Lupo's Diary

To the cub who finds this, may the wisdom in this book teach you all you wish to find. I am Aramis Lovello, Pack Alpha Lupo to all who follow Him. I am an avatar of Romulus, the Father of Rome. He is your brother as he is mine, and we follow his teachings. If you find this book then you have found my last and final Den in the world of chaos and the end times. Here I will list my companions in this my final journey, my history and the road to meeting Romulus.

I was a young boy when my power first manifested. I had been selected by the Follower's of Romulus and was attacked on the outskirts of Rome by 10 to 15 men and fought to survive with little more than a sharp stick I found. This is the trial of Romulus, defending oneself against a pack of wolves for five minutes to assert your ability to enter the pack. I fought with every ounce of my strength before I was taken. I awoke in an underground series of tunnels, and I felt like I had been shown what I truly was. This place felt like home, my father embraced me as I woke. He was wearing a wolf pelt, he told me how proud he was that I had passed the trial and that I could follow him. I simply looked around, I was in awe of the sheer magnitude of this place, how warm and comforting it was compared to the harsh stone outside. I knew what I had to be. I had to be one of whatever these people were. That's when he spoke to me first.

"Brother, I see you have finally found your path. I shall be with you always."

At the time I was worried, I thought I had caught a case of madness however I was wrong. Romulus himself had selected to guide me. If I had known at the time I would have stood with a proud air and ask to be directed...
A few days passed and I was given a bone knife and stripped to nothing more than undergarments. I was thrown to the wilds to survive for a week. The second trial of Romulus was taxing. I struggled and fought off animals who would eat me as I made my kills. I was nearly taken to Elysium when a wolf pack attacked me in the foothills around Rome. I ran as fast as my legs would take me, they nipped at my heels. They would run at half pace whilst a member of the pack ran at full tilt to keep me moving until I tired. I eventually reached a cave and fought each and every one back. I spotted the largest wolf at the back pacing, waiting for an opening. I knew I had one chance and only one. I said a quick prayer to Romulus and poised my knife to throw.
I felt him steady me, stand with an arm around my waist. I felt him hold my wrist, as a father does to guide his son for his first throw. Together our arm snapped forward, our knife soared. It hit our target, and the Wolf fell. The smaller pack members saw their alpha fall and ran. I hissed and kicked at them until they left, and dragged the alpha into the cave.
I spent that knife harvesting it's bone, its pelt and it's meat before I began the walk home the next day.Upon my return to Rome, the followers kneeled. I did not return as 19 year old Aramis Lovello, son to a coward in the pack and a mother who did not see the path. I did not return as the young boy who could not fight, the boy without vision was dead. I was Lupo Lovello, Romulus' sword, his shield and his maw. I lived, breathed and ate as he did. I lead our Followers on his true path and showed them the error of their teachings.

I was pack leader for 20 long years before the Borgia were overthrown by the populace, which made sense to me, Ceasere was by no means a pleasant man liked by the people. However many of our people lost their vision and began to return to Rome. They obviously couldn't function in our pack, I let them leave, but made it clear that as far as we were concerned they were dead. They could never reenter the pack. I took hold of the remaining Followers and kept the group alive for three generations underground within and around Roma. We ran as one, holding our territory in His name. Romulus was proud of me, but kept saying to me;

"Brother, this too will pass. You are timeless and your pack is ageing. I see a great foreboding ahead of you child."
I would reply, "But Brother, I will fight through any foreboding with you and my pack by my side."
He would ponder this before replying "Brother, you are all that I need, and you will be alone again. Your second trial is never truly over..."
I would go to reply before I would come out of my trance. He would not allow me in the cave for a few days after these conversations. By the third generation of our group, a young Beta began being outspoken, fighting for sections of the den he did not own. I ignored him but before long, he had a few supporters under his belt, formed the Sect of Remus. Young wolves more concerned with money than faith, and as Romulus told me, and as with his story the Sect exiled me and attacked me. I had been betrayed the sect, who's teaching appealed to the greed of mankind. Remus' teachings dragged our younger pups and well versed fighters away from my faith. I was alone, save a few infirm wolves.

