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The History of the Fifth World
HISTORY LESSONS
SOME NOTES ON THE WORLD OF WAKING THE DEAD 2.0, AMONG OTHER THINGS
This is a timeline that covers the years between the end of Waking the Dead 1.0 and Waking the Dead 2.0, and a few relevant events from the first campaign. Expect additions in the future.
THE YEARS 1999 TO 2012: THE DECADE (AND THEN SOME) OF GIFTS
Psychics and other sensitives have, since 1999, constantly told anyone who would listen that “awakenings” were on the rise – that is, more and more mortals were realizing their real potential as supernatural beings, or being turned over, occasionally against their will, to the World of Darkness. Let it be known that Hunters – mortals who, after getting a taste of what lay beyond the Veil, decided to fight – have always attempted, as best as they can, to prevent the rest of the world from knowing the truth. Furthermore, many supernatural communities were fully aware of the dangers that would come from a full exposure of their activities, and have attempted to police themselves. What set the period of 1999 to 2012 apart was the fact that there were far too many awakenings and turnings for the respective efforts of the Keepers of the Vigil and supernatural communities to hide.
By 2012, members of some of the less radical conspiracies – namely the Methuselah, Zangyaku and Network Zero – began to debate among themselves. Many began to wonder if the sharp increase in awakenings and their subsequent containment problem was some sort of sign; perhaps it was time to be rid of the Veil, and lead the world into a new chapter of its history. These people were, however, a noisy minority, and the leaders of these conspiracies remained silent on the matter.
By 2012, members of some of the less radical conspiracies – namely the Methuselah, Zangyaku and Network Zero – began to debate among themselves. Many began to wonder if the sharp increase in awakenings and their subsequent containment problem was some sort of sign; perhaps it was time to be rid of the Veil, and lead the world into a new chapter of its history. These people were, however, a noisy minority, and the leaders of these conspiracies remained silent on the matter.
AUGUST 2012 • AUGUST 17, 2012: COMMITTEE CONVERGENCE NO. 5,236 • AUGUST 18, 2012: THE TREE AND THE DRAGON • AUGUST 19, 2012: THE RISE OF NETSACH • AUGUST 24, 2012: DEATH’S AWAKENING • AUGUST 25, 2012: NETSACH-ZANGYAKU JOINT OPERATION 001, HOKKAIDO OCTOBER 2012-JANUARY 2013 • OCTOBER 1 TO NOVEMBER 30, 2012: THE ILUMINATI & THE LUMINOUS APOCRYPHA • NOVEMBER 30, 2012: THE FIRST SUMMIT AT FALNER ESTATE • DECEMBER 2-3, 2012: OPERATION NYX • DECEMBER 5, 2012: THE END OF THE AGE OF THE DRAGON • DECEMBER 7, 2012: THE SECOND SUMMIT AT FALNER ESTATE • DECEMBER 21, 2012: THE DEATH NOT OF THE WORLD, BUT OF IGNORANCE • DECEMBER 22 TO DECEMBER 31, 2012: THE BREAKING OF THE VEIL • JANUARY 1 TO JANUARY 7, 2013: PAX DEORUM MEETING 001, THE PHILIPPINE SUMMIT |
THE YEARS 2013 TO 2022: THE FIRST REFORMS
The next decade was perhaps one of the busiest periods in Earth’s history. It is best characterized by four movements initiated by Pax Deorum: the One Earth Policy, the Tabula Rasa Reforms, the Pigafetta Expeditions, and the Gemeinschaftsgefuhl Program. The gist of all four has been listed below, for reference.
THE FIRST REFORMS • THE ONE EARTH POLICY • THE TABULA RASA REFORMS • THE PIGAFETTA EXPEDITIONS • THE GEMEINSCHAFTSGEFUHL PROGRAM • THE SHIELD INITIATIVE • THE NEW DAWN OF THE METHUSELAH |
DECEMBER 22, 2022: PAX DEORUM FIFTH CHAPTER SUMMIT OF 2022
Between the years 2020 and 2022, Pax Deorum saw the largest breakdowns in command and in policy. World support of their actions had dwindled to an all-time low, and violence from all camps – supernatural against supernatural, human against human, human against supernatural – was reaching its peak. As such, an emergency meeting between the members of Pax Deorum was called at Blaece, the first Fifth Chapter Summit in his history: the congregation was only scheduled to meet four times every twelve months, to match the respective four quarters of a year.
The meeting melted down with alarming speed, in spite of Netsach and Zangyaku’s efforts to control the situation. The leaders of both conspiracies together with their allies then looked on, in horror, as the United Nations voted in favor of removing supernatural and conspiracy representatives from the congregation. Then, after the “restoration” of the United Nations “in light of greater human interests”, UN leaders were then forced to declare the allegiance of their countries: they needed to specify whether they were anti-supernatural, pro-supernatural, or neutral. An astounding majority declared, that day, that they were anti-supernatural. This naturally angered the representatives of the supernatural political groups that were still in the room, and caused a mass walkout. Once they were gone, the United Nations requested that the leaders of the conspiracies leave, so that they might be left to discuss “human matters” properly without any “interference”.
THE DARKEST VIGIL (2022-2060)
The Darkest Vigil, as it is now called in Waking the Dead’s history books, was not one single event, but several that espoused many other conflicts, which, in turn, caused several more, in a completely destructive domino effect. As it is impossible to list down everything that occurred within this fifty year period, a chronology of the more “significant” events has been outlined below.
THE ONSET OF THE WAR • DECEMBER 24-30, 2022: THE BLACK CHRISTMAS • THE YEARS 2022 TO 2042: THE PHOENIX WAR • JANUARY 5, 2023: THE LOCKDOWN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN BORDER • JANUARY 7-14, 2023: YGGDRASIL’S ROOTS • JUNE 27, 2023: THE ASSASSINATION OF THE DALAI LAMA • JUNE 28 TO JULY 3, 2023: THE CHINA-TIBET WAR • FEBRUARY 8, 2024: TIANANMEN SQUARE II THE BIG DARKNESS • FEBRUARY 9 TO 28, 2024: THE SECOND SINO-JAPANESE WAR • MARCH 15, 2027: THE IDES OF MARCH • THE YEARS 2028 TO 2030: THE WAR BETWEEN CHINA AND TAIWAN • THE YEARS 2032 TO 2035: THE SECOND INDO-PAKISTAN WAR • THE YEARS 2035 TO 2060: THE HOURS OF GRENDAL • SEPTEMBER 13, 2042: THE RISE OF THE NEW AEGIS KAI DORU • AUGUST 15, 2051 TO AUGUST 15, 2053: THE SECOND KOREAN WAR THE END OF THE WAR • OCTOBER 17, 2059: PAX DEORUM FOURTH QUARTER SUMMIT OF 2059 • OCTOBER 31, 2059 TO FEBRUARY 12, 2060: OPERATION NAUTICAL DAWN • FEBRUARY 14, 2060: THE ARMISTICE AT BLAECE • FEBRUARY 15, 2060 |
2060-2063: THREE YEARS LATER…
New world orders were established the moment the dust settled, all in the hopes of getting everyone back on their feet. The Methuselah effectively became the “United Nations” of the supernatural community, and positioned itself in solidarity with the United Nations of the mundane community. Everyone, mundane and supernatural alike, had learned some hard lessons from the Darkest Vigil. No single group could say that they were blameless, that they had not suffered their own losses, their own tragedies…
…Nevertheless, the ghosts of war don’t rest easily, and hard decisions made in order to solve an immediate problem don’t always hold well, nor do they always turn out to be the right ones in the end. Tensions still run high, both between individuals and between countries. Many mundanes still view supernaturals with fear and suspicion; some of them use this to fuel their actions, small or otherwise, against the supernatural community as a whole. Many supernaturals, on the other hand, feel that “those fucking Deadwalkers” don’t deserve to live after everything that they’ve done – some even believe themselves to be better than the mundanes, because of the abilities they have at their disposal.
Just about everyone was tired of war by this point, and scared of what might happen if something like the Darkest Vigil were to occur again. But that didn’t stopping certain interest groups from trying to rile things up again, for better or for worse.
MARCH 2063-JUNE 2064: THE SECOND RISE OF GRENDAL
This is a timeline made for the purposes of the Waking the Dead universe established in Welcome to the New Age, the online version of the Waking the Dead campaign.
