“Where the wine is dry, the nights are long, and l'appel
du sang never fades.”
A Western Prairie town with bite.
While the vampire families of Québec rebuild in shadow and
snow, Beaumont stands as a small shadow in the west. Being many things: a
pilgrimage site, fortified hamlet, and cultural redoubt.
Originally a modest Franco-Albertan settlement known for its church on the
hill, its golden fields of canola, and stubbornly bilingual culture, Beaumont
endured the Hodgepocalypse through a pact: one part blood donation program, one-part
spiritual preservation society, and one part militarized religious covenant.
By day, the gold of the blossoms hides the truth
beneath—root systems fed by the iron-rich waters of the Banque de Sang de
l’Ouest. By night, lanterns glow crimson, and liturgies are sung in Old French.
The vampires—well-fed and beautifully dressed—walk among their mortal cousins
as protectors, patrons, and priest-kings.
The beautiful hill has eyes, and they are connected to sharp
fangs.
The Golden Fields and the Crimson Pact- An Unofficial History
Roots in the Soil
Beaumont began as a modest Franco-Albertan farming town,
proud of its church on the hill and its fields of golden canola stretching to
the horizon. Faith, language, and crop cycles were the anchors of life here.
Every June, the town would vanish beneath a sea of yellow blossoms, and the air
smelled sweet with promise.
In those days, the town’s leaders prided themselves on
keeping Beaumont “true” — bilingual masses, parish-led schooling, and festivals
like la bénédiction des semences (the blessing of the seed). Outsiders
called it quaint. Locals called it home.
The Patrons from the East
It started small — visitors from Québec who claimed distant
family ties, arriving to “support Francophone heritage” in the West. They
donated to the parish roof repairs, paid for a bilingual cultural center, even
helped fund experimental canola processing equipment.
They kept strange hours, but no one minded; farmers
understood the rhythm of work and weather. When they began sponsoring nighttime
lantern processions through the fields, people assumed it was just a new
festival. The older generation whispered that the patrons brought more
than money — they brought protection.
Oil with a Bite
A few years later, locals noticed something odd: certain
sections of the fields bloomed stronger, richer in color. These plots were
reserved for huile bénie — “blessed oil” used in church rites and civic
celebrations. The priests said it was the soil, or a new blend of fertilizer.
In truth, the patrons had struck the first version of the Compact
of Crimson: in exchange for regular blood donations — “for medical
research” — Beaumont would enjoy guaranteed food security, pest protection, and
immunity from the strange livestock sicknesses plaguing nearby towns. The
leftover byproduct was quietly returned to the fields at night, feeding the
roots.
The Quiet Guard
Odd sightings began to circulate. Motorbikes without
headlights riding the range roads after dark. A man in a cassock carrying a
halberd along the ditch line. Strange claw marks on fenceposts at the field
edges.
The name L’Ordre de la Veille Rouge started to pass
between farm families like an unspoken prayer. If your tractor broke down on
the far side of town at dusk, sometimes they’d be there before you finished
calling for help. They didn’t explain themselves, and you didn’t ask.
The Turning Season
As decades passed, Beaumont’s economy shifted subtly. Grain
elevators closed, but the Crimson Mill expanded. The co-op became a
blood bank with attached oil-pressing facilities. The parish mayor’s office
began holding most council meetings at night.
The town became known for its Fête de la Dernière Moisson,
a twilight harvest celebration where the golden fields were lit with hundreds
of oil lanterns. Strangers were welcome to attend but rarely stayed past dark.
When the World Cracked
Then came the Hodgepocalypse. Crops failed across the
province. Power grids went dark. Strange shapes stalked the highways. Many
towns scattered or burned.
Beaumont did not.
The patrons sealed the roads and called the Compact
into full effect. L’Ordre de la Veille Rouge patrolled the perimeters, and the
fields still bloomed — fed by whatever it was the Mill now pumped into the soil—Golden
by day, crimson at night under the lanterns.
