A Short History of Sanctuary, Maine

During the late 1600's it was a time for colonization throughout North America. Several families settled down in the Sanctuary area including a religious group who believed that their way of life was the best. They had called themselves Sanctuarites and believed in catering to the good of the land, following a belief system, which was similar to many current Pagan beliefs. They believed that the tie to the land and harmony with their neighbours was more important than worldly desires. These first settlers developed a close relationship with the natives and many of the Pagans incorporated the native belief system into their lifestyle. The natives shared their knowledge with these new people and showed them the ley lines which ran through town and how to protect the nodes from usage of harmful magic.

They created the town of Sanctuary in 1675. The Sanctuarites were accepting of all people. They welcomed any person into the community who came in peace. In those days, several known weres and fey even lived in the town. Rumour has it that even a vampire lived in the town who had chosen a life of peace.

All was peaceful until 1799, when a group of men who called themselves God's Avenging Hand or simply the Hand came into Sanctuary. They had tasked themselves with following the word of the bible and not suffering a witch to live. Their interpretation of 'witch' was liberal enough to include weres, vampires and anything else that wasn't God's creatures in their eyes. As with all such campaigns, any that harbored their victims soon became victims themselves. Sanctuary was soon sanctuary to none. Secrets reigned and beliefs were hidden, when neighbors might be spies for the Hand.

Over the next 50 years, parts of the city were burnt down five times, and people suspected the Hand of being involved. Each time, the damage done was mainly to the supernatural community. By 1850, Sanctuary had become a major trading post with the dominant religion being Protestant. Everyone pretended to be a Protestant to avoid the wrath of the Hand. Eventually most of the Hand worked their way into positions of power in Sanctuary. The group had secret meetings in which they discussed their plans for Sanctuary.

Meanwhile, the renegade witches banded together and created a group called The Watchers who bound themselves to protecting Sanctuary. Having known for some time of the existence of the ley lines in the city, each witch bound himself or herself to protecting an area of land. The point at which the ley lines met was the focal point for each witch, creating a node of power. The node provided each Watcher knowledge of a certain area of land. Sometimes, Watchers could pick up problems in different areas as the knowledge might echo across the ley lines. However, the majority of the times, the Watchers are unaware of the problems at other nexus's. The Watchers have continued to protect Sanctuary from the Hand as much as possible.

In 1866, the Great Fire of Sanctuary ravaged the city, leaving behind a burnt out shell. The city was rebuilt on the ruins and a new symbol of a Phoenix was designed for the rebirth. However, the fire had dire consequences. Sanctuary was unable to regain it's former prominence as a major shipping town and has remained a small town with little power.

In 1968, the Supernatural Equal Rights Amendment was passed, much to the distress of the Hand. This was added to those rights that the Hand considered an abomination, such as the women's rights movement, the Gay activist movements and other politically correct groups.

Eventually, Supernaturals have managed to worm their way into positions of power in Sanctuary, although the current mayor of the City remains a member of the Hand. With the tugs between power groups, the number of supernatural hate crimes has increased dramatically. In the late 90s the SPD created a supernatural division to quiet the bleeding hearts who were complaining about police brutality and treatment of supernaturals.

In the early 90s, Frank Helsing moved into Sanctuary. He had connections with the Hand through his vampire hunting activities. He was the best thing that ever happened to the Hand. They were being infiltrated. Helsing quietly sat in the back and watched. He pointed out weres, vampires and anxious or deceitful humans. Some problems were solved permanently, but usually the people that weren't entirely trustworthy were kept from the information that would cause the Hand trouble.

Helsing never had a record because he rarely acted openly, but there were references to the 'Truth' in the various investigations of the Hand. (This was widely believed to be a telepath.)

After his father's death, Ray ran afoul of the Hand by turning down their invitation for membership. In trying to kill Ray, they accidentally killed his mother. Ray and Cam Lane managed to dismantle an organization in weeks that had taken decades to build. Several public senior members went down.

It's been a few months, and the District Attorney's office sees things their way. Many of the cases, have been quietly lowered, dropped and settled.

Now the Hand is preparing for their revenge. It is set up like most good terrorist organizations. A small cell that connects to one other person. It's a loose web of semi-autonomous cells that handle things in their own way.

Nowadays, the Hand and the Watchers are believed to be a myth, but the reality is that both still exist and continually fight over Sanctuary. Even more disturbing, is the rising number of organized Hate-Groups who are acting out against Supernaturals and taking the law into their own hands. Sanctuary is a city which gives the illusion of a haven for Supernaturals but like all illusions, the truth is not as pretty.

Recently, several of the supernatural division were wiped out under mysterious circumstances and many of the local public offices were wiped out in an unexplained explosion. Many civilians who were sympathetic to supernaturals were killed, leaving the Watchers believing that the Hand was behind the explosion. The newly designed Paranormal Safety Task Force, PSTF, is believed to not be as sympathetic to supernaturals even though it boasts a were and a psychic, who were former members of the SCD. (as far as I know Ray isn't known as a supernatural)

Even more disturbing for the Watchers, they suspect that one of the Hand may have taken over one of the Nodes. Unfortunately with the influx of new Watchers, they are unable to determine who might have taken control.

With this latest incident, the Hand has been able to slide many members into positions which used to be occupied by Supernatural sympathizers. Now many secretaries and clerks in the public offices are members of the Hand or sympathizers.

Map of Southern Maine
Map of Sanctuary Proper
Vampire's Map of Sanctuary