Supernatural History
Supernatural forces have existed for as long as mankind, but they used to be fairly primitive. There were no monsters or gods, just tribal shamans and priests whose powers were rather limited except when they made human sacrifices. The other worlds were closer to earth however, and people often accidentally stumbled from one to another.
This first began to change in Mesopotamia around 8500BCE, Sorcerers began to develop in earnest, and the knowledge of magical forces increased. These sorcerers broke into several dynastic lines, teaching their children their knowledge following an oral tradition. Experiments in fleshforming started around 2000 years later, and in 6000BCE the first reports of vampires and werewolves occurred. Several sorcerous dynasties combined with the rise of the Sumarians to form what's now known as the Council of Babylon, despite at the time it existing in Kish, some distance from where Babylon would be erected. The council existed on other worlds as well, having determined ways to walk between them and was the ruling power in most other earth-like planes. They were also spreading to the developing Egypt. The Council were immortal and in 2400 BCE the first God was created.
The council continued to grow in influence, and spread with civilization, many of the oldest and most powerful members were now Gods whilst others were simply immortal. In 1800 BCE in one of the other realms, known as Sirinia at the time, two of the more powerful members fell into a feud over a woman. The feud grew in fervor and the rest of the council in that plane eventually joined sides. As the war raged, no longer really about a woman, each side turned to more and more dangerous fleshforming until they lost control over their fleshformed creatures. The council members in other planes worked quickly to seal Sirinia away from themselves, so that what had been created could not break free, that world is now known colloquially as Hell.
Shortly afterwards on the east coast of the Mediterranean sea rose the first group of anti-supernatural warriors, who were set on destroying any supernatural creation and severing the ties to other worlds under their leader Abraham, himself some kind of immortal although he was not a vampire or sorcerer. The group made good progress for a hundred years until they came into brutal conflict with the council and were sorely defeated, the people broken and scattered, although their descendants would eventually come together again in Canaan around 1400 BCE as the first of the Israelites.
This kingdom began to grow again, quietly, keeping largely to itself although anti-supernatural sentiment still ran strong, just when it had started to reach real power the council of Babylon, remembering the war with the Israelites ancestors used the Kingdom of Babylon to smash the Kingdom of Judah, destroying the First Temple and sending most of their people once more into exile, this time mostly in Babylon and Egypt. With their common enemy crushed the council began to drift apart and few new members were accepted, they each began to work on separate projects and it was during this time that great empires began to develop in Greece, Persia, India, China, South America and eventually Rome.
Alexander the great was the son of one of the most powerful councilmembers and constituted the last serious involvement in the affairs of men by the council. He was eventually slain by another who was able to subvert his protections and the council fell to bickering amongst themselves, until they settled upon an accord of non interference with the world. An accord which they would frequently break, but generally only in small or deniable ways. They accepted no new members, and vigilantly protected the secrets of fleshforming.
The withdrawal of the Council created something of a power vacuum and it was filled by several new groups by around 300BCE. They were mostly made up of the descendants of those whod served the council of Babylon in some way, priests, companions or servants. Those whod seen the use of magic and had some idea on how to go about it, or where to look for clues to go about it. Relatively weak councils formed in South America, Western Europe, and Scandenavia now typically called the Incan Council, the Druidic Council, and the Viking Council. A significantly more powerful one formed in China, known as the Eastern Council, and by far the most powerful formed in Italy, known as the Council of Rome. The Roman council had many advantages over the others, being close to the seat of Alexanders power, and the closest to Babylon and all the artifacts and knowledge of that area. Despite their relative power they had no access to the higher mystical arts or to fleshforming, and many turned to vampirism as a way to extend their lives and authority. Rome became the vampire capital of the world even as it grew much more powerful under the guiding hand of the Roman Council.
Meanwhile the Israelites slowly began to pick themselves back up leading eventually to the formation of the Hasmonean Dynasty in 165 BCE. Remembering the history of the Israelites as powerful anti-supernatural warriors the Council of Rome pushed Rome into invading and conquering Judaea in 63 BCE. By 50BCE the Incan council had fallen apart, and the Viking council had fragmented into several warring sects, meanwhile the Eastern Council grew in strength and formed into the group called The Dynasty.
In 33 AD the new religion of Christianity was formed out of that of Judaism, and although nobody noticed much at first it's influence started to rapidly spread, almost as if it was being supernaturally aided. In 64 AD The council of Rome had noticed this disturbing upswing in the influence of the descendants of Israel and Emperor Nero blamed Christians for the great Fire of Rome that year, creating a massive wave of persecution against Christians throughout the Empire. In spite of this however, the new religion continue to flourish and many of it's supplicants in secret began working against the supernatural. More and more ties to the other realms became broken and the Gods finally decided to leave Earth to make their primary residence in another plane, many of the lesser councilmembers who hadn't attained full godhood broke away into their own faction and founded a Golden city in yet another realm in this period leading up to around 300AD, a few remaining on earth and instead heading north away from civilization. These lesser members are now known as the Fae.