PUT ON YOUR WAR PAINT • MARCH 13, 2063: GRADUATION DAY, BALAMB BATCH 2063 • MARCH 18-19, 2063: AN INTERESTING FLIGHT TO FALNER • MARCH 22, 2063: THE BEGINNINGS OF A BLADE • MARCH 30, 2063: THE FOURTH? • APRIL 1, 2063: NSC-FAL-206304-001 ENGAGEMENT 001 – “HAWKE’S NEST” • APRIL 2, 2063: NSC-FAL-206304-001 ENGAGEMENT 002 – “BLACKOUT” • APRIL 3, 2063: THE DAYWALKER’S RETURN • APRIL 4-5, 2063: WAR HOUNDS ENGAGEMENT 003 – “THE GREEN” • APRIL 6, 2063: FROSTRIVER VISITS THE FALNER ESTATE • APRIL 7, 2063: INQUISITOR LINCOLN HAWKE RETURNS • APRIL 8, 2063: ENGAGEMENT PDVGL-20630408-001: “OPERATION BIG TRACKS” • APRIL 12, 2063: SETSUNA SHINTA’S SECOND RETURN • APRIL 19, 2063: THE VIGIL GOES TO WAR AGAINST TASKFORCE VALKYRIE • MAY 4, 2063: THE LIVING LAND IS CHALLENGED • MAY 13, 2063: THE ASSASSIN RETURNS TO THE SEARING WIND • MAY 31, 2063 TO JUNE 1, 2063: BROTHER DEATH’S FIRST “SHIFT” • JUNE 4, 2063: JESSIAH VICE’S SURVEY BRING HOME THE BOYS, PART 1 • JUNE 12, 2063: THE UNVEILING OF ARCIS • JUNE 17, 2063: THE WINGS OF THERION RETURN TO FALNER • JUNE 25, 2063: PAX DEORUM SUMMIT 2063-001 & OPERATION HECATON • JUNE 27, 2063: KARLO ANTONIO ZOBEL DE AYALA’S INITIATION • JUNE 29, 2063: ENEMIES WITHIN • JULY 4 TO JULY 9, 2063: OPERATION HECATON PHASE 001 • JULY 4 TO JULY 12 2063: ENGAGEMENT PDVGL-20630704-001, “OPERATION GOD SAVE THE KING” • JULY 16, 2063: JESSIAH VICE’S DEBRIEFING ON THE OTHER WORLD • JULY 22, 2063: THE ANGEL LANDS BRING HOME THE BOYS, PART 2 • JULY 27, 2063: OPERATION HECATON PHASE 002, “SHUTDOWN” • AUGUST 1 TO AUGUST 5 2063: OPERATION HECATON PHASE 003, “BRIDGES” • AUGUST 9, 2063: KARMIC RETRIBUTION STARTS SLOW • AUGUST 12, 2063: THE INITIAL APPEARANCE OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE • AUGUST 19, 2063: THE FIRST JLA-MALICE KINGS SUMMIT & WAR HOUNDS ENGAGEMENT 004, “RED MARK” • AUGUST 20, 2063: DEATH’S SECOND “SHIFT” • AUGUST 21, 2063 TO AUGUST 22, 2063: WAR HOUNDS ENGAGEMENT 005, “STILL WATER” • AUGUST 22, 2063 TO AUGUST 24, 2063: ANGELS UP ON HIGH • AUGUST 25, 2063: BROTHER DEATH’S HOUR • AUGUST 27, 2063: AMADEUS’ REAWAKENING THE DARK IS COMING • AUGUST 28, 2063: THE VIGIL LIGHTS ANOTHER CANDLE • AUGUST 28, 2063: THE RITE OF THE WOLF • AUGUST 28, 2063 TO SEPTEMBER 2, 2063: OPERATION NYX II • SEPTEMBER 3, 2063: OPERATION HECATON FINAL PHASE “MARCO POLO” • SEPTEMBER 10, 2063: A NOT-SO-NEW TREND IN AWAKENINGS • SEPTEMBER 14, 2063: PDZAN2063-1409001: OPERATION STEELSINGER • SEPTEMBER 19, 2063 TO OCTOBER 2, 2063: PDVGL2063-1909001: THE SOUTH AMERICA INITIATIVE • SEPTEMBER 23, 2063: THE FIFTH WORLD ESTABLISHES OFFICIAL TIES WITH TERRA • OCTOBER 10, 2063 TO OCTOBER 23, 2063: WAR HOUNDS ENGAGEMENT 006, “ELA” • OCTOBER 24, 2063 TO OCTOBER 30, 2063: WAR HOUNDS ENGAGEMENT 007, “THIRTEEN TALENTS” • NOVEMBER 2, 2063 TO DECEMBER 4, 2063: PDZAN2063-0211001, THE ARCADIA INITIATIVE (ACTUAL TIME PERIOD: APPROXIMATELY ONE ARCADIAN YEAR) • DECEMBER 7, 2063 TO DECEMBER 23, 2063: PDVGL2063-0712005, “CELESTIAL LADDER” THE WITCHING HOURS • DECEMBER 2063 TO FEBRUARY 2064: ANOTHER APOCALYPSE? • FEBRUARY 14 TO FEBRUARY 16, 2064: THE ARMISTICE TRAGEDY • FEBRUARY 18, 2064: PAX DEORUM EMERGENCY SUMMIT 002 • FEBRUARY 19, 2064 TO MAY 13, 2064: PDVGL2064-0219001, “ZHONG YUAN JIE” • MAY 14, 2064 TO MAY 29, 2064: PDVGL2064-0514001, “IN UMBRA, IGITUR, PUGNABIMUS” • MAY 31, 2063 TO JUNE 6, 2064: PDVGL2064-0531001, “GEHENNA BOUND” • JUNE 12, 2064: THE OPENING OF ARCIS FORTRESS CITY |
THERE'S NO PATH TO FOLLOW
BATTLESCARRED CONQUISTADORS • JUNE 13, 2064 TO PRESENT: THE SECOND REFORMS • JUNE 15, 2064: THE BLADE KING RETURNS TO THE CYCLE • JULY 4, 2064: GETTYSBERG ACADEMY OPENS • OCTOBER 14, 2064: STORMWATCH EXPEDITION 001, “THE COLUMBUS EXPEDITION” • JANUARY 20, 2065: THE WORLD WELCOMES A NEW REAPER • FEBRUARY 20, 2066: BREAKING THE BACK OF THE TAINT • FEBRUARY 21, 2066 TO THE PRESENT |
no subject
After a 12-hour meeting behind closed doors, the Wiseman’s Committee of the Methuselah ruled 29 to 3 in favor of destroying three of the four cages that contained fragments of Hikaru Shinta’s soul. The only two people who defied the decision were Aidan Clayce, Riley Falner, and Maeniel Gemini.
Hikaru was once called the Weapon of the Methuselah. He was the result of an experiment conducted by the conspiracy centuries ago, involving the slaying of a god and a complicated ritual that would transfer the essence of the slain entity into a single, human vessel. Previous events during that year had made the Methuselah, as a whole, incredibly wary of the Blade King. Many believed that he was a very real manifestation of the Darkness that they sought to control, and, at times, destroy with impunity. The clincher, records say, was the Methuselah’s joint operation with Zangyaku on August 10, which involved the retrieval of kidnapped agents and civilians from a stronghold of the Morningstar Corporation. Hikaru’s actions during the operation had revealed just the beginning of the power he now had at his disposal, and it had been more than enough to make many within the Methuselah question his existence.
Aidan and Riley both spoke out against the Committee’s verdict. They reminded the Wisemen of the real purpose of the Methuselah – preserving the Balance, and keeping the Vigil – and stressed that the conspiracy had no real reason to doubt Hikaru. The pair had hoped that the Committee would respect their word, given the fact that they were the original founders of the Methuselah itself. However, their statements were acknowledged, and the Wiseman’s Committee agreed to adjourn the meeting and discuss the issue again at a later date.
Later that evening, after Aidan and Riley had returned to the Philippines, Inquisitor Maeniel Gemini was divested of his position on the Wiseman’s Committee through a vote of no confidence. Inquisitor Harume Morimoto became his replacement. Aidan and Riley were not informed of both decisions.
The 30 other members of the Wiseman’s Committee converged in secret, and voted on the same issue that they had had on the previous day. The final ruling was 30 in favor of destroying the soul cages, with two no-shows. The two no-shows were actually Aidan and Riley, who were, once again, not informed of what was happening in the Omphalos.
The Committee destroyed the soul cages at exactly 3:30 PM. This resulted in a full collapse on Hikaru’s part, causing a massive explosion at Kibo, a Zangyaku powerbase in the Philippines. Aidan immediately returned to the Omphalos in order to confront the Committee, leaving Anino – the Methuselah’s power base in the Philippines – to aid Zangyaku with the recovery of their leader.
Aidan returned to the Philippines in the evening. At 11 PM, he gathered the entirety of Anino together in order to make two announcements: his resignation from the Methuselah, and his creation of Netsach, a new conspiracy that sought to defy the corrupted shell that the Methuselah had become. 45% of Anino’s operatives joined him on the spot.
The new members of Netsach officially broke away from Anino, and transferred to the Falner Estate together with the loved ones of many of their operatives. Inquisitors Riley Falner, Alistair Mordechai, Calintz Duskrider, Liandrin Delacroix, Rethe Kyriff and Lorenzo Reyes – six of the ten members of Aidan’s original Methuselah Blade, the Malice Kings – were named as members of the commanding body of the conspiracy. The group voted in favor of including Inquisitor Hikaru Shinta in their number. They also welcomed a new member into their circle: Inquisitor Jessiah Vice, CEO of Vice Enterprises. Inquisitor Rilea Heartnet was absent.
Over the course of the next few days, Netsach’s numbers continued to grow: a very real testament to the Methuselah’s wrongdoings, and the massive support that Aidan had always had since he became a Keeper of the Vigil. It should be noted that during this period, Inquisitor Heartnet renounced her position in the Methuselah, and rejoined the rest of the Malice Kings.
Five powerful Archmages from Netsach and Zangyaku performed a ritual that was geared towards waking Hikaru Shinta up. Since the August 18 incident, the Blade King had lapsed into a coma that no force in the Fifth World could break. The ritual was centered around the use of then Sixth Circle Methuselah Hunter Tala Vega, the Key of the Fifth World and a member of Wolf’s Choice. It had been designed by Sixth Circle Methuselah Hunter Gio Malaahas, one of the two leaders of Tala’s blade.
The ritual was a success, and revealed that the “god” that the Methuselah had placed within Hikaru was actually the embodiment of Death itself. However, he had been bound by the rules that Tala had outlined for Him as the Key. Death gave the entire contingent one shot at saving Hikaru’s life: by defeating Him in combat. Death then took complete possession of Hikaru’s body, and fled to Hokkaido.
After some discussion with the Malice Kings of Netsach, Zangyaku gathered its forces and proceeded to engage their leader in Hokkaido. This left the Malice Kings with enough time to make an open call to the rest of Netsach and gather their strength.
A large contingent from Netsach, led by the Malice Kings, joined Zangyaku in Hokkaido and engaged Hikaru Shinta, Death’s vessel. The operation was successful, with 450 deaths from Zangyaku and 100 deaths from Netsach.
