Blackmouth Unveiled

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Strangeness on the Broken City

The City of Arches

The city’s gothic architecture is run through with fragments of the grand plan of the Rebirth, pieces of a complex occult mechanism scattered like an immense model kit cast aside half-built. It can be found in the alignment of streets, in particular buildings and statuary, the reshaping of rivers and the number of bricks used to form the archways of the bridges. And none of it makes sense. There are clusters of streets geomantically aligned to channel leylines that never existed, statues with subtle occult symbolism found in odd and alien alignments, grant sigils formed of road and steel and pipe beneath, and every span supported by sweeping archways formed of a prime number of stones.

The nature and purpose of all these fragments are unknown and can only be guessed at by context. Decades of analysis by magical Scrutiny has worn the mysteries like the patina of a centuries of pilgrims hands polish a saint’s statue, such that detail and understanding have been wiped away by curiosity, benediction and time. Stranger still, the Awakened have continued to find more occult details in the city’s fabric, even now more than a century since the Rebirth faltered or in parts of the city that were not even built until decades later. Sometimes it is subtle, like fresh eyes noticing the recurring motifs in a section of street, and sometimes it is stranger, like a statue of a sleeping woman dug up like a time capsule from beneath a burned tenement.

Examples

• The streets in Merritt, all angled slightly out of sync with the adjoining neighbourhoods and focusing toward the small park in the centre.
• The Five Circles of east Ormwood. An arrangement of five small circular parks, surrounded by traffic circles (a one-way traffic flow, like a block-sized roundabout). Each has a statue of a founding figure of the city - Andrew Nathaniel Saul, Jonathan Sherburn, Sebastian Moth, Daniel Niven, and General Emile Lachance. Each statue is posed in a subtle and slightly warped representation of one of the Watchtowers, all of them standing and looking directly away from Arkwright Park that stands equidistant between the Five Circles. The parks and statues were built in the 1870s, long after the Rebirth had collapsed.

The Broken City

Blackmouth is a broken city. Other supernaturals and even Sleepers can feel something is wrong about the city, though most put it down to economic depression, the cold north Atlantic climate or the odd architecture. The Awakened feel it more keenly, the city’s broken geomancy pressing on their Peripheral Mage Sight in a thousand subtle ways. The most common forms these take are odd synaesthetic sensations or faint kinesthetic disturbances that pass as swiftly as they arrive, but some mages experience stranger sensations or find that they linger longer than most.

Deeper analysis by Focussed Sight and Unveiling spells reveals a world that is somehow cracked. The city’s leylines are so tangled and broken that the world seems to have cracked around them, bleeding curdled resonances and conceptual fragments through hair-thin cracks like spiderwebs from edges and corners throughout the city. The effect is most prominent where the leylines should be, but the cracks may be found anywhere and do not always remain in the same location.

The synaesthetic disturbances to mage Sight are stronger and more common near these cracks and other phenomena may also occur, often in the form of sleep disturbances, hallucinations, intrusive thoughts and emotional instability. Disruptions in the boundaries between worlds can also occur around these cracks, creating verges and irises where spirits, ghosts or other stranger entities may more easily slip through into the world or an unfortunate Sleeper may wander into an otherworld.

There have been many theories about these cracks since they were first discovered in the wake of the collapse of the Rebirth, but none have proven conclusive. Arguments over what the cracks are and how to deal with them were among the multitude of causes for the Upheavals of the 19th century, and they continue to be a Mystery worthy of obsession. The currently prevailing theory is that they are scabs where the Tapestry is healing from the wounds wrought by the Rebirth, not inherently dangerous but may act as a weak point where infection may penetrate the Fallen World from Outside.

Hecate

Ask three mages about Hecate and you will hear at least four theories. Is she the spirit of Blackmouth, a goetic incarnation of the city’s schizophrenic collective personality, a deity hiding in Urban Legends to avoid Dissonance, some escapee from an unknown Lower Depth, or something stranger?

All that is conclusively known is that an ephemeral entity of considerable power, equivalent to that of an Incarna, has been seen in the city and its corresponding Otherworlds for centuries. She manifests as a pale feminine form shrouded in billowing cloth that obscures all but her hands and the lower part of a mask-still face. She always appears alone, and has apparently never gathered a Court or Choir of lesser entities about her, and does not obey the usual rules of ephemeral beings; she has no known ban or bane, nor are her manifestations tied to any particular resonances, nor are they limited to one Otherworld or plane of Twilight.

