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Below is a shorter, cleaner, player-facing replacement for the Timeline page. It preserves every original link while removing major Storyteller spoilers, secret culprits, and unnecessary historical detail.
Chronological Timeline Index
A player-friendly history of Madtown by Night, from the beginning of Creation to the supernatural crises of 2025.
Madison looks like an ordinary Midwestern city. Beneath its streets, however, ancient powers have fought over sacred places, hidden realms, and the shape of reality itself.
This timeline introduces the events most characters might know through rumor, research, supernatural lore, or personal experience. Some accounts remain incomplete or contradictory.
| Current Setting | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Major Turning Point | 1985 |
| Current Chronicles | Awakened of Madtown and Kindred of Madtown |
| Player Knowledge | Major Storyteller secrets are intentionally omitted |
Using This Timeline
The history of the World of Darkness is not perfectly recorded.
Mages alter memories. Kindred destroy evidence. Spirits remember promises differently from mortals. The Digital Web sometimes preserves events that never happened.
This page presents the broad history of Madison. Follow the links for deeper accounts of individual eras.
Prehistoric and Mythic Eras
Long before Madison existed, supernatural powers fought over Creation, humanity, and the spirit world.
- 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
Around 6000 BCE, a supernatural alliance imprisoned an entity remembered as the Nameless. The prison weakened several times over the following millennia, forcing later generations to defend or renew it.
- 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 Modern History
The land surrounding the Four Lakes remained spiritually important through the rise and fall of nations, religions, and supernatural societies.
- 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
Madison Is Founded
Madison was built upon land already inhabited, protected, and contested by Indigenous peoples, spirits, and supernatural factions.
As the city grew, construction disturbed ancient spiritual paths beneath the Four Lakes. Mortal government rose beside the Capitol Node, one of the most powerful and dangerous places in the region.
During this period, the hidden sanctuary called New Avalon also began taking shape.
- 1836 – Madison Founded atop the Third Anchor
- 1860s – Civil War, Camp Randall Necromantic Spillover
- 1883 – Baali Capitol Collapse
- 1890s – Technocratic Assaults, Gahara Pact Forms
The Twentieth Century
1900 to 1919: Fire and Accord
The 1904 Capitol fire concealed a major supernatural confrontation. In its aftermath, Madison's supernatural factions established the Gahara Pact, an agreement intended to prevent open war.
New Avalon grew into a true Horizon Realm and sanctuary for the Awakened.
- 1900–1915 – Capitol Fire, Fall of the Lords of Madison
- 1914–1920 – WWI, New Avalon Echo, Sabbat Probes
1920 to 1949: Hidden Empires
Prohibition, organized crime, war, occult smuggling, and Technocratic operations changed Madison. Truax Field and other wartime projects left supernatural scars beneath the modern city.
- 1920–1939 – Prohibition, Syndicate Rise, Madtown Mage Cabal Forms
- 1940–1949 – WWII, Truax Field Founded, Nephandi Rituals
1950 to 1969: War and Awakening
Conflict between Madison's Kindred and Garou turned sacred places into battlegrounds.
Later, civil rights activism, student protest, new religious movements, and cultural rebellion changed the city's supernatural balance.
- 1950–1959 – Kindred–Garou War, Cold War Occult Espionage
- 1960–1969 – Civil Rights Awakening, Hollow One Expansion, Malkavian Prophecy
1970 to 1979: Anarch Madison
A new alliance between Madison's Kindred and Garou brought an unstable peace.
Madison became an Anarch-controlled city. Its Kindred rejected direct Camarilla rule while continuing to use traditional offices such as Prince, Sheriff, and Primogen.
1980 to 1985: The Old Order Breaks
Conflict spread through the Digital Web. Madison's alliances weakened, and ancient supernatural protections began to fail.
1985: The First Collapse
The year 1985 changed Madison's supernatural world forever.
Prince Tori Redford and Garou Elder William Burke were found murdered. Their deaths threatened the alliance between the Kindred and Garou, weakened the Gahara Pact, and pushed several factions toward war.
At the same time, Madison, New Avalon, and New Eden became entangled in a final confrontation with the Nameless.
