The Game’s Afoot - factions and teams

This megagame features three “factions”, which are subdivided into teams. Don’t take these teams as hard and fast, immutable groupings which cannot change priorities, make back-room deals, or look the other way for the right price. Factions themselves are also more a categorisation than an organisation; whilst the Police and Anti-Imperialist League may both be Establishment teams for example, they are not likely to be on each others’ Christmas Card list!

THE ESTABLISHMENT

The great and the good in Victorian London’s Polite Society - diplomats, business people, scholars, and the like. Whilst many are bastions of respectability and firm tradition (such as the British Museum or a corporation like Potter’s Imperial Transportation), a few are somewhat less well-regarded and may occasionally be the source of frustration or even worse for British sensibilities - social awkwardness!

In general the Establishment wants to maintain the status quo, or reform things from within. Even at its most radical, it often tries to act within the law. Mostly.

Establishment figures appearing in this game will include, but not be limited to…

  • Major Horatio Davies, politician (and populariser of Pimm’s)

  • Mina Harker, scientist and member of the Royal Society

  • Shieh Fucheng, the Chinese ambassador

THE UNDERWORLD

Whilst not all strictly criminal, the Underworld is not well-regarded by the fancy-pants, hoity-toity Mayfair set. Some of them are trying to make better of their situations, whilst others may harbour what could be considered dangerous political ideologies. Alright then yes, fair enough, some are just outright thugs trying to make an extra bob or two by peddling opium and whatever loot they can get their hands on…

Some Underworld figures may be disguised at the game’s start, lurking beneath a facade of respectability. Others, like the anarchist Obsidian Syndicate or Fenian Green Gang, not so much!

Underworld figures appearing in this game will include, but not be limited to…

  • Martial Bourdin, a French anarchist and bomb maker

  • Sally Shadwell, fence and burglar of the notorious Monkey Parade Gang

  • Maeve Collins, mobster and revolutionary against British rule in Ireland

THE SUPERNATURAL

Things that go bump in the night, there are many rumours concerning what might be out there. Fairies dancing in circles in Hyde Park, necromancers poring through grimoires whilst they try their grisly art on cadavers pulled from the Thames, or perhaps even stranger things not originating from this planet…

What are the chances of that? About a million to one, they say.

At the game’s start, all Supernatural roles will be hidden. They may become revealed as the game progresses, due to clues they leave behind when conducting their strange activities.

Supernatural figures appearing in this game will include, but not be limited to…

  • Vampires? Maybe!

  • Members of the Seelie Court? Could be!

  • The Loch Ness monster, somehow misdirected up the Thames? No.