[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] Shadow Cults of San Diego

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

        San Diego: Shadow Cults

                                  Written and designed by Lucas Powell

Antares Institute

A Mythic History
The roots of the Antares Institute start in the waning days of Byzantium. A group of monks in an Orthodox monastery outside of Byzantine were visited by late in the night by a vision of an angel, Raphael, who told the brother that they would be engaged in a war against the Adversary whether they wished it or not. Raphael told them not to fear because God had not forgotten their faithfulness and as Mary had a lamp to guide her to the manger so too the brothers will be granted a lamp to set fire to the darkness.

The monks prepared themselves for an inevitable battle. That darkness came and lurked over the monastery, and the Abbot lit the lamp and the entire abbey was bathed in holy light. It burned until dawn and whatever evil had come for them was but dust. The brothers shortly regained their vision, except for the Abbot who was forever blinded and wept tears of Chrisom the rest of his days.  The
monks knew that they could not stay in the monastery as surely more monsters would come for revenge. They wore the clothes of poor Greeks and left the monastery empty and traveled, becoming a roaming army of the Lord. With the rise of the Templars in the Holy Land, the monks found a home in their ranks, and the two organizations, secretly melded.


Modern Roots

Since the dawn of man there have always been those who existed on the fringes of society and pointed into the darkness and said, “There are monsters.” Until the breaking of the Age of Enlightenment such dire warnings were accepted, although generally in the clout of propaganda of the secular and religious variety. Now, such warnings are considered laughable, and those exceptional individuals took to their own course, some of them founding the Antares Institute.

The records of the founding of the Antares Institute have been lost, and in fact most of the accumulated lore and knowledge were lost. Popular rumors have stated that it was mundane fire; others claimed that the organization was infiltrated by the very monsters it studied in it more secretive experiments, and brought to its knees. Whatever the cause it is known that the founding members of the Antares Institute at San Diego came from the east and never related their histories to anyone else. Dr. Marcus Baum, Father Gregory Diakartes, and Ms. Constance Childress will take the secret of their origins to the grave, hoping, perhaps, to avoid and avert the fate that befell the Antares Institute at a different time and place.

The Antares Institute arrived in San Diego during the late months of 1989. The institute quickly earned itself a name as an enemy of the occult and superstition. It didn't take long for enemies to appear for the weak Institute. But its reliance on science and the scientific process to debunk any superstitions they find has allowed them to preserver occult persecution and harassment. The organization is gaining members quickly and is looking to open new Chapter Houses in other cities.

Purpose
The purpose of the Antares Institute is twofold. The first is to seek out those who use superstition to prey upon people and reveal them for what they truly are. Considering that the majority of members who volunteer their time to the Institute are hardcore rationalists, this translates to them finding any kind of supposed supernatural encounter something that they are antagonistic towards.

Secondly, the Institute shields mankind from the supernatural world. They have a single weapon at their disposal, an ancient lamp, but it a weapon of frightening power. Witches, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and the other sundry monsters that haunt the world are utterly destroyed by its light. They engage in a shadow war against those monsters, using whatever means they have at their disposal to do so.

Hierarchy
The rank and file investigators who make up the majority of the Institutes members volunteer their time to the Institute. They are rationalists, skeptics without any special knowledge of the supernatural world.  The next rank of members are actually on the Institutes payroll. It is their job is to determine which events were truly not supernatural in origin and which were, and after making that decision gathering as much information as possible about the situation and then tracking down those entities involved, determining whether they are a threat or not, and then after determining that, deciding whether that supernatural creature needs to be eliminated. The next level are the direct interlocutors between the Board who govern the Institute and the membership at large. These three individuals are the founding members of the Institute in Manitou Springs. They also carry the Lamp of Mary to where it is needed and release its awesome power.

The Board... nothing can really be said about them, considering no one knows who they really are, including the founders.

The Ordo Templis Orientis

The Board sit as the head of the Ordo Templis Orientis as well, the Antares Institute growing from the Orthodox monks and the Ordo from the Templars, or so they believe. The two organizations are not in full communion, and view each other antagonistically. However, the heads of the two organizations ensure that direct conflict never occurs between the two. 

Faces of the institute: 

Dr. Marcus Baum
Dr. Marcus Baum is by far the most academically eminent of the Antares institute. He is now in his late sixties and has long since retired from any activity besides running the organization from a bureaucratic and organizational side. The most laid-back of the three by three by far, with frequent smiles and low-key, banal humor. Constantly adjusting his tie and suit. Unknown to most, he has a serious genetic heart condition.


Patriarch Gregory Diakartes
Currently the most fervently active of three founders. Gregory Diakartes is an
ordained minister of apostolic succession in the Russian Orthodox Church. He grants to the Antares Institute a kind of religious credibility when it comes to issues of faith. During press conferences it is he and Constance who do most of the talking.

Ms. Constance Childress

Along with Partriarch Diakartes, Constance is the public face of the Antares Institute. Of the three, her life has definitely been the hardest. She was raised among cults, not knowing her true parentage due to the restrictions of the cult. When she turned twelve the cult leader took her virginity and by the age of 14 she had had a child by him. After the years of emotional and physical abuse in the cult she summoned the courage to leave and found solace in a cult deprogrammer, Dr. Marcus Baum. 