The Awakened have records of her being seen or encountered in the physical world, Twilight, the Shadow, the Temenos and even the Oneiros of individual beings, as well as stranger places. The exceptions to this worldliness are the Underworld and the depths of the Anima Mundi; there are no records of her being seen in either Otherworld.

There are records of something watching the city since the colonial era. The scant records of the early Concilium mention the Lone Watcher but give little detail except that the Unspoken Pact was sworn between Dianann and this Watcher to allow the Awakened to settle in Blackmouth. Sleeper records are just as sparse but Hecate exists in urban legends as “the watching woman” or “the waiting woman”, an ill-omen seen at a distance but never there when approached. Graffiti with variations on “She is Watching” are commonplace in Blackmouth, sometimes appearing in inaccessible places or reappearing almost immediately after being painted over.

The Concilium’s opinion of Hecate is that she is strange but not currently a hazard to the city and so best left alone, but any sightings of her should be recorded as they most often coincide with events of significance, both good and ill. She has been seen more often since the start of the 21st century, though there are no good theories yet of why that might be so.

The Concilium as a whole is not aware that there is a small cell within the Guardians of the 23th Letter who venerate Hecate as a manifestation of the deeper mysteries and interpret the times and places of her appearances for hidden occult secrets.

Victor Herbert Crane

Main article: Victor Herbert Crane

Concilium of Arches

Blackmouth has been under the thumbs of the Mysterium and the Guardians of the Veil since the dust finally settled on their disastrous war over the Enlightened Ones. The Mysterium holds the greatest sway but power is split between multiple cabals and individuals each following their own agendas, while the Guardians present a smaller unified front through a strong caucus that spans northern New England and keep their divisions behind closed doors.

Since the return of the Silver Ladder to the city in the 1980s, there has been a concerted attempt by then-Hierarch Mervolian and his successor Rhiannon to open the politics of the city to all the orders of the Pentacle. This culminated in the recent ascension of the first Silver Ladder Councillor in over a century.

The Ruling Council

• Rhiannon, Hierarch, Councillor of the Stone.
• Seventh, Councillor of the Thorn.
• Cephalophore, Councillor of the Gauntlet.
• Verlamion, Councillor of the Coin.
• Sathariel, Councillor of the Key,
• Rosethorn, Sentinel
• Andras, Interfector

Cabals

Cabals Majoris and Cabals Minoris

The Orders of Blackmouth

Adamantine Arrow

The talons of the Adamantine Arrow have watched Blackmouth fracture itself endlessly for centuries. They have been sentinels, wardens, hunters, and guards, but only rarely leaders, and suffered for their price when they attempted to take that role. During the chaos of the 19th century, the Arrows of Blackmouth attempted to command the Concilium to protect it and the city from the chaos wrought by the Rebirth. They forgot that the Fifth Phalanx of the Adamant Way - A Throne is a Prison - and only relearned that lesson in the pain and blood and tumult of the Upheaval.

Since those darker days the Arrow has remained in the shadows of power, balancing the ambitions of others while refusing the poisoned chalice of rulership, and standing as memento mori for those who would take up a throne. They keep watch, for that which attempts to seep through the cracks in the world or would attempt to use them, and for those who would stir chaos within the fragile peace of the Concilium. For existence is war and the Arrow stands ready.

The preeminent talon in the city is Rosethorn, the Sentinel of the Concilium, a cold and lethally serious woman who detests politics and approaches all obstacles like a blitzkrieg. Her cabal, the Withered Paw Society, is a semi-paramilitary group that acts as an extension of her will and role as Sentinel.

Free Council

For much of the twentieth century, mages of the Free Council have been the lower orders of the Concilium. The detente between the Mysterium, Guardians and Arrow that ended the Upheavals was a necessiity to keep power in the hands of the establishment, after the Great Refusal and the formation of the Council as a part of the Pentacle. Yet despite this inequity, the Free Council flourished in Blackmouth as a melting pot of disparate occult traditions, cabals and nameless orders, networking among themselves and caring very little for the pronouncements of the Ruling Council. In return they were treated with barely-veiled contempt for their openness and lack of provenance.

