OTHERS

WEREWOLVES IN LONDON

"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand,
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain,
He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's,
Gonna get himself a big dish of beef chow mein"
     Warren Zevon - "Werewolves of London"

     There have not been Werewolves in London in significant numbers for
centuries: Even the Glass Walkers and the Bone Gnawers found the place
utterly stifling, and such was the grip on the city by the Kindred and
Mages, even the urban Tribes were unsafe.
     The Great Assault, early last century did not help: the Garou assaulted
London in great force, hoping to destroy most of the Kindred and reverse the
effects of the Industrial Revolution. Many Kindred were killed, but even
more Garou died, and the assault was ultimately unsuccessful and
counterproductive. The Kindred simply became ever more watchful, making it
even harder for a Garou to survive on the streets of the capital. The Garou
largely ignored London for the next 150 odd years, until the arrival of one
singular member of their race.
     Alexander Truefang is a Shadow Lord. Somewhat over twenty years ago, he
was driven out of his sept, and his Tribe, for his refusal to play by the
Shadow Lords' normal treacherous rules. Truefang eventually wandered into the
reforested areas to the southwest of London, where he began his lonely task
of protecting what were the nearest thing to wild spaces near London.
Truefang noticed that London was cleaner than it had been when he had
visited it as a child, and that it was getting cleaner still. Truefang
watched, and wondered why this was, knowing that the Kindred controlled the
city so tightly. Eventually, he concluded that for whatever reason, the
Kindred were cleaning up the city. Truefang continued to watch, and guarded
ever larger clean spaces, running himself ragged to do so.
     Then five or so years after his lone vigil started, he was joined by
another Garou: this one, a disinherited Silver Fang, eagerly joined in
Truefang's quest. Since then, Truefang has built up a small pack of Garou. All
the members were like him: outcasts, misfits or loners that mainstream Garou
society spurned - often harshly. However, the companionship of the pack, and
a task that no one could take away from them moulded these outsiders into a
group with strong ties and loyalty. They continued their watch, scaring off
or killing those who threatened the woods or the nearby residents. Some of
the pack even began to creep into the centre of London.
     Eventually, the pack adopted a name: the Monitors.
     Llywellyn soon became aware of the Monitors, but decided to leave them
alone, and certainly not to antagonise them: if nothing else, he thought,
they might act as a buffer against other, more hostile Garou.
     The great turning point came around three years ago. A Silent Strider,
Jayne O'Halloran, was prowling the streets of Soho, investigating a rumour of
the presence of Black Spiral Dancers. O'Halloran found the Black Spirals, and
was quickly worsted in a fight. It is likely that she would have died there
and then but for the chance arrival of the Gangrel vampire John Jennings.
O'Halloran and Jennings killed the three Black Spirals, and from this chance
meeting a number of things grew up. It transpired that the Camarilla was
hunting the perpetrators of several pollution incidents on the Thames, and a
traitor in their midst. Several weeks of ineffective searching had lead them
nowhere, but Jennings and O'Halloran quickly grasped the possibility of a
link between these incidents and the Black Spirals' appearance.
The Monitors and Llywellyn's Fixers, acting in concert, traced the Black
Spirals' Hive, the source of the pollution and the traitor. All three met
bad ends, forming the basis of an alliance between the Kindred and the
Monitors to meet a common enemy: Pentex. Pentex had been behind the
pollution, and the Camarilla of London now knew of this insidious foe. As
Truefang said to Llywellyn:
     "War makes for strange bedfellows."
     Neither side fully trusts the other. The Garou still see the Kindred as
potential enemies, and the Camarilla remember Garou raids and watch them
closely, but neither side openly hunts the other, both sides acknowledge the
other's territory, and Llywellyn has stated that if Truefang disappears or
has an accident, them anyone involved in such a thing will also suffer an
accident. A fatal one.
     O'Halloran and Jennings remained friends and have now become lovers,
something that shocks both Garou and Kindred. The two have learned a great
deal about each other's people, making them ideal ambassadors.
     Llywellyn has allowed Truefang to search in certain areas near the
Thames. There has long been a rumour that there is a hidden Caern somewhere
along the Thames, that the Tremere have never been able to find. Knowledgeable
Kindred speculate that Truefang is searching for it, to use it as a base for
a stronger Garou presence. The effect of this on the fragile peace is debatable.