Investigator: Jiacoppo DeAngelis

DeAngelis was born in Italy, but as a child his parents immigrated to the United States. While living in New York his mother took to reading fortunes to help make ends meet. He went to school and eventually ended up entering law enforcement. It is not know what happened to his parents, something awful and its been buried under obfuscation. He began to work for Interpol, and after a relatively long and distinguished career he eventually moved to San Diego and joined the police force there as an investigator, specializing in Occult Crimes.

DeAngelis dresses nicely and yet practically, and the clothes reflect that he is not afraid to get dirty on occasion. He otherwise appears as a typically Italian man. Cigarette smoke clings to him, as he have never been able to stop chain smoking. When off work, he drink, and most would consider him an alcoholic, but the things he have seen... who wouldn't be?


The Honored of the Sepharvaim

The Honored are a dying group of cults that were left bereft of leadership after the Enders of All Things were lost at the battle of the El Cortez.  Sub Cults have formed centered on the worship of smaller more accessible entities than the thirty abstract black gods of the Sepharvaim. Most have lost their mystic gifts from their abyssal patrons.

[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] Supernatural Denizens of San Diego

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

                     San Diego: 
             Supernatural Denizens

            Written and designed by Lucas Powell, supplemented by Jerad Sayler

Lord of False Wisdom
Unknown entity that comes to those who are looking for spiritual guidance, using Numina and Influence gets the target to take the most unwise course of action. Appeared after the Battle of El Cortez. A appearing as a dark reflection of Stavros leading others away from enlightenment. The relationship between this entity and Stavros himself is unknown.

Eliot, the Orphan Lord

Eliot, the Orphan Lord
Eliot operates the Stingaree, the go to place for supernaturals, which has been in operation since at least the 1880s. Eliot is of an unknown Supernatural type and all contested challenges fail against him when in the Stingaree. The few times Eliot has emerged to protect his wards he is highly destructive on par with a God. He reminds some of the Specter out of DC Comics. 

The Accordant Spirit CourtsThe Accordant Courts of San Diego have been classified because they are generally amenable to the Awakened. That is not to say that the Accordant Courts are allied or even get along. 

Court of St. James
The leader of the Court of St. James is the City Father of San Diego. He typically appears as a wealthy man. Directly serving him are older spirits, of now forgotten or broken courts. There are a lot of Catholic and Faith spirits in his sway. He has direct control over all public works and historical buildings. He also is a spirit of Aviation.  Under St. James is a host of spirits that embody their respective communities. The Emus of North Park and University Heights, the Neon Dragon of Hillcrest, to the tightfisted spirit of Golden Hills and Banker’s Hill. 

Ruler: St. James, the Spirit of ‘76 
St. James always appears as a man in flight suit from the 1930s. He’s well-built and carries a spear. He has weird moods in which he occasionally appears as a bear. He can be contacted at the Cabrillo National Monument or less frequently at all other historic sites in San Diego. 

Web Crawler

Court: The Silicon Heirs
An upstart court that pushes the limits of their influence. Based primarily out of Silicon Valley they are the spirits of the internet and communications. They have driven out lesser courts and have claimed dominance over entities of innovation.

Court: The Roast & Brew
The Court of innovation in food and beverages. Govern most small non-chain gastronomic delicacies. In conflict with Union of Pitch & Grease.  Micro-Roasters, Micro-Breweries, Gastropubs, Farmer’s Markets, independent local grocers, are part of the Carnitas League, each display a small bronze statue of a pig. It’s become customary for patrons to rub the pig’s head when leaving an establishment. 

Ruler: Carnitas
Carnitas is the leader of the Roast & Brew Court. She appears as a large hog fatted for the slaughter, although anthropomorphized with large black glasses and smell vaguely of bacon, beer and coffee. She’s very ironic. 

The Gargoyle
The spirit patron of Craft Brewing in San Diego appears as a Stone Gargoyle wearing a T-Shirt with an image of himself holding a sign with today’s date on it. 

The Blind Lady
The Blind Lady doesn’t travel in the Shadow much. She sits in her favorite gastropub, the Blindlady Alehouse. She has a table of food in front of her and a half full flight of beers.

Court: The Union of Pitch & Grease
Spirits of Commerce and military. Governs food industry as well. 

Ruler: 32nd Street
One of the most powerful spirits of the Accordant Courts 32nd Street is not a fan of the Pentacle, making his contempt known. He doesn’t usually materialize or take on a form that mage’s would typically recognize. He prefers to inhabit military buildings and the USS Midway. When forced to materialize, he usually appears as a large combat Veteran with a greasy apron. 

Court: Golden Tent Club
Spirits of wealth and oligarchy, recently included spirits associated with Indian Gaming. 

Ruler: The Pines
A gentleman and only a gentlemen. 

The Discordant Spirit Courts
The Discordant Courts are aggressive or violent towards the Awakened.

Lord Sludge

Court: Grotto of Grunge
Court of Sewage and poisoned waters is typically located in the Tijuana Estuary. 

Ruler: Lord Sludge
Appears as bubbling toxic mud. Extremely malicious. 