Hikaru woke up two days later. Death was now fully under his control, following an “agreement” that the pair made. He was later transported to the Philippines in Alistair’s company, in order to officially acknowledge his position as one of the Malice Kings of Netsach, and his conspiracy’s alliance with Zangyaku.
no subject
At exactly 11:59 PM, GMT, all communication networks within the World of Light received the same transmission at exactly the same time, in their respective languages: an extensive, hour-long record that walked through several world events, narrated by a mysterious entity that introduced himself as Aleph. It deconstructed the events, systematically proving that they were caused by mirror events in “the World of Darkness” – that is, the dark world of supernatural creatures that has co-existed with the so-called “real world” since the beginning of time.
Aleph’s initial documentary was met with cynicism. However, he – and, on occasion, other members of the “Iluminati”, whom he called “his allies” – continued to make their broadcasts, always timing it at exactly 11:59 PM, and always succeeding in getting their “documentaries” on air, defying any attempt – government or otherwise – at shutting them down. Furthermore, all of the documentaries after the first began to involve chillingly accurate predictions of future world events. They also accurately alluded to upheavals in the World of Darkness, a move that horrified the denizens beyond the Veil – especially the world’s many different conspiracies, and supernatural communities. It was not long before scholars around the world began referring to the collection of documentaries as the “Luminous Apocrypha”, a name that was a throwback both to the Iluminati and to the “forgotten” books of the Bible.
By November 1, the Iluminati had the world’s attention, for better or for worse. With the strange exceptions of Netsach and Zangyaku (Aidan Clayce, then leader of Netsach, had ordered his Hunters to let the Iluminati do as they please; Hikaru Shinta, in deference to Aidan, had his operatives do the same), all other groups beyond the Veil had been working on overtime in the previous month, covering up whatever they could. But it wasn’t working out nearly as well for them as it should have.
The last broadcast of the Iluminati occurred on November 30. It ended with a date – December 21, 2012 – and a personal promise from Aleph: “Through my eyes, the world will know the truth.”
While the World of Light was watching Aleph, Voidseeker Aidan Clayce – Leader of Netsach – gathered all of the Keepers of the Vigil and supernatural political groups of the world together at the Adamantine Arrow Headquarters within the Falner Forest. Two things were discussed: a temporary alliance between all of the Keepers, and the strategy behind their final strike against Nyx.
This would be the only time in human history when all of the Keepers of the Vigil willingly came together against a single enemy, united because of a single goal: preserving the Balance between the World of Darkness and the World of Light rather than favoring the existence of one over the other.
The conspiracies of the Fifth World, headed by Netsach and Zangyaku, gathered around the Unnamed Tower, consolidated their forces, and proceeded to engage Nyx head on. Nyx is, was, and always will be the complete manifestation of the despair and wrath of the death of a universe: she is the Apocalypse embodied, and a “natural” force that occurs whenever it is time to close the door on the current universe and clear the way for the birth of a new one. She had, however, manifested far too early due a critical imbalance between the World of Darkness and the World of Light. As such, the leaders of the conspiracies had decreed that they had to fight her off and give the Fifth World a little more time to set things right for itself.
The grueling two-day operation ended successfully, with a casualty count well into the thousands, and even more missing. Soon after the allied forces pulled out, the Unnamed Tower – formerly Nyx’s prison – collapsed, and most of the Broken City (its location within the Borderline) disappeared long with it. Unfortunately, the allied forces were not able to recover many of their lost comrades before the place collapsed. The final death count, by December 4, 2012, numbered at 3,210. This is not counting the related incidents that occurred in the World of Light, as a result of the massive upheaval caused by Nyx’s mere presence.
The Malice Kings of Netsach unanimously voted in the new leader of their conspiracy: Liandrin Delacroix, an Archmage of the Path of Mastigos. They also voted, 8 to 1, in favor of having Aidan Clayce – for the first time since the beginnings of the Fifth World – to “take a vacation and leave the rest of us to save the world instead”.
After some consultation with the other Malice Kings, Liandrin summoned the leaders of the remnants of what was now affectionately dubbed “the anti-Nyx alliance”. She reminded the conspiracies of the Iluminati Apocrypha, and attempted to reach an agreement: that the Balance must be preserved.
The meeting lasted for over eighteen hours. By the end of it, the only conspiracies who agreed to help were Zangyaku, Aegis Kai Doru, Network Zero, and the Methuselah. Furthermore, many of the political groups within the supernatural communities – with the exception of the Mage Orders, and the Order of the Grateful Dead – were unwilling to lend their assistance.
At 11:59 PM, as promised, Aleph appeared on the Fifth World’s communication networks. This was his last recorded documentary, and it started with an unveiling of the Iluminati. Aleph revealed who he and the three other members were (four of the five embodiments of the Watchtowers in the Supernal Realms), and then proceeded to give the World of Light an extensive introduction to the World of Darkness – something he had only briefly touched upon in previous documentaries for his “real world” audience. The last section of the documentary was a collection of the footage gathered by Cody Verges, a member of Network Zero, during Operation Nyx. Aleph ended with the following statement: “These individuals, mortal and supernatural, fought to protect your future. Seek the truth: let the new age begin.”
Right after the transmission, it is said that Liandrin – acting with Riley’s blessing – came to Aidan, and asked him to serve as her second. Their conversation ended in two sentences:
“Forgive me, sir, but I’ll need to cut your vacation short a little earlier than planned.”
“It’s fine. I was never good at vacations anyway.”
All hell broke loose directly after the last of the Iluminati Apocrypha documentaries. People were asking questions, governments reeled under the onslaught of an explosion of paranoia and violence across the globe. Members of the different supernatural communities scrambled to take cover. Compacts and conspiracies – depending on their inclination – attempted to parade the Aleph’s truth, prevent the Veil from breaking through violent suppression, or protect both sides by focusing on damage control and minimizing casualties.
By December 29, a few governments were in shambles, and the strength of many of the world’s compacts and conspiracies was greatly reduced. Furthermore, a great amount of death and destruction occurred on both sides, far greater than what had occurred during Operation Nyx.
Things turned around on December 30. The Malice Kings, the Searing Wind, and recently reinstated Wiseman Maeniel Gemini – exasperated by the lack of cooperation, and pushed well beyond the point of attempting more amicable solutions – led the best operatives that Netsach, Zangyaku and the Methuselah had to offer began to systematically suppress the dissidents with god-like shows of force. Interestingly enough, this suppression did not cause a single death.
First thing in the morning of the New Year, the leaders of the United Nations held its first meeting with the Methuselah, Netsach, and Zangyaku in Manila, the capital of the Republic of the Philippines. A number of leaders from other conspiracies – namely Aegis Kai Doru – and representatives from supernatural political groups were also present. A greater number, however, boycotted the meeting entirely.
Tensions were incredibly high during the first two days. Many resented the events of December 30 – some historians rightfully believe, in fact, that the only reason why the Summit occurred was because mankind had been virtually cowed into submission by three major conspiracies. Nevertheless, after extensive debates, the congregation managed to come to an agreement: the Veil was broken, the world was a much bigger and much more frightening place than mankind had ever imagined, and the only way to proceed from there on was to cooperate with each other as best as they could. The entire group was given a name – Pax Deorum – and the agenda of this new congregation was simple: working on reforms to help a changed world get to a better place.
no subject
A movement that was both a propaganda program and a massive revision of government policy, centered on the belief that supernaturals needed supernatural rights and representation, and that Earth was an Earth for everyone regardless of who or what they were.
Ironically, analysts have pointed out that the presence of One Earth proponents gave many conservatives a new target, thus aiding in the increased tolerance and acceptance of LGBT communities and other minority groups across the world.
A United Nations-funded program directed towards taking the best and brightest human and supernatural scholars, and having them systematically rewrite the entire body of human knowledge to match the “truth” of the existence of the World of Darkness. Their findings determined the base of a new educational curriculum, geared towards awareness, sensitivity, and protection. This curriculum was then implemented in educational institutions of all levels around the globe.
The Pigafetta Expeditions were a series of human exploration and survey teams into the realms beyond the Prime Material Plane. Agents from Netsach, the Methuselah, Aegis Kai Doru and Zangyaku personally guided the teams during the course of their research, ensuring, to the best of their abilities, that their discoveries were recorded, and that the groups made it out alive.
A Pax Deorum-funded program that involved the restoration, rehabilitation and reconstruction of settlements ravaged during the Breaking of the Veil, and the re-planning and development of cities geared towards promoting co-existence between human beings and supernaturals. Three of the biggest projects of this program was the construction of Blaece, the Headquarters of Pax Deorum in Antarctica, the construction of Shin Yamatai, the Necropolis of Earth, and New Atlantis, the Mage City-State of Earth.
Two important shifts also occurred within the Vigil itself. Both have been listed below as well, for reference.
Interestingly enough, more people know this movement by its pet name: “Vigil Keepers Anonymous”, which is a fallback to the Alcoholics Anonymous support group. The similarities are undeniable, as the program was an attempt at changing the ways of Hunters. Prior to the First Reforms, the majority of the world’s conspiracies still believed in destroying the World of Darkness with impunity. After the hard lessons that were learned during the Breaking of the Veil, however, Pax Deorum – guided by Netsach and Zangyaku – attempted to enforce its policy of cooperation upon hunters through a program of discipline and re-education. Hunters who still believed that all supernatural kind was their enemy were taken in; cells, compacts, and conspiracies that did the same were heavily sanctioned. Formal hunting academies were established, with strict psychological evaluations and a training program that emphasized preserving the Balance.
Although the Shield Initiative was massively criticized during its implementation, it is said that it ended up preventing more of the potential damage that could have occurred during the Darkest Vigil.
Prior to the schism that occurred in August 18, 2012, the Methuselah had been the single most powerful conspiracy in the world, with a 4,000-year-old legacy under its belt. Internal squabbling and the departure of their best and brightest for Netsach left the conspiracy in shambles.
Where most believed that it would be best to consign the Methuselah to a quiet death, one individual thought otherwise. Elias Tagabigay, then a dual-licensed hunter of Netsach and Zangyaku, approached Wiseman’s Committee member Maeniel Gemini directly after Operation Nyx. It is not known what was discussed between the pair, only that Elias walked out of Maeniel’s office as a triple-licensed hunter, and proceeded to focus all of his efforts on restoring the conspiracy.
