From the Mouth of the Munchkin: MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: The Coterie and Season 1 Update"

Hi, everybody! It's MadCap again with the first update on the chronicle of Seattle By Night now that we've gotten through the first three stories of Season 1.

Consider this to be somewhat akin to the original introduction post I made way back in 2018 (which is where the story is still set in as of this writing - mid to late October of 2018). The reason for this post is two-fold. The first is that I'm moving from V20 into V5 in terms of ruleset, but not necessarily in terms of metaplot as you'll soon see. Some of those changes have already been made, so you may feel the need to recon out certain things such as Discipline use or the like.

Just go by comic book logic - retcons by the dozen!

I will, however, attempt to remain consistent with the rules of V5 unless I have a particularly good reason not to. I have said, however, that the universe of Seattle By Night (which I've termed "The Bad Briefcaseverse" after the story) is a different one from the main one published by White Wolf, so expect there to be changes. These include, but are not limited to:

There is no Second Inquisition. While I'm aware that the Second Inquisition was sparked around 2017-2018 in the V5 timeline, that hasn't happened in the Bad Briefcaseverse. That is not to say that it or a similar event won't occur within this series, just that it hasn't happened here. So there is no Second Inquisition, no attack on the Tremere chantry in Vienna, and so on. Thus, the Camarilla has not gone all technophobic. However, the Tremere weakness in V5 of not being able to form Blood Bonds is still in place, meaning that something has happened.
This also means that the Sabbat is still plenty active, particularly in Vancouver and in Portland as related to Seattle being a bastion of the Camarilla stuck between the two of them. No Second Inquisition, no crushing of the Sabbat in North America.
The Beckoning also has not occurred, meaning that Elders of the clans are still out and about in these nights as we saw with Stephen Corwin. I'm not a huge fan of the Beckoning as a tactic to seemingly only to discourage players from playing high powered vampires, but then the game does stat for Blood Potency up to the 4th generation, so hush my mouth I guess. This is, again, not to say that something like the Beckoning won't happen, though it's even less likely than the Second Inquisition popping up.
Seattle is, and has been for the last ninety years, a Camarilla city under the leadership of Prince Wren Blanchard of Clan Ventrue. Her domain includes the city of Seattle and extends as far north as Shoreline, as far south as Tukwila, and as far east as Bellevue. Whether or not it remains this way, only time will tell.
Some other supernatural creatures from the World of Darkness have been mentioned, and some may even appear in the nights to come. No spoilers on just who, but there's a chill in the air and something in the woods outside Seattle is howling at the moon...a few somethings, in fact...
No, there is no connection to the game Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2, despite this also being set in Seattle. Since I started this way back in late 2018 and the game wasn't even announced until 2019, this should really be a no-brainer.

The rest of what I said in the introduction post still applies: This isn't an exact copy of White Wolf's World of Darkness, nor should you expect it to be. We may get cameos from people in the metaplot of Masquerade, but we'll be running entirely on OCs for the most part and the story is theirs rather than that of anyone else who might show up to steal the spotlight.

Speaking of the spotlight, now that we've taken some time to get to know them - let's check in with our little coterie, here with a playlist of songs (somewhat inspired by LA by Night's practice) compiled by me from YouTube links (because Spotify isn't cheap) for each member! Some songs will reference the past, some the present, and others the future. I'll leave which are which up to your interpretation. Much more fun that way.

Oh, and by the way, if Seattle By Night had a theme song, it would be "Creatures of the Night" by Kiss. On the nose and melodramatic? Maybe, but I find it appropriate given the subject matter. If I had the unlimited money necessary to do it, I'd license the thing. Most of the music listed below, more than likely.

Ben Grayson is a Gangrel ancilla of the Eighth Generation. Born and raised in Vancouver, we've seen a little bit of his history in flashbacks and a little more has been hinted at and mentioned by other characters in the story. He was the baddest of the bad, the poster boy for all things Sabbat. Then, one night in 1996, it changed for reasons that aren't yet completely clear and he fled to Seattle and the mercy of the Camarilla. To the surprise of all, Prince Blanchard accepted him as part of the Kindred society in the city.

Known for being static even for a Kindred, Ben has become much more active since the night that Tremere Primogen Lilah Brook brought him together with the other three members of his coterie. He's even moving up in the world of Seattle's Kindred, having gone toe to toe with a Ventrue elder in a way that certainly will not come back to bite him in the nights to come...in more than one way. He still has a nasty reputation for deeds in past nights, and his bite is indeed worse than his bark, something which the Kindred of Seattle just got a healthy reminder of...