Notable Vampires of San Diego
The vampires of San Diego once came into direct conflict with the Awakened of San Diego and have largely been driven out of the city.  Three notable leaders remain and have grown in power in the absence of more normal vampire organizations.  They also have suspected ties or allegiances to larger vampire factions in Tijuana.  All three are part of a vampire Covenant known as Belial's Brood.

Mark of Belial's Brood

Belial's Brood: Belial's Brood are a loose confederation of reckless and raucous vampiric Satanists, demon-worshippers and overt miscreants, who exalt in the spread of misery and pain. The Brood claims and preaches that the Damned originate from Hell (the City of Dis) itself and are demons made flesh who should follow the whims of the Beast.  Their goals (spreading wanton misery and violence, heedless of whether or not they expose the existence of vampires) are antithetical to nearly all other Vampire Covenants.

Don Diego del Coronado

A former Conquistador turned during the Night of Tears in Tenochtilan. After the sacking of the city he was embraced and eventually arrived in San Diego. He is fiercely protective of his personal domains and does not care for intruders. He tolerates the mages because he knows they not only outnumber him but could exploit his weakness.  Coronado Island and Imperial Beach are under his sway. He treats the mortals of his land fairly, preferring to be lavished in riches and sin. 

He and his ilk are part of a sub-faction within Belial's Brood know as The Scarlet Rite.  The Rite seek exaltation in the desires of the flesh, known as Hyletics, they are one of the fastest growing factions. Whether through sex, drugs or more obscure pleasures, the satisfaction of desire is all that matters, and all laws, spiritual tenets and lofty aims of apocalypse fall silent at the feet of infernal lust.

Santo Abad Antonio de Tenancingo

An embraced Cristero era Saint Saint Antonio is a religious fanatic. He thrives in the southern parts of San Diego, drawing to him a cult of not only vampires but also mortals. His territories are marked by terror and blood. Vampires skirt the line of open predation of mankind. He claims San Ysidro and Imperial Valley, putting him in near constant conflict with the former Conquistador.  He is a threat to humanity, but the mage’s of San Diego, leave him alone as killing him would also result in the deaths of many others. However, the mage’s do occasionally cull his brood. 

His brood is part of a Belial's Brood faction known as The Pandemonium.  The Antinomians focus primarily on flesh and blood. Whether mortifying their own flesh through ritual branding, scarification or elaborate tattoos or meticulously ritually mutilating sacrificial victims, most Antinomians understand the flesh as the throne and cathedral of the Dark Lord himself. They are one of the most ancient and open factions of the Brood and their rites are especially violent.

Beyg Mandirali abdul Aziz

In the dawn of the Eternal Empire Beyg Mandirali oversaw the eastern lands of the Empire. He was a mighty sorcerer, but was afraid of his own death. He squandered his personal wealth to bind the balm of immortality. He partly succeeded, he was made immortal, he was a lich but still damned to the night like all other vampires. He was driven from his lands, ever westward. As the Ottoman Empire fell he crossed the Atlantic. Vampires and mages alike drove him further and further east until he arrived at the ocean.

Beyg Mandirali is a vampire, undoubtedly. He feeds off the spiritual energy of the land and the blood of its inhabitants. But beyond that he is apart from the other vampires. The lands of Otay Mesa, *his* lands, are spiritually bereft of any power. They are bleak wastelands with the exception of his grand manse. Mages who have interacted with him say he radiates spiritual power, like a living Locus/Hallow of blood. He is attended to by a host of demonic spirits like djinn and efreet as well as naturae bound to his service.

Even other vampires aren't sure what he is.  He is suspected to be a member of a lost vampire bloodline Tremere or some other form of Tremere Lich.  Regardless, he also claims affiliation with one of the Hexons of the Brood known as The Nameless.  The Nameless is perhaps the quintessential embodiment of the pneuma cult, focusing as the faction does on the hegemony of the spirit over the flesh, the triumph of the will over the body. For the Nameless, everything is possible, and thus prioritized, under will. They believe in the return of the archdemon Belial's and his corruption and destruction of mankind.

[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] Notable Locations of San Diego

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

                     San Diego: 
                Notable Locations

                                  Written and designed by Lucas Powell

Sanctums

University of San Diego: College of Alcalá Park

USD

The College of Alcalá Park was chartered in 1949 and borrowed heavily from Balboa Park in style and layout. The college overlooks the Mission Valley and Old Town, Downtown San Diego, and the Presidio are easily viewable from the college’s facilities. With Prime Sight the whole valley lights up with the flow of Ley Lines that course with the San Diego River and freeways. The Hallows and Locii of the Presidio and Downtown are also plainly visible, providing an excellent teaching tool on the nature of ley lines and how they connect to the Fallen World.

In 2003 the College of Alcalá Park was moved into the Donald Shiley Center.

Archivum Censoreum - The Archivum Censoreum is a hidden location known only to the Hierophant and the Censor of the Mysterium.

The El Cortez Hotel

El Cortez is a landmark hotel in San Diego, California. Built from 1926 to 1927, the El Cortez was the tallest building in San Diego when it opened. It sits atop a hill at the north end of Downtown San Diego, where it dominated the city skyline for many years.

