Dead Before Daylight

Original

Officially colonized in the early 1800’s, Dawnbreak was settled long beforehand by werewolves seeking a home beyond the encroachment of humanity. Their settlement was one of the last pure safe havens where their kind were able to exist in peace. Unfortunately, this ended abruptly when Russian prospectors discovered coal in the mountains. New settlers began moving into the region, the threat they carried with them causing violent rifts in the original pack. Among other things, disagreements on how to deal with this invasion ultimately shattered the pack. Much of what occurred in those following decades has been lost to history, what little remains often written off as myth.

In the turmoil, three clan based factions emerged:

The Redfords, leaders of the original pack, were proud beasts known for embracing their bestial heritage to its fullest. Their solution to the encroachment was simple: eliminate the threat. Many travelers seeking their fortunes in the vast Alaskan wilderness, and indeed entire settlements, met violent ends at the fangs of the Redfords and their followers, those who are known today as Savage River.

Eventually their violent tactics met resistant from more restrained members of the pack. These wolves argued for a more restrained approach – molesting only those humans treading too close to the truth; and even those, they argued, should be turned rather than killed. This faction, led by the old Cleary clan, eventually broke away from the original pack after a bloody conflict resulting in heavy losses on each side. Such was the bloodshed that their feuding continued through the generations, well into the modern era. The Cleary family led their followers to the slopes of the volcano Redutskaya, from which they garnered the title Burning Ash.

In midst of the chaos a third pack emerged. Whispering Pine, led by the Viksbergs, quietly departed from the original pack while the Redfords and Clearies waged their war. Harboring a firm belief in pacifism and sanctity of life, Whispering Pine largely refused to shed blood – but their creed also said that bitten werewolves were vile creatures not to be tolerated. For more than a century they existed in isolation, beginning to integrate with the town of Dawnbreak only in the mid-20th century. Then, sometime in the early 2000’s, one of their leaders created a secret prison deep in the now long abandoned mines; this would ultimately lead to their downfall at the fangs of Savage River and Burning Sky.

However, these long waged wars – while laying the foundations of Dawnbreak as we know it – were but a fraction of the growing tensions. Werewolves were not the only creatures increasingly forced westward in search of haven, though in those early centuries they were certainly boldest and best equipped to do so. For many a year, creatures like the vampire were kept at bay – restrained, as they were, by their reliance on human blood for sustenance; but with the rise of the modern age, the rampant spread of humanity has allowed these creatures to forge father than ever. And many of them, lured by old tales of Dawnbreak, have set their sights on the werewolves’ home.

As threats new and old converge on this seemingly sleepy Alaskan town, and with lines between tradition, belief, and reality fast beginning to blur, Dawnbreak is on the verge of becoming a war zone that could forever shift the paradigms of the world we live in. And with the bodies accumulating, it is only a matter of time before those refusing to bend are forced to break.

Recently, through the joint efforts of Savage River Pack and Burning Ash Pack, Whistling Pine pack has been dismantled and the jail emptied. The Redfords have killed the Archers, and without a leader the Red River Society members have been left with the choice to either leave town or continue as solo agents.

Different types of supernatural creatures have been flocking to Dawnbreak, which has now seen Witches and Seers. During the Solar Eclipse, which increased the power of the witches exponentially for a short time, the witches somehow managed to send a portion of Dawnbreak's residents back in time, and into the Medieval Era.