Elias’ quick rise within the Methuselah’s ranks was attributed to the significant amount of support that he received from some of the conspiracy’s more progressive-minded individuals. He worked towards changing the conspiracy within, making it re-realize its original cause. His approach, however, was different from the one established by the Methuselah’s founders: he wanted to make the Methuselah a reactive conspiracy, geared towards shutting down problems the moment they occurred with the most minimal use of force as possible. He envisioned the Methuselah’s members less as hunters, and more like watchmen that had enough power and influence to keep the Vigil without the loss of life and property.
By 2015, Elias reached the rank of Inquisitor, both within the Methuselah and within Netsach, his home conspiracy. By 2018, he was voted into the Wiseman’s Committee, the leaders of the Methuselah. His first move as a member of the Committee was to initiate a total reform of the Committee itself.
At the beginning of this decade, it appeared as though things were going to work out: Pax Deorum’s numbers were slowly increasing, and more individuals – supernatural and human alike – were beginning to see the importance of focusing on change and healing rather than going back to the old ways. Dissent, dissatisfaction, paranoia and greed, however, were at an all-time high, and began to color the interests of people both within and outside of Pax Deorum. It also became painfully evident how helpless the United Nations was with regard to controlling the human populace, and how many conspiracies did not actually support Netsach, Zangyaku and the Methuselah regardless of how much clout they had and what they could offer to the rest of the world. The fact that political and ethnic differences continued to come into play did not help; neither did the fact that many had been led into the false belief that the presence of supernaturals was going to solve the world’s problems in an instant by destroying inequality.
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On Christmas Eve, a radical anti-supernatural group that called themselves the Lipan Conjurers initiated a mass purging of supernatural “scum” on American soil. The Taliban began to do the same within the Middle East, as did more radical factions of Neo Nazism in Europe. Between the three groups, hundreds of innocent supernaturals were singled out, dragged from their homes, tortured, and killed – and recordings of all of these horrific acts were posted all over the internet. Other, smaller radical groups both within those respective regions and in other countries began to follow suit.
The chaos raged in several countries for a week, stopped only by the combined efforts of the world’s conspiracies. Many wonder how the Black Christmas managed to occur in the first place: even if the American government had declared that they were strictly anti-supernatural, the activities of the Lipan Conjurers caused massive property damage, and many human civilians ended up getting caught in the crossfire. Some suspect, however, that the real reason why they were able to run amok in the first place was because some elements within Taskforce Valkyrie and the Union – America’s homegrown conspiracies – were secretly supportive of the movement within the States. Furthermore, in the case of the Middle East, the Ascending Ones had practically funded the Taliban’s practices. Ashwood Abbey mirrored this with their support of the Neo Nazis within Europe.
This conflict, named for the sacred bird of the Order of the Phoenix, was the major cause of turmoil and strife within the Middle East and in Africa. It began in earnest right after the Black Christmas War, and basically involved Aegis Kai Doru and the Order of the Phoenix. Both sides were pushed into using World of Light groups that aligned with their respective interests. The participation of the United States of America only aggravated the war, as hostilities between the Taliban of Afghanistan and the American forces had flared up yet again.
Claire Anders, a high-ranking member of Aegis Kai Doru, attempted to end Aegis Kai Doru’s end of the conflict by finding the missing pieces of the common legacy that her conspiracy shared with the Ascending Ones. She placed Kaizen Tempesta and Akira Tendo in charge of the mission, together with their cells and a few of the allies she had among dissident factions within the Ascending Ones. It took the team twenty years to recover the relics, and complete the secret history of the two organizations.
Fearing another outbreak of violence, many supernaturals attempted to flee from the United States of America. Those with means had the easiest time removing themselves from the situation; the rest found themselves hiking down to Mexico in order to reach supernatural-friendly countries in South America, or heading up towards Canada, which was also supernatural-friendly. Canada’s whole-hearted acceptance of the refugees left a sour note among American officials, and tensions between the two countries began to run high.
The official lockdown of the border between Canada and the United States of America occurred after a meltdown in negotiations. Canadian citizens who worked within American borders were not-so-politely requested to leave by the American government.
As war was eminent between America and Canada, the Canadian government – acting on a suggestion from Netsach and the Methuselah, began to construct Yggdrasil’s Roots, an enchanted wall of stone and forest that would run the full length of the border. It was a project that was bolstered by the support of Netsach and the Methuselah, and by the united tribes of the Uratha and the Pure within Canadian borders together with the Canadian Courts of Seasons and the five Mage Orders, a cooperative effort that only served to strengthen the community as a whole. The Roots were designed to analyze any who attempted to pass through it, and immediately eject undesirable parties through non-lethal force.
Yggdrasil’s Roots continue to stand to this day, although its original height has been lowered in order to signify the restoration of the alliance between the two countries.
Since the Breaking of the Veil, the Chinese government had become increasingly unfriendly towards supernaturals by releasing laws and regulations that practically rendered them third class citizens within Chinese borders: mandatory military conscription, mandatory experimentation in the guise of “government medical missions”, apartheid, and the like. The government, however, faced a surprising amount of resistance from their own people. In fact, one figure that was deeply involved in the protests was the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet.
In an attempt to break the spirit of the rebellion and scare its dissidents into submission, the Chinese government had their intelligence service assassinate the Dalai Lama during a large prayer rally in Shanghai. A series of assassinations and arrests of top “rebel leaders” quickly followed. In retaliation, the province of Tibet named itself the Free State of Tibet, and attempt to secede from China. China responded with military action.
Zangyaku, it should be noted, had always disagreed with the Chinese government’s policies. The conspiracy, however, found itself ignored and, in some cases, outright attacked by the very government that they sought to serve. When the fighting started in Tibet, many felt that this was the last straw.
Hikaru defied China’s order of non-interference by immediately having the Searing Wind jump to Tibet’s defense, preventing further bloodshed. China, in response, revoked Zangyaku’s license to hunt and police supernatural activity within their borders. The Japanese conspiracy was promptly replaced with a state-run conspiracy named Renzhe Jianhuren: “the Benevolent Guardians”. Zangyaku, out of disgust, dismantled their operations in China, and sent all of their agents to Tibet.
Interestingly enough, Chinese history books continue to refer to the China-Tibet War as the Tibetan Uprising, in the same fashion that government records continue to refer to the Free State of Tibet as the Chinese Province of Tibet.
On Chinese New Year, a large group of young activists gathered together at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in order to protest supernatural rights. In a fashion chillingly similar to the first activist dispersal that occurred in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government mobilized the military and had its army suppress the activists with lethal force.
Angered by this move, Hikaru Shinta – with permission of the Japanese government – immediately took an elite force of oni-tsukai to China and intervened. The “intervention” involved saving the lives of the remaining activists, engaging the Chinese army, and destroying the Renzhe Jianhuren. While the move received a commendable amount of international support, it ended up fanning the hostilities between Japan and China.
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Following the Second Tianamen Square incident, the United Nations attempted to call for peace between Japan and China. Negotiations melted down only too quickly, and it was not long before China was gathering its military strength, preparing to attack Japan directly. It also decided to target all of the ASEAN nations that had allied itself with Japan, including the Republic of the Philippines.
The war ended dead in its tracks when the Chinese military was halted by Aidan Clayce and the Malice Kings at Manila Bay, and were soundly defeated by Japan’s Imperial Army – once the Japanese Self-Defense Force – before they could even reach the country.
Many European countries continued to suffer from internal turmoil following the events of the Black Christmas. The European Union found itself on the verge of a total collapse, which was something that the conspiracies of Pax Deorum could not afford.
The French government, in deference to the large amount of support it was receiving from the Five Mage Orders for their friendly policies towards the Awakened (by that time, France was an established sanctuary for Mages and for Sleepwalkers, and was generously funding the City State of New Atlantis), called for a meeting of the EU’s leaders in Paris. The Orders, in tandem with Netsach and the Methuselah, orchestrated the next major alliance between France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, together with the inclusion of the British Isles and several other candidate countries in the EU. This greatly aided the rehabilitation attempts within European borders, and later kept the continent from falling apart during the Darkest Vigil.
Undeterred by their defeat at the hands of Japan and the rest of the ASEAN, China focused its efforts on recovering their military might and subjugating the supernaturals within their borders. This resulted in a massive influx of Chinese supernaturals fleeing from their country. While many of them gathered in the Free State of Tibet, many more of them went to Taiwan, because the Taiwanese government – backed by Zangyaku – welcomed them with open arms.
China eventually used this as an excuse to resume hostilities, and specifically targeted Taiwan. This war lasted for two years, ending only when allied forces finally managed to exhaust the Chinese government’s resources.
The precise event that caused the exchange of nuclear warheads between India and Pakistan has never been recorded. However, many historians feel that it was simply a result of the long-standing conflict between the two countries, and a series of terrible diplomatic misunderstandings that followed after the Breaking of the Veil.
The war effectively ended not because of a lack of interest, but because both countries had exhausted themselves, and had caused too much wholesale destruction within their own territories.
The world looked on in horror when, in 2035, the major cities of Russia and Africa went completely dark. The next time transmissions came from them, they revealed that both areas were under the dictatorial rule of a conspiracy that called itself Grendal. Grendal’s members consisted of elements that were out to destroy anyone who supported the Balance between the World of Darkness and World of Light, whether they were supernatural or not. They derived much of their power from an entity known as the Watcher in the Dark, a being from the Borderlines that had absorbed much of the essence of Nyx following her defeat.
Grendal continued to use its forces to harass all of the countries bordering Russia and Africa, and constantly sent contingents of their fighters to further flung areas. Busy as they were putting out the many other political fires that were occurring across the globe, Netsach and Zangyaku were only able to react to Grendal’s hostilities rather than attempt to destroy them completely, which effectively forced both camps into a dangerous stalemate. Interestingly enough, what ended up breaking the stalemate and ultimately ending the campaign was the entrance of the Methuselah, under the leadership of Elias Tagabigay. The Inquisitor had finally managed to fully revitalize the conspiracy, and was, by then, in a better position to help Netsach and Zangyaku.