From its opening in 1927 through the 1950s, it was the most glamorous apartment-hotel in San Diego. The large "El Cortez" sign, which is illuminated at night, was added in 1937 and could be seen for miles. In the 1950s, the world's first outside glass elevator was built at the El Cortez. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the El Cortez fell on harder times. The El Cortez closed as a hotel in 1978 when it was purchased by evangelist Morris Cerullo to serve as an evangelism school. Cerullo sold the property in 1981, and the El Cortez was threatened with demolition until the San Diego Historic Site Board designated it as a historic site in 1990. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Site of the final battle between Stavros and David (the leader of San Diego's Seers of the Throne), and the site of the death of Kethes and the World Enders.  The El Cortez now belongs to Stavros, Magister of the Silver Ladder, who maintains a penthouse at the top of the hotel.  He is rarely seen coming and going.  Deep in the bowels of the building where the battle against the Abyss was won it is said something festers that Stavros explores as his personal Mystery.

Symphony Towers

Symphony Towers

The Symphony Towers are a 1.2-million-square-foot, two-tower hotel and office complex located in the Financial District in San Diego, California, on B Street. The mixed-use, high-rise building includes a 34-story office building with 530,000 square feet of rentable space, the 264-room Declan Hotel, a five-level parking structure and the 2,255-seat Copley Symphony Hall. In addition, the penthouse floor houses the exclusive University Club, and the tower has a helipad on the roof.

Former headquarters of the Seers of the Throne. The towers are now apartments for Mages. The rooftops are still power Hallows due to the mystical architecture of the buildings and surrounding streets.

Deer Park Monastery

Meditation Hall

Deer Park Monastery (Vietnamese: Tu Viện Lộc Uyển,) is a 400-acre Buddhist sanctuary in Escondido, California. It was founded in July 2000 by monastic and lay practitioners from Plum Village, France.  The monastery is under the direct guidance of Thich Nhat Hanh and his Order of Interbeing in the Vietnamese Zen tradition. Deer Park follows the same practices and schedule as Plum Village and its sister monastery Blue Cliff Monastery in New York and Magnolia Grove Monastery in Mississippi.

Since its founding the monastery has grown to be very active. In addition to its regular monastic schedule, Deer Park hosts twice-weekly days of mindfulness which are open to the public as well as a variety of themed and general retreats. Deer Park hosts an annual retreat when Thich Nhat Hanh travels to North America. Over the years the ordained Sangha has been growing and currently consists of 14 monks and 23 nuns. Lay practitioners also live at the monastery.

Deer Park Monastery is located in the backwoods of San Diego. It’s a simple structure designed to be relaxing and to encourage a meditative mind set.  It also hosts a secret training center for the Adamantine Arrow.

Navy Information Operations Center (NIOC), San Diego

A decommissioned building, looking like a gutted corps on the inside used to be flex area. No one can say anymore what mission or events occurred in the building but it would appear to have been some kind of intelligence operations center. Why a hallow kindled here is anyone’s guess, Coronado island has all kinds of ley lines running through it which could provide further answers.

Balboa Park

Museum of Man, Balboa Park

Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre urban cultural park.   In addition to open space areas, natural vegetation zones, green belts, gardens, and walking paths, it contains museums, several theaters, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo. There are also many recreational facilities and several gift shops and restaurants within the boundaries of the park. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. Balboa Park is managed and maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Diego.

It is also the seat of the Consilium and the seat of the Silver Ladder.  The main holdings of the Silver Ladder is the Museum of Man.  The Ruling Council Chambers are in this building. There is Hallow in the San Diego Tower, also known as the Tower of Man.

Central Public Library, finished in 2013

Other Attractions

· Spreckles Organ Pavilion
· Ruben H. Fleet Space Center
· The Old Carousel
· Natural History Museum
· The Timken
· San Diego Museum of Art
· The Minghei Museum

San Diego New Central Public library

The New Central Public Library is a massive structure tripling the size of the previous Central Library. It houses a Charter School operated by the Incunabulum Cabal.



Gathering Locations

Del Mar Fairgrounds

The Del Mar Fairgrounds is a 370-acre property that is the site of the annual San Diego County Fair. Its Del Mar racetrack was built by the Thoroughbred Club in 1937 by founding members Bing Crosby and Pat O'Brien with Paramount Studios as corporate sponsor.  The fairgrounds is owned by the State of California and is managed by 22nd District Agricultural Association, a state agency that hosts more than 300 annual events. Its staff organizes four major annual events, including the annual San Diego County Fair, and runs Surfside Race Place, the year-round satellite horse racing facility. The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club leases the facilities for their live meets each year.

Twiggs Coffee & Bakery

The local “Mage Baby Night” is a relic now. There are very few newly Awakened in San Diego and the number of new Awakenings seems to be decreasing every year.  Most who are here came from other parts of the country with their own agendas.  Lately it's become a hang out for students at the Pentacle Academy looking to get off campus and blow off steam.  Sometimes members of Parabola will check in.

The Stingaree

The Stingaree was a neighborhood of San Diego between the boom of the 1880s and the cleanup of 1916 and is generally considered to be San Diego's old redlight district. The reason for the neighborhood's fame was its role as the home to the city's "undesirables", including prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers and gamblers.

