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All sorts of weird things have been happening in Stillwater these past few years. Monster sightings, a jump in missing persons, bombings and gun battles in the streets, freak weather, and spooky strangers. Most night the locals don't even feel safe in their own homes anymore. Yet, despite all that, or maybe because of it, Stillwater is booming!

Big money has come to Stillwater, and it has come in force. Big companies have swooped in and taken advantage of the low prices and cheap land. Within three years nearly all of the downtown area has been renovated and Stillwater actually has suburbs now! Not to mention the fresh built, not only one, but two malls!

Three major businesses, and numerous smaller ones, have opened factories just outside Stillwater proper to produce their goods. New homes have been built for the influx of workers, stores have expanded to meet the demands of a larger population, and even the port has grown and come alive again to meet their shipping needs!

The swamps around Stillwater have never been safe places. Sure, some areas are calmer than others and you might even risk taking little Johnny out fishing in a few spots, but only those who know how to survive these marshlands dare go deeper. Rumors, legends, myths, and folklore all warn of the dangers that lurk there. Some of those warnings are even true.

A swamp doesn’t even need to be supernaturally spooky to be dangerous. There are sinkholes and snakes, diseases and the mosquitoes that carry them, brackish water and twisted roots. These swamps demonstrate Mother Nature at her most unforgiving. Thick hazes often rise off the waters and cling to the trees, making an already difficult maze into an impossible one. More than one person has stumbled off the paths they knew into the dark growth and never found their way back.

Rumors say that all sorts of nasty call those swamps home. Even the local, hardy folk that live on the fringes lock their doors at night. A tribe of hillbillies, the Gator Folk to the locals, live rough and tough in the midst of it, fishing and hunting alligators to sell. They are a queer bunch, easy to upset and distrustfully of the world at large. Some of the old wives say they have an unnatural strong relationship with the gators they farm, maybe even the ability to become one of those scaled tempers.

Of course, there are also those horrible screams that rend the air throughout the swamps at night. Its common knowledge that certain stretches are haunted by spooks and bog spirits, even the odd will’o’wisp, but none of that compares to those shiver inducing wails. Those with a bit of Celtic blood claim that they are the cries a Banshee, and a powerful one at that. Some people have said they have heard moans and groans belonging to the dead near that old run down plantation. The place even smells like Death!

On a smaller scale, there are always the stories about children going missing, lured off into the deep waters. Plants have been known to come alive and trap the unwary or sometimes, even wolves or panthers (said to be extinct in these parts) spotted stalking humans.

Wade Vance has a mean, if not truly bad, reputation. He replaced the old game warden a couple of years ago, and ever since things have not quite been the same. Right off, he started enforcing the state and federal game laws with more force and will than his predicesser ever could.

The man is fearless, confronting armed hunters without batting a eye. Serveral times, folks took offense at his heavy handed ways and picked a fight with him, only to stumble away with broken ribs and shattered noses. Wade does not play. Some say he isn't altogether human, that his eyes are odd and that his finger nails are awfully sharp. Sometimes they whisper about the green scaly patchs at his elbows and lower back, just not very loudly.

His must accomplished feat, by far, is how he handled the Gator Folk. After arresting nearly half the clan (not to mention beating them bloody while doing so), people were sure they were going to kill him. But, they were wrong. Beyond all belief, the Gator Folk fell in love with him! It had been along time since anyone dared to take them in hand. Pretty soon, they accepted him as one of their own and not long after they were following his lead. Since then, violence towards the everyday people of Stillwater has dropped dramtically from their corner. While its still not safe to enter their turf uninvited, you are a lot less likely to get eaten by a giant alligator while clawdad fishing in the fringes.

If you need a guide into the swamps, looking to contact the Gator Folk, or looking for a mean customer to stand between you and the other nasty things in the swamp, Wade Vance is your guy.

Lily worked for the Stillwater Police Department for years as a dispatcher. She was smart, cute, and if you would give her half a chance she would talk your ear off. She always had to work those weird hours that kept her from having the social life she desired, but she felt like she was doing her part to protect the good folk of Stillwater. Well, that is, up till recently.

More and more, she would get calls about spooky sightings, mutilated bodies, and odd robberies. When she brought this up to her superiors, she was laughed down and told to keep her imagination in check. Most people would have given up on it and just ignored the strangeness, but Lily couldn't stop thinking about it. Not long after, she retired from department, got her pension, and started a pirate radio station known as 'The Night Watch'. She started gathering information, taking calls about monster sightings, anything and everything to get the word out on the things lurking in the dark around town. Now she has quite the following, a lot of it 'clued-in'.