The city survived, but the old order did not. Leaders died or disappeared. Alliances fractured. New Avalon became inaccessible, and many truths about the crisis were buried.
1986 to 1996: Reconstruction
Jessica Woodfield became Prince and held Madison's Anarch domain together.
The city's Awakened were less fortunate. Their council weakened, the chantries became isolated, and irreplaceable knowledge disappeared with each death.
Madison remained peaceful on the surface, but that peace depended increasingly upon a few exhausted survivors.
1997 to 1998: The Web Breaks
On November 10, 1997, a supernatural catastrophe struck the Digital Web.
New Eden survived, but entire sectors disappeared. Records contradicted one another, and some digital inhabitants remembered places that apparently never existed.
In the aftermath, New Eden's purpose began to change. It was no longer merely a refuge. Some believed it could become the foundation of an entirely new civilization.
1999: The Avatar Storm
During the Week of Nightmares, supernatural catastrophes erupted across the world.
The Avatar Storm made travel between the physical and spiritual worlds extraordinarily dangerous. Madison lost many of its remaining Awakened teachers, guardians, and leaders.
Several chantries were cut off from their allies. Others were left in the hands of students who had never expected to inherit them.
The city survived its second supernatural collapse, but the Age of Masters was over.
2000 to 2005: The Failed Rescues
Madison's surviving mages attempted to rescue those trapped beyond the Avatar Storm.
Some expeditions vanished. Others returned with missing memories, spiritual wounds, or years of their lives unaccounted for.
By 2005, organized rescue efforts had ended. Too few experienced mages remained to risk another expedition.
2006 to 2014: The Closed Doors
The surviving chantries stopped functioning as a unified magical society.
Some became isolated households. Others stood empty behind wards their inhabitants no longer understood. Libraries remained locked, and old spirits continued waiting for promises nobody remembered making.
Meanwhile, Jessica Woodfield preserved Madison's fragile political peace.
2015 to 2019: The Untrained Generation
New mages continued to Awaken, but few teachers remained to guide them.
Many interpreted their experiences as psychic powers, religious visions, strange technology, witchcraft, artistic inspiration, extraordinary luck, or mental illness.
The Traditions still existed in Madison, but often as empty buildings, broken lineages, and stories inherited without explanation.
2020 to 2024: The Returning Paths
The Avatar Storm weakened and eventually ended.
Travel into the spirit world became possible again, but the old paths had changed. Some remained broken. Others led somewhere new.
Messages began arriving through channels that had been silent since 1999. New Awakenings increased, but Madison's remaining supernatural institutions were not prepared.
The city appeared peaceful. Underneath, old agreements were beginning to fail.
2025: The Present Chronicle
The Death of Jessica Woodfield
Prince Jessica Woodfield is dead.
Her death ends forty years of relative political stability. Madison's Anarch establishment is vulnerable, and the Camarilla sees an opportunity to claim the city.
The Primogen must decide who will rule, what Madison will become, and how much blood will be spilled before the question is answered.
Awakened of Madtown
Newly Awakened mages enter a city whose magical institutions have already failed.
The old masters are dead, missing, damaged, or pursuing private agendas. The chantries hold more secrets than living members.
The characters must discover what they have become while old protections begin failing around them.
Kindred of Madtown
Madison's Prince is dead, and every faction has its own version of what should happen next.
The city's Kindred must investigate the crisis, contain political violence, protect the Masquerade, and decide who has the right to rule an Anarch city that still calls its leader Prince.
Gen Con 2026
The 2025 crisis provides the shared setting for two Gen Con 2026 chronicles:
- Awakened of Madtown, using Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition
- Kindred of Madtown, using Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition
No previous experience with Madtown by Night or the World of Darkness is required.