Now The Stingaree is the name of a supernatural nightclub located in the Gaslamp District. It exists in its own quasi-realm and is protected by a being of god like power, Eliot the Orphan Lord. The entrance to the club is always a bright red door of patent leather that is found at the bottom of flight of stairs in south of Market Street.

Strongholds of the Enemy

Self-Realization Ashram

The Encinitas Temple is a branch of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), an international religious organization founded in 1920 by  PYeParamahansa Yogananda to disseminate the universal teachings of Kriya Yoga, a sacred spiritual science originating millenniums ago in India. The Temple offers a full program of inspirational lecture services, meditations, scriptural reading and meditation services, kirtans (devotional chanting), Sunday School and Teen classes, and other activities to introduce truth seekers to the timeless teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and help them deepen their spiritual practices. The nearby Encinitas Ashram Center and Meditation Gardens were established by Paramahansa Yogananda during his lifetime, and have become a center of pilgrimage for thousands of people each year, who come from all parts of the globe to visit the site where this great world teacher lived, worked, and communed with God.

Legendary Banisher Fra Chav is said to stalk the Self-Realization Ashwam on Oceanside.

San Diego Mormon Temple

The San Diego California Temple is the 47th constructed and 45th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Located near the La Jolla community of San Diego, it was built with two main spires, but unique to this temple are four smaller spires at the base of each main spire. The East spire is topped with the familiar Angel Moroni statue which adorns most LDS temples.  The exterior finish is marble chips in stucco, giving the building a white glow. Located just off Interstate 5, the temple is a major landmark when traveling the highway to or from San Diego.  The temple is brightly illuminated making it even more noticeable at night

Rumors persist that the San Diego California Temple is home to a particularly fanatical cell of Witchhunters.

Point Loma Nazarene College

Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) is a Christian liberal arts college. Its main campus is located on the Point Loma oceanfront in San Diego. It was founded in 1902 as a Bible college by the Church of the Nazarene.

It is also a suspected foothold for a Seer Pylon of the Paternoster Ministry.

Mystic Sites

The Desert View Watchtower & the Salton Sea

The Desert View Tower is located on Interstate 8, near Jacumba and Ocotillo, in western Imperial County, Southern California. It is at 3,000 feet in elevation, in the In-Ko-Pah Mountains.  The stone tower was built from 1922 to 1928 as a roadside attraction by Bert Vaughn, a real estate developer who owned Jacumba. The three story tower houses a museum and has an observation deck on its upper level. The gift shop at the base of the tower is a later addition.  An ensemble of stone sculptures of animal, called Boulder Park, is adjacent to Desert View Tower. They were sculpted by M.T. Ratliffe (or Radcliff) over two years during the 1930s in the local stone. Both the tower and sculpture garden are works of folk art.

In truth, the original tower was built by Ancient Thyrsus to watch over the Salton Sea centuries before, underneath which is some bound spirit of thirst.

Old Point Loma Lighthouse

The original Point Loma Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse located on the Point Loma peninsula at the mouth of San Diego Bay in San Diego, California. It is situated in the Cabrillo National Monument. It is no longer in operation as a lighthouse but is open to the public as a museum. It is sometimes erroneously called the "Old Spanish Lighthouse", but in fact it was not built during San Diego's Spanish or Mexican eras; it was built in 1855 by the United States government after California's admission as a state.

This decayed tower is a focus of the Acanthus Stormbringers, The Hallow here is dormant.

Mount Soledad

Mount Soledad is a prominent landmark in the city. The mountaintop is the site of the Mount Soledad
cross, the subject of a 25-year controversy over the involvement of religion in government, which concluded in 2016.

As a result of these events and local leylines its also now a Hallow flavored with faith and controversy.

The Whaley House

The Whaley House is an 1857 Greek Revival style residence, a California Historical Landmark, and museum located in Old Town. It is currently maintained by Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO). In the 1960s, the Whaley House was designated as an official haunted house by the United States Commerce Department.  The Whaley House was the home of Thomas Whaley and his family. The house was built where a graveyard once was. At various times it also housed Whaley's general store, San Diego's second county courthouse, and the first commercial theater in San Diego.

The house has "witnessed more history than any other building in the city" and sports an Avernian Gate.

Old Town Graveyard

El Campo Santo is a very old cemetery is located on the outskirts of Old Town in San Diego. Established in 1849, the cemetery is rumored to be the nexus for a surprising amount of spiritual activity ranging from cold spots and misty figures to floating torsos of spirits and vanishing spectral people.  The cemetery was bisected by a street car line in 1889 and parts were later paved over in 1942 becoming San Diego Avenue. Cars parked on the street would often have problems starting and their car alarms would often go off. In order to appease the spirits beneath the street, special marks have been placed in the pavement to show where the original graves were. If you visit look for them, they are little metal circles that simply state "GRAVE" on them.

A lot of spiritual activity is said to occur here. One possible spirit is Yankee Jim Robinson, a man who stole San Diego's only row boat, and was hung at the nearby Whaley House. Afterwards he was buried in this cemetery.  It also has an Avernian Gate.

