has been undermined, and the Apotheosian is not pleased.
The Diamond Orders fight their corner as best they can. Those of the Adamantine Arrow often align themselves closely to Urban VIII’s efforts at expanding papal power through military might, using the conquests of war as a cover to seize Hallows and Mysteries. The Mysterium draws on the collected knowledge of the Church as an incredible resource for tracing and investigating magic. They pluck the jewels of truth from amid archives of Sleeper superstition, and yank humans with occult talent out of the grasp of the Inquisition’s tribunals.
The Silver Ladder plays its part in the Counter-Reformation push towards rationality and science, hoping to encourage humanity forward with the combination of spiritual faith and intellectual rigor. Many théarchs are avidly supportive of the efforts of Galilei and his peers, hoping that these minds might light the way for the greater masses to follow.
The Guardians of the Veil, for their part, stalk the ranks of the Sacred Congregation and the Inquisition. They hunt for signs of magic abused and secrets that should remain hidden. The Guardians are not, however, humorless villains determined to ban every book and crush every discovery. They are wary of the works of thinkers like Galilei, but recognize it is not desirable to simply stamp down on humanity’s attempts at progress — that would leave them little better than the Seers. They may hunt rogue magicians who turn to dark practices in the countryside — but it is the Guardians who forge peace with several covens of Benandanti Proximi, where the Adamantine Arrow threatened to simply destroy them.
Amid the shifting, byzantine alliances of Sleeper politics in the Papacy, it can be hard to identify which machinations belong to which faction. When an envoy from France falls sick with a fatal illness, has a priest of Paternoster undermined the power of the Unity, has a Guardian of the Veil acted to keep French agents out of hidden schemes, or is it simply poor fortune on the hapless Sleeper’s part?
As the years pass, the rivalry among the factions grows ever fiercer. Scheming and manipulation of Sleepers flares into outright murder. Mages bend the will of their rivals’ favored pawns and force the Sleepers into suicide or break them under the pretense of demonic visitation. Ghastly supernatural diseases are unleashed in cloisters, leaving entire monasteries dead from sicknesses far crueler than the plague; key Sleeper allies are coddled and protected when the true plague does indeed arrive, wild and untamed beyond the easy ability of the Awakened to control. Transmutation, illusions, and mundane accounting fraud pour resources into one mage’s favored Church projects and deny them to those of the enemy.
Yet still, Seers and Diamond mages alike struggle to truly control the Catholic Church. It is too large and unwieldy to be easily leashed. The clashing machinations of Awakened and other, stranger entities often spoil against each other, and Sleepers are too willful and independent to adhere to a magician’s schemes for long.
God and the Machine
The Awakened are aware of some of the workings of the God-Machine, though few grasp the greater picture. They know that the divine engine is not the Christian God, and nor is It a tool of the Exarchs, but they are often at a loss to explain Its nature further. Mages catch glimpses of its presence — strange, angelic entities, grinding masonry and gears in interstitial spaces that fold themselves away when approached, and ancient menhirs in the countryside that ring with bizarre chords or spit crackling static out in frequencies that only those who have dabbled in Forces can hear. The impression the Wise have is that It is something akin to an underlying layer of existence, an occult system devoted to maintaining reality in accordance with an inscrutable plan — or possibly a mechanical parasite, an invader that has stretched Itself underneath the world’s skin to hide.
The God-Machine’s machinations sometimes impinge on the schemes of the Italian Diamond, but such interactions have, in the past, been simple ones for the Wise. Although some of the divine engine’s servants are powerful and Its Infrastructure dangerous, cabals could deal with a problem without much fear of retaliation. Collapse a blood-filled well that spews strange, mutated vermin with glass eyes, or discorporate a howling wheel of fire and eyes that guards a tower whose higher geometries pierce into other realities and times, and the God-Machine would respond by shutting down Its presence and withdrawing. Now, though, that has changed.
Awakened tampering with the God-Machine, facilitated directly by a combination of Prime and Fate or indirectly through all kinds of meddling, are met with more robust response. There’s an impossible building wedged between two textile factories in Florence, within which racks of doppelganger mannequins are assembled and set loose upon the city; when the Adamantine Arrow burn it out, a crack in Twilight spills out a seemingly endless tide of hunter-killer angels seeking the perpetrators, and the grinding occult gears of the machine spin up two new infiltrator manufactories elsewhere in the city. The Guardians of the Veil pounce upon an angel inflicting rapturous visions on pilgrims in Rome, only to then be politically assailed by conspiracies of monks and cultists. A Mystagogue tries to tap into esoteric energies that form a symbolic pattern between ancient megalith sites, trying to feel out where the threads of power go when the stone circles transmit weird emanations into the sky; something streaks out of the firmament, all fire and metal, and obliterates the magician, his home, and his entire household.
