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Russia (WOD)

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This article is for Russia in the World of Darkness. Gothic-Punk Russia, while resembling the real Russia in many ways, is an even more extreme place. The ravages of the past can be seen in the eyes of the populace. Devoid of challenge, the Russians walk past each other like zombies. They walk as if they were alone in the world, ignoring everything else. Each citizen follows her own agenda, completely oblivious to what might happen to others in her path.

The supernatural denizens of Russia found themselves separated from the rest of the world via the Shadow Curtain in the early 1990s. By now, the Curtain has fallen and whatever power erected it has been vanquished by unknown forces, so many of its inhabitants interpret this as a sign that the Final Nights have begun.

Vampire: The Masquerade[]

The Kindred had a relatively small presence in Russia until the time of Peter the Great. Previously, Russia had been primarily used as a battleground between Tzimisce and Lupines and as a refuge for wandering Gangrel, but during Peter's reign, many Kindred saw a golden land ripe with kine and resources. The Toreador in particular saw a chance to develop the Russian writers and musicians. The Kindred presence in Russia grew steadily, and the Lupines could do little about it. In 1917, the Brujah proved to be on top of the situation. Latching themselves onto Lenin and his followers, they aided the Communist Revolution in the midst of World War I, ousting the Ventrue and Toreador princes that had previously dominated the cities. While the coup succeeded, and the last czar and his family were eventually murdered, the Brujah plan backfired. Disagreement over the manner of government to be formed sent Russia into civil war for a time. The Brujah factions quarreled, and the people of the Soviet Union suffered.

And yet, darker and much older powers had dwelled in Russia long before the Rus themselves had ventured into the land. As these lands were once the territory of the Iron Hag Baba Yaga, Nosferatu agents of powerful generation have inhabited these lands and when the Hag awakened in 1991, she immediately began to amass forces to return Russia into the rural land she grew up in. She either outrighted killed and devoured native vampires or forced them into servitude, sometimes with brutal force, sometimes via proxies, sometimes via subtle means like Disciplines. Many Kindred felt that something old had awakened in the wastes of Russia, but few could pinpoint it down.

In the Final Nights, Baba Yaga has met her end by the fangs of the Nictuku, the bogeymen of Nosferatu legend. Without her presence, Camarilla and Sabbat vie for influence over Russia, both eager to use the resources of people for their own purposes. Old Clan Tzimisce territories aligned with the Oradea League and their Revenant line of the Oprichniki hold to ancient estates, while Ventrue, Toreador and Brujah squabble among themselves for control over the cities. Gangrel and Ravnos wander the forests, and many Nosferatu that descend from the Hag have their warrens beneath the cities.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse[]

Russia is the ancient home of the Silver Fangs, whose Kinfolk lines can be traced back to the earliest human tribes. The Russian Silver Fangs tell epic sagas about fights against the draconic Zmei and the demon Koshchei. The Silver Fangs used to have much influence over the affairs in Russia thanks to their connection to the royal line via their Kinfolk, but faced competition in the form of Glass Walkers and agents of the N.W.O. When the revolution came, the Bone Gnawers supported the serfs, although they quickly withdraw their favor after vampiric involvement became public. Following Stalin's rise to power, Wyrm influence began to grow until it was too deeply entrenched to be dislodged.

Each tribe has at least one sept in the area of the former Soviet Union, and many of them have more. Today, there are nearly a thousand Garou spread throughout the land, from the western borders of Poland to the edge of the Bering Sea. The most populous tribes are the Silver Fangs, Bone Gnawers, Glass Walkers, and the Get of Fenris. Other tribes are the Wendigo and Uktena in the East and the Shadow Lords and Black Furies in the West. Red Talons used to be one of the more numerous tribes, but they have been decimated recently by the pogrom against wolves committed by the Soviets. The Children of Gaia have been banished from the Russian borders following their failure to stop nuclear tests and only few Silent Striders or Fianna lose themselves in the russian wilderness. Black Spiral Dancers prosper in the polluted environment of nuclear plants and many had turned to service of Baba Yaga during her activity.

An interesting phenomenon of the siberian tundra are the Siberakh, a Garou tribe native solely to Russia, who is rumored to be a mixture of Silver Fang and Wendigo ancestry. The Siberakh have refused all contact with the Western Concordat, preferring to be let alone. Fera native to Russia are a small enclave of Khan in Siberia, numerous Corax and Ratkin colonies beneath the cities. Rumors tell of ancient Gurahl that lie in stasis in the Far north of the land.

