Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras 2 is the third large, multi-era supplement to the Dark Eras series. It introduces 13 new Dark Eras, each of which can be purchased separately instead.
Summary[]
From the Onyx Path catalogue:
- For millennia, monsters have hunted and fought alongside us...
- Rebellions swell and vampires feed. Casualties of war draw Reapers to blood-soaked battlefields. Gilded ages benefit mortals and monsters alike.
- How? Why? What role do the monsters play with us —- and each other?
- Dark Eras 2 explores 13 new eras scattered throughout the history of the Chronicles of Darkness. Each chapter features two to three game lines which include Vampire: The Requiem, Mage: The Awakening, Hunter: The Vigil, Changeling: The Lost, and more!
- The rules in this book are compatible with second edition Chronicles of Darkness. Each terrifying time period and location is examined through the supernatural creatures that dwell there.
- Unlock the past. Find out what hides in the shadows.
- Inside, you’ll find:
- Historically inspired settings and story hooks
- Character-creation tips and gameplay advice
- New Tilts, Conditions, and era-appropriate rules
Introduction[]
Hunger in the Black Land[]
Promethean: The Created/Beast: The Primordial/Werewolf: The Forsaken, 1806 BCE: Sobekneferu was the last pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom, ascending to power during a time of transition. Her father built a pyramid and a mysterious labyrinth at Hawara, near Shedet (modern-day Faiyum), but she completed the labyrinth and may be the only one left alive who knows its secrets. The Greeks will later call Shedet “Crocodilopolis,” for the crocodile god Sobek and his children reign supreme there. The Forsaken fight a war over territory and pride with their reptilian cousins, while Prometheans deal with the disparity between the Nepri — worshipped as kings and gods — and the others, evading mortuary alchemists and mummified animal Pandorans. Meanwhile, the Begotten seek allies to deal with the rise of senseless violence among Heroes and the waking Insatiable of the Nile.
The Seven Wonders[]
Changeling: The Lost/Promethean: The Created, 286 –226 BCE: As the locations of the most significant manmade structures in the world are revealed, adventurers from Greece and beyond seek them out to bask in their glory. It is tragic, however, that some wonders must be kept secret. The Gentry do not respond well to their Hedge being disturbed, and the seven wonders are coated in thorns for the unwary. There is no telling what they will do when they encounter the Created, who have heard of these wondrous places immune to war, the ravages of time, and Disquiet. Though the Created seek to protect the wonders like a mother would a child, the Gentry have their own reasons for safeguarding them.
Arthur’s Britannia[]
Hunter: The Vigil/Changeling: The Lost/Vampire: The Requiem, 400–500 CE: You’ve heard the stories of King Arthur and Mordred, Merlin and Morgana. Inspired by medieval romance, the Arthurian myth lives on. Get behind the myth, find the source of these tales, and adventure in Great Britain during the legendary King Arthur’s rule. For, in the Chronicles of Darkness, nothing is what it seems. The shadows we explore will expose darker secrets that follow King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table wherever they roam.
One Thousand and One Nightmares[]
Beast: The Primordial/Vampire: The Requiem, 832 CE: The Islamic Golden Age during the reign of Caliph al-Ma’mun is a time of great advances in science and culture, but it’s also a time for getting into the mystic as the House of Wisdom brings the One Thousand and One Nights tales into the light, exposing records of true supernatural events and sparking unprecedented human curiosity about the unknown. The Begotten reach out to help their vampire kin (and others) cope with the mortal situation that’s swiftly turning the tide against the night’s horrors; the Islamic covenants must decide how to redefine the Masquerade in a changing world. During this time, the powerful Al-Khayzuran, mother to the Caliph, ensures the tales’ power over human imagination through her mysterious connection with the Primordial Dream and the ancient queen Chehrazad.
Empire of Gold and Dust[]
Hunter: The Vigil/Demon: The Descent, 1337–1347 CE: Founded by King Sundiata, the vast Mali Empire was formed after several smaller kingdoms were consolidated and lasted from 1230 to 1600 CE. At its height, the empire stretched from the Atlantic coastline, past Timbuktu, to the edges of the Sahara Desert. Ruled as a monarchy, the Empire of Mali was multilingual and multiethnic, with Islam being the dominant religion. This period is a time of turmoil. Following the death of the legendary Musa Keita I in 1337, the empire suffered from a series of short-term, faulty reigns beginning with his son’s four-year rule. With the empire’s security and prosperity at stake, the creatures of the Chronicles of Darkness are on the move.
Light of the Sun[]
Deviant: The Renegades/Mage: The Awakening/Demon: The Descent, 1630-1640 CE: Galileo. Kepler. Newton. On the heels of the Italian Renaissance, reason and belief clash at every turn. Scientific discoveries proving heliocentrism are subverted and deemed heretical. Scientists, mages, and astronomers are arrested by the Inquisition,and their books are banned. In response, intellectuals on the brink of discovery turn to alchemy and the magical arts, and create deviants to defend their laboratories and universities. Not all in this age agree violence is the option, however, and worry the Church’s power is too strong to fight. What’s more, no one expected the deviants to have a mind and will of their own.
