Ville-Marie Colony

Monde des ténèbres -- XVIII

...and know this, for though I remember the day when I could count you as a friend, we are now dead to one another. I do not claim the fair city of Montreal for the Sabbat. It has always been such. I do not forswear my duties to defend her - quite the contrary. She is more important now than ever, and I will be thrice damned before I watch the Camarilla sully her visage. Remember this: Infringe upon this territory and I will show you the reason why she is called "The City of Black Miracles." The quiet city of Montreal shall remain quiet no more.

-- Excerpt from a letter sent by Archbishop Strathcona to Prince Mithras of London, April 5, 1838

History

Historical Key: Plain "black" text denotes mortal events, while text in "maroon" denote the popularly accepted dates of Cainite historical events and "Sea Green" text represent events pertaining to the Decani demon Metathiax.

The Catalyst

In the 16th century, the Americas were still an enigma and perceived by many as either a road to the Far East or a place as rich as the fabled Orient. Regardless, the Americas were considered ripe for plunder. One of the many explorers of the time was Jacques Cartier, a French navigator credited with bringing his country honor and the wealth of the New World. On October 2, 1535, in what was his second voyage to the region, Cartier landed on a magnificent island. He named it "Mont-Royal," and it would become known as the island of Montreal.

The island was not revisited until the arrival of Samuel de Champlain 70 years later. Champlain appreciated Montreal's strategic position on the Saint Lawrence River and established a settlement on the island.

As European explorers set out to claim portions of the New World, France was in the grip of Toreador debauchery, and many vampires began to tire of their games. Europe was a hostile place, and bidding power was a gamble that few could risk. Many disfranchised groups sent scouts to accompany the galleons that traversed the Atlantic. They hoped to escape the ancient Cainite aristocracy that ruled Europe.

Cartier's vessel, The Emerillon, was accompanied by two Damned souls: Louis Drapeau, a French Gangrel antitribu scout who represented the interests of various Sabbat covens; and a mortal infernalist named Terrence DeBouville. The journey proved to be a great success -- Montreal was discovered. Drapeau prepared the island for the coming of his Cainite siblings, knowing that the elitist French Toreador would never leave their ostentatious homes, let alone consider making the transatlantic journey. Montreal stood ready to be claimed by the Sabbat.

Unbeknownst to Drapeau, Debouville pursued the interests of Metathiax, one of 36 demon lords in the order of Decani -- creatures who bartered in disease. Indeed, Terrence was Metathiax's host body in the mortal world, and was responsible for consecrating unholy ground atop the island mountain. The native Hochelaga Hurons, defenders of the island, fought against the spirit of Metathiax after Cartier departed; they lost. Plagues wiped out the village of the Hochelaga, but the natives' final sacrifice trapped the demon on the island.

The remainder of the century proved difficult for the French Sabbat, as they had to move slowly if they were to make their escape from the continent undetected. The Sabbat needed a cover for their mass exodus, and the opportunity did not present itself until Champlain departed for the New World.

Ville-Marie Colony

Montreal proved to be a literal godsend for those of the Christian faith. Recollet missionaries busied themselves with the evangelization of the natives, and the Jesuits joined the endeavor in 1632. News of the beautiful and bountiful land reached France through 'The Jesuit Relations,' a religious journal from Quebec, which proved to be one of the many inspirations for the settlement of the Ville-Marie Colony.

Founded as the home for an order of hospital nuns, and funded primarily through the donation of money and land parcels, the Ville-Marie colony was established on May 27, 1642, despite the growing Iroquis threat. In fact, the conflict growing between the natives and traders almost aborted the settlement. The French king announced that he was ready to abandon New France because of its increasing hostilities.

Louis Drapeau, who had first accompanied Cartier to the New World, lived in the Montreal region when Champlain's expedition arrived. It was Drapeau's job to induct arriving Sabbat, but the means by which to bring them to the New World eluded him. The solution he came to was made even more rewarding by its irony. Most of France's elite, especially those controlled by the hedonistic Toreador, did not fancy the notion of moving to a place bereft of civilization's luxuries. Faithful Catholics were another matter entirely. The Sabbat, acting on the advice of the Lasombra, discovered a multitude of Catholics eager to explore the new lands to spread the word of Christ. The Sabbat accompanied those explorers, posing as religious missionaries and devout colonists.

