2023
CURRENT YEAR
Hooks and Timeline
Wondering where to place your character? Below are summaries of groups, organisations, and ongoing event plots that new characters can flavour their histories with. Some will be official site lore, while others have been added later by members, shaping the world beyond myth and magic.
Official Entities Exchange
- Sewing Circle - Lethe Hostel - Exchange Abroad Police Department City Municipality NATO Force Thoth Independent Groups House Crowhurst
Disciples of Vasuki House Hex House Penrose
Something like the Men-In-Black of the supernatural world, the Exchange are the people who hold the line between the supernatural and the mundane. As a group, they are capable, competent, and intimately in the know about the supernatural. In North America, they operate in larger cities, covering the surrounding areas to the best of their ability. Their aims are to keep the supernatural safe and secret from mundane humans, while dealing with any monsters that might attack people.
Character Connections: Theo Crowhurst, , Angela Dune, Brooke Hansen, Don Pickens, Briar Grimshaw
The Sewing Circle is an Exchange-associated group of hedge witches, hobbyists, arcanists, and other magic users.
A hostel for supernaturals in need of a place to stay or to hide from trouble, Lethe offers help to any who ask.
With a long, storied history, the Exchange operates primarily in Western Europe and North America, with a few offshoots or reformed groups in the British Commonwealth of Nations and former British colonies. Many places who don't have an Exchange, often have similar entities.
As might be expected, the Easthaven PD is the major lawkeeper in the city. With several precincts throughout the city, their presence is about as visible as any other standard police force, and they are competent and generally well-trained, with their own share of heroism and scandal.
The police will be the first responders for every reported crime, magic or mundane, whether or not their officers are in the know.
With a city comes politicians, administrative staff, and other support structures for basic safety and functions. Easthaven has a decorated fire department, emergency medical service, parks & recreation department, and a mayoral office that manage to do their job efficiently despite some bureaucratic meddling from various avenues.
The mayor's office is currently headed by Arthur Blackbird, an eccentric tech tycoon who has become a beloved fixture in the city since being elected in 2016: just the right amount of weird for Easthaven.
Location: HQ in Brussels, Belgium, but operates in all NATO countries.
Force Thoth deals with extreme cases of magic going awry or larger issues with supernatural monsters, or when the local entities that deal with the supernatural think they need the extra firepower. When they hit the ground, it’s always because they were asked to be there. The people who work in Force Thoth are often from military branches in NATO member countries, especially special forces, and all are aware of the supernatural. They are a non-playable group, but can be used in any characters history.
Interactions with the world: NATO Force Thoth cooperates with the Exchange and local entities if they are called in, although when they’re on the ground they prefer having all the control which can cause sparks. They do appreciate local expertise and usually defer to local know-how when appropriate.
Character Connections: Algy Trevelyan, Angela Dune
Location: Primarily the UK, but some cadet branches are found on the European continent.
The Crowhurst family are a centuries-old English noble family that has, throughout their existence, been dedicated to vampire hunting and, later, general monster hunting. They are a non-playable group at this time, although characters can have experienced run-ins with them in their histories.
Interactions with the world: The Crowhurst family of vampire and monster hunters cooperate and work alongside entities such as the Exchange. However, they have a reputation for being more brutal in their methods. Occasionally, members of the Crowhurst family join the Exchange as Agents, lending their centuries of expertise to the organisation, although sometimes they are also brought on to advise.
Character Connections: Theo Crowhurst
Location: India, China, North America
Hailing from India, the Disciples of Vasuki are only a small part of a large Indo-Sino organization. A shadowy cadre of criminals, black market artisans, and crime families, they specialize in curses and possession. The organization is primarily made up of mundane humans with a proportional percentage of half-bloods and other supernaturals. They are also known for being “for the people”, occupying the working class levels of social strata and drawing in members with promises of wealth and prosperity. They are a non-playable group at this time.
Interactions with the world: The Disciples are long-time enemies of the UK Exchange and at constant odds with supernatural law keepers. They are bad news, the organization being powerful enough to stand their ground. If they cross paths with the law, it often results in bloody conflict. They have not achieved a foothold in Easthaven, though their agents can be found in Chicago and DC.
Location: New York, some locations in the UK.
House Hex is a criminal group of Arcanists that splintered off from a larger entity that is no longer around. These Arcanists were cultivated from the most downtrodden young people, the ones society said weren't worth helping, and now form an independent group who use magic to serve their own profits and power. They specialize in “arms dealing”, fixing, brokering, disruption and “cleaning”.
Interactions with the world: Fresh and yet to make their mark, House Hex has not caught the attention of anyone mundane or magical. As a private cabal, they stay out of sight and out of mind of the Exchange. They play nice when it fits their machinations, but deals with their own problems.
