Skyfall Setting Info

The War, Before and After

Before the war Houston's governing Council was composed of members of the Guardians and Arrow since its inception. The power of those two orders over the centuries has left the mage community with a distinctly martial culture, with its magical citizens having raided the Caribbean, Southwest and Mexico for magical resources in the past. In 1900 the hallows in the southwest dried up, leaving Houston as the city in the region with hallows and capable of sustaining a mage community. Mages flocked to the city, significantly increasing its population. To keep order among the new arrivals the Consilium departed from Atlantean tradition and took on an authoritarian form of government. All sovereign power was vested in the Hierarch, he was made arbiter of all affairs within Houston. The Hierarch was assisted by a Chancellor who exercised all power delegated to him, and who appointed the rest of the Council which served only an advisory function. As the Council was packed with Arrow appointees, all social and political standing had come to rest with those possessing martial prowess, naturally favoring the Arrow. Mages with military minds had come to form the elite of society.

The Consilia near Sabine Lake were small and fractious, divided into small communities no larger than a cabal or two. The Hierarch was assured that victory would come swiftly against such a small and unorganized force, leaving Huston’s forces overconfident and under prepared. When the invasion was launched all of the local Consilia banded together and fought a war of attrition. When Houston was defeated by the alliance the Adamantine Arrow was reduced from an order of about 180 to a maximum size of 18 mages by treaty obligations. Reparations to the allies were taken in the form of imbued items, spell scrolls, and artifacts. The new coalition government renamed the office of Hierarch into President and many of its powers were transferred to the Chancellor and the Councilors. Council seats are now subject to election by members of the Councilium. 

Post War Activities

Artifact Hunting
The world is strange and older than it appears and artifacts from a bygone era can be found in ancient temples, or buried at the bottom of the sea. Many scholars of the Mysterium labor day in and day out researching local mythologies to find clues of the location of lost Atleantean artifacts and lore. 

Science!
The Free Council uses its university connections to sponsor a yearly magical research conference that mages from around the world attend to present their latest findings. Last years winner, Thaddeus Jones won a prize for his use of mana-based circutry to construct a sentient servitor. 

Mystery Solving
Every year some people go missing, to turn up days or months later dead and hanging off of TV antennas. News papers report strange lights seen in the sky and Men in Black suits investigate witnesses, always coming up with inconclusive evidence. 

Crime Fighting
This is a rough city with a corrupt police force, street crime is rampant and some have decided to pick up the mantle and take the fight directly to those who threaten the peace of their home. 

Supernatural Threats

The Seer of the Throne
The Seers of the region have kept a low profile in order to avoid a direct confrontation with the local Consilium. These agents of the Exarchs prefer to emply subtler methods when they strengthen the lie and prevent more humans from awakening. One of them may close an amusement park, another might start a charitable foundation, all to prevent one child from searching for the Truth and Awakening to challenge the Lie. 

Banishers
The Banishers are those whose awakening was a painful and traumatic experience, or they believe that magic is inherently evil. They dedicate their lives to hunting down and slaying any mage that they come across. 

Scelesti
The Scelesti are worshipers of the Abyss who seek to corrupt the Earth until all of reality is subsumed by the dark madness of that Realm. 

Liches 
These guys are bad news whenever they arrive in a city. They are unscrupulous mages who have extended their lives through dark magic, consuming human souls to prolong their existence. They produce horrendously high body counts in their pursuit of power and eternal life. 

Houston

• Population of 2 million within the city limits, and 6 million in the metro area
• Houston has no zoning laws, so traffic is bad and the city layout is chaotic
• There are more than 500 mages in the city. Mana has become a scarce and valuable resource with this many mages in one city and the scarcity of hollows. 
• High concentration of sleep walkers
• Other supernaturals avoid the affairs and territory of mages due in no small part to this Consilium’s history. They occasionally send ambassadors to keep the peace and maintain the secrecy of supernatural creatures.

Notable People of Houston

• Mayor Michael Matthews

• More of a diplomat than administrator the mayor has left most of the day to day workings of the city in the hands of Donald Crump. The mayor primarily concerns himself with encouraging companies to open offices in the city with lower taxes and kickbacks, all in a continual effort to secure his re-election.

• City Controller Donald Crump

• An ardent believer of the free market, he makes sure that all of his staff have read the entire works of Ayn Rand before they start working for him. He is leading efforts to privatize most of the City’s functions but at the moment no one wants to buy them. Is often seen having lunch with Chris Patterson.

• Police Chief Matt Black

• The Chief is an argumentative man who always has to get the last word in especially with the city controller. This has led to city hall reducing the police budget but the chief being ever resourceful has managed to makeup up the short fall through funding from the state and the federal governments through securitization(framing everything in terms of national security). He would be forever indebted to anyone who could remove the controller from office. 

• Detective Carlos Segovia 

• The DA’s right hand the detective runs the organized crime division of the Houston Police Department. He is always looking for information on the cities criminal underworld and those who can provide it are rewarded handsomely. 

• Judge Dermot O’Riley

• Proud of his record of most executions in the country the judge is a tough bitter old man and everyone in front of his bench gets an earful. 

• District Attorney Jack Jackson

• Houston’s White Knight. He has made a name for himself as a public prosecutor zealously hunting down corrupt politicians and organized crime. An intense man who is a workaholic with little patience he can always be found in his office or at the courthouse ensuring that justice is served. 