"Lupo" one said, "Leave us. We will hold the Sect here. Find safety, find Romulus. Show them what happens to those who betray him."
I nodded before using my gift to run into the wild. The men stayed behind, and I turned from a vantage point to see the younglings of the Sect descend on them. There was nothing I could do for them now, they fought like cornered wolves, just as I had taught them.

For the next long passage of time I stayed as a wolf, I walked alone until a sign from him showed me he was still watching. A wolf pack accepted me into their group, and I ran with them across a great land. I was happy for a time and they lead me to a great ocean. I saw ships travelling on the water, one of which had the name of; "The Strident Fang." I do not know why, but I boarded this ship and stowed away in the cargo. I think I ended up in Britain, but I headed north for a while before finding a new pack of wolves. It was with them I rested for a while. I became their Elder, as I did not age, yet the pack did. Over time, with the rise of a more modern age, the wolves were hunted. I became a lone wolf once more. I survived on the lands in the highlands. That was until the sky turned grey and the End Times began with the coming of Leviathan.
Romulus cradled me as I screamed as I felt the loss of life of my brother's in distant lands, I felt the sorrow of every pack in every nation. I felt the careless deaths all wash over me. He kept me alive.
It was not long before an angel found me. I attacked him, fearing the worst. He calmed me, told me he was here to help me. He told me of the alliance, my chance to defend my faith and strike at those who were causing all the sorrow in the lands.

For Roma, For Romulus, For every Brother lost, For Me, I joined the Alliance. I was promoted to Sergeant and became a self sufficient unit. I was trained in basic equipment, leadership and military weaponry. I do not carry any ranged weaponry but I am able to use it. I am placed behind enemy lines as a tool of destruction with very little. I enjoy this, it was a long second trial Romulus had put me on to show my devotion to protect him just as he protects me.
Then Germany happened.

Malachy, Gabriel and Ray. They all arrived in a ring of light much like the Angel does. They needed a guide. We attacked a house where their target was, and we were essentially beaten by a very powerful entity. To cut a long tale down, I wasn't the most comfortable I could be. I worked better alone, but these were the first "Different" people I had worked with. I wanted to watch them and learn, and Romulus' knows that I need pack members. You never know who might appeal.

Malachy was the most promising. He is a strong man, but fuelled by rage. I'd say it was his only down-point. Romulus met him as I took him to the Cave. I do not know what they said, but Malachy told me he had to enter the Underworld. This raised my hackles. I only have two florins, and that's two florins short of letting him go. Romulus had also told me to take him to the gates. I hope we find him some currency in time.

Gabriel: he's quiet, and religious. But he does a good job. I honestly don't have a lot to say about him. He has protected us, and seems to keep ray in check. Reminds me, haven't seen him in a while. They were talking about him reincarnating. I don't know how Angels work. I hope that when you stab them they die. You never know...

Ray. He's an angel, he doesn't have wings any more, he never seems to die, he has no concept of stealth, he's very bad at military drill, he's arrogant, he blasphemes, and he is a total douche (Which is what my soldiers reliably inform me an instrument to wash one's lady's pink gates with.)
HOWEVER, I trust the man to watch my back in a bad place, which is more than I'd say for most angels, especially a fallen one.

Chaos Tech

Chaos Tech was born Darryn Jeremiah Knox on April 1st, 1997, in Seattle. He was brought up with an elder sister to tease him, a nice home, comfortable lifestyle, and both parents working decent paying jobs.

When he first started attending school, his teachers informed his parents that their child was incredibly intelligent, perhaps even gifted. He was showing great promise with his studies, working ahead of his class by far. He loved playing with computers most of all, and when he was six, his parents bought him one for his birthday. He could play and tinker with the computer as much as he wanted because it was his, instead of messing with his parents computer...

Life seemed to be going well for the young boy. However, when he turned 7, he lost both his parents and his elder sister to the riots. The boy was sent to Scotland to live with his Aunty in Edinburgh. There he was schooled and raised. The differences in culture were simple enough to adapt to. He was young enough to learn about the way things worked in Scotland and how they differed to back in Seattle.