MAGES IN LONDON
     If the Garou are starting to exert more influence in London, then the
same is true of the Mages. The difference is that while the Garou are coming
to an accommodation with the Kindred to keep London safe and healthy, the
Mages are not.
     The Mages are the greatest threat to the Kindred dominance of London -
and both sides know it. If it came down to a stand-up fight between the two
sides, no-one would bet on a winner. The likelihood is that both sides would
end up so chewed up by the experience that some other faction could come in,
sweep up the remnants of both sides, and take over in their place. So, for
now, both sides wait, and watch, and stay out of each other's way.
The Mages in London are divided into three main groups: The Technomancers,
The Sons of the Ether and Virtual Adepts, and the Celestial Chorus and Order
of Hermes.

The Technomancers
     Found mainly in private company laboratories, the Technomancers in London
are dominated by Iteration X and the Progenitors. New World Order has a few
people, worryingly inside several of the political parties' central offices,
but they achieve little in the face of ongoing competition from the Kindred
for the chance to jerk politicians' strings. The Syndicate is thought to be
inactive in London. It's last attempt to manipulate the stock market and
business in London resulted in the deaths of the entire Cabal involved. The
rest of the Technomancers suspect that the Syndicate cut its losses at this
point, but as the Technomancers themselves say, who knows with the Syndicate?
The Void Engineers are not currently active in London. Instead, they have
moved to the Rutherford-Appleton laboratories, to Cambridge, to work under
the famous Professor Hawking, or to the Radio Astronomy Centre in Cheshire.
The London Technomancers keep in contact with their brethren outside London,
but consider themselves to be on a different path.
     The Technomancer organisational structure in London is unusual. Most of
the Technomancers work in small Cabals of two or three Mages, no more, all of
whom meet and discuss their work regularly. There is no true hierarchy among
them, and prestige or rank are granted solely on the basis of magickal power
and scientific excellence.
     London's Technomancers believe that they have a mission: the Ascension of
the common people. They look now and see how the Machine Age and the first
flush of the Computer Age have not freed the common people but have merely
bound them in different chains. Both Iteration X and the Progenitors believe
that it is incumbent upon them to free the people from these chains. All the
problems of work and decision making will be lifted from the population, all
of whom will then live their lives in contentment. These Technomancers
consider that a Big Brother approach is necessary, since would people fear
the changes they suggest, and would react poorly to them initially. But, the
Technomancers say, Big Brother is benevolent, ultimately

The Sons of the Ether and Virtual Adepts
     The Sons of the Ether and Virtual Adepts have long buried themselves in
the major university science and computing departments, busying themselves
with a grand plan toward general Ascension.
     The Sons and Adepts see the route to general Ascension via general
enlightenment. To this end, they are powerfully active in the moves to
popularise science and technology, and to make computers generally
available. All members are passionate champions of the Internet, where they
feel that the greatest amount of information can be spread around the
greatest number of people in the shortest possible time. Among their ongoing
research projects are many that are designed to massively increase Internet
bandwidth, with all the possibilities that allows.
     The Sons and Adepts keep open lines of communication with the Void
Engineers in Cambridge, in whom they see kindred spirits. Both sides of this
unusual arrangement feel that in the face of the dogma of modern politics and
religion, a little cautious ecumenism is a very good thing.
     The Sons and Adepts have organised themselves into "Departments" as they
term their Cabals, with a fluid but well-defined structure. These are Cabals
are larger than those of the Technomancers, but are fewer in number. There
are regular "Interdepartmental meetings" at which work is presented and
discussed, new projects are launched, and (usually) a good time is had by all.