This was the date that Kaizen and Akira returned to Aegis Kai Doru’s new headquarters in Greece with their findings. The leaders of Aegis immediately summoned the leaders of the Ascending Ones through the support of a few dissident cells within the Order of the Phoenix. There are new records of the exact proceedings of the meeting. The only certain fact is that by the end of it, the Ascending Ones were officially absorbed into Aegis Kai Doru, and given a new name: the Legion of the Phoenix.
Since the 2022 Fifth Chapter Summit of Pax Deorum, North Korea consistently threatened other nations with over shows of military hostility. Given the political climate of the world, however, combined with North Korea’s general military incompetence, the fact that their attempts were rebuffed or downright ignored is not surprising. No one was expecting them to turn their sights on South Korea.
The nuclear war between the two Koreas practically destroyed North Korea, and drove South Korea to its knees. Once a truce was declared three years later, another supernatural wall – the Wall of Mara Papiyas, distinguished from Yggdrasil’s Roots by its use of Fourth World technology – was constructed along the border of the two countries. The wall served two purposes: a deterrent for both Koreas with regard to future hostilities, and a terraforming device designed to mitigate the effects of the nuclear conflagration, and slowly restore the environmental climate within the region.
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The leaders of the original human nations of Pax Deorum convened in Blaece for the first time since the Fifth Quarter Summit of 2022. The conspiracies of the world, together with the political supernatural groups that were originally part of the congregation, regained their positions, and the Methuselah was placed as the primary mediators between the United Nations, the Keepers of the Vigil, and the World of Darkness. The rest of the meeting was devoted to discussing Grendal and the Watcher in the Dark.
After gathering their strength and consolidating their respective forces, the combined military might of Pax Deorum engaged Grendal. They focused on liberating the major cities, removing Grendal from Africa and Russia. The last phase involved making their way towards Moscow, where the Watcher in the Dark was located.
Although the Watcher in the Dark was effectively destroyed in the Battle at Moscow, the number of casualties and amount of destruction suffered by Russia and Africa, along with the countries along the borders of both areas, was immeasurable.
Pax Deorum summoned the representatives of the different nations and political groups whom they believed to be responsible for the majority of the destruction and death during the Darkest Vigil. Economic and military sanctions were levied, namely upon nations like the United States of America and China. Furthermore, Pax Deorum systematically overturned all of the anti-supernatural policies that had been placed by the United Nations.
This date also marks the beginning of a Pax Deorum war court, a team of individuals whose sole job was to try individual elements for the war crimes that they committed during the Darkest Vigil. Many of the earliest cases have not been resolved yet, and more seem to appear each year.
On another note, this date also marks the Ascension of the living embodiments of the Five Watchtowers. They left the Prime Material Plane in order to return to powering the Watchtowers, now that the realms appeared to have stabilized.
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The Falner Estate hosts the graduation of Balamb Academy’s 50th batch of students. During its proceedings, Karlo Antonio Zobel de Ayala – the eldest grandson of Inquisitor Neeka Zobel de Ayala, and a future member of the War Hounds – is approached by Godhand Yue Rukia, Cardinal of the Order of the Mani dello Spirito Santo. Godhand Rukia’s interest in the boy is understandable: he has been selected by the Wings of Therion, a God Weapon that has been inactive since its “destruction” during the historic Battle at Vatican City. An interesting word from Hikaru Shinta, the Blade King of Zangyaku, has Kaz changing his mind about joining the Order: he decides to pursue a license with the Brotherhood of Violence instead.
In the meantime, while the rest of Netsach is busy honoring their graduates, the Malice Kings meet with Wiseman Elias Tagabigay to discuss the latest rulings from Pax Deorum. The world government is keen on unveiling their plans for Arcis – the first multi-community supernatural city in the Fifth World – by June. The group also discusses recent reports of a shift in the activity of the remnants of Grendal’s forces. Their old enemies are becoming much more organized: a worrying turn of events, given the fact that the Darkest Vigil is still fresh within the minds of the denizens of the Fifth World.
What should have been a routine transfer of a new batch of special cases to the Falner Estate turns into an engagement of note when the Blade King eliminates a sleeper agent that had been in charge of bringing the airplane into Falner. The agent leaves a Grendal coin behind; Hikaru delivers this personally to Kaiser Liandrin Delacroix, after she meets with future War Hounds Yulia Bostova, Estanislao “Taning” Marisigan III, and Joshua LaRue.
Elsewhere, a Changeling named Brianna Lopez – another future member of the War Hounds – eliminates her fetch. She is accompanied by Tala Vega and Selene Vega, the two members of the Searing Wind who were responsible for saving her from her durance in Arcadia.
Taning and Yulia, with Kaz as their witness, receive their new orders from Voidseeker Aidan Clayce, the Fürst of Netsach. Because of the fact that they performed well during their first engagement together, the three of them – together with Joshua and Brianna – will be assigned to work together as a blade of Netsach. Yulia, being the only hunter among them at the moment, is ordered to watch over them. Her first assignment involves seeing Taning through his initiation that night.
This event is of special notice due to Hikaru’s “unfounded” interest in the War Hounds even before the group truly became the blade that they are known for today. A concrete manifestation of this is the fact that the Blade King later gives the group a peculiar assignment: he wanted them to research on his life, and come back to him with the results. Their reaction to what was contained within his files was something that he wasn’t expecting.
After putting together the many things that he has noticed since his arrival at the Falner Estate, Joshua summons Kaz and shows his findings to the younger boy. The Sin-Eater had discovered, for himself, how their new “friend” (Hikaru) had been instrumental in bringing some of the greatest blades of the past together. In fact, the three most influential blades of the so-called New Age – the Pack, the Rockin’ Rollas, and Wolf’s Choice – were a direct result of his intervention. Their own blade, the still unnamed NSC-FAL-206304-001, appears to be Hikaru’s new project.
Lorenzo Reyes, Malice King and Master of the Arcanum, confirms this after presenting a list that shows that most of the greatest blades within the Vigil were brought together, one way or another, through Hikaru. Their blade, however, is peculiar for one thing: he stopped that practice of “adopting” blades years ago.
NSC-206304-001 was enslaved by Jessiah Vice and assigned to guard a Rhiannon transport in Palawan. They ended up facing Roland Stevenson – a 122-year-old Promethean who is better known under his alias “Brigade” – in combat. Brigade ends up joining Netsach and becoming their blade mate after he discovers that the package that Bostova, Marisigan, LaRue and Zobel de Ayala were guarding was actually Inquisitor Lincoln Hawke, his mentor from World War II. The two of them were original members of HECATON, the precursor of Taskforce Valkyrie.
While he was observing NSC-FAL206304-001 in the Training Hall of Balamb, Wiseman Tagabigay received word of a “situation” in Seoul National University, South Korea. He and Hikaru decided to use this opportunity to field the new kids of interest, thus marking the blade’s first solo engagement as a complete team. In spite of two significant mishaps (tension between members NSC-FAL206304-001 and Hikaru, misdemeanor on the part of operative Zobel de Ayala through his activation of the Wings of Therion), the engagement was successful.
As a result of the engagement, Joshua confronts Hikaru on his ruthlessness during the engagement. He inadvertently discovers the Blade King’s ban as the Vessel of Death, thus making him one of the few individuals outside of the three blades and the upper echelons of the Vigil who know Hikaru’s secret.
Riley Falner, Daywalker of the Fifth World and one of the Originals of the Malice Kings, awakened prematurely sometime after lunch. Overjoyed as Ordo Daywalker and his fellow Kings were to have their comrade back, it was difficult for many within the Vigil to ignore the implications of his rousing from Deep Slumber.
On another note, operative Zobel de Ayala was chastised for his actions during “Blackout”. The meeting resulted in the boy giving the Wings of Therion up.
NSC-FAL206304-001, like all other blades of Netsach, had a one-on-one talk with Riley. The group finally decides on a name for their blade: the War Hounds. The party departed for a town named Sta. Cruz in Mexico for their third engagement, which involved the extraction of a Green One from the area.
Interestingly enough, the presence of the Green One merited Setsuna Shinta’s first sighting in 2063. It was through the intervention of Brigade that the Shinta siblings managed to see each other for the first time in fifty years, since Setsuna’s Ascension.
Balamb Academy opened its doors to welcome a contingent from Frostriver, one of the elite Hunting Academies in the United States of America. While this practice, in itself, is not significant, the circumstances of this particular program were: a Grendal operative attempted to sabotage the plane, perhaps on the premise of converting the entire contingent into agents and using it to infiltrate Falner. It could have been one of the more aggressive attempts at striking against the Keepers of the Vigil since the Armistice.
On another note, this effort was thwarted by Cindy Louise Brennan, future member of the Pride. She is a Technomancer of notable potential, and Joshua LaRue’s younger sister.
At 3 AM, medical specialists from Ziz and technicians from Leviathan ended Inquisitor Lincoln Hawke’s stasis. Hawke was a notable figure in Taskforce Valkyrie’s history, as he was the commanding officer of HECATON, Valkyrie’s precursor. He was brought into the Methuselah sometime after his Embrace, and later followed the Dragon to Netsach.
Brigade of the War Hounds and Riley Falner were around to witness Hawke’s reawakening. This marked the first time that the vampire was able to return fully cured of the insanity that had poisoned his system since the Darkest Vigil.
Netsach spearheaded a cross-conspiracy engagement around the world, targeted towards deactivating bombs set by Grendal operatives in nearly every capital city in the Fifth World. This was the first major engagement that the War Hounds found themselves participating in. Interestingly enough, they were also the blade that noticed the first signs of the terrorist attack.
