For years upon years upon years – Hidden Cove prided itself on it’s Independent state – with first one strict, but Independent Prince (Clastier) – then another – Kasymm Barbeoux – Hidden Cove seemed as if it would forever remain an Independent city.

Clastier managed to keep the city’s denizens under control with a combination of subterfuge, ego and fear. But Clastier walked away from the city one too many times and finally – his absences took their toll on even the most steadfast and loyal of his supporters and when he came back, one more time – Kasymm had too many in the city prepared to fight him for control of the city – that he “decided” that a life of quiet, behind the scenes – was for him.

This was not to say that the city didn’t see it’s problems and it’s upstarts determined to place the city under either Camarilla or Sabbat rule – but Kasymm and her allies – managed to keep all such incursions at bay – for the most part.

The city prospered and grew – seeing it’s citizens come and go as they pleased and all were welcome within the city as long as the upheld the Traditions and did nothing to disturb the tenuous peace treaty that Kasymm had managed to form with the dangerous werewolves that lived in the forested areas surrounding the city.

But even as the city grew and prospered – there were those that were not content to have simply a “Prince” and since Kasymm had always done her best to make it a state of equality and fairness in the city – she finally agreed to appoint a Seneschal, Primogen, Keeper, official Sheriff, & Scourge. If the Sabbat presence in the city objected, they were fairly silent, or maybe they knew that such an arrangement couldn’t last long. It didn’t take horribly long for the Primogen to disband itself from the inside out. But Kasymm had realized the value of the other positions and so – even as the Primogen disbanded – Kasymm made sure that those in the other positions kept them. Duncan McCloed had been a fairly new addition to the city, when Kasymm appointed him – much to nearly everyones surprise – as her Seneschal. This combination seemed to work well – and Duncan for all intents and purposes seemed content as a Ventrue second to a Brujah Prince.

For the purposes of this story – I will add here that the positions at the time were as follows and would remain so for some time:

Kasymm Barbeoux – Prince

Duncan McCloed – Seneschal

Sheriff – Mariah McMann

Scourge – Song of Vitae

Keeper of the Elysium – Crystal Everlast – then Dr. Mikalia Lector

Enter – the Giovanni in the form and person of Christopher Milliner. Kasymm had once upon a time had a more than friendly and longtime relationship with an Assamite John Doe. – No one is quite sure what exactly happened and Kasymm has never spoken of it, but something happened indeed and John left town – without a word. Some say it was a falling out – a problem, perhaps even the influence of another mover and shaker in town – Lilian Ramsey – a Toreador that opened an art gallery – influencing Kasymm to give up her own in the Lighthouse “for the good of the city”. Whatever happened, some speculate it was the precursor to what led to Kasymm’s association with Christopher Milliner. Christopher – it is rumored – was trying to turn Kasymm against those she trusted most – and indeed Kasymm acted differently around those she had so long called allies when Christopher was in the picture.

Around the same time that Christopher blew into town – a Lasombra also came to town, her name was Gabriella Temperante and as Kasymm seemed to spend what some might have called “excessive” time with Christopher – Duncan, her trusted Seneschal – started keeping time with Ms. Temperante.

There came a moment when Kasymm disappeared from the city – and none of her allies seemed to know her whereabouts – and when pressed for answers – Duncan would simply say she was on a sort of sabbatical. It has never been proven, but the rumors abound that Duncan conspired to have Kasymm staked by her nearest and dearest and squirreled away for some “therapy” by the good Dr. Lector. When she reappeared, she was changed again – it wasn’t long after that – that Christopher went missing and has not been seen nor heard from again – a loss that never seemed to phase our steadfast Prince.

At some point while all of this was going on – Gabriella Temperante managed to send Clastier to his final death. It was not long after that – after a show down with Kasymm and some of her allies (ending in the death of Marian McMann, one of Kasymm’s closest) – where her Seneschal was notably missing – Gabriella left town. She returned some months later, with a new face, new voice and brand new plans to once again try to bring the city under Sabbat rule. Kasymm wasn’t fooled in the slightest and sent the dark mistress to her final death once and for all. The battle took it’s toll on our Prince and so she retreated for some time, turning the city temporarily over to her former Seneschal, Duncan McCloed – who took on the mantle of prince and thanks to the suggestion of Nikolas Vasile – known Sabbat – took Lilian Ramsey as his Seneschal.

