France (WOD)

France, officially the French Republic, is a unitary sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions.

Overview

The history of France's Kindred is entwined with that of their kine. The French enjoyed the bliss of many golden ages because of the never-ending cultural patronage of the Toreador, not just in Paris but also in Cannes and along the Cote d'Azur. Likewise, Idealist Brujah quietly sponsor France's numerous great philosophers. In most European countries the Ventrue hold the reins; this is not true in France.

The Blue Bloods chafe at their inability to gain more than a toehold here. The large cities are havens for the despised Nosferatu and – though the Toreador are loath to admit it – hiding places for a few Sabbat. Malkavians have great sport as inspirations among the bizarre artisans. The southern and eastern mountains are home to a number of Gangrel, and Tremere in search of rituals and ancient texts lurk in rural, as well as urban, libraries, and universities. France, with its love of culture, beauty and joie de vivre, seems the perfect place for Kindred.

Yet in many ways, Kindred society in France is insular and stagnant. The elders talk about the glorious past but they seldom look toward the darkening future. The Toreador jealously guards its absolute rule from the other clans. Even though a foreign Kindred visitor may receive royal treatment to all appearances, strong xenophobia runs through native vampires. The Kindred of France stride down a dangerous road in their pride, and the few enlightened voices among them fear for continued peace.

Paris

Main article: Paris (WOD)

Paris is as central to the psyche of France as any capital city in the world. Built on the banks of the Seine, Paris is divided into 20 sections called Arrondissements. The city has hundreds of restaurants, museums, archives, theaters, and quaint Bohemian-style neighborhoods haunted by artists and tinkers. Though the trend-setting capital of Toreador society, some Malkavians live here, inspiring mortals in their own bizarre fashion. The elders of Paris have both created and destroyed more artists than most American Toreador will ever meet.

François Villon is the Toreador Prince of Paris. He rules the City of Lights and his special pet interest, the fashion community, from the seat of Toreador power in the 1st Arrondissement at the Louvre. His words are absolute law with regard to art and culture, not only in Paris but throughout much of France and the "civilized" world as well. He is especially fond of beautiful women, and many famous models have given of their vitae to Paris' prince.

Yet there are those who tire of the many centuries of Toreador rule. Brujah Idealists clamor for the influence that they feel they have earned. Nosferatu see Paris as a city where their appreciation of beauty should be acknowledged. The city is also home to a number of anarchs who want to bring down the current hard-line regime by violent means. Worse, a number of Sabbat dwell in the 19th and 20th Arrondissements amidst the lower-class neighborhoods and old slaughterhouses. They have recently made a few recruits among the social elite in Paris, and it seems that the city, so superficially perfect and serene, may well crumble, eaten away with rot from within.

Bordeaux and the Wine Country

Centered in Bordeaux and along the South Atlantic coast, the wine country of France is off the beaten path for most visitors. Yet here famous chateaux such as Latour and Margaux offer the best examples of the laid-back rural French lifestyle. People are friendly, but are cautious of outsiders and are superstitious as well. Members of Clan Gangrel tend to dwell here; as a rule, they are very old and often have ghoul family members who are protective of the Masquerade.

Monaco

This tiny principality has been under French protection since 1861, but the Grimaldi family, the oldest surviving European dynasty, have ruled here since the early Middle Ages. What few realize is the dynasty's connection – attenuated down the centuries, but still present – to the Sabbat Grimaldi family. Wielding great wealth, the Grimaldi's secret agents weave among mortal and Kindred tourists, making deals and linking the Sabbat with the mortal world. Perhaps because of these links, Monaco thrives from tourism. The most famous event here is the Grand Prix de Monaco auto race held in May.

