Supernatural Timeline

This is a look by personalities around the Praxis into what has, or may have happened correlating to the mortal history of Azilum. The Mortal History will come first, followed by a 'What We Know Happened.' Remember, this is all from the Kindred and Ghouls of the Praxis, meaning it may not be fully accurate. Enjoy.

1931 to 1935: The Westmoreland County  War. The Westmoreland County War was a series of coal mining-related skirmishes, executions, bombings, and strikes (both attempted and realized) that took place in Westmoreland, Azilum, and the surrounding area during the 1930s. The incidents involved coal miners and union organizers on one side and coal firms and law enforcement officials on the other with the city's criminal gangs alternately taking advantage of the conflict and aiding one side or the other in the war.

1932:  The Westmoreland County Sheriff, the infamous J.T. DuBois, declares his allegiance to the mining companies famously saying, " I did all in my power to aid the operators… there was no compromise when labor troubles swept the county and the 'Reds' invaded the Lenape Valley."

1933: There are more than 15 bombings, six murders and five incidences of arson in Azilum. The National Guard is called in to occupy the city. The strikers expected protection, but upon replacing deputized mine guards, the National Guard broke the picket lines instead. On May 24, a union rally was tear-gassed, and Sheriff DuBois rescinded county members' right to assemble. By June 17, the last mine had been returned to work by force. No concessions were given by the mine operators.

1934: The Labor Violence continues with the battles between Coal and Rail police and union miners raging. The Westmoreland County district attorney is killed by a car bomb. Sheriff Dubois bulldozes several miner's camps and many of the miners are run off at gunpoint.The Travailleurs Rouges are driven underground and the UMW returns. The election of a Democratic Governor causes a change. The National Guard stops assaulting workers.

1935:  The National Guard is now deployed to protect the workers and the governor declared the behavior of the Coal and Rail Police "The worst reign of terror in the history of the Commonwealth."

-         What We Know Happened: “This was years of street and back-alley brawls between the Sabbat and our hallowed Tower. Some say that even the Wolves and Willworkers did their part in these battles, but who could believe they stepped foot outside their forests and shadowy laboratories. For over fifty years past this, the Sabbat were silent. Not nearly long enough.”

1936: The river floods in early June and the remainder of the summer is plagued with record heat. Disease is rampant in the city, prompting the city to utilize CCC money to improve and modernize it's sewers, expanding to the French District and points on the West Bank.

-         What We Know Happened: “Strange. No matter how much digging we do into this, we just can’t seem to find any useful information. How strange. Oh well.”

June 1956- The Riviera, the first Casino in Azilum opens with The Rat Pack as the headlining act. Within two years the Sands and the Cleopatra are also erected.

-         What We Know Happened: “I remember meeting Dean and Frank. Before that day, I thought the most pompous and self-loving people were the Toreador. Clearly, I was wrong.”

1959:  The River Slope Mine disaster occurs. 39 miners are killed as the river collapses into the mine. The disaster seems to cripple the Anthracite industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

-         What We Know Happened: “I don’t care to point fingers or make assumptions without any proof, but the river that day ran like a demon was at its heels, destroying homes and lives. It was calm as can be on the shores of City Island, though, and anyone in the city that night heard the howling of wolves cutting through the frozen air of Azilum.”

1974:  William Parker Powell, serial killer is slain after killing 9 people from the summer of 73 to 74. Experts believe he may be responsible for as many as 26 deaths.

-         What We Know Happened: “ He got his nick name as the ‘Lonely Hearts Killer,’ due to his victims hearts being torn from their body. The Wolves had their hackles up at this killer, and they get very, very upset about it. Where I do not know why, I equally do not give a damn.”

May 1983: - What We Know Happened: “This is the Spring where the traitor Primogen Cyrus murdered Prince Maximilian. Few of us expected it, but the prick got what he deserved.”

1984:  The Emerald City Gang War comes to a violent close when 7 members of the Blanco Drug Cartel are violently murdered. The major drug suppliers in Azilum now come primarily from sources in Hong Kong and Corsica.

-         What We Know Happened: “And the streets are ours once again.”

1985: April- The Centenial Celebration of the incorporation of Azilum is celebrated in the city.

November 15 - Local Real Estate Magnate and business magnate  Maximilian Buridan is slain in a car bombing. Later that same night four Azilum City Police officers are slain in a violent shoot out with known members of black streets gangs.

November 17- The Westmoreland County Sheriff's Dept. issues an arrest warrant for the Universalist Liberation Front Leader Abdulla Mifumo in connection to the gangland slaying of Buridan and the police officers. Mifumo refuses to surrender and the ULF holes itself up in the tenement  their group has taken over. Police surround the location and the Federal Authorities are called in to deal with the situation.

