Crothian
First Post
This is the working history I'm using for an upcoming campaing called "Spook Squad". It is a work in progress and assumes the major events of our history are largely unchanged.
Modern History
There have always been stories of magic, the supernatural, and unexplained events. The Bible and other books of religion seem to be filled with miracles and divine events. There are myths and legends of heroes and gods facing down monsters and all manors of beast. For the longest time most people had no belief in these tall tales and stories. However, that all begin to change in 1856. Luke McKay was fresh out of Yale and exploring the West. He was a writer and had established himself as honest and unbiased with many works on the labor situations, the plight of the blacks and migrant workers, and just recently on the outlaws in the new territories. It was in the small town of Durango, Colorado that this all changed. He was seeing the majestic Rocky Mountains for the first time and came into this town by stagecoach. He stayed at the local Inn and the next morning while enjoying some breakfast was involved in a hold up of the local tavern. Four guys all armed held up the place and demanded to all the money. Another patron stood up, and seemed very unconcerned about the robbers. As they threatened to shot him he spoke some words in a language Luke did not understand, made some weird arm movements, and then tossed some rose petals into the air. All four robbers then fell to the floor completely asleep. The man’s name was Demos Makris, and was a Mage. Luke did a full book on Demos and what he was able to do. The book is called Beyond Science and Man. At the time it was meet with much ridicule and Luke was the laughing stock of his piers. He lived out his life in solitude in the west never writing another book. However, today this is the earliest work detailing magic and it’s capabilities
Now before this book came out there has been magic phenomena that has been detailed in books and other writings. However, this is considered the first to take a scientific approach, even if it is a simplistic one. Not much else was done up until the Industrial Revolution were magic and psionics seemed to be come very common for a while. As people migrated from the farms to the cities it seemed there was almost weekly storied of some type of unusually event. This lasted up until January 14, 1913. That was the day of the Solomon Succession. No is very sure of the motives but a group of mages lead by one Solomon Weller attempted to take control of Southern California and form their own nation. Now, they didn’t just try to remove themselves from the United States as much as they tried to remove Southern California from the United States. There was a long standoff with officials and when they tried to break off Southern California they didn’t succeed but did cause a very nasty earth quake that killed over 50,000 people, destroyed many of the buildings and cities, and injuries and left homeless hundred of thousands. The group was whipped out by their actions and that caused a backlash from the people. Vigilante groups rose forth and killed many people who were thought to use magic or psionics. This lasted until WW1 and then resumed a little during the early 1920’s. However, it was the Depression area that it got really bad.
Things were going bad in the United States and people needed someone to blame. Many of them took their angry, frustration, and hatred out on anyone who was thought to practice arcane arts, have mind powers, or associate with them. Over the next 10 years it is estimated that fifteen thousand people lost their lives. It is unknown how many of them might have actually had supernatural powers. It was like this way until WW2. During that time period the economy improved as the war progressed. There are many stories of Psions and magic using people being used in the war on all sides. The Nazis experimented with them and commented all sort s of experiments on them to figure out the power source. The allies used them as covert ops and spies most of the time but there is some proof on using them as assassins and such. When the war was over there seemed to be an influx in the numbers of these types of people again. Then the McCarthy hunts for communist came about. Many people with unusual powers found themselves being investigated and many disappeared though t to be killed.
Many Psions and magic using people appeared again in the hippy movements. This divided the flower children, as some believed that the unusual powers were not natural. The incident in Akron, Oh was blamed on an unknown Wizard whom the National Guard said was provoking them. This was never confirmed.
In the 1980’s the magical and psionic community become close to public. Many of the rich people employed them and different sorts of high priced magical entertainment was as big as high priced drugs. The government tried a few unsuccessful acts of congress and other ways to regulate magic. But with some in the scientific community still unconvinced as to the realisms of it all, and organizations like the ACLU protecting human rights it never came to pass. There was an agency created called the SIF (Supernatural Investigation Force). It was highly biased towards them, and despite an attempted cover up it seems that their job was the recording of who had certain powers. Many unexplained deaths are blamed on them as well.
During the 1990’s the magic and psionics took a step back as fewer people were coming out and offering their services. Theories abound on the limits and the rarity of the powers. On January 3 of 1992 there was a large standoff between the FBI and the Order of Merlin, a magic using group. Negotiations failed and they let loose an amount of power that devastated some of southern Indiana. Over five thousand people died included many in law enforcement and the entire Order of Merlin. Since that incident the media has really had a large negative bias against anyone with unusual power.
It is now 2003. The media has been blamed for countless deaths of magic and psionic using people as well as many normals. They continue to hide behind the first amendment. Anyone thought to posses powers the media broadcasts and many groups of fearful people are more then willing to take matters in there own hands. The media proclaims these people as heroes and makes it hard for a fair trial to be conducted. The Government is still trying to come up with a peaceful solution. Senator Bradley from Maryland has formed a new type of agency to win back the trust of the magic using society. The agency is called the Paranormal Investigation Agency (PIA) or as it is known in the media, the Spook Squad.