Garou Population[]

Please note that these numbers are pre November 1, 1997, a day in which over 50 Garou were killed in battle.[12]

Individual Garou (not mentioned in timeline)[]

Caerns[]

Mage: The Ascension[]

Originally, many mages in Russia practiced Shamanism and similar rites. When Baba Yaga spitefully opened the door for Christianity in Russia, displaying an act of vengeance against her rival Durga Syn, the Celestial Chorus took the opportunity to consolidate their power in the Motherland. Over the centuries, the church hunted the volshun, the ancient Earth-worshippers, often with help from the Chorus. Over the centuries, Chorus mages within the Russian church fell out of favor with many others of the Traditions. The Russian church maintained a strong grip on the Tsars, and the Chorus guided their vision of Ascension through the rulers' hands. Though the peasantry was oppressed, they remained faithful to the church, and their faith prospered. Through differences of doctrine, a long-standing dispute with the Order of Hermes, and the hubris that came with their power, the Russian Chorus cut their ties with the other Traditions outside of Russia, while hunting down Dreamspeaker volshun and Verbena vedna, or witches, within the country. These activities did not make the Russian Chorus popular with the Traditions as a whole. Sectors of the Utopian faction of the Etherites adopted Bolshevik ideology early on, allowing them to perform experiments into psionics and UFOlogy with a level of public leeway the group has rarely experienced on Earth, albeit largely in isolation from their western colleagues. [16]

Peter the Great paved the way for the Technocracy. With Peter came the High Guild, an older version of the Syndicate, and the Hippocratic Circle, forerunners of the Progenitors. As the Tsar set scientists to the task of bringing Russia "up to date", the Technocrats made their influence felt. Across the land, Paradox crept into once-secure bastions of magickal power. Although the mages were able to retain their influence into the 20th century, the power of the Chorus waned while the Technomancers grew strong .

Baba Yaga either enslaved mages or killed them, breaking the Technocratic hold over the land. This led to several unlikely alliances between Technocrats and Traditionalists, who sought to slay the ancient beast that had risen.

Wraith: The Oblivion[]

The Bleak Legion, a regional branch of the Silent, was during the Fourth Great Maelstrom the only really organized force in the Shadowlands of rural Russia. Sharing responsibility with the local outposts of the Legion of Fate, the Bleak Legion worked to defend the thousands of small, frontier Necropoli from marauding Spectres.[17]

The GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence) rounded up dozens of potential psychics, as well as Siberian shamans and Central Asian Sufi mystics for Project Zmei in the 1980s.[18] Though before then, during the 60s and 70s, the Russians were already researching psychic abilities.[19]

Changeling: The Dreaming[]

Western parts of Russia are part of the Galacian Confederation, which rejects Noble rule following the Resurgence. Given the bleak situation of many cities, however, Glamour is hard to come by and Dauntain threaten the native Changelings. Banality is ever-present and many of the more delicate Changelings leave for other parts of the Confederation.

The unspoiled forests of central Russia and Siberia, however, are the home to several Inanimae, who have chosen to not join with any faction of Changeling society. They are, however, under a constant threat by mining and lumber companies, who want to harvest the resources of Russia's nature.

Kindred of the East[]

The Wan Kuei have tales of the frozen lands of Siberia and the unclean monsters that inhabit them. Although Kuei-jin presence is neglectable at best, the Ancestors of the Quincunx, particular members of the Resplendent Crane Dharma, contemplate a Great Leap Northwestward, in order to investigate the disappearance of the Shadow Curtain and root out Kin-jin that hide there.

Demon: The Fallen[]

Russia is the home of Bezariel, an Earthbound that has no fixed Reliquary, but is instead tied to the inherent magic of the Motherland. Bezariel was summoned by Baba Yaga to act as a commander for enslaved spirits in one of her Armies. When the Hag was slain, Bezariel fled to St. Petersburg, where he dominated those Fallen that first poured through the cracks in the Abyss following the impact of the Sixth Great Maelstrom.

Other Fallen have arrived in Russia, organizing themselves in Courts. While St. Petersburg is fairly in the hands of Bezariel, Moscow is known to have successfully formed a Court, and other Fallen are suspected to hide within the population.

Mummy: The Resurrection[]

(...)

