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by brian campbell chris hartford and adam tinworth vampire created by mark reinhagen

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2 credits written by brian campbell chris hartford and adam tinworth vampire and the world of darkness created by mark rein hagen storyteller game system design mark rein hagen developed by justin achilli editor ellen kiley art director richard thomas layout typesetting ron thompson interior art mike danza guy davis vince locke christopher shy and andrew trabbold front cover art christopher shy front back cover design ron thompson © 2002 white wolf publishing inc all rights reserved reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden except for the purposes of reviews and for blank character sheets which may be reproduced for personal use only white wolf vampire vampire the masquerade vampire the dark ages mage the ascension hunter the reckoning world of darkness and aberrant are registered trademarks of white wolf publishing inc all rights reserved werewolf the apocalypse wraith the oblivion changeling the dreaming werewolf the wild west mage the sorcerers crusade wraith the great war trinity london by night and victorian age vampire are trademarks of white wolf publishing inc all rights reserved all characters names places and text herein are copyrighted by white wolf publishing inc the mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned this book uses the supernatural for settings characters and themes all mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only this book contains mature content reader discretion is advised for a free white wolf catalog call 1-800-454-wolf check out white wolf online at http w w w white wolf c o m alt games white wolf and rec.games.frp.story teller

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3 table of contents introduction chapter one london from the dawn of time chapter two the city revealed chapter three london s host chapter four conspiracies chapter five storytelling 4 12 44 64 116 132

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when people think of london even today they tend to think of the victorian era modern london is much like any other city it has its history true but it is a mishmash of styles and trends many of which can be found in any major city anywhere in the western world the drifting thick london smog is long gone swept away by the clean air act and a century of industrial decline the ubiquitous black cab long ago replaced hansom cabs and the future of the monarchy is a subject of heated debate when the institution was once the very heart of the nation no wonder then that people prefer to think of the city as it was in the latter part of the 19th century the london of queen victoria sherlock holmes jack the ripper and of course count dracula in the infamous book by bram stoker it was the very heart of an empire that spanned a quarter of the globe british children at least those who received a decent education learned of the crown s right and responsibility to fairly rule and develop more primitive countries money poured into the city from the whole of the empire sparking a building boom that would last throughout the century railway lines museums hospitals schools public buildings private buildings and all manner of homes sprang up rapidly some in planned developments some not the city grew almost like a cancer eating into the countryside around it the railway lines drove into the countryside around the city transforming the rural parishes first into residences for the richest then quickly into commuting towns for the middle classes throughout the middle part of the century rapid building caused the gaps between many of the parishes on the outskirts of the city of london itself to close up this dramatic growth created the london we know today indeed two of the authors of this book live in just these suburbs one of them in a building that stood during the time referenced in this book at the time of victorian age vampire these suburban centers were newly born less than half a century old and struggling to cope with the change from rural parish to integral part of the overall city along the riverside new docks sprang up as the trade with the rest of the empire increased more and more people moved to the city from the countryside to sate the ever-increasing demands for labor in rhe factories docks and railways very little housing was available for these workers and the slums of whitechapel and soho grew rapidly to allow them to live within walking distance of their places of work in the meantime the middle classes who could afford the rail fares moved to the growing suburbs in the world of darkness london took on a gothic magnificence that the real city could never muster under the grand imperial buildings that transformed the london skyline the poor struggle to survive in slums that barely supported life epidemics of king cholera swept through the city until a major new sewage system eased the terrible water pollution problem each new railway line destroyed another section of housing for the working men and women of the city forcing them into greater and greater overcrowding and squalor the rich and aristocratic lived a life of pleasure and decadence with unprecedented amounts of leisure time the expanding middle classes grew fat on dedicated work pious christian values and the ruthless exploitation of workers meanwhile the numbers of kindred in the city grew as the population blossomed from 2.5 to 6.5 million in the last fifty years of the 19th century increasing the number of vampires the city could conservatively support to