The plan was a success. With the arrival of the Recollet and Jesuit missionaries, the first of the French Sabbat - primarily Lasombra and Gangrel antitribu - set foot on New France. Meanwhile, Louis Drapeau began using The Jesuit Relations to send secret messages back to France's Sabbat.

With the aid of missionaries, colonists of Ville-Marie, and military forces sent to protect the fledgling colony, close to a dozen Sabbat escaped to the New World. While most immediately moved on from the colony, preferring the largely unexplored interior of Canada, a few like Louis remained to help other new arrivals. When the Ville-Marie colony expanded beyond its original fortress, more Sabbat fled across the Atlantic. Louis became the coven leader of the Ville-Marie Sabbat, who called themselves "Les Acadiens" ("The Acadians").

First Losses

War broke out in the New World over its fur trade. Relations between European competitors had already been volatile because the Huron and Algonquin tribes allied themselves with the French. In response, the Dutch in New Amsterdam (the future site of New York City) supplied Iroquois tribes with muskets to use against the French. Subjected to sporadic raids and assaults over the following decades. Ville-Marie came to rely on the strengths of Maisonneuve, Jeanne Mance, Le Moyne, Closse and many other native comrades to defend its walls. Yet, despite continued Iroquois aggression and the brutal massacre of 30,000 Huron allies, Ville-Marie emerged from the conflict almost completely unscathed.

No longer encumbered by Europe's Camarilla, the Sabbat acted on their predatory whims. They stole into native villages, skinned adults and fed on children. It didn't take long for the Iroquois to retaliate in significant numbers. They attacked the most obvious target: Ville-Marie.

The Sabbat were at a disadvantage. The first attack came in June of 1643, when a group of settlers toiled outside the fort were ambushed by an Iroquois war party. What frightened the Sabbat was not the attack itself, but the fact that it happened during the day while they slept. Five Sabbat left Ville-Marie that night to stage a counterattack that would hopefully prevent the Iroquois from approaching the colony again. It was a mistake. The Iroquois were prepared and outnumbered their opponents; not even Disciplines could save the Sabbat from being overwhelmed. Almost all Les Acadiens, including Louis Drapeau, were dragged down and torn limb from limb, leaving the French colony under the care of only one Sabbat, a Tzimisce named Connaught, and his Bratovitch attendants.

When reinforcements finally arrived, not even Connaught's ghouls remained. He sacrificed them to buy himself time, forcing them to scour the forest and preoccupy the natives while he prepared Koldunic rituals to protect himself. (During Sunday mass, however, his protective rituals were undone by unexpectedly potent surges of faith, and he had to rework his arts on the following nights.)

The new Sabbat took their place in Ville-Marie and perpetuated the name of Les Acadiens, with Connaught as pack priest. Although the Iroquois' aggression continued well after 1666, with attacks on colonists and native tribes allied with the French, it was the Sabbat - disguised as natives - who were responsible for a great deal of the brutality inflicted on their own countrymen.

Camarilla Intercession

Dedicated to Saint Joseph, New France's first hospital, La Maison de Mademoiselle Mance, was built in 1645. It was also used to house newly arrived hospital nuns and Sulpicians from France. Despite friction among the colonists, the leaders of New France, and French King Louis XIV, people took up residence outside the original fort in 1648.

In 1653, in the midst of particularly brutal conflicts with the Iroquois, Montreal was blessed with the arrival of over 100 skilled laborers who helped expand the colony. By 1663, the Sulpicians took control of Montreal Island, which was followed by the arrival of France's Carignan regiment. The military force was responsible for building more forts and launching an initiative against the Iroquois that brought 20 years of peace to the region.

