Page 339 - Hunter - The Vigil

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A APPENDIX TWO: PHILADELPHIA,
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M MONSTER HUNTING IN THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE
M M O N S T E R H U N T I N G I N T H E C I T R O T H E R L Y L O V E
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The Manuscript: Franklin considered himself a printer cells broke up with no provisions for establishing any ongoing
above all else. He also founded the first lending library in the cadre of defenders. At the same time, the city’s supernatural

colonies, hoping to establish a culture in which farmers and population became better at disguising its activities. The Age of
shopkeepers might be as educated as any European nobleman. Enlightenment gave way to a continuing progression of scientifi c
Among the thousands of books, pamphlets, newspapers and other and technological achievement. Ghosts and monsters became
documents printed by his shop or preserved by his library may be the stuff of stories, or even spiritual pseudoscience, not actual
any number of items of interest to a hunter cell: instructions for threats that the ordinary person need concern himself with. As a
an exorcism ritual, blueprints revealing secret rooms and tunnels consequence, much of the folk tradition and arcane knowledge

beneath the city, a map detailing the location of some powerful Philadelphia’s first hunters had gathered was lost or abandoned.
occult totem, the physical description of a still-at-large vampire. This trend would continue for the next several decades, so that by
Depending on the circumstances, a cell may need to track down mid-19 century, Philadelphia was effectively without organized
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a missing manuscript (or the plates that printed it), decipher it, defense against monstrous threats.
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keep it out of supernatural hands, or all of the above. That said, the city’s passage into 19 century did pose
Secret Society: In 1743, Franklin founded the American problems for its non-human residents. As the city became more
Philosophical Society, a scholarly organization dedicated to crowded, disputes and outright combat between rivals became
“All philosophical Experiments that let Light into the Nature more common. The first wave of monsters, who’d carved out

of Things, tend to increase the Power of Man over Matter, and and carefully defended their territory for decades or more, found
multiply the Conveniences or Pleasures of Life.” The APS still that newcomers and second-generation residents were less than
meets today. But what if Franklin also founded a parallel, secret respectful toward “traditional” borders. Changing times brought
society to delve into the dark mysteries that populated his city iconoclastic new ideas into supernatural societies. And monsters
and stalked its countryside? A modern-day hunter cell may who’d been transformed from Philadelphia stock brought with
uncover evidence that the American Anagogic Society once them their city’s rebellious nature and distrust of authority. As
existed, but are they still around? Finding them could yield a a result, Philadelphia's supernatural factions were mostly too
powerful ally. Or it may lead the hunters to manipulation and occupied with their own internal struggles to take much advantage
betrayal by a shadowy organization with an unknown agenda. of the absence of active hunter cells.
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In the second half of the 19 century, supernatural
Young Nation, Declining City inhabitants of Philadelphia achieved relatively stable

After the 1783 Peace of Paris brought the conflict to an relations with each other, and consequently became bolder in
end, Philadelphia continued its prominent role in the growth their dealings with humanity. Vampires made their strongest
and development of the former colonies. In 1787, Philadelphia efforts yet to infiltrate the city’s social elite; they became

hosted the convention that produced the United States more adept at manipulating city government (although even
Constitution. It would become home to the United States they sometimes struggled to find city councilors or political

Navy Yard, the first US national bank, the first US mint. The bosses whose strings weren’t already being pulled by someone

city remained capital of the new nation until 1800; after that, else). Packs of rogue werewolves dared to break their kind’s
its growing network of roads, canals and railroads evolved taboo against consuming human flesh, and were known to run

Philadelphia into the country’s first major industrial center. In nighttime “hunts” through the streets and alleys of the old

1854, the districts surrounding Philadelphia were incorporated city. Mages who once kept up a mundane facade began to use
into the city proper, in an attempt to increase the city’s tax the trappings of spiritualism and occult-themed social clubs,
base and make it easier for Philadelphia authorities to enforce enabling them to pursue their goals openly while seeming like
the law. The consolidation created the city’s modern borders, harmless eccentrics. As if in response, the first organizations

dissolving 29 municipal authorities and bringing their former and agencies began to establish a strong Philadelphia presence
jurisdictions under the direct control of the city’s mayor. This a few decades later. The Philadelphia branch of the Ashwood
set a pattern for two recurring themes in Philadelphia history: Abbey claims to have held its first meeting in 1903, with

neighborhoods with distinct, almost insular, identities; and an members drawn from railroad moguls and shipping magnates

ebb and flow of power between the office of the mayor and the seeking an escape from the city’s notorious “dullness.”
other centers of municipal power (especially the city council). Evidence suggests at least one of the founding members was
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As the 19 century proceeded, the city lost its prominence as an ex-ghoul, a former vampire thrall seeking the blissful taste

a port, though its importance as an industrial and financial of vampiric blood without the consequent enslavement. Many
center continued. And Philadelphia’s rise in population was Abbey members were patrons of the Philadelphia Museum of
accompanied by crowded slums, anti-immigrant violence and Art — the same is true today — and the construction of the
widespread government corruption. museum’s current home in 1919 included chambers to house
As Philadelphia slowly transformed itself from a colonial city the Abbey’s “special collection” of depraved artifacts.
into an industrial metropolis, the importance of the Vigil faded
from the consciousness of the city’s fi rst generation of defenders. Modern Times
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Hunters, those who didn’t lose their lives or sanity to the struggle, Philadelphia shoved its way into the 20 century with
turned away from their calling and attempted to carve out a the ignominious label of “corrupted and content.” The
normal life. Few new hunters were recruited to replace them; crooked politics that dominated city government were widely
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