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around sixty-five the actual number wasprobably higher the deprivation and overcrowding in slums like whitechapel lent themselves to easy feeding for careful kindred the docks and the railway stations allowed other kindred to arrive in the city with greater ease than before so the number of vampires constantly fluctuated and was probably difficult to pin down at any particular time in many ways victorian london was a model for the cities of the late 20th and early 21st centuries driven by commerce and linked to the world by several different means of transport it was no longer an isolated city with clear and manageable boundaries like the kindred power hierarchy had been used to in the years since the wars of princes in time the suburbs would become known as the barrens and shunned by the kindred here they were new opportunities for havens and influence that attracted those looking to carve out a slice of this mighty city for themselves with larger numbers competing for wealth and influence the pattern of power seen in so many modern cities slowly took shape london was right at the heart of the victorian age setting and would help define the age to come which makes it a perfect setting for a chronicle after all bram stoker charles dickens and sir arthur conan doyle all found this city an ideal place to tell a story or two why not walk a few steps in the shoes of giants how to use this book as with many recent by night releases this book presents the city and its undead inhabitants as a story setting rather than offering a detailed treatise on the historical london of over a century ago it s a tool to allow a troupe to create dramatic stories lit by flickering gaslight and wrapped in smog against of backdrop of hackney carriages steam railways and the grand buildings of the british empire we touch on the basic geographic strucrure of the city but it is in continual flux during rhe period of victorian age vampire and maps of the period are spotty at best you can if you wish learn more about the city to give your games greater depth and realism there s a reasonably extensive list of resources later in this chapter to help you do just that or you might choose to work with the fictional ideas of the city presented in a thousand holmes and dracula adaptations on the big and small screens either is a perfectly valid approach and we won t send the white wolf ripper around if you choose to take the city in a different direction from the one presented here chapter one tells the history of london with a particular emphasis on the role of the kindred in that long long story it takes you from the earliest preroman nights of the settlements that would become the city through to the return of mithras to the domain he has claimed for most of recorded history after an absence of the best part of a century chapter two covers the geography of the rapidly expanding city while the focus in on the city of london along with its east and west ends and the city of westminster there s also a brief look at the significant suburbs of the city from greenwich and sydenham to hackney and islington chapter three introduces the kindred of the city some have been there for centuries others are new arrivals from the far-flung ports of the british empire chapter four details the main plots at work in the city this is mainly for storytellers giving them a good point to start building their chronicles using the ideas and story hooks contained within tailoting them to the needs of their troupe chapter five gives advice hints and ideas for telling stories in london it includes suggestions for evoking both the feel of the city and the mood of the era as well as a discussion of the particular thematic issues that make victorian london such a unique place to set your victorian age vampire game theme and mood london is a city of contrasts it is the shining jewel of the british empire constantly being improved with grand new buildings both public and private yet much of the city is still full of slums the powerful people of london rule countries thousands of miles away yet most of the populace have no control over their own lives great strides are being made in art science and education even as poverty crime and prostitution grow rife it is almost two cities the daytime city of culture achievemenr destiny and vision and the nighttime city of power struggles selfishness cruelty and hypocrisy the book is about london by night and so will focus more on the latter than the former like much of the literature of the period that is still read today the tales of sherlock holmes give people a vicarious peek into london s underworld arthur machen s writings are obsessed with the dark that lurks under the surface in the city dracula of course opens up the sexual and evil parts of human nature that people work so hard to deny.