Timeline at a Glance
| Period | What Changed |
|---|---|
| Before 1836 | Ancient supernatural powers struggled over the land surrounding the Four Lakes. |
| 1836 to 1903 | Madison was founded, and New Avalon grew as a hidden sanctuary. |
| 1904 to 1974 | The Gahara Pact created an unstable peace between supernatural factions. |
| 1975 to 1984 | Madison became an Anarch-controlled city. |
| 1985 | The Capitol murders and Nameless crisis destroyed the old supernatural order. |
| 1986 to 1998 | Madison rebuilt while its Awakened institutions slowly collapsed. |
| 1999 | The Avatar Storm killed or stranded most of Madison's remaining masters. |
| 2000 to 2019 | Isolated survivors failed to rebuild the city's magical society. |
| 2020 to 2024 | The Avatar Storm ended, but the old order did not return. |
| 2025 | Jessica Woodfield's death placed Madison's future in the hands of the player characters. |
See Also
- Major Characters
- Supernatural Factions of Madison
- Capitol Node History
- New Avalon (Horizon Realm)
- Nameless – Entity File
- Gahara Pact – Founding Accord
Editorial Note
This page presents the current player-facing continuity for the 2025 setting.
Some linked articles contain older material that is still being reviewed. Information known only to the Storyteller has been deliberately omitted. The largest improvement is the separation between player knowledge and Storyteller truth. Players learn that 1985 destroyed the old order, but they are not told exactly who died, who caused the crisis, what Trent is doing, or every secret consequence of the Nameless confrontation.
Lets make this section more like what we have up to 1985
We will create new pages for each section (pages) for any "era" that needs deeper explitionation
1985: The First Collapse The year 1985 changed Madison's supernatural world forever.
Prince Tori Redford and Garou Elder William Burke were found murdered. Their deaths threatened the alliance between the Kindred and Garou, weakened the Gahara Pact, and pushed several factions toward war.
At the same time, Madison, New Avalon, and New Eden became entangled in a final confrontation with the Nameless.
The city survived, but the old order did not. Leaders died or disappeared. Alliances fractured. New Avalon became inaccessible, and many truths about the crisis were buried.
1985 1986 to 1996: Reconstruction Jessica Woodfield became Prince and held Madison's Anarch domain together.
The city's Awakened were less fortunate. Their council weakened, the chantries became isolated, and irreplaceable knowledge disappeared with each death.
Madison remained peaceful on the surface, but that peace depended increasingly upon a few exhausted survivors.
1997 to 1998: The Web Breaks On November 10, 1997, a supernatural catastrophe struck the Digital Web.
New Eden survived, but entire sectors disappeared. Records contradicted one another, and some digital inhabitants remembered places that apparently never existed.
In the aftermath, New Eden's purpose began to change. It was no longer merely a refuge. Some believed it could become the foundation of an entirely new civilization.
1999: The Avatar Storm During the Week of Nightmares, supernatural catastrophes erupted across the world.
The Avatar Storm made travel between the physical and spiritual worlds extraordinarily dangerous. Madison lost many of its remaining Awakened teachers, guardians, and leaders.
Several chantries were cut off from their allies. Others were left in the hands of students who had never expected to inherit them.
The city survived its second supernatural collapse, but the Age of Masters was over.
2000 to 2005: The Failed Rescues Madison's surviving mages attempted to rescue those trapped beyond the Avatar Storm.
Some expeditions vanished. Others returned with missing memories, spiritual wounds, or years of their lives unaccounted for.
By 2005, organized rescue efforts had ended. Too few experienced mages remained to risk another expedition.
2006 to 2014: The Closed Doors The surviving chantries stopped functioning as a unified magical society.
Some became isolated households. Others stood empty behind wards their inhabitants no longer understood. Libraries remained locked, and old spirits continued waiting for promises nobody remembered making.
Meanwhile, Jessica Woodfield preserved Madison's fragile political peace.
2015 to 2019: The Untrained Generation New mages continued to Awaken, but few teachers remained to guide them.
Many interpreted their experiences as psychic powers, religious visions, strange technology, witchcraft, artistic inspiration, extraordinary luck, or mental illness.
The Traditions still existed in Madison, but often as empty buildings, broken lineages, and stories inherited without explanation.
2020 to 2024: The Returning Paths The Avatar Storm weakened and eventually ended.
Travel into the spirit world became possible again, but the old paths had changed. Some remained broken. Others led somewhere new.
