Credits Special Thanks Writers: Eric Berg, J. Dymphna Coy, Matthew Dawkins, We want to extend a special acknowledgment to the fol- Nathan Dorey, Steffie de Vaan, Meghan Fitzgerald, Rachel E. lowing Kickstarter backers, who helped us shine some light Judd, Eloy Lasanta, Jonathan Lavallee, Hayley Margules, Nik into some of the most fascinating corners of the Chronicles May, Leath Sheales, Malcom Sheppard, Michael “Hollywood” of Darkness. Tomasek Jr., Vera Vartanian, Monica Valentinelli, Stew • Karen Joseph, for Princes of the Conquered Land Wilson, Filamena Young, Eric Zawadzki Developers: Dave Brookshaw, Michelle Lyons-McFarland, • Margarete Strawn, for The Soulless & The Dead Matt M. McElroy, Matthew McFarland, C. A. Suleiman, Filamena Young • Andrew Jensen, for When the Horsemen Rode Setting Consultant: Katrina Keefer, Ph.D. Project Coordinator: Matthew McFarland Editor: Dixie Cochran Artists: Leo Albiero, Doug Stambaugh, Luis Sanz, Vince Locke, Drew Tucker, Brian Leblanc, Alida Sason, Justin Norman Art Director: Michael Chaney Creative Director: Richard Thomas © 2017 White Wolf Publishing AB. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of White Wolf Publishing AB. Reproduction prohibitions do not apply to the character sheets contained in this book when reproduced for personal use. White Wolf, Vampire and Chronicles of Darkness are registered trademarks of White Wolf Publishing AB. All rights reserved. Night Horrors: Unbidden, Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken, Mage the Awakening, Storytelling System, and Ancient Bloodlines are trademarks of White Wolf Publishing AB.. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing AB. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertain- Samplement purposes only. Reader discretion is advised. file Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com Check out the Onyx Path at http://www.theonyxpath.com 2 Dark Eras: Companion Introduction 8 Relics 36 Bane Relics 37 What’s In This Book? 8 Seba 39 The Isireion Bull 40 The Fall of Isireion 12 A Sleeping Threat 42 Theme: Ambition and Collapse 12 The Legio 43 Mood: Nostalgia Betrayed 13 Clutching at Immortality 44 Timeline of Cleopatra’s Age 13 Blood Bathers 44 Settings — Lands of the Deathless 15 Body Thieves 48 Egypt 16 Inspirations 50 Rome 17 The Age of Isis 19 Manifestations of the Prophecy 19 Forsaken by Rome 54 The Cult of Isis 20 Theme and Mood 54 A Private Religious War 20 How to Use This Dark Era 55 Contending Factions 21 Glossary 55 The Arisen Guilds 23 What Has Come Before 55 Maa-Kep 23 Hoc Vero Narro 57 Mesen-Nebu 24 Thato Spello Trewweza Isti 61 Sesha-Hebsu 24 What Is To Come 64 Su-Menent 24 9CE — Mission Accomplished? 64 Tef-Aabhi 25 The Battle of Teutoburg Forest 64 The Deceived 25 The Uprising 66 Sorcerous Servants 27 10-15CE — The War Years 66 Sorcery Arisen 27 16-17 CE — The Bitter End 68 What Can Sorcerers Do? 27 Germania’s Legacy 69 Sorcerous Rites 30 The Supernatural 69 SampleSorcerer Cults of Egypt 33 Shadow Dwellers file70 Parangelía Seth 33 The Army Advances 72 Parangelía Rituals 34 Legion of the Damned 73 Table of Contents 3 Germania 74 The Alchemist’s Gambit 107 The River’s Curse 74 Bastiano di Fiorenza 108 The Forests 76 The Fisher King 109 Playing the Game 76 The Fisher King 110 The Pure Monster 76 The Lance 111 Step Five: Add Pure Template 76 Cachexy 112 Step Six: Add Merits 78 Epilogue: Arrival 113 Sacred Prey and the Hunt 78 The Siskur-Dah 79 Running with the Legions 79 Princes of the The Free Tribes 80 Conquered Land 116 Waging War 81 Sample Characters 82 Theme: A Clash of Ancestors 116 Servius Rabireus 82 Mood: Anticipation and Instability 117 Gifugeld 83 The Mutapa Empire 117 What Has Come Before 117 Inspirations 83 Where We Are 118 Mwenemutapa 120 The Soulless Society and Politics 120 and the Dead 86 Religion 121 New Supernatural Merits 123 Theme: Apocalypse 86 Tributaries and Traders 124 Mood: Existential 87 Sertanejos 125 Sources and Inspiration 87 Portuguese Explorers, Traders, What Has Come Before 88 and Missionaries 125 The Land 88 Muslim Traders 126 War 88 The Supernatural 126 The Nobility 88 Mage: The Royal Mediums 127 The Middle Class 89 The Mhondoro Lineages 127 The Peasantry 89 Mutupos: Four Totems as One 130 The Church 89 Foreign Relations 131 The Supernatural 89 Mummy: Strange Artisans 132 The Damned in the 14th Century 90 The Alien South 132 Al-Hamasoun 91 Cults of the Shavi 133 The Gallows Post 92 Crossover in the Conquered Land 135 Morbus 94 Lands of the Dead 136 The Promethean Soul 96 Mana and Pillars 137 Lineages inthe 14th