History

Pre-history

In 40,000 BCE, homo sapiens arrive in France after more than fifty millennia of slow progress from Africa. Although it cohabited for a time with the Neanderthal man, who had occupied these lands for almost 250,000 years, homo sapiens was able to adapt thanks to his more developed techniques techniques, enabling them to create numerous tools, like more effective weapons, fish hooks, eye needles and even musical instruments. At the time, the last ice age was making the northern part of the territory, consisting largely of tundra, relatively hostile to human life. When the Neolithic reached France around 5500 BCE, homo sapiens began to settle down, building dwellings, cultivated cereals and legumes, raised livestock, domesticated the horse, erected stones and built the first tombs and necropolises, like the famous tumuli, of which only the dolmens marked the entrance to the burial-place and earth, symbolizing the subterranean world.

It wasn't until around 5000 BCE that the first Cainites ventured in present-day France. Until then, low temperatures and sparse populations did not allow them to survive, unlike the lands of North Africa and the Middle East. However, even with milder temperatures, only Nosferatu and Gangrels dared to venture into these still unwelcoming western lands, surviving thanks to their discipline in reigning over animals and feed on them. Some, mainly among the Nosferatu, created cults around themselves. It was also during this period that the Werewolf Impergium reached its peak. During this dark period, lycanthropes instilled terror in mankind, limiting the activities and numbers of the latter, imbuing the collective memory of the terror of the wolf, which is still evident through the delirium affecting human minds when confronted werewolf in its fighting form. There were even some "awakened" humans to go along with the Impergium, mage-chamans who performed human sacrifices to grant themselves great powers, threatening the equi free, attracting the minions of the Worm to these lands still untouched of his corrupting touch.

Of course, a tribe with the help of a powerful Cainite powerful Cainite "spirit protector", most of whom were Cainites with powerful bloodlines, had a clear advantage against Garous or bloodthirsty mages. The discovery of silver metal around 5000 BCE and its common use around 3000 BCE, gave humans an undeniable advantage, as they began to become aware of its properties, but the Impergium only came to an end around 2000 BCE in a Europe still in the wilderness.

Bronze and Iron Ages

Bronze Age began in France around 2000 BCE, followed by the Iron Age around 750 BCE. During this period, villages were fortified and an upper class emerged. These chieftains reserved the right to their own burial mounds and were buried with great wealth. For a time, funeral rites evolved and cremation became commonplace. The deceased is burned with his or her possessions, and the ashes placed in an urn in an urn, which is then placed in a chest and buried. Burial without cremation cremation remained the norm among the powerful. Some argue that the Cainites, more numerous by then, did not want to run the risk not want to run the risk of being discovered and cremated if they were under torpor, they would have retained the rite of burial rather than cremation, but this remains open to debate, although it is possible that these rites took place after dark, which would lend credence to this theory.

Although numerous oppida (fortified towns) have appeared, the first city worthy of the name was founded around 600 BC by the by the Phocaean Greeks under the name of Massalia. This strategically port, with its undeniable strategic position, enjoyed importance in Greek trade, and for the Etruscans and Carthaginians in the 6th century BCE. This also facilitated trade between the Celtic peoples of "Gaul" and between the Celtic peoples of Gaul and the great Mediterranean civilizations, opening them up to the world... and to the cainites. Massalia was then a bastion in the hands of the Brujah, allied with a few Toreador, and trade with Carthage was transforming the future city of Marseille into a pro-father of the Carthaginian utopia.

Creating a cult around them, some Nosferatu were able to feed on the local tribes while giving them the benefit of their "protection". Secluded in deep caves considered sacred, they communicated via "ghoul-shamans," using their powers of Occultation to alter their appearance and conceal their "sanctuaries", their Power to move huge boulders blocking access to their refuge and Animalism to enable their tribe to prosper, first through ever more fruitful hunts, then by facilitating domestication. Although some Gangrels were able to do the same, the sedentarization of humanity got the better of the hunters, and these wild Cainites turned their backs on them. Although there are no sources or proof of this, it's not impossible that certain Tzimisce ventured west, however, it remains unlikely that they supported any human communities. Rather, they embodied a kind of telluric divinity, ruling over a region and inspiring fear in its inhabitants.