The Seers of the Throne, while likewise keen to quell any discoveries of supernatural truths, dislikes and mistrusts the God-Machine’s servants. Nonetheless, their Exarchal patrons occasionally order them to work alongside these biomechanical horrors and their Sleeper cults. Whatever drives the divine engine, there seems to be some sort of recognition of mutual cause; the Exarchs prefer to subvert and use the God-Machine’s efforts rather than combat It anyway, regardless of human cost. For the Diamond, though, the threat of the God-Machine is growing with every passing year, as if It fears discovery, Its danger is matched only by Its plethora of Mysteries. Facing such a rising tide, some Awakened have met with — and made pacts with — another mysterious force, one that might help them fight or study the machine.
Our Next Kickstarter:
Coming in September...Deviant: The Renegades - the newest game line for Chronicles of Darkness!
July Dark Eras2 Update!
almost 5 years ago
– Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 08:25:24 PM
Hello DE2 Backers!
Here's an update and excerpt from the book, via Monica Valentinelli, lead developer of DE2:
Hello backers!
Dark Eras 2 has been sent to layout. We’ve got a new preview for you this month from the Rise of the Imperials chapter. This section is included in the Mummy: the Curse portion of the chapter. The text details three sample cults mummies may rely on on — and hunters might encounter.
Example Cults: The Wang
“Civilization is in danger, father. We must restore it, whatever the cost. If I thought else, would I be your daughter?” — Wang Ming-Yue
A family, the Wang, close to the Imperial Court in Beijing is contacted by sympathetic traders on the Silk Road. They have sacrificed much to maintain a position as a power behind the throne while the Ming were in control. Now they have been forced to sacrifice even more to appease the new emperor’s courtiers and to sop to his oafish, childish decrees. The promise of a new dawn and a new seat of power calls to them while the offer of aid from a family who are near to enjoying the Eight Privileges of the Imperial Court, such is their station, provides the perfect platform for the first of the Deathless to move.
Wang Ming-Yue is the only daughter of Wang Qiang, Prince of the Imperial Court and one of the chief defectors from the Ming to the Shunzhi Emperor. She has enjoyed a full education in the Three Obediences and the Four Virtues as befits a noble lady of her rank. She has been taught to read and write, as well as to ride. In her upbringing, where she held her father in great esteem, she also learned his nous for politics and statecraft. To preserve their family’s station, Qiang agrees for her to be married to a Banner Lord named Guroro, an uncouth, soldierly general who is impressed by her beauty and refinement, though she is less impressed by his rudeness and brutish ways.
Though this match is by no means perfect for her, she takes full advantage of it. Her place as first wife gives her great influence over the household of a man close to the emperor and he is more than happy for her to, very discreetly, manage his political and domestic affairs. She further impresses him by practicing archery with him.
With her father, she joins the cult of Rahush, the mummy that has been transposed into Qiang’s chief advisor. They have brought many of the household into the fold and scour the records of imperial trades for any record of the talismans their benefactor seeks. The house guards and some of the more loyal servants have all been inducted into the cult. Though their position permits them a certain luxury, it is also one of some danger.
If the emperor or Qiang’s political rivals became aware that they are practicing weird rituals in secret, it could expose the entire family. This is made all the more of a threat with the priest Herakon, who transported the heart of Rahush to China, living among them. His strange ways may be entertaining for a while but keeping him around the estate for extended periods of time is highly suspicious.
Example Cults: The Wave Dragon
“Hang loyalty, I’d sell my mother for freedom and chest of gold to enjoy it!” — Shang Mo Cho
Travel by boat, they said. It’s far safer than the road, they said.
The voyage through the East China Sea was the surefire way to avoid any bandits or clashes on the roads. Though it took longer and cost more, it was the best way to transport the sarcophagus of Khama’at into Guangzhou. Or so Amaunet thought, but she hadn’t accounted for Shang Mo Chou, the self-proclaimed Queen of Guangzhou Bay, and the crew of the Wave Dragon.
A ship laden with golden effigies, amulets, and other trappings of royalty is too tempting a prize for the scurvy-ridden crew of miscreants to pass up. Of course, such people have a knack for falling foul of the rites protecting a Deathless in her tomb.
Bent to the will of Khama’at by promises of riches to sate a career’s worth of piracy, the crew of the Wave Dragon is invited to join the mummy’s quest to liberate a lost treasure from the Shuankhsen traitor known as Shal’tec and his followers. Can it be that the ancient Iremite will find resurgence in the company of this motley band, to whom freedom and the call to adventure matter more than duty, honor, and loyalty?
Shang Mo Chou and her crew may be lowly in status, but they know every criminal within 100 miles of Guangzhou and the bolt holes they hide in. Just the sort you need for a job like this when hands need to be gotten dirty.
