World of Darkness: Portland

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famous mages in the history of the Order. For his part,
Anshar trusts Ran as much as he can possibly trust one
not from his cabal, and the leaader of the Centurions
as well, and is at this stage complete unaware of such
plots.
The Space Between has always been close allies
with the Mirror Readers, since even before the days
of Anshar, and so when the former cabal joined the
alliance, the latter came along. The Mirror Readers are
not very political in nature, preferring to delve mostly
into Shadow and Twilight, but they do enjoy the
concept of a New Atlantis from that standpoint, and
their membership in the alliance fills out the Arcana
very effectively. They share a mutual admiration with
the Centurions for being fierce in whatever they do, be
it war, protection, or spiritual matters.
The Space Between was the last of the three cabals
to join the alliance, and nothing could have made
Anshar happier: it meant that now there was strong
strong support from Silver Ladder, Adamantine Arrow
and Guardians of the Veil. Anshar now has his sights
on a Mysterium Order cabal, and frankly any would
do, although the Wyvern Council is preferred. So far,
while Wyvern is friendly with the New Atlanteans,
they have declined joining the alliance, and as yet give
no reason why they feel this way. In truth, Wyvern
Council mistrusts two things: Anshar’s lust for power
(they feel his intentions are good, but Wyvern knows
all about the path to hell and what it’s paved with),
and the Space Between (the leader of Wyvern suspects
Ran, and while he doesn’t know her specific plans,
his suspicions are not intirely innacurate). So the
New Atlanteans look to the others. High tension
runs between them and the Red Book, however,
which leaves Pyrrhus (Anshar very much regrets this
as his final option, and as such continues to try to
persuade Wyvern). At first glance, this actually seems
like a good match: Pyrrhus has many similarities to the
Space Between, and they are hungry for power, with
the alliance could afford them. Pyrrhus is known for
its deviousness, however, and so far the relationship
between it and the alliance remains uncertain.
The bid for a New Atlantis has more than its
hare of doubt among the other cabals. Three openly
oppose them: the Bystanders, the Silverbacks and
the Vancouverans. The three do not have a coalition
of their own, but a sort of six-degrees-of-seperation
play does exist: the Silverbacks are allied with the
Vancouverans, but neither are to the Bystanders,
although all are friendly to each other. However, the
Vancouverans are allied with Alloy (who are not allied
with the Silverbacks), and Alloy are in turn allied with
the Bystanders. While Alloy is not openly antagonistic
G
Chapter 4-City Politics
toward the New Atlanteans, they have publically
expressed their doubt in the cabal’s and the alliance’s
motives. Alloy is also allied with the Red Book (the
Bystanders, Vancouverans and Silverbacks are not),
and the five cabals form an almost unintentional
coalition that runs opposition against the New
Atlantean Alliance; however, because this group is not
a formalized relationship they do not overwhelm the
alliance. If in the near future they do come together in
an official capacity, however, they could pose a serious
threat to Anshar’s dream.
Crows
There is an expression in Portland that goes,
E“You’re acting like a Crowbane.” It refers to someone
lashing out blindly, at enemies but also seemingly
at friends and those with best wishes toward that
person, even those actively trying to help. This pretty
much sums up the Crowbane cabal succinctly. All
of the members of this cabal could have appeared
in a Celtic-pagan version of The Outsiders, or at least
that’s how the other mages in the area see them. They
recruit dissonants of traditional mage philosophy,
those that Awoke almost regretfully and now rankle
against the system, anybody has an insaciable interest
in Celtic mythology or wicca, those that are simply
dark and gothic. The Crowbane are tempermental and
vindictive, and they have become an undesirable cast
in the Portland Awakened hierarchy.
When the Crowbane first appeared eight years ago,
they were greeted like any other group, but they quickly
began picking fights with the lesser cabals and forming
a bad reputation. Soon the Consilium stepped in to
calm them down, and a consequence the Crowbane
are now aggressive toward all Council member’s
cabals (they later calmed down in respects to the
Freeweavers). Since then, they have remained largely
apart from other Awakened, living out the outskirts
of the urban area, spending most of their time in the
surrounding wilderness and only venturing in to the
city occasionally--though when they do, trouble usually
abounds in one form or another.
The only mages who have manages to stay friends
with the Crowbane are the First Cabal, for reasons
outsiders can’t exactly fathom. Most have a deep
respect for the First Cabal, with exception of the Alloy
(for the two have a deep and ancient misunderstaning
that may never be resolved), and they are considered
generally very wise; why, then, they would have
dealings with such an obviously troubled cabal is
beyond most other mages. The reason is actually a
fairly simple one: for all their troubles, the First Cabal
senses great potential in the Crowbane. Firstly, the two