Hunter: The Reckoning[]

The KGB had a secret internal division specifically created to deal with the supernatural. Backed by vampires, and other shadowy forces, they began hunting the Garou.[20]

Imbued[]

Witch-Hunters[]

Russia is home to the GRU Eighth Direction, who were formed within the Soviet Red Army decades before the Union's collapse. Their successes eventually led to the discovery and destruction of much of the Brujah Council while the Rebels were already on the back foot in the 1990s. The Eighth Direction is nowadays one of the cornerstone orgs of the Second Inquisition, using its comparative experience to advise the rest of the Coalition from a more pragmatic, long-term perspective.[21]

Timeline[]

  • 1224: The Mongols invade Kyivan Rus'.[25]
  • 1240: Tartar Yoke begins. Mongols invade Kyivan Rus' and rule it. This is secretly supported by the Shadow Lords, although they outwardly protest that they can’t control the Mongols. Most Garou do not believe them. [26]
  • 1480: Tartar Yoke ends in Moscovia. [26]
  • 1780s: Steam engines develop, marking the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.[28] Czars and Garou kinfolk are able to prevent this in Russia.[29]
  • June 8, 1908: Tunguska event takes place in Siberia. This occurred because the Zmei Trevero broke free from the Rite of Draconic Binding, and the resulting battle with Uktena, Silver Fangs, and a mage resulted in the explosion. The Zmei was eventually rebound. [31] A completely alternate explanation for this event comes from Mage: the Ascension canon: the explosion was caused by Void Engineers crew trying to investigate curious alien ship, dubbed ‘The Vivo’ by them, and accidentally causing it to generate miniature black hole. [32]
  • 1917: Silver Fangs and other aristocratic clans move to stop the impending revolution in Russia, but their methods prove unable to stop what has begun, especially since the revolution proves to be backed by a number of forces, including Brujah and Bone Gnawers. Minions of the Wyrm take advantage of the chaos to launch attacks against the Garou; the Silver Fangs rally the divided tribes together to make a series of counterattacks, but it ends in failure when they encountered the Zmei Shazear while raiding a Black Spiral Dancer caern at the behest of the Children of Gaia. The carnage will weaken the Garou of Russia literally for years, and also cast doubt on the leadership abilities of the Silver Fangs. The failure may also have sown a seed of resentment in the Silver Fangs toward the Children of Gaia.[30][10] Agents of the Wyrm end up in control of Russia's government.[34]
  • 1917: The Arcanum lose their St. Petersburg Chapter House. As soldiers seize the house, Russian Journeymen either flee the country, taking with them what books or research they could, or were killed in the process. It's not known how many materials were destroyed, and how much fell into the hands of the Soviet leaders.[35]
  • 1918: The Garou in Russia begin to lose ground with the defeat of the anti-Communist forces. Even the Bone Gnawers begin to realize that what they began might be going out of control.[30]
  • 1918: Many Utopians start leaving to join Russia's Bolsheviks, attracted by the possibility of a "Scientific State".[16]
  • January 21, 1921: Lenin dies, his death having been arranged by the Brujah. Trotsky is supposed to replace Lenin, but Stalin; who is backed by the Toreador and Ventrue, takes power instead. .[36]
  • 1930: The Garou of Russia war with Stalin, but lose even more ground as the Brujah, despite their misgivings, step in and support him.[30]
  • September, 1941: Garou attacks on German troops assist in reducing the force that strikes at Leningrad. The Russian Get of Fenris war with their German brethren.[41][38]
  • November, 1941: Bone Gnawers do their best to help the besieged humans of Leningrad survive by feeding the hungry with what they can scrounge through their Gifts.[41][38]
  • 1945: Turgiv Bruzov, a famous Gurahl Russian portrait painter, smuggles six Soul Brush fetishes out of Russia. His whereabouts are unknown.[42]
  • 1946: The Children of Gaia in Russia begin attempting to prevent the Soviet government from developing atomic weapons.[30]
  • August 29, 1949: The Soviet Union detonates an atomic bomb in Kazakhstan, horrifying the native Garou. Overcome with Rage, the Red Talons blame the Children of Gaia (who had been trying to foil the nuclear efforts through subtle and political means, and obviously failed) and turn on them. The Silver Fangs do nothing to stop the bloody designs of Griffin's tribe, perhaps still bitter over the poor advice of the Children of Gaia in the battle of 1917 that led to defeat at the talons of the Zmei Shazear. The Children of Gaia will suffer grave casualties and will be forced to go into hiding; officially they are in exile from this point onward.[44][38]
  • March 19, 1965: Voskhod 2 space shuttle falls into the Ural mountains by accident. Soviet cosmonauts find themselves surrounded by threatening wolves. These wolves are actually Red Talons debating whether or not to kill them. They finally reach the consensus that it would be bad to kill humans attempting to leave the planet, and allow the cosmonauts to be rescued.[45]