The Celestial Chorus and Order of Hermes

"Just 'cause I'm the bad guy don't mean I'm gonna lose them all."
     The Dogs D'Amour-"Errol Flynn"

     Neither of the two groups above realises the threat that the third,
largest, Mage group in London poses. If they did, it is likely that both
Conventions and Traditions would abandon their differences in position, and
band together in the name of simple survival.
     The Celestial Chorus and the Order of Hermes are uneasy bedfellows in
their efforts to become the sole, single magickal group in London. The order
of the names is important: although the Order of Hermes has many powerful
members, its position is distinctly subservient to that of the Chorus. Some
among the Order rail against this , but few do so for long: one thing that
the Chorus will not tolerate is dissent, or what it terms "heresy" - any
disagreement of deviation from Chorus writ and dogma.
     The Celestial Chorus' domination of the Mages of London goes back to the
beginning of the Christian era. The Chorus was finally in a position to put
its points across publicly, and expect them to be heard. The success of
Christianity ran away with the Chorus: after first victimising the
Unawakened who did not toe their line, they next started on the Mages of the
other Traditions: predictably the Verbena, the Euthanatos and the
Dreamspeakers suffered first, but the Chorus cast its net ever wider, and
demanded obedience from all of the Traditions: obedience, or death. The
Order of Hermes was the Chorus's staunchest foe, and for centuries fought
back against the Chorus. The final reckoning came during the early years of
the Protestant Reformation, when religious intolerance reached a high point.
The Chorus broke the back of the Order in a great battle. Of those who did
not die, some fled, but most of the surviving Hermetics were forced to
surrender the freedom of their Tradition to the Chorus. They were allowed to
live, and to practice magick, but they were forced to acknowledge the
superiority of the Chorus, and to swear obedience to it. To this day the
Hermetics live as near slaves to the Chorus, performing magick the Chorus
thinks demeaning unsuitable for those with "pure souls".
     The Chorus has a vast array of magickal treasures, and numerous powerful
Nodes, hidden in places like Southwark Cathedral, the Temple Church and
under the Tower of London. The Chorus controls a huge area of London along
the Thames, and keeps out any and all Awakened intruders. Vampires who stray
into that area most often do not return, for the Chorus considers them to be
the enemies of God. The Chorus reserves a special hatred for the Tremere,
who have plundered the great Node that once existed under Westminster Abbey.
No Garou has gone into that area in centuries, and Truefang has no intention
of risking any of his folk in a pointless reconnaissance. As for other users
of magick, the Chorus feels close to the old Biblical notion that "you shall
not suffer a witch to live", and has killed or driven off all those members
of other Traditions or Conventions it can find. It is only the deep secrecy
of the other groups of Mages in London that has saved them.
     At the moment, the Chorus is not planning an open war with the Kindred.
Still it is not above sending out "hunting parties" simply to discover how
alert the Kindred are. The Chorus are content to wait.
     Finally, there are a few independent Mages. Some are old, paranoid and
secretive, doing who knows what experiments in their old houses, but at
least two, a Catholic nun and a Muslim Imam, wander the streets, ministering
to the poor and disenfranchised. The Chorus would dearly like them out of
the way. The Chorus sees the street people as an impediment to their plans
to fill the city with the light of God, as well as a resource to be abused
as they see fit.

