Current Conflicts

A lot of secret supernatural history actually gets canceled out behind the scenes. The White Council saves a settlement here; the Red Court takes over a European colony in South America there; volcanoes explode, killing thousands (and a number of nasty mystical critters); Milwaukee disappears for a weekend. These things happen.

The important thing about occult history is that it gives rise to long-standing grudges and vendettas among the supernatural factions. And often these centuries long animosities catch uninvolved people in the gears and grind them up, leading to new and different drives for revenge.

Life isn’t fair. That’s history, too.

The Vampire War

The White Council of wizards and its allies are currently fighting the Red Court of vampires and their allies in the Vampire War. It is a notable failure of the Unseelie Accords.

While the avowed cause of the War is the death of Bianca St. Claire, Margravaine of the Red Court at the hands of the wizard Harry Dresden of the White Council, there is evidence that this event was only a convenient excuse to start open conflict that had been long-planned by the Red King.

Harry refused to take Bianca’s “reasonable and acceptable” offer of truce (which would only have cost the life and soul of the woman he loved) and instead killed Bianca and most of her followers. The Red Court didn’t take this “affront” all that well. War was the only acceptable response.

Like most things in the supernatural world, this isn’t what it appears on the surface. Bianca deliberately lured Harry Dresden into an intolerable situation, expecting that he’d either get himself killed or lose the people he loved. When she died, other Red Court forces moved with suspicious speed. While some factions in the Red Court had wanted to delay the war with the White Council a bit longer, most of the major players were ready for it. They took advantage of the excuse provided by the broken Accords.

Matters could, in theory, still have been sorted out under the letter of the Accords, by executing Harry Dresden or handing him over to the Red Court. However, the White Council was aware that the incident was only a pretext, and that the Red Court would just have found or manufactured another excuse for fighting later.

Factionless Monsters

While the ghoul clans haven’t formally picked a side in the Vampire War, their past associations with both the Red and White Courts have led to their use as support troops in the Vampire War.

Most ghosts, being simple “recordings” of the death throes of strong-willed individuals, are not capable of joining a side in any supernatural conflict. However, their existence has been exploited during the run-up to and the execution of the Vampire War.

While the overall demonic “supernatural nation” of Hell/Downbelow has not declared one way or another with regard to the Vampire War, individual demons have been summoned by Red Court vampires for use against their White Council foes.

The Vampire War continues in April as we conclude this preview series.  Join us in two weeks.