to the stars

The Apocalypse came fast, and what happened next came even faster.

The mundane was unsuspecting, but the world beyond the Veil had anticipated the devastation of Earth for years and years. A red star burned in the sky in all their perceptions, and a babe was born to two parents who should never have been able to make a child. The Last Daughter of Eve was born, and the eons-old signs were finally set into motion.

The Kindred called it Gehenna, the rise of the Antediluvians to raze the world. The spirits of the Underworld fought valiantly against the coming Oblivion under the behest of Charon, and the Garou did the same in the waking world for their mother Gaia. The Lost and the Dreaming believed that it would be the time when eternal stasis blanketed the world, though the Dreaming feared Banality while the Lost feared their Keepers. Those chosen by the Messengers believed the biblical Reckoning was upon them.

They weren’t, of course, entirely wrong about any of it. One by one, the elder vampires woke to battle each other and claim dominance over the Earth. The Wyrm burst free from its imprisonment and the Weaver was there to battle it. Oblivion gnawed at Stygia, and the Hedge tore open. By all rights, the Apocalypse had arrived, and humanity was stuck right in the middle of it as all manner of beings unknown to them warred around them. The Veil was torn, for better or worse, to every eye that could see it. Desperate Kindred fought against their ancient masters, and those of Changing Blood battled to the death. The Imbued formed the bulwark between the fury and the innocent, while the Lost hid behind them, the only way they could escape their former masters now.

The salvation of the living would not come from that which was directly in front of them, however. For centuries, there had existed a group of Mages who believed that the Supernatural should be kept secret at all costs, and beings too egregious to exist studied and contained. Once thorn in the side of every non-mundane being, it was the Technocracy that would present the desperately needed escape from Earth to the others. With the Veil torn to shreds, their hope of containing what lay beyond it was also shattered, and so they turned to their technology to save as many living and unliving things as they could.

And behind the Technocratic Union’s colony ships, something green and vibrant broke free through the Gauntlet, leaving behind it a tangled mass of greenery and life where once there had been devastation. Beside those sleek vessels, a woman raced along with them, who looked the very picture of the home they now left behind. She was wounded, she was hurt, but she was alive and well and in her eyes she carried hope, safety and love for every living thing, no matter their deeds. Though a great three-headed serpent bit at her heels, Gaia followed her children on into the stars.

Eventually, Earth fell silent. The blood of the warriors washed the stony ground, and the battlefields on either end of the Shroud lay quiet and still. Those brave souls who lived stood among their fallen brothers in the ruins of society, but the signs were clear: the spirits were singing, the air was clean, and the scars of battle and corruption slowly mended. The Mother was not only alive, but awake, and the war was won. The Antediluvians were banished and Caine returned. The Others were driven back to the hell from which they came. And soon, the survivors, too, joined their families amongst the stars.

It was not a perfect victory. There still existed corruption, and that corruption followed the travelers to their new homes. Oblivion’s maw closed, and the Balance Wyrm returned, but only, sadly, in part. The Being of Unmaking split in two, and now both halves fought each other for the right to exist. The Weaver was still not whole and sane, either, still spinning her webs and making her plans, though the wreckage of her dear cities and societies devastated her in a way that she had never before experienced.  Those elder undead still existed somewhere, and so did the Fae driven back into the Hedge. But for now, there was peace. There was hope.

The strange techno-magic of the Technocracy was soon iterated on by the other beings who had escaped the Apocalypse. Ships fueled by the vitae that carried Celerity and caern-galleons that used Aetherial travel became as common as Union vessels. Colonies began to spring to life in systems that humanity could have only ever dreamed of. First, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Then, other stars saw humanity find them, through the power of mystical FTL travel. Colonies sprang up in Tau Ceti and Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Eridani and Sirius. Despite an entire Apocalypse, despite learning that their brothers, sisters and cousins were creatures only thought of as myths, humanity thrived as it followed its brilliant green goddess to planets that exploded with the conditions right for life.

But humanity was not the only living race to inhabit the Milky Way. As space travel reached further outward, First Contact was an inevitability. Fantastic beings reached out to their new friends and companions, some of whom had their own touch of the supernatural. Some waged war, and others reached trade agreements. Others exchanged religious, philosophical, or theoretical beliefs. Some had discovered Earth long ago, and were simply waiting to welcome them to the stars.

It hasn’t been long since the Apocalypse force-began a new era amongst the stars. Humanity is scarred, and they haven’t forgotten their home. Neither have the veterans of the End. Though they stand healthy and strong among jungle-planets and desert-worlds and even entire planet-wide city-scapes, the memory of Earth still stays with those who lived. But as much as things have changed, they still have stayed the same Young Garou born underneath suns not their own still wage war with the forces of the weakened Corruptor-Wyrm, and eternal vampires who remember the old cities still do battle in the courts of politics. The Mages learn and test reality, the Lost and the Dreaming form their courts, the Sin-Eaters and the Wraiths celebrate life and defend death as they always have.

There are races to colonize new worlds, races to be discovered, an entire universe of unending possibility. But all the same, there’s still evil tainting the worlds, Others lurking around the corner, political games to be played, intrigue to be had.