Page 203 - Chronicles of Darkness

saw it together, but if you have a bit more time on your hands characters in Old Seattle need to set it ablaze; doing this will
and wish the chronicle to evolve more organically, have each end the merger and separate the cities again. Of course, doing
character experience her own moment of wonder as some the opposite (burning Seattle but saving Old Seattle) might
facet of the cities merge. Once the characters witness the complete the merger (see Escalation).
“other” Seattle (from a given character’s perspective), they
can cross between the cities at certain spots. This requires a Methods
Resolve + Occult roll. The crossover spots appear to be ran-
dom, but characters can learn to create them (see Methods). Computer: You don’t have technology anything like this
phone you found. They seem to garner signal from sources
Blueprints that don’t exist where you live. Yet it exists. It’s entirely di-
vergent, fulfilling needs your version of reality simply never
The God-Machine did not plan for the two cities to run satisfied. And yet, it could be so useful now. Roll Intelligence
into each other, and it’s not a part of the order. As a result, its + Computers and determine how much of this new tech you
agents are out and about in the city with two goals in mind: can steal.
Find out why the cities are merging, and destroy anyone who Occult: The veil between the cities has broken, though
has seen evidence of the merger. its average inhabitant doesn’t know. You, however, can learn
As the characters unravel the veil between the two worlds, to create crossover spots. This requires two characters, one
they’ll soon find they’re on the list for termination. The story in each version of Seattle, focusing on crossing over. Roll
can follow a few paths. The characters can race to find the Wits + Occult; if parties succeed the immediate area gains
source of the slow crash and use it as leverage to get the God- the “Crossover Spot” Condition for 12 hours per success
Machine and its servants off their backs. They can somehow (total from both rolls).
try to merge the cities, and in doing so loose the hold the Drive: Whatever it is that’s following you is made of
God-Machine has on them. They may try to break the cities pigeon feathers, glass, and rage. Roll Dexterity + Drive to
apart, removing the need for the agents of the God-Machine navigate your car through a network of new and old build-
to keep hunting, and hopefully leave them alone. ings and streets.
Survival: This city seems so familiar, and yet the streets
Linchpins are labeled wrong, and who would put buildings up on hills
like this? Roll Intelligence + Survival to keep your sense of
The God-Machine has many agents in both Seattle direction in the unfamiliar version of your city.
and Old Seattle. The majority are humans trapped within Intimidation: Old Seattle is more rough-and-tumble than
the various institutions that make up a city’s bureaucracy. the place you’re from. If you don’t want to be subject to a
Sometimes, what comes looking to keep the cities separate brutal hazing at the hands of the dockworkers, you need to
is entirely inhuman. present a tough front. Roll Presence + Intimidation to get
Take the Polis Men, for example. Despite potential confu- them to leave you alone.
sion, in the mundane world these agents do not appear as Streetwise: You know all the gang activity in town, or at
cops. Cops draw too much attention. Rather, they appear least you’ve heard of most of it. These new guys? They’re be-
most often as street art, sidewalk chalk drawings, or statuary having strangely, to say the least. Roll Intelligence + Streetwise
and other artistic installations. They’re made up of the city to put your finger on what’s odd about these gangsters.
itself, of concrete and wrought iron. When the line between Trained Observer (p. 46): It takes especially keen eyes to
the cities thins and they cross over into each other, the Polis see the subtle shifts between Old Seattle and new, and your
Men rise from their watchful positions with the sound of character can spot them more easily than your average person.
rending stone, and move with surprising speed and brutality. That’s part of why you could see through the lie, but only part.
They burned a city to the ground once for the God-Machine. Parkour (p. 48): In some places, navigating between build-
They’ll do it again if the population gets too contaminated ings, under the city, and even between cities is impossible
with the truth. The Polis Men are angels. by “normal” standards of movement. That’s not a problem
This Tale doesn’t include a single Linchpin, as the crux for you, though — you can reach the crossover spots that are
of the conflict — the cities merging — isn’t something the literally over everyone else’s heads.
God-Machine planned for. That said, if the characters want
to find a way to reverse the merger, they need to find a nexus Escalation
between the two cities. This point, in Old Seattle, is a store-
front that makes and repairs cabinetry and other wooden This story may end when the characters discover what is
furniture. In Seattle, it is in a burnt-out basement in the causing the cities to crash in on each other and may ultimately
Seattle Underground (a honeycomb of basements and tun- be separated on one side or the other as a result. Or, they
nels from pre-fire Seattle, built over in the ensuing decades). might choose to complete the merger, in which case Seattle
The nexus point appears as a pot of boiling glue (this is becomes a strange mix of old and new. How this plays out
what started the Great Fire; the pot boiled over and ignited). for your chronicle is up to you — maybe the world shifts so
The characters in Seattle need to put the fire out, while the that any changes that have been made have always been the

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Tales of the God machine