Messages began arriving through channels that had been silent since 1999. New Awakenings increased, but Madison's remaining supernatural institutions were not prepared.
The city appeared peaceful. Underneath, old agreements were beginning to fail.
2025: The Present Chronicle The Death of Jessica Woodfield Prince Jessica Woodfield is dead.
Her death ends forty years of relative political stability. Madison's Anarch establishment is vulnerable, and the Camarilla sees an opportunity to claim the city.
The Primogen must decide who will rule, what Madison will become, and how much blood will be spilled before the question is answered.
Awakened of Madtown Newly Awakened mages enter a city whose magical institutions have already failed.
The old masters are dead, missing, damaged, or pursuing private agendas. The chantries hold more secrets than living members.
The characters must discover what they have become while old protections begin failing around them.
Kindred of Madtown Madison's Prince is dead, and every faction has its own version of what should happen next.
The city's Kindred must investigate the crisis, contain political violence, protect the Masquerade, and decide who has the right to rule an Anarch city that still calls its leader Prince.
Gen Con 2026 The 2025 crisis provides the shared setting for two Gen Con 2026 chronicles:
Awakened of Madtown, using Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition Kindred of Madtown, using Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition No previous experience with Madtown by Night or the World of Darkness is required.
Worked for 47s Yes. The post-1985 timeline should follow the same pattern as the earlier history:
A short player-facing explanation on the main timeline.
One clearly labeled link to a dedicated era page.
Detailed events, character deaths, secret causes, and Storyteller material moved to that era page.
I recommend replacing the existing section beginning with 1985: The First Collapse with the following MediaWiki source.
1985: The First Collapse
The year 1985 changed Madison's supernatural world forever.
Prince Tori Redford and Garou Elder William Burke were found murdered. Their deaths threatened the alliance between Madison's Kindred and Garou, weakened the Gahara Pact, and pushed several factions toward war.
At the same time, Madison, New Avalon, and New Eden became entangled in a final confrontation with the Nameless.
The city survived, but the old order did not. Leaders died or disappeared, alliances fractured, and New Avalon became inaccessible. Many truths about the crisis were buried with those who died.
1986 to 1996: Reconstruction and Attrition
Jessica Woodfield became Prince and held Madison's Anarch domain together after the disasters of 1985.
Madison's Awakened were less fortunate. Their council weakened, the chantries became increasingly isolated, and irreplaceable knowledge disappeared with each death.
The city remained peaceful on the surface, but that peace depended upon a shrinking number of exhausted survivors.
1997 to 1998: The Web Breaks
On November 10, 1997, a supernatural catastrophe struck the Digital Web.
New Eden survived, but entire sectors disappeared. Records contradicted one another, and some digital inhabitants remembered places that apparently never existed.
After the disaster, New Eden began changing from a refuge into the foundation of a possible new civilization.
1999: The Avatar Storm
During the Week of Nightmares, supernatural catastrophes erupted across the world.
The Avatar Storm made travel between the physical and spiritual worlds extraordinarily dangerous. Madison lost many of its remaining Awakened teachers, guardians, and leaders.
Several chantries were cut off from their allies. Others were inherited by students who had never expected to become their Tradition's last defenders.
Madison survived its second supernatural collapse, but the Age of Masters was over.
2000 to 2005: The Failed Rescues
Madison's surviving mages attempted to rescue those trapped beyond the Avatar Storm.
Some expeditions vanished. Others returned with missing memories, spiritual wounds, or years of their lives unaccounted for.
By 2005, organized rescue efforts had ended. Too few experienced mages remained to risk another expedition.
2006 to 2014: The Closed Doors
Madison's surviving chantries stopped functioning as a unified magical society.
Some became isolated households. Others stood empty behind wards their inhabitants no longer understood. Libraries remained locked, and old spirits continued waiting for promises nobody remembered making.
Meanwhile, Jessica Woodfield preserved Madison's fragile political peace while the Camarilla quietly expanded its influence.
2015 to 2019: The Untrained Generation
New mages continued to Awaken, but few teachers remained to guide them.
