Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras is the first supplement of the three Dark Eras books. Rulewise, it is mixed between First Edition and Second Edition, containing all gamelines that were published at the time of its development.
Summary[]
From the Onyx Path schedule:
- The Darkness Is Always With Us
- We have shared the world with monsters for millennia.In the time of Alexander the God-King, mages fought their secret wars. In Elizabeth’s London, vampires built their own empire brick by bloody brick. Before the founding of America, hunters fought enemies within and without. And in the Cold War, as the clock ticked towards Armageddon, we could have been damned by fallen angels.
- Secrets Revealed
Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras reveals the world throughout its long and storied past. Through sixteen eras, you’ll learn the secret history of the world, from the flame-lit tales of the Neolithic to the drug-fueled rebellion of the 1970s. Delve into the past, and learn that the Chronicles of Darkness began long before the modern nights.
- Dark Eras includes historical settings for Chronicles of Darkness game lines:
Introduction[]
In the introduction, the book provides a basic summary of the settings expanded on later. Additionally, it elucidates on the themes of Death and Tragedy, and of Man's Inhumanity to Man. Finally, alternate skills are provided to replace those irrelevant in earlier ages (Archery for Firearms, Ride for Drive, and Enigmas for Computers) and alternate rules are written for others (Academics, Larceny, Medicine, Science, and Streetwise).
The Sundered World[]
Mage: The Awakening/Werewolf: The Forsaken, 5500-5000 BCE:
At the birth of civilization, in the shadow of the Fall, the Awakened stand as champions and protectors of the agricultural villages spread across the Balkans. In a world without a Gauntlet, where Shadow and flesh mingle, the steady taming of the world by humanity conflicts with the half-spirit children of Father Wolf.
To the Strongest[]
Mage: The Awakening, 330-320 BCE:
In the rise and fall of Alexander the Great’s Empire, armies marched and cultures clashed. In the birth pangs of Hellenistic civilization, Awakened sorcerers all over the ancient world met, fought, and joined together. In the chaos of Alexander’s assassina-tion and the wars that followed, Cults became Orders amid conflicts still burning in the present day.
Three Kingdoms of Darkness[]
Geist: The Sin-Eaters/Changeling: The Lost, 220-280 CE:
Famine weakens the empire, and war splits it apart. It is an age of ambition and strife, where the hungry dead walk the earth in great numbers, and the Lost must rely on their own kingdoms. Warlords and commoners, ghost-speakers and orphans -- who truly serves the Mandate of Heaven?
The Wolf and the Raven[]
Werewolf: The Forsaken/Geist: The Sin-Eaters, 700-1100 CE:
The Viking expansion across Europe comes at a pivotal time in history, as new faiths rose to challenge the old and new ways threatened to sweep ancient tradition aside. The Forsaken sail with raiders and explorers, seeking new lands to claim and new spirits to con-quer, while Sin-Eaters walk the battlefields bringing the honored dead to their final rewards. The world grows larger and more dangerous by the day, but there are great rewards for those brave enough to fight for them.
After the Fall[]
Demon: The Descent, 1453-1458 CE:
The Ottoman conquest shatters Constantinople... and also the God-Machine's grip on it. Unchained flock from all over the world to seek their fortunes in rebuilding the city. But is the Machine really gone, and if it is, can the Unchained face the horrors it drove into the shadows?
Beneath the Skin[]
Skinchangers/Demon: The Descent, 1486-1502 CE:
Ahuitzotl sits on the throne at the height of the Aztec Empire, overseeing his sorcerer-priests' sacrifices and the endless flower wars his jaguar and eagle warriors carry out in his name to keep the altars well-supplied with victims. The gears of the Aztec Empire turn smoothly and inexorably, but not everything is what it pretends to be. Skinchangers take the shapes of animals to run the wilds or bring down human prey, the Unchained cobble together identities from stolen lives, and stranger things still lurk in the deserts and jungles beyond the walls of Tenochtitlan.
