Sunnydale OSI: Campaign History

Approximately two hundred years ago, when Britian and the United States of America were recently split, there were some bright souls who were willing to point out the Americans' willingness to do the unthinkable, to fight armies with sneak tactics and to destroy trade ships to make statements, as a sign of a new age of thinking. While most people in the British Empire scoffed (and made bets as to the length of this new American nonsense... a country of states, how absurd!) there were some progressive thinkers who were willing to bridge the gap and embrace the new age. However...

Not all the things that welcomed this brave new time were human.

Although Indians had legends of demons and spirits who walked by night, it was the colony ships that brought the vampire menace to the New World. A frontier of opportunity, both for human and for demon. And with the vampires came the first Slayers born there as well.

The Watcher's Council was not unaware of the emigration, and some welcomed it - a gasp of free, fresh air from the dangers of these ruffian beasts. Still, some Watchers opted to traverse the ocean to America to report on how the New World was treating these vagabonds of the hells.

What they reported was not good. The laissez-faire attitude the colonials had originally engendered had given vampires and various other unsavory things time to take root and settle, sometimes feeding on entire colonies (Roanoke, Virginia, was utterly destroyed in such a way - and was the source of the first American Slayer.) As the centuries went by, these colonial vampires found themselves easily slipping through the cracks in humanity's defenses against the supernatural, as their minds became focused on a new, more dangerous thing: scientific theory. "Everything has its reason," these new-minded philosophers preached... and the vampires watched, and laughed.

Eventually, it came down to a choice. Faced with the expansionist times, and the realization that darkness would develop in realms that the British Empire had no ties to, the Watcher's Council could choose either to let it be and hope for the best... or to make of themselves a force that mere countries could not hope to achieve. In the end, the Watchers chose... to begin expanding themselves. In 1805, the Watcher's Council of America was established in Boston, Massachusetts... and although some amongst them still remembered the Boston Tea Party as if the leaves were still brewing in the waters, the new Council went to work recruiting and training Watchers, and teaching men yet untainted by the voice of reason that there really were things that go chomp in the night.

Over the years, the Watcher's Council, once founded solely in Britain, has sought to expand outwards into other countries. However, with the turn of the 20th Century, this expansion had to come to a standstill.

First, in 1900, there was the Boxer Rebellion. The Watcher's Council of China, and the current Slayer, were both killed during the bloody slaughter, some by men, some by demons, some by sheer misfortune.

In 1916, when the Great War began, the Watcher's Council of Germany was struck hard. Suspected of espionage or sabotage, the British-founded organization found that country ties were proving to be its downfall. The German council went underground, and by 1935, when Hitler's regime settled and his 'religious research' organization, the Ahnenerbe (http://www.mindspring.com/~furrylogic/deltagreen/ahnenerbe.html) , began to search for objects of occult and demonic power, the survivors of the Council of Germany, with the help of the current Slayer, proved a vital role in disrupting the less 'reasonable' machinations of the Reich. Still, although they successfully disrupted the work of Karl Wiligut and similar occultists, it was American soldiers who finally put an end to the Ahnenerbe's work in 1945.

As reports of Ahnenerbe's work began to filter back to government agencies, the Watcher's Council of America decided that it was time to hearken back to the days of monarchs and rulers, and took the risk of contacting them directly. While there were initial strong suspicions regarding the Watcher's Council because of their German connections, and the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt had made for unstable circumstances in the American government, the Office of Strategic Services took these reports seriously. They were desperately in need of a method of continuing operation, and with sufficient proof provided ("this is a vampire, and this is what happens when you pour holy water in its eyes" may well have been part of the exhaustive conversations), the OSS took their report and their proofs and went to discuss matters.

As far as the public was concerned, the OSS was disbanded by executive order on September 20th, 1945. Its forces were recalled, debriefed, and transferred into new agencies or released from duty, and its branches all but disappeared. The only branch of the OSS that remained publicly active was the Research and Analysis branch, which was eventually incorporated into the CIA after several name changes and transfers. Officially, the OSS was completely eradicated in July, 1947.

In reality, however... Harry S. Truman had seen a monster just as real as the two he had unleashed upon Japan's shores, one that people were not willing to understand. With the threat of Communism rattling at the windows, this occult explosion would have been catastrophic to the country, and perhaps the world. Instead, the CIA was founded, ostensibly to coordinate and gather intelligence that affects national security. What nobody realized was that national security might have threats beyond other countries... beings from realms no God would suffer.