The rise of the Civil Rights movement among Sleepers lit the fuse for change. Unaligned mages joined with libertines to foment about the lack of representation among the Councilors and the Majoris. They asserted that the Free Council was an equal partner in the Pentacle, one which nearly half the cabals in the city owed allegiance to, yet they had no say in how the Concilium was run. Things finally came to a head when the Silver Ladder ended their century of exile from the city and the possibility of a théarch-libertine alliance forced the Ruling Council to take action. A few select libertines were brought into the establishment as a placatory measure, but the floodgates were opened and the politics of the Concilium began to change.

The enigmatic solitary Cephalophore is the only libertine currently sitting on the Ruling Council, though he is far from the first to hold such high office. Cephalophore is the Councilor of the Gauntlet and generally considered to be the de facto head of the Free Council in the city, master of many secrets and information broker among the Order, respected for his ability to mediate between the disparate libertine cabals.

Guardians of the Veil

The Guardians have been a quiet presence through much of the history of the Concilium, advocating caution and consideration of the complexities presented by Blackmouth, and pulling strings among Sleepers and Awakened alike to keep the world moving according to their careful designs. That intention to remain in the shadows fell apart during the tumults of the 19th century and the leaders of the Order decided that a more active hand was required to protect the Worlds from the damage wrought by the failed Rebirth.

The removal of the Ladder from the city might have been enough to restore balance if cooler heads had prevailed, but lines had been crossed and knives had been drawn and the Concilium descended into the Upheaval. The calm mask of the Guardians fractured and its razor edges drew their blood as well, as cabals broke with each other over fault for the city’s sins and old vendettas flared into bloody life.

By the time the Upheaval ended, the Guardians had been bled white by internal and external conflict. No one cabal could muster enough members or support to stand for the new Concilium. Rather than bow to the dominance of the Mysterium or Arrow, the mage Kadmon proposed that the entire Guardian caucus stand as one cabal as part of the Concilium. It was a ludicrous idea; as one cabal it would limit the Guardians to only one seat on the Ruling Council, and no caucus had existed since the beginning of the Upheaval. And yet Kadmon managed to unify enough of the fragmentary cabals to make it work, and was elevated to Councillor of the Gauntlet for his efforts.

Since that unification, the Guardians have worked to present an outwardly unified front, though in truth they are even more fragmented than any of the other Orders. The entire caucus nominally operates as one cabal, the 23th Letter, but under the surface it is a tumult of smaller cells and solitaries each chasing a particular agenda in the name of the exoteric and esoteric tenets of the Guardians. Some maintain the labyrinths, the dead-end secret societies and mystery cults that divert the unworthy away from true knowledge, while others silence those who would dig too deeply into the Rebirth, or study the occult significances of Hecate’s appearances, seek out signs of the Hieromagus, or follow a hundred other more personal agendas.

Some Guardians operate outside the umbrella of the 23rd Letter, standing in the Concilium as members of other cabals but most still accede to its primacy.

Mysterium

The mystagogues have effectively ruled Blackmouth’s Concilium since the end of the Upheaval and the consolidation of their detente with the Guardians. Mervolian’s reforms have ended the absolute lock that the Mysterium held on the Ruling Council but has done nothing to undo the decades of entrenched structural and political systems that keep the majority of power in the Order’s hands. Which is a shame, as the Mysterium cabals are a fractious and disunited lot, too interested in their own obsessions and curiosities to see the way things are changing. Their star is waning and the disenfranchised Cabals Minoris are grumbling for a final end to the stalemate of the old detente. Rhiannon will likely be the last mystagogue to claim the title of Hierarch for a long time.

The Mysterium of the city are split along lines of cabal and personal obsession, with much of the political power of the Order held in three old cabals, two of the Majoris who have held power throughout the detente, and one with ambitions to reclaim lost glory.

The Preceptors of the Keystone, lead by the current Hierarch and two her predecessors, has been the preeminent cabal of the Concilium for much of the last century. It split from the Congregation of the Granite Obscure during the Upheaval and was in position to secure power as those turbulent times ended. The Preceptors primary interest has always been in geomancy, especially the Working of the Rebirth, and in the legends and works of Victor Herbert Crane. While their primary sanctum is hidden in a very particular corner of Hollingworth, they maintain multiple sites and vaults hidden near points of confluence in the leylines of the city, many of them containing strange relics guarded by proximi and bound entities of all sorts. Among these guarded relics are Dianann’s Stone, three of the strange items bequeathed by Slocum’s will, and numerous Crane art pieces.

