This urban fantasy setting is our modern world where the supernatural exists in secret, hidden among the shadows of every day life.Inspirations
World of Darkness, Dresden Files, Buffy, True Blood
WEREWOLVES
VAMPIRES
ELEMENTALS
WITCHES
Contrary to myth werewolves are born, not bitten. Most werewolves grow up with their family who can explain what they are.
Sometimes though a werewolf child is separated from their family or the gift hides for several generations before re-emerging. These confused werewolves don’t know who or what they are and are driven mad with blood-lust when they first transform.
THE MOON
Once a werewolf learns to control their gift they can transform during any phase of the moon.
They take on a hybrid form, half way between human and wolf.The full moon though drives them into a frenzy and young werewolves often lose control during these three days.
POWERS
Even in human form werewolves have powerful senses, their sense of smell is equivalent to a bloodhound and they can see even in pitch darkness by making their eyes glow.Many werewolves learn to partially transform, using their claws as a human or growing just their ears or tail. Werewolves are supernaturally strong, resilient and heal extremely quickly.
THE PACK
Werewolves gather in groups called packs. Typically a pack will be polyamorous with each member (other than blood relatives) attracted to the alpha. This isn’t universal but it is extremely common.
home
For generations the Wildcrest family have been the alphas of a small pack of werewolves. Grayson’s father Emmet, the previous alpha, trained him from a young age to take over leadership.
Grayson
Heath
Colton
Freya
Thalia
GRAY CREST SECURITY
When Grayson became the Alpha he wanted to move the pack into the 21st century. He moved the pack closer to the city and created a private security company called Gray Crest Security. Along with regular human members the core of this company are the werewolves of his pack. THE PACK MERGE
Moving into the city brought him in conflict with another pack known as the Night Fangs. He clashed frequently with their Alpha a woman named Freya Night. Over several years they grew closer, first as rivals, then reluctant friends and finally lovers. Eventually they made the decision to merge their packs into a single pack. Because the pack has been linked to the Wildcrest family they decided to make Grayson the Alpha. However Freya remains well respected and is considered the matriarch of the pack, while this isn’t a traditional werewolf title she’s still respected as much as most Alphas.
Members
Grayson Wildcrest
Pack Alpha
Freya Night
Pack Matriarch
Thalia Night
College Student
Heath Vasquez
Adopted misfit
Miguel and Manuel
Twins
Raven
???
Former Members
Colton Blackwood
Lone wolf
All wolves feel the instinctive need to be part of a pack yet some struggle against this impulse, reluctant to give up their individuality to be part of a larger group. Doomed to wrestle with their instincts at all times lone wolves live solitary lives, unless they can find another calling or group to fill the place of a pack in their heart.
Colton
Vandal
COLTON BLACKWOOD
Some wolves are unwilling to submit to an Alpha, Colton was originally part of Grayson's Pack but after challenging Grayson for leadership and failing he left the pack rather than submit. VANDAL GARNER
Not all packs are caring and supporting. Vandal's family and pack were abusive and forever tarnished the idea of a pack in his mind. He ran to join the military as a way to find a new life. Now his duty to his squad and his love interest try to fill that void, but his own ideas of how to be part of a loving relationship have been damaged.
Most werewolves prefer to avoid the hearts of cities, feeling more at home closer to nature. Feral Jed though was a misfit among werewolves in most ways. Back in the early 2000s, rather than a true pack he formed a gang composed of both mortal humans and stray werewolves recruited away from other packs.
Freya
ALLEY HOWLERS
Freya joined the Alley Howlers when she was a confused teenager unaware of what it meant to be a werewolf. While she started out loyal to Feral Jed and grateful to him for teaching her to control her werewolf nature, she soon realized he was using and abusing the members of the pack. She challenged him for leadership and when he refused to back down was forced to kill him.
THE NIGHT FANGS
After Freya took over the gang renamed itself the Night Fangs and began reforming itself. The worst influences were kicked out of the gang and a few werewolves more loyal to Jed ran off and became independent. While still a criminal gang, Freya turned them more towards protecting some of the poorest areas of town from other gangs and predators whether mortal or supernatural.
THE PACK MERGE
Over time the Night Fangs had more and more confrontations with Grayson’s pack, a pack new to the city led by a young alpha. They started out as rivals, but as respect grew between them eventually Freya and Grayson became lovers. Finally the two packs merged and now its members belong to Grayson’s pack.
