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 300 BCE. They were mostly made up of
the descendants of those who’d served the council of Babylon in some way,
priests, companions or servants. Those who’d 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
Scandinavia 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
50 BCE 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 300 AD, 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 Australasia, The Temple controlled Mexico, Peru and
Brazil, Russia and some parts of the US, particularly the 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
numerous secretive groups forming and dissolving every few years as
supernaturals fought for influence in the shadows.