From the outside, Beaumont looked untouched, almost idyllic.
From the inside, it was a closed system — a canton of the République de la
Nuit, ruled from shadow but bound in survival. People might argue about quotas
or curfews, but no one questioned that they were still alive.
The Psychic Accord
In the chaos, Beaumont’s isolation was broken by the rise of
Mayor Larry in Ed-Town — a powerful psychic with an iron will and a
silver tongue, equal parts showman and strategist. His influence stretched far
beyond Ed-Town’s borders.
Recognizing the strategic value of Beaumont’s stability (and
the danger of provoking its vampire elders), Larry initiated secret talks with
the town’s leadership. His psychic abilities allowed him to meet them on their
own terms — thought for thought, shadow for shadow — without ever being
dominated.
The result was the Golden-Red Accord:
- Beaumont
would supply Ed-Town with surplus oil, ritual goods, and carefully
rationed blood products.
- Ed-Town
would respect Beaumont’s internal governance, enforce the Compact’s
borders, and avoid interference in its nocturnal affairs.
- Disputes
would be settled in person, by the mayor and the elders, without armed
conflict.
To most citizens, this looked like better trade and safer
roads. To those in the know, it was an understanding between two power blocs —
one psychic, one vampiric — that neither could afford to break.
And Now…
Generations have grown up in the Compact, never knowing the
world before it. The golden blossoms are as much a part of Beaumont’s identity
as its church steeple. The fields hum in the wind, and the air still smells
sweet — though some say there’s an undertone of copper now.
When travellers arrive, they’re greeted warmly, fed well,
and told the same thing every Beaumont child learns before they can walk:
“Que la nuit vous garde.”
Beaumont’s society follows the rhythm of an old parish, but
with fangs hidden in the hymnals. Each quartier is a bonded cell of
interlinked families — some entirely human, others mixed-blood, and a select
few fully vampiric — united not just by kinship but by spiritual obligation.
Every household pledge fealty to one of the founding Maisons de l’Est,
ancient clans who serve as both patrons and confessors, binding their followers
through blessings, feast-day rituals, and the quiet exchange of blood in place
of bread and wine. The structure mirrors Catholic parish life: a central chapel
as the beating heart, seasonal processions through lantern-lit streets, and an
unbroken chain of catechism that teaches the Compact alongside the catechism of
saints. The vampire’s style themselves as pères et mères spirituels,
shepherding their flock with a mixture of pastoral care, Old French liturgy,
and the promise that loyalty will keep the night at bay — even as it welcomes
it into the home.
Quartier Customs of Beaumont
1.
La Veillée du Lampion (The Lantern Vigil)
- When:
On the eve of a saint’s feast day or a blood anniversary.
- What:
Families place golden-hued oil lamps on windowsills, filled with huile
bénie pressed from the quartier’s canola harvest. The eldest lights
the flame, the youngest whispers the prayer: “Que la nuit vous garde.”
- Twist:
The length of the burn is believed to predict the quartier’s fortune — or
trouble — for the coming season.
2.
Le Baiser de Minuit (The Midnight Kiss)
- When:
At the start of Lent and Advent.
- What:
Instead of exchanging bread or wine, the père spirituel of the
quartier makes the rounds at midnight, offering each household a
ceremonial sip of vitae. Families kneel as if for Communion, making the
sign of the cross before drinking.
- Twist:
In mixed-blood households, the head of the family decides which members
receive the sip, and which abstain “for their health.”
3.
La Bénédiction des Semences (Blessing of the
Seed)
- When:
Early spring, before planting.
- What:
Seeds are brought to the quartier chapel in burlap sacks, where the
officiant sprinkles them with blessed water — sometimes tinged faintly red
— and recites a litany that mixes scripture with the names of vampire
ancestors.
- Twist:
Some families slip a drop of their blood into the sack, a private pact
between farmer and patron.
4.