Example Cults: House of the Fragrant Blossom
“Travelers, come in and warm yourself by our fire! And maybe we can help you be warmer still!” — Kang Xinyue, Proprietor of the House of the Fragrant Blossom
By the banks of the Yangtze in the city of Wuhan, stands a large, well-lit building. Colorful lanterns hang in its windows and the buzz of laughter and bawdy conversation emanate from within. Those who enjoy the delights of this house of plenty come from all walks of life. Here you can buy yourself a night’s distraction from daily labors, the horrors of battle, or the burdens of state. Here all men are created equal and the peasant sits with those lords willing to lower themselves.
Wuhan is an important center of trade and is a hub for travelers heading for the coastal ports or the Silk Road routes. It is a perfect place to come if you want to hear the news traveling from place to place as riders on their way to convey messages to the Imperial Court and spies secreting coded messages to Ming bastions in the south all halt at this important waystation.
Many a rumor can be heard to those who listen closely in the House of the Fragrant Blossom. It boasts faces of many hues, each with a story behind it. The one they don’t speak of so often is the reason the apartments in the basement are no longer available to those seeking cost-efficient lodgings for a time.
Kang Xinyue, the owner of the establishment, keeps his head shaven in the Manchu fashion and his eyes sharp. Those in the city, even the magistrates, know the Fragrant Blossom is not a place for warring. It is unofficially neutral ground. Quite how this agreement came into being is not widely known, and yet it is accepted among all who travel there.
Madame Yu sits by the door to the lower floors. She keeps her sanxian tuned to entertain the guests. Her wits cut deep at any who attempt to besmirch her good name and she often boasts of her impeccable breeding and that she was once betrothed to a respectable man before her father was taken by the wars. She watches the younger girls of the establishment keenly, not just for protection but to ensure they do nothing to endanger the establishment.
The riders that come and go from the House of the Fragrant Blossom of an evening are searching. Word coming to the town of grave robbers turning over ancient burial mounds and brigands ransacking the storerooms of respectable traders in the surrounding city could find its way back to the house. What, or who is causing this spate of crime is a source of great debate among the patrons. Foreigners? Ming loyalists looking for loot to hire mercenaries? Youngsters looking to assuage the boredom of another day in the opium fields? Nobody is certain but the occupants of the basement lodgings.
June Dark Eras 2 Update!
almost 5 years ago
– Thu, Jun 27, 2019 at 09:48:17 PM
Hello DE2 backers!
RichT here:
The Dark Eras 2 chapters are finished in Editing and final art pieces are getting approved in Art Direction right now, and we expect it'll go off to Layout very soon.
Thanks!
Meanwhile, here's developer Meghan Fitzgerald with a look at CtL in the Old West:
Hedge Travel
Hedge Travel
Mundane travelers rely on stagecoaches and railroads to carry them across the West. They ride horses along rough-hewn roads. But the maps are reliable, long as you know how to read one, and if you catch yourself on some brambles, you patch up the tears and move on. Lost sometimes choose another path, one that’s riskier, one that threatens to keep a piece of their souls if it snags their skin, but whose roads are full of wonders well worth the danger.
The Dreaming Roads here are often gold-tinged, reflecting the fortunes miners envision awaiting them when they strike it rich. Some roads have been trampled smooth by the herds Native hunters chase in their sleep, the dream-buffalo still plentiful even though real-world herds dwindle every year. Music echoes along others: dance hall songs, a lone guitar, the rhythm of a kachina dance.
Instead of crossing treacherous terrain, or venturing along roads where bandits are known to lie in wait, some Lost enter the Hedge and navigate along trods to reach their final destination. Safety’s a relative concept, but at least the trod trolls who hold you up are willing to haggle with you. In places where gunfighter boots jingle on rough wooden boards, the Hedge’s Thorns are made of spurs.
Ghost towns spring up in the Hedge, echoing abandoned places in the mundane world. A motley based in northern New Mexico has made such a place into a Hollow, while others are the sites of Goblin Markets; but these towns are primarily Hedge ghost territory, where echoes left behind challenge Lost to gunfights at the drop of a ten-gallon hat, and it’s always high noon.
Even the Hedge, often as lawless as desert nowhere-towns, has rules. The one unimpeachable requirement for entering or exiting the Hedge is this: You must have a closeable portal to enter or leave. That’s easy enough in a town where every building has a door, or a settlement where tipi flaps can close out the world. But out in the great empty? How do you slip into the Hedge when you’re 100 miles from the nearest door?
You build your own.
Anything will do, so long as it’s got the right shape and can open and close. Wizened are particularly skilled at lashing sticks and tentpoles together, and turning scraps of hide into steel on hinges. These makeshift portals appear all across the wilderness, proof of a changeling’s passage. Leaving that evidence behind runs the risk of tipping off Huntsmen or privateers, but generally the Lost who create those portals consider them one-time affairs. They leave the dormant Hedgeways standing for others passing by who might need them. In a few rare cases, a motley or freehold integrates the doorway into a more permanent structure: a rain shelter here, a one-room cabin there.