Former Members
Feral Jed
Pack Alpha
Freya Night
Pack Matriarch
Miguel and Manuel
Twins
Raven
???
Grayson Wildcrest
Species : Werewolf
Profession : CEO of Gray Crest
Age : 45
Gender : Male
Pack : Grayson’s Pack
Hair : Grey
Eyes : Green/Glowing Green
Fur : Red and Grey
Grayson was raised by his father Emmet, the Alpha of his pack, to lead the pack one day.When Grayson took over the pack twenty-five years ago he moved the pack closer to the city and created Gray Crest Security as a private business.He came into conflict with Freya Night the Alpha of the Night Fangs as they encroached on her territory. However after years of rivalry they became lovers and united their packs.
Alternate Scenarios
Freya Night
Species : Werewolf
Profession : Pack Matriach
Age : 42
Gender : Female
Pack : Grayson’s Pack
Hair : Dark Auburn, grey streaks
Eyes : Brown/Glowing Gold
Fur : Dark Auburn
Freya grew up in a human family, unaware of the wolf blood that had laid dormant for generations. When she first transformed she ran away from home to keep her family safe.In the city Freya joined a werewolf gang called the Alley Howlers led by an Alpha named Feral Jed. At first she was loyal and grateful to him for teaching her control but in time she realized he was using and abusing the pack. She challenged him and was forced to kill him after he wouldn’t back down.Freya became the Alpha and renamed the gang the Night Fangs changing them into a group that protected the poorer districts of the city. Over time she came into confrontation with Grayson’s pack. After a few years of rivalry she started a romance with Grayson and eventually agreed to merge the two packs.Freya is now well respected in the pack and acts as the matriarch, not an official werewolf position but she is respected as much as any other alpha.
Alternate Scenarios
Heath Vasquez
Species : Werewolf
Profession : Private Security
Age : 22
Gender : Male
Pack : Grayson’s Pack
Hair : Black
Eyes : Gold/Glowing Gold
Fur : Black
Heath was orphaned at a young age and grew up unaware that his family were werewolves. He recently transformed for the first time and came to the attention of Grayson Wildcrest who helped teach him about being a werewolf.Heath’s lover is a human who knew him before his first transformation and as a result is now in on the secret of the supernatural.
Thalia Night
Species : Werewolf
Profession : College Student
Age : 20
Gender : Female
Pack : Grayson’s Pack
Hair : Dark Auburn
Eyes : Hazel/Glowing Gold
Fur : Dark Auburn
Thalia grew up completely surrounded by her pack and werewolf culture. Despite loving her family and pack she wants to learn more about normal human culture. She signed up for a distant college and is attending now to fully enmesh herself in the human world.
Colton Blackwood
Species : Werewolf
Profession : Supernatural Mercenary
Age : 32
Gender : Male
Pack : Lone Wolf
Hair : Messy Auburn
Eyes : Blue/Glowing Blue
Fur : Auburn
Colton was once part of Grayson’s pack but always ended up in conflict with Grayson. Three years ago Colton challenged Grayson for the position as the Alpha but lost. Unwilling to return to the pack as a subservient member he left in disgrace.Now a lone wolf Colton takes contracts to work as a mercenary for beings in the supernatural world. He lives in an apartment directly above a nightclub named ‘Sin’.
Vandal Garner
Species : Werewolf
Profession : Soldier
Age : 24
Gender : Male
Pack : Lone Wolf
Hair : Blonde
Eyes : Blue/Glowing Blue
Fur : White
Vandal grew up in an extremely toxic and abusive werewolf pack. The experience was negative enough to overcome his natural instinct to be in a pack. He joined the military as a way to escape his pack.He is part of a secret organization in the US Military which employs supernatural beings in secret missions.
In most of America the supernatural is forced to live hidden amongst mundane humanity and keeping their secrets. Vale Crossing is a rare exception. This small remote town on the border of America and Canada is entirely populated by supernatural beings or a few rare humans aware of their secret existence. Witchcraft has been used to hide the town from mortal discovery, it doesn’t appear on any map and mortals just don’t notice the road that leads there.
Karl
Jalen
Werewolves
The town is divided between two werewolf packs. Jalen Turner and Karl Ekström each control half of the town and have a continuous rivalry.
Vampires
There are only a few vampires within the town as the need for human prey makes it difficult for them to live in isolation. Those few vampires within the town each have their own harems of mortal blood-donors, who have been brought into the secret and allowed to live within the town.