Operation Big Tracks caused some notable stress upon the relations between the Malice Kings due to the main complication that the bombs presented: they were complicated to disassemble or deactivated, and only two entities in the Fifth World – Aidan and Hikaru – could do such a thing effectively. The Kings were ready to hold Hikaru back, something that the Blade King would not have appreciated. Aidan and Hikaru ended up doing the engagement together, but the damage was done. It’s important to note, as well, that Operation Big Tracks was the first time that Hikaru used the Godslayer on an engagement since the Darkest Vigil.
On this same day, Wiseman Tagabigay recovered the first solid evidence that the Keepers of the Vigil had regarding Taskforce Valkyrie’s illegal experiments, and placed the compact on immediate suspension. He and Aidan met in order to discuss their next move, and both parties decided to work towards dismantling the current Valkyrie in order to push for an eventual restoration of the compact.
Setsuna Shinta inexplicably appeared in the Falner Manor during breakfast. This presupposed that someone within the vicinity was in great need, and only a Great Spirit like herself had the ability to provide a solution.
It was later discovered that Setsuna was the one in great need, specifically in need of closure and the companionship of the people whom she viewed as he family. She ended up staying visible from that day until June 2, 2063. This did not, however, end up being the last time that she would descend upon the Fifth World that year.
After an extended period of deliberation, Pax Deorum finally gave the Methuselah permission to launch a full-scale investigation on Taskforce Valkyrie and penalize the compact for its violations of the Code.
All Keepers of the Vigil with a license with Zangyaku received the same memorandum: a challenge has been issued to the Living Land of the Searing Wind. A second Ceremony of Measuring will take place on May 13, 2063 at Seigi.
This was a notable event, as challenges issues after the current year’s Ceremony of Measuring was completed rarely happen within Zangyaku’s history. What made the challenge even more peculiar was the lack of information with regard to who wished to unseat Aria Skye.
The near entirety of Zangyaku gathered together in Seigi to witness the second Ceremony of Measuring between the Living Land and her challenger. Said challenger turned out to be Tohru Fukuzawa, former Assassin of the Searing Wind. Suffice to say, he soundly defeated Aria and returned to the ranks of the Searing Wind.
This date marks the first of the many appearances that Brother Death made in 2073, something of note about this year beyond all of the historical events that occurred. Although testimony from the Blade King himself on the matter is vague, many suspect that Death chose this day to take over his Vessel’s body due to the psychological stress that Hikaru was under during that time.
On this date, all operatives on GeistNET, LogosNET and ViceNET received the same memorandum: Inquisitor Jessiah Vice has left on an extended survey of the Dark Hour and accessible Borderlines. He had originally scheduled the survey over a month ago, but had decided to delay in order to gather more information and make himself available for Setsuna Shinta.
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(Reference link can be found here.)
On the same date as the Declaration of Philippine Independence, Wiseman Elias Tagabigay – together with the Wiseman’s Committee, and representative parties from the Keepers of the Vigil – revealed the Arcis Fortress City Project to the Fifth World. Arcis was slated to become the Fifth World’s first purely supernatural city-state, with political provisions similar to New Atlantis for the Awakened community and Shin Yamatai for the vampires – only it was going to cater to all communities within the World of Darkness.
Reception towards the project was generally positive, although more than a few critics express displeasure with regard to the projected date of its completion. Pax Deorum wanted to push for Arcis to be fully built and completely functional within just a year.
Godhand Yue Rukia, Cardinal of the Order of the Mani dello Spirito Santo, arrived at the Falner Estate, and – after attending Sunday Mass at the Dragon’s Spires – delivered the Wings of Therion to Henry’s Abubot for safekeeping. The Sacred Relic had started acting up two weeks ago, prompting Yue to release the Relic into the care of capable specialists.
Kaz Zobel de Ayala, like all other operatives on the SERAPH network, was informed of this decision. This was especially relevant to him, in light of something that Brother Death had spoken to him about earlier that month. The Wings, it seemed, had come for him.
During their latest Summit, Pax Deorum reviewed the Methuselah’s audit of Taskforce Valkyrie and thus suspended the compact’s activities until further notice. The Methuselah and the Midnight Riders were then been placed in charge of Keeping the Vigil on American soil. Netsach was been requested to move in as well, and upgrade some of their bases within North and South America to power bases. They call the initiative Operation HECATON.
Although no orders were issued to Zangyaku at that point, the Myobu of the conspiracy decided to make preparations to mobilize on their own end by pushing for the establishment of more Zangyaku powerbases on the American continent.
This particular Netsach initiation is noteworthy not because of the fact that Kaz is one of the War Hounds, but because of its circumstances. The initiation ceremony was changed by the upper echelons of Netsach, who bent to the Order’s request of giving Kaz the opportunity to decide the fate of the Wings of Therion. After a one-on-one encounter with the remnants of Oswald’s spirit within the Wings, Kaz decided to work towards restoring the Wings rather than releasing Oswald and eliminating the taint within the Sacred Relic.
While visiting the future site of Arcis Fortress City, Catherine Stone – Sin-Eater President of the United States of America – was the target of an assassination attempt. The killer committed suicide rather than risk being apprehended. Suspiciously enough, the assassin used magience tech that wasn’t from Vice or Rhiannon.
Zangyaku mobilized immediately under Hikaru’s command, and launched a full-scale investigation on the matter. Netsach, in the meantime, increased its security around President Stone, and increased their surveillance on the upper echelons of Taskforce Valkyrie. Commander Nelson Howard, by that point, had disappeared. Reports from Rhiannon indicated that Howard had contacts capable of traversing the Borderlines on his side, helping him stay out of sight.
On this same day, Wiseman Tagabigay received a distress call from Jessiah Vice. Inquisitor Vice was stuck in the Other World, which was apparently reforming. This prompted preparations for a major engagement geared towards extracting the Malice King from the Other World.
Wiseman Elias Tagabigay and Brigade of the War Hounds arrived in the United States of America in order to rendezvous with a contingent led by Inquisitor Lincoln Hawke. The commanding officers of the Taskforce Valkyrie initiative met with President Stone in order to discuss Operation HECATON’s agenda at length, and how each one of the compacts and conspiracies was going to contribute:
• The Methuselah and the Rhiannong Group were going to continuing the war court in order to freeze as much of TFV as possible.
• Netsach and the Midnight Riders were going to focus on recovering lost “assets” – assets being good soldiers and descendants of former and current TFV operatives.
• The Rhiannon Group was also going to take point on locating Howard and his cronies.
• Aegis Kai Doru was going to assist the Midnight Riders with locating all of TFV’s facilities in North and South America. (Aegis Kai Doru, Midnight Riders)
• Zangyaku, together with Netsach, was going to “neutralize” certain elements within TFV – that is, assassinating or deactivating key figures either within the ranks of the compact or their primary supporters.
In spite of some notable resistance from the US Senate and Congress (resistance that “miraculously” quieted down after the first hearing on Operation HECATON), this agenda was eventually approved by the American government, and regulations were passed in order to pave the way for the Keepers of the Vigil.
The Keepers of the Vigil mobilized ten blades from each of the Pax Deorum-affiliated compacts and conspiracies towards one goal: attempting to pinpoint Jessiah Vice’s location by utilizing strong sympathetic ties and triggered teleportation, and extract him from the Other World. Vigil Operation God Save the King was approved on the same day that the Keepers started the operation.
Notably, the War Hounds were among the first blades on the scene during a successful ping, and were instrumental in Inquisitor Vice’s recovery.
(Reference link can be found here.)
The entirety of the Vigil listened with dread as, on the morning of July 16th, Manila Time, a freshly recovered Jessiah Vice revealed the full extent of the findings of his survey. He confirmed that the anomalies that had been occurring within the realms that bordered the Prime Material Plane were portals into the Other World, whose characteristics were specifically different from the Other World experienced by the Vigil from the 16th Century to 2012.
The implications of a return of the Other World were chilling. The mere presence of such a full-scale anomaly indicated that the Balance between the World of Light and the World of Darkness was shifting again. Furthermore, the Other World was what had birthed the Watcher in the Dark in the first place.
The Keepers of the Vigil decided to continue their investigations on the matter, and see if they could locate any correlation between the Other World’s reemergence and Grendal movements.
A contingent led by Roman Gemini, Alistair Mordechai, and Brigade met with the TFV fugitive Angela Brennan in an isolated location, and pull her out of the United States of America. Her testimonies and the inside information that she offers the Keepers greatly aided Operation HECATON, and set the tone for the engagements that followed her recovery.
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A large contingent of hunters from all compacts and conspiracies mobilized within areas in South America that were flagged for having bases critical to Taskforce Valkyrie’s research on the creation of Paradox Eaters and Void Stones. The operation was successful, but one of the major casualties that the Vigil suffered happened to be Tohru Fukuzawa. The Assassin of the Searing Wind was critically injured during the engagement, and nearly lost his life due to the simultaneous activation of Fourth World Void Stones in the area.
Tohru’s critical injury pushed Elias Tagabigay to temporarily leave the leadership of the Methuselah in Jessiah Vice’s hands and offer his assistance to Zangyaku as the Peacemaker. This would be the first time since his Ceremony of Measuring that he would take the title that Hikaru Shinta gave him as his own.
Due to the presence of Fourth World Void Stones, Aidan Clayce left the Prime Material Plane in order to fully utilize his abilities as a Voidseeker and do his own investigation on the matter.
The War Hounds, it should be noted, were deeply involved in this phase of HECATON.
The War Hounds, together with a large contingent of operatives from other compacts and conspiracies, accompanied President Catherine Stone and her entourage, and a notable number of individuals from different media companies, on a goodwill trip across the African continent.
Grendal attacked the President’s contingent on the afternoon of August 4, and only the swift response of her protectors among the Keepers managed to prevent any casualties from happening. Furthermore, there was enough evidence on sight to link this second assassination attempt to Taskforce Valkyrie, thus rallying Operation HECATON even more international support.