Le Chapelet de Veille (The Vigil Rosary)
- When:
During funerals or after dangerous nights.
- What:
Each quartier has a communal rosary made from polished canola seeds
hardened in blood wax. Passing it from hand to hand, participants recite
prayers in Old French, thanking the dead for their service to the Compact.
- Twist:
If a bead cracks in a participant’s hand, it’s taken as a sign that a
feeding debt must be paid.
5.
La Messe des Ombres (The Shadow Mass)
- When:
Once per season, at dusk.
- What:
The quartier gathers in near-darkness, with only the altar and the icon of
its patron Maison lit in crimson light. The liturgy is
half-whispered in Latin, half-sung in French, with the congregation facing
outward toward the doors, “keeping the dark in.”
- Twist:
Outsiders are welcome — but must sit in the outermost pews, under the gaze
of the Garde Noire.
6.
La Corvée du Sang (The Blood Chore)
- When:
Rotates monthly by family.
- What:
One household is tasked with maintaining the quartier’s banque locale,
ensuring blood and oil are delivered to the patron’s cellar on time.
- Twist:
Failure to complete the chore on schedule means a public penance — often
cleaning the chapel’s threshold barefoot at night.
7.
Les Litanies du Moulin (The Mill Litanies)
- When:
After harvest, before the first pressing.
- What:
Workers at the Crimson Mill chant a mix of psalms and field calls, each
stanza naming a saint or elder vampire. Families attend, bringing loaves
to dip in the first press of oil.
- Twist:
If the oil pools gold with a red shimmer, the quartier’s patron is said to
be “pleased.”
Beaumont – The Everyday Nocturne
In Beaumont, vampirism isn’t a curse — it’s a condition. The
Maisons de l’Est see themselves as stewards, parish leaders, and
community elders first, predators second. They dress well, speak with courtesy,
attend Mass, run farms, and file paperwork — they happen to drink blood instead
of coffee.
By night, the streets are alive with polite commerce and
parish duties: candles lit in windows, Garde Noire patrols passing quietly, oil
lamps glowing over doorstep conversations. Market stalls offer both mortal
goods and vampiric staples: plasma preserves in mason jars, crimson-infused
canola oil, and fortified breads baked with trace vitae.
The Ed-Town Connection
- Purpose:
While Beaumont can grow food, brew beer, and press oil, it can’t produce
all the tools and comforts it needs.
- Trade
Goods:
- Exports:
Blessed oil, blood barley ale, artisan-crafted goods (candlesticks,
furniture, religious carvings), select blood products under the Compact’s
trade allowance.
- Imports:
Fabric, metals, tools, preserved foods, medicinal supplies, books, and
entertainment media.
- The
Trips:
- Travel
caravans leave after sunset under Garde Noire escort, moving along La
Route des Morts to Ed-Town.
- In
Ed-Town’s night markets, vampires shop just like anyone else — haggling,
gossiping, and sampling mortal cuisine out of curiosity.
- Social
rules apply: no feeding without consent, no “turning” without paperwork,
and no carrying unsealed relic weapons into civic districts.
Technology in Beaumont
- Reluctantly
Modern: Technology is limited but selectively adopted — anything that
preserves food, refines oil, or improves night travel is embraced.
- Common
Tech:
- Lantern
drones (slow-moving, oil-powered light sources for night patrols)
- Hand-cranked
refrigeration units for blood storage
- Modified
farm machinery for nocturnal harvesting (glow-lamped combines)
- Battery-powered
phonographs and film projectors for parish halls
- Rare
Tech:
- Anything
requiring a constant power grid — Beaumont runs mostly on oil, wind, and
barter.
- Imported
electronics from Ed-Town are prized but carefully rationed.
Cultural Quirk – The “Vampire Next Door” Effect
- Vampires
greet neighbors, discuss crop yields, and complain about municipal taxes
like any rural resident.
- Children
grow up treating the family’s patron vampire as a distant but familiar
elder — like a godparent who happens to also drink from a bottle of
“special wine.”