The Gauls were divided into numerous peoples including the famous Arvernes, but also the Aedui (Burgundy), future allies of Rome. During the Second Iron Age, which began around 450 BCE, two powerful Cainites, Antiorix and Ueruic, ruled much of a large part of Celtic Gaul. Antiorix and Ueruic (whose names could be translated as "Last King" and "Great Fighter" respectively), are two powerful methuselahs of Fourth Generation of unknown origins, and probably arrived at the time of Massalia's foundation. They quickly became the Aeduan people, whose politics they largely controled. Antiorix soon allied himself with Rome, which he admired but also with the Methuselah toreador Beshter (the future Michael of Constantinople), whose lover he became when he abandoned Gaul to the Roman armies, even facilitating their invasion by his knowledge of the local people. Antiorix becoming Antonius le Gaulois, joined Rome and then Constantinople until his ultimate death in 796. Ueruic, disappointed by Antiorix's attitude, went to Germania and took the name Erik Eigermann.

With Antiorix's defection, Gaul collapsed in just seven years Julius Caesar's legions, from 58 BCE to around 51 BCE. It is said that the Roman armies were backed by powerful cainites mainly Ventrues, Lasombra and Malkavians, but also Garous from the Silver Fangs tribe, linked to the Latin patricians. The Gallic peoples, supported by a few Cainites, mainly Nosferatu and Gangrel, lacked cohesion, sealing their fate. As for the werewolves, many of whom were members of the bloodthirsty Red Claw tribe, they couldn't care less about the future of the so-called "pathetic humans", abandoning the few Black Furies--based on the Mediterranean coast--who try to oppose the the invaders. Lupine resistance proved superior in Armorican Gaul where the Fianna and White Howlers lend a hand support the local people, some of whom belonged to their kin. The outcome of the conflict was inevitable and the tribes withdrew to their northern lands beyond the sea.

During the first century of the Gallo-Roman period, Gallic culture and identity were eliminated. The virtual absence of a written language meant that the Celtic heritage to survive for long in the face of the new Latin master. Around 10 BCE, the first Gallo-Roman university was established at Augustodunum (now Autun), home to the Aedui. Founded by Emperor Augustus, the city was intended to be a model of Roman power and culture. The first Prince of the city was Diviciacos, a sixth generation Malkavian and an Aeduan druid after the Gallic War. Despite his young age as a Cainite, his experience and perfect knowledge of the Gallic and Roman peoples made him the ideal candidate. He reformed Gallic society, starting with the elite and nobility, achieving spectacular results in barely a century. Although several revolts punctuated this period of transformation, which saw the emergence of Gallic "emperors", most of them showed their attachment to Rome their allegiance to Rome.

Roman era

The Roman Empire reached its apogee in the 1st century. Its borders so extensive that it could no longer cope with the invasions by barbarian peoples, who pushed deeper into the empire, particularly in Gaul. It goes without saying these peoples were the Gangrel and Brujah clans, too happy to take on their enemies, the Ventrue, Malkavians, Lasombra and Toreador of Rome. But the presence of Garous among the Germans eroded the influence of the Cainites and prevented the Brujah from truly seizing power. Alamanni, Franks, Suevi, Alans, Vandals, Visigoths and Burgundianssuccessively swept through Gaul. Rome "federated" some of these Germanic peoples, granting them domains in exchange for the protection of its borders. As the Western Empire disintegrated with the transfer of power to Constantinople around 330 CE, some of the most powerful methuselahs left Rome to join the new capital in the East--such as Beshter, Antonius, and the Dracon--while others joined the Roman armies in the face of invasion, such as Mithras.