The Geognostic Society is the oldest cabal in the city, and second only to the vaunted Ebon Noose of Boston for the eldest in the USA. Led by Verlamion, Councilor of the Coin, the Society was founded in the mid-18th century by mages inspired by James’ Hutton’s concept of Time and how it related to Atlantis and the Time Before. Its focus over the centuries has remained on the secrets of stone and the hidden mysteries that others overlook so easily. They weathered the Upheaval by remaining largely apolitical and rose to prominence only because they were comparatively unharmed by the conflict. Several Hierarchs in the century since have come from the ranks of the society, but they have always preferred the sedate pace of their studies to the haste of politics, though the long centuries of the cabal’s existence has enabled it to foster many unusual contacts and acquaintances. They are a small group consisting of three full members, all Masters of at least the First Degree, and their apprentices.

The Congregation of the Granite Obscure is an old cabal, arguably as old as the Geognostics but one that has been in abeyance for nearly a century. Originally founded by a religious mage trying to decipher Dianann’s Stone and the secrets of Blackmouth through the relics of found in the caverns beneath the city, it suffered a number of calamities during the 19th century that culminated with a number of members splitting from the cabal and taking the majority of its library and secrets to form the Preceptors of the Keystone. The Congregation eventually collapsed into a simple lineage of master and apprentice and remained a footnote in awakened history for over a century until Herodotus Morn gathered allies to reform the Congregation as a cabal once more. Since Morn’s passing the small cabal has been led by his apprentice Suleiman, who is still working to unify the disparate allies his master gathered, and make good on the deals he made to allow the Congregation to recover some of its strength.

Silver Ladder

The Ladder founded Blackmouth’s Concilium. It was a théarch, Dianann, who first dealt with the Watcher and opened the city to the Diamond, and the Ladder held the pre-eminent position in the city until the Fire and the scandal of the Rebirth. With their power stripped by circumstance and old rivalries blooming, the remaining members of the Order chose to abandon the city rather than become the sacrificial scapegoat for the deeds of the Enlightened Ones. In doing so, they shattered the fragile peace of the Concilium and began the Upheavals.

When they returned a century later in 1988, they almost broke the Concilium once again by unbalancing the fragile detente, but in time the politics of the city opened to them once more. Now, in the 2010s, the Concilium has its first théarch Councillor in nearly one and a half centuries.

The Ladder of the 2010s is a fiery and vibrant Order, a far cry from the old nobility that once held the city in its grip. The Ascendants of the Dawn, a primarily Silver Ladder cabal led by Seventh, the newly-risen Councillor of the Thorn, is the primary Ladder cabal in the city and masters of the city’s cryptopoly through its strong connections with New Age groups.

Seers of the Throne

The Seers of the Throne are less active in Blackmouth than would normally be expected for a metropolitan city of its age and size. Even in the tumult of the Upheaval, the Seers were unable to find a foothold to take advantage of the chaos in the Concilium. Something about the city blunts the forces of the Ziggurat and has done so for centuries. So the Seers focus their strengths elsewhere and only a few remain to exert the Exarchs’ will through catspaws and complex and obfuscating chains of influence, never taking direct action against the city lest they draw the ire of the inchoate threat that consumed their predecessors.

Nameless and Accursed

The political turmoil of the Rebirth and the Upheaval of the 19th century fragmented the Awakened community of Blackmouth, and left many gaps for many small Nameless orders to move into. Most joined the Free Council or faded away over time, and over time the boundary between Free Council and Nameless has become so blurred that a mage is not declared Nameless unless they cut themselves off entirely from the Concilium or reject its judgement.

The Accursed are another matter entirely. The broken nature of and dark past of Blackmouth has drawn many practitioners of Left-Handed Paths to the city over the centuries, and in their wake come Banishers intent on extinguishing any Awakened they may find. Old rumours persist of Scelesti burned out of the city during the Great Fire, or that the Enlightened Ones were practitioners of that blasphemous magic. A circle of diabolists was extinguished when found preying on BSU students in the mid-2010s. Signs of the Red Word have been found scratched into sycamore trees in recent years. There are soulless sleepers walking the streets and whispers of a Tremere among the dead.