When Christianity was finally adopted by the Roman Empire officially it was considered a great victory against the council of Rome and ever since the supernatural have been pushed into hiding. It was around this time when the council of Rome started to be known as Manus, or The Hand. While the anti-supernatural faction within Christianity and Judaism was called The Temple. In 150 AD what was left of the Viking council fell to a growing faction of werewolves in Scandinavia.
The Druidic council, long forgotten to the northwest grew strong under the influence of the Fae who traveled there instead of to the Golden City, far removed from the area in which the struggles between the supernatural and natural occurred, from Babylon and the old gates to hell much greater trust existed between the Druids and their people, and they practiced magic openly.
While the Hand and Temple fought for control of Rome, the long forgotten and newly powerful druidic council, or as it came to be known, the Order, and it's barbarian tribes began to push south, culminating in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. At the same time, the Dynasty were being heavily punished by the Mongols and their shamans.
During most of the Medieval period control of Europe was divided between the Hand, the Order and the Temple. The Temple had control of Spain, and Russia, as well as influence in the middle east, whereas the Hand still controlled Italy and England, with the Order retaining control of most of the rest of Europe. The Temple's influence through Christianity however exerted a heavy hand and they were the most powerful faction for most of this time, all supernaturals needing to exist in secret. The Viking lands to the north remained largely uncontrolled by the factions, instead being the home to several powerful packs of werewolves.
The factions and their agent empires continued to wage war throughout Europe, until the Industrial revolution. The rise of science diminished the powers of the supernaturals comparatively, while the declining power of religion damaged the Temple. The factions continued to compete however through attempts to out expand each other, with The Hand locking down territory in Australia and North America, the Order also found some purchase in north America while the Temple claimed much of central and South America.
At around 1900 the power structure was as follows: The Order controlled most of Canada, and southeastern US. They also controlled most of Central Europe, and Ireland. The Hand controlled the economic centers of the US, Italy, Egypt, England and Australiasia, The Temple controlled Mexico, Peru and Brazil, Russia and some parts of the US, particularly central and southern US. They also controlled Russia, and had a fair hand in the middle east. Another group, calling themselves the Dynasty held most of Asia, while central south America, and Africa were controlled by regional shamans with little progress being made by the factions into those areas. Scandinavia continued to be werewolf territory. The Hand managed to take control of France from The Order, and this kicked off world war one, beginning with a coup in Italy organized by the Order and then their backing of the powers of Germany to try to reclaim France and then England, pushing The Hand entirely out of Europe. The Temple originally stayed out of the conflict, but then eventually joined on the side of The Hand when it seemed like the Order might be too successful. The Order was eventually defeated and went into a period of remission, with the Hand reclaiming Italy.
The supernatural group responsible for world war two is unclear, but the effect upon the supernatural world was massive. All three of the great supernatural factions at the time were broken, most of their members dead or fled they splintered into hundreds of different groups.
The cold war between Russia and the United States exacerbated affairs with numberous secrective groups forming and dissolving every few years as supernaturals fought for influence in the shadows.
For as long as the supernatural world has existed there have been those who can foresee the demise of others. While not always guaranteed or perfectly accurate these warnings have been a source of comfort and/or distress for many in the supernatural world depending on their own mindset.
On the 29th of October 2023 these prophesies included dates covering the entirety of the 21st century but on the 30th of October there no longer was a single one that was later than the 5th of September, 2037. News of this fact spread slowly and then faster and faster as it was more broadly verified. Whats more many residents of Haven reported having a strange shared dream where they were all huddled in the lodge while hte world outside died.
A Venetian council was called and experts and investigators were all questioned to try and establish what exactly changed that day and what exactly the nature of the doom that faced the world could be.
There was little information to be had, however and even less consensus. For the residents of Haven many found they awoke from the strange dream with holes in their memory, forgetting people or places or events, sometimes even highly cherished ones.
For those who thought this fate was yet preventable the supernatural cold war began to grow ever hotter. Whether the world was to face its end at the hands of a demonic horde, being swallowed by the void or just at the hands of humans with far too many powerful weapons the best defence was a good offence. To ascend as many Eidolons who would side with them as they could over the next decade and destroy those likely to be a liability. Of course, few could agree on which were which and plenty simply saw the chaos as a new opportunity to rise.