Salashe "Sally" Blackthorn
HC: Good Witch, Black Hat
T: Blackthorn Legacy
OA:
Grit and Steel Beneath the Polish
Pastries, Pretzals, and Potion Bakery
"Just Give Me a Minute!"
"One for you, and you, and you!"
"I Will Totally Go Ape**** On Your Butt!"

Sally embraces the image of the classic witch, all black cloths and a cauldrens abound. She also runs a bakery. She is descended from a line of powerful witchs. Her family even went to war against the Wardens at one point, ending it in a truce. The family would stop giving the Wardens painful bowel problems and forgo breaking the Laws of Magic, and the Wardens would turn their heads at the greyer areas that the Blackthorn Witchs dabbled in.

The Blackthorns have a mixed reputation in the area. On one hand, they provide potions to heal the unhealable, stop hauntings, and even throw down with the nasties, if the price is right. On the other, they are freaking scary. In the old days they could kill you with a single hair and have terrible tempers and little time for fools. Sally is a knock off the old block for sure.

For the most part she maintains a sweet exterier. All smiles and sunshine. But, underneath she is one tough cookie. And, boy, when she gets mad you don't want to get in her way. Wither handing out cupcakes or buttkicking, she always brings enough for everyone.

She opened up her own pastry shop a couple of years ago and her bake goods are the thrill of the town. The locals swear her muffins are magical, not knowing how right they are.

Magicwise, she doesn't do that quicky and dirty stuff. Her family's magic just doesn't lend itself to Evo. Their powers lie in rituals, potions, and enchanted items. Give her a minute, and she can turn you guts inside out.

Theme: Flawed Jewel
Stillwater is the beacon of hope,a jewel of the south, a prospering city growing quickly with a vibrant expanding economy and on pace to surpass Atlanta as the largest City in the State sometime within the next decade. An influx of out of town money was the start and the tourist trade followed immediately behind. And with tourists comes those who prey on them. Most of Stillwater’s locals don’t even know its entire history. A cavalcade of history lies at its roots. The city was built on the burial grounds of an ancient Native American tribe massacred by early conquering Europeans. Later it was a crossroads and stopping point for confederate soldiers heading to the battlefields to the Northeast, and a launching point on the trail of tears that sent thousands of Cherokee to reservations in Oklohoma. These events may have paved the way or added to the powerful ley lines that now exist but even this history underscores the reality.

Something was trapped here, just what that is, predates man and has been working for eons to escape. A dragon, a demon lord, one of the fallen, an outsider, no one knows for certain.

A tremendous amount of suffering and emotion resound in the very ground. The current prosperity and economic boom have created a content and happy feeling that barely overlays what lies underneath, for those who can feel such things the ground humms with its own life and energy. The stirrings of this ancient entity has drawn supernaturals of all kinds to the area and could be the reason behind the gate(s) at the old naval yard, but whatever the reason beneath the gleaming new growth, prosperity and contentedness lies a sinister eternal undertone and those who would prey on the unsuspecting.

Face: Charles Wellington VII

NPC: Charles Wellington VII
A distinguished southern gentlemen of lineage, often seen with cane in hand and stooped shoulders walking about the downtown shops on his way to and fro. Charles family was one of the first to settle in Stillwater, long before the navy took an interest. Drawn to the area do to genealogical ties to an extinct Native American Tribe. The Wellingtons have long been genealogists and historians and the Current Charles Wellington is no exception. Like the town's history the Wellingtons have a sordid history as well. They like to portray themselves as keepers of the past, but they have been involved with and have a propensity to record the history as they want it told. Just as they have ties to the extinct Native American tribe they have just as strong ties (if not stronger) to the conquistidors who ravaged the countryside. What is recorded in the history books are far from what truly happened. If anyone knows the truth it is likely the Wellingtons as it is rumored that the old plantation home they have inhabited for generations holds a vast treasure trove of Lore not available anywhere else.

Aspects:
Southern Gentleman
Stories no one must know
I will find the truth behind everything

Threat:Who will save us from the Saviors?
The Catholic Church has been alerted to the ‘condition’ of Stillwater and has sent their sanctioned monster hunters to town. These hunters are not too particular in what monsters they slay. They’re crafty, experienced and resourceful. Any and all monsters are fair game in their eyes. Return of the Inquisition anyone?

