Canon History

As a general rule, most historical events detailed in the World of Darkness timeline — with the exception of 5th Edition or Gehenna/Apocalypse/Ascension/etc. material — occurred or are generally believed to have occurred. That isn’t a guarantee that everything happened exactly as the books state, and it’s definitely possible that some things didn’t happen at all, but unless we have specifically called something out on this page, the general consensus of concerned parties will be that history, well, happened. The Ventrue led Rome to destroy the Brujah stronghold of Carthage; the White Howlers fell to the Wyrm and became the Black Spiral Dancers; the Craftmasons destroyed Mistridge; the Tuatha de Danaan fought the fomorians in the War of Trees.

Significant deviations from the canon timeline will be listed below. We’ll try to keep them to a minimum — the more elements we change, the more things players and staff have to keep track of.

Vampire

  • Mithras never reappeared after World War II, and his fate remains unknown.
  • The Gangrel have never left the Camarilla, and remain members in good standing.
  • The Week of Nightmares is considered to be part of “Gehenna/Apocalypse/Ascension/etc. material” and therefore has not occurred; the Ravnos are still a full clan and Zapathasura is still dreaming.

Werewolf

  • None yet.

Mage

  • A general summary of the Ascension War and its recent history from the perspective of the Traditions (i.e., PCs) can be found on the Traditions in London page.
  • The Avatar Storm began around 1999, raged for several years, and began to die down around 2003. Things have been back to “normal” since 2005 or so, meaning that many of today’s Awakened have never experienced it.

Changeling

  • Much like 9/11, the outbreak of COVID-19 had two significant effects on the world of the Kithain.
    • It signalled a Tarrarom, increasing the influence of the Fomorians and the numbers of the Thallain.
    • It caused the release of a new wave of sidhe from Arcadia, in the manner of the Evanescence. There is as of yet no name for this most recent wave — it’s still too recent.
  • Arcadian sidhe from House Danaan began coming into contact with the rest of Kithain society in approximately 2020. This is not to say that there may not have been some present previously, but their presence was not widely known and they were still believed to be extinct.

Mortal

  • None of the real-world candidates won the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, 2020, or 2024. For characters who care about U.S. politics at all, you can feel free to reference the current president (President Johnson) or the previous one (President Jackson) if required. Both presidents may be safely assumed to be elderly white men who have spent the majority of their terms doing what corporate interests demanded.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic occurred more or less as it did in the real world. Some places handled it better than in the WoD than in our world, some the reverse, but the overall effect was roughly comparable.