A freak accident at the construction site of the future Rhiannon Towers of Taguig yielded a startling discovery for operatives of Netsach and Zangyaku: the “damage” of the curse that had bound Hikaru Shinta to Death in the first place was slowly abating. It appeared as though the universe was beginning to return Hikaru to the karmic cycle.
This discovery ended up sparking a debate among operatives who were close to the Blade King. One party was keenly interested in finding a means to speed up the process. The other, however, wanted to be cautious. This discussion would continue at length over the next few months.
Stormwatch operatives started to flag “strangely dressed vigilantes” all over the Fifth World. A cursory investigation revealed that these individuals were members of the Justice League, from the parallel universe Terra. Interestingly enough, the events within Terra’s universe completely mirrored the narratives of stories printed by a company known as Detective Comics. Although the League’s members were not doing anything too harmful (they were providing unmerited “assistance” to the Keepers according to their own ethical standards), they could also not be killed or injured for too long: an effect, it seemed, of their mysterious appearance in the Fifth World.
The Wiseman’s Committee decided to act on advice from the Malice Kings and keep the existence of the Justice League as quiet as possible from the Keepers of the Vigil and the rest of the Fifth World. A select few blades were, however, brought up to speed on the matter. One blade happened to be the War Hounds.
Following an extraction operation in the Dark Hour (JLA members had found themselves trapped within the Hour, and needed to be rescued by senior agents of the Rhiannon Group), the Justice League went to the negotiation table with some of the Malice Kings who could be present for the meeting. The tension between the two parties abated the moment Aidan contacted the group, and explained a bit of the situation.
The JLA had been transported to the Fifth World due to a powerful Wish from Doctor Fate, which presupposed that they were in the Fifth World for their own benefit. Aidan, interestingly enough, was recognized by the Green Lantern Corps as “the Dragon”, which hinted that the two universes had similar rules and similar beliefs – they could, therefore, work together if they chose to.
Following Pax Deorum’s ruling, the Methuselah and Netsach both agreed to take point on watching over the members of the JLA and allowing them free reign of the Fifth World provided that they stopped interfering with Vigil operations. They were, however, more than welcome to contribute whatever they liked.
On another note, the War Hounds discovered firsthand that the JLA and Lois Lane were not the only Terrans who had been transported to the Fifth World. An engagement in Manhattan put them against Jason Todd, alias the Red Hood, and a former “Robin” of the superhero known as the Batman. They managed to subdue Jason, and learn that Jason was actually interested in joining the Keepers instead of going back to Terra. Jason, we note, would later become a high-ranking operative of several conspiracies.
A prophecy regarding the return of a massive wave of Yahweh’s Heavenly Host prompted Death to take over his Vessel’s body yet again in order to provide some support to the Keepers of the Vigil. He also decided to come around “early” for that time of the year since Brother Death’s Hour was going to happen soon.
Many have recently indicated that the fact that he steadily agreed to handle things in the Blade King’s stead seemed to be a sign that Death was, indeed, developing human sentiment due to his prolonged exposure to Hikaru and intimate contact with mortal beings. Personal testimony from the Pack, the Rockin’ Rollas, Wolf’s Choice, and the War Hounds also appears to attest to this.
The War Hounds accompanied a contingent of the Midnight Riders and two Glass Walkers to the Marianas Trench. The entire group had been assigned to waiting for Aquaman, a member of the Justice League, to finish his survey of the Fifth World’s oceans.
Interestingly enough, the Hounds had another encounter with a Terran that the JLA had not been aware of: Oliver Queen, alias “Green Arrow”.
As previously predicted, the former angels of Yahweh descended upon the Fifth World in an attempt to “assist” Creation in the ways that they knew best. The Keepers of the Vigil were mobilized en masse to contain the situation, namely by eliminating hostile angels and bringing the others back to the Falner Estate.
Malice King Rethe Kyriff, together with the Lady Herself, held conference with the Host. Elaine was fully prepared to recognize any of the Host who wished to serve her, but the rest had to leave the Fifth World alone. Fortunately, the majority of the Host agreed to join Elaine’s order rather than act autonomously from it.
Select operatives from Zangyaku banded together in Hokkaido in order to participate in the ceremony of Brother Death’s Hour. Interestingly enough, even though the War Hounds were not technically eligible to join the fight, they were fielded because Brother Death’s Hour was meant to serve as a Zangyaku initiation to some of their members.
Something that sets this particular Hour apart is the fact that this was one of the rare occasions where Keepers of the Vigil were successful in defeating Death.
The Falner Estate of Netsach and Seigi of Zangyaku suffered simultaneous attacks from a Qashmallim of Winter, Shadow and Fear known as Amadeus. Amadeus was one of the original Malice Kings, and he had been imprisoned underneath the Falner Manor centuries ago – he had gone rogue and turned against the Methuselah completely. At the time of his imprisonment, Aidan, Riley, and the other Malice Kings had been unwilling to kill him.
Amadeus’ ramage on the Falner Estate was stopped by Aidan’s return to the Fifth World, and the Qashmallim promptly fled as far as he could manage to from the Voidseeker. While neither base had suffered from any casualties, the damage to the morale and the peace of mind of the people in both areas was immeasurable.
On another note, Aidan revealed to the JLA that the impossible opponent that had sent them fleeing to the Fifth World was actually Terra’s version of Nyx. Suffice to say, that left the Keepers of the Fifth World with an interesting dilemma: did they decide to help Terra or focus on dealing with their own issues from the homefront?
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( Reference links for this event can be found here, here, here, here, and here. )
In light of Amadeus’ attack, Netsach and Zangyaku began to move en masse to contain the situation and prepare themselves for the fact that the Watcher in the Dark was, indeed, alive again somewhere within the Other World. One of the major measures that was taken on Netsach’s part was the reinstatement of several old Malice Kings: Godhand Maes Mordechai, Inquisitor Shane Duskrider, Inquisitor Setsuna Shinta, Inquisitor Cain and Inquisitor George.
On Zangyaku’s end, Kasumi Aoi – Mother of the Wolf – ordered all operatives to provide whatever assistance they could to their “brothers and sisters in the Hunt” from Netsach. Fortunately, their own numbers were not nearly compromised. Tohru Fukuzawa, in fact, returned to active duty on this date, thus allowing Elias Tagabigay to return to his own duties with the Methuselah.
Interestingly enough, in spite of the trouble brewing on all sides, the Keepers of the Vigil simultaneously decided to provide whatever assistance they could to Terra and its own battle against Nyx.
After a long period of observation, the Blade King invoked the Rite of the Wolf and challenged Natalie Rukia – a member of his very own Searing Wind – to a duel in order to determine whether she was still worthy of Zangyaku or not. Godhand Rukia had been acting erratically since the Wings of Therion had returned to Kaz. Many suspect that it was because she felt like she deserved to be its wielder more than he did due to her father’s connection to Oswald.
Hikaru soundly defeated Natalie in the arena of Kibo, and stripped her of her license with Zangyaku. She was fortunate to leave the arena alive. Afterward, Zangyaku had to host its third Ceremony of Measuring within that year in order to determine who would take Natalie’s place within the Wind. Robb Kearney emerged victorious, and took on the title “the Third Man”.
The Keepers of the Vigil mobilized on Terra together with the Justice League and their allies, and engaged Nyx all over Terra. Although the casualties were massive on Terra’s end (the Keepers, hailing, as they did, from the Fifth World, could not be killed), Operation Nyx II was successful.
An elite contingent of Keepers of the Vigil accompanied all of the current personnel on board for Operation HECATON to the Arctic Circle in order to extract Nelson Howard. Investigations had yielded that the contact who had been shielding him was Shinobu, a renegade that had perished in the late 1990s and a former nemesis of Jessiah Vice.
The contingent managed to kill Shinobu once and for all, and capture Howard. Howard had been corrupted completely by Grendal because he had allowed a piece of the Watcher to be inserted into his body. The piece had flooded his Pattern with Taint, and nearly killed him.
Out of the number of operatives who had joined Marco Polo, ten had been killed during the fight.
Pax Deorum later assigned Lincoln Hawke as the new commander of Taskforce Valkyrie. Angela Brennan was assigned as his second in command.
Hotaru Fukuzawa, the youngest daughter of Tohru Fukuzawa, Awakened as a Moros Mage. Her Awakening was so violent that she killed her dragon, thus forcing the intervention of Thanatos. Thanatos was the first of the Moros Dragons of the Fifth World to hatch back in 2012.
Hotaru was not the denizen of the Fifth World to Awaken against the usual trends and receive her “gifts” at an incredibly tender age. The increased cases of children and young adolescents realizing their “true potential” was starting to catch the attention of the Keepers of the Vigil. Hotaru’s case, given its circumstances and the level of power at her disposal the moment she became a Mage, was merely more noteworthy than the rest.
After gathering as much intelligence as they could about the area and confirming that a Pattern remarkably similar to Kaien Yamazaki was present in the forests beyond Jotunheim, Zangyaku operatives launched a full-scale expedition into the forests in order to see if they could find him. They confirmed that the former Searing Wind member had been corrupted by Grendal, and ended up engaging him in battle.
Fortunately, the operation ended with no casualties, and – through Aidan’s intervention – Kaien was recovered by his conspiracy and returned to the Vigil as a fixed point in time.
The first phase of the reformation of Taskforce Valkyrie involved doing massive clean-up operations in South America. A part of this included closing the anomalous Avernian Gates that had opened on the continent due to fluctuations in the Other World and Grendal’s own interference.
One of the more significant discoveries that participating operatives made during this period was the fact that more so-called “originals” of the Malice Kings and of the Searing Wind had been resurrected by Grendal. This confirmed the findings of previous investigations: unknown entities had been pirating souls from the Underworld since the beginning of 2063.
Pax Deorum officially revealed the presence of Terra to the rest of the Fifth World. The proceedings of the meeting between delegates of Pax Deorum and the surviving world leaders of Terra were shown on national television across the globe. The Wiseman’s Committee also presented the first Waygate connecting the two parallel universes together.
