It happened, you don't know why or how it did, but it did. Maybe you were flirting with that girl next door. Maybe you got into a car wreck. Maybe a gang member was about to shoot you dead. Whatever the trigger was, you crossed over the abyss and saw the supernal realms and one of the five watchtowers. When you entered them you signed your name upon the wall and then you woke up, in more ways then one.

You were, metaphysically speaking, asleep till now but now that you are awake you realize there is so much more to the world then you could have ever dreamed. Now that you are awake you have learned that magic is real and that you can bend reality according to your will. You are a mage and you can do anything

History of Salem

Back when only Native American's roamed over the lands of North America a powerful creature roamed Massachusetts coastline. It was literally made of water and took its form as a woman. Many called her a siren as she would lead men into the water and drown them or force ships to crash into the rock. Others called her a nymph because the few men and women she did not murder would be bound to serve her lust filled nights till they died of exhaustion and became her next meal. Her name was Amaturu

Amaturu hounded the Pocomtuc tribes for millennia and eventually they won favor with her performing rites once a year and sacrificing a child so the rest of the tribe could live in the bountiful land. However Amaturu's lusts and need to destroy grew and she turned her attention to other tribes. The Pocomtuc knew they could not stand against such a powerful opponent but they knew over time they could imprison her. Slowly her annual ritual changed, once every ten years or so a phrase in the chant would change or a runes edge would arch more or less. The rite masters were persistent and promised the other tribes that one day they would no longer have to worry about the wrath of Amaturu. Eventually they kept their promise as 5,000 years later the ritual changed enough that they could put her to sleep, imprisoned in a long dream of madness. Now once every eighth year of the millennium they would return to perform the ritual on the eve of Amaturu's awakening and so she slept peacefully for another thousand years.

However the settling of North America changed everything as when 2008 came there was no one left to perform the ancient ritual. After an eon of imprisonment the beast awoke and unknown to anyone it was the catalyst for the second largest awakening in history.

The Boston Consolium soon took notice but they could do nothing as their city was flooded with Seer's and they needed every last mage to keep their seat of power and to stop the Exarch's from attaining a victory. In desperation of securing new mages for the orders of Atlantis the Boston Consilium sent out a message to each Consilium in North America asking for assistance. It was Koroboros, Hierarch of Toronto that answered their call and moved with his wife Void into Salem.

When they first arrived the state of Salem was in shambles. With Amaturu killing people by the dozens on a daily basis and the newly awakening having no idea what happened to them it was clear that they had their work cut out for them. Being a Mind master Koroboros spent the days and nights seeking out the minds of the awakened and brought them to him one by one to inform them of their new lives. Many accepted his words and many others saw their awakening as a curse and yet others were already driven mad by the experiences. At the same time Void, a master of death summoned the ghosts and corpses of Salem to push back the mighty Amaturu and buy her husband time.

Weeks after their arrival the pair had already created a settlement for the awakened and soon the Mysterium mages, led by Koroboros and Void, searched through the lore hidden under Salem and discovered the ancient rites to lay the Nymph to rest for another thousand years. A thousand mages joined them at the Salem harbor and with their help the mages sealed away the Nymph but with great cost to their numbers. Knowing that the seal could be broken easily Koroboros went about making a new seal that he eventually dubbed the seal of the three wings. These three points became underground citadel's in which the adamantine arrow would guard with their lives against the enemies of Salem 's mages.

It is now only three months after Amaturu was imprisoned. Salem 's consilium has just been put into power and the paint has just dried on the various places that belong to the orders and consilium. While the whole mess with the Nymph has been resolved the mages now have other issues to attend to, the Banishers have grown in number and have become organized, the Seer's have found Salem and begun to build a base of power, the orders are established but fighting for every scrap of power they can claim, and the new cabals that have just formed and begun their journey into the world of darkness.