Aachen is a German city at the border of Belgium and the Netherlands. It is often known by its French name, Aix-la-Chapelle (originally just Aix), a name that was given to the city at the time it became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne. The Aachen Cathedral was founded by Charlemagne, and its Palatinate Chapel was the coronation place of German kings until 1531; this chapel is the source of the "la Chapelle" portion of the city's French name. Aachen was also the place where the Chœur Céleste established the Aachen Manifesto (or Aix-la-Chapelle Manifesto).
Timeline[]
49 CE: Ikkenai, a Gangrel methuselah, is Embraced by Rufus in the woods surrounding Aachen.
300: Start of the Germanic mass migration; settlements in the Aachen Valley.
500: German Ventrue rule the region where Aachen is tonight.
689: In the Aachen valley, Volker, the Nosferatu, is Embraced.
711: The Ventrue Ragnar makes Wolfram of Stolberg his ghoul.
742: The Gangrel Rutold Bloodfist is Embraced in the woods surrounding Aachen.
760: Wolfram of Stolberg is Embraced by Ragnar.
777: Einhard is Embraced by Bulvia.
785: The Choeur Celeste starts building the Octagon.
800: Mortals expect the end of the world.
- November 11: The Aachen Manifesto is signed by the Choeur Celeste.
948: Reign of the Trinity starts.
1092: Rutold embraces Gottfried.
1090: Dana is born.
1097: Rabbi Herschel Salomon is embraced by the Nosferatu Antonius Heerenven.
1105: Eleni, who belongs to the kumpania of the Ravnos Tsula camping at the gates of Aachen, Embraces Dana.
1136: A traveling Cappadocian, Lucas Moravis, Embraces the thanatologist Master Habakkuk, an inhabitant of Aachen.
1139: Tsula Embraces Konstantin.
1145: The Knight Falk of Maastricht is Embraced by an unknown Ventrue in Aachen.
1149: The army of the Second Crusade returns to Aachen defeated. It brings a false grail to the city. The city's Cainites flourish. But change for the city looms on the horizon. In late fall, Nikolai of Tresckow meets his Final Death in battle against Choeur Celeste. After the battle, Benedict of Cluny, the Choeur's leader, disappears without a trace.
1200: Tsula's kumpania moves on.
1398: The Toreador unmask the Setite Benedetto Rossanisi di Reggio, who has been posing as one of theirs for more than 250 years.
1400: Notulf and Wolfram of Stolberg sit to court over Benedetto Rossanisi di Reggio and have him decapitated. Cocceius destroys Stolberg, overthrows Notulf and declares himself prince of the city.
1450: Gottfried is exulted as representative for Clan Gangrel in Aachen.
1460: The Nosferatu Smallpox Griet, who has been dwelling in Aachen since the early Middle Ages, leaves the city and joins the Sabbat, where she remains active until tonight.
1499: The relationship between the forest dwellers and the city dwellers improves extremely.
1507: The Toreador Methusulah Calida, who had reached Golconda long ago, leaves Aachen together with Einhard, Ventrue chronicler of Charlemagne. Finally, they leave Germany altogether and move to Ireland.
1517: Gerberga, a revered mage in Aachen, dies.
1600: Ikkenai entrusts her clanmate Gottfried with guiding her brood and leaves the Aachen valley.
1603: Falk of Maastricht ferrets out a group of Inquisitors and kills them and all of their families.
1609: Ikkenai learns of the Ventrue backers of the Orange and helps orchestrate a temporary truce.
1611: Gottfried formally becomes Gangrel primogen in Aachen.
1620: Notulf is subdued and arrested for massive violations of the First Tradition.
1621: After a period of treacherous calm, Clan Lasombra renews its attacks from Spain. Ikkenai fights the Magisters and destroys some of the Sabbat packs flooding Flanders.
1629: In Brandenburg, Ikkenai Embraces a drummer boy called Thomas.
1668: The peace treaty of Aachen ends the so-called devolution war, a cover for the conflict between French Toreador and Spanish Lasombra.
1739: Falk of Maastricht becomes an archon of the Ventrue Justicar, Godefroy.
1748: The Tremere enforce the second peace treaty of Aachen la Chapelle, which ends the Austrian war of succession.
1762: A cabal of mages notices Gottfried.
1792: François Villon masterminds a ruse that encourages Napoleon's armies to conquer Aachen.
1800: Volker frees Notulf.
1815: Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Leipzig.
1864: Thomas rescues Ikkenai, who lies in torpor after a battle with Louhi from the Artic, and takes her home to Aachen.
1869: Notulf starts having strange dreams.
1875: Cocceius makes Gottfried his seneschal.
1900: Notulf leaves Aachen and retreats to the woods surrounding the city.
1919: Falk of Maastricht is sent to Shanghai.
1934: Falk of Maastricht is sent to Hong Kong.
1941: Gottfried and his loyal pet ghoul Johann are destroyed in the Allied Forces' first massive bombing.
1943: Allied Forces drops bombs on Aachen again. Ikkenai leaves the city. The Octagon's magical protection saves the city from total devastation.
1944: Tsula tries to kill Nazis are their Italian and Japanese allies in a mansion close to Aachen and is destroyed by one of the German generals who turns out to be a mage. Konstantin becomes leader of the kumpania.
1945: The kumpania returns to Aachen, where Konstantin founds a sort of "de-Nazification" program for the city's Kindred.
1958: Falk of Maastricht is sent to Los Angeles.
References[]
- VTM: Encyclopaedia Vampirica, p. 12-14
- MTAs: Celestial Chorus Tradition Book, p. 22-23
- MTAs: Tradition Book: Celestial Chorus, p. 19