Re: [HoE] Undead Syker Rebellion

[DarrinBrig@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/10/98 5:21:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
toadpooka@usa.net writes:

> Well, here's another way to look at it--
>  In the Old (Weird) West, they didn't embalm bodies the way we do today
(1998)
> .  Nowadays, if a
>  person dies, it's rather difficult for them to come back Harrowed, since
the 
> brain and stuff is
>  taken out of the body.  Only those who died and were not 'properly' buried 
> would come back Harrowed,
>  which would mean that most people have never seen a Harrowed, and thus, not
> believe in them.

Well, we'll have to wait until we get our hot little hands on Wasted West,
probably, but that's not how I see it.  I see the Reckoners building up a
political power base on the sly just after they tip the balance with the whole
Dark Tower thingy.  I'm assuming the Civil War ends in a stalemate or the
South wins its Independence... even if the Union is preserved, we know it
didn't last because the Northern Alliance and Southern Alliance split up
sometime in the future, we just don't know exactly when. But even though the
newspapers in 1876 are getting awful powerful by then, most people out West
aren't the most literate type... the Reckoners touch off WWI before anyone
else notices, and then all the weird stuff starts happening "over in Europe"
while the predecessors of the CIA work to supress weird stuff stateside. For
the more obvious supernatural stuff, it's always "the other side" at fault. By
the time WWII rolls around, the Reckoners have successfully integrated into
all forms of government and work carefully to "re-educate" the populance, and
black ops organizations quickly "acquire" and recruit any harrowed. Harrowed
are, of course, fairly common, but any harrowed that don't fall in line and
get with the program go back six feet under. Rumors circulate, but anyone
caught talking about such things is "dealt with". The truth is known by some,
but they can't really do anything about it, and everyone else is too busy
ignoring it all. When the Cold War hits, McCarthyism is in full swing, only
this time it's not Communism people are worried about, but witchcraft and
necromancy. After the witchhunts, the two superpowers get locked into a space
race, culminating in the discovery of Banshee.  By that time, the Reckoners
are ready for the coup de grace (sp?) and start the Last War. 

That'd be my guess, at any rate.