Timeline: all history, as far as anyone currently knows, is that of Earth until 1887. However, all myths, legends and stories of fantasy and metaphysics are now viewed under a different light given the last 50 years.
1887: First documented manifestation of vampirism according to Dr. Wilhelm Helldorf, court physician for the Habsburg royal family. The case emanates from Romania: a vampire allegedly killed seven people before being hunted down, shot over 30 times, hanged, and stabbed (but was still quite alive) until fire was used to incinerate the body.
1887: A great green light is seen for many miles surrounding the southern Ural Mountains in Russia. No explanation is ever found.
1888: 5 documented cases of ‘lycanthropy’ in England, France, Canada and Russia; each case mimics almost perfectly the case of the Beast of Gevaudan (1764-67, France).
1888: 37 documented cases of ‘miraculous’ healing at Lourdes Shrine in France (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes). Every case shows no signs of illness after drinking or bathing in the waters of the shrine. Dr. Emil De Beque writes full account for the government but it is never published. One case was that of a woman, Marie Roche, who had terminal cancer and was healed in only one day.
1890: “Great Ghost Dance” begins in the western United States. While the ‘uprising’ is crushed brutally, several accounts of Indian warriors manifesting beast-like attributes are reported by soldiers involved in the fighting. In one case, Corporal Daniel Stevens is photographed after a battle showing un-mistakable signs of being attacked by a bear or lion. Stevens dies before he can give a full account of his injuries.
1891: Gustav Mueller, a minor academic from Vienna, writes an account of a sorcerer that he encounters in Egypt while searching for lost tombs. Mueller’s account is fragmented when it arrives in Vienna in the hands of his servant Ludwig Probst. Probst is subsequently committed to an asylum when a court finds him insane. The fragments of Mueller’s journal are locked in a vault in the Schloss Klessheim in Salzburg, Austria.
1898: Last documented case of supernatural phenomena in the 19th century: two man-eating lions kill dozens of workers and several hunters in Kenya along the Tsavo River while a railroad is being constructed. Several eye-witness accounts say that the beasts are human by day and beast by night. These accounts are disregarded by British officials, of course. One lion is eventually killed, the other one disappears. Examination by the British physicians and biologists at the scene are indeterminate as to the cause of the lions’ behavior.
1904 – Egypt: Renowned occultist, and Golden Dawn member, Alistair Crowley and his wife Rose arrive in Egypt. Rose begins having visions of the ancient Egyptian gods. Crowley later writes that a new age has arrived and the he is to be the new prophet of this age. Crowley and his wife disappear two years later and are reported to be dead by a man, one Sebastian Turnow, who also claims to be Crowley’s protégé. Turnow is able to lay claim, under dubious legality, to Crowley’s fortune and title. He subsequently begins the Cult of Osiris; a mysterious cult of sorcery.
1908: King Carlos of Portugal and his son, Luis Felipe, are murdered by assassins. Though the official account states that Manuel Buica fired the shots that killed the king and his son; Alfredo Costa is also implicated and one eye-witness, Queen Amelie of Orleans, is certain that she saw a blue flash from the crowd as the shots were being fired from a different direction. The Queen also stated that she saw blue light of some kind strike her husband. Her account is ignored and quietly hushed up.
1914 – August: As the Great War begins in Europe; one investigator (Johann Keppler) working for the Habsburg Royal family continues his inquiry of the Black Hand and the murders of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. This investigator disappears as the war starts, some say he journeyed to Serbia and then to Romania. He has not been heard from since. Rumors persist that the Black Hand was actually associated with the Circle of Apophis.
1916 – The Somme- France: German and British soldiers give multiple accounts of dead soldiers rising up and continuing to fight one another and the living during the summer offensive. All of these accounts are believed to be a form of ‘shell shock’ and are quietly ignored or swept under the rug.
1916 – Russia: Grigori Rasputin is murdered, allegedly, by members of the Imperial family and army after his influence on the Tsarina is seen to be too powerful. Contrary to the official report, Rasputin’s body is never found.
1917 – Jerusalem: For three days, the sun disappears as dark clouds ominously form around the Dome of the Rock (which is built upon the ancient temple of Solomon). Muslims, Jews and Christians pray all over the city. When the three days end, many people have been changed in appearance as well as form. Scientists christen these new creatures as ‘elves, orcs and dwarves’ (and other names). Other cases are also confirmed in the Near East and other regions of the Mediterranean and Central Asia. For the next 7 years, this process continues to happen eventually reaching the Americas and Europe. People mysteriously change into new forms without any causation. By 1924, laws are being passed in several countries that discriminate against ‘mutants’ or ‘beasts’: those that are classified as ‘elves and dwarves’ see the least discrimination, those that are more ‘monstrous’ looking fare far worse. The common name for these people, slanderous though it is, is the Afflicted.
1917 – Russia: The Russian Revolution begins and quickly degenerates into civil war. It is one of the worst internal conflicts the world has ever seen. Several accounts of atrocities filter out to the rest of the world.
1922 – Japan – Osaka: Over one-hundred deaths are attributed to an ‘Omi’ or Japanese Vampire. Oroku Shingi is credited with killing the beast but he goes missing shortly after.
1927 – Present Day:
The world is much the same as it would have been if not for the re-emergence of the supernatural. Britain and France rule much of the world. Germany is weak due to the Treaty of Versailles. Eastern Europe is in chaos; engaged in minor incidents of civil war and wars between the newly created small states. Africa is divided between European powers but her newly found magical energy has rendered this control far more difficult. The people of the United States are mostly isolationist and uninterested in any affairs beyond their own borders.
Numerous groups of secret societies are rumored to exist. Over 10 million people have been affected by “the affliction”. They are largely marginalized and persecuted; but this is not always the case.
Numerous scholars, adventurers and explorers are still trying to find out what happened to bring about what is being called the “age of chaos”.
Last edited by whit10 on Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:13 pm; edited 3 times in total