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8 theme the main theme of london by night is power with its inevitable attendants opportunity and powerlessness the city of london enjoys a power across the rest of the globe that no city since rome has acquired the british empire the greatest empire the world has ever seen has conquered country after country by sheer force of might and technological prowess over a quarter of the globe is now colored pink the color the british use for their empire on maps and the empire is so large that there is never a part of it that is not lit by daylight as the saying of the day goes the sun never sets on the british empire power over this vast area and the untold billions of souls within radiates from this very city for the kindred of london this is the chance to seize unprecedented influence on a global scale their eyes turn from an exclusive focus on the city beneath their feet to lands beyond their reach only a century before the steamship and the railway engine have increased the speed of communication beyond anything experienced before and a missive to a well placed associate in india can have a substantial impact this is a time of profound opportunity for an enterprising vampire the power structures of the kindred themselves are in flux however mithras the ancient prince of this city has returned after ninety years of absence he did not like what he found when he returned and has moved to break and remold the existing order among the kindred the ambitious ventrue anne bowesley became his right hand and she plans to remake the primogen in his image or so mithras assumes anne herself is hungry for power and does her best to assure that kindred newly risen to positions of power owe at least as much to her as they do to mithras after all an ancient vampire spends long periods in torpor and someone has to handle the domain in his absence mithras is the very embodiment of power he is a vampire over three millennia old who claims to be the childe of the ventrue clan foundet and on occasion to actually be the god with whom he shares his name he is a prince of princes wielding absolute authority in the domain he has successfully defended against kindred whose names are now lost to history yet he is out of touch he little understands how london has changed let alone the rest of the united kingdom and its empire while his absolute power goes unchallenged at least by those who wish to see another night his command of the details of rule is negligible and that responsibility he has passed to anne meanwhile kindred like the parasites they are flock to the city from all over the globe hoping both to take advantage of the city s preeminence and to win the favor of one of the most powerful vampires still active in the victorian age they find in london and in its prominent kindred a city of strong moral values coupled with an abiding hypocrisy the british middle and upper classes talk of their duty to the rest of the world while millions of londoners live in squalor the kindred while making claims to gentility and unity struggle against each other with words and deeds with a savagery that many in the hovels of whitechapel would find strangely familiar however the new arrivals stand no chance of reaching the pinnacle of power while the same is true of all of kindred society in which the elders inherently have more power than their childer it probably shows more clearly in london than any other city of the period mithras is near godlike in his strength all other power is merely the crumbs from his table however much they achieve the kindred of london have to face the fact that they are in their own way nearly as powerless as the slum-dwelling mortals mood the mood in london is one of desperate struggles for survival or power hidden behind a concealing veil of civilization the mortals and kindred of the city are both obsessed with building their own power at the expense of others opportunity lies before them and they must seize it others be damned just as the thick fogs often wrap the city in a blanket that obscures its true face the people of the eta conceal their true faces behind masks of civilized behavior and pious demeanor less than three miles from the great centers of art and science in kensington the women of soho and whitechapel sell their bodies to men rich and poor for three pennies a fuck for every wealthy man endowing museums and homes for fallen women a thousand people starve on the streets amid the fog behind the facades of gentility and civilization lurks an animal in every mortal and vampire that is always willing to break through the veneer when the need arises perhaps that s why the whitechapel murders caught the public imagination to such a vivid degree the corpses of those five butchered prostitutes were vivid reminders of how easily that animal side could break loose even in the glory of victoria s empire the fact that they took place in whitechapel which many people saw as little more than a breeding ground for human animals made the story all the more powerful for the kindred the ripper stands as a vivid reminder of their nature he is not one of them yet he makes everyone aware of the monsters that hide among humanity each murder breaches a masquerade that the

