2060 - 2069

2061

• The Year of the Comet: Not only does Halley’s Comet return this year, but it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Awakening.
• A secondary wave of goblinization, termed SURGE (Sudden Unexplained Recessive Genetic Expression) sweeps the globe, causing strange and often unique transformations.
• The dragon that came to be known as Ghostwalker goes on a rampage through Denver, destroying Aztlan and Aztechnology resources and sites throughout the city, as well as select buildings and individuals in the other sections. CAS targets include the headquarters of the policlub Unity, Chinatown and an Ares Arms facility.
• The sudden animation of corpses by heretofore unknown varieties of spirits leads to both attacks by animated corpses and the fearful lynching of several practitioners of voudoun. The CAS government offers a ¥100,000 bounty for the capture of those summoning and controlling spirits for the animation of dead bodies.
• The voodoo community speaks out against the lynchings and bounty, while an exodus of practitioners and believers flee the CAS for the Carib League.
• Over the winter of 2061, multiple instances of lynchings occur against practitioners of voudoun, several of whom aren’t even magically active. Several botanica shops are burned to the ground, and even the magical department at Tulane is forced to use lethal force to defend both members of its staff suspected of practicing voudoun, as well as the research journals of more than a decade of dedicated magical research.

2062

• At the beginning of Carnivale season, all media outlets receive a document entitled the Crossroads Ultimatum. It states that unless the lynchings and persecution of the loa’s followers stop immediately, there will be retaliation. Voudoun societies throughout Louisiana decry the Ultimatum as the work of Red Sects, the practitioners of petro voudoun.
• As a result of the media coverage of the Crossroads Ultimatum, lynchings increase dramatically. The Caribbean League calls for intervention from the CAS, claiming that they are sanctioning the violence through inaction. Violence against voudounistas continues through Carnivale. A few incidences of voudoun magicians striking back occur, but most of them are isolated events, or self-defense.
• On the night of Mardi Gras proper, just as the Background Count in the French Quarter swells to powerful levels, what later becomes known as the Cry at the Crossroads takes place. From sunset until sunrise, more than three hundred people are dead, the result of magical retaliation. Most of the dead are found to have either participated in violence against voudounistas of some kind, or to have been nearby when a primary target who had was killed.
• The governor calls in the National Guard to deal with the situation, and a confederation of houngans and mambos, all practitioners of rada voudoun, give themselves up to the armed forces and ask to speak with the governor. Over the remainder of the year, rada practitioners help the police round up members of the Red Sects responsible for the Cry at the Crossroads.
• By the end of the year, the official reports that shedim spirits – which are not summonable by any metahuman magician – are responsible for the rising of corpses are disseminated, in no small part thanks to the efforts of the various voodoo societies. Practitioners of rada voudoun demonstrate a willingness to battle any shedim that may surface.

2063

• Over the next year, vengeful petro voudoun, seeking retribution against rada practitioners whose actions following the Cry at the Crossroads they consider treacherous, lash out, attacking various rada practitioners. When offered official aid from the government (now enjoying something of an alliance with a number of rada houngans and mambo), the rada practitioners decline, saying that this will be handled the way it has always been handled.

2064

• The inter-voudoun violence ends with the Matrix Crash of 2064, when widespread looting and rioting paralyzes the city. These rivalries continue, nearly forgotten by the general public, outside of the public eye.
• The dragon Falthur, who hasn’t been seen since the establishment of the Dragon’s Green, emerges at the height of the rioting and looting, which draws too close to his territory. He attacks the mob with flaming breath and spells, and they quickly disperse. Dozens are left dead as a result. Falthur then flies over the city, using his presence alone to bring several other violent situations to a quick end.
• The next day, Falthur releases a statement through his translator, decrying the violence and rioting that have destroyed what he terms “some of the most beautiful and precious parts of the city of New Orleans.” He promises that he himself will intervene in any further acts of violence or vandalism to the city in this time of crisis.
• Two days later, Falthur puts down another riot, this time at the edges of Carollton by orks from Orktown; that marks the last of the rioting in New Orleans as a result of the Crash of ’64. As a result, New Orleans has an easier time recovering from the Crash than many other cities around the world, though CAS officials decry his actions as vigilantism.

2067

• The AA-rated corp Seretech steps in as Bridge City, a smaller town across the Mississippi from New Orleans, declared bankruptcy. In a stunning display of wealth and legal manipulations, Seretech effectively purchases the town as a whole and begins construction of the Seretech Arcology in the middle of Bridge City.

2068

• The Krewe of Cinnabar in Little Venice tries to force the madame of the Nightbloom Garden, Mama Rigeur, into handing them the reins of control over her brothel. She refuses.
• Mama Rigeur's conflict with the Krewe of Cinnabar escalates, with each harassment raid and drive-by by the Krewe of Cinnabar answered by Mama Rigeur in Cinnabar blood.

2069

• Early in the year, the Krewe of Cinnabar massacres the residents of the Nightbloom Garden while Mama Rigeur is away.
• Upon her return, Mama Rigeur sends her apprentice away, and undertakes a guerilla war against the Krewe of Cinnabar. This conflict escalates, leaving her dead. It also utterly decimates the Krewe of Cinnabar.
• Construction on the Seretech Arcology is completed.

Forward to 2070 - 2079

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