This page will contain snippets of information about the world at large, as used by STs. It will grow over time. This can be used In-Character to enrich your play, and contribute to the sense that this is an actual world inhabited by actual people.
Topics are indexed in accordance to the required ranks in the appropriate Lore.
If you want to contribute, contact Sindrillion, Head ST, we are always happy to add more "Fluff".

This is a work in progress.

A Brief History of Starke

It all began during the Colonial Era. Amadeus Starke, a Hermetic Mage and an iconoclast by the standards of the Order of Hermes, founded Starke as a settlement. On paper, it was to give the Order a foothold in the New World, before the Order of Reason could lay claim to it themselves. In practice, it was to continue his research... research that would earn him the condemnation of even his own House.

Beneath Starke laid The Starke Catacombs, built by Amadeus Starke himself with the aid of his mastery over Correspondence. These ruins lay here today beneath Starke Estate, a dilapidated old manor haunted by Theodore, a wraith descended from Starke himself. This research, if it was ever completed, was never discovered, as one day, Amadeus Starke simply vanished in his own catacombs, never to be heard from again. All of the horrors he'd spent decades meticulously tracking down and hiding beneath his estate to study eventually laid to rest, forgotten for half of a millennium.

But history has a funny way of repeating. It wasn't until the middle of the year of 2018 that Starke once more became a nexus for the supernatural; this tiny little village, with a population of little more than 5,000 people, was about to become the site of events of world-changing consequence.

The Major Game Locales

Starke, Florida

Population:: 5,347
Dominant Factions:: Amenti, Traditions Mages

Cute little town. Weird shit's been happening here, lately. I'd stay away from Crawford Street, though. You ain't heard this from me, but... that's where the action is. The REAL action. You know what I mean. Hey, don't look at me like that. You never know who's listening. Everything that started in this crazy little corner of our world all started here. The Starke Council? It's not named after Amadeus. It's named after the town. The Amenti at Ograms Surplus and Papyrus Gardens are the main reason why the Sabbat stay the hell away from here, and why even the Camarilla treads carefully. The other reason? The Magi, led by Joy Livingstone. Them and the Amenti are thick as thieves, and nobody will touch the damn place so long as they're keeping it safe. The Magi operate out of the Continuum Study Chantry, which ain't even a year old, yet.

Check out the Crossroads, though. Damn good burgers, there.

Jacksonville, Florida

Population:: 892,062
Dominant Factions:: The Jacksonville Camarilla, Traditions Mages, Infernal Court, Bone Gnawers, the Division, the Triad

Biggest city in the country, in terms of geographic size. You can hide pretty much anyone or anything here. Emphasis on anything... which is just how the Cammies led by Prince Veronica Price like it. They keep the demons at arm's length, unless you believe the rumors about the Prince and the Tremere Regent, Julia Cosgrove, sharing the city with the Tyrant of the local Infernal Court, Michael Radcliffe (and for the record, I fuckin' don't, and if you don't wanna end up staked and baked, you'd better not be spreadin' them yourself). The Gnawers, led by 'Big Chuck,' are caught in the middle. The Bone Gnawers do just fine under the leadership of Big Chuck Hollins, and every other power in the area knows better than to go into their places, namely Orange Park and Lakeside, looking for a fight. Hunters from the Division left cleaning up the messes and making sure the excesses of the big power players don't hurt the little guys. And then you got the Triad, represented in Jacksonville by the Cosa Nostra, the Italian Mafia. Funnily enough, they may just be the biggest monsters in the city, in terms of sheer body count for kine. And luckily, that 'Omerta' thing is still going strong. They care about the 'Veil' or Masquerade or whatever you want to call it just as much as the rest of us. We keep an eye on them, though. Where there's Goombahs, there's Giovanni.

Gainesville, Florida

Population:: 132,249
Dominant Factions:: The Gainesville Sabbat, the Technocratic Union, Pentex, the Children of the Forbidden Depths

Place is a fuckin' warzone. Seriously, don't go there. The Sabbat may have their backs against the wall after all of their failed attempts at kicking the Cammies out of Jacksonville or everything else out of Starke, but the fact that they're still standing says all you need to know about those crazy fucks. With the sky-high murder rate and investors fleeing the city, you just knew Pentex would eventually set up shop and start peddling their poison in the name of 'economic development' and 'investing in the community' or whatever bullshit buzzwords they throw around in their press releases. Chad Green is in charge of the local Pentex projects here, including 'Green Energy Solutions.' Yeah, I know, guy's got a really sick sense of humor. When they and the Sabbat started fighting - apparently, the Sabbat considers actually being in league with the Wyrm to be a form of infernalism in all but name - it was only a matter of time before the Technocracy would find out about all the supernatural shit going on around here, and would ride in on their white horses to save the kine. Barely anyone can stand those pretentious assholes and they tend to shoot us on sight if we look at them the wrong way, but there are those of us who think that out of the Big Three (as we call 'em), they're better than the Sabbat and Pentex. At least they're trying to protect the little guys, in their own way. And right now, their companies like IvoryCorp and Geneficient Technologies are buying the city right out from Pentex. Gainesville would probably be worse off without them, but if we end up helping the "Technocrats," I'd bet my left arm it's gonna come back to haunt us.

As for the Children? Ain't heard much about 'em... only that they showed up recently, worshiping some driftwood named 'Sadriel' or something. Rumor is that they're infernalists, and not the polite kind like the Court. These are the bad ones, the kind our sires tell us scary stories about to keep us from making deals with demons.

The Swamps

Population:: ???
Dominant Factions:: The Lilly Sept, House Gwydion

You'd think that with all the crazy, scary shit going on in the three main cities, the Swamps would be comparatively safe, right? Wrong. The Lilly Sept are where the main action for the lupines are in this place. Don't ask me why, but despite us all being "Wyrm-tainted monstrosities," they only go after the really bad ones like the Sabbat, or the Black Spiral Dancers. It's their Elder, Walking Funny, who made that decision, and not every wolf agrees with it. On the other hand, you got House Gwydion, the dominant Changeling House in the area, and led by Duke Tremore (no, not to be confused with Tremere; don't make that mistake to his face, it really pisses him off, or so I hear). They don't really come around the rest of us too often - too 'banal', I guess, whatever the fuck that means - and so much the better I guess. But when those bad Changelings show up, the 'Thallian' or whatever they're called, we show the proper respect. They know how to deal with those things better than the rest of us.

Everywhere Else

Population:: ???
Dominant Factions:: Not Yours

The 'Umbra,' the 'Shadowlands,' the 'Underworld,' whatever you want to call it, I ain't going there. I hear about what lies beyond the Gauntlet and it makes my skin crawl. Occasionally one of those things gets through; a ghost shows up along the coastline, some weird robot-looking thing shows up in the Swamps and tries to kill everyone, or someone summons some other eldritch monstrosity and the world is worse off for it. I hear rumors, that a monstrosity of epic proportions called 'Apophis' is actually trying to kill Gaia. That that's what this is all really about, that Starke is the nexus for the last, best chance we got to share this little rock in the universe that we call home. But I don't believe that shit. And neither should you.