In order to focus his mind away from the Seattle riots and his family, he went back to school straight away and got back into his studies and little home projects. He went to the top of his class at primary school, and when he went to high school, he excelled in computing and mathematics. When he turned 14, he was offered the chance to leave high school behind and attend university. He accepted, going on to study computing and computer programming.

Two years later, his Aunty passed away. He tried to continue his studies, but found he couldn't focus. That was when he met Jack. She had been watching his progress and took a great interest in him, approaching him at the university to offer him work. Chaos, feeling he had nothing better to do, decided to go along with it, leaving university life to join the new mysterious project Jack had told him about.

Lupo

From a young age, Lovello was a devout Follower of Romulus. He was recruited through his Father and was given his first bone dagger and sent to the wild, returning with a grey wolf pelt and the pelvis bone of the creature and a few vertebrae from it's spine. He survived his week in the frozen hills surrounding Roma during the tyrannical reign of Ceasere (Chez-er-ay) Borgia and his family. Within a few days, he had forged his very own bone dagger, wrapped in the cured flesh of a Catholic from the Pantheon who had strayed too far from home. He still has this dagger today. The Followers were controlled by a series of Borgia supporting Catholics who were using the cult as a terrorist organisation to keep the public supporting the Borgia, not that Lovello knew. 
Before long, he had immersed himself so devoutly to Romulus and his teachings that he openly referred to himself as Lupo. He served for 20 long years before the Borgia were overthrown by the public, and without Ceasere's manipulation, the Followers began to split. Lupo took hold of the remaining Followers and kept the group alive for three generations underground within and around Roma. The third generation formed a splinter cell known as the Sect of Remus. Young wolves more concerned with money than faith, and before long, true to the background of the brothers, betrayed the Followers and stole many young and higher class members. Left with an infirm pack, Lupo had no choice but to abandon Roma and look for fresh hunting territory. For the following 100-200 years, he travelled to Britain and roamed the highlands with a wolf pack in Scotland. 
After the war, when the wolves went extinct, Lupo was left to his own devices for quite some time, surviving on the lands. The Alliance approached him and offered him the chance to defend Romulus' honour against the new threat to the realm, and he lunged at the chance. He was a behind enemy lines sabotage unit, operating solo in various fields disrupting the AOR battle lines and surviving on what he could. He has food Ang-dropped to various Den's in his operating theatre after contacting them by radio. He regularly patrols his theatre as a wolf until he is moved on. It is not rare for him to have very little idea where he is. He awaits the chance to find a Sect of Remus so that he can enact revenge on the pack that stole his brothers from him.

Ray

Ray is a former Greater Seraphim now Exile formerly know as Al'Rahel, living on Earth mostly fighting undead predators, particularly the lineage of a powerful Vampyre he once made an enemy of. During the times of the Elder Kingdoms Al'Rahel was a powerful Seraphim who watched as humanity was almost destroyed. When Lucifer was discovered to have lied and the Celestial War broke out Al'Rahel watched along with twelve others, they became known as the Abstainers.
Al'Rahel exiled himself to Earth and entered a deep trance where he was mummified and protected by an early tribe of surviving humans who later thought of him as nothing more than a temple statue with an unusual presence around it.Centuries passed and Al'Rahel was eventually awakened by explosions caused by the building of the first railway through the western United States where he chose to rest so long ago.
Quickly coming to grips with the new world around him, 'Ray' passed himself off as a cowboy bounty hunter with a speciality in dealing with the supernatural. It wasn't long before Ray made his first real enemy, a powerful Vampyre with many of his bloodline at his command.
Ray travelled much of America until war broke out in Europe and he joined the Armed Forces to aid in the Second World War. Feeling the need for more warfare he signed up again for duty in Vietnam serving for quite some time there. Since then he has drifted mostly, fighting the undead and looking out for Vampyres who may be after him.