The Watcher's Council of Britain, while disapproving of the Americans' decision, had by that time lost its crucial leverage. The demon was out of the shadows and in the eye of a national government again, and there was nothing the Watcher's Council could do to reverse it.

Roswell, New Mexico, was where it happened. The Watcher's Council of America, along with several key government operatives, were investigating occultist ceremonies held along the coast, when reports of unidentified flying objects began circulating. Further investigations revealed that a group of demons had managed to build a flying Lovecraftian machine powered on fear -- a sign of the Industrial Age's effects on the supernatural. The source of the machine, a small group of chaos demons who sought to release Nimnouk the Enervator into the world, was found by the current Watcher and his Slayer. The demons proved unassailable directly, but while they were preparing for another terror flight, the Watcher managed to affix a timed mine to the side of the craft. The mine detonated as intended, causing the craft to crashland. This done, the Watchers called in government agents to investigate the demons for themselves.

Unfortunately, the plan did not go perfectly according to plan. Others discovered the wreckage first. However, with the help of the United States government, the demons (most of them already dead) and their otherworldly machine were swiftly impounded. To this day, people insist that an alien invasion has been concealed... If only the truth could be revealed. Area 51 (Groom Lake Airforce Base) never housed an alien, a fact that the CIA was able to state with a straight face. However, with Area 51 and the Roswell encounter, the CIA's black division, the "Office of Subterranian Information" - its name carefully chosen to confuse - had its start in the underworld, and the Watcher's Council of America finally had significant backing again.

Over the past fifty years, the OSI has been involved in a wide range of activities involving the investigation of 'dangers to national security from non-comprehensible sources' - which translates from governmentese to 'investigating things man wasn't meant to know'. The OSI has four major branches:

-- OSI Command: The head organization that provides direction to the activities of its subdivisions, OSI-C is the red-tape office of the OSI, handling budgets, development paths, and coordinating activities.

-- OSI Initiative: Dedicated to taking the fight directly to sub-terrestrial hostiles, the OSI Initiative is in charge of performing missions assigned by OSI-C. These are the field operatives with the guns, the stakes, the axes... anything that does the job, makes the kill, and makes America a safer place for the 'civvies'.

-- OSI Research: A fighter is only effective if he knows where to hit. OSI Research studies sub-terrestrials, occult and magical lore in general, and other areas of interest. OSI-R generally sends directives to OSI-I involving particular search-and-capture operations.

-- OSI Servator: To protect and serve against things the Men in Black never dreamed of, you need a watchful eye. You guessed it, Servator is the codename of the Watcher's Council of America, governmentalized, budgeted, and ever watchful. Servator monitors (or watches, for you wiseasses) demonic activity, Hellmouth openings and closings (they do seem to get around, don't they?), and active occultwork. They also do their damndest to seek out the Slayer line - and get it to work for them. Yes, here's where things get interesting: the Watcher's Council of America is patriotic - and selfish. The other Watcher's Councils, while they do still assist Servator on occasion, are not very amused about OSI, or about squabbling for 'Who gets the Slayer?' Worst of all, Servator is effective at what it does - keeping the forces of evil at bay, keeping Slayers in active duty longer, and even - horrors - encouraging people to help!

Where the community picks up: The year is 1997. OSI-S has managed to track down the Hellmouth to Sunnydale, California, and is presently closely monitoring the situation developing (for those of you who don't remember, the Master is stuck in there like a cork in a bottle, and just about to come up with that whole happy Harvest idea.) Command has finally agreed to begin work establishing a base for OSI operations (to be built during reconstruction of Stevenson Hall, on USC campus grounds). Field operatives are temporarily being housed in an apartment complex near USC, and are being encouraged to find covers in the area, ideally as USC faculty (or students, for the college-aged) or some other knowledge-based career, though other options are available. Then comes the newest wrinkle.

OSI-S unit Kit Bothwell reported that India Cohen had been drained of life by an undead being known as the Wanderer, whom he had narrowly escaped himself. While Initiative units detailed to the region to seek and destroy the problem, Servator units set to work trying to find the newest Slayer...