Duncan’s reign was short lived however, as the same night of the bombing of the Elysium - Duncan was kidnapped. Kasymm discovered Duncan was missing – and - she stepped back in as Prince and did what she could to find him. When Duncan was found – he had suffered terrible injuries – injuries he to this night bears the scars from. One of those injuries left him blind – his eyes having been heinously burned out of their sockets. Thanks to his injuries and the recovery time he knew it was going to take – Duncan never took up the mantle of Seneschal again, instead leaving Lilian Ramsey to the job.

During the time that Duncan was kidnapped, someone also bombed The House of the Rising Sun – the city’s hidden Elysium, late into the evening, when it’s occupancy would have been at it’s highest. Most escaped unscathed – by some miracle – but the House’s Keeper – Dr. Mikalia Lector, was left severly injured by the blast – resulting in her having to be confined to a wheelchair as her body attempts to heal.

In the interim, the Camarilla had come to town in the guise of a Tremere named Victor Reineger and a long time resident of the Cove, Mercutio Blackwell, made it clear where his loyalties would lie. Soon after the bombing of the Elysium, the Camarilla put Kasymm on notice that it had every intention to take the city – by force if necessary.

In a completely bloodless coop that no one but perhaps Kasymm & Victor themselves knew the terms of – Kasymm handed the city over to Victor and accepted a position as Brujah Primogen – even as Victor became it’s Prince.

With Victor as its Prince and Kasymm as Brujah Primogen – it was time to appoint the rest of the Council and positions of power in the city.

Victor’s clanmate Mercutio took the position of Scourge and he appointed the only other Tremere in town – Dr. Alicia Hale – as the Tremere Primogen. Lilian Ramsey – in perhaps one of the largest sleights – was offered nothing – perhaps as Victors way of making it clear this was a new regime – he appointed Sebastian Phillips as the Toreador Primogen & a Toreador named Melody LeCroix as the Keeper of the Elysium. Asher Lemnos came out of the woodwork – and took on the mantle of Nosferatu Primogen. One of the most interesting appointments was perhaps that of Song of Vitae as the city’s Sheriff – as a Gangrel and former right hand of Kasymm – everyone wondered what Victor was thinking – and especially what Song was thinking accepting it.

Perhaps the most obvious slights of all though was the fact that the eldest Ventrue in the city – McCloed was not asked to sit on the Council, but the position was instead offered to M. Antoine Lee – prominent and well connected attorney. Whether Victor’s decision for Seneschal was intended to further add insult to injury to Kasymm & McCloed – or meant to sooth the elder Ventrue, no one is quite sure, but Reineger stunned nearly the entire city by appointing Briar Anwen, McCloed’s childe, as his Seneschal – and some even speculate it was her influence that led to his decisions for the other positions.

And somewhere Clastier Balkan was rolling in his grave.

Since the Camarilla came to town and made their presence known in the city – the Anarchs – who are believed to have perhaps been responsible for the bombing of the Elysium – have stepped up their violent attacks. They have caused a plane to crash over Hidden Cove Bay, exerted their influence over the deaths of many key mortal figures in the city. And perhaps as a direct insult to the ruling clan of the city – one of the Anarchs even illegally embraced a mortal that the good Dr. Hale was grooming for the embrace. The Camarilla is an unforgiving sect and in it’s infancy in Hidden Cove – perhaps they felt they had to make a statement about this direct violation of the Traditions – because they put the newly embraced Borden to a swift final death. The only question about their motivations is that – they did it rather quietly.

The Anarchs most recent move has been to cause an explosion on the Lonewolf River – within the territory of the werewolves – threatening an already strained peace between the new regime and the vicious beasts. A peace that was strained by a new arrival Ventrue to the city that overstepped his bounds and encroached – unwittingly – upon the wolves territory before making sure that he was properly introduced in the city.

You might be asking through this “but what about the Sabbat”?

Interestingly enough – they have been eerily quiet – very visable – but quiet. They have not hesitated to make their continued presence in the city known, but they have not tried to so much as even make one overt move against the new regime.

The Camarilla has been so busy dealing with the Anarchs and the Werewolves, while at the same time attempting to make sure that the traditions remain enforced that they must be breathing a sigh of cautious relief at the fact that the Sabbat are so content to live with the status quo.

So there are so many questions and not many answers – paranoia and conspiracy theories abound… but then, this is the World of Darkness…

And I didn’t even go into the mortals… they’re a whole nother story, but aren’t they always?

There are so many more stories to his town and so much more to tell… but then, this is just the state of the city – you’ll have to dig into the stories of the individual characters to find out more – and everything changes…

Welcome to Hidden Cove…