Modern History
There have always been stories of magic, the supernatural, and unexplained events. The Bible and other books of religion seem to be filled with miracles and divine events. There are myths and legends of heroes and gods facing down monsters and all manors of beast. For the longest time most people had no belief in these tall tales and stories. However, that all begin to change in 1856. Luke McKay was fresh out of Yale and exploring the West. He was a writer and had established himself as honest and unbiased with many works on the labor situations, the plight of the blacks and migrant workers, and just recently on the outlaws in the new territories. It was in the small town of Durango, Colorado that this all changed. He was seeing the majestic Rocky Mountains for the first time and came into this town by stagecoach. He stayed at the local Inn and the next morning while enjoying some breakfast was involved in a hold up of the local tavern. Four guys all armed held up the place and demanded to all the money. Another patron stood up, and seemed very unconcerned about the robbers. As they threatened to shot him he spoke some words in a language Luke did not understand, made some weird arm movements, and then tossed some rose petals into the air. All four robbers then fell to the floor completely asleep. The man’s name was Demos Makris, and was a Mage. Luke did a full book on Demos and what he was able to do. The book is called Beyond Science and Man. At the time it was meet with much ridicule and Luke was the laughing stock of his piers. He lived out his life in solitude in the west never writing another book. However, today this is the earliest work detailing magic and it’s capabilities
Now before this book came out there has been magic phenomena that has been detailed in books and other writings. However, this is considered the first to take a scientific approach, even if it is a simplistic one. Not much else was done up until the Industrial Revolution were magic and psionics seemed to be come very common for a while. As people migrated from the farms to the cities it seemed there was almost weekly storied of some type of unusually event. This lasted up until January 14, 1913. That was the day of the Solomon Succession. No is very sure of the motives but a group of mages lead by one Solomon Weller attempted to take control of Southern California and form their own nation. Now, they didn’t just try to remove themselves from the United States as much as they tried to remove Southern California from the United States. There was a long standoff with officials and when they tried to break off Southern California they didn’t succeed but did cause a very nasty earth quake that killed over 50,000 people, destroyed many of the buildings and cities, and injuries and left homeless hundred of thousands. The group was whipped out by their actions and that caused a backlash from the people. Vigilante groups rose forth and killed many people who were thought to use magic or psionics. This lasted until WW1 and then resumed a little during the early 1920’s. However, it was the Depression area that it got really bad.
Things were going bad in the United States and people needed someone to blame. Many of them took their angry, frustration, and hatred out on anyone who was thought to practice arcane arts, have mind powers, or associate with them. Over the next 10 years it is estimated that fifteen thousand people lost their lives. It is unknown how many of them might have actually had supernatural powers. It was like this way until WW2. During that time period the economy improved as the war progressed. There are many stories of Psions and magic using people being used in the war on all sides. The Nazis experimented with them and commented all sort s of experiments on them to figure out the power source. The allies used them as covert ops and spies most of the time but there is some proof on using them as assassins and such. When the war was over there seemed to be an influx in the numbers of these types of people again. Then the McCarthy hunts for communist came about. Many people with unusual powers found themselves being investigated and many disappeared though t to be killed.
Many Psions and magic using people appeared again in the hippy movements. This divided the flower children, as some believed that the unusual powers were not natural. The incident in Akron, Oh was blamed on an unknown Wizard whom the National Guard said was provoking them. This was never confirmed.
In the 1980’s the magical and psionic community become close to public. Many of the rich people employed them and different sorts of high priced magical entertainment was as big as high priced drugs. The government tried a few unsuccessful acts of congress and other ways to regulate magic. But with some in the scientific community still unconvinced as to the realisms of it all, and organizations like the ACLU protecting human rights it never came to pass. There was an agency created called the SIF (Supernatural Investigation Force). It was highly biased towards them, and despite an attempted cover up it seems that their job was the recording of who had certain powers. Many unexplained deaths are blamed on them as well.
During the 1990’s the magic and psionics took a step back as fewer people were coming out and offering their services. Theories abound on the limits and the rarity of the powers. On January 3 of 1992 there was a large standoff between the FBI and the Order of Merlin, a magic using group. Negotiations failed and they let loose an amount of power that devastated some of southern Indiana. Over five thousand people died included many in law enforcement and the entire Order of Merlin. Since that incident the media has really had a large negative bias against anyone with unusual power.
It is now 2003. The media has been blamed for countless deaths of magic and psionic using people as well as many normals. They continue to hide behind the first amendment. Anyone thought to posses powers the media broadcasts and many groups of fearful people are more then willing to take matters in there own hands. The media proclaims these people as heroes and makes it hard for a fair trial to be conducted. The Government is still trying to come up with a peaceful solution. Senator Bradley from Maryland has formed a new type of agency to win back the trust of the magic using society. The agency is called the Paranormal Investigation Agency (PIA) or as it is known in the media, the Spook Squad.