- Many
households display both a crucifix and their patron Maison’s crest
side by side above the hearth.
- In
public, vampires eat human food for appearances — though it passes through
them unchanged — and often remark on flavor even if they can’t truly taste
it.
Potential Adventure Hooks with This Tone
- “Midnight
Mall Run” – The party is hired to escort a Beaumont trade caravan to
Ed-Town during a rare lunar blackout, when the roads are at their most
dangerous.
- “Return
Policy” – A vampiric patron sends the PCs back to Ed-Town to retrieve
a faulty relic, only to find it’s already been resold… to someone who
doesn’t want to give it back.
- “Import
Trouble” – A shipment from Ed-Town arrives tainted — not with disease,
but with an unfamiliar psychic influence that starts affecting Beaumont’s
elders.
The Heresy of the Beast
In Beaumont, vampirism is meant to be orderly — a covenant
between patron and parishioner, bound by the Compact of Crimson and sanctified
in the parish’s rites. Feeding is measured, blood is blessed, and hunger is
kept at bay.
But those who reject the Compact — out of pride,
desperation, or outright defiance — risk La Déchéance (“The Fall”).
Without proper, consecrated blood, the refined predator decays into something
feral: a walking hunger in ragged flesh.
The transformation is not merely physical. Parish elders say
the soul twists first, snapping under the strain of thirst until only instinct
remains. The Church teaches that it is a form of damnation — and that it is
merciful to destroy them before the change is complete.
The Outcasts
Nonconforming vampires are exiled from the community;
their crests struck from chapel walls and their names scratched from the parish
rolls.
- Why
They’re Exiled:
- Refusing
to follow the blood quota system.
- Turning
mortals without Maison sanction.
- Feeding
outside the Compact (especially on children or clergy).
- Rejecting
the authority of the parish in spiritual or civic matters.
Once exiled, they are denied access to the Banque de Sang de
l’Ouest. Most can only stave off La Déchéance by hunting in the
wilderness — or in desperate cases, on the fringes of Ed-Town.
The Beasts They Become
Without proper blood, an exiled vampire’s body and mind
degrade over days or weeks. Elders recognize two main patterns of degeneration,
each as dangerous to vampires as to mortals:
Chiropterans (Chirosses) – Bat Monsters
- Bodies
twist, the ears lengthen, and their faces collapse into leathery muzzles
bristling with teeth.
- Can
fly into the darkness.
- Their
shrieks can rattle the nerves of even elder vampires.
- Hunt
in ruined buildings and silos — anywhere with high, dark perches.
Lupins – Wolf Monsters
- Bones
thicken, jaw and claws lengthen, and their posture shifts toward a
half-wolf crouch.
- Masters
of pursuit — they stalk prey for hours, howling to disorient and drive it
toward ambushes.
- Often
seen in the canola fields, their shapes briefly visible between the golden
rows before they strike.
The Shared Enemy
Beaumont’s vampires and mortals may have their
disagreements, but both fear La Déchéance.
To the Vampires: The fallen are an insult to their
dignity — proof to the Republic’s critics that vampires are just beasts in
robes.
To the Mortals: They’re a predator without a leash.
The Compact offers protection; the beasts offer only bloodshed.
The Garde Noire treats hunting Chirosses and Lupins as holy
work, carrying stakes soaked in blessed oil for Chirosses and silvered polearms
for Lupins.
French Equivalent of “Plebs”
In this context, vampires refer to dangerous outsiders
(feral mortals, bandits, or wild exiles) as les badauds — literally
“loiterers” or “idlers,” but with a spit of contempt.
The worst insult in Beaumont is to call someone “un badaud avec des crocs”
— “a loiterer with fangs.”
Adventure Seeds
- “The
Lantern Goes Out” – A Lupin is prowling too close to a quartier. The
PCs must track it through the fields before it strikes during the Lantern
Vigil.
