Mid-MO/Cross Genre CofD

The Protectorate VSS

Key Locations

 * '''The Guitar Mansion


 * '''The Boonville Ranch


 * '''Ellis-Fischel


 * '''Fresh


 * '''Neutral Grounds Coffeeshop


 * '''Dr. Agnessa Aeslinn's Practice

Domain Map

History
Since before the founding of the City of Columbia in 1821, the area has been a meeting place and waystation for the supernatural. Never hosting a particularly large population of any one type of being, those that have called Columbia home have learned to work with the strangest of bedfellows to ensure safety and civility among the supernatural community. Those that have held to themselves have often faced some odd hardship or another, such as the Scourge that hounded Kindred leadership for nearly twenty years: starting with the mysterious final death of a long-standing Prince in 1998, the Kindred of the city found than any claiming Praxis in the mid-Missouri area would shortly thereafter be destroyed in some oddly coincidentally manner. In 2016 the matter became even more dire for the vampires: any Kindred committing an act of violence would spontaneously combust. While the immediate source of the problem, a mortal with a severe case of fire spirit-itis, was dealt with, the pattern of the area remains.

Shortly after the incident with the Kindred was resolved, a creature by the name of Elle, presenting herself as a country mother with a young daughter, made introductions among the various supernatural individuals of the city, suggesting that survival was the better part of cooperation - most especially as the spontaneously combusting Kindred has attracted mortal attention and a paramilitary organization had moved into Columbia proper to investigate the supernatural community there. Cooperation was needed in such trying times, and a true community - a protectorate of sorts - was born. At first Elle's home in Boonville became a monthly gathering place for the community to swap stories, discuss problems, and pool resources. As the group became more comfortable with one another, Elle retreated quietly and Casey, a young werewolf, provided a magically shielded coffee shop in downtown Columbia called Neutral Grounds as a more convenient option that would be accessible any day of the week, not just once a month.

While individuals moved against these mortal hunters, a different threat began hunting the dreams of anyone touched by the supernatural. For months, the community was chased and stalked within their dreams, leaving them fatigued and tense. Into this atmosphere of fear and exhaustion stepped the fully formed Court of Prince Dmitri Ivanov, sent from Kansas City to claim praxis in Columbia and stem the influence along the I-70 corridor of St. Louis its "Night Congress". With help from allies from St. Louis, those of the Neutral Grounds protectorate managed to kill the abyssal spirit When You Die In Dreams, freeing themselves, the hunters, and the new Kindred court from the nightmares it inflicted. The mortal world as well, for those bothering to keep track.

Now, all three groups have the time and energy to turn upon one another. Welcome to the protectorate.