Trodblazers
Traversing the Hedge is difficult enough for Lost in settled areas. Out on the frontier, changelings who know where hidden Hedgeways are make a solid living as guides. They escort other Lost not only to Hedge entrances far outside of towns, but also into the Hedge itself. A Hatter prepares for expeditions the same way her mundane counterparts prepare to bring city folk out into the wilderness, laying in supplies, considering contingencies, and keeping an ear out for anything that might threaten the travelers.
Most of these guides set up shop at Goblin Markets, where they’re available for hire. Some even organize into tidy businesses, enlisting Chatelaines to keep the books and Bright Ones to persuade prospective clients that their company is the surest bet. As always, towns remain the simplest places to access the Hedge, and hobgoblins take advantage of that. They’ve got a presence everywhere, with Markets at trading posts, and in cities next to mining supply outfits.
New Kith: Cleverquick
“You told me not to fight the monster, but I’ve already gone and defeated it for you.”
Many Plains tribes tell stories of twin heroes. A monster murdered their mother, and they grew up to be monster-slayers, fighting the beings their father warned them to stay clear of. The Gentry noticed their prowess in hunting fae creatures and malevolent spirits, and stole the twins away to serve Yonder. After many trials, the clever duo escaped.
Today, the True Fae look for quick-witted servants to aid them in destroying their foes, taking them in pairs or pairing them up after the fact. The Cleverquick spends her Durance teasing out the weaknesses in her Keeper’s enemies. Many become hunters, killing those who displease their Keepers. Others enact elaborate intrigues, ruining an adversary’s reputation or standing in Faerie’s courts. In both cases, the pair turns their target’s flaws into the very weapon that brings him down.
Darkling: The force of his owl-eyed gaze is unsettling. He tracks every movement, tucks away every morsel of information for use later. He’s so still you’d hardly notice he’s there. Once you catch movement, it’s already too late.
Ogre: The changeling resembles the very monsters she battles. She wears the scars from her near-misses as a mark of pride; they prove she survived.
Kith Blessing: When the Cleverquick uses Occult to outsmart his enemy, achieving three successes counts as an exceptional success.
Know Your Enemy: Spend a point of Glamour to learn one of the target’s frailties, banes, or bans, if they possess any. For three points, the changeling may instead impose a temporary frailty, bane, or ban upon her enemy that lasts for the chapter, but must also accept it herself for the same duration. If two Cleverquicks work together, they both benefit from these effects (and suffer the drawback), and may split the Glamour cost of inflicting a weakness between them in any combination.
Tokens
The Rosewood Revolver(•): A changeling ditched her gun in the Hedge after shooting the Huntsman on her trail, and briars grew around it. To mundane eyes, scratches mar the barrel and grip of this rusted six-shooter; activated, the gun is made all of wood and fires razor-sharp thorns, and it leaps into the hand, eager to taste blood once more. The wielder may draw the Rosewood Revolver as a reflexive action, and it gains armor piercing 2 against Huntsmen.
Catch: The wielder must load only one bullet and take a gamble that she won’t fire from an empty chamber; roll one die before the attack. On success, the chamber is loaded when she shoots.
Drawback: The Fae recognize the thunderous crack of this particular gun. Firing it alerts the nearest Huntsman, hobgoblin, or other Gentry servant to its wielder’s location, giving her the Hunted Condition (Changeling, p. 342).
Pouch of Winds(••): Blackfoot mythology tells the story of Napioa, who wished to possess two bags containing summer and winter, and make the seasons equal. He sent a small animal to steal them, and although it grabbed the summer bag, the bag’s guardian chased the animal and decapitated it. The bag burst in the struggle and released a strong wind.
The pouch’s Mask resembles a plain burlap sack, but those who can see its true form behold a sturdy, pale leather bag that appears full. When a changeling unties the bag as an instant action, wind gusts out for one turn and topples her opponent, imposing the Knocked Down Tilt (Changeling, p. 330) and sending the foe flying back five yards/meters as long as he’s Size 6 or smaller. If it’s a summer bag, it also creates the Extreme Heat environmental Tilt for the scene; if it’s winter, it creates Extreme Cold instead.
Catch: The user lets the unfettered wind carry something important to her away with it, whether it’s a favorite hat, a wanted poster bearing her quarry’s likeness, or an object she and her opponent were grappling over.
Drawback: The bags were originally stolen from the seasons themselves, who still want them back. Each time a user activates the pouch, she gains the Notoriety Condition among all changelings bearing a Mantle of the seasonal court that matches its season or any court with a related patron (such as Heat or Winds).
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