- “Blood
Debt” – A Chiross in the ruins swears it was wrongly exiled and offers
information on a rogue Maison in exchange for one vial of
consecrated blood.
- “Hunt
the Hunter” – The Garde Noire hires the PCs to help with a rare “dual
fall” — a bonded pair, one Chiross and one Lupin, coordinating their
attacks.
L’Ordre de la Veille Rouge
(The Order of the Red Vigil)
“Nous veillons lorsque les autres dorment. Le sang se
souvient.”
“We keep watch while others sleep. The blood remembers.”
Overview:
L’Ordre de la Veille Rouge is a vampiric martial order
bound by sacred oath to protect Beaumont and uphold the Compact of Crimson.
While the Republic’s secular arms handle diplomacy and quotas, the Veille Rouge
moves unseen through back alleys, forests, and twilight roads—neutralizing
threats before they reach the church steps.
Their members are drawn from vampires, Kamidavers, and a
select few mortals, who have shown unwavering loyalty to Beaumont and its
spiritual cause. To outsiders, they are myths. To locals, they are a whispered
warning: “Don’t test the red eyes in the dark.”
Founding Myth:
It’s said that during the early days of the Hodgepocalypse,
a circle of bloodbound monks and knights made a pact with the first
vampire bishop of Beaumont to defend the town’s soul through shadow. They swore
to never break vigil—even in undeath.
Their original commandery was beneath the church on the
hill, and their first oath is still carved into the crypt stones:
“Si la nuit est notre sanctuaire, que le silence soit
notre épée.”
“If the night is our sanctuary, then let silence be our sword.”
Structure & Ranks:
|
Rank
|
Title
|
Description
|
|
Primus
Veilleur
|
Grand Watcher
|
Supreme
commander, often a vampire elder or blood bishop.
|
|
Chapelain
de l’Ombre
|
Shadow
Chaplain
|
Oversees the spiritual
integrity of the order. Leads blood rites and funerals.
|
|
Chevaliers
de Cendre
|
Knights of
Ash
|
Veteran
enforcers who have a free hand in leading the lower ranks
|
|
Veilleurs
Rouges
|
Red Watchers
|
Core
agents—patrol at night, guard sacred routes, enforce pacts.
|
|
Écuyers de
Minuit
|
Midnight
Squires
|
Mortal
initiates or junior vampires are undergoing a trial. Ride mopeds, not
motorbikes. Yet.
|
Uniform & Symbolism:
- Armor:
Reinforced cassocks lined with silver stitching and red piping. Many wear
tactical balaclavas or helmets with red-tinted visors.
- Symbol:
A red candle burning in the dark, encircled by thorns and the phrase “La
nuit vous garde.”
- Weapons:
Polearms with silvered points, relic pistols, alchemical canisters of
blood mist, and cruciform stakes known as les croix dormantes
(“sleeping crosses”).
- Vehicles: Motorcycles are surprisingly common
within this order. They include a Red
Shroud, A collapsible canopy frame mounted to the bike’s chassis,
unfolding like a bat’s wing to cover both rider and machine. While not perfectly safe, it
reduces sun exposure enough for vampires to ride in filtered daylight —
useful for urgent missions. It also
looks dramatic when they ride information, crimson sails snapping in the
wind. Each patrol bike has a detachable
armored sidecar that is vaguely shaped like a sleek coffin.
- PC
Options. These vamps are often
Adventurers (Prowlers, Scouts, and Scrapfoots), or Channeler (Sentinel),
or Combatants (Brute-New Age)
Role in Town:
- Patrol
La Route des Morts, ensuring no corpsemen or ferals slip through.
- Serve
as bodyguards to high-ranking vampire nobles or priests.
- Act
as judges and executioners for violations of the Compact
(especially rogue vampires or illegal feedings).
- Organize
Bloodlight Vigils: town-wide alerts when spiritual threats or outer
horrors breach the veil.
