Carnevale

The year is 1795. A great Rent has torn open reality and
sunk most of Europe beneath the waves. Only one place
stands untouched by the calamity: Venice.

By day the city bustles, the Queen of the Adriatic taking
pride of place once again as the West's capital of trade.
However, by night Venice takes on a darker persona, both
figuratively and literally masking itself. Gangs stalk the
canals looking for blood, the clandestine secret societies
making themselves known to fight for their own corner of
the city.

But more sinister still, the Rent in the Sky has opened the
path for otherwordly phenomena. Magic spills out from a
world beyond the veil, bringing with it creatures devoted to
ancient deities. Deities who look on the burgeoning Venetian
empire and smile and the madness unfolding.

Carnevale

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The year is 1795, A great Rent has torn open reality and sunk most of Europe beneath the waves. Only one place stands untouched by the calamity: Venice. By day the city bustles, the Queen of the Adriatic taking pride of place once again as the West's capital of trade. However, by night Venice takes on a darker persona, both figuratively and literally masking itself. Gangs stalk the canals looking for blood, the clandestine secret societies making themselves known, fighting to carve out their own territories. But more sinister still, the Rent in the Sky has opened the path for otherworldly phenomena. Magic spills out from a world beyond the veil, bringing with it creatures devoted to ancient deities- beings who look on the burgeoning Venetian empire and smile at the madness unfolding.
The Doctors

There has been an indisputable rise in the number of Venetians suffering mental breakdown following the advent of the Rent in the Sky. It is widely accepted across the city that the unnatural phenomenon preys upon the mind, as does the sleeplessness and tension brought about by the change in the city’s inhabitants. What only a relative few understand is that there exists a direct correlation between the new influx of magic and the affect on the human mind. The link between madness and magic was not always the main concern of the doctors that work in the Ospedale San Servolo, but since the Rent in the Sky tore apart the heavens it has become their sole focus.
The Gifted

The people known as Gifted are not a single entity. Most have never even met each other, let alone work together. Each holds their own view on the world and although sometimes their paths and goals cross, it’s equally likely that members of this moniker will cross blades if they were to meet in the streets. The powers that the Gifted possess are linked to the Rent, gaining potency when it waxes and trickling away to almost nothing when it fades from view. More and more are unveiling themselves as time goes on and although there are rumours of Gifted the world over, Venice holds the highest concentration of them by far.
The Guild

The Guild as it stands today has gone through many transformations, though its origins come from the old tradition of the shipbuilding Castellani family and the fishing Nicolottis. The two warring families created the first guilds in Venice, groups that ostensibly would work together for the benefit of their own workers, but realistically were only created to organise the fighting between the two families. The Guild consists of both of these groups and more, coming from destitution into power. Venice always had a number of guilds representing the various businesses of the city. As Venice struggled financially the Guild's lost their power and pull over the running of Venice, eventually becoming nothing more than a collection of out of work, impoverished commoners. This lead to them turning towards the criminal underbelly of Venice, in little time the Thieves Guild became the biggest and strongest guild of Venice.
The Patricians

Though it boasts to be one of the oldest republics in the world, Venice and its empire is nevertheless organised and run for the most part to the benefit of a very small portion of its inhabitants. Its laws, traditions and history have been shaped by the needs and demands of the Patrician families that rule the city through the Doge’s government. It may not have a king or queen, but La Serenissima is arranged no less for the benefit of the aristocratic few than the monarchies of Europe. The power of the ruling classes has been under threat for a while, not just within Venice, but throughout Europe as the merchantile and artisan classes gain wealth and land. Many rich families of Venice, ones who had always had power and position, were shrunk to almost nothing by Venice's poor economy. As trade and ship building dwindled to nothing in Venice, these families got smaller and smaller, many losing everything. High society became even more insular, rather prop up rivals and neighbours than let the entire system, a system they relied on, to collapse.
The Rashaar

The Rashaar are a race of creatures from beyond the pale. They are an ancient race, older than the realms of mankind by millennia. The creatures are undoubtedly linked to the emergence of the Rent in the Sky and their occupation of Venice is no mere coincidence. However their emergence pre-dates the great catastrophe, the City of Canals by dozens of years and on the Earth by many thousands. For generations there have been tales of monsters in the sea. Giant sea creatures living beneath the waves that could eat ships and their crews whole. Even older still are the stories of cities beneath the waves, drowned by catastrophes in the past. Cities such as Atlantis with streets paved of gold, buildings of smooth marble and statues of strange aquatic creatures. Cities destroyed or sunk by God himself as punishment for the decadent splendour.
The Strigoi

From the birth of humanity there have always been individuals possessed of the ability to tap into the otherworldly energy known as magic. While the opening of the Rent in the Sky has awakened many to their powers, there have always been a scant few individuals throughout time that tapped into this primordial force. Of this latter category perhaps the most infamous is Vlad Dracul, also known as Count Dracula.
The Vatican

Pope Clement XV has had much to contend with since his recent elevation to Bishop of Avignon and leadership of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, but foremost in his plans has been re-establishing the influence of the Papacy in Venice. There are a number of reasons for this, some mundane but most due to the city’s unique position to exploit the Rent in the Sky and the magic it brings. The Vatican in Rome is destroyed, Italy all but wiped from the map. When the Rent opened it seemed as if God himself smote Italy from the sky. Few escaped, including Cardinal Gerdil. Gerdil went to Geneva, where most of the survivors had assembled. Preaching of the corruption of Rome and of how he had emerged from the flaming wreckage of the Vatican as God's chosen one, he gained support from many of the church and of the local population. In time, he was appointed as Pope Clement XV.