Melbourne Forsaken History

Pre 1800’s, the land that would later be named the State of Victoria is home to numerous tribes and families of Aboriginal people. Among them were the People, both Forsaken and Pure. Their battles saw many deaths; revenge declared by others in turn. It was not always a bloody time, there were times of peace, but the tales that survived to this day are most often about their triumphs and tragedies.

In the 1830’s the city of Melbourne was founded. Elders of the Forsaken Tribes gathered to speak on it and decide if they could allow the land to be changed in such a way. In the end, the Iron Masters’ creed prevailed; they would honour the land in this change, just as they honoured it through the change of every blaze.

As vampires begin to arrive in the area, the Ivory Claws accuse the Forsaken of being in league with the bloodsuckers and many more horrid crimes against the People. It was in 1849 that the Kindred disturbed a sacred site of the Bone Shadows and the Forsaken began to pay the Kindred in kind. Over the next century there were countless invasions of territory and battles for ground between Kindred and People.

New Werewolves came as migrants to Melbourne, joining the local Tribes or attempting to carve out territory of their own. The local traditions began to blend with the newcomer’s ways over time, sharing their stories and battles. The Aboriginal People told the newcomers of the Vampires and their evils, the way they stole the Wolfblooded and corrupted them, denied them a chance to answer Luna’s call. The Ivory Claws took advantage of the crimes committed against the Forsaken to urge them into destroying the Vampires.

It was 1923 when the Ivory Claws’ plans came to fruition. The police were on strike and the People took this opportunity to destroy as many leeches as they could find, with a fury that had been boiling through their blood for generations. By the end of the police strike the Vampires had been entirely scoured from almost half the city. What resulted was a sort of species territory; Melbourne had, over the course of so many years of territorial battles, been divided by blood and spite.

1940 saw the arrival of a family of Storm Lords, the Rosario Family. With cruel efficiency, they quickly took control of a large section of the underworld of Melbourne – wrenching control away from numerous Kindred and other kinds in doing so and making a great many enemies for themselves. Over the coming decades, their influence only grows with the size of their family.

1942 was the year Damien Bliss went through his First Change to become an Ithaeur and joined a pack of Hunters in Darkness. His first deed-name, Stalks Knowledge (and nickname Stalks His Mate), was later replaced by the deed-name Wisdom of Age (and the new nickname of Old Fart) as he slowly became one of the oldest surviving Werewolves in Victoria.

Just as the date hit 1967 Georgio Rosario underwent the First Change and became an Elodoth. He would later earn the deed-name Thunder’s Edict as he became Alpha of The Family in 1982. Upon taking control of The Family Georgio also became the patriarch of the Rosarios.

The Predator Kings, rarely seen anywhere near Melbourne since it started to become an urban area, are spotted prowling the outskirts of the city in 1999. A few skirmishes ensue with outlying packs, resulting in many deaths.

The turn of the century was celebrated with various rituals. Some packs gave it no more ceremony than any other new year, while some gathered to tell the oldest stories they knew or took part in ritual hunts. One pack took the opportunity to use a Spirit’s Ban against it, binding it within a structure in their territory.

There are few packs left in Melbourne at present; the Predator Kings decimated some, Spirits were responsible for the deaths of others and rumours still abound of Vampires trying to steal People away in the night.