Adventure Hooks:
- “The
Red Veil Slips” – A member of the Order has gone rogue and is feeding
indiscriminately. The party is asked to investigate—but the Order will not
tolerate failure or scandal.
- “Trial
by Moonfire” – A PC is inducted into the Order. To prove their worth,
they must walk a haunted road while hunted by a restless shade from the
pre-Hodgepocalypse.
- “Secrets
Beneath the Steeple” – A crypt beneath the church reveals forbidden
relics that even the Veille Rouge has long sealed. Why are they waking
now?
Species
Cats
Cats in Beaumont are far more than mascots or
spiritual omens — they are sapient “inspired” descendants of the household
companions that once lounged on windowsills before the Revelations.
Disappearing in the world’s final quiet years and reemerging after the
Necromantic Wars, they now speak in multiple tongues and weave their tangled
politics into the town’s Compact. In Beaumont, they are treated with reverence;
a cat refusing to enter a home is cause for mortal families to flee, and many Maisons
consult feline advice on matters of luck and danger. Yet their loyalty is
rarely singular. A quiet understanding exists between the canny elders of the
feline community and Mayor Larry of Ed-Town: cats, with their natural stealth
and insatiable curiosity, serve as his discreet informants, slipping between
quartiers to watch for unrest, breaches of the Compact, or rival psychic
influences. As PCs, Beaumont cats are consummate observers, agile hunters, and
cunning go-betweens — equally at home basking in a vampire salon’s candlelight,
prowling the red-lit fields for signs of Lupin tracks, or purring in a mortal
kitchen while mentally cataloguing every whispered secret for later use.
Feylin
Feylin are pop culture–obsessed fae who have found a
comfortable niche in Beaumont’s nocturnal society, thriving as entertainers,
gossipmongers, and masters of the theatrical flourish. Bound to the Compact by
custom rather than blood, they flit between quartiers as couriers of
news, sellers of charms, and masters of presentation for Maison
ceremonies. In a town where vampires take themselves very seriously, Feylin act
as both the comic relief and the necessary sparkle — hosting night markets,
dressing elders for feast days, or scripting elaborate oil-lantern parades
through the canola fields. As PCs, they are agile diplomats and agents of
controlled chaos, moving easily between vampire salons, mortal households, and
Ed-Town’s midnight markets. Some embrace the role of loyal heralds to their
patron Maison; others quietly collect secrets for themselves, knowing
that in Beaumont, information is as valuable as blood. They often dress as they expect the vampires
to be, complete with plastic fangs, which usually annoys the local humans and
vampires alike.
Human
Humans in Beaumont are not passive livestock — they
are parishioners, farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and squires who live within
the Compact of Crimson. Every mortal household is bonded to a patron Maison
de l’Est, trading loyalty and regular blood tithe for protection,
prosperity, and a place in the parish’s rituals. Many serve as mortal squires
in the Ordre de la Veille Rouge, day-active caretakers of the fields, or
trusted caravaners on Ed-Town runs. A human PC may be a proud defender of the
Compact, a reluctant participant born into it, or a quiet dissenter working
within the system. Whether carrying a relic for their patron, escorting trade
goods through dangerous roads, or investigating threats to their quartier,
humans have freedom of movement under vampire protection — making them the
perfect intermediaries between Beaumont’s golden fields and the shadowed world
beyond.
Vampire
Vampires of Beaumont are children of the Maisons
de l’Est, embraced into undeath under the Compact of Crimson and raised in
the parish tradition. While elders serve as spiritual leaders, political
negotiators, and keepers of the fields, younger vampires often take on the
dangerous work — riding with the Ordre de la Veille Rouge, guarding
trade routes, or representing their Maison in Ed-Town. They are the most
common nonhuman PCs from Beaumont: old enough to have the thirst and the
strength, young enough still to test the edges of their Maison’s patience. Some
are ambitious scions eager to rise in the parish hierarchy; others are restless
souls looking beyond the golden fields for glory, knowledge, or forbidden
freedoms. Whether dutiful knight, charming envoy, or reluctant heir, a young
vampire carries both the blessings of the Compact and the constant risk of La
Déchéance — and every choice they make reflects on the Maison whose
crest they wear.
