Credits Special Thanks Written By: Jacob Klünder Edited By: Dixie Cochran (Chapter 1), Jacob Klün- To my Beta readers — assume any mistakes and gram- der, Maiken Klünder matical errors are because I did not listen to them: Anne Christine Tvilum Erichsen, Dixie Cochran, Jakob Søgaard, John Bishop, Jonas Mose, Petra Ann, Rasmus Nicolaj West, and Shannon Barritt To Lars Rune Jørgensen, who created the cover art for this book. You can see more of his work at http://larsrune.deviantart.com/ This book is dedicated to my first Vampire: The Mas- querade group: Thomas, Søren and Bjarne. The days in my parents’ basement are not forgotten. And finally, as always, a special thanks to my wife Maiken Klünder, who is always available for alpha- reading, inspiration and ideas-sparring. 2 INTRODUCTION Introduction 5 Chapter One: Denmark by Night 7 Chapter Two: Copenhagen by Night (coming) 43 Chapter Three: Children of the Kingdom (coming) XX Denmark by Night 3 4 INTRODUCTION Introduction “Danskjävler!” — Doctor Stig Helmer, Riget (The Kingdom) Greetings, dear reader. So, the book got divided into Denmark by Night, My name is Jacob Klünder and in addition to being Copenhagen by Night and Children of the Kingdom a Dane, I have been a Vampire player for over 20 (Storyteller Characters). The other chapters will be years. In that time, I have been fortunate enough to added to the book when they are finished. contribute to a few World of Darkness books. I have In writing this book, I had to strike a balance be- also always wondered about my own country in the tween getting enough information and not making it World of Darkness. Denmark has received some men- into a textbook. As it stands, the Denmark by Night tions through Vampire: The Masquerade’s long histo- chapter is 25,500 words and in my opinion, I have ry, but never a book dedicated to it; the closest being only scratched the surface of Denmark’s history and Wolves of The Sea for Vampire: The Dark Ages. interesting sites. I could easily have added 10,000 Hardly surprising, really — Denmark is a small country words more, but in the end, I had to limit myself to and, in modern times, hardly as important or well- information I thought was pertinent or offered inter- known as it was a thousand years ago, when my ances- esting story hooks. If you want to know more about tors raided, pillaged and traded across the western Denmark, there are numerous Internet sites and world. YouTube videos available — or, Hell, find a Dane or So, for a long time, I toyed with the idea of writing two on social media and talk to them. In the end, I my own Denmark by Night supplement. And, eventu- hope I have presented my country in an entertaining, ally, I stopped just thinking about it and actually start- informative and engrossing manner. ed writing. By pure coincidence, I began my writing My idea for this book is that it can be used either as right around the time White Wolf announced their a sourcebook for chronicles set in Denmark or as a Storyteller’s Vault project. And that is the reason why new and different area for characters in an already this book is divided into three parts. I decided early established chronicle to visit and be involved in inter- on to make Copenhagen its own, separate section and esting stories. with that, there was no way I could have the entire As mentioned, the book will have three parts. Den- book ready for the launch of the Storyteller’s Vault. mark by Night gives an overview of the country of Denmark by Night 5 Denmark, its history, physical geography, culture, • Matador (TV Show): No, it’s not about bull- politics, laws, etc., as well as presenting Denmark in fighting. In Danish, a matador is a business the world of Vampire: The Masquerade. Copenhagen magnate or tycoon. This TV show is set in a fic- by Night does the same for Copenhagen, Denmark’s tional provincial town in Denmark and by fol- capital and by far the largest city in the country. Final- lowing several key characters and families, charts ly, Children of the Kingdom has all the Storyteller the changes in Denmark from the interwar peri- Characters needed for a chronicle or story set in od to the end of World War II. The show’s por- Denmark, allowing you to pick and choose who and trayals of small-town Denmark and the societal how many you want to use. It also has a little surprise upheaval of the time are widely praised. in the form of a new type of supernatural being. • Pusher (Film): Released in 1996, this marked the What is lacking from this book, when compared to debut of internationally acclaimed director Nico- other “by Night” books, is a list of recommended me- las Winding Refn. The movie takes place in Co- dia; books, movies, music, that sort of thing. The rea- penhagen’s criminal underworld and pulls no son is pretty simple; with access to the Internet, it’s punches in its portrayal of violence and crimi- very easy to find such things with a minimum of ef- nals. fort, through Google, Wikipedia, IMDB and so on. I • Týr (Music): Technically Danish, since the band is will, however, make three recommendations. from the Faroe Islands. Their music style is Vi- king Metal, and I have included them here be- cause I listened to them quite a lot when writing this book. 6 INTRODUCTION Chapter One : Denmark by Night “Med lov skal land bygges…” (“With law shall the country be built…”) - Start of the Code of Jutland The smallest, flattest and southern-most of the the Camarilla can ill afford to lose their foothold in Scandinavian countries. A place with a rich history, the north and as such, tread carefully. now simply one more European country trying to As united as Denmark might seem to the outside, it make its voice heard in the EU. A modern democracy is far from immune to the intrigues and politicking with a queen. A country with a history of acceptance that characterizes vampiric societies the world over. As now known for strong racism. Denmark wears many small as Denmark is, resources are somewhat limited faces and has many contradictions. and battles social, political and even physical are In the world of vampires, Denmark is a small but waged constantly between factions and individual strong, country that presents a powerful and united vampires. On top of all this, Denmark contains its façade to the outside world. It is a place of traditions, share of mysteries and dangers. While Denmark has ruled by Elders centuries old, but with plenty of op- little to no wild nature left, the streets and plantation portunity for the young, industrious Kindred. Theo- forests are still home to lupines that will attack vam- retically Camarilla, Denmark’s connection to the Ivory pires with little provocation. And although Denmark Tower has at times been tenuous. Even now the Inner is strongly secular, there are still hunters there, rem- Circle knows that should they press Denmark too nants of ancient families and religious brotherhoods hard, or interfere too severely in the affairs of the local that know what stalks the night. During the summer, Kindred, they might find Denmark declaring them- the exceptionally short nights puts extra pressure on selves neutral or defecting to the Sabbat. With Den- the already large Kindred population. And on the mark being the gateway to both Sweden and Norway, island of Bornholm, something is killing any vampire foolish enough to set foot on the rocks. Denmark by Night 7 When it comes to Kindred politics, Denmark pre- few magical artifacts and places of power from this sents a rather unique power structure; the entire time and they are constantly searching for more. country is under the rule of a single Prince (who pre- The Iron Age, when the people of Denmark began fers not to be called that), with each area being the extracting iron ore from peat bogs, coincided with a domain of a lesser Prince. change in the climate making it cooler and wetter. This limited agriculture, caused a great deal of migra- tion and ended the cultural golden age. The Romans History never made it all the way to Denmark, but beginning sometime around the first century AD they estab- What follows is an overview of the history of lished a solid trade network. This has been evidenced Denmark, as it pertains to both mortals and vampires. by finds both in Denmark and in the Roman provinc- es. The population, however, was still not large and Flint, bronze, and iron centralized enough to attract anything other than The first humans, Stone Age hunter-gatherers, nomadic vampires. In fact, there are Elders from Ro- moved into what would become Denmark around man times who remember sending ghouls north or 10,000 BC, when the last ice age began to wane. Here paying wandering Gangrel for information about the they found a rich natural resource — flint. Flint is lands north of the Roman frontier. These vampires normally rare, but Denmark’s geology made it abun- recall that the lands were considered unfit for anyone dant which lead to an explosion in tool making. Dur- but the savages of Clan Gangrel. During the Iron Age, ing this time, it’s unlikely that even the most nomadic animal and human sacrifice also became a not- Gangrel came to the cold lands of the north.