Location: St. Michael’s Cathedral

Threat: Stillwater runs deep
Not everyone is happy with the new found success of Stillwater. There are a lot of old Stillwater factions that don't appreciate the new found prosperity, or more specifically the new influx of the supernatural. Chief amongst these is the Summer Court who have long held sway in the South, and locally led by Elloana they have no intention of sitting idly by as their holdings are swarmed with competition and those unfriendly to them.

Face:Elloana, Summer Fae
Elloana is a painfully beautiful fae, with hair that flows like a willow tree and skin a light brown almost bark colored. She is favored in court but not nearly as much as she would like to be. She sees the encroachment in Stillwater as an opportunity for further status climbing and has rallied several other Summer Fae to her cause.
Aspects:
Not in my Playground
Must increase my station
Have I got a deal for you

Threat:Vice is Nice
William Ballard, owner and proprietor of The Ninth Circle provides a brisk and thriving business. The Ninth Circle provides products and services to fill every vice. Within its walls lies drug dens, gambling parlors and ‘guaranteed’ companionship (if only for a little while).
Aspect: Anything and Everything; for a price.
Face: William Ballard (Demon) provides a significant amount of the vice trade in town and revels in the pain and destruction it causes. He has cut deals with various other parties to maintain his position. The price is often not paid in cash, he trades in deals that he can pass on to the fae and permits various white court members to feed and in such ways and others has maintained his operation with little outside interference. He has cops on his payroll either through cash or as frequent customers as well other government officials.
Aspects:
Misery loves company
I’ll collect from you later
You can never have enough dammed souls

Abe Slate
HC: Knight of the Wind (no flatulence reference intended)
T: Bastard Son of the Winter Court
Other Aspects I'm considering
Son of the South (rebellious Soul)
I'm no one's lackey (bound to Winter and really really not happy about it)
Faerie Godmother
My Family Hates me...it's mutual

Born of an unwilling union between the Winter Knight and the North Wind's daughter
More to come...If lucky enough to be chosen

Bernard is a martial arts movie stuntman and bit player in several lower budget action movies. Being a white court vampire, he had to deal with all the baggage that brings. But thanks to unerring dedication to self-improvement through martial arts. He's managed to earn some inner peace. And in the process of his adventures. Even have the chance to be a hero every once in a while.

Part of being a hero is caring about others and opposing those that prey on them. Bernie feels a very strong compulsion to intervene when he sees people in danger or when he knows that he can help people who need help.

"Me? I grew up in Stillwater. I stayed here until after high school. My dad and my mom both were your typical folk. Good people trying to build a happy life. I had lots of cousins, aunts and uncles. Or at least that's what I thought until I turned ten. Despite my dad always loving my mother and being there for her through thick and thin. The truth was she liked dangerous men and wild nights. She was more then once unfaithful to him. One time however, her partner turned out to be a White Courtier out for a night about the town. Apparently it was the "Night of Venus" or some other bull. A night of craziness that randomly falls on a one of the national holidays where every white court vampire goes out, screws, feeds, and just goes wild. Lots of bad stuff goes down these nights, but when it's general partying on the same day. Well... that and with a few choice people under your thumb. It gets swept under the rug pretty easy. Mom got lucky she just got herself knocked up with me. My dad never got angry or talked about it. He just took it in stride, like he always did with my mother. I'll never understand how any man could stay with my mother what with all. As I grew up. I also saw some of my mother's wild side when she came back all drunk and smelling of strange me and other things. Not that my mother didn't love me. She did, and thanks to her I learned to know trouble and of unhealthy things early. That saved my life more then once.

As a kid I always loved martial arts movie. Heroes kicking the butts of grandiose villains. Cool moves and weapons. In those movies all the person needed was the power of martial arts to get things done. My dad got me karate lessons and I was hooked. My life was good and even after I learned the first part of the truth about where I came from. They still gave me a good home. I will always be grateful for that. Neither would never know what I was until I turned seventeen and my biological father entered the picture."
Aspect: Raised in a good home despite all the speed bumps
Invoke: When trying to resist the Hunger of his inner demon. Bernie's family life has given him a very strong center to hold onto.
Compel:Bernie has family. And he cares about them very much. This aspect can be compelled when a threat to them appears.

