Solium Speculorum

Victoria's London is a seething mass of folk from all over the world, with every facet of humanity represented here, from the most exalted to the most depraved.

The London of the Awakened is no different. A cautious and even somewhat reactionary consilium holds sway here, and has for centuries. But the line between haves and have-nots that demarks so much of Sleeper society has infiltrated even the lives of the Awakened, and the gulf between those who benefit from consilium and those who are merely forced to accede to its authority grows greater with every passing year.

Into this come five apprentices, each newly Awakened and apprenticed to one of the so-called "Maidstone Three," a trio of friends who focus on their Orders but remain without cabal. These apprentices each have their own lives and their own studies; each also have some small insight into the strangeness of London's occult landscape, and to the strange Mystery that resides there.

Player Characters

London, England

During the Reign of Queen Victoria

Population: 5,633,806 (1896)

The City

Central London, based around the "Square Mile" that is the old original walled city of London.

Bloomsbury • Charing Cross • Covent Garden • The Docks & Wapping • Holborn • The Square Mile • St. Giles

The West End

Formerly swathes of farmland, the West End is now home to many grand houses and sections of new city life.

Bayswater • Belgravia • Brompton & Chelsea • Fulham • Hammersmith • Kensal Green • Kensington • Marylebone • Mayfair • Notting Hill • Paddington • Pimlico • St. James (Clubland) • St. Johns Wood • St. Pancras • Westminster

The Hills

The high ridge north of old London. Formerly agricultural, but the city has grown over and swallowed up the old farms into new metropolitan areas.

Former Villages • Islington • Hampstead • Highbury • Highgate • Holloway

The East End

Poverty and crime are a way of life in the East End. Home to the desperate, as well as those immigrants who rarely find a welcome anywhere else in the city.

Limehouse & the Isle of Dogs • Mile End & Stepney • Whitechapel

The Southwark

The southern bank of the Thames, originally where the rich escaped the city. Now it is home to rookeries and poverty, and those industries not tolerated in finer parts of the city.

Battersea & Clampham • Bermondsey • Deptford & Greenwich • Lambeth • Peckham • Putney • Rotherhithe

Mage Awakening PC Template

• La Maupin, Moros Adamantine Arrow suffragette
• Lagnaippe, Obrimos Guardians of the Veil queen of the gamblers
• Aesculapius, Thyrsus Mysterium physician
• Oberon, Acanthus Guardians of the Veil natural history curator
• Iblis, Mastigos Mysterium gem merchant and lapidary

Storyteller Characters

• The Maidstone Three: A trio of mages originally from Maidstone, in Kent, who are now all in London. Each of them has at least one apprentice.
• New Year's Party Guests: The main guests at the Consilium New Year's Party held at the Prospero Club.

London Unveiled: Mages of London

• Solitaries: Mages who walk their own paths.

Consilium Draco Cruentis

The only consilium to be found in London and its environs, not all mages in the city belong to it. Indeed, membership in this consilium is considered a privilege - the Hierarch acts to govern the magical community of London (and to a lesser extent, Britain as a whole), while the Elder Cabals determine who among the Awakened will or will not be invited to become a proper Vassal Cabal, and given the privileges that come with membership in the city.

• Elder Cabals: The undisputed aristocracy of Awakened society in London.
• Vassal Cabals: The cabals who are also part of the consilium, albeit by the grace of a patron Elder Cabal.

Non-Consilium Cabals

• Common Cabals: The cabals who are not part of the consilium, though they do have the protection of one of the Orders.
• Vagabond Cabals: The cabals who are part of neither consilium nor caucus, but exist of their own volition. They include many who are Apostate, or cabals made up of multiple Orders.

Diamond Order Caucuses of London

• The Knights of the Smoke: Adamantine Arrow. The Adamantine Arrow Caucus for London, the Knights of the Smoke cover are focused around the defense London's Body Magical, and the Dragon Throne of the Consilium Draco Cruentis. It is not uncommon for Adamantine Arrows who are not part of cabals to hire themselves out as bodyguards and security for other magi of the Consilium.
• Dragon Eye Hall: Guardians of the Veil. Named for the caucus' meeting place that is thought to be outside of London proper, the Guardian caucus extends beyond London, covering the Guardians of all southeastern England.
• The Hans Sloane Foundation: Mysterium. Named for the founder of the British Museum, the Foundation is based around the Athenaeum secreted beneath that great edifice, though it is said that the caucus maintains secret sub-Athenaea around the city that are secrets from other magi. The Foundation is exclusively made up of London magi, and sometimes find themselves in rivalry with Mysterium from other caucuses, particularly those in Wales, Exeter, and Canterbury. In contrast, they are closely aligned with the Cambridge caucus.
• The College of Ars Atlanteum: Silver Ladder. The caucus of all of southern England (excluding Wales) organizes itself along academic lines, in marked contrast to the church-like structure of the Episcopate of the Moors (the Silver Ladder caucus ranging across Liverpool, Blackpool, Sheffield, Leeds, York, and Hull).

Chronicle Resources

• Solium Speculorum Chronicle Stats, a compilation of the Attributes, Skills and Arcana ratings of the PCs in the chronicle, used to determine relative importance of focus areas to the group.
• Solium Speculorum Starting Obsessions: A collection of starting Obsessions for player characters.
• Spellcasting Steps: The steps to the use of Awakened magic.

Victorian London

• Money in Victorian London, a quick primer to how money works in the Victorian British Empire.
• Metropolitan Police in Victorian London: A look at the Metropolitan Police, as established by Sir Robert Peele (in 1829).

Noteworthy Locales

• The Low Tide: A Limehouse gambling den located just north of where West India Dock Road and Commercial Road East meet, one of the "copper hells" frequented by the lower classes. Dice and card games abound, as does the occasional bare-knuckles bout. Owned by Millie Walker.
• Vicrum's Townhouse: A Limehouse townhouse, located in a good middle-class neighborhood at the upper edges of Limehouse, close to Vicrum's work offices along West India Dock Road, in south Limehouse.
• Dr. Goddard's Surgery: The resident and office of Whitechapel physician Dr. Francis Goddard. Though he has space for visiting patients, he also makes extensive house calls throughout Whitechapel.
• Sutton Gardens: A Holborn house owned by the Sutton Baronetcy of Norwood Park, Sutton Gardens is one of several grand townhouses arrayed around Russell Square. Rowena Sutton lives there.
• Addington Terraces: The Brompton row of houses in which Edward Thackery, a curator at the nearby Natural History Museum dwells. It is a small dwelling, the sort of thing that a widower on his salary might afford.
• The Prospero Club: A club that houses the Consilium for large gatherings, in the St James neighborhood.

Reference

• Victorian London: The ultimate resource for Victorian London.
• Victorian Cost of Living: A guide to weekly and yearly expenditures in Victorian England.
• Servant Hierarchy:, discussing the roles of various servants of household

Merits

• Victorian Resources Merit: The Resources Merit, as presented for Victorian chronicles.

House Rules

• CoD Improvised Conditions: Improvising Conditions
• CoD Urban District Traits: The six Traits associated with neighborhoods in Chronicle of Darkness cities.
• Legacies for Mage 2nd: A set of homebrew Legacies to tide us over until we get official versions (if we ever do).