The Presidio

El Presidio Reál de San Diego (Royal Presidio of San Diego) is a historic fort in San Diego, California. It was established on May 14, 1769, by Gaspar de Portolá, leader of the first European land exploration of Alta California - at that time an unexplored northwestern frontier area of New Spain. The presidio was the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Coast of the present-day United States. As the first of the presidios and Spanish missions in California, it was the base of operations for the Spanish colonization of California.  The associated Mission San Diego de Alcalá later moved a few miles away.  Essentially abandoned by 1835, the site of the original Presidio lies on a hill within present-day Presidio Park, although no historic structures remain. The San Diego

At Anvernian Gate at the Old Mission. There is a crisscross of semi-dormant ley lines and hallows that ebb and flow with the stars over the entire park.

Torrey Pines

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is 2,000 acres of coastal state park located in the community of La Jolla, off North Torrey Pines Road. Although it is located within San Diego city limits, it remains one of the wildest stretches of land on the Southern California coast. It is bordered immediately on the south by Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course and on the north by the city of Del Mar. The reserve consists of a plateau with cliffs that overlook Torrey Pines State Beach, and a lagoon that is vital to migrating seabirds. Many different kinds of wildlife and flora are found within the reserve, including bobcats, foxes, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, rabbits, cacti, coastal chaparral, and the rare Torrey pine. The eight miles of trails within the park offer an attraction for hikers and beach-goers and a small museum sits at the top of the hill. From the cliffs or many places along the beach, it is possible to see La Jolla to the south and Del Mar to the north. During whale migrations, it is sometimes possible to see whales from the cliffs. At the southern end of the beach is a large rock that projects into the ocean, called Flat Rock. South of the rock is San Diego's unofficial nude beach, Black's Beach.

Flat rock is actually a Locus.

Hotel Del Coronado

Hotel del Coronado (also known as The Del and Hotel Del) is a historic beachfront hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. It is one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. It is the second largest wooden structure in the United States.  When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world. It has hosted presidents, royalty, and celebrities through the years. The hotel has been featured in numerous movies and books.

It's also a very haunted Hotel. The beach nearby also has a locus that few know how to access.

Mysteries & Forbidden Places

Chicano Park, Barrio Logan, & San Ysidro

Chicano Park is a 8 acre park located beneath the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a
predominantly Mexican American and Mexican-immigrant community in central San Diego, California. The park is home to the country's largest collection of outdoor murals as well as various sculptures, earthworks, and an architectural piece dedicated to the cultural heritage of the community.

Barrio Logan is a neighborhood in south central San Diego. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of East Village and Logan Heights to the north, Shelltown and Southcrest to the east, San Diego Bay to the southwest, and National City to the southeast.

San Ysidro is a district of the City of San Diego, immediately north of the U.S.-Mexico border. It neighbors Otay Mesa West to the north, Otay Mesa to the east, and Nestor and the Tijuana River Valley to the west; together these communities form South San Diego, a pene-exclave of the City of San Diego, thus making it possible to travel (by water) between central San Diego and South San Diego without ever leaving the city limits. Major thoroughfares include Beyer Boulevard and San Ysidro Boulevard.

All these places held by the Hijos, while the territory is not recognized by the Ruling Council, it is effectively held by them.

The Deep Bay Hallow

San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is 12 miles long and 1 to 3 miles wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's entire 840 miles long coastline after San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay. The highly urbanized land adjacent to the bay includes the city of San Diego and four other cities, including National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Coronado.

The Bay is dredged, there is a powerful Locus deep at the base of the bay antithetical to humans. The Locus also “sings” and every few weeks when the pitch changes a human eventually climbs the Coronado Bay Bridge and commits suicide.  Attempts to discover the source or dampen its effects have failed.

The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial and Coachella Valleys.  For the last thousands of years, the river has flowed into and out of the valley alternately, creating a freshwater lake, an increasingly saline lake, and a dry desert basin, depending on river flows and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss. The cycle of filling has been about every 500 years and has repeated itself . The most recent inflow of water from the now heavily controlled Colorado River was accidentally created by the engineers of the California Development Company in 1905. The resulting outflow overwhelmed the engineered canal, and the river flowed into the Salton Basin for two years, filling the historic dry lake bed and creating the modern sea, before repairs were completed.

Fluctuations in the water level caused by variations in agricultural runoff, the ancient salt deposits in the lake bed, and the relatively high salinity of the inflow feeding the sea are all causing ever-
increasing salinity. The body was initially a freshwater lake, but by the 1960s its rising salinity had begun to jeopardize some of the species in it. With a salinity now exceeding that of seawater, most species of fish can no longer survive there. Additionally fertilizer runoffs have resulted in eutrophication, with large algal blooms and elevated bacterial levels.  By 2014, large swaths of lake bed were exposed and salt levels drastically increased due to mandated water transfers to metropolitan areas along the coast and other factors, limiting the water inflow. Besides the resulting fish kills, the shrinking lake interrupts the bird migration, causes dust clouds, and impacts local tourism negatively.

Now the Salton Sea is an eerie desolate landscape of abandoned resorts, dry cracked salt beaches and dead fish.  There are myths among the Awakened that the sea was the site where an ancient Thyrsus bound something under the lake.  Something that was the antithesis of life, an Abyssal entity or something stranger.