Rise of the Last Imperials[]
Mummy: The Curse/Hunter: The Vigil, 1644–1661 CE: The last Imperial Dynasty, the Qing, was established by Nurhaci following the takeover of Beijing. Masters of northern China, the powerful Great Qing successfully usurped weakened Ming rulers, but their rule was marked by their treatment of the Han Chinese. Despite this, the Shunzhi Emperor, assisted by his co-regents Dorgon and Jirgalang, began to preserve centuries of Chinese arts and literature while searching for mummies rumored to be active in the area. Caught between the present and the distant past, mummies clash with rival Arisen, sweeping Han Chinese hunters into their wake who must face many threats to uphold the Vigil.
[]
Mummy: The Curse/Geist: The Sin-Eaters, 1608-1698 CE: Scandinavian countries quickly adopted the witch trials from Germany after the Reformation, and were even more cautious about magic and witches, as they knew they lived closer to hell than most other countries. Magic was no longer seen as a tool to alter fates or change the course of lives, and it was no longer directly linked to communication with gods. Those wielding magic were no longer respected and sacred, but were hunted and condemned by society, friends, and family, as witchcraft became directly linked with the workings of hell. A constant paranoia dominates the Nordic countries. No one knows when it might be their turn to burn for heresy. Sin-Eaters struggle to balance their will to live against their need for revenge, while the Arisen awake to a dangerous world and must decide what role they play.
The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea[]
Mage: The Awakening/Geist: The Sin-Eaters, 1716–1717 CE: Like the Great Below and the many mysterious places mages roam, the ocean’s depths are seen only in glimpses, filled with wondrous and terrifying things that never see the light of day — but willworkers and the Bound have the means and the will to stare into these abysses. Although there’s nothing kind about cutthroat pirates, the promise of equality and honor among thieves appeals to those downtrodden by the system, whether that’s the British Empire, the Diamond, or the Kerberoi. Mage society teeters on the brink of civil war as the Silver Ladder allies with the Seers of the Throne to stamp out Nassau’s Nameless Order, while the Bound sail with their brotherhoods to stop marauding Reapers and plumb the haunted seas.
The Reign of Terror[]
Vampire: The Requiem/Demon: The Descent/Mummy: The Curse, 1793–1794 CE: Enlightenment philosophies and revolution shake the long-standing institutions of monarchy and hierarchy in France to their core. Immortal Kindred hidden within the House of Bourbon scheme to hold onto the power and privilege they crave, while the beginnings of the Carthian Movement scheme to kick in some fangs and make the elders bleed alongside disenfranchised mortals yearning for liberty. The Arisen question whether they, too, should rise up against their Judges, drawn to Paris by the mysterious Empire of the Dead in the catacombs below the city. The God-Machine has its own plans for the catacomb’s Lifeweb, and while mummies work with vampires and demons to unearth its secrets, the Unchained Agendas splinter into factions over whether the revolution is the Machine’s way of cleansing France, or an opportunity to openly defy it and finally find Hell on Earth.
Mysterious Frontiers[]
Changeling: The Lost/Mage: The Awakening, 1874 CE: Five years ago, the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed, revolutionizing travel and trade across the United States. But the law still has a hell of a time reaching its long arm out here, and many are left to fend for themselves. The American West sees the rise of changeling folk heroes: defiant marshals and their deputies who win victories against Fae forces, badass Lost strangers wandering from town to town evading recapture wherever they go, and wily Hedge pioneers. Many mages succumb to wanderlust and ride west for new opportunities in the wild blue yonder. The Lex Magica and Diamond traditions don’t hold much sway out here, and ain’t nobody gonna tell an Awakened what to do out under the open sky with Mysteries hidden under every rock, like gold for the prospecting.
The Great War[]
Geist: The Sin-Eaters/Werewolf: The Forsaken/Promethean: The Created, 1914-1918 CE: The Great War displayed humanity’s potential to commit to wholesale, ceaseless slaughter of their own species. In such an era, the Scar tears asunder, and the Beshilu rejoice in the mire of the Western Front. Meanwhile, soldiers who, by every right known to mortals should be dead, stand back up to rejoin the battle — or fight back against the Reapers stalking battlefields throughout Europe. Now, both werewolves and Sin-Eaters will struggle to coexist, do their duty, and avoid getting caught up in one of history’s deadliest wars.
Fear and the Golden Promise of Tomorrow[]
Deviant: The Renegades/Werewolf: The Forsaken, 1938–1946 CE: On the heels of pulp fiction, the first Golden Age of Science Fiction allowed the science-fiction genre to blossom in the public eye. Science fiction represents possibilities and in a wartime era, readers can’t get enough of Isaac Asimov, Leigh Brackett, Ray Bradbury, and Jack Vance. Though these stories are works of fiction, it is often said that all tales have kernels of truth. In the Chronicles of Darkness, experience the Golden Age of Science Fiction as you never have before, through the eyes of its creatures.
Background Information[]
Memorable Quotes[]
Characters[]
- See individual settings' pages for associated characters.
Notes[]
References[]
| Previous release | Game Books | Next release |
|---|---|---|
CofD: Dark Eras Companion   |
Chronicles of Darkness books | CofD: The Contagion Chronicle
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