The Philippines are a Southeast Asian island nation, located in the western Pacific ocean. First settled by modern humans circa 2200 BC and colonized by the Spanish in 1565, the country managed to gain independence from the United States in 1946. Its capital and largest city (not including other cities located within its metropolitan area) is Manila.
For the real country, see Philippines.
Locations[]
Vampire: The Masquerade[]
Although the modern vampiric community came to the Philippines alongside Spanish colonizers in the 16th century, the archipelago has been inhabited by vampires (or similar creatures) since long before then. Many Hunters have records of aswang - viscera-eating monsters who wear human skin by the day and have powers at the very least akin to those of vampires. On more than one occasion, entire platoons of Special Action Forces soldiers have turned up dead, their corpses half-eaten and frequently drained of blood. Many in the know are quick to pin such incidents on the aswang.
Many Kindred in the Philippines prefer to inhabit the dens of the country's aristocracy: Powerful businesses, old-money families, and similar institutions with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Bellium University, a long-time icon of wealth and tradition among the upper class nationwide, has been continuously controlled by vampires since its creation (though its founders are not the same as its current puppet-masters)[1], and much of the country's 1% are members of Mga Hari ng Ilog ni Magwayen, a cannibalistic cult secretly led by a cabal of the Kindred.
With the failure of the Masquerade and subsequent establishment of the Second Inquisition, the Philippines have seen a gradual rise in hunter activity that the local Camarilla is extremely worried will soon result in the establishment of a dedicated hunter command of the same caliber as the existing second-party members of the Coalition. The off-the-books death squads of former (2016-2022) Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte were known to be partially (and unpredictably) composed of entire teams of hunters aware of the nature of some of the government's rivals in the country, and a mere administration change is unlikely to have stopped those teams from finding work.[2]
Werewolf: The Apocalypse[]
Prior to the arrival of European Garou alongside colonialism, the Philippines (and significant portions of mainland Southeast Asia) was protected by the Luntiang Kuko (Tagalog for 'Green Claws'), a sept of "witch-wolves". When the colonizers began spreading across the archipelago, the defenders were subjugated, and supposedly nothing remains anymore of the old sept and their ways. The story is cause for many modern Garou scholars to hang their heads in shame, one of many such accounts of European Garou choosing their colonizer communities over the Indigenous protectors of the lands they invaded.[3]
Wraith: The Oblivion[]
Many of the Philippines' quick, deeply religious and knowledgeable of folk customs as they are, find no difficulty believing tales of ghosts inhabiting areas nearby. As such, several hauntings have persisted for decades with little intervention on either side of the shroud, despite more often than not being well-known urban legends. The Lost Girl of Little Baguio is permitted by locals to simply continue her work, being seen as more effort than she is worth, and Santan Plaza sees little intervention beyond the occasional feeble attempt at an exorcism, despite the locals long ago managing to figure out its spectral inhabitants' weaknesses.
Hunter: the Reckoning[]
Independent Hunters have protected the people of the Philippines since long before European arrival. From region to region and island to island, the Philippines are home to many communities — often centered around one or two families — who are themselves practitioners of magic and shamanism. While this contributes greatly to a general public acceptance that supernatural phenomena can be as real as real gets, this doesn’t do agents of larger and newer organizations any favors. Many Filipinos who consider themselves true practitioners generally abhor such jobbers, and they are often willing to show their disapproval with open hostility if they feel like any such groups are stepping into their territory.
These traditional folk guardians, such as the albularyo and babaylan of old, are nowadays hard to come by, but numerous orgs (some of whom are in no small part responsible for the dwindling of the old ways) have since been established to make for an adequate substitute.
The Manila Department of Justice: Special Rehabilitation Program, or just the SRP, have been offering prisoners a shortened sentence in exchange for a stint as Hunters since the 1960s. The PR-friendly explanation is that the President recognizes prisoner’s rights, the value of restorative justice, and the plight of ex-inmates who find that they can’t rebuild their lives after doing their time. In reality, the authors of the Program wanted to kill two birds with one stone: Stop their rivals from using inmates for their own purposes by monopolizing the supply, and have the means to cull supernatural threats within Manila. While the SRP does hire legitimate agents to serve as specialists, the majority of its manpower comes in the form of "hunters" who are given basic equipment and training before being sent out into the streets with nothing but a handler to back them up.
Although the SRP predates the official formation of the Coalition, as do many of that group's member organizations, it itself does not seem to be formally affiliated. Hunters from the Society of St. Leopold, who also have an established presence in the strongly Catholic Philippines, believe that no other soldier can wage war against the supernatural like they can, and stolidly refuse to offer their expertise to the SRP’s trainers.
The Nails of Christ have also protected the Philippines from supernatural threats, especially those perceived as being of "foreign" origin, since their founding during the Katipunan revolution of the 1890s. The organization’s operators continue to hide among the seditionists, communists, free thinkers, critics, and revolutionaries of the Philippines. They still view themselves as the lonely soldiers of the watchtower, obsessively researching any foreign supernatural threat that enters their territory, and leaping into battle with their silver blades and their body armor lined with blessed medallions. Although the Nails' influence stretches from the northern end of the archipelago to the southern end, they are known to prioritize Luzon and similarly Christianized areas.
The Philippine Office of Exorcism is another org with strongly Christian roots that operates in the country.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ HTR: Alma Maters, p. 90
- ↑ VTM: Camarilla, p. 81
- ↑ WTA: 5th Edition Core Book, p. 39
- HTR: Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition, p. 196-197, 202-204, 246-248, 253-255