The Early Settlers
Kindred machinations from the 1700s to 1900s
The first settlers came to the area during the American Revolution, when the land was still under British control. United States forces, under Revolutionary War hero Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, acquired the land in 1795, and Fort Dearborn was built in 1803. Needless to say, this did not sit
well with the Native Americans who had called the area home for generations. Here they had their sacred lands, their burial grounds and their hunting ranges. Newcomers who tried to displace the land's older residents found themselves the targets of raids and war parties.
The army abandoned the fort during the War of 18 12, hut returned in 18 16 with more settlers and, eventually, engineers who hoped to establish a new city at this strategic river junction. The natives found a leader in Chief Black Hawk, and prepared to defend their ancestral lands.
The United States Army had been enjoying considerable success against America's natives ever since the death of Tecumseh during the War of 18 12. However, Black Hawk thought he had an advantage in the form of the Pale Wolf, a white man who had lived among the northern tribes since
before Black Hawk's grandfather was born. The Pale Wolf was actually an ancient vampire who had been born under the name Meneleus, and now called himself Menele. Unfortunately, General Whistler, commander of Fort Dearborn, was under the Domination of Menele's arch-enemy, the vampiress
Helena. She had hunted the Pale Wolf across the continent for centuries and was more than able to tip the balance toward the newcomers. She also focused attention on the conflict, ensuring that fresh troops would be sent until victory was secured, no matter what the cost.
The Indian Wars
Menele had hoped to turn Black Hawk's people into an effective fighting force capable of standing against Helena and her minions. Unfortunately, he had little knowledge of the destructive power of firearms, and despite his training and his followers' own valor, Helena managed to defeat him yet again.
The climax came during one tragic midnight cavalry raid on a riverside encampment. Menele, seeing the cruel slaughter of the brave people with whom he had lived for so long, burst into a murderous frenzy. Instead of relying on pawns to fight his battles as he had in the past, he flew intothe fray himself, charging straight at the equally powerful Helena. He was shot many times, but nothing seemed able to stop him. The two Methuselahs met with all the fury of a whirlwind, and the air turned red with the vast quantities of blood they used.
None of those watching could follow the swift course of that titanic battle, but finally, they saw Helena dig her claws deep into Menele's ribs. With a scream of agony that made the earth itself shake, Menele drove his skull deep into Helena's forehead. The two separated, both thrown to the ground by their injuries. Menele's remaining braves made a last desperate charge to rescue their ancient ally, but could not reach him before Helena's ghoul managed to drive a burning stake deep into the vampire's neck. At the cost of many lives, Menele's allies managed to seize his body and escape into the woods, while the ghoul carried Helena to the safety of the fort.
Thus, two of the mightiest Cainites in the New World fell into torpor under the watchful gaze of their mortal allies. However, their deep slumber did not mean an end to their age-old feud. From their sleep, the two called to all their supporters around the world, and Kindred and kine alike flocked to them.
The Great Chicago Fire
While those Cainites who remember the great fire still call it Devil's Night, Chicago as a whole actually benefited from the destruction. Massive rebuilding rejuvenated the city; within a few years it had surpassed its old glory and, under Lodin's leadership, became one of the industrial powerhouses of the Americas.
With such rapid growth came unexpected turmoil.
Lodin's power among mortals radiated from the top down, and he gave those mortals he supported the power and freedom to increase their wealth at will. He used the twin powers of money and force (the latter through his police and special security guards) to keep the masses in line. Still, it came as a shock to Lodin's ego when the workers upon whose backs the city had been built began to protest their desperate conditions. The fact that a vampire could transform that massive unhappiness into a bid for power also came as a shock.
The Pullman Strike
May 11, 1894–July 20, 1894
The Pullman Strike of 1894 is commonly regarded as the most defining event in the history of Chicago labor union politics. The strike, organized by Pullman workers protesting their poor working and living conditions, brought together black and white workers and had a crippling effect on the nation's rail system. The strike posed a direct threat to Prince Lodin's trusted lieutenant, Drummond, the powerful railroad baron. In a move that was not approved by Lodin, Drummond used government troops to attack the workers and break the strike, which only served to sway public opinion in favor of the workers. The resulting scandal was an embarrassment for the city on a global scale.