Events conspired against the Sabbat of Ville-Marie in the mid-17th century. Despite the lack of hard evidence, Camarilla authorities in France began to suspect wrongdoing in the Americas. Reports of torture and rumors of children being mutilated into living mounds of bone and flesh were no longer attributed to the Iroquois. A subsequent investigation revealed the possibility of unapproved emigration to New France. The Toreador quickly clamped down by establishing control over the area and placing pawns in key positions. Relations between colonists and the bureaucracy of Quebec soured.

The Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal, a group of investors in France that sponsored the Ville-Marie colonists, were initially used by the Sabbat as a cover for their flight west. As the Toreador's investigation of the colony continued, the Sabbat pulled out of the Société de Notre-Dame and searched for alternate routes to Montreal. The religious orders still seemed to be the best avenues. Control of the island was eventually moved out of the hands of Société members and placed in the care of the religious Sulpicians, who would be the Sabbat's next pawns. However, the Camarilla was ready for that move.

The ongoing war with the Iroquois was hurting the Sabbat. By 1660, close to 20 Cainites had been killed and there was no sign of peace. These fatalities inspired the recording of the Sabbat's Liber Defuctorum, a Cainite ledger of those who had been killed, similar to the the Ville-Marie's mortal account of those who died creating and defending the colony. The Liber Defuctorum set the precedent for the Litany of Blood that followed.

With the transfer of Montreal Island to the Sulpicians, the Toreador immediately sent in the Carignan regiments to "safeguard" the colonists. The army's real purpose was to establish a Camarilla hegemony over the region. The Sabbat reacted with hostility, as evidenced by the growing agitation between French authorities and settlers. Camarilla spies began tracking down suspected agents of the Sabbat, torturing them to induce false confessions, and eliminating completely innocent families. The atrocities were again blamed on the native tribes.

When the military initiated its offensive against the Iroquois, the Sabbat Dominated the settlers known as the capots bleus ("blue bloods") to misdirect the armies all over the New York countryside. It was only when it occurred to the Sabbat to use the French army against the warring tribes that the Iroquois were defeated. In 1667, a peace treaty was implemented. Although the Camarilla maintained a presence in Ville-Marie, the Sabbat remained rooted in the colony and was more in control than the Toreador would ever admit. Indeed, the Sabbat was now two packs strong, with Les Acadiens and Les Capot Bleus.

The City of Black Miracles

Iroquois incursions resurfaced during the late 1680s and continued until the Peace Accord of 1701. The War of the League of Augsburg in Europe was echoed throughout the colonies as England and France came to blows. This was only one of many wars that threatened the fledgling settlement. Montreal itself was graced with favorable luck, though, escaping occupation during both the War of the League of Augsburg and the War of Spanish Succession.

In an attack that was blamed on the Iroquois, Les Capots Bleus, disguised as natives, wiped out over 24 settlers during a blood feast in the area of Lachine. Body parts were left dangling from trees, and several adults were forced to gorge on blood before they were drained. This period also saw the emergence of two new covens, Les Misérables ("the Vile Ones") and the Shepherds of Caine.

It was also during this period that Montreal's Sabbat began to notice unusual events that would later be termed collectively "the Unknown." The incidents, ranging from missing Cainites to failed Creation Rites and mysterious attacks, all resulted from the trapped demon Metathiax's growing power.

The Shepherds, having proven to be a potent coven, sent their missionaries to other North American cities. Many returned with the genealogical information and histories of other packs; coupled with Montreal's own Liber Defuctorum in 1740, the Litany of Blood was born.

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Ville-Marie by Night

French Sabbat

• Les Acadiens -- The Founding Coven
• Les Capots Bleus -- The Blue Hoods, were the second Sabbat coven established around modern-day Montreal, back when it was still a colony known as Ville-Marie in the 17th century.
• Roses de Sang -- A Pack of Toreador Antitribu (arrived about 10 years ago)
• Les Misérables -- The Miserable Ones are a new coven formed largely from Malkavian Antitribu and a number of insane vampires of other linage, the pack is destined to survive to the modern era.
• Shepherds of Caine -- The Shepherds are a new coven, but destined to become one of the oldest Sabbat covens in the Western hemisphere and the oldest coven in North America.

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