Karl Ekström
Species : Werewolf
Profession : Pack Alpha
Age : 24
Gender : Male
Pack : Ekström’s Pack
Hair : Sandy Blonde
Eyes : Blue/Glowing Blue
Fur : White
Karl is a young impulsive alpha with a lot to learn and a lot to prove. He only recently became the alpha of his pack and worries about being seen as too weak.He controls the territory on the northern side of Vale Crossing. He constantly clashes with Jalen’s pack who control the southern side of Vale Crossing.
Jalen Turner
Species : Werewolf
Profession : Pack Alpha
Age : 35
Gender : Male
Pack : Jalen's Pack
Hair : Black
Eyes : Brown/Glowing Gold
Fur : Black
Jalen is an experienced Alpha whose pack controls the south side of Vale Crossing. He is calm, measured and in control with a lot of respect for werewolf traditions.Despite attempting a friendly relation with Karl Ekström and his pack, his attempts to help were taken as an attempt to control the other pack. There is now a large rivalry between the two alphas.
Vampires were once humans until another vampire, known as their sire, transformed them. It is a deliberate choice to create a vampire, done by draining the human of their blood and feeding them their sire’s vampiric blood.
The Hunger
Vampires have lost all mortal needs and no longer eat or breathe. Everything is replaced with their desire for blood. Vampires need to feed every few days. They do not need to kill their victims and can drink sparingly.
The Sun
During the day, Vampires feel sleepy and drowsy, often urged to sleep through the entire day. The direct touch of sunlight burns them badly and causes extreme pain. This is a mystical property of true sunlight and does not apply to ultraviolet light or other technologies.
Extraordinary powers
Many vampires have learned other ways to use their vampiric powers. Older vampires have often developed their own unique abilities and then will sometimes teach them to younger vampires.
vesper
roman
Evangeline
Lucky
Ryan
Vesper Dragonov
Species : Vampire
Name : Vesper Dragonov
Profession : Collector
Physical Age : 23
Total Age : 273
Gender : Male
Hair : Medium length blonde
Eyes: Purple
Vesper Dragonov is an obsessive collector and hedonist, spending his eternal unlife maintaining a collection of only the most rare and unique things that he can locate.His collection largely consists of mystical relics with extraordinary powers and abilities.
Roman Harrow
Species : Vampire
Name : Roman Harrow
Profession : Gang Leader
Physical Age : 21
Total Age : 93
Gender : Male
Hair : Black Hair, shaved sides
Eyes: Crimson
Roman is the leader of a gang of human thugs and criminals, only his closest lieutenants know that he is a vampire.Rather than hunting freely, Roman using his gang to kidnap humans to keep prisoner for him to use to slake his thirst.
Evangeline Ashbourne
Species : Vampire
Name : Evangeline Ashbourne
Profession : Sex club owner
Physical Age : 26
Total Age : 173
Gender : Female
Hair : Shoulder length blonde
Eyes: Red
Born in 1850, Evangeline grew up in the old west as the daughter of an unsuccessful miner. Her father Silas tried to support the family but they grew up in staggering poverty. Evangeline from a young age started working in a saloon, sleeping with men for money.
Oddessa, The madame who ran the working girls at the saloon was a vampire. Evangeline become her favourite and was eventually entrusted with her secret. Evangeline would guard Oddessa during the day and help her deal with the mortal world. Eventually Oddessa started taking Evangeline as a lover and after several years decided to make her a vampire.
For over a hundred years Evangeline remained with Oddessa continuing to run prostitution rings as a way to get steady streams of both victims and money. Shortly into the 21st century Oddessa suddenly disappeared one night after Evangeline had a fight with her. She has no idea where Oddessa has gone and spends a lot of her time hoping to track her down. Now on her own Evangeline took her money and put it into several businesses. She now runs a sex club focused around kink, finding it easy to get volunteers to let her drink a little blood willingly.
Phillip "Lucky" Saints
Species : Vampire
Name : Phillip Saints
Profession : Retired Military
Physical Age : 42
Total Age : 42
Gender : Male
Hair : Black hair in a buzzcut
Eyes: Cold blue eyes
Born in Louisiana, Phillip joined the military to escape a troubled home life. During a military mission his human squad was unknowingly sent against a foreign vampire. The vampire killed the rest of his squad but captured and turned Phillip, making him a vampire.
After months under the thumb of his sire Phillip finally murdered his sire and escaped. Considered a POW and a victim of torture over his months long absence, Phillip was granted an honorable medical discharge. He moved back to his small home town to try to learn what happened to him and understand his new nature.
