Archived-National Awakening History

This is the broadly stated history of Australia, from a national Awakening perspective. This is a work in progress and please be mindful of how much any individual PC would know.

NOTE: What follows reflects darkly points of political history of Australia. Historical figures and events have been replaced by fictional ones, and while the former inform the later in the broadest of broad strokes they are just fantasy constructs. The intent is never to denigrate anyone's beliefs - political, religious or otherwise.

History

Mages have arrived in Australia at various times throughout history. Many early European explorers were magically inclined, or suspected to be such. White settlement in the late 18th to early 19th Century quickly brought Mages to the new world, many believing that this unexplored land may contain lost traces of Atlantis. However, finding native tribes in Australia, with their own mages and magical traditions was a shock to many. It is generally believed that Darwin himself was probably a mage, visiting Australia on the Beagle in the 1839. Down through the years, mages who settled in Australia have often been close to power, though usually not usually taking the top jobs. Advisors, explorers, and scientists were common. Those magical explorers who travelled away from the cities searching for secrets in the Outback however, often came across individuals and beings that were far from that which they knew. The spirit wilds across Australia were untamed, containing creatures of surprising power and unknowable secrets. This was not like the semi-tamed and controlled spirit world across Europe. Here mages had lived with and alongside the creatures, rather than attempting to tame, subdue, or kill.

Much of the blame for missing Awakened was placed upon the native Aboriginals. The idea that mere spirits, ghosts, or the land itself could defeat, devour, or dissappear experienced European mages was considered preposterous. They must have been targeted. The Awakened community of the time played a larger-than-normal part in the subjugation of the Aboriginals; the expiration of ancient ways and traditions, and the extermination of the ‘wise ones’ and ‘witch doctors’ of the outback.

Magical bloodlines dwindled, native mages died, and traditions and legacies were lost. Most modern mages are relatively unaware of the blood across the history of the Australian Pentacle, and those that know rarely speak of it. The government may have apologised, but the Pentacle never has, and does not want to admit its hubris.

There are many signs on the current landscape of the damage done in days gone by, with previously life-giving areas now barren and dead. Hallows have dwindled or disappeared, and spirit Loci are not what they once were. Parts of the Spirit World are devoid of life, and balance is a constant struggle for the Thyrsus’ who tend it there.

Balance has slowly returned to some places, the cities with their high populations, and those places now devoid of interference slowly change. Concilia across the nation vary in their levels of care and hubris, and their places reflect that. Most cities thrive, and magic flows, in new patters that reflect the modern world. Ley lines follow streets and thoroughfares rather than old rivers and ridges. Changes in the world, now visible to all, in things like climate as well as in attitude have the Sleepers looking more closely at the world around them, their eyes more open since the Industrial Revolution, if not the Renaissance.

Good, bad, or indifferent, the world has changed and the magical landscape along with it. What the Awakened will build, what battles will be fought, what enemies new or old might arise is yet to be seen. The Seers and the Banishers and the Mad are all here, in their towers or their caves; their precise motivations unknown to the Pentacle. It is the dawning of a new Age of Man, and a new Age of Awakened along with it. But as the world changes, will it be for better or for worse?

The Pentacle

It began as the Diamond within Australia, and even since the formation of the Free Council, Concilia and Assemblies have often stood seperately.

Antagonist Groups

Seers of the Throne

The Seers are a constant threat to the mages of the Pentacle, though mostly they have not been well enough organised to strike decisive blows. In Perth (date?) however, they have risen to a dominant position.

Notable NPCs

Harp
Shaman of the Silver Ladder, Head of the Lighthouse, Councillor of the Stone Book, and former Hierarch of Brisbane

Rank: Second-Degree Master of Life and Spirit

Path: Archived-Thyrsus

Order: Archived-Silver Ladder

Cabal: The Lighthouse

Legacy: Archived-Keepers of the Covenant

Recognized Apprentices: None

Harp is perhaps the nicest looking old woman you’ve ever seen. Though she bears enough of age’s marks to show her to be over seventy years old time has treated her like fine wine, refining her beauty rather than diminishing it. Those who have met her and listened to her stories, or who have had the good sense to acquaint themselves with the history of Brisbane, will know that she has been here for a very long time. In fact, she has been here since before there was even the First Consilium. She is old, wise, powerful, and deeply invested in the world of the Spirits. More than happy to take on students and teach with tempered compassion, she never the less has little time for trifling and those who have studied with her will know well that she is a passionate believer in the Elemental Precepts. Her status as a Keeper is one she shares only just enough about, stating bluntly that deeper secrets are only for those who would take up the mantle to learn, whilst her reasons for stepping down as Hierarch are simply expressed as wanting to give younger Awakened the chance to learn for when she is finally gone.

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