Nov 17 through 22- A wave of violence sweeps through Azilum, with murders, arsons and  racially motivated attacks throughout the city. It becomes known as The Terror and it ends with the National Guard being deployed to keep order.

Nov 23- Westmoreland County Sheriff Gerard Boulanger ordered an end to the stand off and two police helicopters drop incendiary devices on the ULF Headquarters. The devices cause a massive fire, which destroys the tenament. The Fire Dept. refuses to act out fear for their own safety. The fire spreads and 63 residences are destroyed 11 ULF members and 14 other people are killed.

-         What We Know Happened: “Tsk, tsk, tsk. My, how the mighty have fallen further and further. Our wayward Rabble decided it was time to ‘seize the means of production,’ or some such nonsense. It’s alright. Just another dark stain on their black histories.”

1989:  Meteor strike in the mountains to the Northeast of Azilum creates an explosion that ca be heard as far away as Philadelphia and New York City. There are various reports of UFOs, Black Helicopters, Russian agents and reports of strange series of lights and noises coming from the Arrowhead Facility.

-         What We Know Happened: “Hell if I know. If you can figure out what in the nine hells is happening inside the Arrowhead company, I’m sure the Prince will boon you to high heavens. Just don’t let it lead back here; we don’t need Willworkers or whoever it is breathing down our necks.”

May 1995- A copycat terrorist of the Oklahoma City Bomber is intercepted on its way to deliver a truckload of explosives to the Commodities Exchange; there is a running gun battle with police with three white separatists slain when their vehicle explodes.

-         What We Know Happened: “Years ago, a certain Clan of ours realized that it’s much easier to use the Extremists and Psychopaths of the world to do their dirty work rather than regular, average citizens. You don’t have to go far to keep the Masquerade safe, or explain a situation away when you put ‘Terrorist’ or ‘Supremacist’ in front of it.”

1997: School shooting of 14 students and 3 teachers at the John T. Banks Memorial High School.

-         What We Know Happened: “Shit, son, some things don’t got nothing to do with us. The mortals are monsters of their own.”

2003: The Great Black Out. A bizarre electromagnetic pulse is generated from a power substation in the Financial District struck by lightning. The Power Outage is exasperated by a terrorist attack that is launched by an obscure group of techno-fetishists called the Panther Moderns using a powerful hallucinogen to cause a false panic about the SARS outbreak. Using this as cover, the group attempts a break-in at the Arrowhead facility. There is violence and a cordon of federal agencies descends on the Arrowhead site and an air-tight media blackout shrouds the incident in mystery. IT has been fuel for conspiracy theorists since.

-         What We Know Happened:  “We aren’t certain of who the Willworkers, the Mages, were opposing, but there’s no doubt they were involved. Almost every one of them in the city that we’re aware of were out and about that night. I feel bad for whoever it was they were fighting that night. There were still plenty of Government suits out after they left, though, so it must have been important.”

2005: There is a new outburst of violence as the Solntsevskaya Bratva becomes one of the dominant criminal Outfits in Azilum. There is fierce conflict between the corsican,  Brise de Mer, the chinese Son On Yi and the Russians for primary control of the underworld activity.

-         What We Know Happened: “Praxis business. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just say one of our Clans did well in gaining some more power.”

2008: The Global Financial Crisis. With the burst of the housing bubble, Stock Markets crashed The Commodities exchange drops a record 20,000 points over the course of three days. There is widespread distress that is felt throughout the economy. In the wake of the Financial Collapse the AIC Azilum Investment Consortium  outrages the world by spending out 100s of millions dollars in executive bonuses in advance of the Group's bailout. The home of Jean-Robert Guillard  is firebombed in Breton Heights.

-         What We Know Happened: “They swear up and down they didn’t do anything ‘unseemly’ while they were here, but it’s funny that the Italian Corpsefucker’s have a bit of a pow-wow in the city the weekend this happened.”

2011:  Occupy Azilum. The global protest in Azilum is centered in King George Square. It gathers about 2000 protestors  and after the first month the protesters divest themselves to a new strategy. Groups of protesters move to unoccupied and foreclosed homes in one of the city's now defunct gated communities, called Brookline Downs.

On December 29, the Battle of Brookline occurs when the police, with backup resources from the County and other cities in the Commonwealth bulldozes the housing development. Within a few hours the entirety of Occupy is buried/scattered arrested.

-         What We Know Happened: “That month gave us all something to worry about. First time in a quarter of a century we had any significant presence of the Sabbat. Tried to stir up some shit in town with the streets to distract us while they put their shovelheads into hiding, ducking down into basements and sewers like the rats they are. We don’t have to worry about them anymore; The Tremere did what they do best.”