Crimson Regime

Since the Dawn of Time, a war has been raging between Man and Beast.


In the beginning, when humanity was still young, the battle was waged in the open, creatures that would become Myth and Legend, dominating the world. Eventually, the tide turned. Mankind fought back. Born without the powers of their shadowy brethern, Humanity focused on science and invention, creating great wonders that would turn back the tide and cast the monsters back into the darkness.

Technology, albeit primitive, reigned supreme. And for a time, for centuries even, Mankind flourished. Still, in those tender, fragile beginnings, Humanity remembered that there was something in dark, something wild and dangerous and perpetually hungry.

And for hundreds of years, the world was calm. Calm enough that what was once known as fact faded from the memory of common man and transformed itself into myth and fancy, tales to frighten children told around campfires. It was not until after World War Two that the Monsters made the move to step out of the Darkness and into the light. And for a time, the World was stunned by wonder, by fancy made fact.

Still, in those early days, when mankind was still taken with the knowledge that magic and myth was as real as electricity and shopping malls, there were those amongst Humanity that remembered. Those amongst Humanity that had, since those dark early days, kept chronicles of what had been and transformed them into treatise on what would surely come again. It was these groups who, over the course of centuries, had given birth to the religions of the world, that cautioned the world's governments against allowing the monsters back into their world.

And while Reason free from Wonder would dictate that cautions should be taken, Humanity instead gave into greed and those who ruled the governments of the world, vied with one another to harness the 'new' and deadly weapons that had stepped back into the light. Of course, the desire to possess and control is as integral to mankind as his need to breath. The monsters would be welcomed into the fold, but not without strict control and accounting. And, for a time, Humanity reigned supreme and Monsters walked amongst us bound by leashes crafted by those who thought themselves greater than they truly are.
 

It was on August 19, 1969, one day after Woodstock, that the world changed. Monsters, bound by Silver, Sun and Faith turned on Humanity, joining together across the world to free themselves of the leashes Humanity had thought to bind them with. Organized in secret, under the auspices of vampires, the world's monsters rose up in an outcry that would become World War 3. Humanity, bereft of magic of it's own, turned to nuclear weaponry to fight the supernatural threat. And for a time, their bid to turn the tides was successful. It was ten years later, while the world burned, that the Mer finally entered the mix, tentatively agreeing to aide the monsters. Within a year, Humanity was robbed of it's grip on the worlds oceans, the viciousness of the Mer assault sinking their warships and chasing them back to land. In retaliation, Humanity vowed it would destroy the world rather than submit. Over the course of the next three years the world burned. Great cities fell, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Washington DC, just a few of the great cities rendered incapable of supporting life. Billions died.

In 1984, the tides turned for the final time, the monsters rounding up remained of Humanity and securing them in work camps while they divided up what habitable portions of the world remained. It took three years for things to settle in a relative fashion, Vampires-- as they wont to do-- rising up as the ruling class. The sole exception to Vampire dominance came in the form the Mer. Refusing to submit, refusing to relinquish their dominance of the seas, Merkind and the rest of the preternatural world came to a tentative truce that has lasted, for the most part to the current day. Still Mer Ambassadors watch their step while on land, acutely aware of the fact that they are coveted not only for their blood, but for the magic and power that resides in every bit of their being.

Today, the vast majority of Humanity still resides within the work camps dotting the landscape. Those who have proven themselves useful, or loyal, and those particularly attractive to Monsters, allowed to dwell in the cities in relative comfort. Still, they have no rights and what comfort they manage to claim for themselves can vanish in an instant. Humans that show a propensity for magic, however, are whisked away from their families as young as possible and enrolled in Academies designed specifically for the instruction and training of Witches until such time that they are chosen as a servant by a vampire. In almost all the world's great cities, grand auctions are held, selling off young Witches and humans with are particularly useful skills, or in possession of other desirable qualities. And while there are still humans out there who seek to free themselves and their people, they forced to do so in secret with the knowledge that rebels are dealt with in a very final and pointed display.

For the preternatural races, things have settled into a relative calm. The world is primarily ran by Vampires with Shifters acting as their servants and muscle.  While it is a condition that most of the shifting breeds finds distasteful, the fact remains that vampires possess the power to control their kind. And, given the condition of Humanity? It is a far better choice to live free and serve willingly than not.

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Crimson Regime Pacific takes place fifty years after Crimson  Regime San Tuario. Over the course of the past fifty years, Lysander has cracked down on unregistered beings of all types, tightening the reins of control just shy of the choking point. On the surface, everything appears calm as the world approaches the  Regime’s centennial celebration. 

 

                                                          On the surface…………….