Notable Locations
Brasserie du Sépulcre
Built on the bones of the old Sea Change Brewing taproom
along Beaumont’s main drag, the Brasserie du Sépulcre is half brewhouse, half
crypt, its fermentation tanks sunk deep into the earth to keep them cool and
steeped in the scent of stone. The house specialties — blood beers, iron-rich
ales, and vitae-infused saison — are poured from taps shaped like reliquary
flasks, each brew named for a saint or a fallen Maison. Beneath the
taproom lies the Barrel Crypt, where disputes between vampire houses are
settled in equal parts negotiation, blood duel, and drinking contest, all under
the watchful eyes of neutral Garde Noire arbiters. Mortals are welcome, so long
as they don’t ask what’s in the casks that are chained shut.
Plot Hook: A long-simmering feud between two Maisons
is about to erupt during a scheduled duel in the Barrel Crypt, but someone has
tampered with the cask meant for the winner’s toast. The PCs must uncover the
saboteur before the Brasserie’s “neutral ground” becomes a killing floor.
Chapelle du Cœur Nocturne
Rising on the slope just below Beaumont’s famed hill, the
Chapelle du Cœur Nocturne is the spiritual and political center of the canton.
Once a Catholic parish, its altar now bears both crucifix and the crests of the
Maisons de l’Est, and the chalice of Communion brims with consecrated
blood oil during high rites. Here, mortal and vampire elders meet under
red-stained glass to bless the fields, settle disputes between quartiers,
and debate policy in the same breath as prayer. Incense mixes with the copper tang
of vitae, and the outstanding bell tolls only at dusk — its peal said to call
not the faithful, but the night itself.
Plot Hook: When the chapel’s bell tolls at noon for
the first time in living memory, the parish leaders claim it is a divine omen —
but the Garde Noire suspects sabotage. The PCs must determine who or what has
altered the heart’s rhythm before the congregation turns on itself.
The Crimson Mill
Rebuilt atop the cracked foundations of Beaumont’s last
grain elevator, the Crimson Mill rises like a rust-red reliquary against the
night sky. Its towering silos no longer hold wheat or barley, but iron-cooled
tanks of donated blood, sorted into ceremonial, medicinal, and recreational
grades by cloaked technicians in the huile bénie-scented air. The
elevator’s conveyor system has been reforged into a pumping network, moving the
lifeblood of the Compact as efficiently as grain once flowed through the prairie.
Lanterns in the shape of old harvest moons hang from its frame, casting
gold-red light over the surrounding quartier — a reminder that Beaumont
still “feeds” its people, just in a different way. Cats patrol the catwalks,
warding off Chiross infiltrators and Lupin scavengers.
Plot Hook: A key refining vat has been tainted with a
slow-acting toxin, threatening the next shipment of ceremonial blood oil. The
PCs must investigate before the elders call for a quartier-wide blood recall —
a move that could starve both mortals and vampires alike.
Le Bloc Maudit
Squatting at the edge of a quiet quartier, Le Bloc Maudit is
a looming slab of brutalist concrete that appears on no map and in no parish
record. Its windows are dark, yet shapes sometimes shift behind the glass; the
front doors are always unlocked, but stepping inside leaves most with the sense
that something is walking just behind them. Some claim it was “built overnight”
after the Hodgepocalypse, others that it’s always been there, waiting. Those
who try to live within its walls rarely last more than a week — moving out
pale, thin, and unwilling to speak of what they saw.
Plot Hook: A mortal child has gone missing, last seen
chasing a stray cat into Le Bloc Maudit. The PCs must venture inside before the
building decides to keep its newest resident.