Malachy

Malachy is a Relentless Dead who has pursued his quarry for almost two centuries. Born in the 19th century to a normal Irish/Scottish family Malachy grew up to work in a factory run by a cruel man named George Manning. While working in the factory he met the love of his life and soon married her. The two of them lived in the tenement apartments near the factory and were settling down to begin a family when Manning decided to expand his business. Using a local gang of hoodlums, Manning began the forced eviction of the surrounding apartments and when Malachy and his wife refused to leave they were killed as an example to the other residents.
His spirit unable to rest, Malachy awoke in a daze unaware of what he was or what had happened to him, he began wandering eventually settling in a graveyard where his memories of the Threshold returned. With a hatred for those responsible burning within him, Malachy set about hunting down and torturing each of the gang members that attacked him and his wife. Eventually he found out that they were working for Manning and where he could be found. He attacked Manning instantly and believed he had killed him later to find out he had somehow survived.
Malachy tracked him for years, fighting the gangs Manning would hire to do his dirty work never getting close to Manning again, until now.

The Characters - Gabriel

So I ran a game of Armageddon a few years ago with a True Immortal character that was mostly solo play and being someone who enjoys running high-power games she was built using the Legendary Character Type point spread. With the possibility of playing with the character again I decided to build the new characters on the same  points in the interest of game balance and it allowed for the high cost character types like Seraphim. Speaking of which....

Gabriel
A Seraphim of the Heavenly Host with quite an extensive background, so much so that he has almost 'gone native' on Earth, living there under the assumed identity, Gabriel Blythe and known in Binah as Malkuth. Under Lucifer's command he helped in the destruction of the Elder Kingdoms but when it was discovered that Lucifer lied about hearing the Metatron he betrayed Lucifer and the other renegade Seraphim. He fought on the side of Michelle and the loyal Archangels during the war, sometimes resorting to killing a renegade Seraphim, creating animosity between him and what would later become the Infernal Seraphim.
After the war and during the Diaspora he spent most of his time on Earth helping to rebuild the surviving human nations as a way of repenting for his mistakes during the destruction of the Elder Kingdoms. He spent his time in Ancient Egypt mostly aiding both the Jewish slaves and the Egyptian rulers in fighting the Mad God cults that sprouted up in the absence of the Heavenly Host. He had some contact with the Gods of Khem and was one of the few Seraphim to get along with them, both remaining mostly neutral towards each other for the time being. This is when he also met the Watchers for the first time, making contact with them but disagreeing with their policy of no involvement.After the return of the Host and the formation of the Council of Four, Raphael, admiring Gabriel's actions while they were absent, accepted him as one of their Seraphim and named him Malkuth, after the Earth for which he is so fond of.
Returning to Egypt, this time not until the 1950s, he met Lyra, a Human Mage and worshipper of the Gods of Khem. They fell in love and unknown to the Host they had a child named Ezekiel who stayed with Lyra, raised as one of her Acolytes. Being forced to return to Elysium and meet his obligations to the Host caused him to be absent for much of Ezekiel's upbringing and his later life.
Raphael, concerned with the increasing Gifted and Supernatural births occurring during the 1980s sent numerous Seraphim to Earth to monitor the situation. Malkuth was sent to Edinburgh where he took on the identity of Gabriel Blythe, an archaeologist living in a single bedroomed apartment who works abroad for months at a time.

Ahoy-hoy :)

I always feel the first post of a new blog should say something about what it's for so for now this will be a place for me to post summaries of the recent RP games we have played. A couple of weeks ago we started an Armageddon: The End Times game, a game I have had for a while but never managed to get a regular group for. The game went extremely well considering there was no planning involved and the characters were created that night, sometimes the best games come from 'winging it'. Turns out all the players enjoyed the game immensely instantly asking to play again, so we did, then again and again. After playing a game on practically every night of the week, two weeks in a row I thought it best I should write down what's been happening.

So, now I have to work out how much info I post up here and whether or not my players should see it. While it would be good to have somewhere to post my thoughts about plot and character development it would also be cool to have a place for players to comment on games after they look back and go - 'What was I thinking?'