The Children Of Athanasius

The below information represents news articles, gossip, IC websites, and other IC information your character could have gotten their hands on. All information is public information that your character can ICly know unless it is marked for a certain group. If it is marked for a certain group, you need to be part of that group to know it IC. For example, if you see something marked "Sabbat", then you need to be Sabbat to know it. You may notice that some plot elements might coincide or overlap with other plotlines.

The information here is gathered to help quickly on-board new players and to keep existing players similarly organized. Plot beats manifest as scheduled +events, developments in +jobs, and BBoard articles that represent news and internet activity IC. You are encouraged to participate in the plotline by sending in +requests about what your character would do knowing this information and can do so at any time!

Timeline

• April 2021 (Public): A trailer for an action-thriller film called 'The Author' went viral on VidTube. The interrogators are masked. The gore could make even the unblinking Tzimisce cringe, but what's truly chilling how they drop names far too specific to be coincidental. It's not a trailer. It's a message.
• May 6th, 2021 (Camarilla): At the Green Room in San Francisco, Prince Winder has Manuel Ward dragged before the Court. He is hauled off for interrogation, where it is later revealed that he is in San Francisco from Richmond for vengeance because he recognizes the voice of the Interrogator as a hunter who killed his packmates.
• June 16, 2021 (Vampire): Shortly after the knowledge that the Iron Shields sabbat pack were recently captured by vampire hunters, the body of Leslie Diaz is found in a Pacific Heights home. Speculation circulates that this was a deliberate attempt at provocation.
• June 25, 2021 (Sabbat): Somehow tipped off, Hunters stage an (ill-fated) attack on a Sabbat gathering. The gathered vampires, Tierney, Javier and Frost among them, defend themselves and kill the three hunters who tried to crash their sparkle party, recovering some evidence.
• July 21, 2021 (Camarilla): It is announced in Court that "The Nevada chantry has confirmed that 'The Author' that the hunters refer to is a moniker they specifically gave to a missing artpiece. They still don't know where it is and suspect that these individuals have jumped to conclusions about what it can do, or the fact that it can do anything. However, Prince Winder is unsatisfied with that answer and will be working with Mister Ehsan Khadem of New York, as well as anybody else, for answers that will be reward handsomely." Prince Winder states that she cares little for the item itself, and far more for how these strangers discovered sensitive information, and what, exactly, they do know.
• October 2021 (Vampire): An encrypted message surfaced on ShreckNet and continued to be thus circulated on secured networks among the supernatural. The message confirms 'The Author' to be an item of supernatural power and posits that the Children Of Athanasius seek to use it as a weapon against the supernatural.
• November 2021 (Mage): Alex Foster intercepts the message and circulates it in San Francisco as a tentative heads-up.
• August 2021 (Public): A house on San Bruno avenue becomes ground zero for a brutal multiple-execution and robbery.
• September 2021 (Camarilla): A number of Vampires give their accounts at Court: a group of Hunters attacked Walter close to Parapet on Folsom Street. We learn that ...
  • Phillip captured and handed over a hunter for interrogation.
  • The Nosferatu Royce had sneak-attacked another hunter in the cell, but he poisoned himself before he had a chance to interrogate his captive.
  • Farhad Sassani verifies the hunter cell's use of cyanide pills: "Camille and I had gotten wind from the other Nosferatu that the Sabbat dealt with a hunter who had cyanide. It seems we have a large group of hunters, and they are likeliest to be the ones who kidnapped some of their own."
  • Zora Pavlova reiterates in public her desire for assistance in locating the missing vampires to use their demises as leads to uprooting the Hunters.
  • Scarpia reveals that he was able to interrogate one of these hunters. They have a house on San Bruno avenue, which he points out was recently in the news, 'selectively robbed'.
  • Early November 2021 (Public): A freakish B&E culminates in a shootout and car chase with multiple vehicles that flee from the tourist trap of winding Lombard street.

News Coverage

• Human Remains Found In Back Yard, June 16, 2021
• Multiple Victim Execution, August 21, 2021
• North Beach Attack And Dogfight, November 11, 2021

Internet Activity

• Dr. Aidan Crommey's Warning

NPCs

• Ehsan Khadem: A scholar that Crommey's warning urged its reader to seek out.
• Farhad Sassani (Camarilla): The Camarilla Seneschal who has been managing the physical evidence.
• Zora Pavlova (Camarilla): The Sheriff who has been spearheading the investigation.
• Zelle Phillips (Sabbat): The Priest who officiates Games of Instinct and handles the evidence the Sabbat has collected.
• Dr. Aidan Crommey: The potentially dead Tremere Apprentice whose dead man switch released his Warning to Shrecknet.

Questions, Clues, Leads

Stuck? Need a hand, or some inspiration? The clues are strewn throughout the news articles, 'website', and other IC materials. That said, Here are some hints to help you get somewhere.

• Ehsan Khadem: Ehsan Khadem's name is dropped in Crommey's Warning. Maybe there is a way to get a hold of him?
• Zelle, Farhad and Zora: These officials have been at the head of their own investigations. Maybe talk to them to see if they have anything to delegate or share.

Get Involved

Any of the information above is fair game for your character to know unless it's marked as belonging to a certain group. If it's marked to belong to a certain group, like "Nosferatu," then you need to be a part of that group.

Send in +requests to investigate! You can assign jobs to others, so if something is being run by a PRP runner or you know the staffer you're after, simply assign it (+job/assign #=person). Ask around IC. On the Looking For RP channel (@channel/join looking), point out one of the threads you're interested in and ask if someone'd like to join.

Sometimes, +events are made to round everybody up to move a plot beat forward. Keep an eye out for +events that seem related and try to join 'em. That said, there's no need to wait on an +event to get the ball rolling: reach out to staff, to PRP runners, and fellow players on channels and through +request.