Changeling: The Dreaming

The proportion of nobles to commoners in France, or the Kingdom of Neustria as it is known to the Kithain, is about four to one. This hotbed of extreme promonarchists is probably the worst place a footloose and fancy-free commoner could find themself. Most nobles here think any commoner without an Oath of Fealty is a dangerous anarchist, and some staunchly traditional commoners would agree. Neustria includes the Duchies of Bayeaux in the north, Burgundy in the south, and Sapphire Seas along the Mediterranean coast. Southwest France is the Aquitaine, the independent demesne of High Lord Rathesmere of House Fiona. Commoners in dire straits may be able to find refuge in his court if there is a good reason. While Neustria in its entirety is ruled by Queen Margarette of House Gwydion, along with her consort Prince Eugene of House Beaumayn. Though previously it had been ruled by a king.

Vampire: The Dark Ages

The ability to influence France and its powerful is primordial for Europe's politically-minded cainites. And even those who try to turn away are caught in its web, at the mercy of insatiable predators. The reconquests of Philip II Auguste's conquests of the Plantagenet territories restored a splendor not seen for centuries. The King of France was once again a powerful monarch, capable of stepping to emerge from the shadows of his most powerful vassals. The young and pious Louis IX, on the advice of his mother Blanche of Castile, exercised his authority with the same severity as his grandfather, crushing the revolts of ambitious lords guided in the shadows by long-toothed immortal creatures.

The massacres of Cainites during the Albigensian Crusades represent are a serious warning to the Damned, who would think themselves think they're safe, isolated in their shelters, protected by their and flesh puppets. The Inquisition is expanding at a frightening speed, and the convents of the mendicant orders the cities rather than the countryside, bringing the danger closer to home. Numerous cainites from other countries traveled to France to France on pilgrimages, to conduct business and, soon, to answer Louis IX's call to crusade, an influential sovereign favored by the Church.

France has a wealth of regional treasures, and even the even the matriarch toreador Salianna has only a narrow overview. Distances are great, journeys long and messengers and messengers quick to disappear or succumb to the things haunting or roaming the forests and vast countryside. The fear of of the millennium had given way to a more optimistic period. darkness began to cover a kingdom that would soon succumb to unrest, pestilence and a century-old war the seeds of which have already been sown.

France during Dark Ages

During long years the France was under the dominance of the ventrue methuselah Alexandre , who created the Grand Court as a political tool to ally with the Court of Love of the french toreador . Until his fall he reigned in Paris with the help of the Matriarch Salianna .

After his fall , his childe Geoffrey du Temple took the power but was ultimately under the influence of the toreador.

Domains

The kingdom of France was more or less divided in 16 areas in 1242 :

• County of Anjou , place of the Court of Love of Isouda de Blaise .
• Duchy of Aquitaine and Guyenne , partially part of the Baronies of Avalon .
• County of Auvergne , an isolated and wild area.
• County of Blois , a decadent place of culture .
• Duchy of Bretagne , an historically celtic part of France.
• Duchy and County of Bourgogne , a place of power and corruption , under the influence of the Fiefs of the Black Cross
• County of Champagne , place of the Court of Love of Hélène la Juste .
• County of Dauphiné , a place of power for the ventrue .
• County of Flandres , where powerful township are rising.
• County of Vermandois , under the dominance of a very strange coterie.
• The Royal Domain of Île de France, Orléanais and Bourges , place of the Grand Court of Geoffrey du Temple and Salianna , and the Court of Love of the Matriarch of the Courts of Love in Paris .
• Duchy of Alsace and Lorraine , under the dominance of the Fiefs of the Black Cross .
• Duchy of Normandie , formerly a Baronies of Avalon , now under the control of the Échiquier de Rouen .
• County of Poitou , place of the Court of Love of Etienne de Poitiers .
• County of Provence , a path to pilgrimage and crusade .
• County of Toulouse , place of the fallen Court of Love of Esclarmonde la Noire , under the attack of the Albigensian Crusade.

References

• WOD: A World of Darkness Second Edition, p. 70-72
• WOD: Le Monde des Ténèbres: France
• DAW: Werewolf: The Dark Ages, p. 43-44
• DAV: France by Night