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9 perpetrator has never heard of or been party to in any way yet the whole of victorian society is in its own way a masquerade both men and women dress in all-concealing clothes and overt displays of sexuality and emotion are frowned upon the human animal is denied in favor of the civilized mind even as piano legs are covered just in case they arouse desire in a man the grieving victoria lost in mourning for her beloved husband albert is the dark heart of the empire the very moral core of the people has lost its light it is an empty shell no longer attuned to the realities of the world a history of london by stephen inwood macmillan another good history of the city on more chronological lines than ackroyd s book this sceptered hie by christopher lee penguin books a solid overview of british history from the roman invasion until victoria s death a history of britain 1 3000bc -1603 ad by simon schama bbc books a history of britain 2 1603 ad 1776 ad by simon schama bbc books this pair of books accompanies the bbc tv series of the same name providing an easily accessible history of the british isles london 1900 by jonathan schneeryalenotabene an interesting social and political overview of london at the end of the victorian era on the fiction front the works of arthur machen if you can find them are some of the most evocative of the era buy them simply because you can swipe great chunks of them for your game the london adventure sadly long out of print is the best portrait of victorian london in the world of darkness you could hope to find any of his other works would be just as good dickens is particularly good on the grimy underbelly of victorian london and is a must any of the good gothic horror tales of the period are worth a look too all of stoker s work not just dracula is worth exploring even the sherlock holmes stories are worth reading for their period detail the hound of the baskervilles catches the clash of rationalism and superstition particularly well resources books books on victorian london are numerous as are those which just give a general history of the city here are some of the more easily available titles dickens s dictionary of london 1888 old house books 1993 is probably the single most useful companion volume to this book you can lay your hands on a facsimile of a guidebook written by one charles dickens in the middle of our chosen period it also has an extremely useful map of london during that period victorian london revealed gustave dare s metropolis penguin books 2001 is a useful guide to the city of the period with some wonderfully evocative illustrations of the city thoroughly recommended the london encyclopedia macmillan 1995 while not specific to the victorian era it s just about the best reference guide to the city ever published victorian edwardian london brockhampton press 1999 is a glossy book with some lovely paintings and a decent look at some of the key features of london not as useful as the other books but worth having all the same for its skillful evocation of the elegant feel of the city as seen by the upper classes victorian london street life in historic photographs dover publications 1994 it s amazing how much more a city comes to life through photographs rather than illustrations these photos of ordinary people in victorian london make it feel much more immediate and could be very useful in bringing the city alive for your players london the biography by peter ackroyd vintage a superlative biography of london organized on thematic lines books jack the ripper from hell knockabout 2001 a compilation of alan moore and eddie campbell s comic a retelling of the ripper story incorporating the latest theories into that it weaves a mystical conspiracy that seems perfect for the world of darkness you ll never look at hawksmoor s churches the same way again the complete jack the ripper by donald rumbelow penguin books one of many books on the ripper rumbelow s book while far from perfect isn t hung up on any one theory and provides a good overview of the evidence and suspects music this is an era of classical music opera operetta and the music hall while tracks from the bawdy music halls are surprisingly hard to come by other authentic music of the era is commonly and cheaply available and probably more appropriate for the gaming table this is

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10 the era of brahms bruckner debussy gustav mahler puccini richard strauss tchaikovsky and verdi a quick browse through the classical section of your local music store should provide a decent selection of their work which makes excellent background music for a game you could even try some of the operettas of gilbert sullivan if you wish but be aware that their comedic tone might not be appropriate to the mood of a vampire story if the thought of classical music is too much the soundtracks to from hell and bram stoker s dracula are appropriately mood-setting and unobtrusive in the game so long as you exclude the horribly misjudged annie lennox track on the latter http www.fidnet.com dapl955/dickens dickens_london_map.html details of london as it appears in the works of charles dickens a concise british lexicon george bernard shaw once quipped england and america are two countries divided by a common language many of the words and phrases used by londoners in the time period of victorian age vampire will be familiar to non-british readers but some forgetting the spelling and grammar differences and the hollywood conceit that londoners are either toffs or dick van dyke clones who speak cockney rhyming slang are sufficiently different in the queen s tongue to cause confusion or else have no equivalent in modern parlance of course many words used in regional dialects pose comprehension problems for those of us born and bred in britain and are difficult enough for those of us who have lived here all our lives let alone for our colonial brethren in the united states of america this short list explains a few of the words that may cause confusion but those wishing to learn more are advised to seek a dedicated tome items in italics are definitions rather than translations while si denotes slang that of course no proper gentleman or lady would think to use £ pound sterling 20 shillings british people just say a pound rather than a pound sterling id 1 penny 4 farthings 2d tuppence two pennies 6d sixpence six pennies autumn fall badge pin barmy si crazy biscuit cookie bill check bob si shilling bowler hat derby bobby si a policeman braces suspenders bum si butt by law ordinance city the the old roman and medieval city of london now its financial district corporation city government curtains drapes film video and television the victorian era has been captured on film in any number of costume dramas however few of them are really evocative of the sort of mood appropriate to a vampire game from hell is a movie adaptation of the comic strip of the same name and catches the feel of the city surprisingly well worth a look bram stoker s dracula is worth viewing as it captures the spirit of the book far better than any other adaptation though that isn t saying much its depiction of london is pretty good too there have been many many adaptations of the sherlock holmes stories on tv and film the tv series starring jeremy brett in the 1980s and 1990s is regarded by many as the definitive version and is well worth watching for its evocative recreation of the victorian city if you can catch it on tv or video in a similar bent murder rooms a recent british series focuses on the creator of holmes sir arthur conan doyle and his friendship with the man who inspired the famous consulting detective in a series of fictional investigations while much of it is set in edinburgh not london it s also a good reference for the uk in the victorian period websites http www.casebook.org a comprehensive site on jack the ripper http booth.lse.ac.uk an online resource of charles booth s poverty maps of london in the late victorian era http www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/victorian the victorian web resources on many aspects of victorian life

