A Dark Cloud Over London
A Kerberos Club FATE play-by-post game
Contents
Dramatis Personae and their Aspects
Captain Daniel Crow
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Major William Henry Hodgson
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Mrs Elizabeth Ann Tokugawa
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Jack
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Campaign Aspects
Status quo
- A Hairline Fracture (Legacy)
Crow’s prophecy of a final battle between the Kerberos Club and a world-destroying Queen Victoria and his actions to prevent this future have started to curdle in the minds of the club-goers. Usual rules of diplomacy – avoiding religion and politics – are becoming increasingly honoured in the breach, and discussions of patriotism vs. class loyalty, mysticism vs. mechanisation, Queen and Country vs. abolitionist principles and predetermination vs. free can be heard in the clubrooms at all hours. So far, it is all talk. So far, believers trust Crow is the answer and skeptics think the fad will blow over.
- Challengers of the Unknown (Legacy)
From its´ very formation, the Club has strived to create a haven for the Strangers within; one way to show their usefuness to Queen and country was to step in to hande crises of the odd and otherworldy persuasion. With time, this pro bono work with an eye for legitimacy has become more than this; a sizeable tradition of Kerbereans have come to see this as a most noble duty. When innocents are threatened by forces of oddity and Strangeness, they will stand in the way.
- The Signs of the Phansigar (Dilemma)
Everyone in London has heard of the Thuggee and their particular murderous modus operandi -- death by garrote, usually in the form of a yellow scarf, knotted in the center to crush the larynx of the victim. Until recently, the Thuggee were little more then bogeymen for Londoners, even those who have spent some time in India. A spate of murders has changed all that. Experts have determined that these assassinations were not the handiwork of a copycat, but rather show all the signs of authentic Phansigar craft.
- Opium Opens the Door (Dilemma)
Samuel Berk's Needlework opens a hyper-vivid dreamworld to the hackers, visionary artists, conmen, addicts and technoshamans. So far, this knowledge is undergound cant, belonging to the very boho or the very cutting edge... but rich and powerful men are starting to scent a new path to power.
- The Secret Eyes of Her Majesty (Dilemma)
As the century grows Weirder, the powers that be starts worrying about unhealthy infuences on the fabric of society. Informants have disappeared in the streets, establishments catering to the odder ends of society has disappeared or been boarded up without warning. Special Branch have their eyes on the Kerberos Club.
Places of Interest
- The India Club
A gentleman’s club where foreign office staff, East India board members and grand old military men can make the true and terrible decisions of Empire.
- Little India
A de facto ghetto comprising only a few blocks near the London docks, this humble area is the center of Indian immigrant life in London in 1860, the first foothold of an ever-increasing population. Its residents are by-and-large arrived within the last 2 years, and so have brought much of their home life -- their food, their mores, their religion, and their gods -- with them.
- Mister Peng's Exotica
Situated in the heart of Chelsea, this modest storefront masquerades as a purveyor of exotic trinkets from China; its primary source of revenue, however, is a high-grade opium much favored by 'enthusiasts' from all around London. Its 'private viewing rooms' in the back are, in their way, every bit as democratic as the Kerberos Club itself, where bohemians, otherwise respectable ladies, underclass hoopleheads, and gentlemen of 'refined' tastes congregate.
- The Calculation Mill
A row of factories of Babbage's Analytical Engines (steam-engine processors that receive punch-card input and output to an electrostatic printing device) daisy-chained together from teleghraph cables to record, audit and predict the financial records of an empire.
- The Docklands
The docks along the River have long been a den of criminals - these days, it is positively bursting with gangs, smugglers and various kind of exotic visitors to the great cty of London. Parts of it redesigned by the Queen´s architects according to new and modern theories of architecture, they are a strange blend of old, worn-down cobblestone and impressive, authoritarian metal stuctures.
The Club
- To Save the Union (Agenda)
The Club has reached a consensus intended to paper over the growing iriitabilities – wherever possible and not too much effort, Club-members will work to prevent this proposed Southern Confederacy from coming to be, or at least from becoming it’s own state, or at least from allying with England. Then the whole time-paradox headache and ethical issues can be ignored.
- The Chrono-Tuner (Strange)
It holds to reason that time-travel leaves its mark, even if the time machine is destroyed. The room where Crow first arrived continues to hum with a strange melodic frequency, and some say that at night, they see strange shapes moving in the shadows. One elderly gentlemen swears he saw a dinosaur being ridden by a Mongul charge out from the room, glance around and charge back in…
- At Least They´re *Our* Monsters (Public)
Though still looked upon as oddities and outsiders, the Kerberos Club has never the less acted as protectors of the people of the British Empire on several occasions. Since most of their work has been done in the lower stratas of society - such as fighting the Fey exiles of the Faceless Legion in the old sewers - they have gotten an almost incidental reputation of standing up for the poor and the have-nothings. While this has made them into strage sorts of celebrities among the underclasses, it has raised some suspicions in the saloons... and in some very secret offices.
Faces
- Thug Ranuman Ravana, Living Saint of the Phansigar (Antagonist)
The honoured student of Behram, Ravana has become the most respected thuggee, responsible for the care and moral education of the goddesses' vessel. Thix chief deciever, reknown for strangling over seven hundred enemies and skinning his victims without shedding a single drop of blood so as to steal their identities, is selflessly and calmly seeking to drive Hodgman to become the goddess as often as possible.
- Blacktar, the Mexican Horse (Unknown)
This needlework mercenary is quickly making a name for him or herself as one of the most reliable 'business adjustors' on the somavis scene. They also seem to have a taste in the ironic and theatrical.
- Mrs. Harker of Special Branch (Antagonist)
Something as odd as a female who has not only managed to get a position within the secretive service but has actually made a great career of it. A middle-aged woman wit severe yet handsome features, she is rarely seen without her darkened spectacles or her gaggle of quiet, well-dressed and brutally efficient "handymen." She has made a point of butting in on several of Jack's vigilante actions and has seemingly by extension started to focus her attention on the whole Kerberean coterie.
- Père Kazimir Gorski (Unknown) - To know the secret of Time is to know the nature of the Divine!
Polish-born, Francophone emigré; heterodox, defrocked Jesuit; member of the Société Scientifique; and foremost expert on temporal Strangeness. Lately arrived in London to pursue the matter of Captain Crow.
- Col. Leonidas Early (Antagonist) - We will never surrender our peculiar institution.
A charming, erudite, and able diplomat from South Carolina, toast of all the best Society parties, Knight of the Golden Circle.