Lodin, recognizing that Drummond was unable to squash the uprising, searched for a suitable pawn to control the workers. Eventually, he settled on embracing Tommy Hinds, a local socialist leader popular among the masses. Dominated by Lodin, Hinds forced the other labor leaders into less-than-favorable concessions. He was initially successful in co-opting them with promises of wealth and power in exchange for ensuring the workers' compliance. Those industries that were at the greatest risk were forced to improve pay and working conditions. However, many that refused to comply were subverted by hostile takeover attempts by organized crime, secretly led by Modius, the Prince's rival in nearby Gary, Indiana. While Modius's forces were slow to react, they sparked a wave of unprecedented disruptions and violence which shocked the industry and the country to its core, resulting in one of the longest labor relations disputes in the history of the nation.
The First Prince
At first, Helena thought she had the advantage, for the fort and all its inhabitants were hers to command. She ignored the growing city, allowing Menele to ensconce his followers among its leadership
Maxwell became the city's first prince. Sired by an ancient Spanish Brujah, he had first come to Chicago as a fur trader. Excluded from the upper echelons of mortal society because of his race, he found the Kindred to be somewhat less
prejudiced. Indeed, lnyanga- now an ancient member of the city's primogen - first became interested in moving to Chicago when she heard that a black prince ruled it.
The Civil War swelled Chicago's mortal population amazingly; however, few new vampires arrived, as most were enjoying the spoils of war. With the end of the war, though, came change. New Cainites began pouring into the city
despite Maxwell's efforts to keep it a Brujah haven. Numbered among the newcomers was the Ventrue Lodin.
By 1871, Maxwell and his allies had finally managed to stem the influx. Then came the horror of Devil's Night. Flames lit by a suicidal Malkavian swept through the city like a murderous squall, burning everything in their wake. Amazingly,
few mortals died, but the fire gutted 18,000 buildings and almost completely annihilated Maxwell's supporters among the Kindred.
With the city's vampiric establishment in disarray, Lodin saw his chance. Opting for a night when lnyanga had left town, the Ventrue made his move. With a small band of Toreador and fellow Ventrue, he attacked Maxwell in the Brujah's East Side mansion.
Expecting a swift, one-sided struggle, the usurpers found Maxwell much stronger than they had anticipated. Many were decapitated by Maxwell's saber before one of the Toreador managed to tear his arm off. Maxwell escaped through a window and has not
been seen in the city since. Lodin wanted no rivals among his own kind, and methodically destroyed those few Ventrue who had survived the battle. From this point on, all the Ventrue in Chicago were of his line
The Challenge of Modius
The Toreador Modius seemed to come out of nowhere. He quickly gained support among the mortal workers and disgruntled Kindred. Most importantly, he had the backing of the Gangrel lnyanga, the Nosferatu Khalid and the Brujah Procet, three powerful
elders who had not liked Ledin's highhanded and violent assumption of power.
At first their battle involved few confrontations; both sides relied on mortals to bear the brunt of the conflict through the 1880s. Soon, though, Lodin found his mighty police force and private security agencies negated by theworkers' more violent elements,
and found himself lacking vampiric allies.
The great institutions Lodin had created to ensure the stability of his rule began to crumble in the face of spreading strikes and violence. His hopes that a strong, controlled economy would create a tranquil environment for Kindred and kine alike proved illusory. Even with the aid of two new lieutenants, Ballard and Drummond (the latter of whom was recently destroyed by Lupines), Lodin seemed incapable of anything save delaying his eventual overthrow.
First he tried to destroy some of the union leaders during a protest in an open-air market. One of his mortal agents threw a born b into a crowd of police, setting off a riot that led to the deaths of several union members and police officers and death sentences for fourunion leaders, though none could be linked to the bombing even in Chicago's kangaroo courts.
This move, however, backfired on Ledin. The dead men gained far more influence as martyrs than they wielded during life, and union fervor rose to new heights. Lodin swore not to make tthe same mistake twice, but events took the next
episode out of his control.