A Laws of the Night 5th Edition Live Action Roleplaying Game
Setting: Central Illinois
Punk, Goth, Anti-Establishment themes with a heavy dose of blood sucking supernaturals
Chronicle Tenets:
- Do not kill except in self-defense.
- Do not harm the innocent.
- Act like a person, not a monster
Setting
Peoria, Illinois was the whiskey capital of the world until Prohibition hit. That's when infamous mobster Al Capone seized control of the city's organized crime with the help of the Shelton Gang.
Contrary to the belief of the world's mortal population, Capone never died. Instead he was granted the embrace by then Prince Lodin of Chicago in 1941. Using his new supernatural powers, Capone cemented his hold over organized crime in Chicago as well as in Peoria.
With the death of Lodin in 1993, Chicago was left without a Prince until Joseph Peterson took over. Prince Peterson's rule over Chicago was weak at best, and ultimately resulted in Kevin Jackson seizing the throne.
While Capone's hold over organized crime persisted, he eventually went missing sometime in the late 2010's. This left a power vacuum within Peoria that the Anarch Movement quickly filled.
5iN, Baron and a prominent member of the Anarchs, also claims the Camarilla title of Prince in order to prevent the Chicago Camarilla from attempting to regain control over the region by weaponizing the Camarilla Traditions against them.
Sometime in late 2023, members of the Anarch Free States claimed to have captured a member of the Camarilla's Red List. Their letter to the Camarilla made two demands; a summit be held to address their grievances with the Camarilla and that the summit be held in Chicago. Prince Jackson agreed to host what became The Windy City Summit and Peoria's Anarchs saw an opportunity.
5iN, Tempest, Dorian, and Jack attended the initial Elysium gathering held at The Palette & Chisel. During the event, a number of videos depicting potential breaches of the Masquerade were shown to those in attendance. One video in particular depicted a Kindred named "Caesar" cutting a pumpkin bearing Prince Jackson's name with a chainsaw. Jackson took particular offense and publicly offered a Major Boon to anyone who could bring him in.
5iN saw his opportunity.
On June 8th at the International Museum of Surgical Science, the Summit was held proper. 5iN, Dorian, Jack, and Crispy were on the look out for Caesar to make an appearance so they can collect the bounty. Crispy spotted him entering, and quickly told Dorian and 5iN so they could get their hands on Caesar before anyone else. Unfortunately, they had to attack him in the main hall, but the deed was done.
They presented Caesar to Prince Jackson and the assembled, and Jackson took the opportunity to "display justice" within Chicago. He walked back the offer of a boon and instead "gave his favor" to the group and a boon from the Gangrel Clan. 5iN, having pocketed a boon originally intended for the Digital Collective, took his opportunity.
"All we want is for you to acknowledge the legitimacy of Peoria, Illinois" as he held up the token confirming the boon in front of Jackson.
This public act ensured that Jackson would be unable to move on Peoria without potentially losing face in the Camarilla.
The Windy City Summit wasn't a complete win for the Anarch cause, however. Jackson chose to sell out the Anarchs of Chicago to the Werewolves when they demanded a culling of Kindred numbers within Chicago. A deal enforced by a magical Geas enacted by Chicago's Changelings.
5iN began spreading word to any Anarchs he could that Peoria would be a safe haven for them should they choose to flee.
The refugees came.
Dorian, central Illinois' Sweeper, had been on the lookout for any new Kindred in the area and was able to point them towards Eye of Newt, the latest public meeting location.
Pekin was territory that no one had laid claim to and the shop was closed before sunset, making it a solid neutral location. It was also in a public enough location where preserving the Masquerade would be a priority. Should this first meeting be tense, these factors should help prevent things from coming to blows.
The refugees arrived to find the doors to the shop unlocked and a collection of industrial, punk, goth, and other music with the same rebellious themes playing on a small blue tooth speaker.
They kept their distance from the established Kindred of the area. Introductions were made, and 5iN gave them the full story of the events that transpired in Chicago. He laid out roughly where the others were in the region and made sure that the refugees were welcome to any territory they felt they could hold, and that he had no need to know where they kept their haven but encouraged them to discuss boundaries so no one is stepping on one another's toes.
Tensions quickly eased, and the new residents began mingling with the old. Territories were negotiated, and at least on the surface it appears that friendships might be made.
