Back to Venues

SERE 2009 Awakening Venue Style Sheet

Venue lead: James Nail (US2005085898) (searst.awakening@gmail.com)
Narrators: TBA (volunteers welcome—contact venue lead prior to event)
Assistants: TBA (volunteers welcome—contact venue lead prior to event)

As the SERE Awakening event will be taking place ICly in Atlanta, aspects of the VSS for Towers of Atlanta (GA-010-D) shall be adopted for the event to present continuity with the local Venue. Additional annotations shall be highlighted in blue.

Part 1 - Basic Information

Towers of Atlanta GA-010-D

Mage the Awakening VST – Christopher Draper (US2002022001) (mrclay_2002@yahoo.com) --point of contact for local information and history.


Games Dates:
Feb 27 and 28: 3 pm – 7 pm

Part 2 - Styles of Play
Action - 4
Char Dev - 2
Darkness - 4
Drama - 3
Intrigue - 3
Manners - 2
Mystery - 4
Pace - Chaotic

Ratings
1 Never present
2 Sometimes present
3 Often present
4 Usually present
5 Always present

Part 3 - Description of Venue

Atlanta, the melting pot of the south, has always been a place where people of various different backgrounds have come together to form the loosely connected communities that make up metro Atlanta today. These differing philosophies, morals and cultural imperatives have created a sprawling mixture of ideologies and conflicts.

Awakened Mages have often taken advantage of this conglomeration of philosophy to both hide from their enemies and to further the goals of awakening the masses. Atlanta has long been a hub of communication and transportation thus opening the pathways for myriad supernatural creatures to call it home. Mages particularly take advantage of the communication hub of today to communicate their goals to one another and to the sleeping world

Part 4 - Storytelling Mechanics

Proxy rules – Proxies will generally not be accepted for this event, with the possible exception of where the total allotted 8 hours of game time will significantly benefit from such. Such petitions should be emailed to the Venue lead no later than 2 weeks prior to the event with a really good explanation of how the event will benefit from allocating resources to the proxy.

Travel risks – Only if traveling in the Shadow Realm. (Contact local VST and cc Venue lead for such travel) All Characters - All characters must come complete with a character sheet and XP log and any approval numbers for special approval items all signed by one presiding ST within the player’s ST chain. Copies of custom mechanics must also be provided at IC check in if they are to be considered valid for use at the event.

Experience awards - Given at ST's discretion in accordance with the guidelines set out by the MST. Gadgetry - James Bond-esque devices, especially those designed for over- the-top or explosive effects, are highly discouraged.

Consilium: Currently consists of five members lead by a Free Council Hierarch who has been in power since 1968. The Consilium members have changed on a regular five to ten year rotation. The Hierarch has full support of the Atlanta mages and while he has handed down a Lex Magica the rules are loosely interpreted and agreed upon by most to be for the good of all Mages in Atlanta.

Hierarch: Morningstar
Lex Magica:
-Do not create Demesnes
-No stealing of souls
-No casting of Vulgar magics
-No revealing mysteries to the unawakened

Hallows- There is one known active, uncontrolled Hallow in the Atlanta area in the Oakland cemetery. Venue History
The history of Mages in Atlanta, begins with John Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad. He is cited as one of sources for the name change from Marthasville to Atlanta, the reason typically stated is that it is an abbreviation of “Atlantica- Pacifica,” but the mages know different. The name is derived from Atlantis, the city that gave birth to the Awakened, and the feminine form was used to pay homage to the great city of legend. John Thomson had hoped that this new city would be a stepping stone for mages to gather, and prompt them to once again attempt to regain what was lost. Though it would appear that not even twenty years later, this dream and hope would be dashed, with the burning of the City.
The Civil War came to Atlanta, and left it in cinders. There were actually two battles being fought in Atlanta, the recent one between the Union, and the Confederates, and an ancient one between the Exarchs, and the Oracles. The Seers of the Throne, willing slaves of the Exarchs will, attempted to use the confusion and isolation of the city during Shermans siege to remove those who were following in the footsteps of the Oracles, the Orders. The fires that sundered the City, are said to have been started by the Seekers, the Orders, and as a by product of the Sleepers war. No matter who you attribute the blame to, they proved helpful in getting the sleepers out, so that the War of the Awakened was not witnessed by those untrained in the mysteries. The battle did end with no decisive victor, those of the Orders survived, but the city appeared lost. Even the depot, that had given the city it’s initial purpose was a pile of wreckage.
With the end of the war, came the reconstruction. Atlanta had regained it’s population, both civilian and business, by 1866. Also, one of the longest running cabals of the city showed up, The Reclaimers, which is still active today. The Reclaimers, along with other surviving mages, worked to guide Atlanta to what is today. By giving strong support to Mayor Calhoun, and his policy to restore ties with the North, and helping to found schools for all races, are a couple of instances of what the mages did. Though they were not immune to the same arguments that besieged the Sleepers, what were they to do about race? Some argued for the acceptance of Black mages, many of which had at one time been the “priests” of the slave community, while others argued that they would not associate with those untrained practitioners, and to allow them into the Consilium would be equivalent to blasphemy. So Atlanta’s Hierarch at the time, Azlicaul, called a city convention of all mages, to discuss the issue. His feeling on the matter was that an awakened was an ally no matter the skin color, and wished to further the hopes of the city’s namer, John Thomson. The convention was of limited success, there were duel’s of the arcane, though none were allowed to persist to death. The conventions compromise was to have two separate Consiliums each Consilium was to deal with it’s races problems, every 6 months there would be a joint meeting between the two, and that any inter-racial issues would constitute an emergency joint meeting consisting of the two Hierarchs and a Consilium member of each party’s choice to make the decision.
This how things were handled in Atlanta mage community, up until The Reverend, the current Hierarch, took advantage of a joint meeting to challenge both Hierarchs to a mage’s duel. He had the support amongst the Black Consilium for Hierarch, and gambled for impromptu support for the white Consilium. He managed to sway the other, and entered the duel, gambling with his life to win, though neither of his opponents were willing to go to that point. After walking out of both duel’s, he disbanded both Consiliums, and said that each Order should name a person to sit with him, with the exception of the Free Council. He requested to speak with the previous Heirarchs in private, and closed the meeting, adding that anyone who felt they could not support him as Heirarch could challenge him at any point in time, providing the populace supported them. He has defended his title as Heirarch, one time since then, and did not need to take it to the point of a lethal duel, again.
Since The Reverend has been Heirarch, Atlanta has continued to be a transportation hub, business and communications hub, not just in the south east, but internationally as well. As of right now the Seers of the Throne have continued their attempts at imposing the Exarchs will on the residents of Atlanta, but nothing has been as successful as the battle during the Civil War. The last vestige of which in the mage community was the two Consiliums, but The Reverend saw to the end of that almost twenty years ago.