Century 96 Mages Affecting Mummies 138 Amirani 98 Mummies Affecting Mages 139 The Plague 100 Story Seeds 140 The Anatomy of a Pandemic 100 The Road to Great Zimbabwe 140 Exposure to the Plague 101 Accidental Crusade 141 Reacting to the Plague 101 The Ghost-Maker 142 The March of Death 102 Mines of King Solomon 142 Autumn 1346: Inspirational Material 143 Outbreak in Caffa 103 March 1348: The Vultures of Florence 103 What Is to Come 104 When the SampleJourney 105 Horsemen Rodefile 146 Playing the Game 106 The Red Horse (Slaughter) 147 The Inquisition of Constantinople 106 The Problem 147 4 Dark Eras: Companion The Twist Foreboding Lands 174 148Scenes 148 Theme: Mystery 175 Storyteller Characters 150 Mood: Terror 175 Ufayr 150 Race to Colonization 175 Bishop Friedrich Förner 150 Race to Roanoke 175 Captain Eduard Weber 151 Lands of Troubled Crowns 177 The White Horse (Conquest) 151 Oceans Apart 178 The Location 151 Boats, Sails, and Ports 180 The Problem 151 Fort Roanoke 181 The Twist 151 Secotan Village 181 Scenes 152 Mattamuskeet Lake 182 Storyteller Characters 154 Golden Hinde 182 Ingrid Maier 154 Tragic Futures 182 Frau Egger 155 The Supernatural 183 Bernhard Bahruth 155 The World Made By Our Hands 184 The Black Horse (Famine) 155 The Bound 184 The Location 155 The Torn: Death by Violence 185 The Problem 156 The Silent: Death by Deprivation 186 The Twist 156 The Prey: Death by Nature 186 Scenes 156 The Stricken: Death by Pestilence 188 Storyteller Characters 159 The Forgotten: Death by Chance 189 Jakob Hofmann 159 The Pious 190 Torsten 159 The Depths Below 192 Katrina Keil 159 Great Hunter: Chief of the Shades 192 The Pale Horse (Death) 160 Burnt Swamp 192 The Location 160 Queen of the Two Rivers 193 The Problem 160 Dread Convergence 193 The Twist 160 Knights of the Two Rivers 193 Scenes 160 Shade Warfare 194 Storyteller Characters 162 Abmortals 194 Maria Agnes 162 Astraea 195 Maria Anna Junius 163 Acolyte of the Astraea 196 Mother Superior 163 Jacobo Moreno de la Villalobos 196 Pneuma 164 Margaret Walker 197 Storytelling the End of the World 166 Crooked Man 198 Setting Goals and Boundaries 166 Story Hooks 199 Getting Started and Going Places 166 The Haunted Forest 199 Bringing the Story to Life 166 Lost in Translation 200 The Righteous and the Hungry 167 Ancient Horror 200 Arno Popel 167 Lost at Sea 200 Kurt Rogge 168 Inspirations 200 Lea and Torben Maier 168 Natali Hofstetter 169 The Year Ruprecht Mauritz 169 Sofia Hopfer 170 Without a Summer 204 Veronika Turnau 170 Themes 204 Inspiration 171 Moods 205 SampleWhat Has Come Before file205 Unexpected Progress 207 Table of Contents 5 Looking for a Reason 207 New Nightmares 250 The Shelley Circle 208 Heroes of the South 250 What Is To Come 213 Apexes 252 After Tambora 213 Locations of Interest 252 After Diodati 214 Playing the Game 253 The Supernatural 215 Fears of the South 253 Family Drama 215 Roleplaying Race 254 The Golden Thorn 218 The Slow Crawl of Progress 255 A Land in Flux 219 Chronicle Seeds 255 Places of Interest 219 Story Hooks 256 Playing the Game: Story Hooks 221 Alaska 256 Geneva, Switzerland 221 Louisiana 257 Adam 222 Nebraska 257 Dr. John William Polidori 223 Pennsylvania 258 Cork, Ireland 224 South Carolina 258 Virginia 258 Dearbhail 224 Bologna, Italy 225 Inspirations 258 L’Indovino 226 Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse 227 Lifting the Veil 262 Ely and Littleport, England 228 Theme and Mood 262 Inspirations 229 The United States 263 Fiction 229 Spiritual Sisters in Burned Over Districts 263 Non-Fiction 229 Science and Skepticism 264 Television, Movies, and Video Games 230 Suffragettes in Spirit 265 The Civil War 266 A Fearful Lesson 234 Northern Confederation 266 The United Kingdom 267 Introduction 234 The Rise of Spiritualism 267 The Lesson of War 235 Class 269 Reaping the Whirlwind 235 Scientific Enquiry 270 What Has Come Before 235 Welcome to the Twilight 271 Social Forces at Play 236 Reconstructed Rifts 271 What is To Come 240 The Golden Jubilee 271 Corruption, Graft, and Scandal 240 Union Dues 272 The Compromise of 1877 240 Spiritualism’s Internal Conflict 273 To Raise Up a Child 241 The Supernatural 275 Justice Deferred 242 Psychics and Frauds 275 The Rise of Jim Crow 242 The Theosophical Society 278 Flags, Masks, & Other Symbols 243 The Society for Psychical Research 279 Blood is Thicker than Fear 243 Pulling Back the Veil 282 Economy and Industry 244 Modern Spiritualists 284 Southern Belles & Working Women 244 Americans of Other Colors 245 Inspirations 287 The Rise of the Lost Cause 245 Books 287 Southern Living