Post by Barnaby Cuthbert on Sept 18, 2014 17:42:55 GMT -8
Something had to give.
For years, Kindred scholars will argue about the geo-political forces that led to this moment in history. Some will argue that the Anarchs were pushed to far. Run out of Camarilla Domains one at a time for politically questionable reasons when they appeared singly and pressed into service against the Sabbat when they appeared in large groups, some would say that they just got fed up.
Some would say that the Anarchs were sending a message. Some would say they were out for blood. Others would just shout for revolution. The truth was more complicated than that. An Anarch gunslinger here, a Toreador prankster Blood Hunted out of the only Sect that could possibly have understood his art there. Too often in history the sins of arrogance fueled the fires of history against Seattle’s stability. Seattle’s vendettas were personal, political, and seemingly unstoppable.
While Seattle and the other West Coast Princes ignored the plight of the Free States, they fell to the Cathayan New Promise Mandarinate. 'Let the Anarchs deal with the Sabbat problem’ were the watchwords of the West Coast, while the East Coast of America thought themselves immune, with the notable exception of New York, which waged a bloody war in the shadows, borough by borough for a Camarilla presence.
Nosferatu Justicar Petrodon moved to Seattle, much to the chagrin of Prince Bastion Orleans.
Then everything went straight to Hell.
Atlanta fell. Sabbat forces swept in and decimated the venerable Domain, murdering Prince J. Benison Hodge in a brutal show of force. San Francisco was announced to be in the hands of alien ‘Eastern Kindred’, as Prince Jeremy McNeil’s headless corpse fell to ashes on his own Elysium’s floor. Hong Kong was destined to return to these alien Kuei-Jin's control as well. In another surprising upset, Baron Tara of San Diego turned Camarilla and Baron Garcia turned over his barony to the Cathayans. The Anarch Free States were in shambles and the Sabbat’s presence in North America was heralded by a wave of death and destruction as Packs harried almost every Camarilla Domain in North America. The Soviet Brujah Council suddenly went dark and nobody knew why - at least, nobody would speak of why.
Rumors of strangeness and fear-based spiritualism rocketed through the Kindred world. The pragmatic had little to offer, and the mad were full of awful declarations of religious furor.
The third Sabbat War had begun, and for the most part, Seattle didn’t care. It had it’s own problems. Seattle was burning… again.
But that all came long after what had happened before…
In the years after the World’s Fair, Seattle would find itself enjoying the fading glow of international attention far shorter than expected, for before the fair even completed, an honored guest, President Kennedy himself, some would say in would cancel his appearance at the festival - to deal instead with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Suddenly the eyes of the world shifted from Seattle, and the world at large once again contemplated the possibility of atomic, now nuclear war. For a few tense days at the close of the fair, the world was once again on the brink.
By 1963 feminism gained ground and the right to legal counsel was signed into law while Reverand Dr. Martin Luthor King gave a famous speech in front of the Washington monument.
On November 22nd of that year, someone shot and killed the President. It was seen on television. Lynden B. Johnson succeeded him, and two days later, Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald was himself killed. Conspiracy after conspiracy spawned in the wake of these deaths.
Seattle opened the Seattle Opera and the Repertory Theatre. It’s Theatre district began to thrive.
’64 brought civil rights fights, murders in Mississippi and the Tonkin Gulf Incident, where military intelligence deliberately skewed information to get the US deeper into the Vietnam War. Dr. King got the Nobel Prize. Lyndon Johnson won the Presidency.
1965 saw the death of Civil Rights leader Malcolm X, the establishment of Social Security and Operation Rolling Thunder began in earnest in Viet Nam.
Seattle opened another theatre, the ACT, and there was a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Olympia that cracked the ivory dome of the State Capital building and caused the Boeing plant to slide from its foundations and suffer major damage.
’66 and ’67 saw the creation of ‘Miranda Rights’ for criminals and the 25th amendment to the Constitution established the rules for the succession of the president. The Summer of Love happened, and hippie culture gained international attention. The first African American, Thurgood Marshall was sworn into the Supreme Court.
1968 and 1969 were marked by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luthor King and the riots that later ensued. Two months after that Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated as well while campaigning for President. Richard ‘Tricky Dick’ Nixon became President of the United States. Senator Edward M. Kennedy drove off a bridge on his way home from a party.
Seattle’s iconic Seafirst Bank building was constructed, and ironically one of the worst recessions in Seattle history began in ernest.
Men walked on the moon. The Woodstock music festival happened and the Vietnam War wound down.
By 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency was founded and the first Earth Day observed. PBS was founded. More troops left Vietnam.
’71 to ’74 heralded the end of the gold standard, the Watergate scandal and the end of the Vietnam War. Space station Skylab entered orbit and the Sears Towers in Chicago became the world’s tallest buildings. Nixon and his Vice President Spiro Agnew both resigned and Gerald Ford became President.
Seattle’s Marathon and its Mayor’s Arts festival began. It would later be called Bumbershoot. Starbecks Coffee is born.
1975 to 1977 saw the official end of the Vietnam war and the founding of the Macroware Corporation by Bill Yeats. Appel Inc. also began, founded by Steve Jorbs. America celebrated it’s bicentennial and the Copyright act was signed into law. Elvis Presley died mysteriously at his home in Graceland. His death was fraught with controversy, and numerous sightings of him post-death occurred, leading many to speculate that his corpse was that of an impersonator. New York City blacked out for 25 hours, resulting in looting and riots. The Commodore PET, the first personal computer went on sale.
The Seattle baseball team the Oceanics appeared.
’78 to 1980 was defined by a number of important events; the Jonestown Massacre was the mass-suicide of 900 Americans who were members of a religious cult. The Three-mile Island incident was the partial nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania. The Iran Hostage crisis occurred. MNN, the 24-hour media news network was established. Musician John Lennon was assassinated.
Near Seattle, Mount St. Helens exploded in a spectacular pyroclastic detonation that flattened trees for hundreds of miles and coated much of the neighboring states in a blanket of ash. The near-supersonic lateral blast, loaded with volcanic debris, caused devastation as far as 19 miles from the volcano and left a massive crater behind.
1981 to 1985 brought a whirlwind of change. MTV, Reaganomics and the first Space Shuttle Launch preceded anti-nuclear protests and a US Embassy bombing.
’86 to 90 saw the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the Iran-Contra affair - revealing the US’ secret sales of arms to Iran. Regan challenged Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. The ACLU compensated Japanese who were interned during WWII. The first computer worm on the Internet was launched.
The Seattle Convention Center opened.
1991 to 1999 heralded Desert Storm and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The L.A. riots rocked Los Angeles and caused over 1 billion dollars in damage. Bill Clinton became President. The Oklahoma City Bombing occurred. Preparation for the Y2K bug reached a fevered pitch.
The World Trade Organization Ministerial conference begins…
Something had to give.
There are riots in the streets. Business windows gape open jaggedly from rocks and bottles thrown through their windows. The shouts of protesters and the hiss of tear-gas and concussion grenades echo through the streets of Seattle.
Something gave.
Revenge and revolution walks the night.
It's November 30th, 1999 - Can Seattle survive it?