Many interpreted their experiences as psychic powers, religious visions, strange technology, witchcraft, artistic inspiration, extraordinary luck, or mental illness.
The Traditions still existed in Madison, but often as empty buildings, broken lineages, and stories inherited without explanation.
2020 to 2024: The Returning Paths
The Avatar Storm weakened and eventually ended.
Travel into the spirit world became possible again, but the old paths had changed. Some remained broken. Others led somewhere new.
Messages began arriving through channels that had been silent since 1999. New Awakenings increased, but Madison's supernatural institutions were not prepared for them.
The city appeared peaceful. Beneath the surface, old agreements were beginning to fail.
2025: The Woodfield Succession
Prince Jessica Woodfield is dead.
Her death ends forty years of relative political stability. Madison's Anarch establishment is vulnerable, and the Camarilla sees an opportunity to claim the city.
At the same time, newly Awakened mages enter a city whose magical institutions have already failed. The old masters are dead, missing, damaged, or pursuing private agendas. The chantries hold more secrets than living members.
The future of Madison now rests with those who inherit what the old order left behind.
Awakened of Madtown
Newly Awakened mages must discover what they have become while the city's old supernatural protections begin failing around them.
They inherit abandoned chantries, damaged alliances, unfinished promises, and enemies who have spent decades preparing for this moment.
Kindred of Madtown
Madison's Prince is dead, and every faction has its own vision for what should happen next.
The city's Kindred must investigate the crisis, contain political violence, protect the Masquerade, and decide who has the right to rule an Anarch city that still calls its leader Prince.
Gen Con 2026
The 2025 crisis provides the shared setting for two Gen Con 2026 chronicles:
- Awakened of Madtown, using Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition
- Kindred of Madtown, using Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition
No previous experience with Madtown by Night or the World of Darkness is required.
See Pre Generated Characters for current character information. This creates eight new era pages while preserving the existing 1985 destination through a piped link:
1986–1996 – Reconstruction and Attrition
1997–1998 – The Web Breaks
1999 – The Avatar Storm
2000–2005 – The Failed Rescues
2006–2014 – The Closed Doors
2015–2019 – The Untrained Generation
2020–2024 – The Returning Paths
2025 – The Woodfield Succession
The main timeline now tells the player what each period felt like and why it mattered. The linked pages can hold exact dates, individual deaths, faction movements, secret causes, surviving characters, and Storyteller-only information.
Pasted text(3).txt Document Reveiw and improve this:
Worked for 1m 15s
Reviewed and improved the timeline source.
Key changes:
Removed the duplicated 1985: The First Collapse section.
Removed the duplicated 2025 chronicle material.
Preserved all 50 MediaWiki links and their destinations.
Kept one dedicated link for each post-1985 era.
Refined several passages to remain atmospheric without presenting uncertain player knowledge as fact.
Improved the descriptions of New Eden, the Avatar Storm, and the Untrained Generation.
Corrected the summary table so it does not imply every missing master was confirmed dead.
Checked that all wiki links and tables are properly balanced.
The revised source is ready here:
Pasted text(3).txt
Pasted text(3).txt
Chronological Timeline Index
A player-friendly history of Madtown by Night, from the beginning of Creation to the supernatural crises of 2025.
Madison looks like an ordinary Midwestern city. Beneath its streets, however, ancient powers have fought over sacred places, hidden realms, and the shape of reality itself.
This timeline introduces the events most characters might know through rumor, research, supernatural lore, or personal experience. Some accounts remain incomplete or contradictory.
| Current Setting | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Major Turning Point | 1985 |
| Current Chronicles | Awakened of Madtown and Kindred of Madtown |
| Player Knowledge | Major Storyteller secrets are intentionally omitted |
Using This Timeline
The history of the World of Darkness is not perfectly recorded.
Mages alter memories. Kindred destroy evidence. Spirits remember promises differently from mortals. The Digital Web sometimes preserves events that never happened.
This page presents the broad history of Madison. Follow the links for deeper accounts of individual eras.
Prehistoric and Mythic Eras
Long before Madison existed, supernatural powers fought over Creation, humanity, and the spirit world.