THE LONDON NECROPOLIS
     London has existed for nearly two thousand years. In that time, the city
has been racked by countless wars, plagues, famines and fires, and, not
surprisingly, London is awash with the Restless.
     To fully and accurately describe the Necropolis of London would be an
epic in itself, and is far beyond the scope of this work. However, a brief
overview and gazetteer will help to give a little substance to it.
As might be expected in a city which has been a hub to one of the world's
greatest empires, and has been the seat of kings for centuries, London's
Necropolis is full of wraiths who spent their lives in service of a greater
whole. Thus, the Hierarchy has a strong grip on London. The Regent is a
tough, strict old body who stands no infringement of her laws and dictums.
Or so it always was.
     London has always been a hub of trade: whether it was slaves and cotton,
or iron and coal, or finance and insurance, London has always thrived on
trade. The Necropolis is no different. London's Necropolis has vast slave
markets, where defaulters or those who oppose the Regent end up. It also has
mighty furnaces and forges, where many souls end their existence smelted down
to Oboli or trade goods. This trade has made London powerful, a fact that the
Regent is not unaware of. She has begun to court various different
Deathlords, playing them off, one on another, to gain the greatest power and
prestige for her own Necropolis. Unfortunately, this has brought London into
the Deathlords' own private contests, and the Regent of London is forced to
use an ever greater proportion of her power and resources on defending her
Necropolis, at a cost to the internal policing of her city.
     All of which helps the other factions. Heretics have always been
numerous. Countless different sects have passed through the living world of
London, and so souls with all kinds of ideas about death have passed through
her Shadowlands. Many are persecuted, but many more survive, and small,
chaotic groups abound, each convinced that it alone knows the truth, all
clamouring for the souls of those who feel lost in death.
     The Renegades are different. all of Britain has a strong tradition of
rebellion against tyranny, and the Necropolis contains many such worthies.
With the weakening of the Regent's hold on the city, the Renegades numbers
wax greater. They are organised into powerful, often mutually supporting
groups, even though their overall aims may be different. Some merely want
self-determination, other want a reconciliation with the Hierarchy, and the
Hierarchy back to how it once (supposedly). Others want to destroy any form
of organised government in the Shadowlands. If the Renegades manage to
topple the Regent, it will interesting to see how long the different
Renegade groups will support each other, before they too succumb to the lure
of power.

Haunts
     Haunts abound in London. Typical places include: plague pits, the sites
of bombed-out streets destroyed in the last war, burned-out nightclubs were
the revellers died trapped. One very large haunt is the area of Whitechapel
where the Jack the Ripper murders took place in the last century. Whole
streets still feel the chill of those events.
     One other place of interest is in London's Chinatown, where there is what
is called "The Residence of His Excellency the Chief Representative of The
Jade Emperor". This worthy is a high-ranking wraith from the Jade emperor's
court, who resides in London's Necropolis, providing a route into the
Chinese Shadowlands for those souls who wish to move to a more familiar
afterlife. If this seems cynical, compare it with the pain and anguish felt
by people from the large African and Indian populations of London, who, on
their deaths, find themselves trapped in an afterlife that their living
culture gave them no preparation for. Many of these souls go mad, or are
taken by slavers, feeding London's great forges.

THE CHANGELINGS OF LONDON
     The presence of any Changelings, let alone a significant number, is at
first glance surprising. London is dirty, stifling and downright dangerous.
But, London is also full of artists, dreamers and poets. Whether they are
painters exhibiting at the Royal Academy, dancers at any of the many ballet
school, or punk poets writing vitriolic verse in damp bedsits, they are all
artists. With their attendant muses.
     The Changelings cultivate and protect these assets, and thus occasionally
come into conflict with the Toreador. Usually the Toreador leave in a fit of
pique, unable to imagine why anyone has rejected them, but a few among the
Clan do sense that they have rivals in the city. The Changelings have no
formal organisation, no court or parliament. They simply all get on with
their lives, hoping in the spin and swirl of the city to avoid the dread
banality.
     Freeholds are often transitory, but numerous. The Balefire in many of the
Freeholds in London burns brightly, but fast. However, there are some few
Freeholds that have survived and are well-known.
     One is an Irish bar in the Kilburn area, always buzzing with life. Bands
play, customers eat good old fashioned "beer soaking" food, swill lakes of
ale and roar along with the folk songs the bands play. The three proprietors
are a testy Boggan Grump, who cooks food and cleans the table, hurling dire
threats at people who put out cigarettes on the floor, a huge, gentle Troll
Childing who gently but firmly keeps order, giving miscreants one warning
before flinging them halfway to Westminster, and a cynical Sidhe Wilding,
reputed to be an outcast from House Eiluned, who dispenses beer and wisdom
to an audience of spellbound drinkers from behind the brass-topped bar.
Another is a small, dirty-looking toyshop in Bethnal Green. A Knocker Grump
maintains it, filling it with beautiful, traditional toys, many of which
contain a touch of Glamour, and fill the lives of the children given them
with wonder. Parents who buy things from the shop wonder at realms of
imagination their children enter with the wooden trains, boats and dolls.
The older Knocker will also repair almost anything, and delights in the
smiles on the faces of children who see favourite toys repaired when they
thought them broken forever.
     Woody Towen is another, nearly-legendary Freehold. Woody Towen is an
entire area of London several streets across. Or at least that's the story.
People tell stories of finding their way into Woody Towen by accident, after
taking a wrong turning, or simply by getting lost. They speak of endless
revelry and glee, of shops and bars that stay open all day and all night, of
beautiful people whose lives seem endless parties. But they can never find
their way back to Woody Towen. And whilst all the visitors describe it the
same way, no two of them put it in the same part of London.