Stragglers are still finding their way to the Anarch Free State of Peoria, Illinois. Will this period of peace persist?
"The Inner Council is dead and the Camarilla has abandoned you, give yourself to Caine and know freedom" was one of the many hidden messages left by the Sabbat for the Anarchs to find.
Indoctrination isn't normally the goal of the Sabbat, but it's certainly a tactic in their play book.
Heading off a conflict against the Sabbat is definitely something that all of the Anarchs of Peoria could rally behind, and they began their investigation.
The gang calling themselves Twilight Sanctuary picked the first location to investigate, a Presbyterian church that's been on the market for 200 some odd days, based on the Sabbat's love of religious iconography. This was unfortunately a dead end. Peoria's Sweeper and it's Bookkeeper suggested visiting Springdale Cemetery based on the belief that the Sabbat and the Black Spiral Dancers may be working together.
The conversation was brief, and the message was clear and punctuated with the appearance of sixteen werewolves in their war forms. The Black Spiral Dancers are not working with the Sabbat and the Anarchs are not welcome in Springdale.
With that they regrouped back at Eye of Newt. The Baron gave them a few tasks before they meet again in a month; 1. If you're not in a gang, join one. 2. He wants three gangs, ideally five to each gang. 3. Choose a gang leader to represent your gang's interests so he only has to run down three people instead of eighteen for major decisions.
The turn out for the September meeting was a small one, and pushed back getting political related issues getting sorted out to October.
Fortunately, those present were enough for a majority vote on issues pertaining to the region, and everyone was unanimous in their decisions. The topic for discussion? What to do about the shortage of donor blood due.
Luckily, a few people had friends in the medical community and volunteered to see if they can set up blood drives while a few others volunteered their Herds as donors. This would take care of any feeding related issues in the long term as long as people were responsible with their feeding.
Meanwhile, the Sabbat had been busy recruiting and creating new vampires called "shovel heads." A meeting with one of these "shovel heads" led to gathering information on a member of the pack, a Tzimisce going by the alias Lucielle. Unfortunately, a series of choices led to one of the Anarchs being kidnapped.
In an attempt to notify their allies, they used the emergency function of their iPhone sending their live location to their friends as well as placing a phone call to 911.
Dispatch took notes, and the second they typed the words "Sabbat" and "Lasombra" they were alerted of an ongoing FBI investigation and that jurisdiction would be handed over to the FBI Special Affairs Division.
The Second Inquisition has come to Peoria.
A Mask was burned, an ally killed, but the Kindred escaped. Now forced to deal with Hunters, as well as the Sabbat, what choices will they make?
The collective Anarchs showed mercy to the vampire who inadvertently brought the attention of the hunters to the area, and began debating on their next steps. The Sabbat had sent a message boiling down to this: “the hunters are a mutual threat, we work together to get rid of them and then we can decide if we want to ally ourselves against the Camarilla.”
Despite the vote being to tell the Sabbat to fuck off, one of their members went to the meeting anyway and chose to accept the deal. Now the Anarchs are stuck cleaning up whatever mess the Sabbat make.
It couldn’t be that bad… could it?
After the events of Palla Grande, the Anarchs were able to successfully cover up the mess made by the Sabbat. Their next meeting was largely one of playing catch up.
- They still haven't solved their issues with blood going missing from the Red Cross.
- They investigated a conflict between the Sabbat and the Black Spiral Dancers and found more questions than answers.
- They finally discovered what Autumn Health's drug trials were all about.
- They dealt with a frenzy from one of the few members of the Camarilla in the region.
Eventually, they made a trip to O'Tolley's to deal with a personal issue.
The Laws of Central Illinois
Preserve the Masquerade
The Second Inquisition is everyone's problem, not just the Camarilla's
Your Childer are your responsibility
Until your kid is a Committed member of the cause, their fuck ups are your fuck ups. Sire responsibly.
No killing a Committed member of the Cause
Infighting gets us nowhere. Settle your shit like adults. If you kill someone, expect justice to be carried out by the fallen Anarch's gang.
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ABOUT US
We're a Live Action Roleplaying Game (LARP) set in Central Illinois using the Laws of the Night 5th Edition ruleset from By Night Studios.
We hope to tell local stories expanding on the Darkness Emergent setting and events.
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Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved. For more information please visit worldofdarkness.com.