Ryan LaVoie
Species : Vampire
Name : Ryan LaVoie
Profession : New Vampire
Physical Age : 21
Total Age : 22
Gender : Male
Hair : Tousled brown hair
Eyes: Red
Coming from a fractured family, Ryan spent his early life bouncing around and moving frequently never feeling like he belonged anywhere. This isolation made him excellent prey for his sire Lucius who faked his death and imprisoned him. Ryan has been turned into a vampire but as a gentle soul he hates to harm others, even animals, and struggles against his vampiric nature.
Some humans are born with or develop a natural connection to an element of nature. This isn’t restricted to the classic four greek elements. Some people are linked to storms, plants, volcanoes or any other natural phenomenon
Origin
These connections sometimes get passed down through families but can also happen when someone gets born in the middle of a natural disaster or otherwise has a significant exposure to the element at a young age.
PSYCHOLOGY
Elementals can sense the presence of the element they’re connected to. They often becomes depressed and lethargic when isolated from it and feel energised and manic in its presence.
Extraordinary powers
Other than being able to sense their connected element and elemental can also influence them in minor ways. Their connection is very subconscious and often manifests out of their desires instead of deliberate control. Many Elementals live their entire life without realising that they have anything supernatural going on at all.
Wakiya
Lee Christiansen
Wakiya Ford
Species : Elemental
Element : Lightning elemental
Profession : Witch
Age : 22
Gender : Male
Hair : Long Black
Eyes: Blue
Wakiya’s father was a witch and his mother was a storm elemental, although they only had a casual relationship and were not together. He grew up in a Sioux reservation with his mother. When he was a young man he tracked down his father out of curiosity about his background and learned magic from him.
Lee Christiansen
Species : Elemental
Element : Fire elemental
Profession : Firefighter
Age : 26
Gender : Male
Hair : Brown buzzcut
Eyes: Blue
As a child Lee was the only survivor of a devastating appartment fire in which his family and many of his neighbours died. From this moment on he built a special relationship with fire, hating and fearing it for what it took away from him but also understanding it in a way that others don’t. He became an elemental linked to fire.
He grew up in foster care and had an adoptive mother Christine and father David who took good care of him. Despite the trauma he went through he had a lot of other people make efforts to help him and it encouraged him to be the kind of person who helps others. He hopes to be able to stop other people going through the pain he went through, or if he can’t stop it to at least help them.
Unlike most supernatural beings, witches aren’t in any way different from other humans. It’s merely a matter of knowing the secrets of magic and how to use it. Some people have a natural affinity for magic and find it comes easily but theoretically any person who learns magic can use it.
Magic
Every culture on Earth have their own magical traditions that contain an element of truth. The commonly known magical traditions in human culture have been mixed with myth, religion and superstition resulting in watered down rituals that don’t produce obvious supernatural results. “Witches” are people who have learned the true secrets at the heart of those traditions and are able to make them work far more powerfully.
Human
Unless they cast a spell a witch aren’t different to any other person and have the same limits as anyone else.
Rituals
While every tradition of magic is different they generally require a combination of several things. The witch must know a magical technique or spell that they want to cast. They will usually need to perform some ritual with a combination of special actions, words or props.
Gideon
Wakiya
Gideon Ravenshaw
Species : Human witch
Profession : Guardian of Ravenshaw House
Age : 32
Gender : Male
Hair : Long Black
Eyes: Blue
The Ravenshaw family have been powerful witches for generations, guarding a mystical site right in the heart of the city. Typically it is the duty of the eldest child to take over the family’s home and protect it. Gideon’s older brother Thaddeus was expected to fulfil this role but instead ran away seeking an ordinary life. Gideon was surprised to find himself the ‘heir’ to this duty that he was never prepared for.
At the time Thaddeus was seen as the black sheep of the family and Gideon held a grudge for “abandoning him”. After many years though Gideon has forgiven his brother and they have some minor contact even though they live in different cities. Thaddeus has married a woman, raised a family and completely given up on using magic to have an ordinary life instead.
RAVENSHAW HOUSE: This historic building sits in the heart of town, ignored by most people through a magical enchantment that makes it look boring to anyone without magic who sees it. In addition to being Gideon’s family home, it has one of the world’s leading arcane libraries and is built on an ancient nexus of power that makes magic cast there more powerful. Many other witches try to take the house away from the Ravenshaws by any means they can.