Character Connections: Malik Cartwright
Location: England and Wales.
The Penrose family have hunted supernatural beings who defy the law since the reign of Queen Victoria, filling in a niche among the other independent hunters and the Exchange. Not all members of the family are directly involved in the hunt and they offer paid contracts to freelance hunters in areas they operate.
Interactions with the world: House Penrose is known within hunting circles in the UK for being a relatively small group with a solid reputation. Larger and much older organizations such as the Exchange are aware of them and acknowledge the value of their efforts, for the most part.
Character Connections: Wil Carter
The Exchange and the EPD have been pursuing a string of murders for the past few months where the culprits have disappeared before anyone or anything could catch a glimpse. Very few clues have been found. So far, only Exchange Agents have investigated the ritual murders. They know the rituals are of a necromantic nature, they know one victim was a half-blood, and a strange seal broken into fragments has been found at two locations.
CURRENT YEAR
TBA
PAST EVENTS
On Halloween, the community of supernaturals threw a Halloween bash to put all others to shame. Protected behind wards and illusions, children and adults alike enjoyed a carefree festival, with tricks and treats!
Outside the wards, Halloween was somewhat more spooky. A roving group of Headless Horsemen wandered the streets looking for trouble. Both bystanders and Exchange were among those who chased the menaces off the streets for another year.
Through the month of August, Party Planet party organisers (or the Ethical Reformed Cult of Dionysus, to those in the know) threw an end-of-summer festival to delight the senses.
Little did attendees know, by some mishaps some dangerous masks went missing and some intrepid problem solvers were recruited for the hairy job of getting them all back.
A few bystanders might've caught the fantastic sight of mythical monsters made real, but those are just clever light shows, right? The lenghts Party Planet will go to for a big bash!
On the 1st of May, as the Easthaven Botanical Gardens celebrated Beltane, some enterprising Arcanist triggered a ritual in the hedge maze on the garden grounds.
Whatever the perpetrator hoped to accomplish is unknown, but for the month of May wandering spirits, fire elementals, and fey wandered freely among the hedgerows.
They were up to mischief, rather than harm, but many a maze-wanderer encountered something otherwordly before the ritual faded with the sunlight at the end of May.
As the Lunar New Year began on February 1st, a sinister spot of mischief was discovered. Puzzle boxes that had arrived by mysterious means to Easthaven were scattered all over the city, with Chinese spirits called nian attached to them.
The few who encountered these puzzle boxes had to solve the puzzle and fend off the attacking nian, who had a vested interest in keeping their puzzle boxes intact.
At the conclusion of the day, all puzzle boxed were dealt with, the Exchange out in force to track down and neutralise the nian to ensure the safety of Easthaven.
PAST EVENTS
As Easthaven kicked off its annual Winter Festival, there were a few surprise visitors courtesy of the Welsh Heritage Society. The Welsh Christmas spirits called the Mari Lwyd came to call, engaging attendees in clever poetry battles and giving out Christmas baubles.
Later, anyone who engaged in the competition and wordplay would discover their baubles had turned into enchanted marbles.
The Modern Age
As technology advanced, supernaturals globally had to adjust to an increasingly digitalised life and increased surveillance. Easthaven dabbled in the industry, but the success of local companies was moderate, lagging behind Boston even if some innovations came from the city. Soon, supernaturals realised the interaction of tech and magic served well to create enough sceptics and conspiracy theorists that it only served to obscure the truth further.
The world kept spinning, and so did Easthaven. In the following world wars, many young Eastonites found themselves embroiled in the conflicts, mundane and supernatural alike. On the Atlantic coast, they were a harbour for some military ships and their shipyards and factories turned to the war effort.
Civil War & the Union
After the Civil War, Easthaven enjoys a rush of trade and goods, rapidly growing the wealth and size of the city. It becomes an attractive place for immigration, reflecting the growth of Boston's immigrant community.
Among these are families with supernatural blood in their ancestry, beginning the expansion of the previously small supernatural community in Easthaven and beginning the growth of Balmoral street as a haven for the weird and kooky.
In the 1840s a section of the Boston Exchange cohort breaks off to settle in Easthaven. They're quick to set down roots and connect with the small local supernatural community, helping the people and managing threats from within and without.
Revolution & Growth
By the 1790s, Exchange cohorts have settled in many major cities, operating in the areas around as well as within the cities themselves. Many cohorts remain mobile, but in contact with those who have settled down.
In the 1720s, the Exchange has established itself on American soil. With the colonies and the homesteads, the Exchange rapidly learns to adapt to going where they're needed rather than remaining in one city such as in Europe.
A British Colony & the Exchange
The Exchange has its beginning in Erasmus Cross, England, 1688.
Easthaven is established as a colony in 1626.