Under the leadership of Alyssandra Caiphas, the War Hounds accompanied a large contingent of Thrones into the Infernal Realms. While the main objective of the engagement was to locate and recover Estanislao’s younger sister Elanora Regina (a Number of the Thrall Legacy from the 87 Strays of the Lucifuge), the Vigil saw this as an opportunity to look into who was responsible for pirating souls from the Underworld for their own purposes.
By the end of the thirteen days that the contingent spent within the Infernal Realms, the Hounds managed to save Elanora’s life and sanity. They were also able to eliminate the demons who were stealing souls from the Underworld, which broke the back of Grendal within the Infernal Realms.
The War Hounds spent the next week after “Ela” focusing their efforts towards completing the Wings of Therion and aiding Godhand Maes Mordechai with the recovery and restoration of compromised or missing Sacred Relics. Their main priority was, of course, the Wings due to the fact that Kaz – one of their own blade mates – was their “chosen” wielder.
Something that made the engagement difficult was the fact that some of the missing Sacred Relics had been corrupted, and ended up in the hands of former allies that had been brainwashed by Grendal. Nevertheless, the Hounds were able to assist in the recovery all of the Sacred Relics that had disappeared and in the restoration of several of the Sacred Relics that had been compromised (Samael’s Song included). Their members personally handled the restoration of the Wings of Therion.
After this engagement finished, members of the Arcanum, Mnemosyne and the Rashinban coined the term “Hungry Ghost”. This title would be used to refer to any former member of the Malice Kings or the Searing Wind that had been turned by Grendal.
The War Hounds were a part of the next wave of oni-tsukai from Zangyaku that entered the Lightless Lands of Arcadia, the Blade King’s realm within the lands of the Fae. The Wiseman’s Committee had ordered the conspiracy to push for the unification of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts in an effort to restore the equilibrium between the forces of Light and Darkness within Arcadia. By the time this wave had reached the Lightless Lands, Zangyaku was already in the final stages of the campaign.
Much of the resistance that the operatives faced came from the minions of the four Hungry Ghosts that were operating within Arcadia, and the Hungry Ghosts themselves (three of these Ghosts were killed because they had truly turned against the Fifth World; the last was spared). Another difficulty they faced was the fact that one of their own allies – King Oberon of Summer – was not being nearly as cooperative as he could have been due to his personal interest in the Blade King.
Using the findings of an investigation of the Adamatine Arrows platoon “The Nothing”, the Pleiades focused their efforts towards removing problematic elements within the Five Mystical Orders. Fortunately(?), the “problematic elements” that they took care of were not related to Grendal, nor were they traced back to influence from a Hungry Ghost.
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Authorities noted two disturbing trends over the course of these two months. The first involved the children of the Fifth World. The second involved Twilight.
There was a reported global increase in cases of spontaneous, near sociopathic levels of violence from children aged 6 to 14. World of Light experts eventually called Keepers of the Vigil in to investigate, and Pax Deorum discovered, to its horror, that the Patterns of these juvenile criminals were similar to the corrupted Patterns possessed by Grendal operatives. The only children who appeared to be “immune” to this new kind of Taint were, interestingly enough, supernatural children who had awakened to their “Gifts” early. Their blood was later used as a part of an immunization formula that slowed the Taint down, but could not eradicate it completely.
In the meantime, reports from the Great Tribe pointed towards strange activity within Twilight. The Great Spirits of some of the major cities within the Fifth World were acting up, which, of course, made waves for entities within the Waking World. Unfortunately, all of this was discovered a bit too late. By the time the Armistice Tragedy (read below) took place, Keepers of the Vigil were unable to calm all of the Great Spirits.
During the celebration of the anniversary of the Armistice at Blaece, the Fifth World reeled under the weight of simultaneous attacks within all of the major cities of the world. The “seals” of many of these cities had been broken, allowing Grendal to pour through Other World anomalies of their creation – a frightening thing, as controlling the anomalies used to be beyond their purview. Furthermore, the attacks were led by the largest drove of Hungry Ghosts that the Vigil had seen yet.
The attack lasted a full 72 hours. Mundane and supernatural casualties were severe on nearly all fronts. Only about 75 cities in the world were spared during the attack, and this was due to the fact that these cities had been cleansed by Keepers of the Vigil prior to the Tragedy. More damage was also prevented by the timely intervention of the Justice League of Terra: they had come to the Fifth World’s rescue upon receiving a distress call from their allies within Netsach.
Investigations later revealed that Grendal had managed to get a hold of alien technology from a race known as the Zeboi. Their operatives had kidnapped some of the Zeboi living on Earh, and used their knowledge to create devices that allowed them to rip open gateways into the Other World.
Pax Deorum and the members of the Wiseman’s Committee converged with the leaders of the compacts and conspiracies of the Vigil in Blaece, Antarctica. By the end of the closed doors meeting, each of the organizations emerged with new orders:
The desired deadline that the entire delegate agreed on was June 12, 2064: the opening of Arcis Fortress City. Many felt that destroying Grendal once and for all before this date would greatly improve morale all over the Fifth World.
On a related note, a number of countries that had once stood against Pax Deorum joined the world government at this point. Everyone had, after all, suffered during the Armistice Tragedy.
The Keepers of the Vigil engaged in a full-scale shadow war against the Hungry Ghosts in the Fifth World. Researchers from their end had discovered that each of the Ghosts had a Key on their person that – when activated – would clear up the portions of the Other World that were hiding the Watcher in the Dark from sight.
Many of the Hungry Ghosts had focused their efforts on creating dissent, mass panic, and chaos within Pax Deorum countries by influencing negative elements both within Pax Deorum borders and within anti-Pax Deorum territory. They also manipulated supernatural communities, bringing out old conflicts between the parties or within a target community’s own demographic.
Notably, the Keepers managed to “restore” some of the Hungry Ghosts, namely:
With the death or restoration of the Hungry Ghosts within the Fifth World, the Keepers of the Vigil managed to open a path to the Watcher in the Dark’s domain within the Other World. This entire period was spent sending parties in and out of the Other World in an effort to clear the way for the Keepers. They needed to make sure that they could create a battlefield that worked to their advantage the moment they faced the Watcher again.
Gehenna Bound was the seven day battle between the combined forces of the Justice League of Terra, the Keepers of the Vigil and highly trained armed forces from Pax Deorum against the Watcher in the Dark and his Seven Chosen. It should be noted that the Watcher’s “right hand man” was Amadeus.
While the Fifth World managed to defeat the Watcher once and for all, his death triggered the spread of a curse into the children of the Fifth World. This curse, Keepers later discovered, was tied in with nearly every mortal’s fate to Awaken and discover a “Gift”. Because of the Watcher’s death, every child that was fated to Awakened faced a 50% probability of degenerating into a creature of Grendal.
The Wiseman’s Committee immediately ordered the Keepers of the Vigil to find a permanent cure. Research teams are working on this “cure” to this day.
The entirety of the Fifth World witnessed the grand opening of the gates of Arcis Fortress City. The celebration proceeded without a hitch, and Arcis began accepting new citizens and residents immediately.
This was also the date that several official treaties were signed between Pax Deorum countries and Terran countries across the universes.
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The Second Reforms began, and their efforts have carried into today’s Vigil. This is basically a series of bills and movements within Pax Deorum and the Wiseman’s Committee made in order to accommodate the new trend of early Awakenings, the presence of Terra, Stormwatch going official, the recognition of alien life, the reinstatement of Taskforce Valkyrie as a proper conspiracy under Pax Deorum and the Wiseman’s Committee’s authority, and the strengthening of bonds between the different compacts and conspiracies of the Vigil. For reference, the bills/movements have been listed below:
The Pack, the Rockin’ Rollas, Wolf’s Choice, and the War Hounds initiated a ritual that members of their blade designed that was geared towards returning Hikaru Shinta to the karmic cycle. The ritual was similar to the ceremony designed by Elias Tagabigay back in 2012, and thus utilized Tala Vega’s ability as the Key.
The ritual was successful.
While the rest of the United States celebrated Independence Day properly for the first time since the Darkest Vigil, Gettysburg Academy – the first Hunting Academy by Taskforce Valkyrie that met the specifications of Pax Deorum – was opened in Washington, D.C.
On this date, Stormwatch sent a 600-ship expedition out into space with one goal: creating relay points from the Pluto relay point to all over the galaxy. The Fifth World hoped to increase connectivity between its own denizens and the alien races that they now recognized as their allies.
It should be noted that one of the commanding officers of this expedition was Estanislao Marisigan.
The War Hounds ask Tala Vega to use her abilities as a Key in order to save Makoto Kuzunoha’s “life”. The ex-Searing Wind member had fallen ill after Joshua LaRue’s death and subsequent Second Breath as a Card jeopardized the connection between the two of them, as geist and Sin-Eater.
Interestingly enough, this ritual marked the beginning of Makoto’s existence as the second Reaper of the Fifth World. This has made him immortal, similar, in many ways, to Rethe Kyriff.
Researchers made a massive breakthrough in their research on the Taint in the Children of the Fifth World and managed to develop a much more potent “vaccine” that greatly mitigated the effects of the Taint. In fact in some cases, multiple shots of the vaccine managed to eliminate the Taint completely.
Pax Deorum scientists are still working towards finding a perfect cure by using the contents of this vaccine as their new base formula.
It’s been an interesting (and harrowing) couple of years since the Second Rise of Grendal, but things finally appear to be looking up in the Fifth World. It’s a brave, new time that few have ever managed to experience.
Nevertheless, there are still some pressing problems that need to be addressed. The Taint is still prevalent within the Children of the Fifth World. Alien races are getting increasingly interested in the Fifth World and its “curious” denizens. Some nations continue to openly defy the tenants of Pax Deorum and its Keepers. The Other World is still expanding. And, in general, life is still as difficult as it’s always been.
You’ve still got your work cut out for you, kids.