Tijuana Estuary

The Tijuana River Estuary is an intertidal coastal wetland at the mouth of the Tijuana River in San Diego County bordering Tijuana Mexico. Storms send muck and sewage down canyons, into channels, and finally gets discharged into the Tijuana River and the Pacific Ocean, prompting pollution warnings and beach closures in both countries. Contamination and cross-border pollution has been a fraught topic for years.

Pollution spirits are know to gather here at this poisoned Locus.  Being a borderland between the Concilium and the vampire menace of Tijuana the problem is being largely been ignored.

The Kelso Dunes

Kelso Dunes, also known as the Kelso Dune Field, is the largest field of eolian sand deposits in the
Mojave Desert. The region is protected by the Mojave National Preserve and is located near the town of Baker, San Bernardino County, California, and the Preserve Visitor Center. The dune field covers 45 square miles and includes migrating dunes, vegetation-stabilized dunes, sand sheets, and sand ramps. The tallest dunes rise up to 650 feet above the surrounding terrain.

It is also home of the Singing Dunes.  They are said to drive mages and other supernatural beings to madness. Shamans sometimes use the dunes for dreamwalking, able to cross some kind of sympathy with the dreaming and one can wander through dreams while awake by just wandering the sands.

Warlock Mine

Roughly a mile down the Old Banner Toll Road, hook a sharp left to follow the trail down to what
remains of the Warlock Mine, one of San Diego County's most productive and prolific mines. San Diego's mining history dates back to 1869, when Fred Coleman spotted gold in a creek bed. The subsequent gold rush boom and bust left a lasting mark and culture in the back country, where the mountains are literally laced with mines. Many have been abandoned, but there are still active claims being mined today.

Now an abandoned Gold Mine, at one point a Mad Mastigos moved in and used it a Goetic Yantra.  Even after his death it is still haunted by his personal demons and some say he found a gate to hell at the bottom.

The Lost Ruin

This is where saga of Succoth-Benoth began. At the edge of the continental shelf westward of San Diego is an Atlantean ruin where Kethes first activated the six-sided obelisk. It is guarded by both the Mysterium and the Guardians of the Veil.

[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] San Diego: Apostates, Heretics & Nameless

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

                     San Diego: 
Apostates, Heretics & Nameless

                                  Written and designed by Lucas Powell

Ahijados de la Santisma Muerte

"God Children of the Holy Death"

The Ahijados de la Santism Muerte (Children of the Holy Death) a claim to have always been and they simply arrived in San Diego when an influx of Mexicans during the 1920s arrived in San Diego. They are a very peculiar order, deeply connected to their own culture and unwilling to maintain any kind of separation between their lives as mages and their human communities.

Each member of the Order must maintain a shrine dedicated to the dead in their personal homes. Most are curanderos or brujas, and many act as sin eaters.

Members of the Order are bound together by the benevolence of Santisma Muerte. Many street vendors, taxi drivers, vendors of pirated merchandise, street people, prostitutes, pickpockets, petty drug traffickers and gang members. They also protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Mexicans, as they are outcasts.

Home Shrine to Saint Death

The Ahijados are a large body, it’s assumed, considering the relatively few Mexican Awakened who join the Pentacle. The majority of Ahijados avoid the Pentacle preferring to tend to their local families and communities. Those who run up against the Pentacle tend to be those with strong criminal inclinations, those who are attempting to accrue temporal power or use magic openly. For every criminal Ahijado that the Pentacle interacts with there are a dozen more in the shadows.

Ahijados are not necessarily loyal to each other. There are cabals and organizations within the Ahijados, just like the major Orders.

Known to associate with Left-Handed Legacies: Fangs of Mara, Dreamers of the Black Sun, Devourers of the Flesh

Padre Juan Maria de la Cruz

Legacies: a version of the Daoine, Orphans of Proteus, Stewards of the Celestial Orrery, Scions of God, Liberatores, Keepers of the Covenant.

The Ahijados de las Santisma Muerte are spread throughout Northern Mexico and the Southwest United States, particularly in border towns like San Diego and El Paso but they also have significant presences in places like Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Chicago.

Merit: Ahijados de la Santisma Muerte Status (Nameless Order) (• to •••••)

•              The Ahijado gains the Brujeria specialty in either Occult or Medicine, reflecting either their role as a curandero or brujo.

••           The Ahijados speak an Enlightened Nahual to practice their magic, they gain High Speech (•).

•••         The Ahijados are singularly devoted to the Santisma Muerte and may purchase her as a Totem spirit (dots are pooled between all Ahijados de la Santisma Muerte). Because of their deep cultural connections to Chicanismo and Mexican immigrant community they may purchase Allies.

••••       The Ahijado is more practiced with their art, they gain a +1 to either Occult or Medicine depending on their calling.

•••••    Truly blessed by La Flaca, the Ahijado gains the Medium (•••) merit.

La Palilla, The Toothpick

Known Ahijados of San Diego

Dueña Rebeca - Mexican crime boss.
Don Alfonso - Enforcer for Dueña Rebeca.
Izel Miccahuatzin - Murderess and cop killer. Necromancer.
La Palilla - The Toothpick. Drug runner and human trafficker.
Padre Juan Maria de la Cruz - Confessor to other Ahijados.

