Wraith/History

1819: Construction of Fort Snelling begins.

1862: The Dakota War of 1862 ends with the Dakota defeated, and results in the mass hanging of 38 people named as the main instigators.

1865: The last two Dakota leaders involved in the Dakota War are hanged at Fort Snelling, causing a byway to the River Styx to open up at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.

1865: The Hierarchy claims Fort Snelling, building a Citadel on the site and create their first Necropolis in the area that is overseen and controlled by the Emerald Legion.

1873: A Saint Paul man by the name of Burton Tate goes crazy and kills his wife and children with a Bowie knife. Before dying, Samuel, Burt’s eldest son, gains control of the knife and kills his father with it.

1874 - 1880: Over the next eight years the old Tate home gets a reputation for being haunted. There are multiple sightings of both Burt and Sam, as they get nicknamed, and it is common for children living in the house to be plagued with nightmares. Around Saint Paul, Ol’ Burt Tate becomes something of an urban legend, and a boogie man to scare naughty children into being good lest they incur his wrath.

1885: Minneapolis is officially claimed as the Necropolis for the Hierarchy, while Saint Paul’s population is mostly made up of Heretics and Renegades.

1916: July 1st, the Fourth Great Maelstrom begins.

1928: Danny Hogan, future leader of the Washaba Street Racketeers, is killed by a car bomb.

1929: The Fourth Great Maelstrom ends.

1930: The rebuilding and repairs of Stygia and Necropoli across the Shadowlands begins.

1935: A growing group of Renegades take control of the Washaba Street Caves and make it their base of operations.

1945: The Fifth Great Maelstrom begins, but unlike the previous Maelstrom only lasts a few months. The Iron Hills is cut off from Stygia when the Sea Gates are closed and all the Wraiths on the islands are presumed lost. Many Renegades and Heretics in the Saint Paul area, who would have been lost to Oblivion, were saved when the Washaba Street Racketeers allowed those in need to shelter within their caves.

1946: The rebuilding and repairs of Stygia and Necropoli across the Shadowlands begins. A scouting party is sent to the Iron Hills, and they report back that the islands are now covered in a dense, white fog.

1948: Five hundred Legionnaires are sent to the Iron Hills to retake control of the island, none return.

1950: On March 7, a Renegade known as Jeremy Watson, takes control of Northwest-Orient Airlines Flight 307 and tries to crash it into Fort Snelling. The attempt is thwarted but one of the wings strikes the flagpole at Fort Snelling. Damaged, the plane circles back around and smashes into a home off Minnehaha Parkway. Two children on the ground are killed, as are all ten passengers and three crewmembers. The Hierarchy use this attack as an excuse to send Legionnaires into Saint Paul.

1951 - 1954: The Wraiths of Saint Paul do not appreciate the Hierarchy’s Legions coming into their neck of the Shadowlands and conflict breaks out. There are losses on both sides, either through the forges or harowings, which only escalates the violence. To complicate things even further, bands of Spectres begin to appear to harass both sides led by none other than Ol’ Burt himself.

1955: On the 10th anniversary of Charon's fight with Grool in Weeping Bay, horses begin to reappear along the banks of the River Styx and in Horse-Noose Canyon.

1958: Building on the goodwill they fostered during the Fifth Great Maelstrom, the Washaba Street Racketeers reputation and influence within Saint Paul grows. The Washaba Street Caves become known as neutral ground where no violence is tolerated, and where disparate groups of Wraiths can meet to make deals and negotiate without fear of being ambushed or attacked. Ever the pragmatists, even the Emerald Legion Anacreon can see the benefit of such an arrangement, and so the Hierarchy respect the neutral ground nature of the Washaba Street Caves.

1963: The Smiling Lord sends an entire Legion to the Iron Hills to reclaim the islands for Stygia, and as before not one legionnaire returns.

1980: The Tate home is named as a property of historical significance by the Heritage Preservation Commission of Saint Paul, and turned into a “haunted house” tourist attraction for the city.


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