Le Marché de Minuit
Le Marché de Minuit – Housed in the repurposed halls
and covered walkways of the old Place Beauséjour, Le Marché de Minuit awakens
only after sunset, its doors barred during daylight with chains etched in
fleur-de-lis wards. By lamplight and crimson lantern, vendors hawk wares both
practical and profane: forbidden tomes wrapped in oilcloth, parasols stitched
with sun-screening spells, polished thermal coffins, and jars of plasma
preserves steeped with herbs. Mortal and vampire customers browse side by side under
the watchful eyes of the Garde Noire, while cats perch on the rafters listening
for whispers worth passing to Mayor Larry. The air is thick with roasting
grain, incense, and the scent of hot metal from a smithy that only works in
silver and bone.
Plot Hook: A shipment of sun-screened parasols bound
for Ed-Town has been stolen from the Marché’s loading dock, and all evidence
points to an inside job. The PCs must track the goods through the black-market
stalls before they reach a Lupin pack along La Route des Morts.
La Route des Morts
Once the mundane 50th Street artery connecting Beaumont to
Edmonton’s southeast, La Route des Morts is now a straight-line corridor of
shadow and silence, its cracked asphalt flanked by fields of gold canola and
wind-twisted fencelines. The road is claimed by the Ordre de la Veille Rouge,
who use it for nocturnal courier runs to Ed-Town and back, their
black-and-crimson motorbikes leaving only the scent of huile bénie in
their wake. Rusted-out bus shelters stand as waypoints, each repurposed into a
mile marker daubed in red oil to honor fallen riders and warn ferals away. At
night, the air is so still that the hum of an approaching engine carries for
miles; in daylight, the road belongs to scavenger crews, wandering plebs, and
the occasional Lupin pack lying in wait in the ditchgrass. The last stretch
before Edmonton’s edge is lined with the skeletal remains of power poles — said
to be hung once a year with crimson lanterns to mark the Accord between Mayor
Larry and Beaumont’s elders.
Plot Hook: A Veille Rouge courier carrying a sealed
reliquary never arrived in Ed-Town, vanishing somewhere along La Route des
Morts. The PCs must ride the highway, following whispered sightings at the mile
markers, before the relic falls into the hands — or claws — of something
lurking in the ditchgrass.
Maison Chartier
Standing where an old fine-dining restaurant once welcomed
the living, Maison Chartier is now Beaumont’s most exclusive “blood bistro” and
cultural salon. Its candlelit dining hall serves ancestral recipes adapted for
the Compact — mortal fare paired with vintage blood blends, each decanted with
theatrical precision by servers in fleur-de-lis waistcoats. Presiding over the
floor is Monsieur Mew, a sleek AI maître d’ automaton cat whose glowing
eyes scan guests, quietly assigning seating based on both reservation priority
and unspoken political hierarchies. Patrons don’t book tables by time, but by
donation — a sealed vial of vitae grants you a seat, with rarer bloodlines
earning the choicest spots. It is here that vampire elders entertain Ed-Town
dignitaries, mortal patrons negotiate quartier alliances, and the occasional
duel of etiquette plays out between courses.
Plot Hook: Monsieur Mew has been behaving
erratically, misplacing guests and seating sworn rivals together. The PCs are
asked to discreetly investigate before a scheduled dinner with Ed-Town’s Mayor
Larry turns into a diplomatic disaster.
Adventure Hooks
- “Red
in the Vines” – A new blood harvest is spoiled by a mysterious
contagion. Vampiric rot spreads among nobles and donors alike.
- “Les
Disparus de la Lune” – Locals have vanished from a nearby hamlet.
Rumors point to rogue vampires violating the Compact.
- “L’Aube
d’Or” – A faction of Beaumont vampires seeks to break away from the
République and create their western kingdom, with risky daylight
experiments in progress.
#drevrpg #hodgepocalypse #apocalypse #dungeonsanddragons #dnd5e #canada #alberta #edmonton #vampires
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