- 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
Around 6000 BCE, a supernatural alliance imprisoned an entity remembered as the Nameless. The prison weakened several times over the following millennia, forcing later generations to defend or renew it.
- 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 Modern History
The land surrounding the Four Lakes remained spiritually important through the rise and fall of nations, religions, and supernatural societies.
- 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
Madison Is Founded
Madison was built upon land already inhabited, protected, and contested by Indigenous peoples, spirits, and supernatural factions.
As the city grew, construction disturbed ancient spiritual paths beneath the Four Lakes. Mortal government rose beside the Capitol Node, one of the most powerful and dangerous places in the region.
During this period, the hidden sanctuary called New Avalon also began taking shape.
- 1836 – Madison Founded atop the Third Anchor
- 1860s – Civil War, Camp Randall Necromantic Spillover
- 1883 – Baali Capitol Collapse
- 1890s – Technocratic Assaults, Gahara Pact Forms
The Twentieth Century
1900 to 1919: Fire and Accord
The 1904 Capitol fire concealed a major supernatural confrontation. In its aftermath, Madison's supernatural factions established the Gahara Pact, an agreement intended to prevent open war.
New Avalon grew into a true Horizon Realm and sanctuary for the Awakened.
- 1900–1915 – Capitol Fire, Fall of the Lords of Madison
- 1914–1920 – WWI, New Avalon Echo, Sabbat Probes
1920 to 1949: Hidden Empires
Prohibition, organized crime, war, occult smuggling, and Technocratic operations changed Madison. Truax Field and other wartime projects left supernatural scars beneath the modern city.
- 1920–1939 – Prohibition, Syndicate Rise, Madtown Mage Cabal Forms
- 1940–1949 – WWII, Truax Field Founded, Nephandi Rituals
1950 to 1969: War and Awakening
Conflict between Madison's Kindred and Garou turned sacred places into battlegrounds.
Later, civil rights activism, student protest, new religious movements, and cultural rebellion changed the city's supernatural balance.
- 1950–1959 – Kindred–Garou War, Cold War Occult Espionage
- 1960–1969 – Civil Rights Awakening, Hollow One Expansion, Malkavian Prophecy
1970 to 1979: Anarch Madison
A new alliance between Madison's Kindred and Garou brought an unstable peace.
Madison became an Anarch-controlled city. Its Kindred rejected direct Camarilla rule while continuing to use traditional offices such as Prince, Sheriff, and Primogen.
1980 to 1985: The Old Order Breaks
Conflict spread through the Digital Web. Madison's alliances weakened, and ancient supernatural protections began to fail.
1985: The First Collapse
The year 1985 changed Madison's supernatural world forever.
Prince Tori Redford and Garou Elder William Burke were found murdered. Their deaths threatened the alliance between Madison's Kindred and Garou, weakened the Gahara Pact, and pushed several factions toward war.
At the same time, Madison, New Avalon, and New Eden became entangled in a final confrontation with the Nameless.
The city survived, but the old order did not. Leaders died or disappeared, alliances fractured, and New Avalon became inaccessible. Much of the truth was lost, hidden, or deliberately buried.
1986 to 1996: Reconstruction and Attrition
Jessica Woodfield became Prince and held Madison's Anarch domain together after the disasters of 1985.
Madison's Awakened were less fortunate. Their council weakened, the chantries became increasingly isolated, and irreplaceable knowledge disappeared with each death.
The city remained peaceful on the surface, but that peace depended upon a shrinking number of exhausted survivors.
1997 to 1998: The Web Breaks
On November 10, 1997, a supernatural catastrophe struck the Digital Web.
New Eden survived, but entire sectors disappeared. Records contradicted one another, and some digital inhabitants remembered places that apparently never existed.
After the disaster, New Eden began to change. What had once been a refuge now carried the promise, or threat, of becoming something much larger.
1999: The Avatar Storm
During the Week of Nightmares, supernatural catastrophes erupted across the world.
The Avatar Storm made travel between the physical and spiritual worlds extraordinarily dangerous. Madison lost many of its remaining Awakened teachers, guardians, and leaders.