Ben's Playlist

Grace Penderghast is a Toreador neonate of the Tenth Generation. A daughter of Seattle, she was the first daughter and only child of the Penderghast family. Aristocratic to a fault, we now know she was in a spot where she willingly betrayed her mother and father shortly after her Embrace. What did they do to her that warranted such a response? Will it be the worst she'll do? What of her deal with the Ventrue Stephen Corwin, the terms of which are currently unknown, if she even intends to follow it at all given his concrete demise?

All this, and more, in future episodes of Seattle By Night! She is the baby of the group, having been Embraced for only a short time and knowing the least about Kindred culture, but she is a fast learner and soon to be a force to be reckoned with within the Jyhad...provided she can avoid the Final Death.

Grace's Playlist

Anthony Wallace is a Tremere neonate of the Tenth Generation. A doctor fresh out of medical school, he was poised to be a surgeon of some renown. This was taken from him by his sire, Preston Wilson. He was brought into Seattle's Clan Tremere alongside his fellow graduate Robin Phillips (albeit by a different sire), and took to Blood Sorcery like a fish to water.

Unfortunately for him, Baali had already begun to infiltrate the Tremere of Seattle since long before he had been given the Embrace. A civil war threatens to tear the Clan apart, and Anthony finds himself unwillingly right in the middle of it after a close friend betrayed him.

Anthony's Playlist

Sybil Langtry is a Malkavian neonate of the Thirteenth Generation. A police detective who was taking schizophrenia medication in high doses before her Embrace. Her Embrace is a curious case in that she was Embraced alongside her twin brother Samuel, a virtually unheard of thing in Camarilla society. Why Sybil's sire, Rowan Stantz, did this or what he bargained with in order to achieve this is unknown. He hasn't really been around, leaving Sybil and Samuel to navigate the waters of the Kindred world largely on their own.

She is a budding seer of some skill, though due to her Derangement has some trouble differentiating the voices in her head from. . .the voices in her head. A little taste of what happens when the dial gets cranked up on her occult powers was seen in the previous episode, with her avoiding a maddened Frenzy only due to the quite intervention of the Brujah named Hope. Where will her path take her, in this the world of the Kindred? The mentions that Stephen Corwin made of the Glaziers might be something in her near-immediate future. . .

Sybil's Playlist

We also have, thanks to me wanting extra characters (who doesn't love an ensemble cast?), three guest characters I've introduced who will be reoccurring! And, indeed, some of them already have been! Let's have a look at who we've met so far!

Marion Croft (no relation) is a Tremere ancilla of the Ninth Generation. Little is known about her just yet, though it is known that she runs an occult bookstore in the city and has a fondness for the creation of Gargoyles. She has a sort of friendship, sort of mentorship with Anthony, seeing him as someone who needs proper guidance to be a good Tremere. Her true motives are unknown, though she aided the coterie in their first adventure - being the one to defeat the curse upon the titular Bad Briefcase - and has a boon from the coterie as a whole, one that she may just soon have to cash in, seeing that a living shadow has invaded one of her havens. . .

As with the rest, we shall see more of Marion Croft as the season goes on.

Marion's Playlist

Hope Devereaux is a Brujah neonate of the Thirteenth Generation. Relatively young and fiery, Hope works as a bouncer at the club known as The Moon and Star, owned by Grace's sire (and lover) Isaac Carroway. She enjoys being a little hellion and is really skilled at roughhousing (as her job suggests). Having joined up with the coterie to help Ben deal with the problems surrounding the Haven of Hope homeless shelter, she will likely be back at some point in the nights to come. After all, it always helps to have someone who can punch!

Hope's Playlist

Fabian White is a Ventrue ancilla of the Eighth Generation. Young, but eager, he has spent ten years as a Kindred under the yoke of one Stephen Corwin, his sire. Now, though, (through no machinations of his own that can be proven!) he has risen to become a more important individual within his Clan. Earlier in his career, he also represented Grace in his legal battles against her parents, winning them handily and earning him a client throughout the nights that would follow. He is ambitious, but calculating, preferring to know every single move of the match before it has been played.

With the belief that the Prince knows he set his sire up to die, Fabian will have to be more cautious in the nights to come. Will she reveal his secret? Will his reach exceed his grasp? Will he come into conflict with the main four of the coterie? Perhaps even some of the side characters? You'll have to keep reading to find out.

Fabian's Playlist

There is one more guest character who will be introduced, but that will be in nights to come. Also, yes, I do have character sheets for them all. Perhaps I will post them up once the season ends. Next time the Fiction Corner returns, we won't be going to the dark alleys and sewers and nightclubs of Seattle, but instead to somewhere else. Look to the stars above, my readers, as we return to a galaxy far, far away...and bring Minos Mayhem to its conclusion!

See you all next time!

From the Mouth of the Munchkin

Saturday, January 2, 2021

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: The Coterie and Season 1 Update"

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