Requiem for Regina[]
Vampire: The Requiem/Changeling: The Lost, 1593 CE:
Elizabeth I cemented her grip on newly Protestant England. Carefully balancing demands from those with Catholic and Lutheran sympathies, she forged a police state. Yet London emerged as a thriving cultural center, and from the crucible emerged a Kindred society forever changed.
This section also includes a look at the sharply divided changeling society of this era.
Fallen Blossoms[]
Hunter: The Vigil, 1640-1660 CE:
Japan is moving into the Edo Period. New laws and new ways of thinking wash over the land, and with a new order come new threats to humanity. Take a look at the Vigil in a time where samurai transition from warlords to bureaucrats, Japan massively and lethally rejects outside influence, and when Edo rapidly grows into a world power
Lily, Sabre and Thorn[]
Changeling: The Lost, 1600s-early 1700s CE:
In the Age of Reason under the reign of Louis XIV, enlightenment went hand-in-hand with court intrigues. The Sun King’s court influenced a time when changeling freeholds gained increasing unity and communication. It is a time of adventure, deception, betrayal, and passion — the roar of cannon, the rustle of silk, the ring of steel. The joys and sorrows and outrageous fortunes of the swashbuckler — these are all too well-known to the Lost.
Doubting Souls[]
Hunter: The Vigil, 1690-1695 CE:
Immigrants and tribes struggled to co-exist on the Eastern Seaboard in the ever-expanding Colonies. Violent clashes, supernatural beliefs, and demonic influences spelled disaster for Salem Village and its surrounding towns, while others fought werewolves and vampires on the frontier. With so much at risk, only god-fearing men and women were deemed innocent — and those were few indeed.
A Grimm Dark Era[]
Changeling: The Lost, 1812-1820 CE:
With the publication of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, the Lost find themselves subject to the strength of stories, to a degree never before seen. As numerous stories reach greater audiences, the power of tales redefine what it means to be a changeling. Here, we explore a shift in the veil between fiction and reality, and find changelings who escaped by embracing the odd rules of the fantastic.
The Ruins of Empire[]
Mummy: The Curse, 1893-1924 CE:
Perhaps the quintessential era of the mummy in the mind of Westerners, this period saw the decline of the two greatest empires of the age: British and Ottoman. Walk with the Arisen as they bear witness to the death of the Victorian age, to pivotal mortal discoveries in Egypt, and to the horrors of the Great War.
A Handful of Dust[]
Promethean: The Created, 1933-1940 CE:
The Great Depression and the black blizzards of the 1930s turned the American Midwest into a wasteland. For the better part of a decade, thousands of people experienced deprivation and alienation right alongside the Created. They also clung to the faint promise of hope, that the rains would come and restore the land.
God's Own Country[]
Geist: The Sin-Eaters, 1950s CE:
World War II is over and a new age of technology is coming, but a hidden storm threatens to overwhelm both the Maori and the European New Zealanders, flooding the world with the restless dead. The Bound are the last line of defense between a spirit-world gone mad and a sleepy island nation concerned with the advent of rock and roll and mourning their lost soldiers.
Into the Cold[]
Demon: The Descent, 1961 CE:
Germany erects a wall against its Western counterpart, turning West Berlin into an island within its own country. As the Cold War heats up, demons find themselves the targets of increasing human scrutiny, and begin to realize that the God-Machine’s plans didn’t end with the War.
The Bowery Dogs[]
Werewolf: The Forsaken, 1969-1979 CE:
New York City in the 1970s. Crime. Drugs. Gang violence. Vast economic disparity. And were- wolves. It’s a lean, ugly time to be alive, and the lone wolf doesn’t stand a chance out there. In the end, all you really have is family.
Background Information[]
Memorable Quotes[]
Characters[]
- See individual settings' pages for associated characters.
Notes[]
References[]
| Previous release | Game Products | Next release |
|---|---|---|
CofD: Condition, Numina, and Dread Power Cards   |
Chronicles of Darkness products | CofD: Dark Eras Storyteller's Screen 
|