"By the time I'd turned seventeen. Well, just like all boys. Well it was about girls and being cool. When you're a white court vampire. That's a pretty horrific part of growing up. Especially when you have no idea about the truth. My first crush Tilly and I had just started to get to know each other. It was quite silly back then. But hey, I was a stupid kid, I thought I was in love. I wasn't thought. Too bad for me too. I might have turned out normal. I get to her house while she's to stay and babysit. We start watching a scary movie and, of course. The hormones in both of us start kicking in. Next thing I know, the demon starts taking over. And she's tearing her clothes off. Me, I feel like a god. A few moments of ecstasy and she's dead. I killed her. I still get nightmares about that. Here I am panicking, crying and trying to make sense of what happened. I don't even have the composure to call an ambulance or anything. I'm just trying to wake her up and give her CPR. And who should show up just then. My sire, Cosimo, he shows up with that stupid grin on his face and tells me "Good work boy. You've blossomed". I have no idea what he means but I'm in shock so I didn't even try to argue when he starts staging the scene to make it look like a drug overdose gone wrong. He'd apparently been watching closely my growth and making ready for when he could christen me as a Raith. Then after we'd finished setting up the lie, he told me what and how I could make them believe me. Just repeat the words he told me to and let that feeling of godhood inside me take care of the rest. When the ambulance showed up. They believed every word that came out of my mouth. I'd come late and it turned out Tilly was a drug addict I found her like that. I got away with murdering my own girlfriend and I couldn't even talk about it because now. I was a monster that fed on people.

In the years that followed. Cosimo tried his best to make me into the perfect little Raith. I tried to stay away from that, resist the hunger. But it didn't always work. Still that my family never found out was a miracle. Through all that, it was a good thing I'd followed through with my martial arts training because the inner strength and focus I was learning is probably one of the main reasons I'm in the shape I'm in right now. When I finished High School I took a scholarship at Giorgia state college to study theater and literature. Despite everything that was now messing up my life and the things I had to do to keep those around me away from Cosimo's side of my heritage. I still wanted to get into martial art movies. I started branching out into other styles from my original karate: jiujitsu, Boxing, Wushu, Krav Maga. The college years really tempered me. I had to fight more then a few of my kin to keep them away from my friends. I also managed to get myself in more then a few adventures involving things that had nothing to do with the White Court. Because of that, people started hearing about me. The monsters they started to give me some clout and respect. The courts, councils and whatnot started to recognize me. Wasn't all good but it did earn me to have the university unofficially claimed as my "territory".
Aspect:I kept my turf safe
Invoke:Bernard's formative years in college and the battle's he's fought there have earned him some measure of respect amongst supernatural entities. This can be invoked when his reputation could earn him some recognition or benefit.
Compel: Similarly,like the fastest draw in the West. There's always someone willing to see him as a stepping stone or challenge to prove himself.

I graduated College and moved West so I could try my shot at the movies. I guess my acting wasn't enough to impress anyone. But they did see I was a good fighter. I started doubling for a few actors and playing bit parts as goons and minions for bad guys in B-movies and TV shows. That was pretty sweet even if I'd wanted to star in my own movie or series. By then I'd pretty much found some balance with my darker self, or so I'd thought. And while I couldn't say I was on any good terms with the White Court. They'd finally decided to start letting me be. Maybe Cosimo had gotten the picture that I wasn't interested in playing their games or he just had other priorities by then. Whatever it was, it had earned me some peace. By the time I was 27, work had become steady and I'd pretty much decided that L.A would be my home turf. Then one of the supporting cast in a movie I was working on went missing, that cute Yifei Lan. This movie was a cross-company venture between a Hong Kong and L.A company. Actors were brought in from China and that missing girl was one of them. I smelled foul and started looking into it. Next thing I know, this turned out like the script to one of the movies I worked on. Kung Fu Taoist sorcerers versus shapeshifting goblins tossed in with triads and blood feuds that have lasted for centuries.

For some woman I barely knew I flew to some remote place in Southern China (had to call in some favors with Cosimo, that was bad). I used a lot of the powers granted by my inner demon. It saved my life. But the temple also forced me to face myself and my fears. I didn't defeat them. Not yet . The demon is too strong in me. And it seems the stronger I become. The more powerful it gets. Still the temple reaffirmed my belief that I can't give up. I will master myself.

In the end, there were lots of sword fights and flying kicks. I fought my way to the top of the temple and there I faced the grand Lord-Master of the Devil Tiger banner, a wicked Yokai with hundreds of years of experience under his belt. I managed to slay him and save the girl. And like all good movies. The hero never got to talk about it, nobody would have believed him anyway. Unlike in movies however. I can't say I fell in love and lived happily ever after. White Courtier don't get that luxury. Besides if it had happened she would have been poison to me and I never could have touched her. Not that we didn't become very good friends afterward.
Aspect:Destroyer of Monsters, Disciple on the path of the tamed demon
Invoke: When fighting unusual monsters, Bernie can draw upon the lessons of his adventure against the Devil Tigers to better defeat them.
Compel:Bernard's iron clad oath to finally tame his inccubus nature means that he will feel compelled to take on any challenge that might lead him to a better mastery of his self. Even extraordinary challenges for little reward.

