Blackbriar - a brief history.


Blackbriar. A town, a government file, an autonomous community, a haven.


Many years ago people began to develop strange, almost mystical, powers. These people, often referred to as witches or mutants, have been persecuted for centuries. But in 1970, they could not be looked over any longer. A man by the name of Cornelius Arnold brought this to the attention of the leaders of the Supreme Court. He brought the break-through of the mutant gene from the science community to the political, shown through his winged partner, Lucian Stone, hoping for publicity and acceptance. What he got was a fearful backlash from the people. The government tried to sweep the dirt under the rug, asking Arnold to take as many mutants as he wanted and to start their own autonomous community somewhere far away as a Petri dish to see what would happen. Taking his grant, Arnold and Stone went as far away from the protestors as possible, followed by mutants from all over America (about thirty or so) to a deserted town surrounded by pine forests in south Alaska, just off the icy coast. This was named operation Blackbriar, and the town named followed suit.

With the help of the inhabitants, Blackbriar began to prosper. It looked like any other Alaskan city; with taverns and clubs, and even a very elite University for mutant peoples, founded by Arnold himself. A semi-parliamentary government system was set up, first consisting of Arnold, Stone, and another member elected by the populous. As the years went by, more and more mutants began to appear in the United States, and more and more normal people began to appear in Blackbriar. Five years after Arnold’s death, in 1985, the United States declared Blackbriar to be a success, and granted equal rights to mutants across America.

Of course, this did not go without some backlash. In 1990 the Human Project, a group of vigilantes who believed in the extermination of mutants, razed Blackbriar to the ground in protest. Over half of the community died, which brought the government’s support to a screaming halt. Hard protest came on both sides, as Lucian Stone staged a huge protest in Washington that flooded the streets for one week. It started out peacefully enough until the Human Project showed up, and all chaos broke loose. Struck with the horrific realization that a Civil War was immanent, in 2000, the government decided to place restrictions on mutants and how their powers could be used in public. Police forced were equipped with many unusual and untested forms of dangerous chemical assault weapons in order to subdo the mutants with a deadly force. Stone was thrown in prison for his protest operations and Washington went to chaos.

But still, Blackbriar remained a safe haven for mutants of all kinds. Their autonomy could not be revoked, and so they still continue to rule themselves in happy coexistence, save for outside pressures. The town flourishes, over three times the size of what it started out as. After five years, Lucian Stone was able to escape from prison, returning to his roots at Blackbriar. Finding his position as a head government member revoked, Lucian has begun looking for the support of the town to unite under one force to take over Washington for themselves.

But Stone could not do it alone. He called on the help of misguided youths and jaded community members to form his allegiance, taking a young, but powerful, man, JC Bytes, as his partner to testify to the faults of humans and the failure of Blackbriar to remain completely mutantized. After teaming together, the two build power and gain members in order to create a resistance capable of taking on the Human Project – or at least, that’s what Stone tells them. Secretly, he plans on taking Washington as well.

So, what’s it going to be? Are you for peace, or for war?