OTHERS
     Immortals: London has many attractions for Immortals: its very age makes
it a place in which someone who is ancient can feel some kind of security.
There are a great many places in London where an Immortal might look for
information that he or she needs. Many of the museums have fine collections
of edged weapons and the curators and restorers might well be able to guide
an Immortal to a blade maker who has real skill. At the moment there are
known to be two Immortals in London. One lives in retirement, in a church in
south London. He is willing to help other, younger Immortals, so that at
least they have some idea of what they are, and of their powers and
destinies. The other is said to be searching for something, although she
will not divulge what.
     Hunters: Hunters come and go, and in general go away disappointed.
Regardless of which of the Awakened they hunt, most hunters find that the
Awakened of London are very safety-concious. Few truly dangerous hunters
have ever found anything, as the Awakened have their eyes and ears open, and
when hunters come around, the Awakened shut up shop. Most stupid or ill
prepared hunters who come to London die ignorant. This does not stop hunters
of all stripes from all over the world coming to London in search of their
prey. Church-based groups, scientists, or simply those with a thirst to kill
what is "unnatural" all come to London, but not one of them has caused a
serious incident this century. Until now. Recent incidents where open
warfare has occurred between different Awakened groups has stretched the
Masquerade and the analogous codes very thin. In one case, a vampire hunter
almost succeeded in capturing a live vampire, and was about to package him
up to be sent to Rome when he was stopped. That hunter was found dead of a
drug overdose, after being implicated in a child abuse scandal, but this
situation can only become more dangerous, and the Prince is insisting upon
strict adherence to the Masquerade, in both letter and spirit.
     The Arcanum. The Arcanum regards London as its spiritual home, and cannot
resist the temptation to investigate its secrets. The Kindred and the Fae
keep well away from the Arcanum, realising that any knowledge they collect
might be harmless in their hands, but that if it falls into the hands of
other groups, it could literally be life threatening. The Celestial Chorus
has begun a campaign to eliminate the "threat" of the Arcanum, for the
Chorus do not feel that such knowledge is fit for any but themselves.
     Mummies, Gypsies and the like are rare at best. A continual rumour of the
presence of a Mummy has disturbed the Kindred for the last  two hundred
years. Even after all that time, they still know no more. The Gypsies come
and go as they please, for their own reasons. In general, they ignore the
Awakened, and the Awakened are more than happy to do the same to them.

QUOTES
     The following are quotes from members of each of the Camarilla clans
about London, and how it feels to both them and the rest of their clan
     "Ain't no town like it for fights-not even Saigon or New York" Finn,
Brujah head-kicker
     "This town invites in all, and takes in all that come. She also keeps her
share of them herself. London is too old to be truly safe, but she's home."
Jennings, Gangrel philosopher
     "Just like me: changing all the time, but always the same old face"
Derren, Malkavian street entertainer
     "London? Hell, Ah love it! Them sewers go on fo'ever, the nightlife's
always cookin' and the people are the sweetest-tastin' yet!" Penelli,
Nosferatu playboy
     "London brings out the artist in us all. So many great authors have done
their best work here: Dickens, Marlowe, Johnson-and I." Tremayne, Toreador
media personality
     "Few cities offer us more. London's very age, her size and her secrets
all make her an ideal home for us." Peterson, Tremere researcher
     "New York, Hong Kong or even Zurich are nothing compared to London. This
is the heart of the world's commerce. From here there is no-one and nothing we
cannot influence." FitzGerald, Ventrue power player