Berlin (WOD)

Berlin is the capital of Germany and one of the country's 16 states. With a population of 3.5 million people, it is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.

Overview
For a long time Berlin was a city in transition. The division into East Berlin and West Berlin did not permanently affect the kindred of the city; they just waited it out. Some Idealist Brujah tried to bring revolution to the West, but drowned in the flood of dollars from the United States.

All sorts of influences compete in Berlin: Ventrue work to reestablish their spheres of temporal influence, Toreador work to reopen lines of communication to the West and East, Brujah cower from the death throes of the Revolution, Caitiff jockey for a piece of the pie and Malkavians and Nosferatu do whatever they want. The Tremere are notably lacking; they already own Austria, which to them is as good as Berlin, but without any negative historical attachments.

Timeline
1134 A.D.: First human settlements in the area where Berlin is located tonight.

1137: Erik Eigermann, the first Berlin Cainite, is supposedly destroyed by Karl Schreckt from Vienna, then one of the keenest Witch-hunter in Europe.

1244: Ilse Reinegger flees from Belitz to Berlin, where she establishes an early version of the Masquerade long before Rafael de Corazon's rousing speech in the early nights of the Camarilla.

1307: Berlin and its closest neighbor, the city of Cologne, build a common townhouse; Ilse Reinegger is recognized as head of all kindred in Upper Saxonia.

1354: Reinegger is betrayed and destroyed through amaranth by her childe Gustav Breidenstein; he becomes the Prince of Berlin.

1575: A visiting Tremere forgets to introduce himself to Breidenstein and is destroyed for this gaffe; the revenge of the Tremere comes in the shape of the Pestilence and a visit of Tremere Justicar Karl Schreckt's to Berlin. Breidenstein sends a formal letter of apology to Vienna, tied to a stake in Schreckt's heart.

1618-48: The Tremere and Ventrue put their differences aside to fight the Brujah, the Toreador and the Sabbat together; after the war, the old enmity flares up again.

1740: The Prussian army advances onto Austrian territory; the Toreador come to their Bavarian allies' aid so the troops cannot conquer Vienna; Breidenstein accuses the Tremere of treachery.

1806: Napoleon's armies occupy Berlin as revenge for the destruction of three Toreador who had dared to doubt Breidenstein's talent as an artist; Breidenstein apologizes by destroying three of his own childer.

1848: Wilhelm Waldburg, one of Breidenstein's childer, makes a name for himself by thwarting anarch and Sabbat plots; afterward, he plans for Breidenstein's downfall behind the scenes.

1914: Together with some other European Ventrue, Breidenstein involves many of his fellow kindred in a new twist of the Jyhad: a mortal war the likes of which the world has never seen before.

1918: With the end of World War I, Breidenstein loses influence in Berlin; nominally, he remains prince, but at times he is little more than a pawn of Waldburg, who establishes a solid council of primogen to back him up.

1933: Gustav uses Adolf Hitler's seizure of power to overthrow Waldburg and depose the primogen.

1940: Breidenstein meets Hitler and nourishes his megalomania.

1945: Lupines invade the domain; many Berlin kindred are destroyed during the war or have fallen into torpor.

1948: The Soviet representatives with ties to the Brujah cut off the allied sectors of the city from all supply routes; they decide to give Germany the gift of Communism.

1949: GDR (German Democratic Republic, or East Germany) founded. Breidenstein allies himself with the Brujah, who force him into a blood bond; the Brujah antitribu Dieter Kotlar founds the Last Reich, a group of Neo-Nazi Cainites; Waldburg returns, seizes power in West Berlin and establishes a new primogen.

1961: The Brujah and Gustav Breidenstein support the construction of the Berlin Wall. One of the reasons is to disrupt the Nosferatu's information flow; the Tremere grant Waldburg a favor and place powerful wards on the wall.

1989: By cleverly brokering information, the Nosferatu manage to incite the East Berlin kine to a non-violent revolution leading to the fall of the GDR.

1990: Baba Yaga rises from torpor; many Berlin Brujah disappear; Breidenstein reverses position and supports the tearing down of the wall.

1997: The Blood Curse ravages the city and destroys more than half of its kindred population, among them Breidenstein; Wilhelm Waldburg survives an attack by fire by the Last Reich, politically stronger than ever, and is now Prince of the reunified Berlin.