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ii east end the areas of london east of the city notably whitechapel and shadwell europe the european mainland british people regard themselves as distinct from europe farthing smallest coin in circulation fag si cigarette fun fair carnival gaol jail gobsmacked si amazed ground floor first floor etc kip si sleep kipper smoked herring knock up wake up mp member of parliament nosh food pants shorts peeler policeman also bobby pm prime minister leader of the government post mail quid si pound sterling shilling 12 pence sitting room living room also drawing room sofa davenport square mile the city london s financial district suspenders garters sweets candy telegram wire trousers pants truncheon nightstick waistcoat vest west end the districts of london west of the city notably soho and mayfair wonky broken/wobbly

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14 a chronology of london with deference to events in britain london is without doubt the most important city in britain and the world but to examine its history in isolation would be to miss the forces that drove events in london and provided the motivating force for its occupants rulers and conquerors as such this chronology occasionally strays from details of the city itself to the wider scope in britain and occasionally the world i beg your indulgence in this matter and pray it does not inconvenience you dear reader the mists of time when the first cainites came to london one cannot say but mortals had been living in the isles for millennia when the romans arrived on these shores in 55 bc my lord mithras has told me of ancients abiding in britain when he came to these shores but it does not seem that any yet survive or at least are known or willing to share their knowledge we know from the annals of marcus verus that gangrel dwelt here according to legend having pursued a great betrayer from the east who or what this was i cannot say and efforts to draw information from the ancient baron of chester have been met with hostility a substantial ventrue and brujah population also resided in britain perhaps having accompanied the mortal migrations across europe or mayhap displaced there by events in the civilized lands of the mediterranean one legend associated with the founding of london builds on such events claiming that the founders of london came from asia minor fleeing a great war that claimed their city eleven centuries before the birth of christ they say that the people followed their great leaders to the edge of the known world crossing the narrow seas to a cool but verdant land where they sought to rebuild their lost glories their city they called troia novantum new troy my lord mithras decries these claims as unsubstantiated musings and asserts that the story is a modern invention popularized over the last fifteen hundred years one that was never heard in the first century after christ when he came to the isles the first reference appears to be in the 6th century ad in the poems of taliesin the pre-roman name for london trinovantum according to geoffrey of monmouth would seem to lend some credence to the legend though it was superceded by the more probable but equally speculative save for some place names such as ludgate caer ludd ludd s fort transformed by the imperials into londinium whatever the truth the troy origin story appeals to both kindred and kine suggesting an antecedent for the city s glory most recently exhibited in its role as the capital of the empire but 1 digress the location we now know as london was a place of power important to mortals and supernaturals alike the springs of tower hill penton and tothill were sacred to the druids and lupines were also drawn to these sites though i know not why around the times in which christ walked

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