AjA Autosuficiencia Juntada con Apoyo

The AjA (pronounced Aha) is an order comprised of Apostates who have chosen to leave the Pentacle. Most of the members of AjA are refugees from Vietnam, Ethiopia, Iraq, Burma, and Somalia, places where the Pentacle was an oppressive force or failed to prevent atrocity.

AjA are very focused on guarding their ethnic communities. They tend to be found in City Heights (East African Refugees settled here in a district call “Little Mogadishu”), and Kearny Mesa (where many Vietnam War era refugees settled), El Cajon (Iraqi Chaldeans), Burmese (City Heights).

Members of AjA tend to be older, by and large, and refugees themselves. Children of AjA or of refugees upon Awakening tend to join a Pentacle Order.

Merit: Status (Nameless Order) - AjA (• to •••••)

•              AjA act as guardians of their ethnic communities, helping them integrate into American culture and navigate the byzantine bureaucracy, because of this they all gain a Bureaucracy specialty in Politics.

••           Working on assimilating into American society is hard, all AjA gain the Multilingual (•) Merit, English must be one of their languages. The second language can be Ethiopian, Somali, Arabic, Burmese, Chaldean, or Vietnamese.

•••         Surviving in a foreign land is difficult and many AjA make new alliances, not only for themselves, but for the communities they serve. AjA may purchase Allies and Contacts at reduced cost.

••••       AjA have been called to serve and guide their communities in a foreign land, they all gain the Higher Calling (••) merit.

•••••    The World of Darkness is not kind to anyone, but especially those who outwardly appear to be easy prey, marginalized communities come under attack not by just greedy and corrupt cops, but also hungry ghosts and blood drinking monsters. AjA gain the Blessed Defender (•••) merit.

Merit: Blessed Defender (•••)

You are especially fierce when defending your community and other members of AjA. When defending anyone represented with dots in Allies or Status you receive a bonus die to all attack pools. This Merit does no good against humans who are members of your community or AjA. This blessing also gives you -1 Paradox die while defending your community.

Merit: Favors (• to •••••)

Prerequisite: Favors can never exceed a character’s Nameless Order Status (AjA).

Effect: Favors allows a character to use a network of associates to accomplish tasks that are beyond his normal means. Because he has sowed some effort by working for AjA, he gets to reap.

Favors is not quite the same as Status. Status is an index of respect and esteem. Favors measures how much a character has gotten done, how much she’s perceived as doing for AjA and how much the local communities feels she deserves. Pull goes hand in hand with AjA Status, inasmuch that someone who is useful but despised is going to have as hard a time getting help as someone who is esteemed but hapless.

Once per game month, a character with Favors can apply it to one of the following Merits: Contacts, Sanctum, Allies, or Resources. This represents a fellow AjA offering a favor or someone otherwise connected somehow to AjA offering temporary aid to the character.

The effects of Favors do not last more than one night. Favors can be used to augment a Merit the character already possesses (for example, someone with Contacts •• and Favors • can, once per month, act as if he had Contacts •••), though Merits increased in this fashion can’t go above 5.

The player may also choose to parcel out the benefits. A character with Favors ••• could, say, use it to raise his Resources by two one night and then, a few weeks later, improve his Sanctum by one for a night. Whenever Favors is used, its effective level drops by the amount used for one month.

Ministry of Mammon

Seers of the Throne

First Chosen of the Nazarene

Focused on indoctrination and the utilization of conservative faiths to enact the will of the Exarchs. A minor, mostly non-violent Pylon.

Alcalde Consulting - Alcalde Consulting is a Seer of the Throne front that purchased the America One tower in downtown San Diego. They are currently watching and waiting for the Consilium to show weakness so they can move in and re-establish themselves.

America One Tower

Baldomero Acalde - Baldomero remotely operates from his office in Chicago. He primarily relies on mundane means of communication and performs legitimate real estate and financial business in the city. He rarely uses magic, he is an Obrimos and is a master of Geomancy.

Known Banishers

Fra Chav, the Feared A legendary Banisher is the only known Banisher that hasn't been destroyed by the Concilium.

              

Scelesti

Scholomance - A group of Scelesti and barabbi dedicated to seeding the Abyssal Mysteries throughout society. If any seek them out they will teach them the Black Arts and abyssal secrets, and they claim that they themselves have no secrets.

Kethes, Urban Legend

Enders of All Things - A defunct Cabal defeated at the Battle of the El Cortez in the wake of the destruction of Succoth-Benoth, the Father of All Acamoth.

Kethes - Rumors and sightings of Kethes, one of the infamous mages of the World Enders persist.  Mages and retainers alike claim to have seen Kethes wandering the streets as a homeless man.  Having been cast into the Abyss at the Battle of El Cortez his return could mean either false reporting during the battle or the presence of one who has returned from the Outer Dark.

Kethes has been relegated to the status of an urban legend, used to scare young initiates.  He is described as a living abyssal verge clothed in human flesh. A soulless Reaper possessing only an Anti-Soul. Last surviving member of the Enders and suspected Dweller to the Threshold...