1 CE – Dream of the Hollow Mask, Sentinel Appears
Year 1 CE — The Silence Between Scrolls: The Age of Echoed Crossroads
“When the world turned to a new age, the Nameless did not speak. But its reflection smiled.”
— Fragment found in the Wyrmroot Codex, Hollow Promise Archive
World of Darkness Context (1st Century CE)
- The Messianic Voices, an early mystic movement within the Order of Hermes, begins forming—blending Hermetic wisdom with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a powerful figure seen by some as a prophet, by others a mage or avatar.
- The Corpus Hermeticum begins codification—shaping the core of the Hermetic Arts that will influence the Order of Hermes and various occult traditions.
- Simon Magus, initiate of the Thothian Dositheus cult, spreads his gnosis across Judea and Samaria. His heresies become the seeds of future Ecstatic and Nephandic schisms.
- In North America, the Methuselah linked to Mictlantecuhtli arrives, spreading a shadow of necromantic power across the continent, especially near future Mesoamerican centers.
- The Kyphur cats, kin to the Bubasti, vanish from the world, hunted into extinction—though a few remain as blood-bound pets of the Followers of Set.
- The Sacred Congregation of proto-Christian mystics begins its formal conversion—laying groundwork for Chorister doctrine to merge with Hermetic structures.
🜃 Madtown Event – The Scrollless Age and the Dream of the Hollow Mask
While empires rise and scriptures begin to shape the fate of continents, the land known as Teejop remains a sacred wild, dotted with fading Caerns and fractured spirit-memories. But it is not quiet.
Three significant events occur in Madison around 1 CE:
1. The Dream of the Hollow Mask
- Beneath the frozen crust of Lake Mendota, a Dreamspeaker in trance finds herself face-to-face with a Wyrmroot Mask—a relic of the Third Fire that flickers with paradox and memory.
- In her vision, the Mask speaks in three languages at once—Sumerian, Proto-Anishinaabe, and something that causes ink to bleed from scrolls in nearby temples across the world.
- The message: "When the first Book is closed, the Eye of the Nameless shall blink."
- The Dreamspeaker binds the mask within a spirit hollow called the Scrollless Archive—a chamber of memories where no written word can survive, only dreams, glyphs, and echoes.
2. Arrival of the Whispering Sentinel
- One of the Sentinels from the Grand Hall of Endless Gates, appearing in scattered corners of the Dreaming, briefly manifests on a peninsula that will later become Picnic Point.
- The Sentinel walks among mortals, unseen but deeply felt, leaving behind a silver coin inscribed with four sigils—one of which later matches the design of a Hermetic House lost in the Second Great Schism.
- It speaks only once, in response to a wandering Croatan seer: "Here lies the middle path. Guard it, and it may remain unbroken."
3. The Weeping of the Capitol Node
- With the Hermetic codification underway and global Resonance shifting toward textual permanence, the Capitol Node in Madison enters a state of empathic silence.
- Spirit mediums report no dreams, no songs, only stillness.
- A migrating Garou pack briefly attempts to purify the Node, but finds that its spiritual guardians have retreated inward, slumbering and waiting for a book that has not yet been written.
- This period becomes known to future mages as The Scrollless Age of the Third Seal—a time when Madison’s Node refused to communicate, fearing that any record might awaken the Nameless prematurely.
Legacy and Future Impact
- The Scrollless Archive is rediscovered by a Cult of Ecstasy Dream-Reader in the 1890s. She goes mad after uttering the three-language phrase from the Hollow Mask and disappears into the Hedge.
- The silver coin of the Sentinel remains in the vault of Jay Dee, Hermetic Architect of the Madison Chantry, marked “To Be Spent Only When the Eye Opens.”
- The Capitol Node's silence ends only after the founding of Madison in the 19th century—when written law, song, and sacred geometry converge in a way that resonates enough to "tell the Dream it may begin again."
🔮 Prehistoric & Mythic Eras
10–20 Billion BCE – The Big Bang and the Triat Begins
3.5–4 Billion BCE – Emergence of Life and Spirits on Earth
400 Million BCE – Ananasa Diversifies Insects
360 Million BCE – The Spider Spirit is Born
150 Million BCE – Age of Kings and Mokole Civilization
65 Million BCE – Fall of the Drachid Form and Age of Kings
2.5–1.75 Million BCE – Humanity Adopted by Weaver, Creation of Garou
100,000–10,000 BCE – Diaspora, Banestorm, War of Shame
🏺 Ancient History
6000 BCE – Sealing of the Nameless (First Binding)
5000 BCE – Fracture of the First Seal
4000 BCE – Rise of Babylon, Druidic Magick, First Shadow Tensions
3000 BCE – First Breach Attempt, Wounded Anchors
2000 BCE – Nephandi Almost Free the Nameless
1000 BCE – Third Fire Renewal by Croatan
🏛️ Classical to Early Medieval
1 CE – Dream of the Hollow Mask, Sentinel Appears
1000 CE – Silent Confluence and Renewal of the Third Seal
1634–1836 CE – Indigenous Stewardship, Colonial Spiritual War
🏙️ Modern Madison Founded
1836 – Madison Founded atop the Third Anchor
1860s – Civil War, Camp Randall Necromantic Spillover
1890s – Technocratic Assaults, Gahara Pact Forms
🔥 20th Century Events
1900–1915 – Capitol Fire, Fall of the Lords of Madison
1914–1920 – WWI, New Avalon Echo, Sabbat Probes
1920–1939 – Prohibition, Syndicate Rise, Madtown Mage Cabal Forms
1940–1949 – WWII, Truax Field Founded, Nephandi Rituals
1950–1959 – Kindred–Garou War, Cold War Occult Espionage
1960–1969 – Civil Rights Awakening, Hollow One Expansion, Malkavian Prophecy
1970–1979 – Olbrich Alliance, Sabbat Incursion, Eclipse Ritual
1980–1985 – Digital Web War, Capitol Murders, Nameless Awakens
🎭 Current Campaign Start
February 1985 – Opening Night: Madtown by Night Begins