Page 224 - Chronicles of Darkness

for the killings. If the roll succeeds, not only does no one Escalation
have any information about the incident, but the charac-
ter hears a rumor about a clandestine military ship that What happens if the God-Machine pulls the rig down and
disappeared in that region of the North Sea a few months assimilates it? The characters might not survive this, of course
ago (just after the storm). (or they might pull off a daring, last-minute escape, and watch
Defensive Combat (p. 61): The rig doesn’t have much the whole thing vanish into the deep), but after the fact, the
in the way of enemies to fight, but this Merit will help the whole area could suffer seaquakes and tsunamis as the God-
characters avoid attacks from machinery and cables. Machine changes things. This could lead into such high-stakes
Psychokinesis (p. 58): A recently-trained member of some Tales as The Invisible Citadel (p. 219; maybe the characters
secret military psychic contingent might be an interesting find the footlocker on the ship), The Scarlet Plague (p. 225;
character for this Tale, especially if she can’t quite control the God-Machine needed the additional power to begin this
her power yet. final solution) or What Is It Good For (p. 233; the characters
might easily be transferred from this mission to that one).

PROPOSITION 279

Luck, happenstance, or your profession has landed you in or why, as long as it happens quickly and at the hands of other
a political hotbed. Things have always been tough here, but human beings. The nation’s new governmental structure is
no one saw the massive political push for Proposition 279 logistical Infrastructure, overseen by the angel, Mr. Nose.
coming. The law will not just make it illegal to be homosexual,
it will make it a capital offense. Interchangeable Parts
Infrastructure of the nation suffering such tragic upheaval or it will be dif-
Characters in this chronicle need to care about the people

Pick a location with a strict and borderline-corrupt government ficult to keep them involved in the goings on.
or one with a religious fundamentalist regime (or make one up). Photographic and investigative journalists are logical choic-
Up until now, it’s been as fair as such a regime can be, with oppres- es for character types. So are aid workers and perhaps militant
sion happening, but neither common nor horrific. Women vote, freedom fighters coming to aid in a potential rebellion. Even
but are limited in their civil liberties. Homosexuality is forbidden, low-level politicians from more (nominally) civilized nations,
but not criminal. It’s passive in its intolerance. moved by the stories, may come to parley peace while making
That is, until religious leaders and politicians alike started names for themselves back home. And of course, you’ll find no
calling for a sudden and impossibly-cruel law to be passed shortage of mercenaries and soldiers of fortune waiting around
faster than the public could even consider it. The push came to see if war breaks out. Just make sure the mercenary-type
out of nowhere and was nearly all encompassing. Police characters have deeper motivations than money.
started rounding up suspected homosexuals and raiding The other possibility for characters, of course, is that they
night clubs, even the most underground ones, in anticipation might be native to the affected nation, perhaps even people
of the passing of the law. The military is preparing for mass that might fall under the proposed law (whether they actually
executions and huge mass graves are being prepared along are homosexual or are simply perceived to be).
roadsides. Human rights organizations are up in arms and
are sending in diplomats, negotiators, and relief workers in Blueprints
hopes of avoiding the slaughter. The UN has stepped in,
threatening sanctions, but the normally passive regime has The God-Machine wants nothing less than the wholesale
suddenly been whipped up into a frenzy over the idea. slaughter of as many human beings, killed by other human
Does it have something to do with the President’s new beings, as it can possibly reap in as short a time as possible.
adviser, a pale, gloomy sort with a nose a little too small for The God-Machine needs deaths. It needs massive amounts
his face, and dark, deep-set eyes? The President’s wife left the of sacrifice and the more that happen at the same time, the
country shortly after the adviser was named, and since then better. It might need this death to gear up for some truly
rumors have been flying. powerful, world-shaping initiative (the scary thing there is,
The small nation has become a powder keg, and whether does that kind of thing happen after every such massacre?
that will result in civil war to resist the sudden change in And if it does, what changed?), or perhaps as a test run to check
policy, or the deaths of a tenth of the population, the charac- its systems of control. For the players, the reason should be
ters have to quickly find a peaceful solution to the problem. as unknowable as the evil. It is because it is.
The Truth: The God-Machine needs death. More specifi- It just so happens that this despot in this part of the world
cally, it needs mass murder. It doesn’t actually care who dies came up with a way to accomplish his mandate, and he’s well
223
Proposition 279