Bernard is positive and laid back most of the time. Dedicated to his martial arts mastery, he practices long hours every day, seeking to channel his training towards mastering the inner hunger of the inccubus. He thus follows a strict regiment of personal discipline. Bernie is deeply afraid that he might loose control at some point and the only death he has ever caused in feeding still haunts him. He has opted to spread around his feeding in a series of one night stands, use of escorts and rather wild parties so as to leave no permanent harm on anyone he may feed upon. He seeks to avoid loosing control because he is in a state of starvation at all costs.

Bernie tends to joke around a lot and give the impression he is less then he is. When trouble starts however, he springs into action and is a lethal opponent to anyone facing him.

Bernard is athletic and muscular without any bulk. He has the hard physique of a trained martial artist. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He keeps his hair short and tends to alternate between a short beard, a five o'clock shadow and clean shaven as the mood strikes him. He usually dresses in casual attire favoring T-shirts and jeans with a jacket over.

Yifei is a young aspiring actress from Hong Kong whom Bernie saved from Yokai out to exact revenge for a slight committed by her ancestors many centuries ago. She was largely unaware of this until the Devil-tigers kidnapped her during her shooting of a movie in L.A. Luckily for her, her great-uncle was a Taoist Sorcerer of some power and a stuntman with a secret cared enough to go all the way to China to save her. Since then her and Bernie have become very good friends and her discovery of the supernatural around her has brought her a sense of awe. She is now slowly, in between shootings and theatrical works, being taught the family secrets so that she may better protect herself in the future.
Aspects: Aspiring Hong Kong Actress apprentice sorcerer, demons on my tail, friend to Bernie, everyone is always kung fu fighting around me.

Cosimo is Bernard's biological father and also one of the higher ranked members of House Raith. He came to Stillwater to secure White Court tenure there in the face of overwhelming Fae presence. Ruthless and ambitious. He hadn't expected to sire a child on the "Night of Venus" with some American middle-class skirt who fell to his powers without any effort on his part. But when he learned the news, he paid close attention. Cosimo is old school white Court and finds his son's refusal to take on the family legacy both frustrating and amusing. For now he's decided to not to intervene too much in his son's life, except for a few pointed reminders every once in a while that there's no walking away from House Raith.
Aspects: Lord amongst House Raith, my son must grow up and accept his place, ruthless ambition, charming and seductive, old world manners

Stillwater's White Court presence has always been relatively small. But recently. House Raith has decided they would like to make a claim for more power in the City. And they are ready to use any means necessary to carve a bigger portion of the pie for themselves. The Fae for their part do not look kindly on upstart succubi raiding "their city".

Face: His esteemed and proper Housecarl of the Lord of Leaves, Ferredeth the Third

With tensions growing in the city as confrontation between White Court and Faerie courts. Innocent people are being caught in the crossfire and more and more supernatural groups are getting involved in the fight for their own schemes. As such, life in Stillwater is becoming darker unless something is done to keep people safe from the fallout of a budding turf war.

Face: Marjorie Simmons, Bewildered Ambulance driver trying to make sense of the insanity

Proxy Wars:
Almost everyone in Stillwater seems either to have someone fighting their battles for them, or to be fighting someone else' battles. Whether it's a resident busker being offered the position of Squire of a Faerie House or the White Court trying to slip their puppet unnoticed onto City Council, no individual's priorities seem to be their own.

A City Built on Faerie Gold:
Stillwater has been booming in recent years, but not all of that growth is the product of legitimate mortal economics and migration. No, much of that growth, perhaps even most of it has been spurred by supernatural poking, prodding, and manipulation, and it's not entirely clear why. Is something building up Stillwater as a 'human farm'? Or are they planning something more subtle? Would that be an improvement?

See NPC1

[corrupt mayor with supernatural backers]
High Concept: A Friend in a High Place with friends in higher
Trouble: A Puppet blind to his own strings

High Concept: An Angel in Sackcloth and Lurid Flesh
A Nephilim (scion of an Angel and a human) struggles both to make his way in the mortal world, and to overcome the proclivities with which his mixed heritage has imbued him.