Several chantries were cut off from their allies. Others passed into the hands of students who had never expected to become their Tradition's last defenders.
Madison survived its second supernatural collapse, but the Age of Masters was over.
2000 to 2005: The Failed Rescues
Madison's surviving mages attempted to rescue those trapped beyond the Avatar Storm.
Some expeditions vanished. Others returned with missing memories, spiritual wounds, or years of their lives unaccounted for.
By 2005, organized rescue efforts had ended. Too few experienced mages remained to risk another expedition.
2006 to 2014: The Closed Doors
Madison's surviving chantries stopped functioning as a unified magical society.
Some became isolated households. Others stood empty behind wards their inhabitants no longer understood. Libraries remained locked, and old spirits continued waiting for promises nobody remembered making.
Meanwhile, Jessica Woodfield preserved Madison's fragile political peace while the Camarilla quietly expanded its influence.
2015 to 2019: The Untrained Generation
New mages continued to Awaken, but few teachers remained to guide them.
Many understood their experiences as psychic powers, religious visions, strange technology, witchcraft, artistic inspiration, extraordinary luck, or signs that something was wrong with them.
The Traditions still existed in Madison, but often as empty buildings, broken lineages, and stories inherited without explanation.
2020 to 2024: The Returning Paths
The Avatar Storm weakened and eventually ended.
Travel into the spirit world became possible again, but the old paths had changed. Some remained broken. Others led somewhere new.
Messages began arriving through channels that had been silent since 1999. New Awakenings increased, but Madison's supernatural institutions were not prepared for them.
The city appeared peaceful. Beneath the surface, old agreements were beginning to fail.
2025: The Woodfield Succession
Prince Jessica Woodfield is dead.
Her death ends forty years of relative political stability. Madison's Anarch establishment is vulnerable, and the Camarilla sees an opportunity to claim the city.
At the same time, newly Awakened mages enter a city whose magical institutions have already failed. The old masters are dead, missing, damaged, or pursuing private agendas. The chantries hold more secrets than living members.
Madison's future now rests with those who inherit what the old order left behind.
Awakened of Madtown
Newly Awakened mages must discover what they have become while the city's old supernatural protections begin failing around them.
They inherit abandoned chantries, damaged alliances, unfinished promises, and enemies who have spent decades preparing for this moment.
Kindred of Madtown
Madison's Prince is dead, and every faction has its own vision for what should happen next.
The city's Kindred must investigate the crisis, contain political violence, protect the Masquerade, and decide who has the right to rule an Anarch city that still calls its leader Prince.
Gen Con 2026
The 2025 crisis provides the shared setting for two Gen Con 2026 chronicles:
- Awakened of Madtown, using Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition
- Kindred of Madtown, using Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition
No previous experience with Madtown by Night or the World of Darkness is required.
See Pre Generated Characters for current character information.
Timeline at a Glance
| Period | What Changed |
|---|---|
| Before 1836 | Ancient supernatural powers struggled over the land surrounding the Four Lakes. |
| 1836 to 1903 | Madison was founded, and New Avalon grew as a hidden sanctuary. |
| 1904 to 1974 | The Gahara Pact created an unstable peace between supernatural factions. |
| 1975 to 1984 | Madison became an Anarch-controlled city. |
| 1985 | The Capitol murders and Nameless crisis destroyed the old supernatural order. |
| 1986 to 1998 | Madison rebuilt while its Awakened institutions slowly collapsed. |
| 1999 | The Avatar Storm killed, stranded, or cut off most of Madison's remaining masters. |
| 2000 to 2019 | Isolated survivors failed to rebuild the city's magical society. |
| 2020 to 2024 | The Avatar Storm ended, but the old order did not return. |
| 2025 | Jessica Woodfield's death shattered the city's fragile political balance. |
See Also
- Major Characters
- Supernatural Factions of Madison
- Capitol Node History
- New Avalon (Horizon Realm)
- Nameless – Entity File
- Gahara Pact – Founding Accord
Editorial Note
This page presents the current player-facing continuity for the 2025 setting.
Some linked articles contain older material that is still being reviewed. Information known only to the Storyteller has been deliberately omitted.