• Agent Raymond Li

• Head and sole agent of the cold cases Houston division. The agent was transferred from his former post in St Louis for talking about vampires and ghosts committing crimes in the city. He was too good to fire, so he was placed in the back of an office to do mostly paperwork and not disturb anymore people. Despite the unwanted transfer Raymond has put himself into his work and has captured a serial killer by using odd means. 

• Jake Giuseppe

• Businessman, philanthropist and local mob boss has his hands in nearly every pie. Business interests range from energy, construction, tax services, shipping and finance. His illegal enterprises compose drugs, weapons, prostitution, gambling and money laundering. He has managed to maintain a public façade of a compassionate businessman who always contributes to the community by building parks, schools, employment and scholarship. It frustrates the DA to no end that they haven’t been able to pin anything on him. 

• Chris Patterson 

• The very definition of Charisma and avarice Chris could charm the pants right off of you and then sell them back to you. He would sell his own grandmother if it could make him a buck. He uses his talents as the President of the Houston Chamber of Commerce to lobby the city and state government for lower taxes, reduced regulations and favorable contracts for the cities large businesses. 

• Janelle Lewis

• Janelle is the President of the Huston Museum District a job she has acquired by being a professional dilettante and cultural enthusiast. It’s rumored that she has slept with half the cities artists and businessmen. It doesn’t matter if those are true or not as long as she can keep the donations flowing into the museums and the exhibits stocked with the latest and greatest from the art world. 

• Bishop John Brey

• A very quiet and conservative man the Bishop is not fond of leading masses he is a theologian by training and prefers to debate in the spiritual community of the city and write theological commentaries. His latest project has been enticing conservative Anglican churches in Houston to abandon their increasingly liberal church and embrace Catholicism. Runs the diocese of Houston 

• Reverend Michael Douglas

• A very giant and passionate man with an ego the size of Texas. The Reverend is the head of Pentecostal Church of God a small but influential evangelical church in the city. 

• Dr. Janet Bjerke 

• Professor of Anthropology at Rice University she specializes in Mesoamerica. Often goes on digs in central America and looking for unpaid research assistants

• Carla Santiago RN

• Head ER nurse at Sister Helen Highwater Hospital. A compassionate woman in her mi 40’s, she stands 5’8’’ with short blonde hair and green eyes. Has never turned any one away, no matter how strange the injury or someone’s immigration status

Organizations of Note

• The Church of Happyology

• The Cartright Foundation

Notable Places

• Brown Auditorium

• Part of the Museum of Fine Arts the Consilium has a meeting here for all mages on the first Saturday of each month (mage version of Court) 

• White Rabbit Bar & Grill

• Neutral ground for the city’s mages, gather here with friends from any order and take a drink to remember lost friends. Run by Trip. 

• The Penthouse Suite

• Large penthouse above the Omni Hotel, safe space provided by the guardians for discrete meetings 

• Afterlife Night Club
• Owned by the Fonts, one of them can always be found here

• The Great Library

• A private library in central Huston that is the HQ of the Mysterium 

• Pete’s warehouse

• Adamantine Arrow HQ on the outskirts of the city 

• Lakeside Country Club

• Genteel country club on a picturesque lakefront that serves societies most elite members, the Silver Ladder. This country club serves as the clubhouse and headquarters of the order. 

• University of Houston

• Free Council HQ

• Lake Sabine

• Excellent fishing spot

• The manafont is located here

• Under constant surveillance 

• The Southwest 

• There are mo hallows west of Houston until you reach Flagstaff, Arizona. Geomantically this is very strange and the area has been this way since 1900,  and no one has quite figured out why yet.

Mages of Houston

Rosenbaum Family (Proximi Dynasty)

• Large wealthy family that is a pillar of the local community. Magic runs through their veins and a full cabal of mages is born every generation. Every member that is not awakened is born a sleepwalker.

The General Staff (Arrow Cabal)

• The Adamant Sage
• General Orichalcum
• Colonel Moonsilver
• Major Starmetal
• Captain Jade

MI6 (Guardian Cabal)

• M
• Q
• Money Penny
• 006
• 007

The Fonts (Mysterium Cabal)

• Serif
• Comic Sans
• Helvetica
• Arial
• Bookman Gothic

The Gods (Mixed Cabal)

• Baron Samedi
• Maman Brigitte
• Zeus
• Hera
• Osiris
• Isis

The Council

• President Hindenburg (Silver Ladder)
  Genial old man and rather found of airships. Was an adamant general during the war and by the end the head of Huston’s army, his rescue operations and daring raids into enemy territory made him a war hero. Once the Hierarch fled after the war worsened he pressured the new government to accept a peace agreement immediately because “our armies do not lose.” When the peace treaty went into effect he was demobilized and was recruited by the ladder because his war hero status may prove valuable. Was entered into and won the last presidential election (2011) despite his protests and has fulfilled his duties with Honor, Dignity and Integrity. Can often be found on his Airship/Sanctum "The Dawns Light" which is a Zeppelin always floating above the City
• Chancellor Valorum
• Councilor Baron Samedi (Moros, Silver Ladder)
• Provost Kenneth Rosenbaum
• Councilor Augustus (Mastigos, Free Council)
• Provost Morpheus
• Councilor Helvetica (Acanthus, Mysterium)
• Provost Bonaventure
• Councilor Lao Tzu (Thyrsus, Free Council)
• Provost Zhuangzi
• Councilor Drake Monahugh (Obrimos, Free Council)
• Provost Maeve
• Sentinel Ricky Tanaka (Mastigos, Mysterium)
• Justice Aurelius (Silver Ladder)
• Justice Strix (Guardians)
• Justice Isis (Guardians)
• Herald Serif
• Gaoler Comic Sans