Johannesburg (WOD)

Johannesburg (Afrikaans: Johannesburg) is the largest city in South Africa and capital of Gauteng province, and began as a gold mining colony in the 19th century. The sprawling Soweto district was home to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela's former residence is now the Mandela House museum.

Vampire: The Masquerade

A city of culture and street battles, of integration on one street and apartheid on the next, of opulent mansions in one quarter and gang-invaded tower blocks in another: Johannesburg is more than an Anarch domain — it’s a permanent warzone between Kindred, kine, and other, stranger creatures, and the Second Inquisition have yet to even touch the surface. In the thick of it, the Nephilim have dreams of making this city a new bastion of their faith, but it’s an uphill struggle.

They view Jo’burg much as they once did Constantinople: as a place where hundreds of viewpoints can come together in peace and every philosopher can reach a new state of enlightenment under the beneficent rule of Michael, or one of his descendants. Their cause is in vain, however, and their efforts may destroy the cult. Under the leadership of the Toreador named Pakourianis, sometimes titled “the Dove,” the city’s Nephilim guide the “cooperation zone” (what constitutes an Elysium in this domain) to different spots in the domain each fortnight. Under his governance, the cooperation zone exists to highlight the city’s beauty, and that of the vampires within it, when forced to inhabit parts of a domain and interact with individuals they’d barely ever stop to observe otherwise. On one night the Nephilim might set up a cooperation zone on Constitution Hill, and on the next occupy the Mandela Museum or the shanties in Soweto. To entice other vampires, the cult makes it clear everything in the cooperation zone is to be sampled freely, whether in the form of art or sustenance.

The half-dozen Nephilim in Johannesburg keep the peace at these gatherings, pushing the vampire attendees to appreciate the world around them and the company they’re keeping. Pakourianis wants to shepherd the city’s Kindred, watch them, learn from them, and from their assorted views and disagreements form a philosophy that will make Johannesburg a domain of mixed but harmonious viewpoints. When blended together, with some edges shaved off and a little bit of Michael’s Dream added to the mix, he and the rest of the cult believe they can create a new utopia for Kindred in South Africa, and a possible template for further domains.

The view is a grand one, despite the Dove’s prejudices against all who are, to his eyes, ugly in personality or features, and his consideration that they are some of the “edges” in need of shaving. Just as Setites and infernalists helped bring down Michael’s constantinople, Pakourianis’ Johannesburg has saboteurs chipping away at his grand plan.

Due to Pakourianis’ status as a direct childe of Michael, if he fails, the entire faith may fall with him. That is of no concern to the Church of Caine, however, as the Gnostics in Jo’burg consider Pakourianis’ cult a foul heresy. They take exception to the view of Michael as keeper of the Trinity, savior, or guiding light for Kindred. There should only be one angel in their view, and that angel is Caine. Led by a priest named Jabulani, the Gnostics aim to poison other Kindred against Pakourianis, citing his sire’s infamous fall, the Dove’s own predilections for feeding from other Kindred, and stoking the existing fires of conflict that Pakourianis just keeps below the surface. The Gnostics aren’t above enlisting mortals to disrupt cooperation zones so the Nephilim lose all trust.

References

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