  • August 1991: Baba Yaga begins to assert power in Russia, consuming, destroying, or dominating all vampires that stand in her way.[49] She is assisted by a dozen mages who erect a mystical barrier, preventing anyone from stepping into the Umbra, while a string of coincidental effects prevents all supernaturals from leaving. Even communications are affected.[51][52]
  • 1995: Early this year, Baba Yaga's armies are forced to temporarily retreat from Siberia, so fierce are the attacks of the Wendigo living there.[54]
  • 1995: Late this year, the Silver Fangs and their allies manage to build a foundation for survival and a counter-offensive in Russia. Piotr Volk obsesses over the Firebird Crystal, and is overcome by its power when his niece Tamara Tvarivich manages to secure it, and is reduced to a comatose state. His niece is forced to step up to the role of leadership.[54]
  • 1996: By now, the Garou of Russia are at only two thirds of their original strength.[12]
  • Late 1996: The first Glass Walkers caern in Russia is attacked; the Sept of the Learning Hall in Moscow is paid a personal visit by Baba Yaga, and it is destroyed. Luckily, Children of Gaia had advised the Glass Walkers to pull out, and so only 17 of the 40 sept members were present during the attack, though all of them died.[7]
  • 1997: Early this year, Garou begin to regroup in Russia and launch a series of counter-attacks against the forces of Baba Yaga.[12]
  • October, 1997: In late October Baba Yaga's forces attack the Sept of the Crystal Mind (of the Stargazers) and the Aral Sea Caern (House Wise Heart, Silver Fangs). By the end of the month every single member of the Silver Fang sept had been destroyed, ending the line of House Wise Heart Silver Fangs in Russia. The Stargazer caern barely survives through guerrilla tactics. At the same time, the hag sends forces into Siberia to deal with the Wendigo who had fought her back in early 1995.[12]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 54
  2. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 57
  3. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 59
  4. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 61
  5. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 62
  6. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 64
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 WTA: A World of Rage, p. 73
  8. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 66
  9. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 67
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 69
  11. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 72
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 WTA: A World of Rage, p. 74
  13. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 74
  14. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 75
  15. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 77-78
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 MTAs: Tradition Book: Sons of Ether, p. 46
  17. ↑ WTO: Wraith: The Great War, p. 57
  18. ↑ Orpheus: Orpheus Rulebook, p. 277
  19. ↑ Orpheus: The Orphan-Grinders, p. 147
  20. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 28
  21. ↑ VTM: Second Inquisition, p. 125-127
  22. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 90
  23. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 19
  24. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 20
  25. ↑ VTDA: Book of Storyteller Secrets, p. 20
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 22
  27. ↑ WTA: Who's Who Among Werewolves: Garou Saga, p. 110
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 WTA: Werewolf Storytellers Companion, p. 59
  29. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 15
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 30.6 30.7 WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 30
  31. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 25
  32. ↑ MTAs: Convention Book: Void Engineers, p. 62
  33. ↑ WTA: Tribebook: Silver Fangs
  34. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 12
  35. ↑ MTAs: Halls of the Arcanum, p. 30 Buy it from DriveThruRPG! Now in Print!
  36. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 26
  37. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 84
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 WTA: A World of Rage, p. 70
  39. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 46-47
  40. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 63
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 31
  42. ↑ WTA: Gurahl, p. 110
  43. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Egypt, p. 102
  44. ↑ Note: The massacre of Children of Gaia may have taken some time to gain steam; refer to year 1956 for another potential date when this all occurred.
  45. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 33
  46. ↑ WTA: Ways of the Wolf, p. 40
  47. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 83
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 WTA: Werewolf Storytellers Companion Revised Edition, p. 59
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 WTA: A World of Rage, p. 71
  50. ↑ Rage Across Russia p.82
  51. ↑ MTAs: Guide to the Traditions, p. 137
  52. ↑ Note that this is contradicted by the Werewolf Storytellers Companion, p. 59, which says it went up in 1992.
  53. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 51
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 WTA: A World of Rage, p. 72
  55. ↑ WTA: Rage Across Egypt, p. 102
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